Logsplitter’s travels in his Grenadier.

Logsplitter said:

The bash plate is bashed But it’s done its job and protected what needed to be protected.
Thinking twice about putting an auxiliary petrol tank in that position

Click to expand...

[ Adam ] said:

That's great - you just need a stiffer rear bash over the fuel tank, or a rear fuel tank that's got a thicker skin. When I had Safari Equip make mine for the Defender 110, they added an extra layer of steel on the bottom.

Click to expand...

Logsplitter said:

As soon as there is an auxiliary petrol tank approved for U.K. and EU I will get one along with extra protective plates . I’m impressed with how well the Grenadier has fared in stock form In challenging terrain and well loaded. No damage except bash plate and movement on rear diff cover due to rock strike I guess, other than that and the initial teething problems then all good. Only thing to do other than servicing is treat exposed metal areas on side steps and any other exposed metal underneath.

Click to expand...

Logsplitter said:

As soon as there is an auxiliary petrol tank approved for U.K. and EU I will get one along with extra protective plates . I’m impressed with how well the Grenadier has fared in stock form In challenging terrain and well loaded. No damage except bash plate and movement on rear diff cover due to rock strike I guess, other than that and the initial teething problems then all good. Only thing to do other than servicing is treat exposed metal areas on side steps and any other exposed metal underneath.

Click to expand...

lagartoboy said:

I remember you were thoughtful about choosing petrol over diesel because of concerns about availability of good diesel in parts of Africa. Now that you have spent time traveling, do you think you could have managed with diesel?

Click to expand...

Logsplitter said:

The bash plate is bashed But it’s done its job and protected what needed to be protected.
Thinking twice about putting an auxiliary petrol tank in that position

Click to expand...

DaveB said:

They may have just thought that out of the 45,000 produced a year only 10% are going to areas that have spinifex.
Out of that 10% only 5% will be driving across desert tracks that have spinifex on them.
So is it worth changing 100% of vehicles to solve a problem only a potential 0.5% will face.
The handles on the other hand is just a silly thing to ignore.

Click to expand...

stickshifter said:

Not sure how you made those calculations, but spinifex is found in 20 out of the 50 states in the United States: AL, AR, AZ, CA, DC, FL, GA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, NM, NV, OK, SC, TN, TX, and VA.

Outside the United States, spinifex is found throughout Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies; it is also found in the warm-temperate and subtropical parts of South America, the Philippines, and South Africa.

In addition, there are other species of plants in the desert and semi-desert areas that get caught in the undercarriage of vehicles. What we call "tumbleweed" is famous for getting caught under vehicles. In the Western United States, there are about ten different plant groupings that can form tumbleweeds. In early March, a couple of towns in Utah were inundated by massive amounts of tumbleweed:

View attachment 7850852
Video here is anyone is interested:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV6G8ipTSVA

I have no idea what percent of Grenadier owners will encounter spinifex or other dry grasses, but 0.5% seems like a low estimate, given the distribution of both spinifex (and other dry grasses), and the distribution of Grenadier owners.

But back to the Grenadier: the rear bash plate is a great idea, but its design might not be so great. In addition to potentially holding vegetation, it looks like - under certain conditions - it will also hold frozen snow. Perhaps the heat from the exhaust system will prevent this kind of build-up, but if not, it could be a nuisance and/or vector for rust. Be interesting to hear if folks in cold climates have had any issues with this.

Click to expand...

Logsplitter said:

The bash plate is bashed But it’s done its job and protected what needed to be protected.
Thinking twice about putting an auxiliary petrol tank in that position

Click to expand...

TD5-90 said:

Am I wrong or is your diff filler plug missing?

Click to expand...

TD5-90 said:

Am I wrong or is your diff filler plug missing?

EDIT: At the second glance I realized you're on a lift...

Click to expand...

Jean Mercier said:

I know I am becoming quite old ...
I travelled about 40 years ago during 1,5 years with my rucksack in South-America (7 countries), and loved it: only public transport and hitch-hiking. And I lived afterwards during 3.5 years in Ecuador.
Sometimes I met travelers who had been in the "3 less developed" continents (with due respect to these continents and their people)..
And when asking for their preference, I almost always got as an answer ... Africa!
It was 40 years ago, but ... I remember slightly their arguments. Therefore, be prepared to a slight deception concerning South-America, especially the culture, the same as "ours".
The continent is anyway splendid.

I have not really travelled in Africa therefore I don't know, but I never forgot these arguments (but I have been for business in Burundi, Liberia (twice), Algeria, Morocco (many times), and Tunisia - also lived there - , but that is a totally different experience, although also valuable).
I was also a few times in Asia, business and travel. I was (travelling) very impressed by Nepal.

Click to expand...

Shaky said:

Is Catsup, another word for ketchup aka tomato sauce in the UK.

A genuine question as I don’t know.

I see @Logsplitter has been out spotting the stone men, how many have you seen so far buddy ? I think there is just under 40 dotted around the area.

Click to expand...

Cheshire cat said:

Hi Logsplitter
Will be great having you back in the UK safe and sound.
If you get the chance to put your vehicle on a ramp. It would be good to see the results of some extreme, long term off-roading.

Click to expand...

Logsplitter said:

We weren’t out there deliberately trying to find stone men but I know someone who has made that one of his ambitions in life, that is to try and find all the stone men.
I think we spotted about 4 of them. That’s all for now as our travels have finished and we got back to the U.K. at the weekend. . I do need to round up the thread with a few more adventures though.

Click to expand...

PBD said:

Welcome home and thanks for the vicarious adventure!

Click to expand...