Outer Limits 4x4 Board

wondering if shorty patrols really are that bad to drive uphill and stuff?

i am interested in buying one but havent heard that many good things about them..

and i know they arent good at towing but how bad actually are they?

and petrol/gas consumpton doing highway miles on 5 inch lift and 35s.....roughly of coarse.

ive had my shorty for 2 years and yeah they get a wheel in the air up and down hills but if your a confident driver with experience in driving on 2 or 3 wheels its actually a lot of fun. i have front and rear lockers which makes life a lot easier and prevents a lot of damage. we ve been up plenty of steep inclines to the point of both fronts lifting off and id have to say if u wanna drive up anything steeper than that u want a big set of brass ones, this is why the good lord/ the people at WARN invented the winch. the only down fall to a shorty that i found is your spending more on gettin it to drive nice on road.. ie vibrations and such than u would a wagon. i have a diesel so cant comment on consumption for a petty but i have towed 2 ton of fourby on 1 ton of trailer at 100k/hr down the highway no probs an thats stock 4.2 with 5 inch and 35's.

Scary enough for me to plan a rear axle move later in the year. I don't really want to, but the wheelbase is too short to push it up steep rock climbs. I've had both wheels in the air plenty of times and have a dent in my roof where a well placed tree once stopped me from going over. If you don't need the rear seat, the cab chassis seams to be the best wheelbase to start with.

chunderlicious wrote:wondering if shorty patrols really are that bad to drive uphill and stuff?

i am interested in buying one but havent heard that many good things about them..

and i know they arent good at towing but how bad actually are they?

and petrol/gas consumpton doing highway miles on 5 inch lift and 35s.....roughly of coarse.

hi mate,

they are good at towing, i towed over 2 tonne for over 10 years behind a SHORTY

as for getting a wheel up, you have to learn how to drive it. A SWB vehicle will always be a different approach than a LWB.

shorty's are the most enjoyable, and easily manuverable 4wd.
it will go places that your LWB would have got hung up ages ago.

Love my shorty....its gold.
Towing in a petrol, should be sweet. I tow my 12ft ski boat behind my diesel shorty with 5" lift and 35's and its not too bad. Sure its not a weapon of mass acceleration, but hey it never is
As for off road, you have to treat it differently to a LWB otherwise you will end up FUBAR'd
Fuel consumption wise I get around 500kms to a 65L tank of diesel on the 35's so its not toooooo shabby

as above im 5 inches with 35's have lifted wheels but nothingt o seriouse you have to be pushing pretty hard. there are some seriouse advantages at times to a swb. overall oi love my truck. as for fuel sonsumption on 35's with lift if its carbi expect 20 lt per hundred at best and if your not prepared to live with 25 then you better drive like a grandma. i do get better than that on the hwy but not much

hey if your looking at getting a shorty i am thinking about selling mine due to cant drive a manual anymore after breaking my left wrist.
i have had my front wheels of the ground once i think but that was a very steep hill because a 80s wagon was lifting his too.
PM if you want to know more about my shorty its a 91 petrol

jessie928 wrote: as for getting a wheel up, you have to learn how to drive it.

There comes a point where no matter how you drive it, the wheel base is too short to get power to the ground and climb over things without lifting wheels. There is a reason why no-one builds comp trucks or buggies with a 94" wheelbase! Making claims that people just need to learn to drive better is antagonistic and arrogant and doesn't help someone understand fully what they are getting themselves in for. For a five inch lift with standard control arms and mounts they are not very stable on steep uphills compared to other vehicles with longer wheel bases in extreme driving situations. One gets the impression you either don't attempt as severe tracks or you're just trying to big-note yourself.

Chunderlicious, if you don't need more than two seats a ute is a better option. If you do want a rear seat there's the option of a double triangulated four link rear, moving the axle back 6 or more inches or driving it with the understanding that it wont climb everything. They are still a lot of fun and I wouldn't trade mine for anything else, but they have their limitations. That is why I intend extending my wheel base in the future.

Mynes only on 33's with 3" of lift on duel...i get about 18 to the hundred on petrol around town and about 22-23 to the hundred on gas around town... but i have increased that to around about 30 to the hundred around town with some lead foot driving...but hell gas is soo cheap that ill just drive from petrol station to petrol station.

Short answer (no pun intended) i love my shorty and would not trade it (apart from for a turbo diesel intercooled shorty)... its fun to drive and screw the fuel consumption i can deal with that!!!

towing is ok, not as good as a LWB, but ok. and I think the shorter the wheel base the better, makes tracks far more interesting and you just learn to drive to your cars specs IMO. check this vid of my old man in his shorty from last sunday.


http://home.iprimus.com.au/mrchrise/pic ... th_air.wmv

and me driving my shorty to its width, wheel base, same track.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/mrchrise/pic ... ad_Run.wmv

hmmmmm gq's are good all round

HD leaf springs in a mq short going up hill picking the wrong line ...really makes you feel your alive

gimme coils anyday

like what the other boys say once you master 3 and 2 wheel driving you will find it alot of fun

Sorry waxhead, that's not exactly what I meant by steep and extreme. If that's the kind of driving you intend doing, then you will have no problems with a shorty. I was thinking more along the lines of comp spec tracks with 30 - 45 degree inclines and 1.5 - 2 foot rock steps.

lol, itll mainly be a DD (i know i know) and do the day trips and stuff out to glasshouse..... i have a 108 wheelbase lux for the stupid shit, 45 degree is alot more than most people think. i am a roofer and youd be suprised how far 45 degrees actually is.

oh AND i should add that ive bee in 112 inch wheelbase lux getting up on rear wheel drive as there is no front touching basically and ive done the same in a lwb suzi and it really aint that scary. unless you do it with ALOT of speed....... then its just fun

Nelso wrote:

jessie928 wrote: as for getting a wheel up, you have to learn how to drive it.

There comes a point where no matter how you drive it, the wheel base is too short to get power to the ground and climb over things without lifting wheels. There is a reason why no-one builds comp trucks or buggies with a 94" wheelbase! Making claims that people just need to learn to drive better is antagonistic and arrogant and doesn't help someone understand fully what they are getting themselves in for. For a five inch lift with standard control arms and mounts they are not very stable on steep uphills compared to other vehicles with longer wheel bases in extreme driving situations. One gets the impression you either don't attempt as severe tracks or you're just trying to big-note yourself.

Chunderlicious, if you don't need more than two seats a ute is a better option. If you do want a rear seat there's the option of a double triangulated four link rear, moving the axle back 6 or more inches or driving it with the understanding that it wont climb everything. They are still a lot of fun and I wouldn't trade mine for anything else, but they have their limitations. That is why I intend extending my wheel base in the future.

no one builds comp trucks with 94" wheelbases?? thats a pretty tall claim.

he's not building a tube buggy, he is asking for a choice between the shorty and a LWB, i have both, i like the shorty, its much better allround.

if you have 500hp and your foot is flat to the flloor up a rock step, you will lift the wheels no matter what it is LWB or short

If you learn how to handle what you have, then your chances of lifting the wheels are minimised.

if you notice i did not say they dont lift the wheels

making claims that people need to learn how to drive their rides is not antogonistic and arrogant, Its actually bloody common sence.

Cheers,
JEs

agreed and if your worried about lifting wheels then thats what the warn on the front is for drive it till your feeling uncomfortable then winch.

You will find most people are going for 100 to 112 inch wheelbases. I wonder why that is?

If you accuse another person of needing to learn to drive better you are antagonising them into a reaction to defend themselves. You are also implying that you are a better driver, which is arrogant.

Isn't saying you learn to handle what you have just like saying they have their limitations? By saying you need to modify your driving you are validating my point that they are not as stable on steep hill-climbs as something with a longer wheelbase.

Regardless of any of this nitpicking, I think we have answered Chunderlicious' question. For what you are after, you'll have no probs with a shorty. As for the 45 degrees, I mean 2 or 3 metre ledges at 45 degrees etc. like the Professor used to have in his avatar.

yeah i think that did answer my question pretty wel....... i need a diesel, i drive 800 kays a week and i think that 20/100 is a little too much for me but im still lookin for diesels

Email sent chunderlicious.

Nelso wrote:You will find most people are going for 100 to 112 inch wheelbases. I wonder why that is?

If you accuse another person of needing to learn to drive better you are antagonising them into a reaction to defend themselves. You are also implying that you are a better driver, which is arrogant.

Isn't saying you learn to handle what you have just like saying they have their limitations? By saying you need to modify your driving you are validating my point that they are not as stable on steep hill-climbs as something with a longer wheelbase.

Regardless of any of this nitpicking, I think we have answered Chunderlicious' question. For what you are after, you'll have no probs with a shorty. As for the 45 degrees, I mean 2 or 3 metre ledges at 45 degrees etc. like the Professor used to have in his avatar.

mate inferiority complex?

i did not say i am a better driver,
every car has its limitation. Knowing the car better means knowing its limitations.

it was actually you that posted this crap to me ". One gets the impression you either don't attempt as severe tracks or you're just trying to big-note yourself. "

i dont need to big note myself, i dont have any complex.

i did not say they DONT lift the wheels, re-read my post. my point was if you learn how to drive the SWB, then you wont have as many dramas lifting the front wheel.

you can launch a LWB as high as you can launch any SWB aswell, at what point do you stop extending the wheelbase?

then you have the POWER part of the equation, a 40kw that weighs 2t with a wheelbase of 80 wont be lifting the front wheel, whereas a vehicle with a 100 wheelbase and 600 hp will wheelstand on bitumen let along a rock ledge!

jes

ok so yes a swb has more of a tendancy to lift the front wheels on very steep hill climbs. But they also have advatanges i have drivin over ledges that i have watched lwb winch over and do major sill damage (love the shorty ramp over angle). they are also lighter and alot more manoverable on tight tracks. if you like lwb great if you like swb then great to why the argument is needed i dont really know. i agree that once you know the limitations and traits of your own vehicle short or long wheelbase that i qouto "most" of the time you can adjust your driving to suit the conditions. finally as i allready mentioned if you cant drive it "winch it".

No inferiority complex. Just a bit of friendly banter that's all. I get a giggle out of all the posts I read when a blokes response to someone is to tell them to learn to drive better, so when I saw yours saying "you have to learn how to drive it" rather than "they just need to be driven differently" I thought I'd wind you up a bit. No harm intended.

In the end, we entertained a few people and the message did get through that the arse end of them are soft and the wheelbase is short so you do have to be more cautious on hillclimbs, but as everyone has said, if you are cautious you can work around it.

most people want a swb, but get lwb because they need the room ectectect....... shortys are cool and good off road to simple