Archives for posts with tag: offroad

This two-part video from YouTube channel LROR (Let’s Roll Off Road) shows two Pinzgauer 712 6x6s, two Land Rover Defenders, and a modified Suzuki Jimny tackling rough terrain on Mt Airy, northwest of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.

It’s interesting to see how four-wheel drive compares to six-wheel drive over the same obstacles. Having six driven wheels doesn’t automatically make the Pinzgauers invincible but they can clear some ledges that the 4x4s just can’t muster. Lots of great footage here shot in beautiful, scenic country.

Read more to see Part 2. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not every day that you see a Porsche 924 built for overlanding but this is just that. Mods include a 40 mm lift, 500 watts of lights, roof rack, custom MaxTrax holders, and, the piece de resistance, a custom sleeping setup for two complete with a Webasto cabin heater. Amazing! What a build! And it looks the business to boot.

 

Land Rover just released the new 2020 Defender. It has some amazing features, like a display setting that shows the vehicle’s front wheels driving over the actual terrain outside while rendering the vehicle itself invisible. That’s seems like a truly handy feature for picking your way through difficult terrain. It also has some odd features like a body-colored square in the middle of the rear window of the new Defender 90 that seems to have no other purpose than creating a huge blind spot.

The previous generation of the Defender went 33 years without a major redesign. I’m not smitten by the look of the new generation but have a look for yourself in these twin videos that appear to be taken at them same press event. Even the walk-ons by the hosts, one, Richard Hammond for Drive Tribe, the other, Henry Catchpole for Carfection, are basically the same. Funny.

The second video appears after the jump. Hat tip to my good friend Greg McDonald for calling this one in! Read the rest of this entry »

Every once in while I like checking out the scratch-built R/C cars in Headquake’s scale off-road adventure videos. The above features a Jeep CJ5. The one after the jump features a custom rock crawler. They’re just superb. 

Read the rest of this entry »

In this video the Australian guys from All 4 Adventure show off the mods to their Toyota Land Cruiser 200-Series ute, which include front and rear winches, extra lithium batteries, bumpers, lights, air compressors, an updated electrical system and suspension, and some cool storage solutions.

These guys were involved in a recovery rollover a while back while trying to get a truck out from a rising tide. The video is quite hairy and is a good illustration of how problems can compound, if you’re not careful. It’s worth a watch.

Link:
Recovery Goes Seriously Wrong

1201or-05+off-road-readers-rides-january-2012+1987-toyota-pickup-2wd-off-roading

On a recent trip, my friend Greg and I figured out something interesting about driving over bumps. If you preload the suspension by briefly applying the brake right before the bump, and then get on the throttle to power over the bump, it really smooths things out and makes the bump less jarring. Motorcyclists will know this move well.

Briefly braking right before the bump compresses the suspension. This is called “preloading.” Then immediately getting on the throttle, as the front tires go over the bump, shifts the weight towards the back of the truck. This lightens the front end and the front suspension rebounds, helping to lift the front tires over the bump. Moving the weight toward the back also preloads the rear suspension. Keeping the throttle on as the rear tires go over the bump keeps the rear suspension taught. This is what you want, as an unloaded rear suspension would otherwise rebound as the rear tires clear the bump causing and uncomfortable bucking motion.

The above picture oversells it a bit. This doesn’t have to be a wheels-in-the-air maneuver. Just shifting the weight a bit is enough to make a difference.

Give it a try the next time you’re out on the trail and encounter a berm or some other relatively smooth obstacle. I bet you’ll notice a difference.

Happy New Year! If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to become a better off-road rider, I have something for you to watch.

This South African enduro riding skills video shows a ton of techniques: how to hill climb, how to preload the suspension to get over obstacles, even how to scale a 6 or 8-foot vertical wall and get up a double ledge. It’s amazing to see just how smoothly these insurmountable-looking obstacles can be conquered.

Sometimes the video is frustrating, however: the announcer stands between the rider and the camera, blocking the line of sight; sometimes he says body position is important but doesn’t say what exactly that position is; sometimes the background melts like a Dali painting. The slow-motion parts, however, are really helpful. In them, you can see exactly how the riders lean, finesse, and transfer their weight to use their bikes’ power and suspension to get over almost anything. Overall the video displays some truly skilled riding.

The video I’m featuring compiles clips from the Offroad Fanatic YouTube channel, which shows techniques on adventure riding and has bike reviews as well. Well worth a look.

Link:
Offroad Fanatic YouTube channel

4x4-driving

I recently added Four-by-four driving to my book collection. If you’re not already familiar with previous editions, they’re classics in 4×4 circles. The newly revised 3rd. edition was released this year.

The book starts by defining the basics 4×4 systems in plain, conversational language: differentials, the basic types of 4-wheel-drive systems, and then goes into detail describing the different systems used by 12 different manufacturers—including (in this edition) makers of “soft roaders,” i.e., Freelanders, Rav4s and the like. This is extremely handy for slicing through marketing jargon. What does Quadra Track or 4-matic really mean? This book tells you.

The book then goes into off-road driving techniques for various types of terrain, addresses recovery, advanced techniques, expedition basics, and finishes with how to load a truck.

It’s informative, well-photographed and well-illustrated. My only criticism is that sections of the book, and page numbers, are both numbered in a decimal format (i.e., 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 for chapter 1; 2.1, 2.2 for chapter 2 and so on) and Section 7.2 isn’t on page 7.2, for example, which can get confusing because the book frequently references other parts of the text. Was that Section 7.2 or page 7.2?

That said, it looks like quite a good “do it all” book, explaining both how our rigs work and how to use them. New copies are available solely through Desert Winds Publishing.

Links:
4×4 Driving from Desert Winds Publishing
Jonathan Hanson’s full review of the 2nd. edition, on Overland Tech & Travel

This film from the 1960s shows the then popular sport of motorcycle scrambling, which eventually would turn into enduro. It’s a fun little film.