LandRover

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I had a great day out on Sunday with the Solent and District Land Rover Club (with the SHIRE Land Rover Club) at a “play site” called “Brick Kiln Farm”, just outside Alton in Hampshire. Unfortunately after an entire 20 minutes my own vehicle decided it didn’t really want to do four-wheel-drive any more with the centre diff-lock not able to be engaged, which in this mud meant the end of my fun. However every cloud has a silver lining, and this opportunity permitted me to watch other folks break their trucks while I snapped away. ...

January 30th saw me head out West early on a dark Saturday morning to South Moulton, which is not too far from Barnstable in Devon, to meet members of the Defender2.net. Great set of enthusiasts to spend a morning with, especially when given cups of tea and sausage rolls from Liz and Simon, the owners of D44. Romadog’s v8 110 was the highlight for me - just what I am after. It did however take him 10 years to build, which is a lot longer than I want to spend! ...

Another fantastic trip with Yorkshire 4x4 Specialists, this time to Wales based around Dolgellau. The weather offered up an extra treat - snow overnight!

Having upgraded the wheels to an Italian made 8" wide Mach 5 alloy, shod in BFGoodrich’s excellent KM2 (285/75R16), I next had the problem of working out how to avoid the tyres from rubbing on the wheel arches under articulation. After lengthy research, I settled on a Gwyn Lewis supplied 2" lift kit. Not wanting to regret skimping on parts later, I went for the whole hog, including castor corrected front radius arms (hockey sticks) and double cardon prop-shafts: ...

My second year at the Peterborough Land Rover show, and this time with added sun! At 290 miles for a round trip, its pushing the limits of what I can do in a day while remaining focused behind the wheel, but for buying bits I don’t think the UK has a better event. I’ll just have to move further North… Land Rovers on the Land Rover stand were all immaculate, including this transporter. ...

To smarten up my vehicle, I decided to order a set of 5 Mach 5 alloy wheels from Devon 4x4, complete with BF Goodrich KM2 mud terrain tyres in 285/75R16 size (33"). Before starting… The new tyre is a good inch taller than the previous BF Goodrich KO 265/75/R16.

In the (planned) final year of production of the Land Rover Defender, I with my Father attended a Solihull factory tour of the production of the Defender. So early in the morning we set off to arrive at a large car manufacturing site, with a lengthy set of instructions where to go to find the tour site. Photography was limited within the building to a ‘celebration’ room, a temporary construction built in the middle of the factory floor, where we dressed up in period attire and saw the new with the old. ...