2012 LR4 Overland Project - Build Journal & Blog

[treckin]

Ok heres the trip download

We went to Lassen National Forest. We had pretty rainy weather Friday and Saturday, but that meant there were fewer visitors in general, which was nice.

We traveled as a three vehicle caravan - My 2012 LR4, my friends 1997 Defender 90, and another friends 98 4runner.

Spent the majority of our time in the Philbrook Reservoir and Spring Mountain Lakes areas.

Getting ready

Roof mount spare tire holder, water tank, jerrycan & holder, HD tow hitch recovery ring:







Installing the front light guards:





Rears required many more tools. Im lucky I have a rivnut tool, prick punch, etc.

Packing gear up:









Continued below

 

[treckin]

More packing:





Meeting up at the store in Chico to get ice, beer, and meat:



Arriving at the campsite - we were supposed to camp and move but the rain changed thatL



Tent Setup:



Memory foam matress and Rumpl 2 person comforter. We also brought another comforter in a compression sack for warmth:



Camp Setup:

The kitchen worked out great - pretty good piece of junk for $100. Made organizing and cooking for 5 people much easier, including dishes etc.









Continued Below:

 

[treckin]

More camp, mud, food:







Solar panel and battery box - came in handy for charging GMRS radios, running coffee grinder, charging lanterns, charing the bluetooth speaker, etc.





On the trail:



Coming home:



All cleaned up:



I have some more footage and anecdotes, but I think the standouts are:

• The "Off-road" nav mode is awesome - 1st of all it actually had maps for the tiny little fire roads in the park, and 2nd I was able to drop a POI at basecamp, driver off road on various trails all day, then have it make a route back to camp using the GPS breadcrumbs it dropped during the day.
• The LR4 is insanely capable at wheeling, you just have to use the right terrain response modes, speeds, gears, etc. Its actually kind of a fun process changing all the settings on the fly.
• The factory fog lights are really respectable. The defender has 500w of LED lighting, and in the forward direction, LR4 highbeams and fogs are almost as bright at night on the road.
• The road-trip portion of the weekend was also very comfortable in the LR4.
• The mattress is huge and hard to bring but completely worth it. Our camping mates had an airmatress and were complaining about cold and sore in the morning.
• Need a heating element for the shower to be worth anything in cold weather
• An air mattress blow up pump is a fantastic way to have a mobile billows for starting wet firewood (and drying it around the fire)
• 7.62x54r is A LOT more powerful than 5.56x45 - blew our steel flapper target 5 ft away and put giant mushroom dents in it. Its rated for 30-06 supposedly.
• Want to get 34" tires onto this car really badly

 

[Blaise]

Two things:

1) Your fog lamps and high beams can’t run at the same time. I love the lights on my LR as well - the high beams don’t just open the shutter on the xenons but also add an additional pair of H7 halogens!

2) 34”s? Why? Are you really finding trails that hard that you need it? Lots of downsides to running a larger tire!

Also I showed the GF your camp setup and now our amazon wishlist is ... bigger. Lol!

 

[treckin]

Two things:

1) Your fog lamps and high beams can’t run at the same time. I love the lights on my LR as well - the high beams don’t just open the shutter on the xenons but also add an additional pair of H7 halogens!

2) 34”s? Why? Are you really finding trails that hard that you need it? Lots of downsides to running a larger tire!

Also I showed the GF your camp setup and now our amazon wishlist is ... bigger. Lol!

If the fogs were going off automatically but the extra h7s were adding that much light, that’s awesome!

On the 34” tire - the larger the tire radius the larger the hole/rut/rock the vehicle can roll over smoothly.

On this trip it was extra apparent it would definitely add 5-10 mph of comfortable speed on forest roads.

The only question is how much turning radius you lose as well as the ability to stuff the tires in the wells during cross linked obstacle navigation in rock crawling TRS mode. Would have to look into how much more room there is in the wheel arches.

The tire sidewall rubbing at the upper ball joint seems like a big issue. I’d have to do more work on the frame horns for sure.

 

[Abran]

The EMT kit came in handy - my buddy came up in his 4runner which he just had 34" MTs installed - with NO fender flares.

Going up the trails in Lassen, there was a lot of standing puddles and mud because of the recent rains. As he was enjoying the MTs in the mud, a bunch of **** got into his eye.

Luckily I had the med kit, busted out the ophthalmic solution, and he rinsed it right out of his eyes.

Having recently had an EKC eye infection due to metal debris scratching up my eye and creating an infection vector, this was awesome,

If anything, I would have gotten the more comprehensive one that comes with OTC medications and sutures.

YMMV

Thanks. I’ll check that one out

 

[Blaise]

If the fogs were going off automatically but the extra h7s were adding that much light, that’s awesome!

On the 34” tire - the larger the tire radius the larger the hole/rut/rock the vehicle can roll over smoothly.

On this trip it was extra apparent it would definitely add 5-10 mph of comfortable speed on forest roads.

The only question is how much turning radius you lose as well as the ability to stuff the tires in the wells during cross linked obstacle navigation in rock crawling TRS mode. Would have to look into how much more room there is in the wheel arches.

The tire sidewall rubbing at the upper ball joint seems like a big issue. I’d have to do more work on the frame horns for sure.

34”s really shouldn’t be needed for comfort on forest roads. While you are correct in theory there’s a lot of downsides (unsprung weight, gearing, etc) to a larger tire. Don’t do it! Have you played with pressures at all? We were blasting down forest roads all day yesterday in comfort with my 30.5” pseudo-ATs at OE pressure. No E-rating helps I suspect.

I definitely wouldn’t give up suspension travel or turning radius. Too much compromise... it’s why I have 31.5” Duratracs in my garage ready to go.

 

[treckin]

34”s really shouldn’t be needed for comfort on forest roads. While you are correct in theory there’s a lot of downsides (unsprung weight, gearing, etc) to a larger tire. Don’t do it! Have you played with pressures at all? We were blasting down forest roads all day yesterday in comfort with my 30.5” pseudo-ATs at OE pressure. No E-rating helps I suspect.

I definitely wouldn’t give up suspension travel or turning radius. Too much compromise... it’s why I have 31.5” Duratracs in my garage ready to go. 452553

Gearing shouldn’t be too much of an issue considering the two speed transaxle - already I spend most of the time in 2nd/3rd gear when in low range.

In hi range, the larger final drive as a result of the tires should give slightly worse acceleration performance (but so does the hundreds of pounds of equipment and armor lol).

The other advantage of using 34” tires on the 20 inch rims is the extra 2 inches of sidewall compared to stock. This would allow for sufficient airing down without generating ridiculous excess heat in the low profile sidewalls or risking a rimstrike.

Going the compotove route is another option that nets another inch of sidewall, but at ~$4000 shipped for a set of 5, I’d consider stuffing larger tires on the factory 20” rims a better investment.

Ideally I’d put 34” tires on the Compomotives, but I still think the 4K would be better spent on armor and a winch system.

 

[Blaise]

Why not just move down to an 18” LR3 wheel? I’d imagine a new set of brakes would be far less pricey.

 

[treckin]

Why not just move down to an 18” LR3 wheel? I’d imagine a new set of brakes would be far less pricey.

I’d rather updgrade the tires than downgrade the brakes...

 

[Blaise]

True, but it’s all a compromise Upgrade and downgrade are quite objective, and most of these modifications are subjective!

The LR3 brakes do a fine job, and given that we aren’t towing and I’m sure you know how to engine brake on a long descent I can’t imagine you’d ever overheat them. And unsprung mass reduction always always always results in a higher quality ride, which you’d get two-fold by going down in wheel/tire weight and brakes!

As always it’s your rig and you’re welcome to do as you please For what it’s worth, I’ve seen a stock LR4 on 19” highway tires tackle trails that most would only use locked up jeeps for. Based on this (and of course personal experience) I’ve found that the capability of the truck far exceeds the needs of almost anyone going anywhere... in my year long 50k mile trip around the US (incl Alaska) I always longed for better road manners and comfort but never more capability.

And that’s why my “build” has been add tires, buy an IIDT, and just keep up with maintenance. I really think LR got it right, minus the 19/20” wheels on the LR4.

 

[treckin]

True, but it’s all a compromise Upgrade and downgrade are quite objective, and most of these modifications are subjective!

The LR3 brakes do a fine job, and given that we aren’t towing and I’m sure you know how to engine brake on a long descent I can’t imagine you’d ever overheat them. And unsprung mass reduction always always always results in a higher quality ride, which you’d get two-fold by going down in wheel/tire weight and brakes!

As always it’s your rig and you’re welcome to do as you please For what it’s worth, I’ve seen a stock LR4 on 19” highway tires tackle trails that most would only use locked up jeeps for. Based on this (and of course personal experience) I’ve found that the capability of the truck far exceeds the needs of almost anyone going anywhere... in my year long 50k mile trip around the US (incl Alaska) I always longed for better road manners and comfort but never more capability.

And that’s why my “build” has been add tires, buy an IIDT, and just keep up with maintenance. I really think LR got it right, minus the 19/20” wheels on the LR4.

I think we are beginning to agree and come full circle- I like the larger diameter tires for their added comfort factor on rough gound, plus they allow me to run a larger sidewall for additional compliance against harshness.

I wouldn’t mind using the compomotives, as even on a 34” tire its an extra inch of sidewall compared to the same 34” tire on 20” rims, but I can’t make the $4k rims to get 1” extra sidewall make financial sense when I can grind a little frame horns and cut a small bit of plastic to get the same sidewall height.

255/50/20 - 30” diameter, 5” sidewall <- Factory Rim for my truck
275/55/20 - 32” diameter, 6” sidewall <- I chose this option
275/65/20 - 34” diameter, 7” sidewall

255/60/18 - 30” diameter, 6” sidewall <- $4k or smaller brakes (still need rims)
255/70/18 - 32” diameter, 7” sidewall <- ditto
255/80/18 - 34” diameter, 8” sidewall <- ditto

 

[Blaise]

Definitely feel free to post your planned frame trim, I work in aerospace structural repair/mod/etc so happy to help if needed!!!

 

[treckin]

Definitely feel free to post your planned frame trim, I work in aerospace structural repair/mod/etc so happy to help if needed!!!

Thanks!

The 32”s fit with only 3-4mm of clearance needed at the frame horns.

The 34”s would require just an inch and a half a the same location.

Clearance at the front and rear frame itself during full lock turning is questionable, I’ll take some photos with the truck on the 4 post hoist next service.

The cool thing about the 1” tire lift from stuffing 34”s is that I can drop the EAS another inch to maintain the same ride height.

 

[bezzita]

I also just installed 275/55R20..., I noticed there's a rubbing if the steering is fully turned...., specially when the car is reversing.

I am thinking to install a steering rack limiters, basically they are just simple nylon collars slip over the end of the rack limiting movement or put 1/2" spacers on the front wheels.