Peter found Bullwinkle on the Internet a few years ago. Having seen both good and poor purchases through the Internet, we have developed some general recommendations for long-distance purchase to avoid disapointment, depression, loss of life's savings, alienation of friends and family. You can find this information in our Purchasing section.

Bullwinkle was originally named by its previous owner. This 1990 Range Rover had participated in the first Border to Border Society expedition from Canada to Mexico. As such, Bullwinkle had some extra equipment that Peter would have installed. With medium-duty OME springs, polybushings, Bilstein shocks andFive 245/75R16 BFG Mud Terrains the suspension was ready-to wheel. Additionally, it had a heavy-duty full-length roof rack, heavy-duty homemade front and rear bumpers and a Warn Multi-Mount 8,000# winch set up to pull from front or rear.

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Peter enjoys climbing on rocks. Planning on a trip to Moab, Taller tires, locking differentials and low gears (and a bunch of compromises) were planned.

Most of the area Range Rovers were now running on 235/85R16 tires with good results. The 235s required a moderate lift and steering stop adjustments to work well. After careful consideration it was decided that an agressive 255/85R16 could be fit with a 3" lift and a little fender trimming. Since the truck would be driven a considerable distance at highway speeds, we chose the new Super Swamper Trxus radial.

To acheive sufficient lift, a set of Bearmach 3" springs and ProComp shocks were fit, along with fresh polybushings.

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Concerned about observed rear tire interference with the leading edge of the wheel arch and having seen just how easily stock lower suspension links were bent, new lower links from RoverTym Engineering were installed (note the position of the left rear tire in the rock climbing photo). These heavy-duty links come with adjusting shims to compensate for the amount spring lift.

The engine was already having a hard time slowing the truck on steep decents with the 235/85R16 tires. Since Bullwinkle was being fit with nearly 33" tires (and the 3.9L engine had nearly 200,000 miles on the clock) 4.7:1 Land Rover ring and pinion gears were selected. This would limit highway speeds, but get the crawl ratio from 28.5:1 to 37.8:1, not an optimum rock-crawling ratio, but the best available compromise with reasonable cost.

A recent addition was the Ramsey 12,000# worm-drive winch and GDE front bumper. Soon, the rear bumper will be constructed (Peter is trying to accomodate Minnesota's 25" minimum bumper height statute.)