285's or Bust.. give me a shoe horn!

[rainsey]

Oky Doky,

I now have a Rodeo with 285/75 16's all round on 16 x 8 rims (lancruiser) with no scratchin, rubbin, or knockin!!!

Still can't compete with the Toyos but with everything I can think of doing I now have 340mm from transfer case drain bolt (lowest point that I could find) to ground. Clearence around guards is fine as it does not exceed the suspension travel... just have to fit front mud flaps.

My only problem... where do I put my spare!! It will not fit where the original goes

In their new state the diameter of 285's are 33.22 inches. So the order of operations is as follows_

1: 50mm body lift
2: As close to 50mm suspension lift
3: Cut an inch of front guard away
4: Fit some flexy guard


I do have a question though... Oz 4wd Monthly May 2005 did a feature on a 2002 TF that had 33's installed with supposedly no panel cuts...... How????


Cheers Rainsey

[Yarno]

33 usually only measure around 32 to 32.5" where as yours are over 33"...

I can't see pic :(

[Yarno]

don't worry pics are not working anywhere on the site....

[rainsey]

Yarno...

I am not running 33's but rather 285/75. Take the circumference and divide by pi we get 33.25" (pls ignore theBF web page at they are wrong in the real world!)

Sorry about the pic, sun was setting and to get a wide angle the flash just was not up to it.... had to used the wifes digital point and shoot!

The reason for the 285's over the 33's was that I already had a 16" rim, the 285's gave me a greater height, and the also gave me a 11.5" width over the 10.5" that I ccould get with my 15" rims.

Cheers

Rainsey

[VR Rodeo]

I think the point Yarno was making was that you asked how they could fit 33's on without cutting where as your 285 may in fact be bigger than some 33's if that makes any sense at all.

At any rate it does look dam good would be good to test it off road now

[sudso]

Your rig sits really well Rainsey and it looks great.
Aren't they a fantastic looking ute?!
Those front guards look a bit sus though

Did 4wd Monthly say what brand and type of 33 it was.
Some 33's are way under actual 33" diameter
My 33x10.5x15 bfg muddies are actually 32" with only minor tread wear.

hmmm, I'm wondering if that feature was RoeDao's in Readers Rides. He had 33's on with t/b's reindexed and wound up and upper ball joint flip.
I have that issue somewhere

Sorry to hijack here:
Well my 33" bfg muddies got their first workout today, in the Naracoorte 4x4 comp! I did get some minor rubbing on the upper lip of the flexi-flares and the floor/firewall corner but I expected that considering the rim offset and the fact that the front was off the ground for most of the course, and what goes up..............
Wish I had the time to do a body lift beforehand.
There are 2 tracks at the comp, a wet and a dry, both pretty challenging considering they opened it to bog standard 4by's as well, but I opted out of the wet track today after seeing a couple of non snorkled engines take a drink and die in the water pit. I made a water blind up tonight so we can do the wet track in tomorrows events

[rainsey]

I think the point Yarno was making was that you asked how they could fit 33's on without cutting where as your 285 may in fact be bigger than some 33's if that makes any sense at all.

Ok, the fact that I am blone is now showing... yep you are right I reread the statement and ....

My thoughts had come from the work that Sudso has been doing with his 33's in cutting the guards to get the clearance.

Sudso,

The article was under the custom 4WD feature. Reading the specs straight out of the mag, he has tough dogs front & rear, a 2" body lift and (although I cannot find these on the BF web site) BFG Muddies 33x10.5x16 on alloy 16x8 rims. What this chap has done is what I have been trying to do without the body mods, unfortunately they do not have a side on shot of his truck in the article.

Hey have fun in the comp and give us an update how the truck goes in the mud today

Cheers

Rainsey

[sudso]

Had a blast! Went great in the mud and water pits, still got mud all over the engine even with a blind but it didnt miss a beat. I had to go slow in some spots due to my lack of clearance and suspension travel (wheels off ground frequently) Bit hard to compete with cruisers and patrols with 10" lifts and 35"+ tyres with lockers etc. etc. but I certainly had the power/weight edge Those big lift trucks were doing aerial's and soaking up the 2 foot deep corrugations like they weren't there!
I'll send you some video when I get my copy.
I didnt break anything but a small nut fell onto my feet during a run this morning from under the dash and on the way home tonight it was getting harder to change gears and went to go out later and I couldn't even get it in any gear. Haven't had a look yet to see where it's from but I suspect I've lost all clutch pedal adjustment due to that nut coming loose.
Quote Rainsey:

My thoughts had come from the work that Sudso has been doing with his 33's in cutting the guards to get the clearance.

Still haven't got complete clearance under 3/4 to full compression when turning. Rubs on the corner of the floor and firewall. A body lift will rectify this, even 30mm but I think I'll go 50.
You did a 50mm body lift rainsey? Just wondering what line/hose extensions I need to do.

Sudso

[rainsey]

Sudso,

Great to hear you had a fun time in the mud. I did have a concern over going air borne on the front with the bigger rubber and stuffing CV joints but it looks all was O/K.

The body lift is an ubsolute must for a multitude of reasons, one being that it just separates the widest part of the tyre to the back of the wheel well to stop[ the rubbing.

I seemed to have a dream of a body lift compaired to some. I did not have to extend any hoses. My only mod was to my fan cowling as I opted to leave the radiator on its standard bolts and remove the lower half of the cowling to stop the fan from hitting.

Utemad on the otherhand had to extend his clutch line a weee bit, the only difference it seems to his any mine was I have a diesel thoough, as we both agree, the transfer case and bell housing is the same on both so why the diffrent hose... who knows?

My biggest issue was grinding the weld that some turkey had put on the ute tray bolts to the chasis.

Let me know when you are doing it and I will put together a blow by blow of my encounter.

Cheers

Rainsey

[Utemad]

My biggest issue was grinding the weld that some turkey had put on the ute tray bolts to the chasis.

I'm still having nightmares about that

Have another read of this Sudso. Yours shouldn't be any different.

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=50512

[sudso]

Sudso,

Great to hear you had a fun time in the mud. I did have a concern over going air borne on the front with the bigger rubber and stuffing CV joints but it looks all was O/K.

The body lift is an ubsolute must for a multitude of reasons, one being that it just separates the widest part of the tyre to the back of the wheel well to stop[ the rubbing.

I seemed to have a dream of a body lift compaired to some. I did not have to extend any hoses. My only mod was to my fan cowling as I opted to leave the radiator on its standard bolts and remove the lower half of the cowling to stop the fan from hitting.

Utemad on the otherhand had to extend his clutch line a weee bit, the only difference it seems to his any mine was I have a diesel thoough, as we both agree, the transfer case and bell housing is the same on both so why the diffrent hose... who knows?

My biggest issue was grinding the weld that some turkey had put on the ute tray bolts to the chasis.

Let me know when you are doing it and I will put together a blow by blow of my encounter.

Cheers

Rainsey

Well it wasn't the loose nut that caused the clutch problems, I removed the inspection plate on the bellhousing this morning and muddy water dripped out.
The slave cylinder pushrod cover bolts weren't that tight so I assume when the hot driveline hit the water it ingested it through there.
The clutch started to shudder when I got near home last night and then I couldn't engage gear at all after it had cooled right down.
I've got a fan heater blowing up through the inspection holes at the moment to dry it all out but I suspect further flushing/overhauling may need to be done

Also discovered the power steering box is leaking from the bottom shaft seal now Not good.

The suspension all seems to be ok. So far.
By comparison I faired a lot better than most of the other trucks damage wise.

I'm going to really have to study my ute before a body lift. I've got an LPG line to consider. Any extension there will have to be done by an accredited LPG fitter.
Also read Utemads write up with his body lift and I'll have the same issues with the winch bar. Ohhhhhhhh! My head hurts now.

[sudso]

My biggest issue was grinding the weld that some turkey had put on the ute tray bolts to the chasis.

I'm still having nightmares about that

Have another read of this Sudso. Yours shouldn't be any different.

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=50512

Had a look at your write up. Seems like quite a job. Well done!

Your Rodeo must be a "crossover" model. An R9 body with a 2.6. I didn't think R9's came out with the 2.6?

[Utemad]

I am not really sure what the year cutoffs are for the R7 and the R9 but I think the R9 came with the intro of the V6. Mine is an R7 and is a 1997 model. My running gear is the same as the previous shape Rodeo but is the same body as yours. However having said that the only difference between mine and yours is the engine.

Rodeos didn't change a whole lot between 1988 and 2003

[Timbo(Rodeo)]

I remember the same feature on the Rodeo with 33". It was a sandy/gold coloured Space cab, with flat tray and canvas canopy. Had the work done by Macquarie 4x4 in NSW. Had 2" body lift and 2" Suspension, with some custom work. But it didn't go into specifics, So whether they also did a ball joint flip, or reindexed TB's I'm not sure.
Maybe someone local could care to give them a ring and find out?? If they would be kind enough to divulge their info.

My body lift was fairly painless. Mine is a 1998 R9 V6. I unclipped bottom half of the radiator shroud. Unclipped some of the brake lines and clutch lines in the engine bay so they could move a little. The gearstick both long and stubby were alittle hard to keep in 2nd or high 4x4, so pulled them out and got a mate to cut and weld in a 2" extension. This was probably a bit long now that I have done it, as the throw is now longer on the gear stick and it is close to the dash vent controls when shifting. Needs to be pulled off and heated and bent back a little.

I too had the bolts on the cab closest to the tray tack welded on, so got a mate to blast them off with oxy.
Got a local backyard trailer and bullbar maker to cut and reweld the bullbar.

Last thing to do which has caused some issues with the alternator is the rubber flaps in the wheel arch, need to get some new ones so as to stop mud spraying through the gap straight into the alt.

[sudso]

Timbo wrote:

I too had the bolts on the cab closest to the tray tack welded on, so got a mate to blast them off with oxy.

Sounds like they must have all had this done in the factory, probably because they couldn't be held to tighten during assembly due to their location?