SF 1.447 low range in SH XT?

[El_Freddo]

If you or someone could show in videos comparison low ranges would be best visual info i think.

In videos it’s really hard to compare as the videos can be quite deceptive as to how hard the car is working, and how steep the terrain is too.

It’s best to be there if possible. You hear and sometimes feel vibrations in the air/on your clothing that you can’t get from watching a video, even if you have the best sound system! Like this video of mine:

We had an SG foz with 1.19:1 low range that struggled on this climb - initially the lines chosen weren’t great. Then the rocky outcrop climb after the corner had it stalled out and stuck. We snatched/dragged from there.

The other foresters with 1.447:1 did it alright too:

@1WD Foz

Hill start from previous video:

@NachaLuva

From each of these videos you can see just how differently each driver drove their vehicle over the same terrain, particularly the two SFs which are basically setup the same - both had EJ22s, two inch lift, gearing and roughly the same tyre size.

Going back to the terrain in videos, you would be surprised just how steep this climb was. You get some idea if you’re paying attention to it but the reality of it is that videos are never a good indication of how steep climbs actually are.

I hope this helps you out with a very rough comparison of the different low ranges.

All vehicles have 4.111:1 diff ratios, except the SG that *might* have 4.44:1 ratio - hopefully Nachaluva or 1wd will remember.

Cheers

Bennie

 

[nelcat]

That's a very good selection of videos to see the difference. You can clearly see that the SH in the second vid has to go over the first part with more speed and as soon as it slows down to go over the rocks it loses all torque and stalls. It happens the same to me. Quite a difference with the other cars. Very helpful videos. Now I really want a better low range

 

[scalman]

yh its great videos , and nice views. and those where all manuals then , you ever rode there with some auto subaru and saw how that compared ? do those auto just stall in hardest place and wouldnt go forward ? would those torq lockers in rear help there even more with low gear ? they should as lockers do i guess.

 

[El_Freddo]

would those torq lockers in rear help there even more with low gear ? they should as lockers do i guess.

I don’t think the lockers would do much on this climb, it wasn’t too loose that a rear wheel was breaking traction and losing momentum as a result. When hill climbing like this all the weight is on the rear end which helps with traction.

If we were lifting a rear wheel or front and rear wheel at the same time, the locker would make it look like child’s play compared to the double open diffs setup.

As for autos, not on that trip. But a friend used to have an XT auto Foz. It did everything we did in our dual range manuals. And it was faster than us on-road

Cheers

Bennie