I have an ARB locking rear differential on my D90 and it is probably my favorite modification. It allows me to drive extremely slow in tricky situations and not need momentum to get through. If you ever make it to Oregon I would love to meet up and show you my Defender and see yours.
Absolutely I think lockers definitely have their place for serious offroad but not so much on an international overland trip. Can't wait to hit North America ❤️
Ashcroft ATB's front and rear coupled with the traction control give you a pretty good setup. Plus they're doing their job 100% of the time. Thats what I've got in mine
Thanks for all the advice. We started on an Australian adventure in 1996 with a 1985 LR County V8 - when fuel was still cheap. Best mod we did was a Maxi-drive diff lock on only the rear axle. During the trip of 4 years we used it a few times but on our subtropical remote property ... well maybe not every week but very often it saved our days. Second best was installing the best seats money could buy. We choose Recaros with fabulous comfort. As if driving a new modern ... ehhh ... Range Rover ?! I had some spotties on the roofrack - often handy but really needed ... No ! The standard headlights with modern LED globes .. I think that would have been enough. No need to dress a car like a christmas tree. A very basic accessory: those rubber 'floor buckets' over the what ever floor covering. Dirty muddy boots ? : no problem every now and then take those buckets out - tip upside down and contine - no endless cleaning out the floor . Oh and almost forgot - an electric winch ... I agree : not needed , just a good (Tirfor) handwinch will be so much more efficient, I used it very often - good workout as a bonus . Cheers !
Ah... I miss my Landy...! From someone who has rolled a Defender, the cage is a must! But better avoiding those situations where you risk rolling in the first place... ;-)
About lift kit...Andrew St.Pierre White does not recommend lift kit nor does Paul Marsh...as it effects stability therefore reliability ....thoughts on their opinion?not tryin to be armchair warrior..just asking for opinion of people who actually know what are they doing ....tnx... my weapon of choice will be dacia duster or in some countrys renault duster...mostly financial reasons... who cares what car do you have..as long as it get you out there...peace and safe trails
Very nice video. It would be hard to disagree with you as you are living the life and I kind of did decades back. I was offroad in a farm most of the time for a few years and lived in vehicles and tents but not in other countries. When I did LED lights for tail lights etc I left an old bulb hooked up with the new LED it had room and it provides heat in winter, my headlights get hot enough by unplugging the fan they have in winter. I wondered why you had rhubarb instead of a bull bar? LOL I know kangaroo stew bar. Glad you are doing well and got extended, Since much of the world is going through the respike except Sweden it seems. You should check out Svalbard sometime but now it is dark there for 4 months. Stay safe and healthy and boxers give the boys room to breath.
This is great common sense analysis of the gear that is needed for an overland journey. It largely tracks with other good advice from folks like "The Road Chose Me".
Agree 100% Leigh with petty much most of what you said, things like a 2inch lift are great as you get the extra clearance but aren’t sacrificing handling that would happen if you went for 4in for example !
Great video, I will build my own Overlander-VAN this winter for some adventures in the future...... keep up the good work and enjoy your never ending travels over the world!!
Gud Day! All great info. I definitely need an aux fuel tank! Good tip on the LED lights in cold weather. I just changed the factory bulbs out recently to LED and they work awesome. Yellow to white! I lived in Alaska before but the heat of a normal bulb didn't occur to me. Have to remember that in cold weather. When I changed wheels and tires- from factory steel with 27" tires to aluminum with 30" tires the weight was only 1lb/.5kg more. No doubt that the aluminum wheels are much stronger than the steels.
As someone who travelled Europe to Central Asia in a Defender I 100% agree with you. Things to point out, if there is one special equipment I would recommend is air compressor, don't go without it!
One secret advantage of a good heavy-duty bull bar is to use as a mounting point for full jerry-cans and other heavy kit if you are too tail-heavy on soft sand, "chott" salt-lake crust or snow - if you're desperate to even out the weight distribution per wheel every kilo placed out well up front helps and as an advantage it's lower down than the roof or bonnet lid. This is sometimes seen on Unimogs and similar larger vehicles (it also works disproportionately well for overloaded short-wheelbase work vehicles like 90s especially if a heavy rear load is hanging out the back) It works similarly to a tractor weight front and so is very helpful when towing or other slow-moving high-torque situations like steep hillclimbing on gravel, dirt or stones. The difference is you definitely don't want to block your winch or rad so avoid the centre position. Whatever you fit to the bars it must be VERY well secured or you'll simply lose it in a place you *really* don't want to go back to.This is where some planning and prep at home is needed - one of the best ways is to use a clamp-on basket with something like scaffolding clamps to secure it - you need very heavy duty attachments! I would always use a safety rope too just in case something comes loose. Finally, if you mount stuff like this try to arrange it so you can see it is still there from the the driving position over the bonnet! This is usually easy because you don't want to affect your approach angle by mounting stuff too low. There's not a lot of items you can mount out front like this so give careful thought to what you attempt to mount - it should be smaller heavy items only. It's more of an expedition thing than live-aboard overlanding and you can easily look like Mad Max if you overdo it. It can also be a perfect place to catch bushes and is a pain in the jungle. Note that carrying gear like this is often illegal for on-road use in many countries and not just because it can block the lights. Watch out you don't block the air through the rad though and this is where a larger, more protruding bar really helps. Keep the kit more to the sides if you can - it's surprising how easy it is to block free airflow and you don't want to have to stop every 5 minutes and park into the wind with the bonnet up to cool down. Been there, done that. Intercooled vehicles are especially prone to airflow problems because they get hotter under the hood than plain old clunkers or blowers. This is a very rare advantage so don't go overboard - I'm only really mentioning it for completeness in case anyone is regularly losing flotation or traction on the back end. Better to have good weight balance in the first place and not have to resort to this.
9:55 Ice forming on your LED's. Yes, same problem here. I love my LED lights but taking high roads in the winter at night when a blizzard hits.. all of a sudden you notice it getting darker and darker. I still haven't found a good solution for this.. Maybe a brainstorming session with Gak is in order..
12V or 24V industrial heating tape used for warming pipework to prevent freezing only works at walking speed and in zero wind. Tried that, not so good. Spraying WD40 or GT85 over the lights helps a little but maybe can attack the plastic over time ? - no problems yet though. Watch out for yellowing of lenses if you try this. Rounded-front lenses seem to catch less ice than flat-fronted bars. Not found a good solution other than stopping regularly and brushing off with a stuff brush before it builds up. I wonder is aircraft de-icing fluid would work - it's quite thick/not so runny.
@@scrapdaddyron I didn't know that thank you so much 🙏 Although we do try to avoid the snow as much as possible we always seem to find ourselves in harsh winters. Could well be the case again this year in Japan 😜🇯🇵
great video Leigh - always enjoy the Defender updates. Some very nice upgrades which seem to upgrade the standard performance, that don‘t go overboard, and seem easy to live with.
By the way, those drone shots are just spectacular! I wish you made a video consisting of only the drone shots, especially those from the middle east/asia. Best of luck to you both! Cheers!
We did make a few drone only videos. One is Kyrgyzstan another Australia 😉 You can find them on our channel. You're right though we need to do more drone only videos. We have so much awesome unused drone footage from our 4 years on the road.
There's the saying "prepare for the worst, hope for the best". Given winch is cheap and you are adding bumper anyway, you may aswell stick one on. Synthetic line will reduce weight somewhat.
GREAT stuff dude.....I trust the insights because you and Frenchie are LIVING it! I LOVE your rig Leigh. One question: Solar panel; would you add more?; regrets?
Love your channel! A couple of questions for you. My brother lives in Townsville, QLD and because of that I’ve been able to buy a good quality Defender 130 and bring it to the US. I was wondering about your choice of wheels. Was your 130 an Aussie Defender? I know that my Defender 130 came with the white 16 inch steel rims. I have put Falcon Wildpeak M/T tires and I love the functionality of that size tire and the capabilities with the narrower tire. BUT, I do like the looks of a wider tire. Did you buy your new wheels in AU because the Aussie 5.5 bolt pattern is unique. Did you have to buy custom wheels or did you use some sort of flange that allowed you to mate a non-Aussie wheel to your Aussie Defender 5.5 bolt pattern?
Very interesting question and something I did not know... We bought our Defender in Germany and made all modifications in France so I'm sorry I can't help with any relevant information on your question. I will mention that I wouldn't do an international trip in a RHD vehicle due to the fact there are some countries in the world that driving a RHD vehicle is illegal. LHD is ok in all countries.
Definitely our talented frenchie needs a rest. Imagine creating Bear again with all this day to day knowledge, could be like a little Unimog. Greetings from the other side of the world. ¡PURA VIDA!
Excellent video, Leigh, thanks for the very honest tips. Beware that upgrading to performance braking leads you to replace your pads and stuff more often, but it's sure worth a go with a heavy overlanding vehicle like yours
Merci Françoise Nice to hear from you and thank you for the advice. I didn't know that and will definitely think about it when it's time to replace the discs 😉
I am following your channel since the beginning and watched each single video. As a result of this, we now bought our own overlander vehical. It is a Bremach T-Rex and we can‘t wait until the borders open again. Keep going and stay healthy. Thank’s a lot and greetings from Switzerland 😃
much as i love the traditional Land rover, I suspect there would be reliability problems I don't need. Reluctantly Toyota for me. I do wonder though, why Toyota offload and overland vehicles have gloss paint. who wants to go bush with shiny gloss paint?
All vehicles breakdown. You should get what you find pleasing. In my case I do prefer Land Rover, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use a Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, G-wagen, Lada, Pinzguar, Volvo, VW, or any military surplus.
@@alanbstard4 and water is wet, neither statement change the point, which is any vehicle can fail catastrophically, most can limp along with many problems if you know basic repair procedures. Even the brands with the best reliability ratings are only marginally more so than the so called less reliable brands.
@@jdenmark1287 but you choose the vehicle less likely to fail. " You say " if you know basic repair " My whole point is wanting a car less likely to fail when I'm in a dangerous situation, such as extreme heat, dangerous animals. Yes any car can fail, but I'll take what is from the world;s experience, the car less likely too. I'll go on reputation
@@alanbstard4 I’m not trying to convince you to go with a Land Rover or not use a Toyota, just that there aren’t any guarantees in life other than if something can go wrong it probably will at some point. What really fails most of the time is our preparation for things going badly. That and human errors. If your opinion is that Toyota is more reliable and your concept of reliability is important to you, than embrace the Toyota, the Land Rover isn’t any more or less capable. In my neck of the woods tens of thousands of Toyota trucks were recalled because of catastrophic frame failures due to premature rusting. Hundreds of thousands of Toyota cars were recalled for sticking throttles, and a similar number of Honda’s and Toyota’s were recalled for catastrophic airbag failures. My wife’s brand new Nissan Rogue has $6,000 of damage done to it when in one night a rat decided to eat through four wire harnesses. All because they used a soy bean based rubber for insulating the wires. It stranded her another time because the battery died while she was driving. When I bought a replacement for $300 the car store clerk said that was the tenth time that week he had sold a battery to people with new Toyotas , Nissan or Honda. Reputation isn’t a substitute for preventative maintenance.
Hi mate, do you carry a hi-lift jack and if so have you ever used it? I have one but thinking of getting rid of it as I’ve never used it and it’s so heavy. But just trying to think of those situations when I might not be able to do without one.
We carried a high lift for years around Australia. I swapped it out for an exhaust jack a long time ago. Exhaust jacks are amazing. They are lighter, much safer, can be used in many situations a high lift can't. The only thing is you can't winch with an exhaust jack like you can with a high lift. We have a winch so that wasn't a concern.
Cheers, well thought out, great explanation, and insightful assessment of modifications. Intelligent set up on the suspension, remote reservoirs for the shocks will iron out corrugated roads. As you found out, a lot of running gear parts are interchangeable between the defender, disco 1 and rr classic. The axles on Land Rovers are basically Dana axles so you can interchange parts with Dana 60’s for the rear, and upgrade to a Dana 60 for the front.
Thanks for this, a lot of invaluable insight and experience here. Doing a gearbox swap(and a few other things) to mine and this gave me a few more ideas now that it's already being taken apart.
Hi Leigh, great video, as I am slowly turning my 110 into an overlander I have taken some great points from your very valid expierience - love your videos and your time in Japan has been an incredible journey - keep safe
I've only discovered your channel a few months ago and decided to go back and watch all the episodes from the beginning. Only about 12 episodes in so far (funnily enough I just watched the episode with the hand winch in The Sahara) but so awesome to see how far you've come, and a huge inspiration. Love the content, just wanted to say thanks mate. When you make it back to Australia let me know if you're keen to explore the Stockton Sand Dunes, we live just behind them and happy to host you guys!
Why do people perpetuate the myth about Land Rovers being unreliable! Toyota’s, Mitsubishi’s, Nissan’s, Jeep’s, you name it are all unreliable at some point in time. Thanks for your heads up Leigh and take care both of you. 👍🏻🙏🏽🙏🏽🦘🦘🦘🦘
Yes you remember correctly. I didn't mention it in the video as I didn't want to start a tyre debate 😜 We couldn't source the Cooper stt pro in Kyrgyzstan. After these tyres are finished we'll be back on Coopers or something else.
A lot of nice information here- I hope that fair Steph enjoyed her little holiday. I think that I would have gone for the 5 cylinder 2.5 l engine. I totally love the V8 engine but I wouldn't use it in an overlander. I think that a winch is quite important, even as an overlander. It's pretty easy to end up somewhere where it'll be nice to be able to pull yourself out.
That was a good one. People are usually swarmed when they talk of mods to their off roaders. Why didn't you do this or that, and folks comment on things they really don't need. I really like your L.E.D headlights comment ... alot of folks find that out the hard way. And me being from Canada ... I know this ice and snow thing first hand.
What was the size of the tyres before you changed them to 265/75/16? I think you mentioned the same size, no difference in what you reduced to, thanks. I have really enjoyed watching your videos, looks great fun, did you have any security and safety issues?
Hi, I was wondering why you chose the Ford engine instead of, say, a 200 or 300 tdi? Ps your videos are great, greetings from another Landrover owner in the Netherlands.
We are not off roaders! Ha! That Laura Maytown track? Overlanding it is not! That is the craziest track we have seen, and has greatly deteriorated since we last traversed it some 6 or 7 years ago. It was not a drive in the park then, it must be said. It was great to have met you and your channel is excellent!
Clearly you have put a lot of time, thought and effort into the unit, but can you now really call it a Landrover Defender anymore. So with all the non-standard additions, what of the vehicle is really Landrover Defender, just the body?
That's a fair call but also the awesome thing about Defenders and every single one being completely unique and modified to suit the owners particular needs and purpose. The Defender is still there we just upgraded and changed parts we thought we be beneficial to a long term journey around the world.
Agreed, and interesting that the new Ineos, though designed and built from scratch with state of the art technologies, concluded with many Land Rover trademarks, a BIG shoutout to the LR Defender designers so many years ago. Genius grade.
🤪🤪🤪 in Austria you won't make it to the next border! ALL Policeman know and will take your plates! God forbid you have an accident (I know you had☹) it could invalidate your insurance! But your reason for fitting it I understand 100% - I had one (from a CT Disvovery) too. Good luck to the two of you!
Your next truck should be a 70 series Toyota Landcruiser pickup version, they are very basic and built like tanks. They are the thoughest most reliable trucks in the world.
Just checking your tyre/wheel combo as you stated the same size tyre when you mentioned you changed them so is that correct ? or was it just the spacer you removed ?
Great report! Have you had any issues with the tdci engine, for instance with injectors or the quite usual knocking sounds on part throttle/ medium rpm?
@@leighdearle5965 My brain runs slow some days and accents are hard then, but it is good to push the old 286 computer I have for a brain. I like rhubarb so many things sound like it, lol.
