A friend of mine is a passionate Land Rover owner (is there any other kind?) and even he says that if you own one (usually more) of Solihull’s innovative machines you’ve got to be prepared to spend half your time underneath it or under the bonnet.
This is all well and good if you know what you’re doing. If you know a transfer case from a flywheel. Or an alternator from a cam belt.
All manner of things can and do go wrong. Hoses come off or perish, seals perforate and leak oil and then metal rubs against metal and it all goes south from there. And then there are tree stumps grabbing at the undercarriage, spinning wheels that break diffs and half shafts... Suspension components take a regular hammering, too.
Machinery has a limited life span and parts need fixing or replacing – this is especially so for the four wheeler who likes to take his or her vehicle to the absolute limit. With regular servicing and the right parts your hard working 4WD will be able to keep up the good work.
I was out in the wilderness one afternoon a few years back and everything was going OK in the 1943 Willys Jeep I was driving. Very enjoyable, it was. I wish I could do it every day.
Now, all 4WDs, especially hard-working, older and classic ones, need to be checked and serviced regularly, as any minor issue can turn into a major one.
At one point I headed down a long, steep, muddy track, lost all traction and needed to accelerate to let the wheels drive and catch up. As luck would have it, the Jeep chose that very moment to throw in the towel. It coughed, wheezed like an old dude chopping firewood and stopped, leaving me with no gas. The vehicle gathered momentum toward a sharp bend and a steep drop-off into the unforgiving pines.
My only option was to cadence brake and try to steer my way to the safety of the high, grassy bank to my left. There was a moment of panic but the Willys eventually dug in before my seemingly inevitable date with a tree trunk. I edged the Jeep against the bank and came to a stop, with the front left wheel taking the brunt of the collision. Thankfully there was no damage to driver or vehicle.
We got out, checked the Jeep over and after a bit of investigation, starting attempts and a cup of tea, discovered a very old, clogged and, to be frank, buggered fuel filter. The Jeep had been drinking filthy, contaminated petrol and had chosen this moment to choke. It had obviously been in that condition for a while and a service would have picked it up and saved me from what could have been a nasty outcome.
It’s really quite simple: keep your 4WD maintained and serviced and it will treat you well. Especially considering the abuse some of them receive in mud, dust and water. A little bit of cash wisely spent will save a lot later. Sure you have to service any vehicle, but an off-road 4WD might get pushed to the limit and then immediately stuck in the garage or on the lawn until next time. It pays to offer it a bit of love and attention now so you don’t run into trouble in the wilderness.
There are plenty of quality 4WD specialists out there offering servicing and parts, and we’ve outlined a few here. The main point to note is that a specialist is the way to go – they know what we get up to out there and understand the essential differences between a road-going car and a vehicle with four driven wheels and a tendency to come limping home in a bit of a state. Because four wheelers tend to break more bits than your average Nissan Micra driver.
By Chris Lorigan
