How do Cruiser owners cope with IFS and sagging spare tyre on 'moderate' tracks?

What's IFS?

Roachie - it really worries me that Patrol might follow suit. Maybe they might do a better job of IFS though.

goodday wolfie
i think it is indepent front suspension but i will stand corrected as i am a nissan owner

steve

'Tis Independent Front Suspension as opposed to Solid Axle. One of the current hot topics in 4WD design. IFS apparantly is much better behaved on the road but limits wheel travel (up and down, particularly down) in the bush.

Steven

Okay, thanks fella's.........

.......... I F S........

I'm F Stupid!

They still make the Troopy

Wayne,
You make it sound easy. Reality is it may be easy, but VERY EXPENSIVE to set up rear carrier assembly. Some of the rear carriers i have seen I believe to be around 2500.00 Dollars ( i stand corrected if wrong)
In relation to the spare wheel problem, I believe you can replace it with a standard rim which is much narrower and sits out of the way as far as exit points are concerned, less chance of side wall damage. Problem there is, it eliminated the advantage of a 5 wheel rotation.
Just my shillings worth ok, no offence. Both vehicles are high on my ability list.
Cheers Angelo

Yeah - has anyone had to change or take off the cruisers spare while its up to its axles in sludge??? I can think of better things to do.

Coke,
You can get cheaper carriers that bolt onto the bumper for around $500 bucks....but don't quote me.

Leroy

not everyone wants to use their 4 to pick up Jemima from college, and then get a latte afterwards. heck, they have heaps to choose from.

I'm with Schevchenko,

Maybe, just MAYBE with the introduction of all this soft-road crap the real 4WDs might start becoming tougher again. If all the latte set start buying Territories and Adventras and stuff then Toyota and Nissan might start to see their market as those that want real bush ability and start building real offroaders again.

Toyota has most of the market niches covered with their model range and Nissan has a good spread as well. It is up to us as consumers to tell these companies what we want. We want soft-roaders for taking the kids to school but we also want solid bush tourers.

Steven

truckster - in response to "make do with what you have... ".
Well, I think we may have to protect what we have, lest it dwindles away, like it has been.

That might backfire though if sales go up on that type of vehicle they might target that market and that will be the end of the real 4x4, don't forget the greenies, their input might be a factor too. Just a thought !!

Thanks Baz,

And to think that I ALMOSTtyped "If all the latte set start buying Territories and Adventras and EXPLODERS and stuff"

Cheers
Steven

We had a look at the new Exploder not as much room as ours inside and less ground clearence, just looking not buying, can't find anything as comfortible in the back seats as the Explorer, it's a family thing you know !!

Baz.

truckman - one more thing re " the photos of the next model" patrol. where can i see these on the net??? please share.

Schevchenko posted this followup

not everyone wants to use their 4 to pick up Jemima from college, and then get a latte afterwards. heck, they have heaps to choose from.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
no, but 80+% of sales do... and thats what controls what happens to cars in design.. 10,000 people on here could all pleade with Yota nissan etc it would do NOTHING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Schevchenko posted this followup

truckster - in response to "make do with what you have... ".
Well, I think we may have to protect what we have, lest it dwindles away, like it has been
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You think that Toyota looks at the figures of sales see that 9999 out of 10,000 sell to mums, they will change tact? Think about it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Muddy 'doe (SA) posted this followup

I'm with Schevchenko,
Maybe, just MAYBE with the introduction of all this soft-road crap the real 4WDs might start becoming tougher again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It will be the opposite... It will be softer.. How will more softroaders make things hard road again?

People are after comfort, and cupholders, not coil suspension and lockers... Look at the market sales figures...

The market is exploding in SOFTROADERS... not real 4x4's.

We all wish that it would go hard again, but it wont.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New GU photos.
http://www.patrol4wd.org/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

truckman - thanks for the photos. they look like something from some weirdo cult - who are these white cloaked people checking out the nissan?? don't tell me they have something to do with manufacturing it.
the new nissan is the least scary thing in these photos.
is it still a gu, just smoothed aver a bit?

How about double glazed glass between driver and brats then? may as well go the whole hog.

Just because I said what I did in the initial post, doesn't mean I want rough as guts 60's technology, even if it is capable. The two don't have to be mututally exclusive, do they?

This is the extent to which the wheel goes up and down in the suspension. A Shopping Trolley has no suspension and thus zero wheel travel. If it is not on a completely flat surface it will lift one or two wheels off the ground.

If this happens in your 4by or ute then you may lose drive depending on your transmission/diff setup.

Solid beam axles when set up with the right suspension are capable of much greater wheel travel and are able to keep all wheels on the ground over rough terrain or when traversing deep holes and trenches.

I think this is also referred to as axle articulation. Independent suspension usually has less travel or articulation because the wheel is attached to a stub axle that can be quite short depending on what this is attached to which is then attached to the vehicle (correct me if I'm a bit hazy here fella's !). This means that the wheel cannot drop far before it rotates it's camber to weird angles.

If you look at all the extreme rock crawlers they seem to have the solid axles with cross members to extend the reach even further. I would love to know how those work!!!

Hope I have not confused you!

Cheers
Steven

Steven,

Thanks for the info.

Problem is I was being sarcastic. It is a little hard to portray that in print though.

If you have ever seen a Rodeo go up a really rutted hill you will know what I mean!

4x4 Australia magazine reckons the RA Rodeo has even less travel than the last one.

Oh well.

Utemad.

No worries,

It is hard to work out sometimes whether someone is asking a question because they don't know or if they are posing a sarcastic rhetorical question just waiting for equally sarcastic replies! Or just waiting to trap the unwary.....

I had a '95 rodeo for a couple of years and it was a great truck but it was only a 2wd model so did not see alot of off-road. It had the 2.6 mpi auto petrol and was quite thirsty.

See ya'

Steven