Newbie with questions

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Hi All

I have been considering getting a Fourtrak Independant and was hoping some questions could be answered before I do. I had a quick search but couldnt find answers.

1. I wont be using it for hardcore offroading but a bit now and then would be fun going on hills/water/rocks, is it capable of this?
2. What off road gear does it have? (I dont know the terminology but im assuming a low range gearbox?)
3. In its standard form, is it ready to go offroad?
4. On road, I know it wont be fast but is it respectable?
5. I like the chunkier offroad tyres, are they better than standard or just for show? Also do they cause lower mpg on road?

Thanks

Jamie

Some help I hope

Hi Jamie
I will try and help but Im sure the boys will do a better job later on.

1)The Fourtrak is more than capable to negotiate Hills, water, rocks etc as long as they are not too extreme. ie -if you were going to try very deep water you would want to fit a snorkel.

2) The fourtrak has high range 4 wheel drive for mild off roading and low range 4 wheel drive for when you need a little more traction!

3) it is ready to off road as it is. And does a bloomin good job in the right hands.

4)As for on road driving you are best to have a good test drive in a few. They are not everyones cup of tea and obviously will not handle like a standard car. You cant expect them to hang on round a corner at silly speeds. Some I found drive better than others (for example-Long wheel base vs short wheel base). But I love em and have been driving nothing else for years.

5) The tyre question is a bit tricky for me as I have only ever used a standard multi purpose tyre (for on and off road). I would imagine the chunky ones would be better for serious off roading and would probably up your MPG slightly. But the standard tyres are capable of a lot so dont worry.
Hope this helps

Thanks. I was under the

Thanks.

I was under the impression that the SWB and LWB fourtrak was the same except the LWB had two flip down seats in the foot, am I wrong? What do you feel drives better out of the two?

The chunky tyres for me are purely asthetics as long as it doesnt worsen the off/on road ability.

The LWB does tend to be a 7

The LWB does tend to be a 7 seater. I have a LWB 7 seater and a SWB 2 seater (van). The SWB is the much better drive, a lot less "boaty" and very quick (when it is running!).
But obviously you have more room in a LWB and it is slightly better for towing anything heavy because it is heavier.
The chunky tyres will not be as good on road as the multi purpose ones as you want as much tyre in contact with the road as possible, but I suppose this depends how fast you are going to drive!

What I have read says the

What I have read says the SWB and LWB are the same size though, are they not?

Chunky tyres do have more contact with the road dont they? They are bigger than normal road tyres.

Hmm, I would have to go and

Hmm, I would have to go and measure but sure there is no way I would get 5 seats in the back of my SWB so it must be smaller! And although I have never driven a 4x4 on the road with knobbly tyres I have ridden a scrambler on the road with them, not very pleasant!!
Good luck with whatever you get though Jay, let us know.

swb/lwb the only difference

swb/lwb the only difference is the sporttrak is the short one, has a flat roof, virtually no space behind the 2nd row of seats, more of these "things" came with petrol engines. fourtrak has a raised rear roof and enough boot space to fit the 6th and 7th seats in relatavly few petrol ones most are 2.8 turbo diesel.
the standard fourtrak is good enough for most offroading... you can get stupid with big tyres , raised suspension, belly gaurds etc... if you know how to use them you will get into wilder places ... and eventually get very stuck where only a tractor will get you out.
road tyres put more rubber in contact with the tarmac...in the dry some racing cars use slicks with no tread at all.. mud tyres have big grooves to let the tread blocks dig into mud... noisy and little grip on wet tarmac.
most of us spend more time on tarmac than we do offroad.. loosing it on wet tarmac has more serious consequeces than getting stuck in a mud hole.
most standard 4x4 tyres are a good compromise, safe on the road when driven sensibly and capable of performing well off road if the driver has a few brain cells.

????????

you can get a swb fourtrak and a fourtrak lwb 7 seater
as far as im aware the lwb fourtraks are 6 inches longer than the swb fourtraks
sport traks are nothing to do with fourtraks apart from they are made by daihatsu as well
As regard to tyres i have had many jeeps and bought lots of tyres and the more aggressive the tread the better off road but in the wet on road there leathal

Heres my 'lwb' fieldman on

Heres my 'lwb' fieldman on 'chunky' tyres - surprisingly good 30mpg on road if you dont floor it - handles well - just dont floor it round a corner in the wet (low gear high revs) unless you like to scare yourself

Fourtrak Fieldman TDL 3" Body Lift on 31"x10.5 MT's
Chugging away nicely on B100 - happy days!!!

Fourtrak Fieldman TDL 3" Body Lift on 31"x10.5 MT's
Chugging away nicely on B100 - happy days!!!

There is very little

There is very little diffrence in length between the long and short wheel base, but there is a diffrence. The SWB is about 88" from front wheel center to rear wheel center. The LWB is more, but I can't remember how much more. Only about 8" though I think. If you look at the SWB (FOURTRAK with the flat metal roof) and the LWB (FOURTRAK with the raised plastic roof) you will see there is a larger gap between the end of the doors, and the front of the rear wheel arches. There is also a longer overhange behind the rear wheels.

The Daihatsu 4x4 with the flate resin / plastic roof is the SPORTRAK.

'Chunkier' tyres do not neccesarily have more contact with the road. If they are off road tyres they usually have wide / deep gaps between treads, so actually have less contact with tarmack.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.

Capability

Any off road vehicle is not that good straight out of the box as they are all a compromise, this applies to all vehicles irrespective of use.
Fourtraks are up there with the best such as Land Rover off road, but are far better than LR on road, it is their simplicity, reliability, and cheap running costs which make them so attractive.

Fourtraks are not sports cars, nor do they handle like many of the more road biased off road vehicles as they do not have the complex electronically controlled air suspension systems. They do not rely upon electronics to control many of the other functions taken for granted on many newer vehicles, so are adequate, not fast.

A standard vehicle will excel off road in standard form, but many simple and cheap modifications can be undertaken to improve its capabilities off road. Tyres are also a compromise, more off road biased tyres will handle worse on road, but better off road, its a matter of making your own decision on these. Many use an all terrain tyre biased towards road work if the vehicle is used mainly on road, and keep a set of additional wheels shod with off road tyres for off road work. It only takes minutes to change the wheels for off road forays.

Chunkier tyres do wear considerably more quickly if used on road, but driving style is more significant to fuel economy over and above tyre choices.

Fourtraks are very simple, extremely reliable because of this simplicity, and are very understressed vehicles, this is why they are so good off road, and inherently reliable unlike LR.

Wrong

Three individual trucks, and the Fourtrak has varients of suspension

Sportrak

SWB - Fourtrak Flat top roof, Metal

LWB - Fourtrak Hipped roof, F/Glass, 8" inserted between door and rear wheel arch, IE- longer Wheel Base

The Independant Fourtrak version has coil springs, whereas the older models have leaf springs, both SWB and LWB

Edward (ews) '92 Fourtrak 2.8 TDX