can this still be viewed somewhere?

nvm found it

Interesting read, also the posters from 2010 appear not to be not active now, apart from Angel, who is quiet, Eugene, top man, and Daveo. A STAN chap keeps appearing, where are you all......
.

Interesting read, also the posters from 2010 appear not to be not active now, apart from Angel, who is quiet, Eugene, top man, and Daveo. A STAN chap keeps appearing, where are you all......
.

i am here but busy at work...  All my spelling errorz are belong to me!

2023 FFRR L460
2021 AM new Vantage

Great read, with all the talk of failing Gearboxes what was the history of yours? And did you do any special prep of it

Don't worry I'm still here!

My level of contribution to the site has been pathetic for the last couple of years due to work and the arrival of a baby (now toddler) boy.

However, I'm still a L322 convert and I've made sure the toddler can say, and spot, a "Range Rover" !

The eagled eyed amongst you might have spotted that I sold off my (unused) expedition spares late last year on the 'For Sale' bit of this site, although for some reason I cannot shift the air flow meter...

Sounds silly, but selling the spares was a sad moment - it finally hit home that with a growing family a trip of this type is just not going to happen again for a long time. I'm so glad we did it when we could: rarely is there a day that I do not daydream about some aspect of the trip... *sigh*

In regards to the gearbox, I just reread the section of the website that dealt with vehicle prep

http://www.lilongwedown.com/LilongweDown/Vehicle.html

and bizarrely I didn't mention it. Back in 2009, flaky TD6/GM gearboxes were a very hot topic and, although mine functioned faultlessly, I scared myself right at the last minute before we were about to leave and got the 'box rebuilt. The specialist who rebuilt it claimed that they used upgraded valves / bearings etc but I was unable to verify this. However, the 'box gave me no reliability issues, but it did show itself up as the weakest link when used in more extreme environments, see here (scroll down quite a bit):

http://www.lilongwedown.com/LilongweDown/T...ulogy.html


I'm enjoying reminiscing!

I can't disagree with you about the gearbox, and having towed a big trailer up some serious hills I know what you mean. However, you wouldn't notice this so much if the engine was a lot more powerful. The TD6 is really substantially underpowered.

Agreed.

Before the trip I gave serious consideration to a JE Engineering power upgrade but ultimately decided that the lower state of tune would probably lead to greater reliability. A serious consideration when in the middle of nowhere and running on fuel of suspect quality...

We had about 350kg of kit with us (roof tent, spare wheels, diesel and masses of other stuff) giving a GVW of circa 3.1 tonnes. On the higher altitude sections (2,000m+) the poor old TD6 certainly felt rather out of breath!

I've had the car full of crap and the trailer right at capacity (3500kg) and on hills I don't flog it, just slow down till it reaches max torque. It's far too noisy to try and go faster.

Love the car, but I'm well aware of its limitations!

I'm still around but in Thailand last week enjoying the islands. Lots of talk about overland Africa trips as our youngest is getting to an age where it becomes feasible. So Raymond don't fret you can still do it but just have to wait a bit!

My 2006 is still not sold so maybe I just need to get it converted into an overland vehicle.

First I need a job again 😊

Also Raymond why not upgrade to a better gearbox-ed model with a stronger engine? Wouldn't that make more sense in the long run? MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Hi folks

Just a quick post to say that it finally occurred to me to update the links in the first post on this topic to the correct ones! So it is now possible to link to the expedition blog and galleries again. Only took me a few years...

(I originally published the expedition blog on the Apple MobileMe service which was disbanded so I bought a webpage and have permanently located the material at www.lilongwedown.com and the pictures on Flickr. A huge exercise but at least it is done now for good)

Anyway, I am still around, still driving Range Rovers and still enjoying this superb website with all its brilliant, knowledgable contributors. I have been very quiet for two reasons: 1. following the expedition I got married and have had two kiddies, anyone with kids will know what I mean, and; 2. my current RR (L322 TDV8) of 6 years has been so reliable I have not needed to come searching for technical help!!!

My eldest is already starting to take an interest in his mum and dad's trans-Africa trip, frequently leafing through the coffee-table book I made of all the blogs and photos. When he and his sister are somewhat older I have promised them a mini-expedition in the RR to Morocco to take in the Sahara, Atlas Mountains etc. Watch out for that post in about five years...

best regards and many thanks to all who have shown an interest in this trip
RRG

Nice one And very inspiring!

Fantastic, nice to see you drive through my home town!!