Offroad-Express

Hello everyone

I am new to 4WD'ing and off road in general, but not new to cars, been a petrol head for as long as I can remember, but this is my first branch to off-roading. I currently have a 1994 KZN130 that's done 300,000 KM and has a poorly transmission, but it was so cheap I couldn't pass it up, plus as it isn't a daily vehicle or even really going o be driven on the road I can abuse the hell out of it with out feeling too bad.

My plan at the moment is to see if I can get the trans sorted and drive it till it breaks then take it off the road for 6-12 months and do some work to it. Things like new 4wd friendly tyres, maybe a manual conversion, and either a rebuild/freshen up or an engine swap of some kind, and other 4WD necessities.

In the mean time I have a Nissan Navara 4WD I can use on shiney truck friendly tours if I do break the poor old Hilux.

My wife and I are looking for a club around East or South Auckland we can join to learn and gain some experience, and hopefully meet some new people who share our interests. I have a lot of questions, so I am going to be spending a lot of time searching through old threads to see if I can get some answers before making a new thread.


Cheers Dave

Sheepy wrote: I have a lot of questions, so I am going to be spending a lot of time searching through old threads to see if I can get some answers before making a new thread.

A god among men.

heres one club
http://www.manukau4wd.org.nz/

Keep an eye on Trade me should be able to pick up a trans for a couple of hundred bucks,there pretty reliable so dont sell that easily.

As Coxsy mentioned above, Manukau 4wd club is a great club. Family friendly etc..

Cheers for the club recommendations guys. Regarding the trans issue, it doesn't always shift OUT of 4WD and sometimes falls out of overdrive on the open road. The overdrive issue may be related to the ECU water temp sensor, as the ECU reads the temp of the motor and if within operating temps allows overdrive, but if it's below temp it will lock out overdrive. So first thing to try is the ECU temp sensor, and if that doesn't fix it, it's probably time for a new trans.

I had toyed with doing a manual conversion, as one would assume Manual is better for off road, but i'm not too sure. What do you guys reckon? The truck literately owes me less than the cost of a 5 speed gearbox, so the cost involved still makes the truck better value than selling it and buying a factory 5 speed.

Sheepy wrote:
I had toyed with doing a manual conversion, as one would assume Manual is better for off road, but i'm not too sure.

Welcome to the forum!

Each to their own, and there are a lot of opinions out there.. but i'd take a reliable auto (Like your Hilux should/will have once you sorted it) over a manual offroad any day... 9 times out of 10, touch the clutch in the soft stuff, and it's gonna start to bog. Auto just doesn't loose the torque to the wheels through gear changes. My 2 cents

Jay

Jay wrote:

Sheepy wrote:
I had toyed with doing a manual conversion, as one would assume Manual is better for off road, but i'm not too sure.

Welcome to the forum!

Each to their own, and there are a lot of opinions out there.. but i'd take a reliable auto (Like your Hilux should/will have once you sorted it) over a manual offroad any day... 9 times out of 10, touch the clutch in the soft stuff, and it's gonna start to bog. Auto just doesn't loose the torque to the wheels through gear changes. My 2 cents

Jay

X2

Jay wrote:

Sheepy wrote:
I had toyed with doing a manual conversion, as one would assume Manual is better for off road, but i'm not too sure.

Welcome to the forum!

Each to their own, and there are a lot of opinions out there.. but i'd take a reliable auto (Like your Hilux should/will have once you sorted it) over a manual offroad any day... 9 times out of 10, touch the clutch in the soft stuff, and it's gonna start to bog. Auto just doesn't loose the torque to the wheels through gear changes. My 2 cents

Jay

Awesome thanks guys. Thant makes the modification path somewhat easier.