Separate handbrake

Vy@ch

Vy@ch

Forum Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
62
Location
Kazakhstan
I have an idea make a separate handbrake for left and right rear wheels. This mod i hope so will work like rear difflock. At pics you can see all mountings. If you stuck in diagonal situation and your right rear wheel freely spinning but left wheel stay without any motion. Then you can pull right stick for braking right wheel, then traction going to the left wheel. It works seems like simple difflocker. Any idea?
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I do remember someone trying this a few years ago, but I only remember them getting to the install part. Don't think I ever saw any results.:confused: Might have been on Forester.org, so you might have a search around there and see if it worked for them.
 
Yeah Bluefox did it, due to the centre diff not being lockable it went from him having two wheel spin to just one wheel spin at the front. It didn't do a damn thing due to the AWD. But for an L-Series or Brumby that can lock it into 4WD it would work and probably get you out of a few sticky situations.

Bluefox also has a Youtube vid of him testing it.

My locker project should come together this year hopefully and that would have some benefit with a AWD subie but it could just lead to 1 wheel spin, would defernately work for a L-series though. Some testing will be in order with a prototype. Im looking at utilsing the hand-brake also as a lever, for the prototype atleast. Just run another cable to the handle from the manual engaging locker itself. That should be the easy part.
 
Bloody subarus and their crappy AWD system. The the fact that you cannot lock the center diff is kind of the final nail in the coffin for my plans to keep my Forester as an expo/touring rig. The crappy AWD system, which essentially allows only one wheel to get power in certain situations, shows it's inability in even the most tame terrain. Subies are great for cruising on sand and very light trail work, but the moment a wheel might be lifted off the ground it all comes apart.

The dual-handbrake system was my last little bit of hope for my Subaru. Such a shame it doesn't work :( Sucks, now im stuck with a wagon that is ugly as hell that is no longer able to serve it's intended purpose haha
 
Cluster Fock said:
Bloody subarus and their crappy AWD system. The the fact that you cannot lock the center diff is kind of the final nail in the coffin for my plans to keep my Forester as an expo/touring rig. The crappy AWD system, which essentially allows only one wheel to get power in certain situations, shows it's inability in even the most tame terrain. Subies are great for cruising on sand and very light trail work, but the moment a wheel might be lifted off the ground it all comes apart.

The dual-handbrake system was my last little bit of hope for my Subaru. Such a shame it doesn't work :( Sucks, now im stuck with a wagon that is ugly as hell that is no longer able to serve it's intended purpose haha
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Yeah its abit annoying. There is always the option of DCCD to lock it but thats expensive. If that were lockable for offroad then AWD for onroad that would be an ideal setup.

You reckon they are ugly? I love the boxy shape, its just the front bumper that I don't like the look of but the Subaxtreme bullbars completely change that!!
 
They are definitely ugly, but I do like the look of them. I kind of meant ugly as in no one will want to buy it off me so I can go buy a real 4WD ;)

At least it's a safe car I guess. Despite being ugly, slow, terrible offroad and too small and having bad mileage.
 
Cluster Fock said:
They are definitely ugly, but I do like the look of them. I kind of meant ugly as in no one will want to buy it off me so I can go buy a real 4WD ;)

At least it's a safe car I guess. Despite being ugly, slow, terrible offroad and too small and having bad mileage.
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I can understand where your coming from.
I think you would be able to sell it and if its in decent condition $8000 or so could be on the cards.

They aren't terrible offroad but with a few mods do much better. I will agree with you on the slow part yet I still manage to fit everything I need in the car every time. Sometime the roof is half a metre high along with the boot full to thr roof. lol

I find my fuel economy not bad. I usually get between 450-600km to a tank depending how and where I drive.
 
Cluster Fock said:
I kind of meant ugly as in no one will want to buy it off me so I can go buy a real 4WD ;)
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I think you'll find if you want to sell, Subarus (if looked after) are in high demand & have a ridiculously high resale value. In fact no other brand has a higher resale value. Toyota comes second!

Cluster Fock said:
Bloody subarus and their crappy AWD system. The the fact that you cannot lock the center diff is kind of the final nail in the coffin for my plans to keep my Forester as an expo/touring rig. The crappy AWD system, which essentially allows only one wheel to get power in certain situations, shows it's inability in even the most tame terrain. Subies are great for cruising on sand and very light trail work, but the moment a wheel might be lifted off the ground it all comes apart.
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I'm not sure why you're so down on Subies. If you buy a "real 4WD" you will have more articulation but EXACTLY the same problem of wheels spinning :eek:

Unless you spend a few thousand dollars & get an ARB locker, plus an ARB compressor to run it.

You can already get a DCCD or locking centre diff for your Subie, just spend the money. Taza will get his locking rear diff working some time, so spend more money on that.

What is for sure is any mod you do to a "real 4WD" will cost WAY MORE than a Subie mod :biggrin:

At least it's a safe car I guess. Despite being ugly, slow, terrible offroad and too small and having bad mileage.
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Too small & bad mileage? Obviously you are unaware of physics lol :rolleyessarcastic:

Larger "real 4WDs" chew through fuel like there's no tomorrow!
They are slow, cumbersome, handle poorly, fuel hungry, hard to park, unsafe in a high energy collision, expensive to buy, even more expensive to maintain, & IMHO, ugly as sin!

Subarus on the other hand are light & nimble, handle like cars cos guess what...with the exception of Foresters they ARE cars! Even Foresters still way outhandle the big 4WDs. :biggrin:
They are fuel efficient, not as much as a Honda Jazz or Toyota Corolla, but when was the last time you saw one of them up a dune?!
Sure Subies can be a lil high on maintenance costs, but so are all Japanese cars. But their reliability more than makes up for this.
They are a pleasure to drive, to park, are comfortable, have one of the best interiors I've seen & have surprising offroad capability.

Their limits are articulation, locking diffs & the driver lol ;)


Please remember this is a Subaru forum :monkeydance:
 
There are numerous centre diff options:

1) 11kg diff centre. Just unbolt the rear extension housing, remove existing centre diff and install new centre;

2) 20kg diff centre. Change as per 11kg diff centre

3) DCCD- this is more expensive and more complicated, but still available.

NOTE: I am assuming that these diff centres will fit the D/R box but I have only had experience with the WRX box. Generally with Subarus they share as many bits as they can.
 
Holy :censored:!
He really did total the foz! You can read about it here

Glad those guys made it out of there alright... Quite amazing after seeing the damage done. After our last trip to New Mexico, he's spot on about being in the middle of nowhere. No lights, no cops... Everybody drives 85-90mph because of it.

From another thread, sounds like he found a Foz similar to what he had, in Vail, Colorado for a pretty sweet deal. Looks like he went up there yesterday to check it out!
 
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Cluster Fock said:
BlueFox started a thread about it over on sf.org
https://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f102/snorkel-individual-locking-rear-brakes-build-86605/

But he absolutely destroyed his car in a crash so it never got done.
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dirtyRU said:
Holy :censored:!
He really did total the foz! You can read about it here

Glad those guys made it out of there alright... Quite amazing after seeing the damage done.
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Yes they were very, very lucky indeed :)

taza said:
There is always the option of DCCD to lock it but thats expensive. If that were lockable for offroad then AWD for onroad that would be an ideal setup.
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Now I may be on the wrong track here, but if you go left field, have you considered this ?
Center Diff Switch

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Haha, yeah after reading about it & seeing the comments, i realized pretty quick i was behind the ball on this one.
 
Nachaluva said:
I'm not sure why you're so down on Subies. If you buy a "real 4WD" you will have more articulation but EXACTLY the same problem of wheels spinning :eek:

No, because real 4WD drivetrains have a locking center diff. You may still have open front and rear diffs but it is damn sure more effective than AWD.

Unless you spend a few thousand dollars & get an ARB locker, plus an ARB compressor to run it.

You can already get a DCCD or locking centre diff for your Subie, just spend the money. Taza will get his locking rear diff working some time, so spend more money on that.

I have no intention to doubt Taza, but if I build an expo rig I want something with proven reliability.

What is for sure is any mod you do to a "real 4WD" will cost WAY MORE than a Subie mod :biggrin:

Far from the truth. I've owned several other real 4WDs and offroad parts were plentiful and less mods were needed to make a capable rig. Supply and demand...there is a small market for Subaru compatible offroad gear...so the price is far higher.

Too small & bad mileage? Obviously you are unaware of physics lol :rolleyessarcastic:


Larger "real 4WDs" chew through fuel like there's no tomorrow!
They are slow, cumbersome, handle poorly, fuel hungry, hard to park, unsafe in a high energy collision, expensive to buy, even more expensive to maintain, & IMHO, ugly as sin!


I am not comparing fuel usage to other 4WDs. What I mean is, the Subaru is poor offroad and has bad fuel economy compared to a normal road car...which means it isn't suitable for me to own as a trip car and isn't the best daily driver to keep if I get a real 4WD.

Subarus on the other hand are light & nimble, handle like cars cos guess what...with the exception of Foresters they ARE cars! Even Foresters still way outhandle the big 4WDs. :biggrin:
They are fuel efficient, not as much as a Honda Jazz or Toyota Corolla, but when was the last time you saw one of them up a dune?!
Sure Subies can be a lil high on maintenance costs, but so are all Japanese cars. But their reliability more than makes up for this.
They are a pleasure to drive, to park, are comfortable, have one of the best interiors I've seen & have surprising offroad capability.

Don't get me wrong mate, I don't hate Subarus. I own several of them. Maintenance isn't an issue for me as I get parts very cheap and have tonnes of experience working on Subies. Yes, the Forester handles fairly well for a car of it's type and yes they have great reliability, comfort and safety. But as an offroad vehicle they are a huge let down.

Their limits are articulation, locking diffs & the driver lol ;)

The limitations are articulation, lack of locking rear, center and front diff, lack of torque, notoriously weak gearboxes, lack of aftermarket support and yes, the driver.


Please remember this is a Subaru forum :monkeydance:
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That's irrelevant. I've done over 200,000km in my Forester, most of which was out bush. She's been around WA countless times, taken me to secluded surf spots, rescued severely bogged rigs, pulled 'sunken' boats out of the water, hauled my climbing gear to remote cliffs and helped me move house twice. I do have a severe love/hate relationship with my car.

Guess I'm frustrated by the lack of options for us to make the car into what we want it to be. My mate went on a surf trip the other week that I hate to pass up on because I had major doubts that the Subaru would have made it down the required tracks. My mate came back a few weeks later with photos. I made the right choice. The track was almost impassable. I could have chucked $10,000 of mods into my Subaru and still wouldn't have made it, driver skill or not...not without receiving some damage at least. That hurt deep. Nothing hurts more than passing up on a surf trip because you're vehicle isn't capable :(
 
Cluster Fock said:
That's irrelevant. I've done over 200,000km in my Forester, most of which was out bush. She's been around WA countless times, taken me to secluded surf spots, rescued severely bogged rigs, pulled 'sunken' boats out of the water, hauled my climbing gear to remote cliffs and helped me move house twice. I do have a severe love/hate relationship with my car.

Guess I'm frustrated by the lack of options for us to make the car into what we want it to be. My mate went on a surf trip the other week that I hate to pass up on because I had major doubts that the Subaru would have made it down the required tracks. My mate came back a few weeks later with photos. I made the right choice. The track was almost impassable. I could have chucked $10,000 of mods into my Subaru and still wouldn't have made it, driver skill or not...not without receiving some damage at least. That hurt deep. Nothing hurts more than passing up on a surf trip because you're vehicle isn't capable :(
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I know where your coming from with this.
Sure we can add lift to the same height as a big 4x4. We can get big chunky tyres, the gearing and power all at a cost. But the bloody open diffs just make things painful sometimes, especially with the lack of articulation.

This most of the time causing us to 'get speed' to get through the situation which does sometimes result in damage (which I know very well about).
 
taza said:
This most of the time causing us to 'get speed' to get through the situation which does sometimes result in damage (which I know very well about).
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Yep, which basically means any real hard rock crawling or going through severely rutted tracks is just off the cards. Sure, it can definitely be achieved, especially in rigs like the H6 Foz that SKT built, but it is quite a gamble...one which should probably not be taken when out in remote areas.

A decent Foz will tackle 90% of the tracks I tend to go on. Just sucks when the track I really wanted to traverse the other week was in that 10% and ended up in me missing out on surfing a completely empty beach with perfectly peeling waves for 2 weeks. That hurt real bad. :lol:

Maybe I'll consider chucking in the 12kg center diff and trying out the duel brake mod before giving up all hope. I know where to get a 12kg diff and it's an easy enough job.
 
Is there anything in this that is new anyway? No one really expected the Forrie to be a Landcruiser did they? So for the really rare times you can take a 'Cruiser where a Forrie cannot go that's great, for the rest of the remaining time you are stuck in an overweight, oversized lardarse that costs twice as much or more to run, three times as hard to park and in that whole time nowhere near as enjoyable to drive. If that 1% of the time is that critical, or you just need the space or to tow, then the answer is obvious.
 
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