Member Since: 16 Feb 2007
Location: Eskdale
Posts: 23
Beware soft verges!
Don't underestimate soft verges-I got seriously bogged today when all I was trying to do was park the car & take the dog for a walk. What looked like an innocuous piece of ground (bit muddy & grassy) with cars in front & evidence of cars behind & also on the patch I was interested in parking upon-I moved in with the D3. It sunk a bit, 2.7 tonnes of Landrover metal were clearly making their presence felt so I started to reverse & felt the ominous lack of directional response when you are rutted. I got out and scouted & this piece of verge turned out to have a water filled gully in the long grass running alongside it into which I promptly sank in my boots. I am not new to off roading ( but did not buy my D3 for this purpose) and was not happy about the situation. It became clear (as you might be able to see from the 'aftermath' picture) that the tarmac road was effectively a solid structure that stopped at a vertical edge at least a foot deep. The soil beyond this shelf was completely water saturated as it went towards the water gulley. The soil ahead was solid as was the soil to the rear but as I tried to back & forth my tyres dug an ever deeper rut and the results are clearly visible in my gallery. Effectively my nearside wheels had dropped into a bog with a 3 sided hard walled pocket-it was about 5ft longer the than the vehicle wheelbase so I could go fore & aft to each hard soil wall but couldn't climb out & anyway there was the 1ft deep hardcore/asphalt lateral step that was in essence a mother of a rut.
I tried both rut & rock crawl settings with active diff but there was no way the D3 was going to get out-my standard tyres were nowhere near aggressive enough to get a great deal of purchase & even if I they were I doubt I would have been able to extricate myself.
Eventually recovered by using a winch equipped recovery wagon using a snatch block & feeding the line around the recovery wagons rear (elevated towbar) to give a very lateral pull by positioning it offset to the D3. Technique was to take up tension on the winch until the recovery wagon started moving towards the D3 & then me reversing just idling in low ratio etc. until the winchlineline tension relaxed, stop & retension winchline & repeat. If I tried to reverse after winchline tension was released then the vehicle simply wanted to disappear back into rut-so many of you will have been there & done that as well & is why I long ago recognised the seriousness my situation.
The good news is I was recovered successfully despite extreme initial reservations by the recovery operative (he was having a bad day having only got back from his last callout at 4.00AM)-he did a great job once we got a bit of progress.
The bad news is that my nearside wheels are scratched to after all the full depth milling against soil & gravel -nevermind.
I have posted pictures in my gallery (At least I think I have, it is my first picture posting) & hope they are of interest. But I would also strongly advise about taking potential soft verges more seriously as I should have. I felt a real pratt, there were cars parked all over the place (which created allsorts of logistical problems) but the incongruity of the D3, the most capable off-road vehicle up there virtually on it's side just behind a Nova or something is sobering.I got several ‘helpful’ suggestions by unknowledgeable onlookers that I should seek professional help as the vehicle was likely to fall over-it was nowhere near it’s limit but could I tell them? But I also could not get myself unstuck so how credible was my word to them?
TIP:- Do not park up here when you visit the Lakes, it is a Cul-de-Sac populated by a surprisingly large number of motorists that predominantly appear to suffer from a condition that makes them perceive that the vehicle they are driving has a girth 2ft. wider each side than the one they are actually occupied in propelling.
I wish I had been in my Pinzgauer!-it would have been a much shorter story, or no story at all.
Best Regards
Mike
29th Jul 2007 8:12 pm
blue meanie D3 Decade
Member Since: 04 Aug 2005
Location: Newbury
Posts: 6861
bad luck Mike! it's always the most innocuous looking of situations that turn into the worst ones isn't it? you look to be well stuck in a couple of those pics!and theeeeennn......???
29th Jul 2007 8:26 pm
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
reminded me of iconix's "stuckness" TBH Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history)
29th Jul 2007 8:33 pm
MikeH
Member Since: 16 Feb 2007
Location: Eskdale
Posts: 23
Thanks blue meanie-I can assure you I was well & truly stuck & going nowhere without external help.
Member Since: 16 Feb 2007
Location: Eskdale
Posts: 23
The Pinzgauer is a 716K Turbodiesel
The Pinzgauer is a 716K Turbodiesel
29th Jul 2007 8:47 pm
caverD3
Member Since: 02 Jul 2006
Location: Oberon, NSW
Posts: 6922
Suspension into extended mode bottom of D3 on ground, wheels still cant find ground.
That is stuck; any vehicle would need help. “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely gamesâ€
Ernest Hemmingway
D4 3.0 Active Diff, Adaptive Lights, High Beam Assist, Surround Cameras, Privacy Glass.
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30th Jul 2007 2:51 am
MikeH
Member Since: 16 Feb 2007
Location: Eskdale
Posts: 23
caverD3 wrote:
Suspension into extended mode bottom of D3 on ground, wheels still cant find ground.
That is stuck; any vehicle would need help.
Hello caverD3,
Please don't think I was disappointed with the D3's performance as it battled to extricate itself-it put up a sterling effort and I was very impressed with it's tractability, I was asking too much of it as it was literally out of it's depth.
I think it fair to point out though that there are vehicles that encompass a larger off-road capability envelope than the D3-don't underestimate the value of portal axles, extensive ground clearance & a fully lockable gearbox & differential transmission. The Pinzgauer is a very different animal to the D3 but would have extricated itself-you can trust me on that one. That however is where the Pinzgauer advantage ends-for the 99% of real world usage the D3 slaughters it, the D3 is a so accomplished piece of machinery I still cannot believe how good it is. The D3's ability to combine it's potent off-road capability together with it's superb on-road performance is a magnificent acheivement by Landrover.
There are plenty of better off-road vehicles out there than both the D3 & Pinzgauer (they may be very big & slow though, some of which may be manufactured by Caterpillar) but how many better vehicles are there? it depends on the context & in my opinion the D3 is about as good as gets if your parameters are useability & comfort combined with off-road capability.
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after all the full depth milling against soil & gravel -nevermind.
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