What factors make Off Road Ability?

so very old Willys on 35' extreme tires stock is better then modified much younger wrangler ? im amazed how good that Willy is going everywhere. no mods no lift no nothing just large tires . seems they where making rly good stuff back then, just they forgot to put larger tires on them then .. shame
that Willys so cool it would be so good car to explore local forests and such ...
 
That Jeep would have a massively modified engine, at the very least. The original had a relatively small capacity, side valve engine. Would not even turn those tyres/wheels ...
 
Could be i didint heard as they talked about engine there. Buy gears ate stock because 4wd and low gear seams lile in oem places so then only engine changed. Could be but looks cool. Well in other video it couldnt do much with oem wheels and old russian tires they said tires are old russian not oem just same size.
 
forys does pretty good snow mud off road there. and i thought about those maxxis MT 764 tires some cars have those there.
and now most of then doing 8cm lift on those forys. older ones have so good links in rear , they all straight and same langht and some nissan part its fitting there too.
at least with snow you can clean up mudy windows
and when its rly hard they all need that hi jack but noone has it like it would cost so much, but its so cheap rly. so why not have that. so they all thought about snorkels and such and tires, but then noone has hi lift jack ... hmm weird. and again those situations proves that no other jack will help you there just hi lift jack, as i learned that from my first stuck in winter too and for me it was , yes i need just that .
 
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ABFoz said:
Hmmm. If the ATF hasn't been changed yet, doing a drain-and-fill or two may help. A full flush may give you problems. What is the colour of your ATF, at the moment?

Subaru of NZ recommends drain-and-fills every 30,000km with Motul ATF-1A or the similar Fuchs for 4EATs and 5EATs 3rd revision onwards, meaning after around 2003. My previous BP5 still has the service history from Japan and the owner had his ATF serviced at around 30,000km. This is why NZDM cars usually sell higher than JDM imports.

With CVTs it's 30,000km, as well, but with the genuine CVTF.

Please note that Kiwis are generally rough on their cars. JDM imports here are cheap, so there is that mentality that they can always replace their cars with a new import, so they drive them as hard as they can. It is actually better to buy a JDM import directly from Japan vs a JDM import from somebody who has already used the car here, unless of course, the person knows about Subarus because he/she would follow Subaru NZ's recommendations.


I don't have details of that at the moment, I have just been told by a mate I used to work with from Texas that he sees an extra cooler vs his 2017.

So we've got the following coolers in our NZDM and JDM CVT models. Please note that many JDM EZ36 models come with two of these. I was told that it is an extra one is an option in the Southern US but I can't confirm that.
View attachment 4228

This one is sometimes located in the front-right fender or sometimes NACA ducted at the front diffuser below the radiator. I don't know how effective this is but earlier CVT USDM models do not have this. Some users say that the ducting makes this really effective, if it's located below the radiator.
View attachment 4229

This passive cooler. There is supposed to be an NACA duct from the diffuser directing air to this.
View attachment 4230
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Do you know if this products can be fixed to Forester SJ?
 
wujaszek_misza said:
Do you know if this products can be fixed to Forester SJ?
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I cannot speak for SJ models, but our SH 4EAT Sportshift has a factory, radiator type transmission cooler in it.

Watch John Cadogan's YouTube on changing oils in automatics. It is most informative ... ! Downright scary in parts ...


PS: :welcome: to the forum.
 
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I read about puting separate trans cooler for gearbox but then there is chance to overcool it. Its not that easy seems.
I can tell mine when im torturing it for some time coolant gets hot pretty fast. But thats doesnt mean separate trans cooler would solve that.
I25UxJk.jpg
 
Good to know, that to cool doesn't mean better. Good to give to work to Subaru mechanic-specialist :-)
 
Many have used a separate cooler here and it seems to work well but we have a warmer climate.
 
For older gearboxes it maybe work better ,less sensors there and such, less ecu involved, not so much for those 5eat. I would think too that colder means better but seems like not in all cases there.
 
cold = gluggy oil.
 
Was driving a solid axle vehicle yesterday and found it very unforgiving when you diff out. Then I realised that when you diff out slightly with independent suspension the wheels can still drop the little bit and you can often scramble yourself along. When you diff out with solid axle, even slightly, your wheels no longer touch the ground and you have zero drive.
 
i kinda heard that about tires like wider is worse , narrower is better at least in mud and similar situations in forests , like real life tests that people did on powerfull old TLC large tires but narrow , goes fine , revs doesnt raise much , no need lots stress to engine to go trough deep mud , revs maybe about 1.5k . then changed tires same diameter same extreme style just much wider and its different story right away , it seems from side that it should do better , its larger tires more wider looks more badass, but car struglles in same places , revs goes up more often engine heats more , it just cant handle same places with same eas.. all because wider tires. it thats simple rly. and it must be same for all cars, just people dont think about it .. like ohh iv had 215 tires now i will put 235's there , well maybe not that good idea. and i saw ppl here puting large mud tires on subarus but they dont put wide tires they put even like 205 only but its high and narrow. i guess thats keeps engine and gearbox much more happy out there. its less tire surface to spin in hard situations. its just works . but i dont think many ppl thinking about that when picking new tires , its more about look so most just pick wider . ohh it looks cool . so myself maybe i need to remind myself about that when would pick new tires, it could make car just perform better and less stress.
even in australia i wacthed videos of those overlanders that go for long time on dunes all time on sand, some guy said like 215 is much better perform then 225 or 235, so he tried wider tires and then get back to 215 again because its just better to handle and better on car.
but problem is they just not making those in such sizes almost at all, like good luck find 15 tire that would be 205/85 or at least 215/75 , i mean those would be perfect for me but its hard to even find some 235/75R15 and thats wide tire. But its just no choice there. well localy guys finding some restored tires that can be narrow and high side for 15 rims
 
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scalman said:
like good luck find 15 tire that would be 205/85 or at least 215/75
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I run 21575R15 and they are getting scarce as I've discovered in my recent search for replacement tyres, other than BFG. Some brands e.g. Falken Wildpeak aren't avalable in 15s.
 
Yh so 215/75 are just way smaller so then better to take 235/75 or 235/75 if i want to keep overall size

we have some Insa turbo here to buy, just not sure how they are, local ppl just using them for pure off road and they are available at very good sizes for subarus, cheap too
like those all models are in size 195/80r15 so thats pretty narrow but very good side height for off road , so those would fit just any impreza lifted even , and they goes for 65-80 euros for this size . looks like they just copy all most famous tires there
www.insaturbo.com

Insa Turbo Tyres | Significantly Different and Better

Descubre la amplia gama de neumáticos Insa Turbo (el neumático renovado) para turismo, 4x4, camioneta, camión y agrícola. Neumáticos ecológicos.
www.insaturbo.com www.insaturbo.com
8iYoWcIl.jpg
 
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My 1968 Landcruiser took 7.50x16" tyres (about 190x16) 100% profile ratio. They worked well.

Goodyear custom high milers (road pattern) on the front (for steering) and full bar lugs on the back (for traction).

Very wide tyres are not necessary for grip with our low mass vehicles. Tyre pressure and good sidewalls are far more important IMO.
 
The narrow vs wide tyres off-road argument has been around since the auto vs manual one, I guess, haha.

I stick to (relatively) narrow ones for handling, maintenance and touring. Older/more-experienced (vs me) Inter-continent tourers/overlanders always say they use narrow tyres so that the first thing that they break is traction, not some other part in their vehicle.
 
Tweaksta said:
Holy Moly fellas!

I've just found a Dacia Duster for sale in Queensland for $11.5k. That's a freakin' bargain!!

After seeing them in some of Scalman's videos I thought they looked like a bit of inexpensive fun but I never thought I'd see one here in Oz.

If anyone wants to lend me $11.5k I'm happy to be the guinea pig.

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yes nice cars , very simple inside though, but people around here taking them and using proper off road, they have lockers to put lift kits, winches , much more stuff aftermarket then subaru has at least in europe.
it wont be so fun on road as subaru i think not fast as well but they do very good as much as i saw on sand and mud they do ok without much power.
price not that low i guess because all those mods allready there, so what price you got there for them new ? because in europe duster new model starts from 10.5k
 
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