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Andrea

Member Since: 02 Sep 2010
Location: South Africa
Posts: 30

2010 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 SW Alpine White

Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

Hi there guys! New to the forum! What a pleasure it is to have something like this!

A couple of weeks back a whole bunch of us took a month off of work to venture up into Africa. We went through, Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique. It was the most AMAZING adventure! We where my Puma 90, my boet-Puma 130 a 110td5, Disco 3, Land cruiser 76, Land cruiser 80 and a 84 Range rover Classic.

Happilly, all the Land rovers performed awesomely, without missing a single beat(shows how if you take care of a landy, she will not let you down!) The same however cant be said for the Land cruisers, the 76 series broke a cylinder head gasket and a side shaft, and the 80 series had trouble with the rotor( it kept on shearing all the teath off of the shaft!!)

The D3 is absolutely increadable in every aspect, powerfull and unbelievably capable. (it was the only one that could tow the toyota up through the dunes of the namid desert!

The Puma is simply unstopable, for lack of a better word, in one case we had to climb a 47 degree slope, that half way up featured a tricky sharp bend where the cruisers diff locks became innefective, resulting in the calling of the defender to resucue it, the 130 climbed it without difflocks or traction controll- shows what good articulation can do!!

When traversing the dunes i found that my 90 was struggling a bit. I was so confused as the 130, td5 and classic seamed to be laughing at the dunes. As it happened our guide had a 110 PUMA, and he revealed all!!

If you buy a new PUMA(2010 mode) you can dissable the DSC, as in the D3. Happily we(owners of the 07-09 models) can also do this.

As you turn on the ignition, pump the break pedal continuously, untill you see the ABS and traction control lights flash and remain on, DSC in now off!!! The difference this makes to dune driving i cannot tell you!! Also helps in the mud!! to turn it on again simply reapeat the process, or just turn the motor off and on again!!!

Hope this helps!! How do i post pics of the trip.?

30th Nov 2010 10:23am

Naks

Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2645

Re: Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

Andrea wrote:
If you buy a new PUMA(2010 mode) you can dissable the DSC, as in the D3. Happily we(owners of the 07-09 models) can also do this. How do i post pics of the trip.?

Andrea, welcome

AFAIK, the Puma does not have DSC, only ABS+TC

Quote:
How do i post pics of the trip.?

Get a Gmail account, which gives you access to PicasaWeb. Upload your images there and link them in your posts using the IMG tag.

30th Nov 2010 10:58am

dgardel

Member Since: 30 Nov 2008
Location: Veneto (Heart & Head)
Posts: 3586

Andrea,

WE ARE WAITING YOUR PHOTOS!!!!!!!!! I'm not stay on my skin for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Discovery 5 td6 HSE Stornoway Gray Outback Engineering Limited Edition

IID Pro MV License

30th Nov 2010 11:08am

Martin
Site Admin

Member Since: 02 Apr 2007
Location: Hook Norton
Posts: 6611

2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Montalcino Red

Re: Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

Naks wrote:
Quote:
How do i post pics of the trip.?

Get a Gmail account, which gives you access to PicasaWeb. Upload your images there and link them in your posts using the IMG tag.

Or host them here (no new accounts needed)

http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic123.html
http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic124.html

1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top

2015 D90 XS SW

30th Nov 2010 11:57am

Naks

Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2645

Re: Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

Martin wrote:
Or host them here (no new accounts needed)

Yes, but no categorisation/geotagging

30th Nov 2010 12:02pm

Andrea

Member Since: 02 Sep 2010
Location: South Africa
Posts: 30

Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

Naks, hi,

Sorry my error, it desables the ABS, so the system does not interupt your momentum by applying breaks at any stage!! Works a charm!

I will put pics up as soon as i get them off the sticks!!

30th Nov 2010 12:24pm

Naks

Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2645

Re: Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

Andrea wrote:
Sorry my error, it desables the ABS, so the system does not interupt your momentum by applying breaks at any stage!! Works a charm!

Ok, makes sense.

But I've never had to disable TC when driving in sand. As long as your tyre pressure is at 1.0 bar (or lower) and you choose the correct gear and maintain momentum, TC very rarely kicks in.

See the following pics - TC did not even light up once when I climbed these dunes, and these were the small ones I climbed

30th Nov 2010 12:38pm

Andrea

Member Since: 02 Sep 2010
Location: South Africa
Posts: 30

Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

look tire pressures play a big part of the whole thing, I went to 0.9 bar, didnt want to go lower as we where towing the big trailers!! The part that i found that it helped a HUGE amount is when pulling off, the TC would come on instead of letting the cars tires gain momentum!! Disabling it gave the car a much easier pull off!!!

That looks like awesome fun, Is that the ATLANTIS dunes?

I must say the Range Rover classic was better than all the cars in the sand, even better than the cruisers with both diffs locked!!! The dunes in the namib are relentless, the mintue you think you have a bit of an advantage you find yourself up to the axles!! Very fun!

30th Nov 2010 12:56pm

Naks

Member Since: 27 Jan 2009
Location: Stellenbosch, ZA
Posts: 2645

Re: Defender PUMA = unstopable. Dune driving suggestion.

Andrea wrote:
That looks like awesome fun, Is that the ATLANTIS dunes?

Yep, bucketloads of fun

30th Nov 2010 2:58pm

BigMike

Member Since: 13 Jul 2010
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 2253

i dont agree about tyre pressures. you drop your pressure and you run a serious risk of popping the bead(s). I;ve never had any problem in sand keeping the pressures at normal. Put it this way, I'd rather get stuck than have to put a tyre back on.

30th Nov 2010 4:58pm

TJ101

Member Since: 30 May 2007
Location: Taunton Somerset
Posts: 3750

2015 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Montalcino Red

On a few trips to North Africa, we also found, disabling the ABS/Tracs, was a big advantage in soft sand,

We had one hill, that the Puma would not climb,, High/low box, 2/3/4 gear, dropping the tyres pressures even further, all did not work,, but removing the ABS fuse, and she sailed up no problem,,
The traction control,. was robbing the car of all its power California F1, 75th 110 "Kermit", 50th Ann V8, 90 V8 Hybrid, 55 Series 1

Main Brian James Trailer Dealer for South West UK

30th Nov 2010 8:50pm

AndrewS

Member Since: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Hereford
Posts: 3708

2013 Defender 130 Puma 2.2 SW Rimini Red

BigMike wrote:
i dont agree about tyre pressures. you drop your pressure and you run a serious risk of popping the bead(s). I;ve never had any problem in sand keeping the pressures at normal.

You cant have ever driven in soft sand then

I have taken cars into dunes running standard pressures and the vehicle will loose momentum and stop. So drop the pressure to 13psi ish get back in and away to go. Oh I have never poped a bead

TJ101 wrote:
but removing the ABS fuse, and she sailed up no problem,,
The traction control,. was robbing the car of all its power

Totally agree

take the fuse out is the way forward. 130's have feeling's as well you know

30th Nov 2010 9:11pm

TJ101

Member Since: 30 May 2007
Location: Taunton Somerset
Posts: 3750

AndrewS wrote:
. So drop the pressure to 13psi ish get back in and away to go. Oh I have never poped a bead

Braver than me Andrew,, 15 is about as low as i go on a 255/85

and No, I have never popped one either,,

The beadlocks on the challenge truck go down to about 6psi,

California F1, 75th 110 "Kermit", 50th Ann V8, 90 V8 Hybrid, 55 Series 1

Main Brian James Trailer Dealer for South West UK

30th Nov 2010 9:22pm

Lorryman100

Member Since: 01 Oct 2010
Location: Here
Posts: 2686

AndrewS wrote:

So drop the pressure to 13psi ish get back in and away to go

As Andrew says

, I launch and retrieve my boat on soft sand and have never had a problem once I lowered pressures to about 13psi. This includes getting traction whilst towing the boat & trailer up steep beach inclines and dunes, even with GG TR's fitted. Also the landy doesnt sink as much while sitting in the water waiting on me getting the boat back on the trailer

30th Nov 2010 9:27pm

AndrewS

Member Since: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Hereford
Posts: 3708

13 in the morning increases to about 15 when the temperature gets up

well so I am told

never actually checked but never had an issue so I believe it

130's have feeling's as well you know

30th Nov 2010 9:30pm

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