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AARON POSTER
| | Posted on Monday, April 01, 2002 - 11:22 pm: | 
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I HAVE A STOCK XD AND WANT TO GET IT READY FOR SOME SERIOUS OFF-ROAD. WHERE SHOULD I START ? SUSPENSION? TIRES? LOCKERS? WHAT BRANDS DO I WANT TO LOOK FOR |
Clif Ashley
| | Posted on Monday, April 01, 2002 - 11:50 pm: |
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Don't do tires until you know how much you are going to lift and what you can fit. ARB Lockers are generally the way to go. Make sure and snag underbody prtoection... diff guards, sliders, etc. Atlantic British, Rovers North, & Southdown USA are all good names there. Pick up recovery gear first thing, 2-4" by 20 or 30 foot recovery strap and at least a pair of 3/4" d-shackles. I would suggest first major mod always to be a winch. What good does the other stuff do if you are stuck? ARB bumper with at least a Warn 9000 lbs. This is my own opinion which is probably bettered by many of the other guys. Just trying to help though. Good luck. E-mail with any questions, love to chat Rover. |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Monday, April 01, 2002 - 11:55 pm: |
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Uh oh! Firestorm coming.. ALERT ALERT!
First thing to do is to search the archives here. Second thing to do is to wheel every weekend for about 3 months. That should help you decide what modifications are desireable for the area where you do your wheeling. What works well in the rocks may not work well in the mud and vice versa.
Beyond that, there are a few areas of upgraded you should be looking at:
1. Traction
2. Protection
3. Safety
4. Communications
5. Maintenance and Tools
You don't mention what your budget is, whether you wheel in large groups, or what your goals are, and since you haven't, I have to assume this is all new to you. There are a few truths that everyone is going to tell you and they include:
Purchase and learn to use proper recovery gear. If you wheel much, you will get stuck, or get to a spot where you need help.
Tires and Lockers do more to assist you in the traction department than anything else, but unless you have a winch, or your wheeling buddys have lockers, you'll find yourself getting stuck out of reach of assistance.
You can't wheel if your truck is broken. So buy a shop manual and learn to do basic maintenance on your truck. You'll need a reasonable set of tools. Have a look at the 60k service and if you can perform each task, you'll probably be in good shape.
Breaking stuff on the trail is no fun. Learn to wheel responsibly, and carry some basic spares so you can keep going. Having proper underbody protection goes a long way to keeping your truck from suffering major damage.
Go with that, and go wheel for a while. Pay attention to what others have on their truck, ask them lots of questions. If you don't ask the questions now, and learn, you'll end up buying a bunch of stuff you don't need and you'll buy "twice". Take your time...
Best of luck to you and I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice from others shortly...
-P |
Ron
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 12:28 am: |
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www.xtremeaxle.com
buy your axles and wheels there.
John at
www.rovertym.com
will be happy to sell you some suspension components and might know someone to weld mounts onto your portals. If the tires won't fit with the 6in of lift from the portals, whatever suspension lift you choose, and the flares he can also sell you a body lift.
Then you will want some tires.
38x12.50 SXs should do ok and might fit
www.intercotire.com
www.eastcoastrover.com will have some flares for you to help cover those tires.
Then go see if you can find a superwinch PTO driven mechanical winch. Its driven off the PTO on your transfer case should get you out of trouble.
www.greatbasinrovers.com
can sell you the PTO unit though you are on your own with the winch and mounting it.
Ron |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 12:49 am: |
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Ron...
You should be ashamed! Playing an April Fools on that guy!
-P |
jay caragay (Jcaragay)
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 01:05 am: |
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I think Clif and Perrone have given you some great advice and the best thing about Discoweb is that there are other experienced off-roaders who have always been willing to lend their advice.
My advice to you is to take more time off-road - even with your stock XD. One of the best things about the Disco1s is the fact that they can take quite alot of terrain stock without too much damage or threat thereof.
When I started frequenting Discoweb last summer, I was all gung-ho about what mods, winches, axles, lights, springs, etc and Bill B. gave some good advice: slow down, relax and get more trail experience under your belt. That way you will understand how your truck performs under various conditions, figure out what conditions you will be subjected to the most and plan your mods accordingly.
Definitely some of the best advice I've received on Dweb.
Good Luck! |
ron
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 01:19 am: |
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what do you mean perrone. He said serious offroad.
Ron |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 01:20 am: |
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Well damn.. you should just told him to buy a Unimog and be done with it!
-P |
Ron
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 01:24 am: |
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There you go with the Mog crap again.
with my plan he will still have comfy seats and AC
Ron |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 01:30 am: |
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Yea, but fitting those portal axles and 38's may prove a challange! And my way he spends 1/3 the money and can have comfy seats and either install Red Dot A/C or get a convertible!
-P |
John Kruger (Johnnyk)
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 11:05 am: |
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My advice: buy my XD and don't go through the headaches of the upgrades.
John |
Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d)
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 11:29 am: |
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PErrone you are right in many ways, but the guys wants a rover. Of course, you could amaze us all and retrofit those portals onto a disco now THAT would be cool |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 11:59 am: |
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Well, I was only playing about the mog thing, but a few guys have been successfully installing those portal axles on different trucks. Some have also successfully fitted the Volvo Laplander portals onto Defenders. There is a LR Club in New Zealand I beleive where several members have made that swap.
The Mog axles just aren't designed to spin as fast as a Disco would spin them. So I'd be looking for a different solution. I don't know about the rated speed for the Volvo axles. Although, you could run the Mog axles if you fit an oil cooler onto them. I kicked that around with the Mog community for some time and one person had actually done it (I believe he had done a SBC engine conversion and needed to cool the axles down). So it's all doable if you've got the cash, talent, and time.
-P |
Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d)
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 05:10 pm: |
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PErrone - just curious, what's the axle to wheel ratio on those things? |
aaron
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 05:25 pm: |
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Thanks Ron for all the great advice i just started ripping everything apart today but i think i am going to fix it up with some 44's that way I can get around everything.
YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm new to landrovers but not to 4 wheeling off-road. My last vehicle was an FJ-40 but all the stuff on that was simple, was not dealing with differential locks and how computers were affected by wheel size. It is kind of a whole new beast to me, where to get parts? what kinds? |
aaron
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 05:31 pm: |
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Johnny k no I cant afford all that stuff but maybe you can help me with a decision about lockers. Do you just have the detroit locker in the rear and if so do you think you made the right choice by putting that kind in? |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 08:12 pm: |
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Dean, what do you mean by axle to wheel ratio?? I'm not understanding what your asking me.
-P |
Ron
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 11:29 pm: |
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They are 5.99 or 6.7ish (there are two choices)
"Some have also successfully fitted the Volvo Laplander portals onto Defenders. There is a LR Club in New Zealand I beleive where several members have made that swap."
Get your facts RIGHT god damnit!
The club is in malaysia and they put them under a bunch of series trucks.
Ron |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 11:48 pm: |
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Ron,
I ddin't offer it as fact, I said "I believe". Yes, I just went to their web page and you are correct. It is series trucks. I only remember TeriAnn Wakeman talking about it sometime last year or something. But if they were put under a series truck, they should be adaptable to a Defender or Disco.
And since you knew the answer to Dean's question, what did he mean wheel to axle ratio? I know the 404 is 3.54 in the diff, and about 1.8 at the hub. I don't have specs for the other models. Are these the number he wanted?
-P |
Ron
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 02:33 am: |
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I think he means final ratio.
ie randp x hub reduction
On a Volvo axle it is what I stated above.
Did not really look into mog axles as they are not easily put on a rover.
Yes teri ann actually conversed with some of them and I sent them emails as well. The only stumbling block at this point is price. I have not been able to get them below 6k at pair.
Ron |
Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d)
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 10:48 am: |
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The additional ratio you get in the off-centred hub itself - the ratio of the axle speed to the rotation speed of the wheel. What is it inside - planetary gear? |
PerroneFord
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 11:02 am: |
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The Unimog manual lists it as :
Axle Drive Ratio: 39:11
Hub Reduction Ratio: 32:15
Total Axle Ratio: 7.56
-P |
mateu
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 11:11 am: |
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Since noone's satisfying Aaron's last question...
Aaron,
Everyone and their mother will give you different advice on the subject. You can learn EVERYTHING you need to know by searching the archives using the keyword search over in that lefthand frame. My favorite sources for parts are www.expeditionexchange.com, www.discountrovers.com, and www.roverconnection.com. The first one I mentioned there is sort of a sister site to this one and has just as much great archived tech info. The products section will give you a good education on some of the best aftermarket gear for your mods. I recommend starting out with swapping your stock suspension with an Old Man Emu set-up. Then, the sliders, bumpers, tires. There's my contribution to the subject. Have fun. |
p m
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 01:55 pm: |
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Aaron,
don't listen to anybody, and buy yourself a big jeep. I loved the #1 reason to buy it, according to Jp magazine - nobody will steal it.
that way, you can wheel your stock Disco to the family picnic, and take the jeep in the rough (if it ever makes it to where the rough begins, that is)
peter |
John Kruger (Johnnyk)
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 02:49 pm: |
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I like the Detriot in the rear, and I don't think I would get anything different. ARB air locker would be more convenient, but more costly and more items to fail. |
M. K. Watson (Lrover94)
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 03:11 pm: |
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A-ron, hook up with some competent drivers (regardless of the truck they drive) and get the damn thing dirty. then as you progress you will see that it does need a lil help here and there and before long you will have a second mortgage, and a lot of stuff in your garage that either broke or just ended it being thrown thru Kyle's window because it didnt work. as it has been pointed out everyone has an idea as to what works for them, it may or may not be what you want for your style of driving. also (not knowing your driving background) enlist in some driving courses, you will learn what your car can and cant do and you will have a bit of fun as you go.
imho
mike w |
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