Trey & Melissa Burns said:
Speak for yourself, we are not all dumb Texans!
Who are you and out of curiousity are you affiliated with any clubs in Texas?
Hey guys I'm just a nobody really...wasn't saying everyone from Texas is dumb just seems like all the members here that consider themselves the "ELITE" per say have that idea about me, which is fine. Hey, but I did notice you did miss spell curiosity in you're reply...lol. I won't hold that against you though as I have a hard time remembering how to spell my own name, last name I just sign an "X".
No, I am not officially associated with any clubs, but have looked into some since becoming interested in Rovers. Namely TexasRovers.com and Houston Rovers etc. Haven't taken the plunge though was trying to get my bearings on learning Rovers a little, so I wouldn't feel like a complete newb when I joined or met some other club members.
Truthfully, I didn't buy my Rover to wheel....I never even considered wheeling a Rover until I accidentally stumbled onto this site a couple years ago looking for parts. I'm still trying to get over the idea that the truck is to pretty to take any really serious punishment.
I have always been more into the extreme stuff, but am a lot older now and looking for some more mild off roding. By extreme I mean buying a beater truck and stripping it of pretty much everything and welding a roll-bar in it and going out and seeing how hard you can punish it until you break something in the suspension, trailering it taking it home and making repairs to go out and do it all again the next time.
All or nothing....I would NEVER wheel a truck that was my daily driver. Just not smart in my own personal opinion. I'm not telling anyone not to do it...hey it's you're rig so please do as you please.
I usually have a completely non street legal rig that was built from an old beater I would buy and strip.
Today I went out to East Texas in my Disco to do some what I really consider moderate or really lite wheeling...well I just got home about 15 minutes ago after running by the shop to make some repairs.
I have already come to the conclusion I need to start looking for a wrecked or beater Disco to rebuild for a trail rig and use the one I have now as my DD. Fitting my trail rig with all the under carriage protection, skid plates and body armor that I would never run on my street rig...I mean why would you? I don't get that, but again must be the dumb Texan thing.
I was following my brother in law in his Suzuki Samurai running a 6" lift with 33" tires...and another buddy of mine in his 2004 Wrangler we just put a lift on a couple weeks ago. He has 6" of lift including a full Pro Comp running 35" tires.
Long story short... I had a hell of a time keeping up in the Disco.
Damage toll/report for today my old daily driver disco;
1.) Completely broke in half Old Man Emu steering stabilizer and bent the F*** out of the shaft. Had a hell of a fun time with the wobble effect any time I hit a bump on the way home. Whoo hoo hold on fellas, I had to completely remove the shock to drive the truck.
2.) broke radio antenna
3.) Knocked bulb loose in passenger side blinker, so had no right blinker when I left, pulled over pulled cover and put bulb back in. *Fixed*
4.) busted both rubber exhaust grommets and broke the back tell pipe hanger broke weld where hanger connects rear tail pipe....ripped the metal hanger completely out where it is welded to exhaust. Had *NO* exhaust support on the way home accept manifolds not good. I'm sure I will have to pull the manifolds to replace gaskets now to cure a leak or two. Broke every hanger and support holding exhaust *Partial fix as I tack welded the hanger back to the tail pipe and will go in the morning and get two new rubber grommets to finish repair*.
5.) Will order new OME steering stabilizer tomorrow as well and see if I can pull the shaft and straighten it or replace it if it is bent so bad it can't be brought back to where the OME steering stabilizer can be installed back.
Truck is still perfectly aligned and trails completely straight down the highway at 70mph, which I was completely amazed. Not sure how much bind the bent shaft is putting on ball joints and other parts, but didn't see any differential leaks "YET" a few days should tell the real story.
I truly need to get with some other local Rover owners and go out and learn from you experienced Rover wheelers how you use you're rigs.
I think my days of trying to catch 4 ft of air coming over the top at 55-60mph with the pedal to the floor to make the incline is over...lol
Truthfully, I have out grown that stage or just don't really have the nerve for it anymore anyway.
If I have everything fixed on my truck I may go out to Barnwell next weekend though not sure. Thought I heard some one mention today there is a big rover event out there this coming weekend or something think maybe it is SCARR if I heard right.
Would really like to make the trip if possible.
Hope to meet you guys in the near future
I'm also a professional photographer and use nothing but digital high performance pro SLR cameras shooting at close to 5 frames per sec and I could get some great shots I'm sure if I were to be able to make the trip, that we could share with the members of DiscoWeb.
Also could do some awesome video and I have my own high end servers and pay for over a 1000 gigs of transfer a month, so I could even host the video so it doesn't run Disco Web server bill through the roof.
