Daihatsu Rugger durability/capabilities.

[maniacmitch]

Gdday.
My name is Mitch based in the central North Island.

Just sold my sj and I'm wanting something larger (but not sumo) to replace it.

I'm interested in the Rugger mainly because it fits the big feet I have leftover from the sj.

How do they fair off the beaten track?

[zukmeista]

The leaf sprung models go pretty well, the later (post 93) IFS models have limited ground clearance but not too bad with a lift. Plenty of power with the 2.8 turbo so spinning a set of muddies is easy as.

[Waddles]

simple and reliable i had a old petrol one years ago tuff little thing. found finding after market parts hard to find but seems to be more popping up now

[maniacmitch]

Hey guys.

Yeah I'm interested in the f70 series / leaf sprung and solid diffs front and rear.

Currently sitting on a f310 roza but i have found some serious limits to what it's capable of - hence why I got the sj.

I would prefer the earlier type mechanical 4wd shift but I see one on tm with the vacuum operated 4wd.

Any issues with these boxes and if some is there a swap from the toyota bin (a43dl?)

[zukmeista]

One of the main issues I have come across is the nut on the main shaft of the gearbox coming loose, if you catch it in time it can just be retorqued but if left for too long can damage the shaft. The vacuum shift 4wd is ok if it's used regularly I have only had trouble with it on one of my 4 ruggers and even then it was easy to rig up a way of shifting it manually. Despite common assumptions they don't really share any parts with Toyotas apart from the blizzards having a 2LT motor.

[Jerry]

Parts and aftermarket goodies ie bars lockers can be an issue with these ....

maybe better off looking at a 70 series prado, pajero , bighorn etc

[maniacmitch]

I was considering fitting the roza body onto a short wheelbase 70. However the rugger cuts short the hassle.

Happy to fab up bars and the likes. Rear locker / LSD will highly likely be on my list of future mods.

Zukmeister have you got any feedback on the options for this? Swap the whole axle over from a pajero of the same ratio and change the stub axles?

[zukmeista]

Most have a factory rear LSD, lockers are unobtainium they used to be available but not anymore. Diff swaps aren't really an option as they run a 3.36:1 ratio standard and I haven't seen anything else with that ratio. So you would have to swap front and rear but most diffs are 4.1:1 or lower so really need 35"+ tyres to be able to cruise at 100kph.

[maniacmitch]

Nothing about that sounds like losing except the emptying of the wallet.

Cheers Lads.