Newbie help - P38A minor off-road prep

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Just about done and going to take him on his maiden voyage this weekend to Kirton. Got me Grabber 2's on, new battery, removed the steps and front spoiler and fixed the dodgy washer/wiper problem. Apart from perhaps getting a different set of crash cans fitted at some later date (with recovery point) and getting some rock sliders just in case, that's me done. My son did put a sticker of a scorpion on my tailgate that he got from Halfords and an England football sticker as well, just for good luck, so I'm hoping they will get me through Saturday.

Many thanks for your help everyone. Much appreciated.

P.S. Sold the steps to a guy from Manchester in the end.
 
TYRES ! Nothing else matters quite as much as tyres. All wheel drive, traction control, massive axle articulations are all pointless if your wheels slip! If only using your P38 on the road occasionly then go for aggresive patterned tyres; If not intending long m-way bashes then maybe remoulds will be ok. (and you won`t feel so bad if they need replacing because of rock cuts). The P38 will accept 245/75X16 without any mods. This size will give you 1" more under your difs. Larger sizes can be fitted but may require modding mud-flaps, arches etc. The 245/75 X16 size will `just kiss` the inner arches on full articulation but I`ve found no problems with this size. (speedo will read about 10% slow tho` so be careful).
 
Cheers for the advice. I agree. Pound for pound I think tyres are probably the best thing to go for. If/when my Grabbers meet their maker I might save up and get a set of BF Goodrich MTs.

Having said that the Grabbers did a superb job today and didn't let me down once. It was quite dry and dusty this morning at Kirton TOR but by late afternoon there was a reasonable covering of slickness on some of the slopes due to the usual drizzle. My TC light came on a couple of times but my Rangey managed to keep up with the big boys with their colossus tyres. Having said that, I wasn't daft enough to try some things though so I'm hoping that in future a combination of a smidgen of noggin and a little bit of help from the Grabbers will mean I'll be able to do most things I want to do.

I was watching a Cherokee charging up and down a few of the slopes and was just really starting to admire the guy's confidence and skill but then, sadly, there was a painfully slow and agonising roll-over which kind of spoiled the whole effect. Still, it was impressive but I think all things considered, a dollop of sense is sometimes a much better substitute for off road gadgets and kit. It did make for some superb photo opportunities though and life wouldn't be anywhere near as fun if there wasn't someone stranded up to their roof lining in water and mud. Here's to the crazy people that make life interesting.
 
Q: When you say you`ve removed the `front spoiler` do you mean the strip below the bumper or the complete bumper & fairing? I can`t quite picture what you mean.
 
Sorry Hoody. I didn't hear anything so popped them on Ebay to see what would happen and they sold straight away. The guy picked them up today.

Yeah, I meant the strip below the bumper. I figured every little helps. As far as I can see there's no where from the front to be pulled out with so I was thinking of swapping out the front bumper with something a little sturdier, ideally with a recovery point at some point. Until then I'll just try to stay out of trouble.
 

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OK. I've got to the point where the recovery points are going to possibly come in handy. However, looking around it seems it's not as straight forward as you'd hope on a P38. I'm trying to look surprised honest. Why would Land Rover think for a moment that someone might want to pull a RR out of the mud?

Thoughts at the moment are to fit a different front bumper with has them on, but even that's not too straight forward either and has other side effects. The bumper wouldn't be too bad but most assume a winch and I'm not going to be fitting a winch to it and I don't want a weird gaping hole in the middle of the bumper filling up with mud every 5 minutes, or just sitting there empty for that matter.

Anyone else either fitted a couple of points or know of anyone who has? Ideas?
 
Keep your OEM bumper and fit a front hitch receiver behind it.
Add a D-shacke or a portable winch when you need it.
You'll only need to cut a 2 inch square on the bumper and move the license plate a little bit.
 
Excellent. Thx Turbo. I'm going to Famous 4 in Louth soon so I'll see what they say. I really don't want to fit a new bumper if it can be avoided if the only ones with recovery points also have giant spaces for a winch. The recovery point on the Jeep looks very neat indeed. I'll keep you posted.
 
Well I went to have a few bits and bobs done today (gearbox oil and a K&N air filter) but not a recovery point sadly. They say they can fit one by cutting some holes in the front bumper and welding something, I assume to the chassis. Either that or fitting a winch receiver and then they can have the recovery points on that. How very annoying.

It seems taking a P38 onto the rough stuff never occurred to LR for some reason. I know everyone seems to curl their lip slightly at the P38 but I really don't know why. I've had it at Kirton for a test run and it did everything that I pointed it at without complaint and all I've done is change the tyres. I dare say it might have problems following a Defender into some particularly nasty places but given that I'm unlikely to want to go there either, let alone my car, it should do me nicely. I just wish there was a more straight forward way of attaching some rings. I'm going to have to get the points on there somehow as the tow eye on the front probably isn't going to be much good when it bellys out somewhere deep and smelly.

Time to start looking at a Plan B me thinks.
 
I know where you are coming from, I've replaced my old 110 and want to be able to do what it did and am running into the same problem. Goes well on Grabber AT2's full of tools and tractor bits for round the farm but would like to fit my winch/recovery points as well, after all it's a Landrover and has to work for a living :)
 
Let's hope it's early summer Turbo. I'm a bit miffed at the thought of having to butcher my nose just to fit some recovery points on a pukka off road car. It's crazy. What were LR thinking? I know probably 99.95% of RR buyers will never take their car off road, but the fact is they could. And if they did and got stuck they'd be stuffed cos no one would be able to pull them out again. When you say "commercial version" what do you mean? Some sort of mounting bracket that will work with the OEM bumper or a new bumper with recovery points all together?

I'm trying to resist getting a winch. In reality I will probably get very little use from it (shocking I know) but I would like to at least stand a chance of escaping certain doom and providing someone wlse the fun of lugging me out. That's the beauty of off road events. Everyone is driving round praying to find some poor soul stuck in the goop so that they can leap to the rescue. Best they'd be able to do with me is wave back as I sink below the surface.

Incidentally Steve, I think the Grabber 2s are superb. I've been very pleased with them and they are pretty reasonable on road too. Even in the wet. I would have gone for the Goodrich MTs if they'd been available but I can never wait for anything and of course the Generals were a lot cheaper too. maybe I'll regret it in some seriously sticky situation but I'll live with that. IF I could get a recovery point of course. Here's hoping.
 
Happy Pappy said:
Let's hope it's early summer Turbo. I'm a bit miffed at the thought of having to butcher my nose just to fit some recovery points on a pukka off road car. It's crazy. What were LR thinking? I know probably 99.95% of RR buyers will never take their car off road, but the fact is they could. And if they did and got stuck they'd be stuffed cos no one would be able to pull them out again. When you say "commercial version" what do you mean? Some sort of mounting bracket that will work with the OEM bumper or a new bumper with recovery points all together?

I'm trying to resist getting a winch. In reality I will probably get very little use from it (shocking I know) but I would like to at least stand a chance of escaping certain doom and providing someone wlse the fun of lugging me out. That's the beauty of off road events. Everyone is driving round praying to find some poor soul stuck in the goop so that they can leap to the rescue. Best they'd be able to do with me is wave back as I sink below the surface.

Incidentally Steve, I think the Grabber 2s are superb. I've been very pleased with them and they are pretty reasonable on road too. Even in the wet. I would have gone for the Goodrich MTs if they'd been available but I can never wait for anything and of course the Generals were a lot cheaper too. maybe I'll regret it in some seriously sticky situation but I'll live with that. IF I could get a recovery point of course. Here's hoping.
Click to expand...

I didn't think anyone did a winch bumper for the P38 and the oem ones are like gold dust.

A few of us are interested in this subject so do keep us posted on anything you come up with.

Guy
 
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