'01 outback 2.5AT, VDC offroad/ overlanding build

[scalman]

O2 sensor came back to working again i  guess. well for now at least. so enjoying snow even if its melting now and very wet , so its hard to drive trough it 

more VDC testing 

https://i.imgur.com/ARoEOMw.gif

 

fun in deep snow

 

Edited February 10, 2019 by scalman

[scalman]

Went out with local forester club. Was fun just worst surface as still left snow but its melting and ground under is allready soft mud so after you dig trough snow you go into soft mud.

Was just berely enough ground clearance and when i went to soft mud was just flooring pedal to floor on 1st gear to not get stuck. Got stuck once and twice recovered other cars behind me with kinetic  rope. Was good test to my rear new recovery places and nothing bend or broke.

Front and rear cut bumpers where great idea and they never maxed or touched but exaust in middle had some touching problems as for most i guess.

Have some ideas how to moke exhaust tube mote inside car so it wont be lowest part to hit. As for lift front arm havr just some 2-3 cm until axle will hit it so no more lift , same for rear that uper control arm is almost maxed as well. 

Edited February 19, 2019 by scalman

[scalman]

[pontoontodd]

If those are roads you're cutting the ruts in, you should wait until summer so you're not ruining them.  If it's private property and they don't mind, you should straddle the ruts so you don't just make one deep set.

Nice pictures, sort of reminds me of the UP.  Do they log those woods often?

[scalman]

another VDC test more like torturing VDC as snow on top was frozen enough to hold car but under it was soft snow so when car sinks down its hard for it to get out, and VDC worked hard to find ways to move car using all 4 wheels.

 

maybe last days when ground is still frozen as its getting warmer now day by day

 

some exhaust fixing

 

 

 

[scalman]

found that in rear upper link almost maxed out allready with that 2'' lift. if it would go more down it would hit frame allready or am i wrong there ?

[scalman]

Oldschool recovery tracks

[pontoontodd]

8 hours ago, scalman said:

found that in rear upper link almost maxed out allready with that 2'' lift. if it would go more down it would hit frame allready or am i wrong there ?

I think you could just clearance that part of the subframe if you want it to go down more.  A little bit will go a long ways.

I like the old recovery tracks.

[scalman]

On 2/26/2019 at 7:09 PM, pontoontodd said:

I think you could just clearance that part of the subframe if you want it to go down more.  A little bit will go a long ways.

I like the old recovery tracks.

So in theory if i put say another 1 cm as strut spacers in rear it shouldnt be any problem if that link still has space and if cv axle angles are not too bad. Wonder why people say 2" is max limit for those outbacks is it just because cv angles.

[pontoontodd]

6 hours ago, scalman said:

So in theory if i put say another 1 cm as strut spacers in rear it shouldnt be any problem if that link still has space and if cv axle angles are not too bad. Wonder why people say 2" is max limit for those outbacks is it just because cv angles.

Yes, I think the main limitation to lifting these cars is you start to wear out the CVs very fast.

[scalman]

but your start to wearing them just when you max them. not on the roads as i understand. but sure i get it whats problem there and for me i use it mostly on roads not off them so i need car being reliable still to make hundreds km without problem. with 2'' lift i did euro trip 5500km's with tires not made for good roads only, so that proved that allready. 

[scalman]

last sources of snow in forest areas 

thats how much it  can flex there front wheels allready lost some traction

its nice how much you not care with cut bumpers about stuff. you wanna try go up some angle you do it. with forester that would be more easy but with outbacks need to be more modification done bumpers remove or at least cut. not things that will touch ground first are sides

Edited March 11, 2019 by scalman

[scalman]

march 25

march 26

[scalman]

before i will go to more serious wet off roads i need to seel some my rear from all stuff coming from outside. winter with salt did its job 

[scalman]

changed front lift spacers from 5cm to 6cm ... and then i did looked at it and thought : why not go 7cm then ?

and thats best thing to do after youv done wheel alignment for 25 euros... but i did same as it was before. well almost same , even they at lignment couldnt do camber on zero so they left it at 0.30 that was maximum they could move it . s owhats point to even pay money for them. 

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by scalman

[pontoontodd]

You really need to save up for a rust free car.

You can probably fit 70mm spacers but as you go up your CVs will just wear out faster and your boots will be more likely to tear.  I think 50mm is considered the most you can lift safely with just strut spacers and have decent CV life.  You can compensate for your camber when you build the spacers, just offset them.  You should be able to find the right amount to do it online.  Or you could tack weld them, assemble, and check alignment a few times and figure it out the hard way.

[scalman]

well 6cm will done fine for now. if those CV's will go bad or something i could remove that 1cm from tube there and make then 5cm again if needed. and rear is keeping it  height maybe because of those self levels still there and still working. 

i will look for other car when this will become unfixeable in rear.  i will try still do some steel welding there as most important places , if no go then sure if its not safe to drive i wont drive it anymore. 

[scalman]

so with a lift at least in my year model rear suspension more you lift car more wheel goes inside more it pushes axle inside. so what if it become too long and binds or locks ? just found out that myself. bought oem rear axle and it was writen GC 01 , so i thought nothing bad of it , tried to replace and as soon as i put top link it locks and wont go down it just moves slight and locks thats it ... so that GC 01 rear axle is longer then ? because then i put back my that i used and i think it was from GK impreza and it was fine , flexing  down as before, then i put GC one and it locked again . well its first time for me so know i will know. just wish i knew it before to not buy GC axles for my lifted outback.

Edited April 21, 2019 by scalman

[pontoontodd]

On 4/21/2019 at 2:23 AM, scalman said:

so with a lift at least in my year model rear suspension more you lift car more wheel goes inside more it pushes axle inside. so what if it become too long and binds or locks ? just found out that myself. bought oem rear axle and it was writen GC 01 , so i thought nothing bad of it , tried to replace and as soon as i put top link it locks and wont go down it just moves slight and locks thats it ... so that GC 01 rear axle is longer then ? because then i put back my that i used and i think it was from GK impreza and it was fine , flexing  down as before, then i put GC one and it locked again . well its first time for me so know i will know. just wish i knew it before to not buy GC axles for my lifted outback.

We've measured about ten different Subaru rear CV axles now and they're all a little different in length.  The right rear is 10mm longer than the left rear, at least on some models.  The aftermarket axles we've measured have less plunge travel than the Subaru axles.  The other problem you might run into with your car is if you get one that's too short (or can't extend far enough) it will pull out of the rear diff when the wheel goes up.

[scalman]

took apart mine and measured and yes ones are longer then others and those longer ones locks on my lifted suspension in half way down so i just cant use them. so i changed CV on those shorter axles and im good. now i will have 2 long and 2 short axles so later just need to change CV in ends. but its pretty messy job to do 

they about 1.2cm shorter thats fully compressed down.

 

so how that could work with even longer travel suspension then ? you need longer links then and redone all arms i guess anyway. 

now i remember that when i just lifted car first time i couldnt put down rear to put bolt on strut so i was compressing strut so that i could put that bolt in it. 

now with those shorter axles in rear i just push down all with hand and im almost reaching enough to put strut bolt down there. means they flexing more down. 

when i put that longer axle its just locks in half way down and stops thats it its locked.

 

amd put back front sway bar with links. links are little too short so they allways on tension and on some angle that they not supose to be . but i will do more high speed driving as weather get warmer so it will give me some more stable feeling of car i guess as my sterring shack is quiet loose now. 

tried drive 90 then 100 then 120 after 100 sound comes from rear i duno i done all wheels rebalanced i changed front bearing rear bearing and still that whine in rear so maybe its really tires then not sure. all people that drive in rear when i go more speed they all complain thats its pretty loud there. i know it as im driving alone i put music loud and such so its doesnt bother me so much but what can i do more? changed bearings and axle and still same whine after 90 km speed. and after 100 some vibration to wheel ... not sure again what gives vibration as i just done all wheels balancing. so what else can give vibration ? i know axles can so i changed one rear one and its nothing changed. maybe its front then. ... best way would be try put all 4 wheels summer quiet tires and then test but i dont have those. 

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by scalman

[scalman]

Getting ready for car camping and photograghy

[scalman]

short example how acts normal old school pre VDC subaru oh diagonals, and here is both axles diagonal plus its up on hill. itsj ust digs down in seconds and thats it 

with VDC though you have no digging down but it  could cut your power so much that car wont move forward too. but you can allways reverse and go up there on little diff angle 

what is missing there is low gear and more torque to axles. and not cuting power would be nice too. it has ok traction control with braking all it needs here is have more power too or low gear so it could push car forward. in my case it cant so i needed there to pull back and give more mementum.

Edited April 28, 2019 by scalman

[pontoontodd]

You have put up some great gifs and videos showing VDC on and off, thanks.

Have you ever tried lowering your tire pressures in a situation like that?

"what is missing there is low gear and more torque to axles"

"so i needed there to pull back and give more mementum."

that sums up off roading in a Subaru!

[scalman]

no i didint yet tried test that i would put tire psi to very low levels . for sand it would work i guess or for mud maybe like for longer track. here is just did test on small area thats wasnt chalenging if you go there faster but it could  make it impossible if you go super slow as that when you could see how those traction controls work

i wonder how newer VDC models that have separate TC button but VDC works all time would do . they should do better there as they can turn off engine cuting but leave braking part. i would like to have that button too if it would be possible found there where is that TC part and make it work serarate.

but here i dont see problem that my tire psi is too high as car has grip still on other 2 wheels and in end it stops all 4 wheels and just stays in place . it realy does that . its very wierd you floor pedal to metal and car just whines like wounded animal and not move not spin wheel just cant do nothing because its cut itself off. 

and i dont need more mementum to go up there, just some. fun thing is to find when VDC works best is when engine gives you most power so its not on low revs and not when car stops and tries to move, because with auto you cant rev higher before you start going as with manual. so when i going and if im keeping gas pedal on same level or push it more VDC  works really well there makes minimum wheel spins and push car forward pretty well. but not from full stop. or it can do from stop just not up  hill . 

when i saw newer grand sherokee 2005-2010 models that have IFS suspesnion in front but it have electronic low gear button and 3 e lockers all around and how it can go on slow speeds climb its just amazing. so with diesel and most powerfull petrol engines it gets those e lockers in diffs and with other models it gets traction control based on braking too, si similar to subaru in ways, but it just has so much torque and low gear that its enough for that heavy car to do really well . 

people here paying even like 4 k euros for quiet old pre VDC foresters without anything there, when you can find for 4-5k 2007 grand sherokee CRD 3.0 diesel with 3 e lockers. if i would have that money i know what i would choose. 

 

and momentum cant allways help subaru climb, the moment when 2 wheels in air it just looses all that momentum and thats it  its done. and thats where your thing  with long travel would help. i saw one project here localy for about 700 euros only person was making pretty long travel stuff there and its amazing. just its not road legal anymore if your links are custom made or redone. 

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by scalman

[pontoontodd]

1 hour ago, scalman said:

no i didint yet tried test that i would put tire psi to very low levels . for sand it would work i guess or for mud maybe like for longer track. here is just did test on small area thats wasnt chalenging if you go there faster but it could  make it impossible if you go super slow as that when you could see how those traction controls work

i wonder how newer VDC models that have separate TC button but VDC works all time would do . they should do better there as they can turn off engine cuting but leave braking part. i would like to have that button too if it would be possible found there where is that TC part and make it work serarate.

but here i dont see problem that my tire psi is too high as car has grip still on other 2 wheels and in end it stops all 4 wheels and just stays in place . it realy does that . its very wierd you floor pedal to metal and car just whines like wounded animal and not move not spin wheel just cant do nothing because its cut itself off. 

and i dont need more mementum to go up there, just some. fun thing is to find when VDC works best is when engine gives you most power so its not on low revs and not when car stops and tries to move, because with auto you cant rev higher before you start going as with manual. so when i going and if im keeping gas pedal on same level or push it more VDC  works really well there makes minimum wheel spins and push car forward pretty well. but not from full stop. or it can do from stop just not up  hill . 

when i saw newer grand sherokee 2005-2010 models that have IFS suspesnion in front but it have electronic low gear button and 3 e lockers all around and how it can go on slow speeds climb its just amazing. so with diesel and most powerfull petrol engines it gets those e lockers in diffs and with other models it gets traction control based on braking too, si similar to subaru in ways, but it just has so much torque and low gear that its enough for that heavy car to do really well . 

people here paying even like 4 k euros for quiet old pre VDC foresters without anything there, when you can find for 4-5k 2007 grand sherokee CRD 3.0 diesel with 3 e lockers. if i would have that money i know what i would choose. 

 

and momentum cant allways help subaru climb, the moment when 2 wheels in air it just looses all that momentum and thats it  its done. and thats where your thing  with long travel would help. i saw one project here localy for about 700 euros only person was making pretty long travel stuff there and its amazing. just its not road legal anymore if your links are custom made or redone. 

 

If you get two wheels in the air and stop moving forward you need more momentum.  Perhaps we're losing something in translation, but aside from really tall hills momentum will get you over anything.

For what you seem to want to do a Jeep sounds like your answer.