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The VehicleIn Africa, you can’t just nip down to the local Land Rover dealership, or call the AA to come and get you, as such; vehicle preparation and maintenance must always be your first priority. My bible for planning this trip has been Tom Sheppard’s “Vehicle Based Expedition”, which I highly recommend it to anyone planning anything similar. There are a few basic rules of vehicle based expeditions – preventative maintenance and ‘mechanical sympathy’ are by far the most important. Few things on a Land Rover will break of their own accord. Suspension, axles, half shafts and gearboxes don’t just break; they need to be broken, typically by poor or overly aggressive driving, There are of course things which are less reliable, electronics, fuel and water pumps, clutch master and slave cylinders, most of which can be repaired or replaced on the road - these are the areas I’ve focused my attention on. Land Rover have a saying “As slow as possible, as fast as necessary”, if I’m to complete my journey with as few major incidents as possible, careful driving is imperative. My Land Rover is a 1995 130 Defender 300TDI crew cab called ‘M’. She started her life as a V8 Left Hand Drive pickup, and at some point along her life has been converted to a Right Hand Drive 300TDI.
M is actually the second Land Rover I bought since August of last year, I originally planned to do the trip in ‘Sara’ a 2.5l normally aspirated Land Rover Defender 110 (see picture below).
M had a number of major modifications already made by her previous owners. A Trojan secure aluminium unit has been fitted to the rear, allowing excellent secure storage, a fridge freezer, long range fuel tanks (an additional 80l), a dual battery system and a handy rear door which provides instant shade. Under body protection includes rock sliders and a front and rear diff guards. I’ve recently added a new Winch Bumper, bull bars, a Warn 9000 Electric Winch, water purification and storage system and a 240v electrical inverter to run the occasional 240v appliance. Everyone at Douglas Motors in Wolston (Near Coventry) have been fantastic – big thanks to Marcus and Jonathon for all your help and excellent advice. Douglas specialise in 4x4 expedition preparation, they even make a really neat trailer for overland trips… Check out their website: (address to be added soon) Most of the functional additions were already made to M, so my focus has been on the mechanics and consumables. I’ll be adding new Gas Shock absorbers, ensuring a comprehensive service is completed, including a timing belt change and spending a small fortune on new tyres. I’d gone through the pain of naming my first Land Rover (Sara), which took some time… Nothing seemed to fit with the new one… M is the letter in the middle of the steering wheel, and after noticing this, after many weeks of driving her it seemed to work. For many years all of my girlfriends were called Emma, and none were too temperamental (hopefully M will continue in the same vein)! Tyres I’ve read unbelievable stories of Michelin XZY’s doing over 100,000 miles, with very little sign of wear and virtually no punctures, I’m a big believer that if something seems too good to be true – it probably is. After my recent day off-roading I know that above all I need excellent grip. If tyres are showing very little sign of wear after 100,000 miles, they’re either not being driven anywhere near challenging or they don’t grip! So, after much deliberation, I’ve decided to opt for the BFGoodrich tubeless 265/75/16 tyres over the Michelin XZY: They’ve been far more widely used throughout Africa, have been recommended by every Land Rover Professional I’ve met over the last few months and are even slightly cheaper J Training
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