Off Road Capability ??

Hi all. I have a 1994 fulltime 4WD 1KZ-TE auto, and I was wondering how others find their capablility off road ? I realise they are not your "serious" 4WD but sometimes it can be suprising how capable so called "softroaders" can be! Any stories or first hand accounts would be great. Cheers Dill.

Hi
I just replied to your other question about diff locks before I seen this post. Now I see you have the same van as I have!
I have not done any challenging off roading but have been on damp grass going uphill and it just seemed to grip and go. I could feel a bit of slip and then, I guess, grip as the lsd locked up. I was quite impressed. That's just with normal road tyres and presures. I've also been through tracks over small sand dunes, the type with mixed grass and loose sand and a lot of humps and dips but I don't think I'll try really soft sand. Ground clearance is the big issue really. I did a trip to an island across a wet sand causeway to an island in the sea, when the tide was out. (Coney Island, Sligo Bay,Ireland) This trip can be done in a normal 2wd car, but what I did notice was that sand (and salt!) gets everywhere. The bottom slide for the door gets filled and I spent a lot of time hosing off sand and dirt from underneath. Not really worth the hassle if you want a clean rust-free van. Compared to a 4WD Hilux pickup, the Hiace feels heavier and softer and obviously much less clearance, but it feels easy to use with the auto trans. I'd say the auto makes it easier to avoid wheel spin, especially at the kind of speed where you'd be changing between gears on a manual. I used the auto in L gear for going down hill.
Go on, give it a try.
Al

Im going to have a bit of a play in a local state forest on friday and see how it goes. I have done a lot of 4wding in a Landcruiser but wanted to go to the hiace for the extra room (converted it to a camper), I know it wont be as capable as that, but I will do some modifications and see how good I can make it. Already raised the suspension 2 inches and put 235/75/15 AT tyres and alloys on it (which raised it another inch and should make it much better off road.) One of its biggest limitations is not having a centre diff lock (only has a viscous limited slip centre diff) .But I'm working on that one! As one of my old workshop managers said to me "Go forth and modify"!!! Cheers Dill.

Hey, looks like your way more qualified to talk about offroading than me, but here's some inspiration for you anyway.

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That looks CRAZY! Where can i get a set of those flares? I think they would look really good on a lowered hiace with a wide set of wheels.

Very nice!!! I would love to see some photos of under the van to see what modifications they have done.

Can't really help you.
I just search for "Hiace Club" on japanese-only sites. Then I use a language translator if I see anything interesting.
Al

Hay Dill,
how did it perform off road, did you give it a good test? Im yet to give mine a good go. What did you do to raise it 2 inches? I will be interested to hear what other mod's you get up to in the future.

Hi srburnsy, I was actually really happy with it, I did some really rutted and steep tracks and a few small creek crossings and it never looked like loosing traction. Although If it had of rained it would have been a lot more slippery. Its aproach angle is not the best so It rubbed a bit under the front, but there is not a lot you can do about that, a good bash plate to protect the horizontal radiator would be good insurance. It had heavy duty aftermarket coils in the rear when I bought it and I wound up the front torsion bars to level it all up which raised it all about 2 inches, I then put some good larger allterrain tyres 235x75x16 on it (slight modification needed for these to fit) which lifted it another 1-1&1/2 inches or so. Unfortunately the transfer case still hangs down too low but I guess thats what happens when you dont have a transmission tunnel! I have done a bit of touring around in an 80 series Landcruiser with all the good gear fitted, and I would trust it to take me just about anywhere and back again, but I swithed to the hiace so I could fit it out as a camper and have a bit more living comfort when we are out in the middle of nowhere. ( I have also been a Toyota mechanic for about 15 years so I obviously had to buy a Toyota!!, I am a bit biased!!) The hiace's main downfall in the 4wd department is no centre diff lock, although the viscous centre diff does work quite well , but it needs to slip quite a bit before it locks up, which means in reality if you lift one wheel off the ground all the drive will go to that wheel and you wont go anywhere, until the centre diff locks. I have looked into rear diff locks and aparently a hilux rear ARB air locker should fit, and would make a huge difference off road, but I will have to wait until I have a bit more money before that happens. I did Cape york a few years ago and I never thought I would get to go back in the Hiace but the way it has performed so far I think I would be happy to give it a go (I would like to have a winch on the front just for some insurance though!!) . I will have to give it a go up the beach soon and see how it goes there. My next project is to try some modifications to get the fuel economy a bit better, and then I have got some ideas for a long range fuel tank and some other suspension modifications but I will let you know how they go. Let me know how you go if you take yours off road. Happy 4wding, Cheers Dill.

Good stuff thanks for that info, does it still handle ok on the road with it raised? yeah diff lock would be the goods, cant wait to try mine out. What would you do for better fule economy - maybe efi mod's or an intercooler?

Hi, yep still handles fine on road. Yes aftermarket computer and intercooler are both on the cards (allthough it seems like it would be very difficult to fit an intercooller given the limited space under the seat) but I will probably start with some exhaust mods and see how that goes. It would be great to here from anyone that has done any mods in these ares to se how they went.
Cheers Dill.

Sounds like the Dakar is next then

Now that would turn some heads !!!

Did some easy off roading and camping on the weekend down south. The majority of the trails we did were dirt roads that any 2wd could have handled except for one trail which gave it quite a good test, a very steep and rutted track with water bars and slippery gravel - the track went down into a gully cross a shallow creek and back up - on the way down it struggled to make it over the water bars with its limited clearance but nice and slow placing of the wheels right it was ok except at the bottom i couldnt continue, the wheel rutts were just too deep so it was turn around and back up i go , on the way up though it was alot better as the front was higher and didnt scrape any of the water bars, i was impressed that it didnt lose traction even though it was bouncing all over the place on some very steep sections. I now have a better idea with its limitations but still would like to see how it goes on sand, i think raising it a bit and puting all terrain tyres will do wonders.

Hi Dill,
Could you tell me what the heavy duty springs are you have on the rear, and if I could get any on the Sunny Coast?
Am looking to get a bit more lift from perhaps some Ford Territory rims too, your thoughts please.
Tim

good to see there's a few people lifting aces instead of slammin 'em!!!
I'm looking at getting a 4" Lift Similar to the "SNAKE Pack" (but not the snake pack! )
Torsion bars stay centred and 29''s fit fine without mods to the body.
I'm selling a kombi camper with 33''s and that looks and goes pretty good so was hoping to replicate on the new van.
The extra ground clearance on the kombi is awesome!!
Just no 4WD or lockers. Hehehe... I can fit lockers to the ace!

Hi , very interested in seeing how you go with lifting the beast.
i have looked at mine and can't see any way of lifting it high enough for real 4x4 capability.
If i could get a couple of inches I would spend the dosh and fit wider wheels & diff locks .
let me know how you go.
Cheers

Yeah me too, i lifted mine up about 2 and half inchs with heavy duty coils specially made up from king springs, then wound up front tortion bar, i could prob put bigger wheels on now but not sure how that would effect the gearing? The bit at the front under the engine is the lowest point that seems to hit ground first, it all hangs so low there.

TSN.OOZN - Do you have selectable 4wd (locking hubs) or AWD (Full time 4 wheel drive)?

Full time...
If you want to get really serious you should be able to get a solid axle conversion for the front for around 6K app.Surf Boys are doing it.
Seams pricey but imagine even just a little bit of articulation!!!
higher lift
= bigger tyres
= more clearance
= Steeper Ascent/Descent angles!!!

And then there's always portal hubs!!!!!!!!!


I'm just scared of winding up the torsions again cause I did that on My Kombi And kept splitting CV boots and ball joints.
The ride was a lot harsher too...
How long ago did you do yours srburnsy?
Any simillar probs at all with torsion wind up?

Yeah would be good, but like another member said - prob easier to just buy early mod SC with the locking hubs and drop the 1kzte in there.

I raised mine about 4 months ago and so far so good, i did replace my CV boot covers at the same because of a small tear. The angles on the cv's dont look too extreme and would handle more height, i only wound it up 2''s to make it level with the back, that was about 11 full turns of the nut. No change in regards to how firm the front end feels, just more height and travel. In the back i will need to replace the standard shocks with longer ones i think as it feels as though it tops out over larger bumps not too bad when fully loaded though. Does go better off road now and eats up the bumps better, just wish i could get it on the beach. or off the beach should i say

Let us know how you go.

Pity Mitsubishi Delica has a mitsubishi engine and not a 1KZ-TE

Yeah i know, i looked into getting one but was scared away with lots of bad reports on blown heads and other terminal problems with the diesel, the V6 is bit better but has got nothing on our 1KZ-TE.

I didn't mind the old Mitsi express but don't like the look of the Delica...
Just a shame the Aces aren't as tall as 'em!

Hay TSN.OOZ, looked at your gallery pics, nice! Like mine, yours looks good with out the decals on the side, i have to do mine one of these days. I also really like the side bars you have, did it come like that or did you put them on?

Looks like you put some thought into your inside set up, i set mine up similar but instead of taking the swivel seat out i took the back ones out and lined the walls and floor in thick ply wood and installed clip on dexon with removable bins as i use it as my work/camping/do it all van. Will post some pic's to show one day.
What size wheel was that you tried? Even if they would fit gearing would be out yeah? would be nice though.

Cheers srburnsy,
The back seat was out when I bought it But thought it suited my plans better than the swivel. More photos to come!
It worked out to be about a 29"tyre (A work mate brought in a spare off his old Hilux)
Not as big as the Kombis 31"s But seams to fill the guards quite well.(Posting a pic now of the BOMBI.)
It also Rubs hard off the jack though the rear looks like it would be sweet.
The side bars were on it already too.They look alright but even less ground clearance if you ask me!
I must say, It's Heaps handier not having the engine in the back like the kombi but the old girl smashes the ace clearance wise! Even with the proposed 4" Lift!!!
I've go a 2L engine with a 1600 box in the kombi for the bigger tyres and that works quite well but I think the not so big jump in size for the ace should be fine,especially being an auto.
Keen for some photos of your rig too! I dig looking at other camp setups. It's always good to see what others are doing with their vans!