Just Downsized to a Renegade (build and trips)
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Thanks for all the positive comments and sorry for the lack of response or updates; work has been really hectic for a few weeks. But I'm finally getting a break for a few days so setting off early in the Jeep tomorrow morning up to the Isle of Mull for a bit of motorsport and wildlife (hopefully) photography...and possibly a wee dram or two!
crossed-up
Observer
Thanks Grassland, I Iike to keep things fairly stock and simple these days and concentrate on things that make a trip more comfortable, enjoyable and affordable.
Over the last 3000 miles (including the Alps trip and some enthusiastic driving around Mull I'm showing 36.1 mpg, which is a vast difference to the WK! Fuel is about 1.20 to 1.30 GBP a litre at present here.
The pre filter comes on the stock Mopar filter. Over the years I messed with all sorts of air filters on cars but just go with stock these days as they're cheap, do the job and I'm not looking for every last BHP.
crossed-up
Observer
Well my trip to Mull was not quite a relaxing as I had planned despite none of our ‘crew ‘ actually competing in the rally this year. I had packed a load of camera gear with the intention concentrating on some photography, but we ended up marshalling several day and night stages including running a stage finish so that took priority. The nature of the thread event means the schedule is very tight to get around the island to the various stages working around the road closures. It also rained pretty much constantly so I only rally got some grab shots when the sun appeared periodically and in between various activities. All good fun though and the catering facilities in the Jeep kept us all fed throughout.
Some of the few pics I took:
I got on the ferry after a 10 hour drive and 3 hour wait on the Thursday. Only about 25 cars at a time.
Friday morning looking over the very picturesque Tobermory Bay on the walk down to get provisions.
Scrutineering takes place in the distillery on the Friday morning before the event gets underway in the evening for the first leg into the early hours of Saturday!
Marshall and emergency crews gathering for sign on.
Setting up a stage finish control on the Saturday with the safety and radio crews, having finished at 3.00am and grabbing a fews hours sleep.
Calm before the storm (literally!)
Car 65 comes in to our stage finish control to get their time card marked. There was a flying finish a few hundred yards down the road.
Despite the quaint surroundings and all the seemingly old card, I one hell of a challenging (and scary) event to compete in. Here’s a couple of in-car vids (not mine) to give you a flavour of what its like.
An old school Mini on one of the Saturday daytime stages.
The multiple times winner and 'local hero' in a MKll Escort on a night stage.
Now back to the more mundane subject of lamp brakets…
Bracket fitted. I put a couple of self-adhesive foam pads at the top and bottom pf the vertical bar to protect the grill and help tie the brakes to the grill.
I still need to make up some steady bars go between the tap and the top mount of the lamp.
Both brackets fitted and I was quite pleased with the way they blend into the grill now that they are painted.
Lamps mounted.
I just need to get them wired in now, but that will have to wait for another week.
Some of the few pics I took:
I got on the ferry after a 10 hour drive and 3 hour wait on the Thursday. Only about 25 cars at a time.
Friday morning looking over the very picturesque Tobermory Bay on the walk down to get provisions.
Scrutineering takes place in the distillery on the Friday morning before the event gets underway in the evening for the first leg into the early hours of Saturday!
Marshall and emergency crews gathering for sign on.
Setting up a stage finish control on the Saturday with the safety and radio crews, having finished at 3.00am and grabbing a fews hours sleep.
Calm before the storm (literally!)
Car 65 comes in to our stage finish control to get their time card marked. There was a flying finish a few hundred yards down the road.
Despite the quaint surroundings and all the seemingly old card, I one hell of a challenging (and scary) event to compete in. Here’s a couple of in-car vids (not mine) to give you a flavour of what its like.
An old school Mini on one of the Saturday daytime stages.
The multiple times winner and 'local hero' in a MKll Escort on a night stage.
Now back to the more mundane subject of lamp brakets…
Bracket fitted. I put a couple of self-adhesive foam pads at the top and bottom pf the vertical bar to protect the grill and help tie the brakes to the grill.
I still need to make up some steady bars go between the tap and the top mount of the lamp.
Both brackets fitted and I was quite pleased with the way they blend into the grill now that they are painted.
Lamps mounted.
I just need to get them wired in now, but that will have to wait for another week.
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crossed-up
Observer
Thnaks jgaz, I was surprised how well they blended in after they were painted.
We had the two Jeeps booked on a navigational green lane exercise followed by a session on the off road corse at the local Land Rover Experience Centre. But the organisers had to cancel due to the amount of rain we've had causing excessive flooding of the rivers. So we decided 'do our own thing' and head out on to some of the local green lanes. As expected things were pretty wet, but it was nice to get back on some UK lanes again and a real contrast to the dust and hot Alps!
Heading out on the first of the lanes.
The local wildlife stretching their wings.
We aimed on sticking to the less muddy lanes but things were pretty wet everywhere, so there was plenty on walking ahead and depth assessment.
Some one-horsepower off roaders.
Lunch break
Back to the water crossings
We had the two Jeeps booked on a navigational green lane exercise followed by a session on the off road corse at the local Land Rover Experience Centre. But the organisers had to cancel due to the amount of rain we've had causing excessive flooding of the rivers. So we decided 'do our own thing' and head out on to some of the local green lanes. As expected things were pretty wet, but it was nice to get back on some UK lanes again and a real contrast to the dust and hot Alps!
Heading out on the first of the lanes.
The local wildlife stretching their wings.
We aimed on sticking to the less muddy lanes but things were pretty wet everywhere, so there was plenty on walking ahead and depth assessment.
Some one-horsepower off roaders.
Lunch break
Back to the water crossings
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crossed-up
Observer
Yes ZMagic, the Renegade (at least in Trailhawk spec.) seems more than capable for getting about off-road in stock form. I also think it is much more acceptable to have a less aggressive looking vehicle when out and about on the trails, given the amount of negativity (sometimes justifiably) directed at off roaders considered to be 'tearing up the countryside'.
Here's fun little video my brother has just sent me from the day.
Here's fun little video my brother has just sent me from the day.
crossed-up
Observer
I had planned on a bit of photography this weekend at a trials event, but that was cancelled due flooding, so thought about going out and getting some camera mount shots from the Abarth, but decided the weather was too grotty for that so set out in the Jeep instead.
Morgan Weafer
Active member
Simon, I am curious as to how you might access your spare tyre with your wonderful drawer and storage system in the boot?
crossed-up
Observer
Hi Morgan,
If I get a flat then I have to pull the draw and fridge slide out of their runners, undo 4 M6 bolts, then lift the drawer box out. It's a compromise but its not something I need to do very often (hopefully!) and its not much more of a pain than having to empty the boot/truck to access the wheel via the factory floor panel, probably 5 mins work. I actually think its less hassle than messing about with the cable winch system the WK had for lowering the spare, then grovelling about underneath to detach/reatach it. Basically, the positives of the drawer system (used every trip) outweigh the negatives of the spare access (very infrequently needed) for me. What's the betting I now get a flat on my trip up north tomorrow
If I get a flat then I have to pull the draw and fridge slide out of their runners, undo 4 M6 bolts, then lift the drawer box out. It's a compromise but its not something I need to do very often (hopefully!) and its not much more of a pain than having to empty the boot/truck to access the wheel via the factory floor panel, probably 5 mins work. I actually think its less hassle than messing about with the cable winch system the WK had for lowering the spare, then grovelling about underneath to detach/reatach it. Basically, the positives of the drawer system (used every trip) outweigh the negatives of the spare access (very infrequently needed) for me. What's the betting I now get a flat on my trip up north tomorrow
crossed-up
Observer
Thanks jeepgc, I think I've got the Jeep more or less where I need it apart from some small additions. Just need to get some more trips planned - looking at returning to the Pyrenees and Andorra or possibly heading in the opposite direction to the Bodo and the arctic circle next year.
crossed-up
Observer
Happy New Year All!
To get some fresh air after the festivities I went out on a recce/photo trip today to check out some green lanes in Warwickshire (similar to Leicestershire there are a lot of old Roman roads and sites.) But there's been a lot of rain over the last few weeks so most of the lanes I was going to tackle were too boggy, and many of them have TRO's limiting use over the winter months to avoid erosion. So I headed for a track close to the Fosse Way that I've been meaning to visit for a while. Its only short but has an old bridge over a disused railway and I thought that would be a better option, assuming that it was a mostly hard packed gravel track. And indeed it started off like that, but soon became very rutted muddy. As usual the little Trailhawk didn't seem too bothered by it so I just pushed on slowly. I met some walkers a few hundred metres in, so I stopped to let them by and thought I would grab a few shots - at which point I realised I'd left my main camera bag at home Luckily I had my 'beater' K-m body and a couple of decent lenses in the bag that I actually did pack, although the batteries were only showing 1/4 full! So I used that until the batteries died then used my phone for some of the wider shots later on. It was actually a nice day out on my own before going back to work tomorrow. The plan is to come back with both Trailhawks in the spring when things have dried up and shoot some video including some drone footage of the bridge.
Some pics...
Having left the tarmac road the track to the bridge soon gave way to mud.
Finally approaching the bridge.
Downsizing has its advantages. I think some rigs would be over this limit!
The bridge looks pretty solid on top, but much more spindly and weak from the side.
The bridge was an obvious spot for lunch. Fresh coffee and a toasted sandwich.
Course of the old railway
And the other side. I'm assuming the wrecked moped didn't come off the bridge!
Back to the mud for the return to the main road.
To get some fresh air after the festivities I went out on a recce/photo trip today to check out some green lanes in Warwickshire (similar to Leicestershire there are a lot of old Roman roads and sites.) But there's been a lot of rain over the last few weeks so most of the lanes I was going to tackle were too boggy, and many of them have TRO's limiting use over the winter months to avoid erosion. So I headed for a track close to the Fosse Way that I've been meaning to visit for a while. Its only short but has an old bridge over a disused railway and I thought that would be a better option, assuming that it was a mostly hard packed gravel track. And indeed it started off like that, but soon became very rutted muddy. As usual the little Trailhawk didn't seem too bothered by it so I just pushed on slowly. I met some walkers a few hundred metres in, so I stopped to let them by and thought I would grab a few shots - at which point I realised I'd left my main camera bag at home
Luckily I had my 'beater' K-m body and a couple of decent lenses in the bag that I actually did pack, although the batteries were only showing 1/4 full! So I used that until the batteries died then used my phone for some of the wider shots later on. It was actually a nice day out on my own before going back to work tomorrow. The plan is to come back with both Trailhawks in the spring when things have dried up and shoot some video including some drone footage of the bridge.Some pics...
Having left the tarmac road the track to the bridge soon gave way to mud.
Finally approaching the bridge.
Downsizing has its advantages. I think some rigs would be over this limit!
The bridge looks pretty solid on top, but much more spindly and weak from the side.
The bridge was an obvious spot for lunch. Fresh coffee and a toasted sandwich.
Course of the old railway
And the other side. I'm assuming the wrecked moped didn't come off the bridge!
Back to the mud for the return to the main road.