pontoontodd

Monday morning we hiked to the waterfall, which was dry, and then to the ruins. Saw a couple Alberts squirrels. Headed west through more national forest. Drove around one area that had some gravel roads through the mountains with cool scenery but kept hitting dead ends at private land. Hit some little jumps along those roads. Hiked to Jemez falls. Headed over to the Gilman tunnels, old railroad tunnels there is now a back road running through and some waterfalls alongside. Really didn't find many side trails in the national forests in New Mexico so we decided to head to Arizona. I wanted to go back to Chaco Culture since I thought the trail heading west out of there was one of the most entertaining we were on last year and there weren't a lot of other camping options in the area. Hit one stretch of 8-12 jumps in a row on one back road. On the way it rained a little. Took 57 up to Chaco. It is a dirt road but fairly smooth and straight. About five miles up we came to a dually pickup with fifth wheel camper that had the passenger side tires of the trailer in the ditch. Slowed down but still wound up sliding around on the greasy dirt road. Drove back and parked the Outback in the opposite ditch and winched the RV up on the road. While we were doing this the woman in the pickup was calling AAA. They told her they'd send a tow truck there. Talked to the local towing company who told her they would not go down that road. Had to tie the Outback to a fencepost with the strap and rock the RV but got it mostly on the road. He was then able to drive forward with the winch cable still attached and get out of the ditch. Saw a cool sunset while we were doing that, took it easy driving the rest of the way to Chaco but meant we got to camp after dark. They camped out on the road overnight and planned to drive in the next morning.

Sunday morning we saw a deer in the campground. Some of the sites were along a backwater of the lake. Drove up to the lake overlook and headed to New Mexico. Drove to some dinosaur tracks in a streambed, no signs just at the end of a little dirt road. Tried to drive around to get to a short hiking trail to the state high point but couldn't. We didn't want to do the four mile hiking trail in the interest of time and moved on. While trying to do that we were driving down a dirt road and saw a cement post. It is the intersection of Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma so we checked that out. Saw an old volcano on the map on the way we were going so we headed towards that. There were a couple antelope in the road on the way there stuck between two fence lines. It took them quite a while to find a spot they could duck under the fence. When we got close Capulin Volcano National Monument we tried taking some dirt roads that circled it on the map but they eventually stopped at a gate. Drove up to the top of the volcano and hiked the little trail around the rim. This is the dirt road/trail we tried taking around the volcano. Hiking trail to the center of the volcano. Next we went to Mills canyon campground in Kiowa National Grassland that was supposed to be difficult to get to. We were able to drive down without any issues and even saw a Nissan crossover driving up on our way back up. Checked out the ruins of an old house at the bottom where they had an orchard which had flooded. Took some New Mexico state highways through the mountains, went over 9000' and saw snow and a herd of over 100 elk. Some of these state highways were just dirt roads. Got to Bandelier National Monument and camped out overnight.

Went on a Subaru southwest road trip / trail ride last week. Friday afternoon we all met at K's house in Springfield IL. Opened the hood on the Outback and noticed the radiator was bubbling at the base of the top tubes. Took the radiator out and JB welded them. Put a vacuum on the radiator but probably after it had cured. Saturday morning I got up and started putting the radiator back in. We drove down to Oklahoma to Black Mesa state park. On the way we had gone 280 miles and B's Forester ran out of gas just as we pulled off the interstate. He and Z grabbed the roof rack and shook the car side to side and he was able to drive up to the gas station. In Kansas we were driving into a small town, last speed limit sign I saw was 55. Passed a cop pointing the radar gun at us, saw a sign for 45 and slowed down for that. Looked in the mirror and he was pulling out behind us. Gave me a ticket for going 58 in a 45, none of us saw a 45 sign before the spot he was parked in. Got to Black Mesa after dark, parked in a cool spot next to a tree growing out of a big rock and a picnic table between two big rocks.

yes: There's a pretty big span between the bottom of the middle roll hoop where it bolts to the floor and where the rear diagonal bolts to the floor though, and the car is rusty and gets driven hard. I've probably put 50k miles on it since the last rust repair four years ago. In some ways the long travel probably helps since we're not bottoming out so hard, but it also lets you drive the car that much faster, so on balance it probably doesn't help.

I know. If it didn’t have a cage I probably would have parted it out by now. I don’t know how you would swap the cage without cutting the greenhouse off both cars.

Did some more rust repair on the 99 Outback. I had originally repaired this corner four years ago: https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/144953-long-travel-outbacks-or-making-subarus-faster-and-more-reliable-offroad/?do=findComment&comment=1245301 It's a bit strange that before that I had to repair the passenger side rear strut tower, now that one doesn't look bad. This is what it looked like: Gap closed up some just by jacking up the car and removing the strut. Cleaned mud, rust, and undercoating off the areas I was going to weld. Pulled it sort of back together with a come along to the trailing arm mount. Welded it back up and added an L shaped patch where there was still a gap. Ground smooth some of the welds where the tire rubs. This is what it looked like painted with the strut installed. This is what it looked like on the inside. If you compare it to the post above you can see how much worse it's gotten in four years. That original patch fell off while I was removing rust so I cleaned most of the rust off of it too. This is what the inside looked like without the patch and with rust and paint removed for welding. Welded the old patch back on and added a couple of smaller ones. Over the winter I need to check the other side. I also have an idea to strengthen up this part of the body, might do it to this car and the Forester. One good thing about the 2000+ Outback is that there are no rear strut towers. My friend replaced the rear pads while I was doing that.

My friend still had noise coming from the back of his Forester so he replaced the RR wheel bearing. It did look a little red on the inside, possibly from rust, and a small piece of the outer race had broken off somehow. I replaced the engine, transmission, and rear diff oil since we didn't know how long it had been. This is how the front guard turned out for the Forester:

Except on my 99 Outback the last couple years, we've always just had a rectangular tube under the middle of the oil pan. A few times the exhaust has gotten dented, but that's it. These will provide more protection with better ground clearance, and with the long travel struts the cars sit fairly high.

It takes up about an inch more ground clearance. A flat plate would be a little higher but would get bent pretty easily. The engine moves around quite a bit on the mounts too, seems like at least an inch, so some space is good there. When would we not be driving fast? I know what you mean though, I thought about adding sheets on the sides under the exhaust and coolant hoses like on my 99 but didn't for now. Could always do that later. We've got a couple trips planned for the next month or so, trying to get the cars all ready with guards and long travel.

Painted and installed the front guard for the 2002 OB. Went with "flat nickel", seemed to be the best match for the stock bumpers/plastic and it was on clearance. Eventually I'll tie it into the front bumper but we're planning on taking it to an off road park next month and need it on. Going to wait until after the long travel is installed to build the bumpers to check tire clearance. Should get more parts in for the long travel tomorrow but not sure if I'll even get that done in the next month, might just lift it a couple inches. Made a couple simple tube guards for the gas tank. Hopefully this will help it from getting completely smashed, not much to attach to in front of the tank. Front of the tubes bolt into studs by the trans tunnel. Thought about tying into the screws that hold the plastic gas tank guard in place but not sure how much that would help. Back end bolts into the subframe mounts.

Glad I could provide some entertainment. The Subarus do seem generally reliable and have much longer CV axles than any IFS truck and parts are cheap and common but they do have their downsides. Planning on sticking with them for a while. I try to be careful on blind turns and intersections. I have also seen a few people almost get wrecked by someone in front of me doing what you describe. The video isn't always a good representation of what's going on either, usually you can see a lot better in the car than the camera shows.

I've been meaning to do this to the 99 Outback since the Vegas to Reno last year, finally decided to over the weekend. Cut a couple of pieces of 1.5 x 2 x .188 wall rectangular tubing like this to replace the subframe spacers. The 2000+ Outbacks are actually built somewhat like this, probably for a reason. Made plates for the top and bottom of the subframe bolts out of 1/8" 4130 to spread the load and keep the "frame rails" from crushing. I do have tubes in the frame rails for the tubes to clamp on but they're still smashed. Before this the subframe bolts were bottomed out on the threads and not really clamping. Here is one of the top plates in place. If I take out the engine to do head gaskets or something I might weld these in. This is the driver's side tube in place. Bent the flange up so I could slide it in. Didn't paint this side of the tube (much) since I was going to be welding to it. Welded the flange and welded the tube to the body. Again, if I have the engine out I might weld the other side of the tube to the body. Also welded a little crack in the subframe. Hammered the front part of the flange back down just to make sure it doesn't rub the tire. Painted it. Did the same thing to the passenger side. I was able to really torque down the bolts and they're not bottomed out on the threads. Hoping this will keep me from cracking the windshield so often.

Yes, rust free cars make life much easier! Forester is pretty much ready to go. I'm still driving my 99 Outback though and it's pretty rusty. Once the 2002 is done I'll probably keep driving both for a few years. Would really like to do a few more desert races while the 99 is still going.

Added a T, tow bar tabs, and little guards for the bolts for the blue Forester skidpan. Also swapped out the rear CV axles on that, long bolt on one corner on the rear, and fabricated lateral links on that corner. Put the hitch from the green Forester on it too.

That trans skid is pretty light. I have bent the oil pan guard on my 99 Outback a little when it was two pieces of 1"x2" rectangle with 1/8" 4130 on the bottom.

I'll make you one for some STI R180 rear CV axles...

This is the front guard for the 2002 Outback welded. Still need to add tubes to the front bumper so can't paint it yet. This is the guard for the auto trans pan. Held a couple tubes in place with magnets a little bit off the pan and fit a couple plates to some of the case bolts/studs. Added some ramps so it slides over rocks better and welded it off the car. Painted and installed.

I just think if you used it through a hole in a flat plate you'd eventually cut through the strap. Used around bumpers or shackles or something they hold up great. We have broken a 1" strap after a lot of abuse but a friend has pulled a semi truck out of the mud with a 1" strap before. The 2" straps seem indestructible for Subaru use.

these also stretch

I thought about bolting on the plates. It would be a little more work and weaker than welding them on. Really there's almost never a reason to remove that plate once it's installed, you can even remove the engine and/or exhaust with it in place. We use these straps for recovery: https://www.racereadyproducts.com/tie-downs--tow-straps/speed-strap/ You can adjust the length, they loop around a bumper or whatever so they don't fall off, and the 2" straps hold up very well. So a plate to loop them through wouldn't be good, that would cut the strap. Plates sticking out down there might catch on obstacles too.

For now I'm not going to add any more plates. I think the extra weight, cost, and difficulty of maintenance isn't worth it. If we start desert racing with one of these then we probably should. We will usually just loop a strap around the front bumper. Planning on making bumpers for both cars. 2002 already has a steel bumper in front. In the meantime we can loop something around one of those tubes going back from the radiator support. Round tubing is stronger but for these guards square and rectangle seems to work out better. Mounting to the bottom of the radiator support and crossmember is easier, then connecting those and giving a flat surface for the plate to attach to is also easier. It's also a lot faster fitting square/rectangle tubes together than round to round.

Similar guard for the front of my 2002 Outback. You can see the auto trans guard I'm working on too, I'll put up some pictures of that when it's done.

This is the guard we just built for the front of the Forester to protect the radiator support and oil pan. Also bolts to the front swaybar mounts for more bracing and somewhat protect the exhaust.

You mean caught between the tubes and the gas tank? I don't think we've had that problem. If you mean smaller rocks could fit between the tubes and dent the gas tank, that hasn't been a problem either. The main goal is to keep the big rocks from smashing into the front edge of the gas tank.

Going to make a few posts about some of the guards we've built recently. This one is the gas tank guard we originally made for the green 2000 Forester. Original: We had to refab a couple of the mounts to fit the blue 2001 Forester, probably mainly from beating on the 2000, I don't think the cars are supposed to be different. Test fitting and adjusting on the 2001: welded the new ends on: quick respray and install: