AllOutDoors includes Bushcraft and Wild Camping with some hiking, tree climbing, exploring, kayaking, green woodworking etc etc .. mainly getting away from a misguided society
This is hands down the best Defender I have ever seen, thats for certain!
Check out Andrews break down and comparison between this Defender and a Land Cruiser – which one does he prefer …
(Comments Are OPEN to all, no account needed!)
Enjoy the vid!
On a recent family trip up to Cumbria UK (Lake District) I made 100% Sure that we would include a Green Laning adventure to get the Grand Vitara’s shoes (Tyres) a bit scruffy and perhaps get a few cherries on the new Bash Plate! Mainly to get some good views and a better feeling for the G.Vitara’s Off Roading Abilities …
As Green Laning is under threat due to misunderstandings of general users who aren’t fully aware what a Byway or BOAT (Byway Open To ALL Trafic) is or means, there is contsant calls for 4×4 cars to be banned from using the tracks / lanes (in some cases the Motorbikers too are under threat from being banned). I will hereby exclude the name of this Byway, so as to ensure that other potential users will spend the time and effort in finding BOATS for themselves and hopefully learning the requirements of the car/s, drivers etc to be able to properly use them.
Within a few minutes we came across a farmer, this time not a very pleasant bloke – I waved and smiled but just got a begrudging look back and as we drove through he yelled ”Are you here to drive off road?” …. Maybe he has come across immature users before but that’s no reason to paint everyone with the same brush!
We disappeared over a bit of a hill and started enjoying the drive to which the pine plantations started falling behind and opening up to Fells and open land with Sheep grazing in groups.
A nice slow drive, with perhaps some stopping to take photos or video of the scenery will make this trip a good 30 or so minutes long!
In parts it became quite misty / foggy as we ascended higher up the fells, this only added to the mystery ad enjoyment of driving a green lane in a national park such as the Lakes.
The next time we are about in Cumbria, I will definitely have had added more modifications to the GV making it more capable to be able to handle some of the more difficult lanes – thereby I would be able to plot a route of perhaps 50-100 miles and include as many of the lanes within the journey.
The main issue with the GV at the moment is Ground Clearance, the Springs (Coils) and Shocks are still factory stock – despite the Insa Turbo 4×4 tyres giving and additional 2″ (5cm) height to the car, another 2″ from a taller Lift Kit will help loads!
Green Laning allows you to go where other cars can’t reach, although we share the lanes with walkers, hikers, horses, bikers and cyclists (plus the antis) we all share the same goal, GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL! So you can slow down to any pace you like and take it all in…
I managed the lane in 2WD the whole time only needing to engage the 4WD when decending as I wanted a bit of help from the low range to ease off on brake usage.
The GV has a very different clutch-feel to my weekly company car and so takes some getting used to, this trip was a definite help and so was the travel to and from Cumbria. We had Amber Warning weather which included heavy winds, this gave me good handling practice and feel for the car when on the drive back to London.
All in all we had a great time! We experienced another much more challening lane a few days later, this one I will name because you definitely cannot use it or even attempt it without a truly capable car unless you are careless and willing to break down on the track, to which, you would begrudgingly have to call a 4×4 recovery service to get you out!
We hit up Grizedale on the final day – this track included myself having to track build a bit to ensure the GV didn’t get damage and also so we don’t scrape and damage the steps / rocks etc.
Grizedale was great, an awesome Green Lane but unfortunately we only have a few photos and a little video of the event on our phones as our main camera had already sucked dry all of the batteries ..
Due to the ”bad weather” and the trip going on a little bit longer than anticipated, we went into the local town to grab some take away Pizza which was such a welcome after such a cool experience!
Watch how the Engine Guard / Bash Plate was installed onto the GV:
Cheers
Bushman
The below video ranks perhaps 2nd or 3rd on my top list of some really awesome 4wd Action with the Suzuki Grand Vitara, in this case we have 4 cars which are accompanied by one Jeep Cherokee and a Suzuki Jimny.
Starting off with bog crossings between farmers fields, the tour quickly ends up through woodlands, into some misty mountains then next thing you know … SNOW!
We have some pretty Gnarly hill climbing action starting at the 19:00min mark firstly with the Jeep followed by a 3door Grand Vitara and so on …
Usually I don’t like long drive videos that don’t have the fancy editing and voice overs etc, but in this case, the 28+ minutes were really action packed and fun to watch in full!
Enjoy!
Swing by the youtube channel to follow the 2002 Suzuki Grand Vitara upgrade / modifications or light-build if you will: https://youtu.be/EOpB7BuOpXY
Comments are open below – come for a chat!
Cheers
Bushman AOD
Here, Andrew St Pierre White of 4xOverland takes a very beautiful overlanding journey through the Northern Cape region of South Africa with a Toyota Fortuner and a mate who rolled up as a guide in his 80 Series Toyota Land Cruiser.
Highlights are beutiful landscape, caves, a meteorite crater and more!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video and really miss my home country of South Africa, after watching this I definitely want to go and see this great scenery one day.
Whilst the chances of doing so in my Suzuki Grand Vitara are very low, perhaps one day I will still be able to enjoy 4×4 overlanding journeys there one day – somehow …
Are you from any part of Southern Africa? Or anywhere in Africa? Please come visit and say hello in comments below! You do not need an account to comment…
Grab a snack and nice drink, this is a nice video and it’s hard to stop once you click play … Enjoy!
Subscribe to Andrew here and let him know that Bushman AOD sent you!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLL44RCPuw8XIslZBB8jf6A
One of the best most practical and sensible modifications to do on a 4×4 is installing a ”Bash Plate’‘ or ”Skid Plate, Sump Guard” etc. This is essentially under body protection for your engine and other expensive-to-fix elements under your car!
For pictures of the Bash Plate refer to my previous post of unboxing the delivery which also included a spare wheel spacer and Rear Recovery (towing) hitches.
In th below video (3+ mins) I show the very basic way how I installed mine on my Suzuki Grand Vitara – Bash Plates / Engine Guards are also often made even for road vehicles to protect sensitive areas like the Radiator from damage on the highways. Paying £80-170 to prevent a hefty £200-600 bill from a mechanic is quite a no brianer – considering that one of the vehicles at my work as had 3 radiators replaced in the last three years where all three cases were allegedly caused by highway debris…
Tools / Items needed for this installation:
-17mm Spanner
-19mm Spanner
-13mm Spanner
– Solvent such as WD-40
– Long (50cm+) Scaff Bar (to assist undoing old rusted chassis bolts)
– Car Ramps or Jack
– Jack Stands
Bash Plate Manufaturer: https://radzikone.pl/akcesoria
Follow the Modifications / Build of this 4×4: Episode #1
YES! Today I walked into my living room to find the Radzikone.pl delivery arrived from Poland (And much quicker than expected!).
I ordered three items for the GV with the main purchase being the Under Engine Armour ”Bash Plate” or ”Sump Guard” as it can be known (Radzikone refer to it as Engine and Trnasfer case guard) – these items are highly recommended when modding a 4×4 for more serious Off Roading.
The other two items were:
Rear Towing / Recovery Hitches or ”Towing Eyes” as labelled and a Spare Wheel Spacer – I upgraded my tires from the stock 235/60/r16 to 205/80/r16 which is a much taller tire – the standard Suzuki spare wheeel mount is quite tight so I decided to get the spacer.
The towing hithces are for extra strength towing or recovery points as the GV comes with very basic standard road capable towing hitches which aren’t designed to be used out on the tracks.
Overall my order with them went very smooth, delivery was a good few days faster than expected, items were packaged VERY Well! and the nice little key ring / tag with quality Radzikone sticker was a very nice touch.
The products themselves are made from high quality materials, laser cut very well and the design is good – I can definitely see myself using them for as many future modifications or spare parts replacement as I will need – especially due to them being a Suzuki Specialist.
Above L to R:
(L):Rear Towing Hitch / Recovery Points – these will be installed between where the towbar is attached to the chassis and the chassis itself
(R): SpareWheel Spacer – attaches to current spare wheel mount
Why not stay up to date and get connected! This 4WD upgrade will constantly be documented via video and image and posted here as well as youtube.
Comments are open to guests as well so please let me know your thoughts!
Items Purchased From: https://radzikone.pl/
Cheers till next time
Bushman
As followers may already know, a new interest of mine is Off Roading / 4×4 Action, and a couple of months ago I bought an older model Suzuki Grand Vitara for the purpose of a family car primarily then as a capable off roader – we are an outdoors oriented family and so it makes sense to have a car capable of taking us all across the UK countryside and perhaps farther.
It was looking for videos of various smaller 4×4’s such as Suzuki Jimny’s and the smaller Jeeps and even Rav-4’s (more of a Mom’s Taxi to be honest) that I came across some pretty Gnarly footage as well as images online of the Second gen Grand Vitaras going quite hard on some serious tracks, sometimes out performing larger cars.
My First Post shows more-or-less what kind of forby I want my GV to end up looking like and then on the Second Post I show you the newly delivered Insa Turbo – Ranger, All Terrain tyres which works out to be the first real step needed taking to move forward in this venture …
Anyhow, over the recent weekend I finally got the time to be able to make an appointment to have the Tyres fitted – and here’s the results.
ABOVE – L & R: (Click on photo’s to get detailed / expanded views)
(L): Rear tyre showing the gaps between the wheel arch – the tyre guys had to remove the guards as this was something I hinted they might need to do, this ensured that they didn’t need to call me to confirm or explain anything to me.
(R): I placed the old stock tyre 235/60/r16 next to the new Ranger A/T 205/80/r16 to show the gain in height, I could definitely feel the lift when driving home – I also admittedly caught myslef smirking in the mirror!
ABOVE – L & R:
The 29” or 205/80/r16 tyres are pretty much the biggest / tallest tyres you can fit to the Suz G.V. without much Rub (where the tread of your tyres rub on part of the mud guards etc.) – What I mean is, you don’t have to do a whole lot to sort out the rub (it is likely some removal of wheel arch inner guards or mud flaps is all that is needed – the tyres will not rub on the chassis / metal).
(L): The rear of the wheel shows about half an Inch gap – this will only cause a problem when off roading proper! So an easy and non-expensive solution is adding in extended bump stops, JimnyBits sells these bump stops for Grand Vitaras at 25mm, 50mm and 75mm.
(R): The front of the wheel has a larger gap of around one inch so is less of a concern.
Next Modification: I have an order on the way from Radzikone over in Poland, they are a Suzuki Grand Vitara specialist and I have been following their online material for some time, unfortunately initially I thought it was just a youtube channel of some 4×4 enthusiasts.
I will keep it on the shush what is coming up, but the next modification/s from Radzikone will be fitted by myself DIY – all these mod’s wherever possible will have both image documentation as well as video which will end up on my youtube channel – please take a look if you enjoy the Great Outdoors!
Please also follow the blog to keep on top of this build – who knows how far this GV will go with me?
Cheers
Bushman-AOD
Here’s a Quick Overview of my newly delivered Insa Turbo Ranger A/T (All Terrain) Off Roading Tyres for the 4×4.
I found that online when searching and attempting to decide on a particular brand or tread pattern for tyres, there were no real detailed images of the tread in order to attempt to gauge the depth and decide for yourself – so here I have added the best detailed pictures I have been able to take up close for those who may be considering these tyres made by the Spanish Re-tread company Insa Turbo.
NOTE: All Images Can Be Clicked For The Expanded View
TREAD DEPTH ANALYSIS:
OTHER DETAILS / FEATURES:
Click on Image’s above for detailed / Zoom view !
Insa Turbo are a Spanish Re-tread company and online I have found plenty of comments where long-term users are sharing testimonies that their tyres have not had a change for 100,000 Km’s! Their products are marketed as Green / Eco Friendly Tyres.
Note: I am not affiliated with the brand, this post is merely to give other 4×4 enthusiats a better in depth look at the tread pattern and shape etc.
I think I was around 15 or 16 in the late ’90s when for some reason I got the bug and wanted the family to get a 4×4, kit it out with family camping gear and other necessities and go on regular trips duing the holidays or weekends.
Having grown up in Southern Africa, 4×4’s are a common sight even on city roads, I think it was a marketing exhibition one day in the atrium of a large shopping mall where various 4×4 manufacturers were exhibiting their cars, where I got the bug.
Nevertheless, more than 10 years later after moving overseas, my first car was a 4×4, or so I thought … The Honda CRV is technically four wheel drive but the process is all automatic, you cannot select 4WD as the computer senses the loss of tracTion in the wheels before it then engages 4WD. So, not what I really had in mind but that’s a story that ended years ago.
I got the bug again recently, we were driving behind an ’18 perhaps ’19 Suzuki Jimney and my wife thought it looked nice (although her perspective is more on looks and perhaps some slight 4WD capability, driving over camping feilds etc. but not for full 4WD with all the gear and jazz).
Above, we both have slightly different ideas on what we want …
Long story short, I made the effort online in Classified sections, marketplaces such as Auto Trader and am now a proud owner of a Stock Suzuki Grand Vitara 4×4!
Stock meaning, factory specifications with regular tyres which don’t perform as well off the road as one would like, low suspension etc.
So we can all look forward to some future Off Roading Adventures and Green Laning trips across the UK in the coming months and years as well as updates on the various modifications I will undertake to make the car more capable.
Oh, for the Greta Thunbergs out there, I bought a lower emission Petrol version and not Diesel … so take that!
With this car which is not a commuter, myself and family after being car-less for more than a decade will be able to go out and explore the wilderness, go on camping trips and spend our time in nature away from Wifi and ”devices”, hopefully this will give my kids a better life growing up and make them appreciate the natural world more.
Keep an eye out!
Cheers, Bushman
Bushman AllOutDoors 