Make plans now for the 4th Annual Fowler Classic. This will be our 12th annual summer trip and we are going to return to Rausch Creek this year.  Rausch Creek Off-Road park is in Tremont, PA and was a great time the last 2 years with seemingly endless trails of all difficulties. Many of us will be arriving on the afternoon/evening of Thursday, July 14th and camping at the park. Friday and Saturday will be off-roading days with a departure on Sunday AM. The park consists of 1,700 acres of easy, intermediate, and hard trails. Rocks, bowls, hills, the glacial "Rock Creek", and club friendly trails. More details on the site can be found at the link below:
Click here to go to Rausch Creek website. 
The website has details on the park as well as on-site camping and other nearby camping/lodging options.

If you have problems using the on-line form, please email flrc@erovers.com.
Also, feel free to complete the Rausch Creek Membership Forms that can be downloaded here:
Rausch Creek Forms.

So Four Wheeler Magazine just crowned the  2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee its coveted "Four Wheeler of the Year." No problem, right..? Jeeps are capable, right? Most Rover owners have one in their fleet or once did, right? Well the problem is that if you read on, beyond the end of the article, it goes on to mention that the Grand Cherokee lost front-wheel drive during the testing and had to be replaced with a new vehicle. How is that fair?

Per the article, the Grand broke during the Hill Climb, so,  "We immediately contacted Jeep, and...By that evening we had our Jeep swapped." Must be friggin' nice...break your brand new vehicle on the trail, phone a friend, have a team of engineers flown out, get a new rig the same day AND still win the event.  (I wonder if all Jeep owners get that level of field support?) Even Dale Jr had to start the Daytona 500 at the end of the pack because he wrecked his original qualifying vehicle.

The article goes on with Four Wheeler patting themselves on the back for identifying this flaw in the factory setting of the transfer case chain...and because of their efforts no other Jeep owner will have this happen, but I still have to cry BS on how a vehicle can win, when it breaks during the testing and needs to be REPLACED - not repaired.  They state that their policy allows for them to substitute if an identical replacement vehicle is available...though earlier they describe the replacement as a "nearly" exact replica...not sure what was different...adjusted transfer case chain maybe.

The article also noted that the Land Rover LR4, which lost to the Grand overall by less than 4 total points, showed up late to the contest and wasn't allowed to participate in the acceleration, braking or RTI portions of the competition, therefore scoring 0 points. 

I am sure that while they were waiting around for their new (and improved?) Grand Cherokee to be delivered, the authors could have given the LR4 a second chance to complete the part of the competition that they missed...easily scoring another 4 points and winning the overall comparison.

In a related story, when the air suspension failed in the LR4 while competing for bragging rights in the similar competition for sister magazine 4-Wheel and Off-Road, they didn't bring in a new one. They finished the testing with the same impaired vehicle AND IT STILL MANAGED TO BEAT THE OTHERS! 

Again, I have no issues with Jeeps and am a long-time Four Wheeler subscriber, but this just doesn't seem fair.  But I guess we know where their bread is buttered. The operation was a success but the patient died.

In case you want to let the magazine know your thoughts....
http://www.fourwheeler.com/contactus/index.html

We have recently turned on some features and content. There is now a Forum Section  (message board) section where you can go to buy and sell Land Rover parts and participate in technical discussions. This can be accessed at www.forum.erovers.com

There is also a Social Network Dashboard with real-time links to a bunch of Land Rover and other off-roading related content.

Hopefully this will increase the chatter with Land Rover enthusiasts in the area...Check them out....

I came across this posting on another message board and it seemed like it was worth cleaning up and reposting here.  On the P38A Range Rovers, there is a warning symbol that may appear on your climate control display. According to the manual, the system is constantly self-diagnosing for faults and the “handbook symbol” will appear, when one of these is found.  IF you don’t have access to a testbook or dealer and you want to diagnose this a little bit, here is a good collection of preliminary steps you can take.

Before you do anything, you should check the relays under the hood on the passenger side.  Look for brown spots on the ones that are linked to the heating/cooling/fans/etc....I had an intermittent situation with the warning symbol coming on and quirky heating/cooling problems and found that nearly all of the yellow relays had brown spots from overheating and then malfunctioning. Click here to download a PDF on where to go from there: P38A Climate Control

More Land Rover Coverage in Four Wheeler Magazine...

 

Study In Contrasts: 2011 Range Rover And Land Rover LR4

Wheeling The 2011 Land Rover Range Rover and LR4 in the Colorado high country

From the March, 2011 issue of Four Wheeler

By Ken Brubaker

Photography by Ken Brubaker, Land Rover

Follow this link to a recent article in Four Wheeler Magazine... 

Two Men and a Landy - Finding Adventure in South Africa

From the February, 2011 issue of Four Wheeler By Harry Wagner

Photography by Harry Wagner

Here are all of the OBD codes for the Range Rover P38A and Discovery II North American V8 models. These have been compiled from the Rover Workshop Manuals and should be used as a reference only when you are not able to contact an authorized Land Rover repair technician.  They may come in handy on a road trip or stuck in a ditch somewhere.  There were a number of inconsistencies and errors in the documentation that I tried to correct when putting this list together.

If you know of any changes or corrections, please provide that feedback.

Link to PDF: NAS Rover V8 OBD Codes

Four Wheeler Magazine recently ran an article about Antique Off-Road Vehicles and Land Rover was well represented. Both the Series and D-90s made the list of sought-after classic trail rigs. The Series II and III were said to "epitomize coolness" while the Defender was praised for virtually retaining all of its value after 15 years. View an excerpt of the article at the link below... Four Wheeler Sep2010

The highly anticipated all-new Range Rover was revealed to the world at an exclusive 40th anniversary celebration at Kensington Palace, on July 1, 2010 in association with Vogue Magazine. The all-new Range Rover Evoque  is the lightest and most fuel efficient Range Rover to date - continuing our commitment to environmental sustainability. Range Rover has remained true to the spirit of the original LRX Concept car first revealed in Detroit in 2008. Gerry McGovern, Land Rover design director, said: "It marks a bold evolution of Range Rover design, providing customers with a desirable, premium and coupé like SUV. In 2008 we introduced the LRX concept car: after a positive reception worldwide, the natural step for the business was to turn the concept into reality." Its official public debut will be at the Paris Motor Show on September 30 this year and it will be available in the showroom from late 2011. Be part of the exciting journey, visit our launch website www.helloevoque.com