4X4 - Off Roaders

[SoCalChris]

For me, I hate getting stuck as I would off-road alone many times. And even more so if in Thailand cuz my Thai sucks. So, what truck do you have.....I still don't know.

Anyhow, I did my 93' Jeep Cherokee with LSDs on the front(D35) and back(D44), BFG AT radial TAs, fully articulating suspension with swaybar disconnects, suspension with good ground clearance, skid plates, winch with long tow strap and yada yada. It could go most anywhere but was limited a bit by the tires.

For your truck, it could be an ok/fun light off-roader if you don't want to go through the expense of converting the front axle. Just bring some friends along and defintely have a winch to help you get unstuck.

You had a d30 in the front of a Cherokee, 35 is a rear end.. Arb is a great choice front and rear for a daily driver or hardcore rig, very easily had here.. For a dedicated wheeler a Detroit rear locker is about as good as your gonna get, no worries about torn airlines ect.. If you go for a arb a stainless steel air line is highly recommended as the cheap blue plastic lines arb supplies are notorious for failure.

Right, I meant a D30 in the front, but wrong, I had a Dana 44 aftermarket axle for the rear because I heard the 35s were weak. Both had 4.56 ring/pinion combos or very close to that......

Yeah 35 c clip axles are garbage for anything over 32's when they break the whole shaft slides right out... Wheel and tire come along w it... I usually run 60's they can handle a good ammount of abuse good for so cal wheeling

Yes exactly even though I only had 31s. Also, I set the truck up to be my dedicated tow vehicle for my almost 2ton trailer-sailer with surge brakes. Pulled it like a charm and retrieved the boat out of the water without even breaking a sweat.

My friend was lucky as his Cherokee came with the Mopar corporate 8.25 rear axle. They are supposed to almost as strong as a Dana44......

[SoCalChris]

Anyone know how I can re-calibrate my odometre and speedo etc.? I have much larger tyres than standard and my mileage is all over the place, but I don't know by how much.

At present I'm just checking on google maps against my odometer and getting about a 10% difference....is that likely?

I did it on my Jeep Cherokee by switching a plastic gear inside the speedometer output on the transmission or transfer case.

If you want to just being able to normalize the odometer reading, measure the change in tire diameter from stock and use that to calculate the true mileage. IE., my Nissan has 10% smaller diameter performance tires. I know to subtract 10% mileage and 10% real time speed. 100kph is actually about 90kph......

[IMHO]

As the models above - I've never heard of these being available ex-factory in Thailand, even if they are made here.

I was informed by Sales and Marketing manager of Nissan a few years back that it would in fact be illegal to sell an Aussie spec vehicle in Thailand as the government stipulates what sort of trucks are sold in the home market.

Not sure what models you're referring to, but that response from your Nissan contact is nonsense - the only gov't rules that apply to what can/can't be sold is TH are general design rules (e.g. where headlights need to be placed, seatbelts must be fitted, etc) and even then they're only very very basic - nowhere near as comprehensive as the reg's that need to be adhered to in other parts of the world..

[Neilly]

One of the 'Safari' companies on Samui took brand new 2WD pick-ups and had them converted with full SAS...could be by Option 4x4 but I'm not a 100% sure. I'm not at home now either so can't ask.

Are you sure they were converted to 4WD?

Both Toyota and Mistu sell single cab 4WD's with 3.0L/3.2L as a special order...

They were definitely converted to 4WD...probably chose the base 2WD model because they knew they would be ripping out the front IFS to install the solid front axle

[Neilly]

I want to put an air locker on my front IFS diff. Apparently ARB do the kit for this.

Have a look on http://www.newhilux.net/phpbb/ you'll find lots of info there (even if you don't have a Lux)...I've read thru this thread but you don't say what vehicle you have?

[cowslip]

As the models above - I've never heard of these being available ex-factory in Thailand, even if they are made here.

I was informed by Sales and Marketing manager of Nissan a few years back that it would in fact be illegal to sell an Aussie spec vehicle in Thailand as the government stipulates what sort of trucks are sold in the home market.

Not sure what models you're referring to, but that response from your Nissan contact is nonsense - the only gov't rules that apply to what can/can't be sold is TH are general design rules (e.g. where headlights need to be placed, seatbelts must be fitted, etc) and even then they're only very very basic - nowhere near as comprehensive as the reg's that need to be adhered to in other parts of the world..

Not so according to my research - was going to buy new, but due to absolute disinterest by the manufacturers, I chose to get a one year old model instead - still with guarantee and a lot cheaper.......

Chap i spoke to was the Sales and Marketing Manager for Nissan at the time, previously Merc.. We had lunch....

Rear coil springs are out, the specs have to comply with the Thai tax laws.

Vehicles destined for export cannot be sold in Thailand.

laws had to be chaged to allow the Fortuner and Pajero models to sell ,due to the rear end mods.

I went to Mitsu and Nissan to get Aussie spec pickups and both refused on the same grounds - the vehicles would have to be re-imported from Oz and would be subject to colossal duties.

THat's why you don't see V6 Nissans here or the central diff (a la Pajero) 4WD systems on Thai pickups.

As I was taking the vehicle abroad I wanted Aussie compliant and things like a heater as well - not available in Thailand.

[IMHO]

As the models above - I've never heard of these being available ex-factory in Thailand, even if they are made here.

I was informed by Sales and Marketing manager of Nissan a few years back that it would in fact be illegal to sell an Aussie spec vehicle in Thailand as the government stipulates what sort of trucks are sold in the home market.

Not sure what models you're referring to, but that response from your Nissan contact is nonsense - the only gov't rules that apply to what can/can't be sold is TH are general design rules (e.g. where headlights need to be placed, seatbelts must be fitted, etc) and even then they're only very very basic - nowhere near as comprehensive as the reg's that need to be adhered to in other parts of the world..

Not so according to my research - was going to buy new, but due to absolute disinterest by the manufacturers, I chose to get a one year old model instead - still with guarantee and a lot cheaper.......

Chap i spoke to was the Sales and Marketing Manager for Nissan at the time, previously Merc.. We had lunch....

Rear coil springs are out, the specs have to comply with the Thai tax laws.

Vehicles destined for export cannot be sold in Thailand.

laws had to be chaged to allow the Fortuner and Pajero models to sell ,due to the rear end mods.

I went to Mitsu and Nissan to get Aussie spec pickups and both refused on the same grounds - the vehicles would have to be re-imported from Oz and would be subject to colossal duties.

THat's why you don't see V6 Nissans here or the central diff (a la Pajero) 4WD systems on Thai pickups.

As I was taking the vehicle abroad I wanted Aussie compliant and things like a heater as well - not available in Thailand.

It seems like there's some confusion between 'Company policies based on sensible business cases' and 'government policies' here...

In regards to PPV's (Pajero, Fortuner, MU-7, Everest) - the original special excise tax rules specified that they must have the exact same running gear as the pickups they are based upon - the only changes allowed were wheelbase and cabin, and of course they must have 7 seats in order to qualify for the special rate of 20%. The only change there was Toyota successfully lobbying to be able to implement rear coils - for memory that was back in 2002.

There's nothing to stop a manufacturer releasing a product that doesn't fit the special excise tax rules in TH - they'd just have to pay more.. e.g. Nissan *could* sell the Navara with the (awesome) V6 TDi - it would just be taxed at 50% instead of 3 or 12%. Anyone can also make 7-seat SUV's that aren't based in pickups too (and they do) - they're just going to attract 25-50% excise tax instead of the 20% levied on Pickup-based Passenger Vehicles (PPV's).... unless they're Hybrids, in which case the excise tax drops to 10%.

Note that the ST-X 550 V6 TDi Navara's aren't manufactured in Thailand - Australia sources them from Spain - so no wonder you hit a brick wall with that one

[cowslip]

I'm thinking now that with oversize tires I should reduce the final ratio.

any ideas on that?

I've calculated that the circumference is about 5 to 6 % increase over standard.

[mogandave]

0nly 5 to 6%???

[cowslip]

0nly 5 to 6%???

Yes - why?

[cowslip]

As the models above - I've never heard of these being available ex-factory in Thailand, even if they are made here.

I was informed by Sales and Marketing manager of Nissan a few years back that it would in fact be illegal to sell an Aussie spec vehicle in Thailand as the government stipulates what sort of trucks are sold in the home market.

Not sure what models you're referring to, but that response from your Nissan contact is nonsense - the only gov't rules that apply to what can/can't be sold is TH are general design rules (e.g. where headlights need to be placed, seatbelts must be fitted, etc) and even then they're only very very basic - nowhere near as comprehensive as the reg's that need to be adhered to in other parts of the world..

Not so according to my research - was going to buy new, but due to absolute disinterest by the manufacturers, I chose to get a one year old model instead - still with guarantee and a lot cheaper.......

Chap i spoke to was the Sales and Marketing Manager for Nissan at the time, previously Merc.. We had lunch....

Rear coil springs are out, the specs have to comply with the Thai tax laws.

Vehicles destined for export cannot be sold in Thailand.

laws had to be chaged to allow the Fortuner and Pajero models to sell ,due to the rear end mods.

I went to Mitsu and Nissan to get Aussie spec pickups and both refused on the same grounds - the vehicles would have to be re-imported from Oz and would be subject to colossal duties.

THat's why you don't see V6 Nissans here or the central diff (a la Pajero) 4WD systems on Thai pickups.

As I was taking the vehicle abroad I wanted Aussie compliant and things like a heater as well - not available in Thailand.

It seems like there's some confusion between 'Company policies based on sensible business cases' and 'government policies' here...

In regards to PPV's (Pajero, Fortuner, MU-7, Everest) - the original special excise tax rules specified that they must have the exact same running gear as the pickups they are based upon - the only changes allowed were wheelbase and cabin, and of course they must have 7 seats in order to qualify for the special rate of 20%. The only change there was Toyota successfully lobbying to be able to implement rear coils - for memory that was back in 2002.

There's nothing to stop a manufacturer releasing a product that doesn't fit the special excise tax rules in TH - they'd just have to pay more.. e.g. Nissan *could* sell the Navara with the (awesome) V6 TDi - it would just be taxed at 50% instead of 3 or 12%. Anyone can also make 7-seat SUV's that aren't based in pickups too (and they do) - they're just going to attract 25-50% excise tax instead of the 20% levied on Pickup-based Passenger Vehicles (PPV's).... unless they're Hybrids, in which case the excise tax drops to 10%.

Note that the ST-X 550 V6 TDi Navara's aren't manufactured in Thailand - Australia sources them from Spain - so no wonder you hit a brick wall with that one

you're not looking at it fro the manufacturer's point of view - they have an agreement with the Thai government all cars in Thailand have a known manufacturer's spec and cannot be registered here without this. They can be imputed but then will incur the huge duties.

[Neilly]

I'm thinking now that with oversize tires I should reduce the final ratio.

any ideas on that?

I've calculated that the circumference is about 5 to 6 % increase over standard.

Up to 33's it's not to bad...but once past 33" it's deff worth thinking about

This converter will tell you the difference http://www.ajdesigner.com/fl_tire/tire.php

[cowslip]

Yes - better than the converter I used as it has calibration stuff.

I do as much as I can in metric - inches are not very useful to me.

I would have thought that the difference in size would be more important than the final size though.

It has occurred to me that the last tires I had before the lift were themselves oversize too so I'll have to go back and find the original size.

[mogandave]

Okay, stock tires on the new Isuzu Highlander are 255-60-17, or 255cm X 0.6 X 2 +17*25.4 = 76cm

76cm X 1.06 = 81cm, making the moment arm only 2.5cm (3%) longer, which does not seem that significant.

Incidentally, the Highlander tires are almost 20% taller than the 215-70-15’s on the Spark.

[cowslip]

Okay, stock tires on the new Isuzu Highlander are 255-60-17, or 255cm X 0.6 X 2 +17*25.4 = 76cm

76cm X 1.06 = 81cm, making the moment arm only 2.5cm (3%) longer, which does not seem that significant.

Incidentally, the Highlander tires are almost 20% taller than the 215-70-15’s on the Spark.

I did 255 70s to 295 75s with some 265s in between.