Offroad-Express

Gidday

With the later Terranos being uni body they seem to be shunned.

Obviously body lifts are a no go but why are they so unpopular?

At what point do they become limiting off road ie OK for a bit of playing but not for modding and hard core?

Is it 1995 they first go uni body - the new shape?
The QD32 appeals more than the TD27 too.

Cheers for info as ever

bang-thud-thump wrote:Gidday

With the later Terranos being uni body they seem to be shunned.

Obviously body lifts are a no go but why are they so unpopular?

At what point do they become limiting off road ie OK for a bit of playing but not for modding and hard core?

Is it 1995 they first go uni body - the new shape?
The QD32 appeals more than the TD27 too.

Cheers for info as ever

the point where if you have to seriously snatch/winch them they will twist the front of the chassi.
They have lower ground clearance then the D21 ladder chassi.
the R20 mistral is more capable off road then the R50 due to its higher grouund clearance and ladder chassi (bassically a D21 chassi an running gear with a new body ontop

yes 1995
yes QD32 is more powerful then the TD27 how ever they both suffer from the same injector pump failure. they need a lift pump to stop the injector pump getting damaged.

Cheers for that.

Twisted frames don't appeal and I figure sooner or later enthusiasm will result in a snatch/winch assist.
I didnt know about needing the lift pump, Ill look at if if Mistral comes up.

I looked at one in the weekend - rotten along the horizontal seam between the front door hinges. I didnt bother from there.

Rack/pinion steering + macpherson strut front suspension. Military grade independent susp. uses recirculating balljoint steering and a reinforced double a-arm setup with triangulated-pivot lower control arm.

Mind you Toyota Prado/FJ Cruiser have rack/pinon + struts, which doesnt stop people using them off road.

Why are Cherokees ok then?
Uni body also but loved widely.
Or are they apples and oranges?

Since traditionally commercial vehicles have used body on frame construction and solid front axle for strength and cost reasons, theres a bit of an outdated macho sentiment that says 'only real trucks have a frame & solid front axle.'

When in reality the XJ Cherokee is extremely competent in the right hands, and being a reinforced unibody it is very agile, still plenty strong, and has excellent weight distyribution.

And the IFS Pajero/Montero is arguably the best off road racing vehicle ever made.

And if you ding in the sill or crunch the any area's that a deemed "structual" in a unibody chassi while off roading good luck at W.O.F time.

As apposed to a ladder chassi where aslong as areas such as body mounting points, pillars, and door hinge/ latch seat belt seat mount areas are still true and not showing signs of rust your mostly likely to get to told by the inspector to "get it looked at" while still putting the sticker on ya windscreen.


and traditional A arm suspension will come off better in a wheel vs tree stump or rock senario then the macpherson ever will, It will also protect the CV's and axle better.

Yes granted technologically superior to the A arm designed to keep the geometry of the front wheels true while cornering and while under compression and decompression...nice comfy ride but the trade off is strength and shit loads of it. that's why the tend to only use them in cars and soft roader's...which is what the R50 is.

I've found that my unibody Pajero (NP) is way stiffer than my Vitara which has a separate chassis. The Pajero is also quite light for it's size when compared to a separate chassis vehicle.

Have a read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body-on-frame

I don't think you would bend the chassis on a recovery as long as you were pulling from the right place e.g winch bar or tow bar set up for recovery.