Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

Paul Rainbow · ***** Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 549

I have off-roaded for some 7-odd years in brand new Ford Mavericks & Explorers, through my Isuzu's, Landy 110's and of course my Series Land Rovers (which as they are tax exempt, I have reverted back too. That and I love them!).

As I see a number of people want to take thier Isuzu's off road on this forum, but might shy away from it for fear of damaging their pride and joy, let me give you 10 hints that have got me through my 7 years with NO car damage (other than the odd scratch on the extreme side) and always still very much fighting fit after a days outing. My 40 year old Landy has dragged many a badly driven car home!

1. Never done it? Pay £70-£100 for a mornings tuition. It will be the best money for fun you will spend and poss save a rollover or worse. You need to know how to gwet your car into Low Ratio, giving you more throttle control and the ability to move at astonishingly SLOW speeds!

2. Keep thumbs on the outside of the steering wheel. If the front wheel catches a rock or hole it will spin so fast that it will break your thumb if it is on the inside. Do everything slowly and learn to read the terrain ahead. Use your brakes AS LITTLE as poss, and NOT AT ALL downhill. Your engine will brake for you and you will keep in control - braking downhill will lock the wheels and cause the car to slide sideways and rollover.
Have faith in the car!
Reeds mean bogs - means getting stuck! Wet green grass means very slippery. Water means hidden dangers. Rocks mean possible body damage. Shale/loose ground means very slippery. Mud means fun, but let someone else drive it first if you can!

3. Avoid side slopes if poss. I hate them. However, you will chicken out well before the car reaches it's point of roll!

4. Check depths of puddles or water holes with a stick before driving it. It could be deeper than you think.

5. ALWAYS go with someone else and drive obstacles individually. If one gets stuck the other is always there & mobile to help.

6. Get a proper recovery rope and shackles. About £40 - £60 but prove thier weight in gold more than once. Store in a box in the car - UV sunlight destroys the rope.

7.Ensure you have good points to attach the rope too, front and back. Most Troopers have a tow bar at the rear, and a healthy towing eye on the front, on the dumb iron at the bottom. Do not use the small factory towing bracket as you will pull this off & it will fly though the air with decapitating or window smashing consequences, and wreck the chassis point to boot. If your car weighs 2 tonnes, multiply that by a factor of at least 3 if you are stuck in mud. My tow rope has about a 5 ton breaking point, so it will break before a strong point on the car does.

8. If you want to get more involved, get a CB. Then you can radio back and warn of any problems or recieve any warnings. Makes you feel less isolated too.

9. Mud will wash off after, which needs to be done as soon as you can. You could get arrested for a car that is driven on the public roads with lights and number plates unreadable, and leaving a trail of dirt.

10. Finally, until I think of more, DO IT. Go to a site (there is a forum member on here running a site in Reading, but they are all over the country) get a bit of tuition and enjoy - even if you just tootle around the outside, no-one will laugh or mock you for that. You will be welcomed as I have yet to meet a selfish off roader who wouldn't help a stuck car or engage in conversation/banter/taking the mickey out of a mate doing crazy things in his Suzuki! Remember to treat the car with respect and 40 years later your car will still be running around like my old Landy!

Hope that helps the uninitiated!

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mikeburton · * Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 36 Location: Penrith, Cumbria

Good Stuff !
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If it aint dirty you ain tryin hard enough

oldgit · * Joined: 29 May 2004 Posts: 24 Location: Worcestershire

No.2 is a must

my mate broke both his scafoids (think that is the spelling) this was grasstrack racing but same rule applies.

oh I think I need the one day training, any recomendations?

cheers

git

Paul Rainbow · ***** Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 549

Most organised off-road sites will run a tuition session. Ensure that the trainers are BORDA qualified (British Off Road Driving Association). All of the 4x4 mags list sites, and a search on Google brings a fair selection too!

Paul Rainbow · ***** Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 549

Usefull off road equipment for the occasional off roader (as a minimum really):

A stout and proper recovery rope, not left in the sun

Some good quality shackles (when using them, put the pin through, tighten them up then undo half a turn or the pins are a bgger to undo!)

A good pair of strong work gloves (like gardening gloves)

A spare wheel (& the tools to change the wheel!)

A mobile phone.

Another driver.

Cloth & a bottle of clean water to clean the lights & number plate

Your wellies and a change of shoes (you do not want to drive in wellies unless you have a Landy with big pedals)

NeilD · ** Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 88

Some sound advice, and very useful considering i want to start 4x4'ing!

Thank you Paul Smile

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The time is ALWAYS right, to do what is right - Martin Luthor King Jr.

steveforster9 · *** Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Posts: 167 Location: Leicester

Definitely very good advice from Paul Smile

I've been trying to find a magazine article that I read some time ago, it refers to the horrors of driving through liquid mud. I'll post the article if I can find it, but basically it said to avoid drining through liquid mud at all costs. It is very corrosive ans once it gets to seals on driveshafts etc it makes a very effective grinding paste.

I took my Maverick though a mud run at a quarry near Castleford some years ago - some 2 years later, each time I washed the vehicle, I would still get some very fine sand seepeing through the drainage channels.
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Steve F

1999 3.0DT LWB

yangreen · *** Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 141

I was lucky enough to get tuition from the best when I was on my work experience at Land Rover way back in 1993. They took me to Eastnor Castle for two days where we tried our best to destroy a handful of prototypes. Land Rovers take a lot of "verbal" abuse but one Disco was parked in a lake with water up to the bonnet. The engine naturally filled up with water so it was dragged out and the glow plugs removed. A few blasts with the starter cleared the water out so plugs back in and off it went! Just like the Toyota on Top Gear. It was a bit smokey though...

I still wouldn't recommend treating your car like this!

Back then, at the tender age of 15, they let me loose in a Disco TDi auto (the drowned one) prototype and it was fab! To this day, the only cars I've been off road in are Citroen 2cv's (don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em!) and Land Rovers. The latter are actually great - when they work.

Ian

Paul Rainbow · ***** Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 549

2CV's were built for off road use and are remarkably comfortable when the going gets lumpy - I have had 3 of them and have a huge deal of respect for them!

Paul.K · *** Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 226 Location: Thames Valley

I don't find that hard to believe that you've had 2CVs in the past Paul. I always knew you were a discerning sort of chap. We had a 4X4 2CV turn up at one of our meetings a while back. Didn't get to look to closely at it cos it was just storming all over the place.
Cheers
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Paul.K/LuckyTrucker

yangreen · *** Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 141

Those 4x4 2cv's are made by someone I know. It basically has a prop shaft taking the drive to another gearbox at the back which is stripped down to just the diff gears. Inboard disc brakes all round and terrifying ability! I'm looking to get a 4x4 and if towing wasn't a requirement. I'd definitely get a 4x4 2cv. Easy to transport because they fit in the back of a standard lwb Merc Sprinter!

Am currently thinking Isuzu Trooper, Diahatsu Fourtrak or Nissal Patrol (the latter seeming a bit iffy for spares). The Isuzu is looking favourite (I'm not just saying that because I'm on this forum!) and the 2.8td Mk1 looks like the best bet for what I have in mind. I've posted under small talk about this though.

Ian

bigboy · * Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 11 Location: north lincs

Hi just joined this forum as ive just purchased an early trooper its been chopped about a bit but makes a good tool from what ive seen so for well ive not broken it anyway! But excellent advice and if your trying it alone let someone know were your off we spend a lot of time at toms farm in mid wales superb!! but your mobile doesnt ge a signal from the moment you enter the valley to the moment you leave!The llast time there Ispent 6 hours stuck most of that time was walking to find help never again the cb seems to work ok now! Very Happy

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