Offroad-Express

hi, i have jst bought my self a new ('93 pajero swb ) truck to do some off roading, so im looking for some advice in what direction to head in 1st.. took down the wiamaki and had a blast ! resuced the same guy twice in 1/2 an hour lol would it be best to go to a club and talk to those guys ? and is there any training day's ?

thnks ad

Get yourself along to a club - most offer formal training and plenty of informal advice. It'll stop you from making all the usual mistakes and keep the offroading fun and safe. You'll also get to enjoy the company of like minded individuals and gain access to heaps more places to go, spare parts, other parts, and technical advice and help.

Having said, that I cut my 4WD'ing teeth down the Waimak 20 years ago and boy do I miss that area now I live in Wgtn! Got stuck a million times, learnt heaps, but did it the hard way - could've avoided so much hard work getting unstuck if I knew what I know now.

My list of things to do next would be to join a club, sort out some good off-road tyres and get some recovery gear (rated towing hooks, snatch straps etc) - any club will give you advice on these matters.

Rgds
Andrew

Why don't you post a thread on this site and ask us here in Christchurch if we can help? We're always keen to play and there are a lot of us who can help you.
I'd be keen to meet up at the Waimak some day (Surfs not far away now) for a play.

yeh cheers guys, that's realy help ful... sounds like i need to get my self sorted before i do any serious off roading, can u recomend any decent off road tyres but will still work on the road ? i have been told tht a 40/60 set would be best of both worlds. firestone RV's ??

Tyres - a minefield of opinion. My opinion is start with a budget and then you can narrow down the options. Then ask yourself some questions:
a. how serious do I want to get with my offroading
b. what is the main use of my 4WD
c. how do I want/need my 4WD to perform on road

From my experience a good mud tyre will see you right for day to day driving. Sure they won't perform as well on road as an all terrain, but then you balance that against it's better performance in a wider variety of conditions off road. In a perfect world we'd all have several types of tyres for each situation. I look at it this way: a Ferrari and my 4WD can both do the maximum legal speed limit on the highway, I might be slower getting to 100km and not with the same style but then when the road ends I can keep going. Same goes for tyres. For me - I regretted having bought all terrains once - they handled nicely on road and in a lot of off road trips, but ultimately they stopped me going places I could have with mudders on and I'm not talking hard yakka trips.

If you join a club they'll have plenty of stories to tell about the merits of different tyres and talk to 4WD retailers that sell tyres as they will know more than the average tyre retailer.

Cheers
Andrew

Hey I recognise that mud......i still havent cleaned it off my headrest.

Welcome aboard padero
I wont give you any of my two cents as im no more in the know than you.

Tyres aye? Before I got carried away I ran Firestone ATX 31x10.5x15.
They are bloody good tyres, quite aggresive but wear really well on the road. I got about 40000km and sold them with about 7-8mm tread left.
They're about $200 each but you should be able to find them cheaper.

For me I personally like two sets of tyres, but this is only if your budget will allow for it. And it also depends on what sort terrain and difficulty you want to get into. If you want to do some fairly hard out stuff then a set of SATs could be the answer but of course these aren't going to be great on the road so you will also need a set of roadies. I have a set of SATs and a set of all terrains and this really works for me. But if you don't want to go really hard out, which you may not want to in your fairly nice and shiney looking truck then something like the firestones may just be the trick.

Kent

Theres a set of ATX's on trademe with about 8mm tread, if I remember correctly it had a buy now of $450.

I'll second the Firestone recommendation, but I think a better all-round choice would be the 31" RMT - I ran them on my Hilux for about a year, doing 100km's per day in and out of work, then playing in the weekends.

They are reasonably quiet, they wear well, they behave pretty good on a wet road and they play pretty darn good in the mud - especially if you give them what-for

regards

Steve

cheers guy's ... sounds like i'll be getting my self some firestone's then, but not till i have been to a club meet or talked to some1 in person who know's there stuff. does anyone have any numbers for club's in chch i've heard of one called chch recreational 4x4 club that's run by Ken Sibley but i havn't found a ph number yet

thnks ad

does anyone fancy a play around in the wiamakia this weekend

Could be keen. I'll have to bring the dirt bike though as the Surfs not finished cooking yet

hi all good to be back ( been in auckland all week and it sucked ) as for for the firestone tyres 31105R15 good choice and if you want a set i can cet these at cost as my work place is a dealer for firestone tyres so let me know if you would like a price on the RMT or ATX 23

cheers pinky.. i got 265/70R15 road tyres on at the mo .. wide mothers ! i went to my local firestone but they didnt have much in my size. But the ATX or the RMT look prettie good.. how much would a set of 4 set me back ? is anyone going to greymouth on labour weekend, someone told me there was a meeting on (part from the road racing )

I bought a set of RMT's for my Nissan, on special for $160ea a few months ago...


Whats going on in Greymouth then?? Could do with getting away for the weekend, although I dont have muds yet only AT's

Did a quick test of my truck in the river beds up haast way today... went well

yep will have a price on the RMT and ATX for you tomorrow will send you a pm.

hmm not sure whats going on .. think its just the local club meeting not sure

Hi there

A word of warning about your Pajero

Dont speed thru too many deep puddles, creeks, rivers etc as the air intake is very low and they have a habit of sucking in a bit of water

Be careful!
Cheap insurance is a snorkel

Cheers