WT vs NT- Discussion

[Zute]

What a great tread.
Why are we drawn to Zooks ? For me its because they're small and light. I can work on them with out the need of any any heavy tools for lifting. If I get stuck, I can recover it by myself (I often go exploring mid week) or most other 4bies can drag me out regardless of size. If I had a Patrol I'd most likely need another Patrol or Landcruiser to recover me.
I like the fact that I can drive narrow Trail bike tracks or around locked gates if I find myself on the wrong side. ( not that I would do such a thing )
I believe in the KISS principle. keep it simple stupid.
If I wanted something bigger I'd have got a Lo-lux or a Jeep.
NT rules

[tazzazuk]

i find the track width on the suzuk good when following like a 80 serries with 34' on it cause my track isn't wide enough to sink to the bottom of the wheel ruts in mud holes/creeks. but i find it sucks on the beach cause for some reason i seam to have one wheel in the track and one up i gues it is the differance from clay to sand and that our beachs are often steep.(this creates slow driving). where i live we can drive pretty much on any beach we want. met a guy the other day and he had a ute lwb but he reckon it was a 97 model is that rite? would it have been wide track but nt spring width?

[Gwagensteve]

this is an area what i havn't have though about scrubbing

with my set up atm the major scrub is on the chassie then alittle on the front of the wheel well where the light goes

so steve how much does srubbing increase with WT under a NT does it?

or would it be for me to just get some -23 8 inch rims

Um, you might be misunderstanding me a bit. "Scrubbing" is not the same as "scrub radius" If you keep everything the same as you have now and go to WT diffs, your scrub radius will stay the same because this is dictated by the rims. the tyre will still take up the same room in the guard, but just further out. This might mean it will now need the most room closer to the guard edge, which might mean more cutting.

However, it get s bit complicated because the WT axles work the suspension harder, and the added width increases articulation too, so the tyre moves up higher than it did before.

You will really have to suck it and see.

The tyres should not contact the chassis with WT axles.

As stated, one of the advantages of WT axles is not that you get more width per se, but rather you can get the width without the whacky offset rims so less cutting is required in the front.

Steve.

[grimbo]

Which brings me back to my first idea, which might be that the ultimate set up for a NT might be a 30 on a narrow rim, larger tyres are possible, but it seems to me that the added height and room they require starts to make the NT a limitation.

Steve.

I still reckon for most of the stuff we did my NT with the 7.00 x 16 SATs was probably the best setup for least amount of work. It was not far off in capability to the final setup of my Sierra with WT diffs and 34s.

[suzuki boy]

As Gwagensteve says the only thing i don't like about mine is the panels but i havn't been caught up on the actuall panels yet but the snorkel cops a bit of a beating!

I think once the off set rims are on the extra width should be good!

[84ZOOKSTA]

The best thing i ever did was put the sliders/sill protectors on. It has saved my panels many a times.



cheers
simon.

[suzuki boy]

Just a quick question!

How much wider is the track on a wide track?

[nicbeer]

Just a quick question!

How much wider is the track on a wide track?

std NT to std WT about 2" each side AFAIK

[suzuki boy]

So only 2" either side but still makes a huge differnce off road?

Wouldn't of thought it would make that much differnce but i guesse how has stock wheels on there zooks?

Any way thanks nicbeer just wanted to now!

[Zute]

Um, I guess a NT with wider rims would be close to a standard WT for max width, but slightly less between wheels. Must take a tape to both cars.

[Gwagensteve]

all due respect 84zooksta - you have one of the nicest 1.0 litres around , but I hate sliders- sliders cost clearance and ultimately capability. They are also a common response to the problem of not having enough track width.

If you are worried about sill damage, plate the stills with heavier material and call it done.

by fitting sliders, you add (at least) 4" of width and 2" less sill clearance exactly where you don't want it.

IMHO, it accentuates the problem of the narrow track.

I have heard "If I didn't run the sliders I would have destroyed the sills - look how many hits they have taken etcetcetc" so many times - but, in general, if the sliders weren't there, you wouldn't have hit anything.

Have a look at this (not the best photo, but the best I have) sorry if I have stuffed this up, I am new to photobucket



not much to see, but this is a set of sliders on a members car. These are 1.75" DOM and are set up into the body where the original sill was. They add about 15mm a side to the cars width and the car picked up about 1.5" of clearance at the sill.

Problem is, I don't think he has hit them yet!

Steve.

[lay80n]

45'in the sills and toughening them up would be a better option than sliders, unless you intend to drag them everywhere.

Layto....

[Gwagensteve]

And about, oh, three days less work than the setup I pictured

Steve.

[foolsp33d]

few pics of a WT shackle location.. outboard of the chassis rails..

REAR:

FRONT:

NT to be edited in during the week, unless someone beats me to it!

[suzuki boy]

I was gonna do what your talking of but $25 bucks of steel ald no cutting stuff up was a better option then having to cut stuff and it taking a while to be finished off but when i get the balls i'll be doin the 45 thing!

Have saved me more then $25 so idon't really care but the 40mm tube is lost clearence and the part i don't like!

[fool_injected]

........I'll be doin the 45 thing!

......... 40mm tube is lost clearence and the part i don't like!

45 the siills and tuck the sliders up in the space created, no lost clearance

or

Replace the sills with box section
The get rid of the rust, make the body more ridgid and if you use a decent wall thickness they are sliders too
Forget whos truck it is (from outers) but heres is some pics

[ofr57]

its called night krawler ... an bubs did it

[fool_injected]

thats it

[suzuki boy]

I remember seeing that!

But 45 will look heaps better and ill weld 3 or 4mm plate on the 45 and under it too! Will that be enough?

[fool_injected]

Gotta agree there, my ST has 45'd sill and they look

[Rhett]

Ive had sliders, 45ed sills and stenthened stock sills. You can strengthen them all you want but they will still bend as will 45ed sills. Yes sliders hang you up but you can still close your door. I just run strengthed sills on my zook at the moment, as I need the clearancewith only 35s. but doors will not fit back on.
my 2c

[Gwagensteve]

I agree Rhett- Hence the cut out sills with sliders in their place on Michaels car in my pic.

These run three outriggers back to the chassis. There is only about 450mm between outriggers.

I cut out the sills by welding 10X10mm square bar into the sill just below the door, and 1.2mm sheet from the bar straight back to the inner sill.

There is a small cutout required in the footwell to clear frontmost outrigger without bending the tube. I covered this with a small piece of 3" exhaust tube welded in.

The whole effect is very subtle - we had the car on our stand at Wandin a couple of years ago and it was amazing how few people picked what had been done.

However, how much work you have to do on the sills depends very much on how tall and wide the car is. Michaels car, running Q78's on offset rims, very rarely gets his sills anywhere near the ground. If it was lower and narrower, this mod would be more critical as it would need the added clearance more in this area. we also did Michaels this way because his sills were rusty.

Steve.

[Rhett]

I thought of doing somthing like michaels zook but I think the out rigers would get rocks stuck inbetween. As a lot of ppl say you have different mods for differnt wheelen between north and south.
I have been meaning to boat side mine with bizalloy from the sill down to chassie rail. I would lose a bit of clearance but it would skid off eassily. And would also take a fair bit of force off the sills when lauching into rocks. Have been meaning to do this for over 12 months

[Gwagensteve]

I have seen lots of severe sill damage to 80 series sills via rocks being forced between the outriggers and the body.

However, it wouldn't be hard to plate between the outriggers in this design to have the effect of a boatside without the body intrusion.

I have looked at boatsiding a sierra, and I think that the body could be cut back to the lowest fold line on the door (about 75mm up the door) and have very little effect on interior room.

Having said that, Michaels car is very very capable and sill clearance doesn't really present as a limitation to capability in this car, at this height.

Steve.

[fool_injected]

I fitted 40mm Snake spacers today
Yes, I know about the legality crap...blah blah blah
My 31x10.5 stick out about ¾â€