Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

martyn wrote:Peter. I volunteer my Patrol as a test vehicle. Except I haven't driven her for so long she tries to kick me when I walk past her.

Peter Connan wrote:While at Hennops on Saturday I did some measuring. We parked the Patrols we had on the same axle twister, all with a wheel in the air (thus maximum un-assisted flex), and then I measured the distance between the front shock mounts on both sides. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single completely un-modified vehicle in the group, but the results were interesting. I have interpolated these results to determine flax at the track width, and the results are as follows:

Tinus (4.8 with standard bushes, anti-sway bar and OME shocks): 134mm
Michael (4.2D GU with poly bushes, no anti-sway bar and OME shocks): 151mm
Dirk (4.2D GQ with TJM 90mm lift, standard bushes and extended sway bar): 251mm
Me (petrol GQ with standard bushes, OME shocks, no sway bar): 285mm

What was quite interesting was that all except Dirk had very similar shock extended lengths (530-550mm) on the stretched side (Dirk had 610mm), while all the cars except mine had very similar measurements on the compressed side (440-460mm), while mine compressed a lot more, almost going coil-bound (380mm).

On the other hand, there were no obstacles that I couldn't do before that I can do now, probably because there are no obstacles at Hennops that I couldn't do before.

But I did notice that on the two most serious obstacles, where I used to need just a little bit of momentum, I could now accomplish at slowest possible speed, and without diff lock (I used that only once, trying a new line that I have never tried before) There was definitely more traction up the steep rocky climb by-passing the water hole, which is usually the only place my car has to work for it's jam at Hennops.

On the downside, I will have to re-design my lockout mechanism...