New Sierra!

[svendenhowser]

Well my partner and I have been looking around for a little sierra to do a bit of 4wd'ing and camping with. We finally found a nice little lady owned 95 model and bought it It ran much nicer than i thought it would after reading ALOT of the info on here Btw, great job guys i've learnt so much from here!

Anyways our new little beast has a few km's on the clock (170) but i figure its still got alot of love to give and its mainly going to be a 2nd car/weekender. Its never been offroad and seems to be looked after well. I gave it a thorough going over and decided ok! We pick it up next saturday.

I have a couple of questions for you guys - I've come from driving a modern hatchback, and going to this is like a whole different ball game, whats with the clutch and the brake being extremely high off the floor and the accelerater being in a more normal position? This is going to take a while to get used to, as well as the hard accelerator which is ok because i used to drive the family's old van. Is there any way to put the clutch/brake in a more normal position? I've only taken it for a good ol test run, but it seems i have to put my knee in my mouth to get to the pedals! (i'm quite short too).

Also we're probably going to be doing a bit of beach driving, we love camping and would live on places like fraser/moreton if we had the chance! The car has highway tires, do we need to buy new tires more suited to 4wd conditions or are these ok for beach driving and newbie style bush driving?

I'm so excited and can't wait to pick it up!

Oh 1 more question Obviously the sierra is a very small 4wd, can you tow anything on the back? I mean would a small amount of camping gear on a small trailer be ok? or is it just not powerful enough to tow anything? This isn't really a problem seeing as it will probably just be myself and my partner, but i'm sure on the odd occasion we'd like to bring a couple of friends..

Thanks for your help guys, can't wait to venture into the 4wd world!

[chunkz]

you can tow...
but dont expect top speeds

[alien]

clutch and brake pedal positions can also be adjusted... if the clutch has less than an inch of play it it it might mean time for a new one. or could just simply be out of adjustment.

rather than a trailer - take the back seats out. theres plenty of space in the back if you pack lightly =)

tyres should be fine for sand and light bush - just take it very easy and learn to drive it... if youre desparate for tyres get the widest ones you can if youre staying on sand... itll help you float over everything - but dont forget to drop the pressure down to like 5-10psi (start at 10).

[svendenhowser]

Thanks guys Yea i was just thinking about towing if i were having more than 2 people in the car, once you add extra people there is not any extra room to breathe let alone camping gear

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "less than an inch of play" with the clutch, it seemed to change gears fine (although first and reverse were a little difficult at first, but i am comming from a new hatchback that works first time everytime of course). I dont know much about the mechanics of vehicles, but will surely buy a manual and check everything out and "see how things work"

[chunkz]

push the clutch in 1 inch...
if it has no effect or anything, thats your inch of play...

what it is, is how far you can push in until the clutch is noticably taking affect


and to get in first easy from 2nd, make sur eyour going slow enough
clutch out, rev, clutch in then stick into first...


and i took out me back seats, screw if any one wants a lift

[svendenhowser]

ahh ok, it all makes sense now It may possibly have a bit of play room there, but could that be contributed to how freakin high it is? Or should it be the same regardless?

[benjamin78au]

hmm well , once you fit 4 ppl in and towing a 4m tinny loaded up with ski gear and bbq and eskies, if you want to be anywhere near 90 , then expect to leave it in 4th lots, they dont mind the revsi found just keep an eye on temp and fuel .

normal tires should be okay , just see if some one else i n a 4wd can tag along, with a snatch strap.

but you can get most places (with in reason ) with a shovel , and time.

bj

[Pinball]

Road tyres will do you well on the beach... but a decent set of AT's or MT's will make a world of difference in the scrub.

Towing limit is low, 480 kg? braked or otherwise, on the Sierra, due to it's light kerb weight mostly (900kg or so from memory).

Most importantly... take a friend, it's funny to see photo's of someone elses rig creating an artificial reef as the tide comes in.... but not yours.

Other option would be to join a club and do some learning with lots of help handy.

Spock

[Nev]

Tyres would do the job but AT's would do it better and with less chance of a puncture offroad. As for clutch adjustment...as it is a cable clutch you can adjust both how far the pedal sits from ground and how hard it is I believe..don't no on the brakes though. Also your accelerator is probably just sticky...lube the cable up or replace it and give all the accelerator linkages a lube up too...makes a lot of difference. And your trouble shifting into first and reverse is due to the lack of synchros on these gears...enjoy the suzi...they are great fun!!!

[svendenhowser]

Thanks heaps guys! With the clutch adjustment, the clutch is supposed to be the same height as the brake right? Can you adjust both so they're the same height? I'm plannin on lubin the whole baby up when i get her home The gear thing makes a bit more sense now too

I'm currently reading the manual, getting thoroughly confused at times but learning some things