any good offroad?

[huey]

hello, i've just been offered a 2.4td surf and i want to use it for serious off-roading, can anyone tell me if they are anygood for this? cheers, huey

[bobafatass]

They are great , get a set of good tyres on and off you go ! not as good as a LR defender but a close second .



Andy.

[pops]

any good???
have a look at the pics in the off roading section
and the vids are good too

[marky]

Youre having a laugh

[Gizmo]

While Its doen everything I've asked of it, you have to remember the longer chassis.

Dont know the stats but generally you use the following:

Approach Angle - How steep the nose is before s c r a ping
Breakover Angle - Hills drop away at the front and back [eg over crests of a hill]
Departure Angle - Before the back s c ra pes
Ground Clearance
Turning Circle


The higher the angles, the better the vehicle will handle off-roading.Magazine stats for new vigo and comparisons looking through 4x4

Vigo
Approach - 30
Breakover - 25
Departure - 26

L200
Approach - 33 degrees
Breakover - 26
Departure - 24

Range Rover Sport
Approach - 34
Breakover - 25
Departure - 27

[marky]

Rhe RAN*(***( SPORT cant do half as much as the SURF

[Greebo]

yea they are good. need a bit of tinkering with though.

lifted 2" fine more if ya want.
cut down the bump stops on the front.
mud tyres
remove or get disconects for both anti-roll bars
better bash plate.
modify rear bumper to reduce over hang
re-route tail pipe to side

the list goes on but one thing i would recomend is fitting a belly plate. the break over angle is not bad but the centre cross member can take a real pasting after a while. and the down pipe from the exhaust can take a few knocks. (i even managed to dent my front prop shaft).

I compete every month in RTV's usualy against rangy's and tricked up disco's and hold my own with no problem. even win now and then.

Just remember they are long wheel base and cant compete with short wheel base cars on real twisty tight situations.

[plodger]

hello, i've just been offered a 2.4td surf and i want to use it for serious off-roading, can anyone tell me if they are anygood for this? cheers, huey

Keep your nipples greased and watch your back end going into a big hole!!!

I've pulled Discos and Patrols out of sticky situations before and been stuck once on Langdale Quest in some sinky sand and grounded out.

In low ratio they are unstoppable!!

[TJG]

As good as a Surf may be off road for really serious use I'm afraid it has just gotta be a Landy coiler. Sorry lads but the one big advantage is bits. For the Landy you can get some serious articulation out of the suspension relatively cheaply with dislocation cones etc. Nothing else maters if you can keep your wheels in contact with the ground! Even without that the bits that get knocked off like lights, exhausts, wings etc are giveaway.

Saying that I can't see why the Suf can't be made into a really serious bit of kit that would go toe to toe with the Landy, it would just cost buckets more of time and cash.

On the plus side you can get a decent Surf for the price of a heap of a landy. So you are on your way for not too much. In my view the best £4£ cheap off roader at the moment is the classic style Rangey, they are giving em away and you get a lovely V8 burble and mosy of the cheap goodies fit em. The same probs as the Surf though with wheelbase.

AS for all this I've pulled ???? out. Big deal I've pulled out all sort with the Landy and been pulled out by most things under the sun. If you don't get stuck then you aint trying hard enough!

[Greebo]

As good as a Surf may be off road for really serious use I'm afraid it has just gotta be a Landy coiler. Sorry lads but the one big advantage is bits. For the Landy you can get some serious articulation out of the suspension relatively cheaply with dislocation cones etc. Nothing else maters if you can keep your wheels in contact with the ground! Even without that the bits that get knocked off like lights, exhausts, wings etc are giveaway.

Saying that I can't see why the Suf can't be made into a really serious bit of kit that would go toe to toe with the Landy, it would just cost buckets more of time and cash.

On the plus side you can get a decent Surf for the price of a heap of a landy. So you are on your way for not too much. In my view the best £4£ cheap off roader at the moment is the classic style Rangey, they are giving em away and you get a lovely V8 burble and mosy of the cheap goodies fit em. The same probs as the Surf though with wheelbase.

AS for all this I've pulled ???? out. Big deal I've pulled out all sort with the Landy and been pulled out by most things under the sun. If you don't get stuck then you aint trying hard enough!

agree with some of that but second hand parts are becoming easier to get.
but the money you will save on the big stuff can compensate. i've seen more landy diff's half shafts, gearboxes and CV's let go than anything else. and while they are fairly cheap to replace it all adds up, even more so if you cant fix it yourself.

[plodger]

As good as a Surf may be off road for really serious use I'm afraid it has just gotta be a Landy coiler. Sorry lads but the one big advantage is bits. For the Landy you can get some serious articulation out of the suspension relatively cheaply with dislocation cones etc. Nothing else maters if you can keep your wheels in contact with the ground! Even without that the bits that get knocked off like lights, exhausts, wings etc are giveaway.

Saying that I can't see why the Suf can't be made into a really serious bit of kit that would go toe to toe with the Landy, it would just cost buckets more of time and cash.

On the plus side you can get a decent Surf for the price of a heap of a landy. So you are on your way for not too much. In my view the best £4£ cheap off roader at the moment is the classic style Rangey, they are giving em away and you get a lovely V8 burble and mosy of the cheap goodies fit em. The same probs as the Surf though with wheelbase.

AS for all this I've pulled ???? out. Big deal I've pulled out all sort with the Landy and been pulled out by most things under the sun. If you don't get stuck then you aint trying hard enough!

Guess I'm trying hard enough then.

[dirtydog]

As good as a Surf may be off road for really serious use I'm afraid it has just gotta be a Landy coiler. Sorry lads but the one big advantage is bits. For the Landy you can get some serious articulation out of the suspension relatively cheaply with dislocation cones etc. Nothing else maters if you can keep your wheels in contact with the ground! Even without that the bits that get knocked off like lights, exhausts, wings etc are giveaway.

i know cones are cool for articulation but its no good if theres no weight on them for getting the power down is it?

[TonyN]

Nothing else maters if you can keep your wheels in contact with the ground!

Got ARB? Who needs all the wheels on the floor.

Without a locker the Surfs only let down offroad is the IFS, throw a solid pickup axle under the front and it'll work fine.

[laser_jock@work]

Got ARB? Who needs all the wheels on the floor.

Without a locker the Surfs only let down offroad is the IFS, throw a solid pickup axle under the front and it'll work fine.

Or has anyone worked out how to fit a 3.0L diesel (or V8!) into the MK1 solid front axle Surf yet???

[TonyN]

Or has anyone worked out how to fit a 3.0L diesel ( or V8! ) into the MK1 solid front axle Surf yet???

Been there done that!

Far nicer to SAS a Surf IMHO. Bored with pickups after all these years.