In this video, we do some light off roading, I show you how a auxiliary battery is fitted, as well as some underside protection and rear recovery points. We also discuss tyres. Is the 20inch wheels such a big problem?
I have to say, you have overtaken Andrew at 4xOverland as my favorite 4x4 coverage! I definitely have a Landy bias so I love to see it being used as intended! Keep doing what you're doing man! love to see it.
Absolutely loved this! I watched it from beginning to end and it was just brilliant to see such authentic and unfiltered footage of beautiful Zimbabwe. Thanks for sharing your adventure!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I am very grateful you took the time to let me know you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy the next episodes also.
Hi Bruce, thanks for your channel, glad you're enjoying your new Defender. I'm a new subscriber after my brother Ian told me about your channel. I'm driving a D300 Defender and fitted it with a set of BF Goodrich KO2's, also on 20inch...after seeing this video I went and measured the actual side wall profile of my car's tyres. At 2 bar pressure, the rim is just over 13cm from the ground, directly above contact patch (13.5cm around the rest of the tyre). As a point of interest, I have been able to comfortably deflate down to approximately 1 bar without threatening the rim. So far, I have nicked the rim twice through some hectic rock gardens where pretty much any rim would have been scratched. A note on the thorn scratches from driving through dense bushes...why not buy insurance cover to have all these nicks and scratches removed every two years or so. It's a fraction of the cost of having the protection film fitted to the car. Happy travels, and don't forget to keep waving!...it's still a Defender. 😉
Hi Charles. Thanks so much for the ideas and comments regarding tyres and the paint protection. I was so surprised by the results which proved the 20inch rims are not that bad. Did you keep to the standard size when fitting the BFG’s? I am pretty sure I will be fitting BFG’s also. Thank you for commenting and subscribing. I am starting to get more and more waves from old and new defender drivers which is good. 😂
@@OverlandingwithBruce Yes, the only BFG that fits the 20inch rim is the 265/60 profile, so a fraction bigger in diameter than the Goodyear Duratrac. But with BFG's proven track record for tyre life and sidewall protection, its a no brainer in my books.
@@charlesbentonmansfield2099 absolutely. The boss (wife) has just told me I need to change the tyres so may do the same. Thank you for the reassurance regarding them
Hey Bruce, Just keep reminding Ryan that he's there to film YOUR brand new Landy -- lucky for him AND that you're there just in case his FORD needs a tow home - - - LOL enjoy -- both you guys have beaut vehicles
Top video, thanks Bruce. Battery - excellent job there, I’ll definitely follow in your footsteps. Tires - also a concern of mine, especially after seeing the double punctures in the TFL channel when they took it up against the Bronco and Jeep. I’ve downgraded to the 19inch, for a little bit more sidewall. GPS - this will be interesting. I have the Tracks4Africa app, which I planned to CarPlay from my phone to the Defender display. Didn’t think I would need an independent unit, but I’ll see what you end up doing.
Hi Grant. I don’t want to comment too much on TFL as they are far more experienced than me but I would blame mostly driver error for what they did. I also find that they harped on too much about small things making them into big things. I think it’s all about knowing the limitations of the vehicle you are driving. If I was going to go Rick crawling I would buy a suitable vehicle. Interesting suggestion about T4A , who I love and have used for many years. Thank you for that. I never even thought about that, will definitely look into that. Thank you very much for commenting and watching. Appreciate it
@Barefoot thank you for watching. They are not the best profile admittedly but they are not as bad as they are made out to be and I believe with decent AT tyres they would be perfectly fine. Thank you for watching and commenting
@@OverlandingwithBruce True that, I think they let the tires down too much. But I’ve also seen some modded Defenders with 35s and they are beasts. But as you say, probably don’t need that for overlanding.
Great video Bruce. I notice you took out the 3rd row of seats to fit the leisure battery. Could you have done this if you had specified a new defender without the 3rd row?
@@joyfredbaartman6305 ok awesome. We have a short trip planned to test some of the new equipment in a few weeks, before our big trip in Feb, so I will do one then. Thank you very much for the suggestion and support.
Hi Bruce. I was hoping that you'd finally advise which size tyre you are gonna use and why. when deflating, say for sandy road, does size matter ie 17inch or 20inch or rather does one give you an advantage?
Hi Geoffrey. I purposely didn’t commit to what I am going to be doing as I’m undecided. I am going to cover this in a future episode once I have more info and once I’ve made up my mind. To change to 18inch it’s going to cost me around R48k. To upgrade the 20s and fit a slightly larger tyre it’s going to cost me around R32000 for a well respected brand. Is it really worth it? I’m still undecided. You won’t fit 17’s on the defender and in all honestly most dirt roads I wouldn’t even reduce pressures. I did speak to someone on Instagram and they told me they went down to 1.15 bar in the sand dunes and it worked really well. I would probably try around 1.5 to 1.8 if traveling on very sandy thick roads like through the CKGR or on some of the cut lines to Hunters.
Bruce I think you should wrap that vehicle to prevent body scratches from trees and scrub bush. No matter what car you drive there’s nothing worse than those nails on the blackboard sounds?
Yes I want to but so far the quotes are very expensive. Like around R50000 or US$3300. I’m not sure it’s worth it as most of those types of scratches polish out anyway. Thanks for watching this episode also. At least you weren’t scared away. :)
@@Fergus_Afrique yeah I was a bit shocked also. It’s crazy for a bit of vinyl and considering a full wrap is around R20k with branding for a good vinyl I think it’s actually a rip off. On my 130 I do have some scratches but the majority of them come off with a bit of polish.
@@darrenhale6320 I also recall something like that on the old defender but not sure on the new one. I will try and find out. I Hank you for the idea and response
Hi Bruce, really enjoying your series off videos and have been following your new defender videos and trips with interest. Keep it up. I think you have convinced me that the new defender is the way to go. Did you fit all the towing and offroad options to your defender or do you think they are overkill for overlanding?
Hi Neil. Thank you for following/watching the videos. On my D240 I have removable tow bar/hook, roof rack, side box/panier, ladder, sump guard, and winch fitted by Land Rover. On top of that I fitted the VHF radio, roof top tent, water container, fuel jerry cans and then drawer systems etc. I didnt spec my D300 as it was a cancelled order. It came with the tow pack, off road pack, and all the other features possible. I find them all really good and nice to have but not necessary and in all honesty very overkill for overlanding. If you are like me and like gadgets and all the little bits and pieces get them but if you couldn't care then dont waste your money. They are nice to have but not necessities. Hope this helps.
Thanks Bruce, your reply is much appreciated. Kind of what I thought. I have a real nasty driveway and currently have a front tow hitch fitted to drive my trailer in forwards. This may prove to be a problem as they are not sure if there is a front bulbar where a tow hitch can be fitted. The salesman reckons the Advance tow pack will be able to get it down in reverse, we will see as there is not much room either side.
@@neilpatterson1365 . My pleasure Neil. The advance tow pack is honestly, simply amazing. Ive used mine a few times and ive been towing for many years. I would definitely recommend this for anyone with special towing requirements
I was going to but I also recently bought a new trailer with two deep cycle batteries in it, so I wanted to match the vehicle aux battery with the trailers. To replace the trailers batteries with lithium and purchase a lithium for the landy was far too expensive for the benefit of lithium. When these need replacing I will fit lithium, maybe.
Thank you for your reply. I disagree though. Do you know how the electronics have been set up to avoid problems? Yes there are 85 ECU’s but they all perform multiple tasks to back up each other. Some tasks that they perform are really mundane and don’t even affect the important functions of the vehicle. Please don’t be offended but I do think many think like that while typing on their smart phone or flying in any modern aircraft. Name one vehicle without electronics these days. Maybe I am wrong but I don’t believe there are any. Electronics also help with fuel efficiency, emissions, comfort, safety, reliability and they are able to warn you before things go wrong, for example, the new defender warns you when the battery is low and tells you to start the vehicle. No vehicle I have ever owned has told me that and often I have ended up with flat batteries and unable to start the vehicle. Even with my sports cars. My Defender 130 did not want to start one winters morning when the battery decided to give up. It gave me no warnings at all, even when I switched the ignition on. Another simple example: Most modern cars tell you when tyres are going flat or not at the correct pressure. Huge safety feature controlled by electronics. There are many positives to electronics that can actually help you. Thank you for your comment and for watching.
@@OverlandingwithBruce I live in the Netherlands in europe, Land and Range Rovers do have a bad reputation on building quality. They just do not get better. Too much stuff in an off-roader. When dealers around ok but far away and your air suspension goes its game over. Too many computers on board is just wrong. I work in oil and gas industry worldwide and we only use Toyota's all over. Basic but very good. Land and Range Rovers are mostly used in towns as normal car.
@@Coordinator61 you can not compare this New Defender to Range Rovers and the old Land Rovers. I do not consider a Range Rover an off roader either although it is capable of going off road. Out of interest I have had more Toyota breakdowns on trips than Landy breakdowns. (Land Cruiser that over heated 9 times on the way to the Kgalagadi, a brand new 70 series which lost an alternator between Pafuri and Mapai in Mozambique, a 79 series broke its front right hub off of the axel in CKGR on a corrugated road and a Prado that broke a CV) In almost 20 years of driving Landrovers Ive never broken down. Do the Toyotas you speak of meet the emissions and safety requirements in Netherlands or the rest of Europe? (and Im not talking about prados and 200 series) So I am not saying you are wrong but perhaps you have read or heard more than what you have actually experienced. Right now I am loving exploring Africa way off the beaten path and certainly far from dealerships in my New Defender. A little different to the Netherlands (which I love visiting by the way) and time will tell if I am wrong. Please take a look at my next episode where I do 4500kms through Zimbabwe. It was an amazing trip that tested the ND on all sorts of terrain. Thank you again for the discussion/comment. I appreciate the input.
@@OverlandingwithBruce You are one of the few with no landy breakdowns cool haha. But Land Cruisers can also have issues indeed but mostly mechanical. New Defenders and other 4x4's are full with stupid electronics nobody needs in the bush. I do not need all these check ups and cameras around and water deoth gauges. Even the door mirrors talk to ecu's, come on. I have a mate with new Defender and he is always at dealer for updates. Bt thats with modern cars all over. I drive a 2019 suzuki, not such things. These cars are made to last without too much electronic guidance. Big 4x4's in the Nertherlands are very expensive due to Co2 tax to the max. A lwb Defender will go up to 150000 euro's easy. Plus the road tax will be 2000-3000 euro's a year for a diesel so not nice to drive a 4x4 here. Plus 17500000 people on a pancake we do not need them. Plus off road is not allowed.
@@Coordinator61 your mate needs to read the screen or he is lying to you about his updates. My New Defender, as with all New Defenders, do all of the updates over the air. Ive had 3 updates in 8 months and all of them were done while parked at my house and at work in deep dark Africa, something im sure is possible in the Netherlands and Europe. You can also postpone the updates for as long as you like and do them when it suits you. Pretty much like any computer updates. That is exactly the misinformation that creates these sorts of discussions. Most have never driven one and/or don't know what they are talking about and jump to conclusions. I maybe lucky with Landy breakdowns but after owning 9 of them I must be not only lucky but extremely lucky :) :) Ps. The door mirrors talk to the ECU as they dim so the bright lights behind you don't shine in your eyes. Not exactly a critical feature that will cause a break down but a nice one none the less especially while traveling in Africa with the lack of discipline on the roads.
