Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Just got back after competing in the 2005 OBC and I thought I'd give a carnage report on the Rangie.

Total damage to my vehicle for the event was,
Some cracks in the chassis rails where the body mount brackets were ( I believe these were partially pre existing and only became visible on day 3)
1 Rim (on the last stage for the event ),
1 Tie rod end in the Gorge run,
1 slightly bent (5mm bow in middle) HD steering arm in the gorge run (Mal Leslies HD item),
Several fuses (still working through some electrical issues), and
destroyed three tyres

Over all I cannot complain, with the amount of stubs and Cv’s I was carrying and I did not break one, I was told I must not have been driving it hard enough.

It was all a great learning experience.

Jason
TIGGR* - Tigger Racing
Somebody has to come last...

top effort mate..

you didnt break any rangie parts... you mustnt be trying hard enough , hand the keys over

as for the fuses , thats just standard in a rangie..try nails instead , lol

how did you go overall?

Top work Ossie

I think first time no RR in top 3

Michael.

Hi Jason, how are you and Steph recovering from the OBC.
Mate I think your Rangie did OK considering your first major event.
By the way thanks for the loan of your welder, the A frame is still in tact.
My problem with the Bushie always seems to come down to blown diffs and I was lucky that I could buy a diff off Mike Smith to get us going again.
For those of you out there, in your opinion is it worth while fitting Nissan diffs as the Nissan's seem to be unbreakable and how big is the job to undertake.
By the way Jason Gazza and I enjoyed the your company during the OBC.
Hope to see you there next year.

Laurie. (GRIFFO)

Hi Griffo it's Andy Gerding here how are you mate? You might want to consider Toyota centers in your housings. You can still run the Maxi-Drives if it's done right.

Cheers,
Andy

Rangie Wrecker wrote:Hi Griffo it's Andy Gerding here how are you mate? You might want to consider Toyota centers in your housings. You can still run the Maxi-Drives if it's done right.

Cheers,
Andy

how??? Maxi drive axles fitting with Toy centres

Laurie Griffiths wrote:Hi Jason, how are you and Steph recovering from the OBC.
Mate I think your Rangie did OK considering your first major event.
By the way thanks for the loan of your welder, the A frame is still in tact.
My problem with the Bushie always seems to come down to blown diffs and I was lucky that I could buy a diff off Mike Smith to get us going again.
For those of you out there, in your opinion is it worth while fitting Nissan diffs as the Nissan's seem to be unbreakable and how big is the job to undertake.
By the way Jason Gazza and I enjoyed the your company during the OBC.
Hope to see you there next year.

Laurie. (GRIFFO)

Hi Griffo,

Ash here mate, I bought the 100 off Tony.

I just put Nissan diffs under my Rangie, not hard at all. Would strongly recomend it. Your welcome to come have a look if you want, send me a PM.

Hi Andy, long time no speak buddy.
Mate you reckon thats the way to go, put in toyo centres and still run the maxi drieves, sounds good to me, I'll have to hunt around and find someone to do it for me, preferably in Sydney.
I seem to average two diffs per year and all front and I don't run that many events.
Thanks for the info.
Griffo.

Laurie, I did that in the rear of my 90 Mock up years ago. Only mistake was to run an aftermarket gearset to match the rover diff. Run a std Hilux 4.3 Ratio and you will be fine. Pretty easy machine job on the Maxidrive centres.

But then I got smart and just bought a GQ.

Hi Ash
I believe you sold the 100.
Mate I would love to come and take a look over the next couple of weeks, I gather your on the Central Coast which would be good because my co driver owns English Auto Parts at Tuggerah and that is where the truck will be going some time next week.
Griffo.

Mate I agree with you the smart thing to do would be to go Nissan, I just have too much money invested in the Bushie and the only weak spot now appears to be the diffs.
Griffo.

AnthonyP wrote:how??? Maxi drive axles fitting with Toy centres

Toyota 3rd member housing and pinion with crown wheel bolted to maxi-drive. Some maxi-drives will require a sleeve machined to fit the outer race of the bearings as the Toyota carrier bearing are bigger than some Rover models but all important measurements ie; flange to axle center, line up and they fit the housing with a simple re-drilling.

Rangie Wrecker wrote:

AnthonyP wrote:how??? Maxi drive axles fitting with Toy centres

Toyota 3rd member housing and pinion with crown wheel bolted to maxi-drive. Some maxi-drives will require a sleeve machined to fit the outer race of the bearings as the Toyota carrier bearing are bigger than some Rover models but all important measurements ie; flange to axle center, line up and they fit the housing with a simple re-drilling.

ow so this is similar to the original toy centre conversion only you keep the md carrier so as to use the md axles hmmm interesteing.... but expensive

Rangie Wrecker wrote:

AnthonyP wrote: how??? Maxi drive axles fitting with Toy centres

Toyota 3rd member housing and pinion with crown wheel bolted to maxi-drive. Some maxi-drives will require a sleeve machined to fit the outer race of the bearings as the Toyota carrier bearing are bigger than some Rover models but all important measurements ie; flange to axle center, line up and they fit the housing with a simple re-drilling.

So why not go totally TOY with JM 30 spliners & ARB RD23s?

If you already have the maxis as Groffo does why would you spend more?

Laurie,

The Nissan option would give you an added advantage of wider track.

The GQ cv's are no stronger than rover, but far stronger 4340/300m cv's can be fitted to rovers, so toyota centres with 4340/300m cv's might be stronger overall than GQ. But maybe you were thinking of the big GU stuff.

I had a look this morning at a rangie ute with GQ diffs and high pinion centres at both ends. I wonder how the strength of the high pinion would be in the rear!

Rangie Wrecker wrote:If you already have the maxis as Groffo does why would you spend more?

True, but I'd sell what I already have, invest a wee bit more and go full blown...but that's me...not him, or you

Bush65 wrote:Laurie,

The Nissan option would give you an added advantage of wider track.

The GQ cv's are no stronger than rover, but far stronger 4340/300m cv's can be fitted to rovers, so toyota centres with 4340/300m cv's might be stronger overall than GQ. But maybe you were thinking of the big GU stuff.

I had a look this morning at a rangie ute with GQ diffs and high pinion centres at both ends. I wonder how the strength of the high pinion would be in the rear!

You can put the same upgraded cv's into a gq front diff with very little work and have a stronger diff than the toy HP. This would be a lot cheaper than the toy centre conversion, but you dont get good axles, just stock nissan.

Nissan centred rear needs consideration if keeping rover driveline depending on what lift you run and what sort of driveshaft/pinion angles etc.

McNamara will fit toy gears to your Maxi is you want. He will probably try and sell you his third member housing though.

as far as i know, nobody makes a 4340/300M cv for Nissan... only Toyota

That's right, but there's not much work involved to fit 'toy' cv's into a gq front.

Cheers
Daryl

Interesting about the cv's Daryl.

I agree with you about strength of the toy high pinion.

What are peoples thoughts about the the strength of gq high pinion in the rear of a rangie?

I'd guess it would be stronger than the rover cw&p. I couldn't speak to the owner, but the one I saw has yesterday has me thinking along those lines. Damn! I've just gone and bought 6 disco wheels and had the rims flipped.

Laurie,

You company was great, and it certainly was an experience seeing how far you push your Bushie, compared to the way I drive. I certainly can see that I can step it up a notch or two before things break.

As far as Nissan diffs go, Adrian has just had Nissan diffs put under the Kermut mobile by Cass, it will be interesting to see how they go.

Jason

Hi Jason
Thanks for letting me know about Adrian's truck.
The info from fellow readers has been definately worthwhile re the diff situation, now I'm really confused although it has been a worthwhile exercise, what I have to do now is work out the best solution and on top of that my navi/codriver/mechanic, Garry is suggesting Salisbury diffs.
Anyway whatever option I go with I will be trying it out at the Alpine Challenge later in the year, hope to see you there Jason.
Laurie.

Adrian had a Salisbury in the rear, and he said the advantage was not great hence why he has now gone to Nissans.

Jason

Laurie,

Getting a Salisbury for the front will be a challenge. Getting one with disc brakes, strong axles and cv's will be even more so.

Also you will loose ground clearance compared to shaved gq diffs. Salisbury can be shaved, but it is more work compared to doing it on a gq diff.

Further to my comments/question about using a gq high pinion diff centre in the rear.

I was searching for the threads on DAS's gq diffs in his rover, when I found a post where someone said that the gq was high pinion, but not reverse cut (like toy 80/100 series). If this is the case it is probably just as strong as a standard centre when used in the rear, with all the advantages of a high pinion.

Can anyone else confirm this? I guess I should search/ask in the nissan forum.

Bush65 wrote:Laurie,

Getting a Salisbury for the front will be a challenge. Getting one with disc brakes, strong axles and cv's will be even more so.

Also you will loose ground clearance compared to shaved gq diffs. Salisbury can be shaved, but it is more work compared to doing it on a gq diff.

I am building something along these lines (I already have a rear 4.7:1 sals):

Rear SIII 4.7:1 Sals casing, cut and retubed for front (not much $ but a lot of work)
Series swivels and hubs, converted to disc brakes (could use RR outers just as easily) - free apart from the brakes (already have most of the bits - but again a lot of work)
30 spline maxi-drive locker and HYTUFF axles, dana 60, 30 spline diff side gears, Longfield (toyota) 30/30 spline CV joints. (about $2000AUD for all this lot)

It is definitely not the easiest way, a shaved Sals still probably has a bit less ground clearance than a nissan diff, but I don't expect to ever break it.

Hi Jason, Steph, Laurie, Celia et al,

Well we got back home and it's taken a week to catch up on emails, bbs and the "real world". Nothing better than getting home to find the tax man has been chasing you for 3 weeks :-)

The UK vehicles were all dropped off at Melbourne and, last we heard they shipped on Friday. The shippers were concerned about oil leaks from all 3 vehicles so they're obviously not used to Land Rovers ! We should get them back at the beginning of July if all goes according to plan.

Our short trip to Sydney saw us making the news when the ferry we were on failed to stop and hit the quay, putting a hole in the ferry and leaving the quay looking very second hand. Rumours that Andy was driving the ferry at the time are unfounded.

A big thanks to all in group B (I include our "leader" in that) for the moral support, particularly at Nundooka day stages where it seemed that we were breaking bits of the motor quicker than we could fix them.

If only we could start the event again I'm sure we'd get the hang of those navigational stages eventually....

The Three Peaks Challenge beckons though Jason - we are currently working on getting a fully kitted TD5 90 for you and Steph to play in.

cheers

Dave

Good to hear from you Dave and well done. It is quite a big effort for international competitors just to get to the start line.