Outer Limits 4x4 Board

New to the 4x4 scene, but I've just purchased an 85 MK Patrol shorty. Took it out on the tracks near the sunny coast highway and got bogged in the mud, sat around for an hour till some one came and pulled us out. Obviously the lack of experience and the fact that me and a mate went out by ourselves played a major part in getting stuck and waiting. But if I wanna tackle some decent tracks in the future, I wanna have the Patrol set up right. At the momment its stock, has 31's on it. What are some suspension/tyre set up's that would be suitable for what Im looking to do offroad? I wanna do my fair share of beach driving and offroading. Im not looking to set it up as something crazy like a comp truck, but just to have a fun and capable 4x4, without spending much money. I was thinking of maybe upsizing to 33's and getting a 2" lift kit, but I dont have much experience, which is why Im chasing some suggestions.

some bigger muddys would be the first thing i'd get but u will have to do a body lift or suspension lift to fit 33's and still have a bit of room for travel.
also some good recovery points and if u can aford it it a winch is a very good idea weither it's a hand winch or car mounted winch.

good luck.

cheers mike

I put 33" muddies on without a lift and no rubbing. Get a set of old man emu springs and what ever shocks that are in your budget. Make a snorkle out of pvc, some homemade diff breathers and if your still not having enough fun weld up your front diff. They are awesome trucks, but unfortunately Mine is being sold to fund another project.

yer 33's will go on without lift but u won't have much room for wheel travel

you dont have much wheel travel in an MQ unless you have aftermarket suspension anyway... chuck 33's on, take out the front swaybar, and go for ya life.
after you have abit more expirience, you will learn what mods are needed.

join a club or find some people nearby to go out with, they will get your expirience up abit.

my old MQ had only 33's and swaybars removed and it kept up with all my mates no worries. no other mods(performance wise) got done to it

Whats the advantage of taking out the front swaybar? will it get more chasis twist/angle or something? as I said totally new to this lol.

a sway bar stops the body rolling around heaps as you go round corners, keeps the vehicle more flat.

removing it just allows the axle to move abit more freely. on a coil sprung vehicle it will give heaps more movement, but on your patrol it wont be too much as the leaves are so stiff.


looking at your front diff from front on you will see a bar that runs from one spring to the other, in line with the axle, has a bend in it where the diff pumkin is, so you cant miss it. at each end ov this is a bar about 6inches long, take this smaller bar off each end.

as macca said being leaf srung you wont notice much diff on road
i have done mine recently as ima noob too lol
and after 1 drive i cant remember wat it felt like with the bar attached
but off road it helps i have some acres here and one spot i drove on b4 the bar was disconnected the wheel would lift now at stays on the ground
well worth doing

you could look at getting some extended suspension shackles (they are the short flat pieces of steel attaching your springs to the chasis) by doing this you will achieve a whole heap more flex in you suspension and keep your wheels on the ground.
a good bull bar always helps aswell keeps the front of ya car safe when you run into stuff and it will happen while your learning

extended shackles wont increase flex or wheel travel, only a change of springs will do that(or drop shackles, but thats a diffent story altogether). extended shackles will give you a little bit more lift, i.e. 2" extended will give 1" lift.
if you want to go down this path, make sure you get "anti-inversion" shackles for the front, as you are likely to flip them when you run into something a lil to hard (by flip i mean the shackle gets knocked hard enough that it flips backwards and folds itself flat on the chassis facing rearwards... a right bastard to fix when it happens to you dozens of times in a day...)

what about a spring over
i have not done one or know whats involved but that would give a bit of lift if im correct dont know the other advantages/disadvanteges tho

from memory, a springover will give something like 9" of lift on its own in these vehicles... (kingy/screwy/RMP&O fell free to confirm or correct me...)

macca81 wrote:from memory, a springover will give something like 9" of lift on its own in these vehicles... (kingy/screwy/RMP&O fell free to confirm or correct me...)

Can't see it being more than 6"...

Use the Factory leaves and get them flatterend (if they aren't already)

It already has a bullbar, however I was thinking of removing it, unsure though, you guys reckon keep it ey? Also as its a shorty, are they fairly easy to roll? especially with my inexperience at the momment. Some of the plans I had included fitting a roll bar behind the front seats.

Sorry guys just wanted to know i know its illegal to not have bullbar on but i want to take mine off because i hate the gap that i got with the body lift whats the law with the bars and the rear bar?
Thanks guys

TURBOMQ wrote:Sorry guys just wanted to know i know its illegal to not have bullbar on but i want to take mine off because i hate the gap that i got with the body lift whats the law with the bars and the rear bar?
Thanks guys

tis fine 2 not have one on there. what makes you think its not legal?


wicked, i think you may be right there... the axle tube is about 4" and leaf pack prehaps 2"... so yeah, 6 seems about right. still a long way to go in one hit.

i never rolled mine, but they are easier to roll than a LWB, they tend to bounce more. but if your sensible you should be fine. a roll bar is something you can do iff you wish. never hurts to have abit more protection

when i went to get a road worthy the guy who did the RW said it needed a bullbar or bumber bar?

TURBOMQ wrote:when i went to get a road worthy the guy who did the RW said it needed a bullbar or bumber bar?

You can't have exposed chassis rails...

cheers mate that would explain it, so if i just get a bit to cover it up it will be fine?

TURBOMQ wrote:cheers mate that would explain it, so if i just get a bit to cover it up it will be fine?

Some thing that goes from one side to the other. 1 piece covering both side's. Does that make sence? lol

Yeh man Lol, whats the best way to make sumthing like that?

WICKED wrote:

TURBOMQ wrote:when i went to get a road worthy the guy who did the RW said it needed a bullbar or bumber bar?

You can't have exposed chassis rails...

i stand corrected. i did not know this. would explain why ya often see old 40 series with just a "C" section bar on it...

the C section bar you may see on the old fj/bj series vehicles is the standard front bumper bar from factory. Its a serious piece of steel in terms of standard bumpers.

Sam

whats involved in a spring over on an mq/mk
and is it worth it

macca81 wrote:from memory, a springover will give something like 9" of lift on its own in these vehicles... (kingy/screwy/RMP&O fell free to confirm or correct me...)

Depends largely on the actual springs used.......

A new or newish set will easily give 10 - 11 inches of lift
( some sets will actually require leaf removal to bring em down to the 10" mark !! )

An old set will most likely give around 6-8 inches of lift, the biggest issue here is they are far more likely to break under the flexibility of a SOA.
30yearold leaf springs tend to do that .... shocking isnt it !

Kingy

stokedapollo wrote: whats involved in a spring over on an mq/mk

Hours of work...... & even more hours of fine tuning !
Have a gander at the MQ/MK series bible, all your questions are answered in it
http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/ftopic104473.php

stokedapollo wrote:and is it worth it

Hell yeah

BUT..........

I'd strongly suggest you learn to drive it first before you "over modify it"

A SOA isnt for everyone


Kingy

was wondering how long it would take for you to contribute kingy

macca81 wrote:was wondering how long it would take for you to contribute kingy

the info was spot on.... couldnt see the need to add the same info over again



Basically step one is

33" tyres
2" body lift
decent set of springs ( new !! )
set of new shocks
swaybar disconect

& drive it

tried , tested, & prover simplest mods for an MQ/MK


Step two for those that want even more offroad ability but still want to maintain an onroad use go down the ....

35" tyres
SOA
springs etc
& a V8 to drive it



step three becomes a trailer queen class

38" + tyres
guard cuts
coil conversion
etc



step four..........

after spending thousands of hours & $$$$ on a build, you sell it all up for 10th of what youve spent and start buildng a buggy

sell it and buy a GQ

V8Patrol wrote:

macca81 wrote:was wondering how long it would take for you to contribute kingy

the info was spot on.... couldnt see the need to add the same info over again

im flattered