Rooinater

mine's an ea81. when i had the ozified lift. i had to cut and reweld the shift rod. never really heard much about the ea82's having a problem... hey pk! when we going out to the dunes or the orv park in el centro??

here's a jist of what i know i'll be putting for restrictions for a moab trip. at minimum... this wouldn't be for the other more family style get together. Requirements for Moab: minimum 3" lift Lincoln Locked rear end 4 or 5 speed d/r 26" tires a bare minimum, at least 27" prefered body damage is not a worry in your mind (i don't want to here complaining "i scratched it...) offroad driving experience!!! especially for any difficult trails. the easier ones i don't really mind. but on the more technical trails driving experience is necesary!! spare parts; front axles, rear axles, rear diffs, stub axles, and any other common or possibly common broken parts specific to your vehicle. (parts could be as awhole or individually carried and collected. as long as these parts at minimum are there) recovery and safety equipment; tow rope, come-a-along, fire exinguisher, first aid kits, snatch blocks.......... Suggested Mods: Dual Tcases weber winch solid axles or other major suspension mods to make the trail easier. if possible i'm going to also try gather up some of the more modified rigs off the board. and maybe we can go do some of the harder trails also. i'd really like to do lions back! always have wanted to try since i was like 14. but i'll probably wait till the new little roo is done. but right now i have 3 times lower gearing than you guys!! which is lower than that blazers was! sorry for jacking post...

ok i might just be imagining things... but i remember some time ago. probably up to a year ago. there was a post about adapters for some type of steering wheel to subaru... can't remember... but i tried searching and wasn't finding anything out to like 5 months ago. i was wondering if anyone remembers something about it?? if not i guess i'll have to make one of my own... i was bidding on some aftermarket steering wheel and adapter for my subaru on ebay... but we went to comsec!!... and i couldn't get on to ebay to up my bid! so i got outbid!!

i'm fully aware of that. i see how my uncle is after being out for 20 years. he still has the blood of a marine in him. That's why we have the phrase, "Once A Marine, Always A Marine!" and another reason i joined the corp. but it will be nice not to have restrictions limiting me to where i can and can't go on my weekends. without having to do a weeks worth of request forms and loops. I know i'll forever be a marine and have a completely differant view of the world once i get back from iraq and when my contract ends. Thank you!! I'm not too worried about the axles or diffs breaking. especially if you are running stock gearing. but yes it's always a possiblility. as with any time you go off the unbeaten path. haven't been there yet. but me and sweet 82 have been trying to arrange it for awhile now. and i'm hoping we'll get to do it this year. and with lots of luck we will be able to get ken, eric and john down that away too. and maybe some more of the dual tcased cars. and also try to get some even further adventure into some of the other trails... who knows! i still have to put the solidrear axle on my car...

just don't take my rear suspension idea!! hahahaha

don't worry moab is on the list. i'm expecting more of a get together, campout and light trails with this meet. moab will still go, but i'm going to put vehicle restrictions on that run. like welded diffs and lifts!

it's all good. but much past the distance of the canyons i have to request leave... that whole stupid military rule of out of bounds... usually it's a 500 mile radius around the base... but ours got shrunk down to 300... some crazy drunks went and got killed and i think that weekend there was 25 alcohol related incidents in one weekend... all relitively close to yuma too... no problem on the staying quiet part. i was expecting a more family going atmosphere. usually every subaru meet i've been to has been extremely laid back. not to worry about us all being crazy and wild. just on driving the trail. otherwise i'm a fairly calm person. definately would have to say january to febuary start organizing more detail. i can talk to tex and maybe get a run of stickers ran up, when it comes close to time. as for pheonix. not very familiar. but i know where a lot of trails are. most are more difficult and a lot are pushing the limits of my car.... the grand canyons, big bear national forest, or maybe utah if i can get it all approved for leave. but i still got to save some of that leave to go moab this spring also... i was thinking a weekend trip. especially if we can nail a holiday weekend of some sort. that would give me a 96hr or 4 day weekend. plenty of time to drive up and live up the camping life. Semper Fidelis, Jared

if john says it can be done i'm sure it can. tcase mod is another option for the lsd in the front.

for a non all out big spending machine. preferably i like to play in the bigger rocks in AZ and up in WA. so full out mods is what i go for. that's why the one i have has fallen behind in the curve i want. and i am going to be making an even better rock beast. but for the app you are looking at. i have a couple questions before i suggest.. do you want the extra room of a wagon or compromise a little room for a shorter more agile rig? if you want a shorter more agile rig i'd go with a hatch. less body between the wheels to hang up. and easier to fit around and between things on the trail. overall for offroad i'd vote on a ea81 hatch. if you want the wagon. which i've gone for. you can fit a rig full of people, family or alot of camping gear. you have the extra wheelbase which as about equvalent to a jeep. if i remember correctly it's about 95 inch wheelbase. you can sleep in the back if need be. then you have the normal argument for longer wheelbase helping in some situations and hampering you in others. personally for another not so modified rig. 4/3" pk davis lift. perfect height. the extra inch in the front helps keep the front nose up and still leave the suspension down and at the softest setting. a 5 speed d/r! swapped in a ea81 body. the best year 5 speeds are supposed to be the 85 to 86. they had the lowest d/r. it's about a 1.8:1 versus a 1.6:1. trust me it's lower geared than the 4 speed. the final crawl of a 4 speed is about 20:1 while with a 5 speed it's about 22:1. which is a noticable increase in lowrange. also while using a 5 speed vesus a 4 speed you have more inbetween gearing. the 5th gear in the 5 speed is a lower gear ratio than the 4th gear in the 4 speed. so in all reality of ability to use gears. you only have a 3 speed with a 4 speed and a 4 speed with a 5 speed. cause you will never see that overdrive gear unless going down hill... a Weber carb onto an ea81. keeps it simple and adds an extraordinary increase in power. this setup keeps it simple, and reliable. the ea81 is also gear driven timing, versus an inferior belt driven setup. one less thing to worry about breaking. granted an ej would be nice. and is very welcomed! but for simplicity's and reliability's sake the EA81! if you want to go a lot deeper into the subaru, tcase, yota axles and so on i'd go straight for the ej motor... then definately a lincoln locker in the rear. beings the fact there is no after market support. you either have a lsd or lincoln... lincoln is far superior for traction! now you might say streetability... yes there's a simple fix on that. it's a lot easier job on the EA81 body style than the EA82 though. on an EA81 disconnect the bottom bolt of the shock. jack that side up. pop pins off of cv axle and pull out. about 10 to 15 minutes in or out. when you pull it out and have it in fwd. it acts like a open diff. pop it in. wa-la locked. if you just want to drive straight on the trail go with a lsd... a lot more likely to lose traction though. then either 15" yota rims or pug rims. the tire of choice i'd use would be the Super Swamper SSR's. they come in a 27" for 15 and 14 inch rims. good traction quiet on road. little faster wear... but a extremely good tire. not too big not too small for the gearing. 28" tires are puching too big for the harder trails and 26's your wishing for a bigger tire. the tire really is a 27.3 something inches tall. that'd be the basis for another simple style roo. that could conquer the subaru size trails. personally i'm sticking with my dual tase's! so many options. but the EA81 in my opinion is the far best for dependability fo a lightly moded vehicle. all my opinion and what i've seen. oh i forgot gotta have that pwr steering too!! greatly helps! makes it a caddy subaru on the dirt. Jared

Thanks!

definately need a couple cheap digi photos of what ken did this time!! need something too stare at and awh over out here!! is it drivetrain?? engine?? tranny??... gear reduction on the tcase??..... tricked rear suspension??..... can't wait to see!!

the nissan for your purpose is plenty doable if not just perfect. what was done to my transfer case was to remove the top mount and fab it down lower so it could be stuffed in the tunnel. as for gear reduction kits and using the sami tcase... i wouldn't recomend using a gear reduction kit unless you were using way stronger axles or go solid on your axles. just with 31" tires and a nissan i've broken several diff stub axles... i was originally going to go with larger tires... but these diffs really are not strong enough to handle them in difficult offroad situations. this is one reason when i get home i have a toyota axle going in the rear of my car. if you are planning on being easy on the gas on and offroad and baby it. you shouldn't have much of a problem off road or on road with 31"s. get into the more difficult side of wheeling where the tcase isn't just show anymore... solid axles or a reduction of tire size will be wanted. not because of gearing. but because the amount of multiplication of torque to the wheels starts snapping stuff. with the 5 speed d/r it proposed a few problems. we had to bend or flip the shift linkage so it wasn't in the way of the drive shaft. also i have an 8" lift and the tires just sit in there perfect. just my 2 cents.

gotta love that car... i really need to start a street car... can't wait to see this one when it's done!!

what about a grand canyon meet?... they are all easy graded trails. except one is an intermediate. and what i've seen of intermediate from this guide book a stock subie shouldn't have much of a problem... just a thought. there's a bunch of trails that are supposed to get to parts of the canyon 99% of the visitors never see! i got several guidebooks for utah, arizona and california. so just let me know what you want to get together and we'll put it together! i'm thinking by may to june would be perfect. max brat, are going to an air force academy or what?? have fun with that. civilization celebration... i've held off going to las vegas to party, till i'm 21... that way i can legally enjoy the full party! that's this april when i get back from iraq! of course in the military we don't drink under age... cough, cough, only supplied by our supieriors... Skeet throw out some ideas for places you'd like to have a meet. light offroad, city, camping trip. throw some more ideas out. and i'll start looking harder for setting stuff up. I'll gladly start setting up and organizing. and getting a rough idea of differant plans. trail runs, see what size of groups require permits and such. or if any... Semper Fidelis, Jared

sounds like fun! that mud definately makes that car look just right!

take lots of pictures!! and send to the less fortunate!!

take lots of pics!! and send to the less fortunate!

it was a matter of time! looks good though!!

there is a differance between the 5 speed and the 4 speed. that makes it worth trading it. saying you won't use the 5th gear... that's not the only reason to change to the 5 speed. the 4 speed has a 1.6:1 low range while the 5 speed has a 1.8:1 low range. final crawl of about 20:1 with the 4 speed and about 22 point something to one with the 5 speed. not a lot but definately a little. and every little bit counts on a subaru. also if you are doing the 5 speed conversion you don't have to worry about the clutch size. cause you use a ea82 clutch and flywheel set. the 5 speed also has a closer gear set. 4th gear in the 4 speed is a taller overdrive than the 5th gear in the 5 speed. so there's more inbetween gears for better up and go. As for bigger tires not fitting well under an ea81... that's poposterous. cause he's only looking for 27 to 28 inch tall tires. which easily fit under the ea81's. i have owned a setup with them and no too many people with them to say it's harder. either way you have to trim the fenders. no crazy 30 inch tires either. you'll have no gearing left, without an extra tcase. the rear disc brakes are an extreme amount of help especially with the 27" tires. when the drums get wet they don't like to stop as well as when you have rear discs. not to mention a combo of big tires and a weber carb, you'll want the extra braking power. if you add a weber carb you gain a lot of power. you'll be right up there if not higher than a stock ea82. plus the dependibility of of gear driven timing over a belt... it's a lot more dependable and forgiving. a weber carb definately helps out for the loss of power. No LSD in the front unless you do the dual tcase mod. power steering is a blessing even with those 27" tires! they do make power steering for the EA81's. i have it in my little beast. Just my personal choice on dependability and looks. I love the EA81 body styles. i really don't like the boxier bodies of the EA82's. the ea 82's are a few inches wider and a little longer also. also john mudrat (Mudrat79 on the board) mtsfabman can interduce you to him. he can help find all the necissary parts, and he does some really good fab work too! he's done a lot on my car! the whole 8 inch lift, subframe and tcase mod.

uhhh.... still don't think it will do that well. john had one in his hatch. it was a newer and better one. and the torque converter is so small from what i saw it really liked to slip and not hook up the rear output. but it did do the job.

i'm with turbone. otherwise just deal with it. we've been dealing with all these questions for years. and it's just intolerance that brings this stuff up. live with it. cause everyone says lets do this, but doesn't want to actually put it together. so suck it up and live with it.

would love to have a set. but i work too much to do a lot of fab work myself. i was probably going to end up making tube or square frame mesh doors. that way i have something a lot cooler for the hotter months in Yuma, AZ... I'd love to have a nice set like those for the summer though! Jared

for offroad lights you definatly get eaht you pay for. my dad runs procomp 130's which are similar to the KC lights. and about the same price. i'm buying kc's. they are bright andvery durable. if you are planning on using them on the trail i would reccomend the higher quality ones. visability and lighting are way better. and you won't be breaking them if you mount them in a place that is less vulnerable to being hit while offroad. Jared

i'll have to come up that way to go boarding. i've been dying to go board colorado! i just board, no skiing for me. not that i wouldn't try, but i'm decent on my board, and all i've really ever done is board sports. ie skateboarding, snowboarding and what ever else i've tried with a board. mainly board washington state when i go home for leave though. need to go try some more places!

welcome! do you snowboard, or ski?