Ratbag's 2006 Fox XS - Roo2

Thanks for the tip, Red.

Mine was doing that too. Just waiting for a passing rock, or stick, or jelly fish to rip it out of both ends. Probably at the worst possible time (e.g. dusk, on a freeway ... ).

Once I turned it over, the single cable tie just needed a nudge along the bar it was attaching the wires to, and all was well.

I will clarify a point. The missing bolt had been there at some stage, because I could see the marks. It must have loosened and fallen out at some stage before I owned the vehicle.

It pays to check all this stuff periodically ...

[EDIT]
I just re-read your post about the wires for the trailer running from the front of the car. Mine are connected to the car wiring in the cargo area. Mind, the "water-proofing" around the hole in the wheel well looks pretty dodgy. Fortunately I avoid water crossings deeper than a few inches, so unlikely to cause me any grief.
[end edit]

When i installed my towbar I did the plug setup similar. Yet after a high country trip it was ripped off and i lost the plug. The current one I've got on it is just on a long lead and stored in the wheel well. I might try tucking it up like that RB. Since all the trailers i use don't always have a long enough lead to connect it up and leave it in the boot.

Ratbag said:

Then bolted it all back together. And here it is:

Click to expand...

Looks much better like that! :biggrin:

Red XS said:

Another problem with mine was when they ran the cable from front of the car to the back

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I dont think it should be coming from the front, AFAIK the wiring should come from a connector in the wheel well or rear 1/4 panel. But if it works prob best to leave it...

Much neater solution Ratbag. I always wondered why they didn't do it like that in the first place. Mine has the flat 7 connecter that doesn't hang very much and I haven't had any clearance problems ... yet.

Just looking closely at your towbar, is it the 40mm Subaru bar or the far more substantial 50mm bar with all that extra reinforcing that runs back under the car?
I just got the cheaper 40mm Subaru towbar because it had more than enough towing capacity for what I planned but when I compare it with yours the detachable square tongue used to jut much further out from the receiver than yours does. It meant that the towball (although I use a swivel Trig hitch) was further out from the car than need be. So I pushed the square tongue into the receiver as far as it could go and then had the hole in it redrilled (another 45mm closer). Yours looks like it is in the now closer position mine is in after the redrilling. Has yours been redrilled too?

Gidday Id, NL and Guzzla

idw said:

When i installed my towbar I did the plug setup similar. Yet after a high country trip it was ripped off and i lost the plug. The current one I've got on it is just on a long lead and stored in the wheel well. I might try tucking it up like that RB. Since all the trailers i use don't always have a long enough lead to connect it up and leave it in the boot.

Click to expand...

All the after-market bars since Number 2 Colt that I have had fitted to our cars (including the dealer fitted one on Roo1 - sent out? It was a Hayman Reese, like all my others) had that set up with the cord in the boot. I used to just hang the end connector over the locking latch on my trailer hitch with the trailer plug plugged into it there.

The trailer wiring loom after the rebuild is about a foot longer than it used to be, so along with the seven pin large round to seven pin small round adapter, it's a bit long now, if anything. Not a bad thing, IMO.

NachaLuva said:

Looks much better like that! :biggrin:

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Yeah, thanks. Far, far less exposed to damage, specially the wiring and the back of the plug, but also the whole fitting is better for sliding over things rather than hooking up on them ... I had to re-bend the bolt-on bracket so that there was sufficient clearance at the back of the plug for the wiring loom.

guzzla said:

Much neater solution Ratbag. I always wondered why they didn't do it like that in the first place. Mine has the flat 7 connecter that doesn't hang very much and I haven't had any clearance problems ... yet.

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Thanks, Guzzla. I looked at the flat 7 pin connectors, but I don't like them very much. Had one many years ago, and had no end of trouble with it, IIRC.

Just looking closely at your towbar, is it the 40mm Subaru bar or the far more substantial 50mm bar with all that extra reinforcing that runs back under the car?

Click to expand...

Both of ours are 50x50 mms. I must say that I prefer the old style tongue that bolted on, but these are what our cars came with. The Subaru compliance plate reads "1800 Kgs" on Roo2. I haven't looked at the one on RR closely, as it will most likely never tow anything much. It does have the same stupid connector plate configuration (electrical connector attached underneath, instead of on top), but the plate on it is flat, and welded to the side of the tongue part of the bar. Should be far easier to modify than the one on Roo2 was - just a simple bend with my 'little' 15" shifting spanner ...

I just got the cheaper 40mm Subaru towbar because it had more than enough towing capacity for what I planned but when I compare it with yours the detachable square tongue used to jut much further out from the receiver than yours does. It meant that the towball (although I use a swivel Trig hitch) was further out from the car than need be. So I pushed the square tongue into the receiver as far as it could go and then had the hole in it redrilled (another 45mm closer). Yours looks like it is in the now closer position mine is in after the redrilling. Has yours been redrilled too?

Click to expand...

That's how mine came. The one on RR is the same. Neither has been modified in any way.

Fitted my SubaXtreme sump guard

Gidday Folks

Fitted my SubaXtreme sump guard today ... .

Absolutely amazing how much easier it is once someone realised that there are SIX bolt holes on that mount in front of the gearbox, not four ... :lol:.

I packed the rear mounts with three 1/2" washers to increase the engine clearance and the P/S exhaust clearance by just a bit. This does not have any effect on the clearance when reversing, as there are plenty of other bits that will catch or hit first!

Perhaps the next thing will be to make up a gearbox protection plate out of some 16 ga. steel I have lurking in the shed.

Engine noise changed with fitting sump guard

^ Well, now ...

I just took it for a test drive, and as soon as I started the engine, I noticed that it now has a throaty growl for an exhaust note!

For the last 4-6 weeks, the OEM ABS cover has been off it, and that didn't make any difference, either way.

The guard does not touch the headers (or anything else). I made absolutely certain of that when fitting it.

How can the engine noise change with fitting a metal sump guard?

Maybe I should peel the sound deadener off the two old ABS ones I have, and silicone them all over the inside of the SubaXtreme one?

A bit of padding directly under the bottom of the sump probably wouldn't hurt anything anyway ...

Strange, I can tell you that fitting an L-series sump guard to mine made no difference. My modified intake did though.

I think the difference in note is due to the sound reflecting off the metal plate and engine bay like you mentioned, which is avoided with the standard fibrous liner and the fact that there's so much gap with the L-series plate on mine.

Gidday KF

Thanks for the feedback.

I will recheck the exhaust clearance tomorrow.

From my Batphone

Back on a decent keyboard ... :iconwink:.

I had to pack the rear with 3x 1/2" washers to get sufficient clearance between the guard and the sump. Maybe I need a couple of 1/2" washers either side at the front as well. The washers are 1/2" internal diameter of the hole, not 1/2" thick :rotfl:. They are about 2-2.5 mm thick each.

The guard has taken the odd hit, or two ... It has a fairly substantial bend upwards in the middle - maybe as much as 1/2-3/4". I didn't put a straight edge across it before, but I will when it comes off to have the spacing washers welded together. After I get these right, I will weld each set together; then Araldite them onto the top of the sump guard.

The P/S extractor pipe is quite close to the guard currently. Maybe it is causing resonance that the guard is amplifying.

[EDIT]

After packing both front and rear bolts with 3x 2 mm washers, my ground clearance is a minimum of 210 mm all over the guard.

[end edit]

..... RB... have you checked for lead in your boot?



Best regards,

Gidday S2

The secondary battery pack lives behind the front P/S seat ... :iconwink:

Or is that the lead in the boot on my right foot ... :lol:

Or the lead in my strides ... :rotfl:

Anyway, the trailer went to Jimi's today to have one of the fuel panniers moved from the P/S rear to the D/S front - can't get the Jerry can out without removing the tent ... Whoops! My mistake, not his.
Having the gas strut mounts moved so that they actually lift the lid + tent ... Actually, I reckon he had them in the right place to start with!
Having a couple of 3 Kg gas bottle holders put on the P/S rear where the fuel pannier is currently.
Having some back feet put on it.

Roo2 goes to Ross tomorrow morning to have the GB and rear diff oil replaced with fully synthetic Shell. He reckons that the existing oil is probably OK for the life of the vehicle, but agreed that it was cheap insurance seeing as how I bought the car s/h - so don't know every detail of its history. $100-200 is a lot cheaper than a GB rebuild (around $5,000+), and it's even cheaper than having the rear vLSD re-built! Since both the vLSDs are immersed in the GB or diff oil, changing them both for a known quantity (and quality ... ) won't hurt anything but my wallet a little bit.

Today has been spent sorting out and cleaning my spanners and other tools. The only one I can't find is the 17/19 mm Sidchrome ring spanner.

After I get the trailer back from Jimi, a whole lot of stuff currently cluttering up the garage, entrance and living room can be packed into it, after I have put another couple of 7/16" cup head bolts through the lid frame and tent base board.

Roo2 went in for the GB/rear diff oil change today.

Ross says that semi-synthetic is the recommended oil, and I am more than happy to go with what he recommends. To my knowledge, there is nothing wrong with the box that needs some kind of special care. It is really just to reassure me that I am not going to cook either the GB, diff or the two vLSDs while towing the trailer a long way.

He has had one occasion where the owner wanted FS, and the synchro didn't work properly as the oil was too 'slippery', so didn't allow adequate grip for the synchro rings. He thinks it was a Honda, but the principle is exactly the same.

I went for FS with Redline Lightweight in my gearbox but I dont think you'll work yours as hard as I do lol. That is unless you leave it in LR

I used mineral in my diff as its a plated LSD, otherwise I would def use FS in the diff...no synchros lol :iconwink:

At least you wont have to change either for another 100k kms (or whatever the service interval is) lol

Gidday NL

I am more than happy to go with recommendations from Ross. He doesn't treat me like an idiot; nor does he treat his job/business like that. He looked it all up for both our information while I was sitting in his office this morning.

He is more than happy for me to be running Shell's top shelf FS motor oil, even though he considers it unnecessary, because, in his words: "It can't hurt anything".
He is also quite happy to be putting 5W-40 FS in the motor, because the Subaru recommendation of 0W-20 FS is patently absurd in a country like Australia.

He attends to hundreds or thousands of cars each year, and has more knowledge and experience in this area than I have, or will ever have. In fact, I said more or less that to him just this morning ... :iconwink:.

The other aspect to all this is that the SG GB and diffs are very different from those in the SF, and the series II SG GB is subtly different from that in the series I SG as well (particularly differences in the synchro rings, from what I understand).
The SG gearboxes are much stronger than those in the SF. So what with working it harder, and its lesser strength, there are good reasons to use oil that helps it every way it can.

If Shell recommends their semi-synthetic oil/s, and do not recommend their fully synthetic oil/s for this purpose, then I'm with Ross ... .

But don't Subaru schedule the gearbox & diff oils get changed every 50,000km? I'd be a little bit worried about ignoring that no matter what the quality of oil used. I know there are many manual cars that don't have any recommended gearbox oil changes (my V6 Camry and Golf are two) but I do know that when the gearbox oil was changed in the Camry at 282,000km when the original clutch was replaced that the gearbox became extra quiet and the changes even smoother.

Well, got the car back. The gearbox shifts are definitely smoother. Not very noticeable when warm, but there, nonetheless.

Ross said that the oil from both still looked like oil, and had no water or other nasties in them, but the oil was "a bit hazy".

guzzla said:

But don't Subaru schedule the gearbox & diff oils get changed every 50,000km? I'd be a little bit worried about ignoring that no matter what the quality of oil used. I know there are many manual cars that don't have any recommended gearbox oil changes (my V6 Camry and Golf are two) but I do know that when the gearbox oil was changed in the Camry at 282,000km when the original clutch was replaced that the gearbox became extra quiet and the changes even smoother.

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Every 30,000 kms and/or 30 months, IIRC ... Ross stated categorically that this is plain and simple over-servicing. He went on to say that it was (perhaps) necessary 30-40 years ago, but hasn't been necessary in the modern era of motoring. He said that modern oils and modern engineering obviate this necessity completely, and that these oils will last the lifetime of the car.

He also fully understood why I wanted them changed. I wouldn't have bothered with my '93 Impreza, as I had owned it since new. With Roo2 being s/h, I don't know that all is as it seems. I view this as an inescapable cost of buying any s/h motor car. Not all of the initial saving is 'real', as there will always be maintenance to be done with any s/h car, either foreseen or unforeseen ...

It wouldn't bother me even then, except that towing always puts more stress on a car and its drive train, and I am planning on doing a lot of towing over the next little while ...

$141 is a cheap price to pay for both insurance, and peace of mind ... :iconwink: .

When I changed my diff/gearbox oils I used 75W-90 semi-synthetic, with the recommended additive number (5 something I think).

It made a real difference when the gearbox was cold, much smoother and the synchros feel better now too.

Make sure your mechanic replaces the gasket on the plug - I didn't replace mine and it's bery slowly dripping onto my headers, leaving me with a nice odour every time I stop. Eventually I'll drain it, replace the gasket and put the same oil back in.

After 207,000km my oil was nasty in the gearbox, diff was fine really but I'd already drained it so had to fill it up anyway.

If you're towing I'd highly recommend changing the oils. Especially in Australia, as if the oil gets too hot its chemical properties will change.

Gidday KF

The reason why we have been taking our cars to Ross for the last 15 odd years is that I don't have to tell him how to do his job ... :iconwink: .

He's the bloke who replaced the radiator in Roo2 with a brand new one that was (probably) slightly damaged when his mechanic was doing the timing belt etc - completely at his own expense. Even though the original radiator still passed a pressure test ... He is that kind of man. An honest, competent one ...

Fitted the new tow hitch to the car and trailer today. See my trailer build thread, starts here:

https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showpost.php?p=78381&postcount=124

and following ... :biggrin:.