My first ever....

[Begbie]

Well i ahve been out in mates 4bes all my life owned plenty of bush cars, but today i drove my own 4be off road for the first time....very first thing i notices is the F%^KING screeching sound of F$%KING sticks and branches and shit going down my paint work, which was kinda sucked a fair biT. How do folks with 60/70k 4bes cope with thier paint getting peeled off?

Anyway, onece i convicned myself i hadf bought a truck and not a BMW and turned up the stereo so i could not longer hear the paint damage, it became a lot funner - even more fun once i had master the hills i had in 4LC and went backl to 2h and climbed em, sideways and spinning a lot.

Anyway, first thing i learned was that my Yokohama Super Dugger are a pure road tyre and may as well have been slicks in the sand.

Second thing i learned was i need more ground clearance - when go over a big hump the front of the car could hit the ground 9iof not carefull. Cheapest way to address this is a susp lift i guess?

So once i fic the tyres and then the sups i guess very soon i would be tackloing harder stuff and require lockers? SOOO!!! next question is, what do you say to you wife that went wrong at my service, that costs 2k, so i can get sone oif this done without it appearing like i am pouring cash into a new project? << T%his is the sticky thread we need, how to convince wife to spend shit loads on truck....

Anyways....more beer and how good are Pajeros.

[Bitsamissin]

Yeah I would go for tyres first, keep the ones you have for road duty and get a good set of muddies. Maybe even the monoform ones in the Simex profile (Mongrels) I think there available in a 32" now. Rims are about $55Ea new so this will be a good upgrade and give you some precious ground clearance. I would dice the aluminium sliders at least for offroad work or for a permanent solution go and see Cheezy for a set of tubular sliders (around $500-600).
Next would be suspension you can crank your torsion bars to raise the front end then rear raised 2" coils and shocks. Pedders, Kings, Tough Dog are all good for suspension coils (about $200ish for the pair). For shocks, Koni's, Rancho, Tough Dogs, Bilsteins etc all give good results.
You can cut your front upper bumpstops (x4) to regain some wheel droop after cranking the torsion bars, many of us have done this.
There is no rear diff lock available unless you want to find and install a factory one (very rare) but the rear lsd is quite good anyway.
A front locker will yield the best offroad improvement an ARB is the most expensive but you get the compressor (about $2K installed).
There is a Lokka and Detroit lockers available for the front but you will not be able to use 4x4 on the bitumen function.
I'd be looking at :-
- tyres & rims ($1200)
- sliders ($600)
- bullbar (ARB- $900)
- 2" suspension lift ($1100)
- front ARB locker ($2000)
After all that the Paj will be vastly better offroad with heaps more ground clearance.
Oh and don't forget a snorkel if you are gonna drive mud/water.
In terms of IFS rigs the Paj is about the best there is with a 3.5 V6 has plenty of grunt and a very strong drivetrain.
Also get yourself a Gregory's service manual (no 510) which explains quite well how to diagnose the flashing lights problem.
Oh and check this out http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=28542

[Begbie]

Thanks again! for all the tips.

Sadly i dont ahve the cash to splash out on this gear since i have just done all my doe buying the thing, and i hate to go into debt.

I will hunt and beg and search until i find some of this gear 2nd hand or on special.

I have wrangler ATs on the back so i will get 2 more for the front ASAP which should help a little bit.