Off roading upgrades

[djatkinson]

What sort of upgrades are possible for upgrading for offroad use; i.e., spare tire bumper mounts, light bars, winches, bumpers, roof racks, etc.?
Any vendors that are recommended?

 

[tlt]

All of that-- I have two vendors I prefer, british4x4outfitters.com and lucky8llc.com

There are tons of options, and mainly it is personal preference. For example Lucky8 is putting together a group buy for Devon D44 discrete winch bumpers currently, they are nice for people who want and extreme duty winch, but want to maintain a factory look.

XD9000, Baja Rack, Sliders with Rails, Rigid light bars, solar, Traxide Dual Battery setup, etc. for me.. http://www.disco3. co. uk/gallery/index.php?cat=11463

 

[El Solis]

$$$ is the only limit. A guy in our club will build you a custom rear bumper (did a nice with dual spare swing outs). Personal I'm trying to keep our MY2013 LR4 looking a little more stealth. Traxide dual battery, Tactical 4x4 sliders, roof rack (Urban off road and it lives off the truck until needed), Green Oval suspension rods (allow me to maintain stock heights for my wife as it is her DD and then lift as needed for trail runs), HAM radio with full discrete install, etc. if you can think it and afford it you can have it. I was able to buy a full size spare to replace the wee lil one as well (a club member got the Compomotive 18 in rims and sold his stock 19's w a tire for super cheap).

What are your realistic goals regarding off roading?

 

[djatkinson]

I'm more inclined to keep our LR3 pretty 'stealth' also. I'm not sure at this point, how much severe offloading we'll be doing with it, as my wife is not inclined to really put it through its' paces.
But, it's good to know what's possible. At this point, I'd like to get the spare tire out from under the truck, so a bumper-mounted carrier sounds good.
We've considered some camping in the future, so I think a dual battery kit would be a good start. It might come in handy for tailgate parties, as well!
I think a winch, light bar, and undercarriage protection would be the next step...

 

[jaamrode]

Here's my upgrades in order of importance to me

1. IID tool. Must have

2. 18" wheels with 31.5" tires

3. Custom built front hitch receiver for mounting removable winch.

4. Custom rear hitch receiver also for mounting winch to the rear and towing an off-road trailer, as the OEM one is too low and too far under the bumper.

5. Roof rack built out of pressure treated 5/4 decking attached to crossbars.

The only part that is not very stealth is the roof rack but that is coming off soon when my trailer is finished.


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[tlt]

I would recommend a hidden winch, rather than carrying it around. Mine is pictured here.

E Solas, I've done quite a bit with HAM installs if you need some ideas let me know. I have a remote head 857D in the rear cubby, 3 antennas, an APRS unit installed, all working great.

 

[jaamrode]

A hidden winch looks nicer but I store my winch in the garage 95% of the time instead of carting an extra 100+ pounds around on a daily basis.

 

[El Solis]

Thanks TLT! I think I'm done for now but if my plan doesn't work out I'll hit you up.
Chris

 

[dj_karl]

Arb bumper is a good front end protection. Also, you may want to add a snorkel on your LR3.

 

[tlt]

The main complaint is ARB bumpers are heavy. If you don't want to carry a winch, you will not want to carry that. I am not convinced to do a snorkel again. It depends on where you are and what you do.