Part 1
Mucky Ducky

Sorry for the long delay in posts but trust me when I say we have been busy with the D3 and it has seen some serious action.

Before I explain this picture that has surfaced on a few forums of our secret organic A/C mod, let’s take a quick stop at the events that lead us to think the D3 was ready to fight the mighty trees of Virginia.

Our first stop on the Summer 2014 tour was The Wilds in Ohio. Chris Ray of Mud Ruts Repair Shop and the Green Oval Guild always put on a hell of a good show and this year was no exception. We showed up to 85 degrees and nothing but sun. As soon as the tent was up the clouds started to roll in and then it was quickly followed by torrential downpour.

What the hell, rain or no rain we were at The Wilds, America's largest nature preserve. So with a smile and some recovery gear we hit the trails. It did not take long though to figure out that we should have brought more recovery gear and we were running low on smiles. Have you ever heard the term "duck snot" used to describe mud?

Even in this mud I thought I would be fine. I mean, I had the Terrain Response set to Mud!! Made sense to me.

We even brought along a little old Series truck to help out

I started on a downhill that I have seamlessly handled in the past with a stock truck on banana peel tires. With both of my feet jammed hard on the brake pedal, my attempts to stop were still futile. The duck snot mud had other ideas about giving me an express route ride into rapidly approaching trees. Take a look at this and you can see we are not talking about a large or steep hill here.

Thankfully the D3 came to a stop just before this:

So I radioed for help from Andy and Rick in the little Series truck (on 37s) but he soon informed me that they too were immobilized about 200 feet behind me. After some tire-spinning fun and nearly digging a hole to China, Andy was able to position his bumper against a tree to provide an anchor point for the still sliding D3.

There unfortunately was no way that their Series that weighs as much as one of my pelican cases was going to be able to pull out the 6,000lb D3. And then, as if it were something out of one of those crazy Canadian beer commercials, Randy Williams from British Boneyard miraculously pops out of the woods. Together we were able to design a plan on how Randy was going to snatch block me from the bottom of the trail in an attempt to pull the nose over.

To avoid pulling the truck down the hill, we needed a good point of attachment on the side of the Lucky 8 D3 in order to line up with the trees we could also use as snatching points. Unfortunately the Rock Sliders did not have the tree bars (nerfs) to grab onto. We were only left with one option: Go through the rim of the truck as all we needed was a tiny little tug. **Full Disclosure – this is not an approved recovery point. I do not recommend or condone my actions, but in the interest of science we went for it.**

This is when things started to get interesting. Instead of being able to pull the nose of the D3 over, Randy started pulling himself up the hill. This was a complete WTF moment. With the D3 being tide off to the Series Monster Truck jammed against a tree Randy’s D2 did not have enough weight to get the job done either. It was time for another  plan.

With the traction being so unstable, we decided to take advantage of the duck snot factor. Have a look at this video.

(cue the trumpets) SOFT SHACKLE TO THE RESCUE!!!!!

By spinning the tires, it made the front end lighter so to speak and easier to winch over and position the D3 back onto the trail. You may think this muddy tale is over. It isn’t.

The BAD

Somerwere on this little green lane mishap tour the rear sway bar link had snapped. Normally this would not be an issue but the the link broke in such a fashion that the lower rod section was able to make contact with the height sensor. A broken hight sensor can give you a warning light or worse. As you would imagine the L8 D3 went with worse.

The Good

We were able to find a slightly longer and slightly beefier swaybar link to put in the rear of the D3

The ugly.

Here is this updates poser pic. But let me explain this humiliating picture and let it be a learning tool. If you have a height sensor that is out of adjustment or is not reading in the proper fashion, you will get a suspension fault. I can hear the voices now. "Thank you Professor Obvious, we already know that." What you guys may or may not know is that if your truck has been sent to the bump stops with lift rods, there is a good chance that the rods have pushed the sensor out of the range it is capable of reading. A fast trail fix is to lift the truck up front and rear at the same time. By doing this it will allow the hight sensor to go back into a position where the computer can read the values again.

Lucky8’s Project Discovery 3 Update : 17’s on my feet.

Lucky8’s Project Discovery 3 Update : 17’s on my feet. 

Why 17s you may ask? When you flip through a tire catalog you can not help but notice the unbelievable selection of 17 inch mud tires. Now consider the additional half-inch cushion provided by the sidewall. Those two factors alone made it a no-brainer to pursue a 17in rim option for the Disco. Putting 17in rims on a V8 is not as easy as bolting the wheels up and driving away. First off there is the rim selection or I should say lack there of it. I could not find any 17in  aftermarket rims for the Disco 3. The next logical step was to try and make some. 

First we had to find the right combination of parts to allow the rim to clear the break caliber.

The next hurdle was contending with the off set. We definitely wanted additional offset to help compensate for the narrow stance on a lifted truck. The stock offset is 6 3/8

 The minimum offset we could make the rim without compromising the strength and clear the caliber was 4 3/8.

 The end result was this bit of magic.

Picking the tire size was the next issue. 

With the added offset the truck gained a more powerful stance. Unfortunately there was a downside to the extra offset. The tires wanted to rub the molding in front of the doors when the wheel was turned. Our first try was a 33/12.50/17 Mud Grappler. We could not turn the wheel with out it jamming into the side molding in front of the doors.  Just for reference the front bumper had no chance of survival with these wide boys on. Next up was a more reasonable choice, 285/70/17 Trail Grappler.  This size rubbed a little in hi mode on the molding in front of the doors and again the bumper had no chance of survival. When it is acceptable to take a sawsall to the fenders this is the tire size I will probably go with. Finally we were able to sneak by with a 255/75/17 Trail Grappler. They clear the molding in front of the doors and just touch the bumper.  Knowing that the front bumper is on the way out the 255’s became our new tire. I was hoping for a true 33 but had to settle on the 32s. 

This is the only rubbing we are getting and could easily be avoided with a little smaller tire.

This is how the truck sits in high mode 

 A stock D2 for reference.

The extra offset is about spot on for a 2 1/2 inch lifted truck in my opinion. Here are some side-by-side pictures of the truck in high mode . As you can see the stock tire is tucked way inside the fender well.

Here is a picture with the Lucky8 wheel tire combination and it sitting almost flush with the fender flare.

Let me know what you think about this set up. 

And finally the poser pic, Boriana on ice. 

Lucky8’s Project Discovery 3

Lucky8’s Project Discovery 3 

Well, it's time for me to eat some crow. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_crow

I’m sure if I looked back at some of my posts from 2005 I would find a slew of things saying why the Disco 3 is not going to be a good off road choice. Unfortunately for me but fortunately for the Land Rover community I may need to retract some of those old post. Watching what people like Nathan Woods, Adam Spiker and Gerald King have accomplished with their trucks has not only proven me wrong but made me want one of my own. Please except this as my apology and lets get started with the project!

Without further ado here is the L8 Disco 3 in all its stock form glory 

Some of you keen eyed observers may recognize the finger in the uper corner. That finger belongs to none other than Bart from RMR or as most people know them Red Mountain Rovers. 

http://rmr4x4.com

Tim and Bart knew I was batting around the Idea of getting into a Disco 3 and when they saw this on the clock they knew were its new home should be. 

I only had one question for them. Does it have 

The answer was A resounding yes and the Disco was immediately shipped off to Lucky8 

Like most Lucky8 Project truck’s the goal is to build a truck that can be a daily driver and still stand up to the abuse of the Easter Expedition. In order to do this with a Disco 3 we will need to push hard on our vendors for new products and work in house on innovative ways to tap the hidden potential Land Rover left for us to find.

 A side from the standard bolt on goodies here is a quick list of things I would like to accomplish. 

1 expanding the selection of rims available.

2 A different suspension set up that does not overstress the air bags when lifted.

3 A dual battery system that has a built-in solar power charger. These trucks are so dependent on electricity we need every possible backup system to make sure they're ready for the challenge ahead.

4 This may be a pipe dream but  aluminum bumpers, rock sliders and air Compressor guard. 

5 Finding out the things this truck needs that I don’t even know about. 

Start at the start.

Tires are the foundation of any build, and that is were we will begin. 

When I’m asked for recommendations about building a truck the first thing I ask back is "What size tires do you want to run"? The answer to that for this project was "stuff a 33 under it". Unfortunately it's not that easy on a Disco 3. Our Disco like most HSE’s came with 19in wheels. To say the 19in tire selection is dismal is an overstatement and now we find ourselves at issue number one on my list. Rim selection. What most people do is go out and find a used set of 18 inch rims. That's not a bad option but I think Lucky8 can do better. Remember when I said we needed to be innovative?  Well I don't want to let you down so have a look at this video.