Just general off-roading. At like pay and plays, rock terrain, mud terrain. Wading ect. Just want to know what I should buy to prolong the life of all the mechanical bits and the jeep itself
ok, that is still a little vague. In the UK as a rule we don't have much in the way of rock climbing, certainly not in the same way you'd get in Western USA. We also are a little short on swamps too. Terrain can vary across the country, but most often it is muddy, rutted grassy terrain and quite slippery.
Is there a particular region or Pay & Play sight in particular? I only ask, as you could tailor a setup to a particular ground condition more so.
Water wading is a tough one, often very hard on a vehicle such as starter motors, water inside the interior, alternators and a host of other water ingress issues such as the axles and transmission. High ground clearance can be good here. e.g.
American style mud trucks:
You see something similar with other vehicles design for wading:
But ultimately it restricts what else they can do off road. Swamp vehicles follow a similar design quite often:
Although low ground pressure vehicles such as driving on peat or similar can look quite different:
Or use ballon tyres or multiple sets of wheels:
The above are all extremes. But demonstrate how vehicles can specialise in a certain terrain. But this will often make them compromised in other conditions.
A D2 is a capable platform, although many have no centre differential and rely fully on the traction control. Fitting a centre diff would be a good upgrade for heavy off road use. And ensuring the traction control is working correctly.
Upgrading the axle diff centres to an ATB will make them stronger and make the traction control even more effective. Or you could even look at full lockers, just bear in mind you can't normally run with lockers engaged all the time, as you'll end up with no real steering.
The biggest issue with a D2 is the bulk of the body compared to smaller 4x4's. There is a lot of metal and trim with a long rear overhang and reasonable front overhang. The stock tyres are also small for the wheelbase, reducing breakover angle.
So bigger tyres are indeed a good idea. I'd say 33's are good happy size for improvements everywhere. Bigger and you are likely to end up with more driveline breakages, although it will depend how you drive to some extent. Ashcroft Transmissions offer a number of axle upgrade bits, but it can get pricey.
Bigger tyres will also impact gearing, I don't know if you drive on road, but something to bear in mind with a Td5 auto. More power might help, so consider power upgrades, but you may want to focus on mid range torque as opposed to high rpm power. As you'll want the power available at the right sort of rpm for the condition of the terrain.
Off road tall tyres will knacker your low 1st crawl ratio too. Meaning you won't be able to go as slow, have less control and less engine braking. So you may need to re-gear to a different diff ratio or do something with the transfer box. This can be done as part of axle upgrades, but again it gets very pricey very quickly!
D2 suspension is pretty good from the factory. Although off road if you can keep the wheels on the ground the better. So as a general rule increasing the travel of the suspension is what you are after. Many lifts will actually reduce travel and may set a vehicle up in a way that it is less willing to flex its suspension.
I recall a trials event a few years back. Young lad turned up with a lifted D2 on something like 33-34" tyres and HD lifted suspension. Don't get me wrong, it looked kinda cool and had lots of ground clearance. But the slightest bump and it was lifting wheels off the ground and was frankly pretty crap off road and couldn't go places a 100% standard vehicle could go.
With road vehicles it is the bodywork that gets in the way a lot of the time. A body lift sort of works, but can make a vehicle look odd and often requires hacks to other components like steering, gear levers, coolant pipes and the like.
If you are prepared to hack the arches and or body up, you can usually fit much larger tyres and retain or increase full suspension travel too.
A suspension lift can be ok too, but as said, off road it is usually more about suspension travel. Bigger tyres will give you more clearance. Although a suspension lift should lift the chassis and components up, improving breakover, departure & approach angles too. It just shouldn't be at the compromise of flex. However, when you lift a vehicle, you change the caster of the axles which can impact how the vehicle steers and drives on the road. Also lifting introduces some funky and unwanted driveline angles.
Instead of hacking the body, you could look at fitting a spaceframe. Plenty of room for bigger tyres and lots of improvements off road, but obviously a downgrade for road use.
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