Hi there,

From the 5th July ( this year ) we are departing to Ulaanbaatar and back via the stans and the gobi desert in a 110 hardtop TD5.

We are looking for a specialist preparation company and considering our current location Keith Gott seems to be the obvious choice.

Has anyone here had any good ( or bad ) experiences dealing with this company? We are looking to spend a maximum of £4000 on preparing the vehicle with most of the additions fitted by the company we use.

Thanks

What sort of preparations have you got in mind?

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Well I see they (from their website) help Bowler with their support so they must know what they are on about when it comes to LR. But IMHO if you can assemble IKEA furniture you can do most of the prep for overlanding yourself - thereby saving a ton of cash. I would assume that for 4K quite a lot of that is going to be labour bills which 'could' be avoided... Of course I am a fanatical tinkerer type so feel free to point out that you have no interest in lying under vehicles sweating and swearing for relaxation

That is a big relief to hear! Clearly the budget counts, so much of the tinkering will be done ourselves. Being our first trip it seemed sensible at the time to go for this company we'd heard of, particularly when coming to spares for our 110 and what we should take etc....

Incidentally, how many should we looking to take? This is clearly a 'how long is a piece of string argument' but in terms of the essentials, prop shafts etc what could be considered minimum?

In terms of the mods themselves, the 'essentials' go something like:
4x OME Shocks
4x OME Springs..... not fitted by us!
5x BF Goodrich All terrain
4x WARN Lights
Window Grills
Additional Optima Deep Cycle Battery
Hi Lift System
Raised Air Intake

This, we reckon should cover the brunt of the prep, with room for jerry cans etc & a renovated rear section when the time comes. But please feel free to critique and elaborate if necessary!

My ideal would be buying and adding all the stuff ourselves, and it seems for the most part plausible... just with our inexperience and with such a big trip in mind, initially a overland prep company seemed wise...

Cheers,
Tom

If you're in fine fettle health wise, and have a drive and a couple of spare weekends, all the gear you've listed below is a pretty straightforward installation job, and should cost about £1800 if you shop right.

Shocks and springs are much easier than you think - I can change a full set in about 2 hours, and you don't need any special tools (maybe spring compressor from Halfords to help with the OME's)

Obviously you'l want to get tyres fitted by someone, but BFG's are sold all over.

Raised air intake is very straightforward

Lights - plenty of info on the net on how to rig up a simple relay and switch

Optima battery - simple enough, and installation kits with split charge relays can be bought off the shelf.

Window grills - easy enough with a drill and some self tapping screws

Hi-lift jack - buy it, stick it in the back or get a kit the mounting kit with it to attach it to spare wheel or roofrack.

I would say it's a good idea to get stuck into as much maintenance as you can now while there is loads of help available to you and you're in a good environment. Knowing how your trucks put together and having some basic skills will be a relief to you when your miles from anywhere.

Why not start of with something simple like the raised air intake, and see how you go, ask on here for advice or try LR4x4.com

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While you are under there doing springs and shocks I would suggest you check out, and if there is any doubt change the suspension bushes. I see it’s aTD5 so I guess it’s not that old though.

Just my 2 cents worth and I would suggest people on LR4X4 will offer more (not a LR owner myself but have been)

Hi there,

I would say that you will be better of with BFG Mud Terrains rather than AT's.....AT's tend to rip up on rocks and are poor in mud. Mongolia has unsurfaced dirt roads where MT's will be desirable. Take 1 spare and a puncture kit along with 2 tubes.

OME shocks / springs are inferior to the std LR set up. Don't waste your money. If you are carring a big load put genuine LR twin coils on the rear (130 spec) and std LR 110 rears on the front. this will give you a 1.6 ton payload capability ! OME's are for smoothride lovers but they don't last.
Hi lift jacks are dangerous and difficult to stow. Again don't waste your money. Use a medium height hydraulic unit with a thick wooden base.

Snorkels - look very much the part but you don't need them. Take a spare air filter element instead.

Spend your cash on having the vehicle methodically analysed and serviced not on unncessary gizmos or 'improvements'. The basic vehicle is fully up to your task, just make sure all it's parts are in good condition without leaks, frayed belts, worn hoses, faulty thermostat, worn brakes disc pads, hubs without grease, worn propshaft uj's etc etc etc .........so you don't end up doing repaires en route. Take a spare air flow wotsit for the TD5 and maybe some sensors.

Hope this helps and have a nice trip. A friend of mine drove to Mongolia in a clapped out Peugeot 205 last year ....

I can only recommend one preparation concern I've used for 20 years based in East sussex.

Andrew.

Haven't used OME, and nor would I at the silly price - I use standard LR (Springs) and think they are fine. I use 110 rears on the front as well and they have worked out well. Didn't rate the HD rears though (on a 90) but if you can fit 130's that should work out well.
I've used Terrafirma shocks and would buy them again, gave them a merciless beating in Libya and they coped very well - cost about £25 each.
And they're metalic silver - BlingBling!!

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Andrew already pointed out that most stuff is just waste of money on your case.

If your car is on good condition you can well do the trip on stock car. No mods required.

If your car is heavily loaded then perhaps take a spare rear shock and spring.

4x WARN Lights -- why? If you manage to drive every day with standard setup, why need to aux lights now?

Window Grills -- no need. Defender locks can be opened with screwdriver anyway. Just don't keep any valuables in sight.

Additional Optima Deep Cycle Battery -- if you have freezer then maybe yes, otherwise not needed. Be sure your original battery is in good condition.

Hi Lift System -- Hi Lift is nice to nave. I have mine mounted horizontally on rear bumper.

Raised Air Intake -- For such short trip on mostly dry climate no needed. Take a few spare air filters.

Especially if you intend to sell the car after just this one trip.

I'll show some images of my Defender 90. If I bought this car in stock form, then aded some stuff for overlanding. Boxes in rear (extends to bed) I made of plywood, these help to keep all stuff out of sight and avoid grab and run situations. However, as I said before, this trip can be as well done in bone stock car, but yes, some lockable compartments give some more peace in mind.







Now I have nice overlander but the problem is that I have got infected by motorbiking bug!

Remember that your air intake is just about in the wheel arch with LOADS of dust coming up. I would definitely recommend a snorkel as 1st modification, based on our own experiences in outback Oz. All the experts in oz would say the same about a snorkel. They obviously also help with deep water crossings

I agree that OME is not that great. We had some on a dual cab hilux in Oz. they were ok, but the right side did drop a bit after about 30,000km. We have since fitted Tough Dog 45mm adjustable shocks and heavy duty leaf springs to the rear of the troopy. They are about the same price as OME (maybe a bit more) but by far a better shock. i think we got a 100,000km warranty. Not sure about the std landrover shocks.

I'm sure the bfg A/T will be fine, but M/T might be better. We had a few places around mong/central asia where I was glad I had a good M/T rather than A/T. I've mentioned before on here as well about the Mickey Thompson MTZ Baja tyre. Absolutely awesome. We travel with 2 spares and have done 40,000km so far and they should be fine for our London to Cape town leg. we do rotate our tyres though, so use all 6.

Have a look at our 'links' page on our website for links to the Tough Dog and tyres. there is also a link for a Oz 4wd forum with a dedicated landrover section. Loads of info available there.

Hoe this helps

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Hi again,
you've never mentioned where you're going to sleep at night! We loved our roof tent but having the ability to sleep inside your vehicle is always a good idea. For such a short trip maybe a cheap ground tent and a way of sleeping in the back would be good. If you REALLY want a water tank- fiama 70lt for £40 is very good, we had one- GREAT. Paddocks sell good cheap stock- we got our snorkel there, very happy with it and we felt we needed it for Pakistan, Iran and Lao. Not been to Mongolia, so don't know for there BUT people do rallies there in old bangers all the time without a snorkel.....
We found it very hard not to be 'sold' on the image- inexperience let us to buy things that we felt we should have rather than really needed.
If we were you, on such a short jaunt, we would chuck a cooker in the back, some water purifying tablets, some 'emergency' food- like packets of ready cooked rice/veg and MTR packets- fab ready made Indian boil in the bag goodies and go.................. Have FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The more you take the more you have to look after. The more you spend the less money you can take on the trip. Do as others have said ....Good tyres good battery, water storage, A few air filters (depending on how far you will drive) I would take enough oil and air filters for the whole journey, they dont take up much room.
Spares you can get by post if you are stuck

Have a good trip

Graeme

I have to add that these warn lights are (like their winches) way overpriced - for the money I would be expecting HID... Extra decent lights (two) I however always like to have.

Thank you again for this great advice

It is clear that we could do the trip in the stock version, however this trip is by no means the last we will do and so getting as much of the vehicle done now seems sensible.

In terms of the snorkel, what's the difference between the £150 safari-equip one and the paddockspares £60 ( apart from the obvious)
Considering we'll only be water crossing where needs be ( ie mongolia rivers ) the £60 will suffice, right?!

I also have a few more questions re. the preparation.

(1) For all apart from the Shocks, Springs, tyres and wiring for 12v plugs etc. the fitting will be done by us with a very limited mechanical knowledge. Will any garage be able to fit these to expedition standard, or is it worth travelling further?

(2) Which brings me on to the garage aspect. An expedition standard service beforehand is a top priority. How much am I looking to spend on such a service? Is it worth making the hike to footloose just for this aspect of it?

(3) Being young and possessing limited to no experience in car mechanics, if the landy goes whilst we're on the trip, it is unlikely that we'll be able to top and tale the problem as quickly as a seasoned overlander would. Considering my knowledge extends to the Haynes manual ( which I have now poured over many times ) is it worth trying to find a course, and for that matter does anyone know of any in the south?!

(4) In terms of spares, what should we look at taking? Are an extra set of prop shafts worth it for instance, or can we afford to simply grab air and oil filters, a set of spanners and go?!

Cheers,
Tom

P.S The WARN lights are as gilghana suggests hugely overpriced, instead we are going to attach two WIPAC ones to the A bar. Although we don't intend to be driving at night...allegedly the lights are v useful when it comes to other cars being able to see you through the dust in KZ etc.

The difference between a £60 snorkel and a £150 snorkel?? Bling, bling man!
Snorkel is to feed clean air into your filter- if you really want to do serious wading you need a lot more than that!!! Wellies are optional extras- ha ha
Cheap driving lights- great.
We are experienced overlanders and we also have a Haynes manual and no mechanical experience. Your landy is pretty new- do you really want/ need to spent £100's on a course- ask a nice local mechanic if you can watch and learn on a service session!??
If your prop shaft goes you will be very unlucky! Keep your weight down and go easy on the big bumps- it saves on any breaks or strains on the underneath. We took basic spares plus a little more and a simple bag of tools plus our Haynes manual. Ultimately you could carry endless supplies and never use them- you've got to make the personal decision of where you want to draw the line. Good luck and may your wellies stay dry! Rose