LJ70 Build Thread!

[Ben]

maybe im just being thick Brett, but i cant see how on a live axle vehicle, tracking can be knocked out, without physically bending something.

i can see how wheel balancing could easily be knocked out, but not tracking.

 

[Maverick]

that might be true Ben, but have you seen the tolerances they use for tracking ... bashing steel wheels on rocks etc, will surely only mess around with tracking!!

I think your DW problem was worn Panhard and worn Track rod ends ..

 

[ModelMakerMan]

If you are after the best quality self inflating sleeping mats at a reasonable price then you cant go wrong with Alpkit. The are better built than any of the others Ive ever used (including my old school Therma-rest), insulate really well and are really comfy. Ive used the Dirtbag for a weekend camp in November and it was warm and comfortable, probably opne of the best nights sleep Ive ever had camping. I tried out the Dozer in a show room the other week too and it was like a proper mattress!

Have a look at some of their other stuff too (the head torches are the best ive seen and cheap too) if I had the money id probably buy everything in their catalogue (except maybe the teak and titanium chopsticks maybe ).

 

[Ben]

Thanks Dave.

just home from what has been an Epic trip around Wales.

 

[AndyCook]

Thanks Dave.

just home from what has been an Epic trip around Wales.

nice one - we want photos!!!!!

 

[Ben]

We all met up just outside Chirk, and began our journey North.

second lane of the day was Corwen carwash, which was about 4ft deeper the last time i saw it.

was quite misty and cloudy up in the Welsh mountains.

some of the lanes were very overgrown and didnt look like they had been driven for a while.

more stupidly overgrown lanes.

the next lane is a great one, once youve waded through a foot of slurry to open the gate.

camped on a camp site the first night.

strung a tarp between the trucks to keep us sheltered from the rain while we ate and drank.

nice early start the next day, and back on the lanes.

nice lane next to a castle next.

day was a bit wet and very cloudy.

through a slate quarry.

it was about mid way through day 2 that my alternator decided to stop working.

very tight gates.

this lane was quite tight in places.

next lane was one that no one in the group had driven before.

that hole in the undergrowth was the start of the lane.

10 feet into the undergrowth was a tight gate way.

nice lane, didnt look like it had been driven recently.

very tight bridge.

followed by another tight gate.

first view of the sea.

happy valley next.

a lot of drainage ditches have recently been dug up there, so theres no longer any deep water troughs to splash through.

before we were even on happy valley id told the others that i liked the lane, apart from the one section where its quite narrow, with a rock step, and a big drop on the one side.

never have liked it, never will.

i told them ive always been terrified of going off the edge.

so what do we find when we get there....................................





some poor bugger in a disco has slipped off the track and rolled his vehicle off the edge.

apparently it had taken the group over an hour to get it back on its wheels.

thankfully the chap walked away from it without any injuries.

very lucky especially as there was high lift jacks and other bits and pieces flying around in the back of the truck.

will finish the trip report tomorrow as im super tired now after 3 days of driving for 10 hours.

 

[Ben]

the disco had to be winched out as it was stuck.

using waffles and a winch they got it over a fallen down section of wall.

we drove the rest of happy valley.

and stopped in Machynlleth where we decided to go and have dinner at a local pub.

we then drove to a disused quarry on top of a mountain and set up camp.

by 7.30am we were back on the lanes again.

Strata Florida next.

nice to find almost all the gates have been replaced with cattle grids!

next lane.

more very overgrown lanes.

Giants Grave, lane next, followed by Doctors Pool and Black Yatt.

and that was the end of a great 3 days laning.

couldnt resist doing a couple of river crossings and lanes on my way back, just had to be very careful not to stall the engine, as the batteries were too dead to restart it, and be careful not to get stuck as i wouldnt have been able to winch myself free.

just need to fix my electrical problem now. not sure if its batteries and/or alternator.

got a weekend laning in the Lake District in a few weeks.

 

[Maverick]

looks like a geat weekend Ben- I recognise a few of those lanes ... how many miles from start to end???

 

[SpinDrift]

Good report Ben.

That Disco was scary. Goes to show that you always need to keep your wits about you and your kit tied down.

 

[revs4x4]

cracking report yet again mate Had problems starting my 70 over the weekend...found out that both batteries are knackered (found out that they were only 65ah / 500 anyway so the wrong type for the vehicle!). Gonna cost around £180 for two 80ah / 700 from a local supplier...

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Paul camping

 

[Rob]

The last time I went (2 months ago) that step was made safer by a carefully placed flat rock so you slide towards the bank not away when you loose traction I was glad it was there because previously I slid away from the bank with half a tyre over the edge Did the flat stone give way or was the it the drivers/vehicles fault?

 

[Ben]

thanks guys.

i think we did about 120 miles per day Brett.

Rob theres was loads of rocks missing off the very edge, to the point that that side of the track with the big drop, must be about a foot lower than the rest of that section.

im not sure if they slipped off the side of the track when the disco went over, whether water erosion has washed them off, or whether some one has removed them deliberately, but there was a pile of rocks below which looked they must have come off the edge.

it really does need widening that section of track, and ideally the step removing.

there has been a lot of work done up there recently, so will be interesting to see if anything gets done with this section.

 

[AndyCook]

Great trip report as usual and good pics

my wife hated that rockstep where the disco rolled, we drove it last year. this year she made me avoid that lane and we did the real happy valley lane to south! much less stressfull.

was black yat still very wet?

 

[Ben]

thanks Andy.

Black Yatt is no where near as wet as it used to be. theres been a lot of drainage ditches dug, so theres not much standing water left.

 

[k9rdj]

Another great write-up our'Ben

And a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong!

See you in the Lakes!

IISY?

Dave

 

[Paul_Humphreys]

Paul camping

Yes John i was camping and yes i had almost everything ;-)

 

[Ben]

Another great write-up our'Ben

And a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong!

See you in the Lakes!

IISY?

Dave

Thanks Dave.

really looking forward to the lakes trip mate.

not sure about those 2 fords across estuary's though.

got visions of mud like quick sand, and my truck rotting away shortly afterwards, due to the salt water.

 

[SimonD]

Which day did you do Strata Ben? I had taken my elderly father-in-law to Wales [91 years young Must be a Guinness record for strata ] and went up it south to north on Friday - only saw a Defender and Disco travelling together, although I've heard the weekends are quite busy on Strata. I told him it was a short cut to the coast - we had blue sky at the coast until late evening. Then things went downhill weatherwise. Strata was a good lane. However other lanes we tried were very narrow sometimes - too much for my fat flares anyway
[attachment=2:3vm5cdyr]Wales2012-8615.jpg[/attachment:3vm5cdyr]
[attachment=1:3vm5cdyr]Wales2012-8617.jpg[/attachment:3vm5cdyr]
[attachment=0:3vm5cdyr]Wales2012-8619.jpg[/attachment:3vm5cdyr]
We were staying at Llanerchindda Farm which is a good base to explore from although the trip was more holiday than laning.

 

[Ben]

thanks Simon.

we were travelling North to South.

Llanerchindda is a great place to stay, ive been there a few times.

did you have a go around there off road course?

thats where this video was filmed:-

[youtube:2czc46el]0fmTSczXR9M[/youtube:2czc46el]