rough stuff with the Navara!

Submitted: Monday, May 30, 2005 at 23:56
ThreadID: 23441 Views:3221 Replies:4 FollowUps:2
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I took my 6 month old TD Navara out into the rough stuff in Harvey (south of perth) with three other cars (3 land rover defenders and a Rangie) on Saturday. Previously only done mostly sand driving.
Mud holes, deep ruts and rocky hills was the order of the day and was very pleased the way the Navara went in pretty much standard form. No worries getting through any of it and even had to pull a landy from a dodgey situation. Ground clearance was adequate but a 2 inch suspension lift will come quicker than first thought!
I found the value of departure angle (not that the Navara's was bad) when i went through a deep bog hole with water half way up the headlights on entry and felt a clunk whe i got to the other side and found the rear bumber got a knock upwards and put a small dent behind the back wheels on both sides. I'm still feeling a little nausea from it! Next time i'll remove it it before i go....Navara owners be warned!
The car isn't a "virgin" anymore and i cant wait for the next time.
Standard tyres are the bridgestone dueller AT's and i'm very happy with the way they performed in the mud. For a standard tyre, they do very well compared to the crap tyres that were on my '03 model (dueller ht).
By the way, the Land rover defenders are an awesome 4WD aren't they, one that was with us was all standard running gear got through the most demanding places with no fuss at all.....
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Reply By: mik*2 - Monday, May 30, 2005 at 23:57

Monday, May 30, 2005 at 23:57
cheers
mike!
AnswerID: 113658

Reply By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 11:10

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 11:10
Yeah a heavy duty tow bar will sort out your departure problems! ;-)

The surfs got a wowful departue angle as well, I just hit the reece hitch now, you kinda get used to the associated CLUNK when doing rough stuff. Havn't damaged it yet (touch wood). Pretty hard to though as it's square steel tube...

The only thing to be mindful of is to make sure the exaust exits inline with the tow bar, mine went underneath the tow bar when I first bought it, squashed the exust 3 times in 6 months, eventually got it re routed to poke straight out the back level with the bar, now the bar protects it from getting wollaped.
AnswerID: 113704

Follow Up By: mik*2 - Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 19:35

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 19:35
i've got the optional nissan tow bar and this survived almost unscathed. It just bent up the trailer light plug.
My exhaust is well out of the way so i don't think i'll have any problems with that....I'm going to be cleaning mud out of every orifice on the car for the next few months!
I also must of clipped a stump underwater with my drivers front wheel and i think this is the cause of my front tyre slowly losing air. I can see where the bead at the base of the side wall is pushed back and a small scratch on the edge of the rim. Must be a bit of stuff stuck in there.
I'll take it to a tyre shop tomorrrow to get it fixed.

cheers
mike
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FollowupID: 369859

Reply By: Member - Toonfish - Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 11:19

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 11:19
good to see its broken in .
a word of warning dont attempt moderate water entry without a sealed snorkel!

you should try the rocky trk or gravel pit trk or phone trk on mt hickey/Tallarook near seymour victoria .

as if i had a chance but well worth the try maybe do it in the zook when its finished lol
AnswerID: 113705

Follow Up By: mik*2 - Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 19:40

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 19:40
I dont have a snorkel yet and i was worried about the depth of water i was going through. I can tell you that the water level at times was covering my headlights so it was a tad deep!! I have since cleaned out my air filter and it was pretty clean, so i got away with it. A snorkel will come in the next week or so.

cheers
mike
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FollowupID: 369861

Reply By: Johnny B Good - Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 20:16

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 20:16
have a Navara and very happy with it. Don't woorry i have all ready done $600 worth of damage to the back bumper at Quinnes Rock (North of Perth)

I have a 04 Navara with all the bits bull bar spotts CB's have it set up for 4x4ring could not be happer. I went for a bit bigger tyer set of Cooper ART's 265 R70/16 make a big diffence going a bigger tyer The Navara is a great 4x4 heps of gunt go's any were the low range is great go's better in the dirt than some.

Before I go I would like to invite you to HARVEY this long weekend to watch a competetion run by the Jeep Club on there speacially made 4x4 Track. I will be competeing In my Navara there will be all kinds of 4x4 in the comp including mod 4x4's all welcome to watch if you are intrested reply back to me and i will give you some info were to go and yes it is real hardcore track

enjoy your Navara

AnswerID: 113789

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