Another year, another Guy Fawkes weekend in Upstate, NY. My Defender was still massive at this point. While the 35" tires went through anything off-road, they were really loud, and too large for the truck. There is a fine line in what I like to call "too many modifications" to make the car far worse than better. I think a lot of Land Rover builders out there are in that group.
Yes, a large Defender rolling on 35 - 37" tires might look cool in a photo, but trust me, its not very fun to drive. The 315/75R16 (35") KM3 tire weigh 73lbs per tire vs 255/85R16 (33") KM3 which weigh 59lbs. The 35" tires are 12.3" wide vs the 33" at 10" wide. That an extra 56lbs and 9" of drag overall. Thats equivalent to a 5th tire on the road. For an extra 1.5" height? Your bushings, wheel bearings, driveline modifications, and stressed-out axles aren't worth that extra inch and a half. Neither is your ego. If you do not take rock-crawling serious then you do not need these tires. The best tire? 255/85R16 (33") BFGoodrich KM3.
I recently sold my Range Rover Sport to Dave Bobek. Dave Bobek wanted to take it to Guy Fawkes to see what these new air-bagged Land Rovers could do. While his butt was toasty warm, and this reggae was bumping, Dave was stuck. A lot.
While it might look like we are ripping down trees, we aren't. I can assure you, these are fallen trees we need to clear out of the forrest. We burn them in a giant bonfire at night.
Simon got his 101 Forward Control stuck in a gully which is very difficult to do. That truck is unstoppable. He needed a winch out and while all other winches were out of order, my Superwinch Husky was working perfectly. To this date, its never failed me. It can sit for 3 years and will always fire up and pull trucks 12 hours day. Its slow, but slow works.
Simon's 101 is heavy as you could imagine. First line pull and I was being dragged into the 101. So I unspooled and drove back up the hill a bit. We hooked up a Lightweight (no pun intended) and a Defender 110 to me for two more anchor points.
The Superwinch Husky didn't flinch at that weight. I think my chassis was hurting more. With the snatch block hooked up we were finally able to pull the 101 Forward Control out. It was an incredibly slow pull but it worked.
The bonfire was lit and we all enjoyed the heat.
