Battle of the wheelbases. MQ !

[pongo]

Today i just bought a 84 mq shortie. turbo diesel 5 speed. was going to use it for a transplant into my ute but after test driving it, i am now completley uundecided what to do. A mate who had a 40 series shortie rekons shorties are just to ruff of a ride and thats why he changed to a ute. As we proved though the swb is a far superior 4x4 off road
What do you guys rekon based on the fact of comprimises? Is it possible to get a weekends worth of crap in the back of a shortie and go and play. Our main concern is the harsness of the ride and the space available to carry stuff

Cheers.

[mickyd555]

i had a MQ shorty, best 4b ever owned......
i bought a GU tray back, couldnt afford two regos, the shorty sold first and if i ever see it on the road again, ill ask him to swap back........lol
yeh it was a rough ride on the road, but unstopable, apart from the 24V, that sucked.......lol

[DR Frankenstine]

i had a similar thing happen to me. I had a long wheel base mq bought a shortie 5spd for a gearbox transplant and because the shortie was in such good nick i built her up and wrecked the LWB. best thing i ever did.

[Screwy]

If undecided,

do wat im half way through doing.
convert ur shortie into a ute

[Rainbow Warrior]

Just remember that the LWB is handy at times offroad, we were at Cruiser Park yesterday climbing some near vertical jump up and watching the front tyres of GQ's LWB being light on traction, a shortie would have flipped on its roof. Unless you fit fold down Ladder bars I suppose

Maybe cut a ute to mid wheelbase, get the best & worst of both worlds.

[The Big Green Meany]

I to had a shorty , Great little truck, They work really well until you come to a hill,If you dont mind watching the sky with your heart in ya mouth, Keep the shorty, I have a LWB converted to a extra cab I think thats fantastic . Both have the advantages and disadvantages. Personallly I would go the LWB after having a Shorty..........

[Bartso]

im going custom mid wheel base

[Big Red Toy]

yeah swb is good, but lwb is heaps better 4 ledges

Need to take a swb & make it a mwb that would be best

[Screwy]

yep, half way in between

[Rainbow Warrior]

yep, half way in between

Or put a sliding section in the ute chassis so you can swap between short & long on the move

[Justin_M]

With the back seats out a SWB is rather roomy aswell. Ive packed enough gear for 2 guys over a long weekend in mine pretty easily. Hell ive slept in mine a heap of times with the tailgate down, there is a decent amount of room back there.

Im jealous of your turbo

[MQ080]

My SWB MQ was great, without lockers it was able to keep up with bling trucks and when I went to the rear locker it was unstoppable. Again you have to get used to having wheels in the air, but the other benifits far outweight... and it makes for good photos too!

[DR Frankenstine]

My SWB MQ was great, without lockers it was able to keep up with bling trucks and when I went to the rear locker it was unstoppable. Again you have to get used to having wheels in the air, but the other benifits far outweight... and it makes for good photos too!

Yep! agree.

[pongo]

last night i was looking through the stuff in the glove box and found receipts for new leafs / shocks all round back in 1998. looked at pink slip from that year and since then shes only done about 50,000 kays. also has a new radiator 11/4 and a new stater and alt a few years ago.
The more i think/drive about it, i think i will be keeping the shorty and selling the ute. ALso a major pita as ute is 24v and 12 v.

After speaking to a friend he advised that if its a short steep hill i could reverse the shorty up to mimimise it flipping backwards. What a rush. ill have to try it and see

As for the turbo, instead of crawling in second up a hill near my house, i now roar(as much as an sd33 can up in 3rd .

[djr320kw]

I went out on the weekend and managed to fit more stuff in the back of my swb gq then i did in my pajero. As for swb vs lwb well everything has its advantages and disadvantages just work out what type of off roading you would be doing more. I always go out with a mate who has a zook for 1 day and weekends so it suited me. If I was doing more hills and longer days I may have gone LWB. Cheers

[mickyd555]

hey pongo, if you dont want it, ill have it.............

[bumpy]

I have had a shorty for quite some time....They are great for all the above reasons.....BUT....If you want to go camping of the beaten track for more than a weekend then they are tight for space.....

Mainly for fuel and water....But if you will be near towns it isn't so bad as you can go re-fuel etc...

It is for these reasons that I am now looking for a ute....as the distances between towns is a killer here in WA.

Good luck....

[gqswb]

I got a SWB GQ so I could do U'es in the bush, Must be a pain in the ass when you gota turn a LWB around on a tight track.

[berazafi]

I drive a lwb and would never change to a swb, yeh it may take longer to turn but the stress on you body in a swb isnt worth it, plus every man and there dog buys swbs to go off road in so when you come to big dug out holes, the lwb doesnt drop into them, i would however like to shorten to a mwb, but for the cost and mucking around i dont think the benifits would be all that great

[Patroler]

Plenty of room in a shorty, you just have to pack neatly, i just went away for 5 days in my mk shorty with gf and her daughter, took heaps of shit,
10 litres of water, 2kg gas bottle, 2 burner stove, gas light, toolbox, 3 bags of clothes - women!, box of food/cooking gear, tent, sleeping bag, 50 litre esky, spares for car - belts, hoses, highliift jack, axe, shovel, 18" chainsaw and a litre of fuel, sub woofer (need doof doof) which is as high as ther back seat and about 30cm wide, goes from back of seat to tailgate, tarp, hot plate, 5 litres of oil, drag chain, snatch strap, steel cable, and a bloody great big double swag, plus all the usual stuff that you have in the car.
If you had to go further or be away for longer you could get a long range tank, wheel carrier with jerry can etc.
The only thing to consider is the ride can be a bit rough, but as youve got one you can weigh that up yourself.

[pongo]

thanks for the replies guys. I Have decided to keep the shorty especially due to the retraints of swapping all the good stuff into the LWB. I have just sold(almost ) my ute for $2000, i bought it 8 months ago for $2500, spent about 10 buks fixing her up. The misses thinks the swb is a bit scary but after it rolls a couple a times she should get used to it . Anyways, cheers