Rough riding Patrol

Dave,

Without knowing your background (like whether this is your 1st "proper" 4by etc), I'm gunna stick my head out of the trench (ready to be shot at) and say that the Patrol, having big solid beam axles , as it does, is prone to riding a bit rougher on roads that a Blandcruiser would ride over like a cadilac. You see, the majority of 4bys on sale today have these bloody independant front suspensions (IFS) and they are like Mrs Howard at night (ie: next to useless) when it comes to serious off-road stuff. But point the Patrol at some serious off-road tracks and it'll be in it's element.

Horses for courses.

As for you having bent your bloody chassis!!!!!!!!!!! Man, the questions are plenty:

1). what weight were you carrying?
2). what speeds were you doing over the rough stuff?
3). what tyre pressures were you running?
4). were you towing anything with a heavy ball-weight?

I've taken my 2000 GU to the Cape twice now, both times we towed the camper trailer. My rig is renowned for being in need of a registration form to join Jenny Craig......but, touch wood, I have never bent the chassis or spring towers etc. The latter was supposedly a problem with the earlier GU's but I believe the later models have been fixed in that regard.

Cheers mate

Roachie

davem31,

Your doing something drastically wrong!

In most cases it comes down to the nut holding the steering wheel.

Roachie ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,that a Blandcruiser would ride over like a cadilac,,,,,,,,,"

I dunno 'bout that ole son. My former 100 seriesTD Blandcruiser, sexy truck though it was, use to dance all over the place on corrugations. It was like driving on Dancing With The Stars!! All over the place unless you slowed down to less than walking pace. It was like this new sport of "Drifting", only mine was unintentional.

The Nissan is much rougher on the black stuff, but on the red stuff, it beats the 100 series TD Cruiser all ends up. Straight as a die.

Bilbo

davem31,

Mate, it appears that the bending of the Chassis Rail was unavoidable and it appears to have worked out in the end. My question which was mentioned earlier is tyre pressures. What tyre pressures where you running on Gravel roads? This can make a huge difference in many areas, including tyre longevity or lack of punctures.....You will find that live axle vehicles will want to wonder at speed on corrugated roads which is one of the reasons many are going to IFS though not as good in the tough stuff as Live Axle......

Davem,

What is your spring and tyre set up?

My 2002 GU 3.0Di is very very comfortable on rough roads loaded with storage system, roof top tent, 4 up towing a trailer. I will admit to hitting a few washouts a little too hard and it has never hit the bump stops.

Springs: Kings HD Progressive 50mm raised front and rear.
Polyair bags in rear: 12psi only
Shocks: Koni's (longer version to match springs) adjusted 1 turn from full soft at the front and 1.5 turns from full soft at the rear.
Tyres: BFG AT 265/75/16 LT Front 25 PSI Cold, Rear 30 PSI Cold (on dirt) 37 F 44 R (cold) on tar.

Perhaps because my other hobby is racing cars I am always looking to fiddle to get that ultimate set up. I can tell you this is not where I got to on set up by accident.

I changed from Kings linear rate springs (50mm raised) and have found the ride improved noticeably even though most "expert" advice did not like the idea of going progressive rate. I've adjusted the Koni's several times and played with pressures in the tyres and air bags too.

Hope this helps.

OT

G'day, have you tried disconnecting the rear sway bar?

Cheers

in all the debates, today and past, about shockies and tyre pressure etc i have never heard anyone mention the fact that whatever system you have, the shockies will get bloody hot on corrugations.
next time you have driven 30 mins on bad corrugations, get the mother-in-law to feel how hot they are!
this was pointed out by a mechanic on a long rough trip, we had stops to let the shockies cool down. (i'm talking really bad corrugations here BTW)
i suppose when the shockies get too hot they cease to do their job.(temporarily or permanently) and if the vehicle is loaded up, well you work out the rest.