Rally’s Ranger

Congratulations on the buy! My mates Ranger goes well and is fun to drive offroad, makes me want to run stuff over. There's some stuff the Forester does better and other stuff the Ranger does better. You will love the gearing in it, plus comes with a locker and loads more space. Hope your Forester finds the right person.

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There's some stuff the Forester does better and other stuff the Ranger does better
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What does the Forester better besides mpg and parkslot search? :biggrin:
 
Due to lifted independent suspension I have more diff clearance so I found deeply rutted tracks easier, Ranger made it with a lot of diff scraping, but my Forester never bottomed out so was easier.

Some of the beach exits I found much easier due to being far lighter, Ranger still did them, just needed far greater run up and speed.

Short wheel base comes in handy for ramp over.


Got plenty of vids of my Forester outdoing Ranger, Patrols and Land Cruisers if you want them, but they are all specific examples. The Ranger is better for him because heaps more space and the Forester is better for me, and it's about half and half which car does stuff easier on the terrain we do but both always make it.
 
The Ranger is intended to be for long distance touring. I will soon be looking at a long range fuel tank, something you cannot get for a Forrie. Bullbars, spoilt for choice. The biggest negatives are the appalling lack of grip in the wet from the all terrain tyres and there doesn’t seem to be much you can do about it. I think I’ll miss my RE002’s more than anything else. You only have to touch the throttle and you lose traction. Things like the turning circle are obviously worse but this car is not about that. Eventually the Ranger will become a tow car, towing a 3.5 tonne van. Well beyond what the Forrie can do.

As for the reliability of the Ford, I went to the Ford dealer yesterday to price up spare parts such as radiator hoses and the serpentine belt. Hardly ever sells the hoses and has never sold a belt. If nothing else they are getting the small stuff right. I just bought a pre filter kit for the fuel system, and will replace the genuine one too every 10,000kms. Engine oil and filter changes will be every 5,000kms as I do with the Forrie. ATF and filter every 40,000kms. That leaves things such as the timing chain tensioner as unknowns. So hopefully it will be ok
 
G'day rally
I'd put a catch can on as well. Got a provent 200 on my hilux & i drain about 50ml every 5000k when i do my oil changes. Better to stop the oil mist going thru the intercooler & turbo.
Silverfox
 
^ agree - I use Provent on my Triton but I replaced the filter material with stainless steel mesh and filled it with stainless steel wool. It was found that the oem material was too restrictive.
 
Are you still going to post trip reports on ORS once you become Subaruless? Or have you joined a Ranger forum?

I've often wondered what I'll do when I sell my Foz and move on. One of the reasons I think I have held on to the Forrie for so long is because ORS is such a great forum.
 
Rally said:
The starting point.
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Hey, congratulations, Rally! Hope it serves you great!

I also hope you can keep the Foz. Yours is so unique! I wish it made sense to keep my OB. At least I still drive an H6 5 EAT Tribeca every other day pretty much, with great cornering habits and performance street tires:monkeydance:

The Ranger will be a pain in the rain compared to a Subaru, no matter the tires. If I lived where it rained a lot, like Oregon, I would have never moved on from the OB.

Horses for courses.

Time to unbolt those hideous steps!
 
Tweaksta said:
Are you still going to post trip reports on ORS once you become Subaruless? Or have you joined a Ranger forum?

I've often wondered what I'll do when I sell my Foz and move on. One of the reasons I think I have held on to the Forrie for so long is because ORS is such a great forum.
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If there is interest and it’s allowed yes.

I drove the Forrie today, I loved it. Oh if only I could keep it.
 
Ok, thanks Kevin. Our trip to the outback next year is one I am looking forward to.

I went to the 4WD Show yesterday to find out who can build the body I want to house all the bits I want. I was also on the lookout for some bargains on such things as Bullbars and long range fuel tanks. None were to be found, the most they were giving off was only 10 percent. I can wait till the next show to claim that.

The previous owner was of the type I find a lot of in my local area. He would rather protect all the junk he never uses from the weather by storing the junk in his garage, and let his brand new $70,000 car suffer exposure to the elements outside the garage. As a result, the paint while still as new to look at, had lost the smooth feel to it. So yesterday I washed it, then began to clay bar it. I’m only part way through as I ran out of time and energy. The results were as expected, a beautiful smooth feel to the paint surface. I will finish it off today and then wax it to protect the surface from the elements. And park the bloody thing in the garage!
 
MiddleAgeSubie said:
Time to unbolt those hideous steps!
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They’re very low aren’t they. They do serve a purpose though. They allow the dog to jump up into the car. Otherwise I’d have to lift her up each time. They also are handy for washing the car roof. I wonder how short people wash these cars.
 
so which subaru that is ?
 
The paddock burning variety.:lildevil:
 
Rally said:
The starting point.
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Congrats on your purchase @Rally. Your SG build definitely redefined the scale of how the car performs without extreme lifts but with road tyres! :thumbsup:

The view of the starting point usually does not last long.:ebiggrin: I think you will be spoiled by how much aftermarket components that can be bolted on to it.
.

Red XS said:
Due to lifted independent suspension I have more diff clearance so I found deeply rutted tracks easier, Ranger made it with a lot of diff scraping, but my Forester never bottomed out so was easier.

Some of the beach exits I found much easier due to being far lighter, Ranger still did them, just needed far greater run up and speed.

Short wheel base comes in handy for ramp over.

Got plenty of vids of my Forester outdoing Ranger, Patrols and Land Cruisers if you want them, but they are all specific examples. The Ranger is better for him because heaps more space and the Forester is better for me, and it's about half and half which car does stuff easier on the terrain we do but both always make it.
Click to expand...

I agree with @Red XS and we have to consider how good our cars perform on sand. I went to play in the dunes recently and I went up and down extremely soft silica-rich sand and the SG was the only car there. 4/5 jacked-up and accessorised trucks bogged down to the point that people started waving at me to get back to the wet/compacted part of the beach. Not sure if they aired down properly as they all did not bring any sort of recovery equipment with them, even just a shovel! But yes, I just keep on getting surprised and that was with G015s at 20psi only.
 
I started looking at running wires for driving lights, and where to mount switches and cb microphones. The good news is they provide a huge blanking grommet seemingly for the purpose of running wires through. Brilliant. The bad news is that there are no blanks to mount a switch. I prefer using factory switches as it looks tidier. I might have to reassign the fog light switch. As for mounting the microphone, I’m not sure either.
 
The exterior of the car is now at an acceptable standard. Washed, clay barred and waxed. Now looking at mechanical stuff. Cabin filter was dirty, since replaced. Waiting on fumoto valve before replacing oil. Yet to install pre filter and replace genuine fuel filter.
 
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