Considering A-Bar...

[schafari]

Cool Houm, I am glad you like your A-Frame bar. Now Matt has your opinion and has mine. We should be all set on that. Not sure what you mean about "seeking out scratches and purposely try to damage my vehicle." I have the stock Good Year tire on mine. I think there was one place where I could have gotten stuck, wet Texas clay under about six inches of standing water, in a rutted pool about 25 yards long. Slide the front two tires into it stopping. It was more slippery than ice. If I put all four shoes of any vehicle in it, I would likely have gotten stuck.

At that point, I would have loved to have that A-Frame with winch.

I don't believe the surface the vehicle is traveling on has anything to do with the break in period. Watch the revs, ( I didn't go over 3k except for a couple of quick minimal load times) no hard braking, no single speeds for long periods of time, etc. A two track or a hill is really no different than the road at the mall for breaking in a motor and associated equipment.

(By the way Houm, I am not sure if you re-read your posts, but sometimes your words take on a kind of snippy tone. I have this problem to. Some things that would sound as nice as can be over a beer at a pub, simply don't sound as fine in a post.)

 

[Freeflytim]

Or do like me, I loved the D3 so much I bought a D1 for a trail truck.

 

[roverman]

Nevermind the fact that you have a radar in your SUV. That's just silly...if you want to drive fast, buy a sports car.

Also, your concern for how rigid the brushbar is amuses me. Do you actually take your LR3 offroad? (I do on occasion but I am no means a pure offroader) If so, do you intend to knock over Redwoods with it?

It was this snip-itude that started me going. Personally, I would only buy a push bar if I knew it would push things. JMHO

 

[Houm_WA]

schafari, thanks for the info. I could see how I could come across as stand-offish. I didn't really mean to be, at least not to you.

roverman, you accused all accessory-owners of being posers who are trying to impress high school kids (my paraphrase) so I'm not sure you have a right to point out any snippy comments...however you do point out that you were engaging in the snip-fest almost intentionally, so...whatever.

I'm over it.

We can all do whatever we want. As I said before, I bought the A-frame because I really liked the way it looks and it could help for minor scrapes and stuff. I'm not going to drive through any houses or anything like that...

Also, on my former car (a '97 Montero that ran like a tank !) there were a lot of little chips and such in the paint right in the front curve of the hood. The A-frame can protect this part of the car from these types of blemishes. The roads in WA suck so this is an issue. Of course to the sides of the A-frame will be susceptible, but whatever.

Now, back to what Schafari was saying about the clay and stuff, that is interesting. So, in your other off-road adventures did you encounter much wet stuff (mud) ? I've noticed that with the Goodyear tires the tread pattern just gets full of mud very quickly and soon you just have "slicks" that spin a lot. I was driving in some open field in Oregon after like 4 or 5 straight days of rain and the grass in this un-developed field gave way to mud quickly. There was one area that I kept driving through because there was a little depression, and it was sort of fun. Well, by the time I was done digging through that depression it had become a bit of a sink-hole. The driver's-side front tire was stuck in this hole (up to the hub) and my side-steps were nearly touching the ground on my side. The other side was showing a lot of suspension travel as the wheels were on a higher elevation patch of earth. There was lots of mud, and I couldn't get out no matter what I tried. It was careless of me to get in there, and to be fair, I think most vehicles would get stuck if they drove in there the way I did....even the rear locker didn't help.

Then I got a suspension fault (after I got out, with some help from my brother's pickup and some rope!).

One thing I do like a lot is that on muddy trails, all the systems engage such as to keep this vehicle moving in the direction it's pointed.

 

[Freeflytim]

A 'clear bra' will also protect the hood and Side Steps will be destroyed the first time they meet a rock... they are not sliders.

Did your fault clear after a reboot?? If it did I don't count it as a fault. Only faults that dont clear count. I get faults going thru the car wash that are cleared on reboot.

You'll find that muddin' isn't cool. Its so amatuer. In both of my trucks with the guys I 'wheel with (2 Land Rover clubs) we avoid mud. Land Rovers are about technical stuff. Stuff where your buddy in another truck spots you on a radio over something you can't believe you cleared w/o touching a bit of aluminium. Leave the mud to the dudes in lifted Samaris.

 

[Houm_WA]

Tim, that is interesting insight....but it seems that up here in the PAC NW it's pretty hard to avoid mud completely and a truck ought to be able to at least handle some mud and not have to turn away from it. Mud "bogs" on the other hand, or going out in the mud just to go out in the mud may indeed be amatuer.

...What I've seen of Rover off-roading is consistent with what you are saying. I'm just cool that the LR3 is great to go camping in and tailgating from...those are my main needs.

I'm not a big fan of bras....and the side steps are mainly for the look and for access. I don't think anyone ever confused them for sliders.

My fault did clear after a re-boot but that doesn't lessen its signficance in my mind. In fact, in some cases the fault caused special programs to be unavailable from Terrain Response. Now, imagine that happened while you really needed Rock Crawl mode...do you really want to turn your car off mid-climb and "re-boot?" I'd guess not. That said, a fault is a fault whether it's amber and clears or not. The system should function the way it was designed to function. So, I respectfully dismiss your notion of an amber fault not counting.

 

[schafari]

Mud in Texas is not really mud. It is evil vicious stuff that is stickier than the stuff that comes out of your newborn baby's bottom just after birth. That dark black tar sticky stuff. (dads, you know what I am talking about.)

Puddles and wet two tracks is one thing. If however you are driving through muddy ruts and slinging all along the wheel wells and underside of the truck, I firmly believe you will never get it cleaned up. (Again, TX mud.) I spent the better part of an hour trying to get the little bit off that I got on the two front wheels as they slide into a mud gulch. It is slippery wet clay. And what does clay do when it dries. . . In TX, we avoid the mud.

I have climbed up a 40+ degree incline with no wheel slippage on wet grass/weeds/sticks/rocks. My friends dura max diesel with knobby tires was spinning all four tires. He had purpose off road/on road tires.

(I rather leave the bras off most things. . .)

 

[JohnKel]

Mud in Texas is not really mud. It is evil vicious stuff that is stickier than the stuff that comes out of your newborn baby's bottom just after birth. That dark black tar sticky stuff. (dads, you know what I am talking about.)

Puddles and wet two tracks is one thing. If however you are driving through muddy ruts and slinging all along the wheel wells and underside of the truck, I firmly believe you will never get it cleaned up. (Again, TX mud.) I spent the better part of an hour trying to get the little bit off that I got on the two front wheels as they slide into a mud gulch. It is slippery wet clay. And what does clay do when it dries. . . In TX, we avoid the mud.

I have climbed up a 40+ degree incline with no wheel slippage on wet grass/weeds/sticks/rocks. My friends dura max diesel with knobby tires was spinning all four tires. He had purpose off road/on road tires.

(I rather leave the bras off most things. . .)

ROFLMAO now thats the best discription of of Texas mud/clay I have ever seen and, yes I know what you mean

??? what settings did you use on that incline...just curious My guess snow. TIA
Cheers,
John a displaced Texan in NE Ohio

 

[schafari]

For the incline, I was in rock crawl mode. If I understand it correctly, this gave me the most throttle articulation possible. (Lots of pedal travel possible per actual change in throttle) I had it in low range with off-road height selected and HDC on.

The incline was rutted and the break over was quite drastic. Same with the bottom. It was basically a wash out basin. Think of an empty (dry) pond withe somewhat steep short walls. It is absolutely amazing what a good 4x4 can do.

 

[Matt_Grim2]

Thank you both for all your help, i will let you know what i decide, i just wish there were pics...