4x4s and offroading

[ScottieG]

Diamond Hell's thread on TDI vs V8s got me thinking.

Who else on here is into offroading and 4x4s? Don't want this to turn into a 'my 4x4 is better than yours' thread I.e. the age old landrover vs Suzuki debate I just want to see who's got what and what they have done to it?

I'm well into my Suzukis and run a site called Suzukiclubuk.

I'm 80% of the way through rebuilding my 87 sj410 for the second time whilst doing a few more modifications.

A brief run down of mods include
1.6 8v vitara engine and gearbox.
Twin transferboxes giving me 4 selectable sets of ratios 7.5:1 being the lowest: 20 forward gear ratios & 4 reverse.
Transmission raised 2" so that it doesn't hang below the chassis.
Lots of body modifications, arches cut out, sills raised, transmission tunnel raised and widened.
Suzuki samurai axles.
Jeep wrangler YJ springs.
33x12.50 tyres on 15x10 wheels.
Power steering.
Twin electric fans.
And loads of other things.....

Here's a few pics

From before the recent rebuild




And a few from the rebuild










What it looks like at the moment, still need to build the rocksliders and external 6point roll cage

[Misky]

That looks awesome! Great work!
Bet that has cost some pretty pennies so far?! 

[Diamond Hell]

I'm interested in this:

Twin transferboxes giving me 4 selectable sets of ratios 7.5:1 being the lowest: 20 forward gear ratios & 4 reverse.

Tell me more.

Also I'm interested to know if you know anything about 'missing link' devices.

For those who don't know I run a Suzuki SJ, which I can't always keep upright:

http://youtu.be/Sq6VerqTEpU

It is used exclusively for competitive 4x4 trials, which are a lot of fun and dirt cheap motor sport. 

I also used to run VW Transporter Syncros and set up the Club 80-90 Syncronauts MSA-affiliated club and ran events for them for about three years.

I'm currently chair of the IOW 4x4 Club.

[shepgti]

nice work on the rebuild

is their a land rover v suzuki debate? suzuki is just a poor mans landrover..

[Jack3559]

Why does it matter how much it costs when you're going to be bashing it around in a field?

[shepgti]

Why does it matter how much it costs when you're going to be bashing it around in a field?

because they have the same off road capabilities but you can drive home in the landy without feeling stupid 

[rob.043]

I'd like a landy, but cant afford one. Besides, my toyota will never die to make room for one!

Here is my 4x4, down on the solway firth for a bit of drift action! Its like a free skid pan down there, good for learning. And there are dunes to play in too...



Its primary function is carting my bike about to and from forests ( two fully built bikes go in the back with the seats down). It gets a fair few miles on forest roads through the year when im working at MTB race events, but limited proper 'off road' use. I do try to have a play when possible, and hence it has become known as the ditch surfer! Dont manage anything as impressive as posted above however.

One favourite this year was driving up the black route decent from the top of Kielder forest. says more about the naff-ness of their black route than the ability of me and the wagon.



This was a bit of trail reconnoissance gone wrong, the tarmac road is 2ft away, but the bog was too wet (common issue in Scotland)



When its not involved in a bit of opportunistic 4x4 fun, i.e. something more planned, we always follow the tried and tested off road method. Go and have some fun, untill someone gets not just a bit stuck, but very stuck, spend several hours digging them out (inevitably from some Scottish bog again), then go home.

Recent antics on a local farm, with a couple of mates with landy's:






several tow opportunities that day, till the wee series 3 got sucked into the bog in the final pic. much digging (3hrs) to avoid asking the farmer for a tow at the cost of £20.

[Diamond Hell]

several tow opportunities that day, till the wee series 3 got sucked into the bog in the final pic. much digging (3hrs) to avoid asking the farmer for a tow at the cost of £20.

Get a proper towrope instead of that f*cking sashcord, before you kill or wound one of your mates.

because they have the same off road capabilities but you can drive home in the landy without feeling stupid 

My SJ cost fitting a scrapyard-sourced gearbox to a Polo.

That's the difference.

The SJ is also much lighter and thus less prone to sinking and getting stuck in.  I have little interest in recovery.

[Jack3559]

My 4x4 is the 4.2 tdi import land cruiser.

It's nice, but slow for the cc. It does the job off road too.

Will be getting an SJ soon to get into proper trials.

[ScottieG]

Good to see a few other people on here who are into their 4x4s as well as Vdubs then 

Cheers for the comments on the rebuild so far guys  I'm looking forward to getting it finished!

I'm interested in this:

Twin transferboxes giving me 4 selectable sets of ratios 7.5:1 being the lowest: 20 forward gear ratios & 4 reverse.

Tell me more.

Also I'm interested to know if you know anything about 'missing link' devices.

Nice Vid!  I think I've seen that before are you on Difflock?

I've got that problem of not always being able to keep it upright as well 


Info on the twin transfer boxes for you.

The front transfer box is a modified Vitara transfer box with the 4wd section removed so it only has the high and low gear sets left in it and the main shaft has been shortened. This is then mated to an SJ transfer box using a splined coupling as the output shares the same spline count as the sj transfer box input shaft. The Sj Tbox has also had a rocklobster conversion: Intermediate gears from a 413 & 410 transfer box cut and shut to give lower gearing.

As for missing links then proper missing links like the ones Trail Tough in the US sell work well but some of the cheaper ones you see on ebay aren't that great and can do more harm than good. You can make your own quite easily but you need to make sure that there is no 'slop' otherwise they can let your axle 'walk' underneath the truck a bit.
my mate has just fitted some of the Low-range missing links with rear springs up front on the front of his SJ

Oh and that's another thing I would personally only use them on one end of the SJ as it helps keep it a bit more stable in off-camber situations.

nice work on the rebuild

is their a land rover v suzuki debate? suzuki is just a poor mans landrover..

Cheers man  I see an error here, A suzuki might be for a poor man but a landy will make a rich man poor with all the fuel it drinks and the repairs it needs when it breaks