Flood damaged Antara

[Refugee]

"I forgot,..... as for the Land Rovers, I pulled out at least a dozen from sand and mud back in the 80s with a convertible straight 6, 4.5 litre short wheelbase Land Cruiser.
The LRs had proper sand tyres too whereas the Toyota had what appeared to be crossplys.
Mike "

Would be that with paddle tread tires fitted like a 1960s farm tractor?
They work well with a good selection of low gears even with two wheel drive.

[ed731pdh]

We had a good example here a few weeks back. At Pulborough there is a car park that backs on a downhill slope onto a flood plain, and when the ruver popped it's banks as it always does (developers please note, good field to build your latest batch of water wings) the car park flooded quite deeply. A Skoda estate was left in the car park, flooding up to just below the windows, and looking very sorry for itself. When the waters finally receeded and the recovery team got in the handbrake had rusted on and when they tried to rock the car to free the brakes the brake linings detatched from the carriers. The engine bay was a wreck as the water got high enough to get into the engine intake and flood the carb and any open valves on the engine. Basically the car was religated to junk status.

Of note, this car park is used by the stingy who don't want to pay for parking at Pulborough station, but want to bein close proximity to the station when they go home. Must be a bit of a crusher to park your car there in the dry and come home that evening to find it under water. A very expensive mistake, all for the sake of a car park fee.

[pwdrive]

Yes, pulling out stuck Landrovers (and others) that in the main is down to the people that drive them, there is no magic about 4 x 4's, some 4 x 4's have certain advantages over others for serious off road driving, it's all down to how the vehicle is driven, once all the treads get plugged up it makes very little difference what vehicle it is.
In my experience of off road work it's down to anticipation, you can't anticipate if going like the clappers in an off road situation on unknown terrain, the other very important things are gear selection, egine speed, engine braking etc. Some 4 x 4's are designed for off road some are designed for posers, to me, there is little point in buying a 4 x 4 if you only have leaves in your road or to run yer kids to school.
As for winter ice and snow the same more or less applies, if it's hard sheet ice then it's pointless unless you have studded tyres or the correct type of chains fitted. Remember that a lot of these vehicles have a high center of gravity.
The most common reason for folks getting stuck in 4 x 4's is that they have a belief that 4 driven wheels will get you out of most things, this is not so, 4 wheel traction, yes, 4 wheels going round, no.
I have had this argument with loads about which is the best vehicle for off road, the simple answer is a tank, but I have to say that for all the years I have been driving Landrovers they have never left me stuck insofar that I always manged to get out of a fix without vehicular assistance.
A 4 x 4 needs to be prepared if going off road, modified air intakes, breathers, good set of mud pluggers, winch, either fitted or at least a Tirfor, rope, chain, shovel, certain drain holes plugged etc I wonder how many do that when pelting through a flooded ford or river or even in field at yer local social event... If you get stuck then it's usually your own fault.

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

There is a load of utube stuff but for whatever reason I pulled this one, a bit of a lads day out commentry and hand held camera stuff but shows what these basically unmodified vehicles can do. Other videos for other makes are available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfNDnn4LtpQ

Lawrence.