AWD v 4WD

[rockfisho]

Ben Is correct, Its body clearance that is the real teller of how a car will go. you can either get the diffs dragging, which isnt any much of an issue. or you can get the whole body dragging, i dont need to tell you what will happen then...

Ive put bigger tyres on my 80, and a 2 inch lift to get away from the body dragging in really really deep sand on high tides, because i often try to get to those far to reach places to get a fish.

cheers

Owen

[hungry6]

Just remember one thing, with a trailer/campervan you can not reverse as efficient as comparable to a vehicle that hasnt got one on the back, and reversing up which is the most efficient way of getting out of a sticky situation. These are the facts from a trip we did from a couple of years back, an 07 petrol hilux with a camper was gettin stuck in alot of the harder spots and the long uphill with soft sand was just ridiculous, the nissan Xtrail with abit of speed was prett much flying over most of the stuff, except the big hill between indian head an Ngakla rock. The trailer made that much of a difference to a 4wd ability. Hope that help. Justtake it for a run on a soft beach to see how you go and put some bodies in it to create "trip conditions" we didnt and wouldnt do it again. Is the outlander petrol or diesel, you will find the power and torque is inacessable when things get soft and u cannot spin the wheels. does that sound right?

[chisel]

I would guess you will struggle a bit - but if you have appropriate backup and are just wanting to camp along the eastern beach south of indian head perhaps you'll get where you need to go.
I once recovered a (manual) subaru outback attempting to tow a camper trailer (heavy kk or similar) into Eurong. I was surprised it had any difficulty as the entrance was easy. I had to drag him back down the beach onto the hard stuff. I doubt very much that he managed to drag it where he wanted to take it. His clutch was already starting to smell a bit second hand.

[BenDover]

Once you lose the trailer, you should be fine. So if your only camping from eurong upto cathedral, you should be fine. But the other MAIN factor here is fraser conditions change literally from month to month. So when people say you will have trouble. They are saying it based on worst conditions they have seen. Which is fair enough (Plan for the worst, and hope for the best). I happened to go 3 times lately about 3 weeks apart and every time it was different. Waterholes/crossings had dried up. Big wavey hills had appeared (enough that the planes couldnt land) and some tracks where chewed out DEEP with cross tracks and no choice but to drop your tires into them.

So all I can say is TAKE PICTURES FOR US

[hungry6]

BenDover is on the right track, we want lots of pics from your trip with the trailer in tow.
Once upon a time I stop and help to pull out back packers, now I just drive around them.

[marty666]

And you base this on what ? your vast knowledge of AWD vehicles or possibly you own a 4WD and nothing compares in your eyes. What will I be recovering it from? I guess you assume that as I have made an inquiry about AWD's I know nothing about Fraser Island and the art of driving on sand and the like.

Now if anyone has any factual comments to make i would love to hear them.

gees what would i know a full time mechanic hmmm outlander is a front wheel drive with a coupling clutch system to activate drive to the rear diff simmilar set up in captiva and xtrail and old holden cruise and so many more. so what happens is you over heat the coupling and presto you are in 2wd again. pull a camper for a long time on soft sand and see how hot it gets.

but what would i know with no experiance like i said try it out on double island where if some thing goes wrong at least you are only up for a couple hundread to be recovered rather that alot more on fraser.

but hey i would not know any thing

[wosdam]

A lot has to do with the drivetrain. I've seen a Forester absolutely embarrass an Xtrail on Fraser. The Forester has a limited slip centre diff and 'low range'. Did the trip to Orchid beach flawlessly. The Xtrail on the other hand fell victim to its well-known drivetrain problem, that reverts to front wheel drive when the terrain gets demanding......

The thing is, Subaru's have a reall fulltime system that can NEVER disengage to 2wd. Its a true symmetrical, mechanical connection to all the wheels. There is no computer controlled clutch turning off the rear wheels just when you need them.

[wosdam]

Ben Is correct, Its body clearance that is the real teller of how a car will go. you can either get the diffs dragging, which isnt any much of an issue. or you can get the whole body dragging, i dont need to tell you what will happen then...

I found when driving on Fraser that the centre hump was always kept to a certain height....

Have a look under the front of a prado, the clearance under the bashplate is quite low, and check the rear diff/suspension setup of a pajero, also low.

[wosdam]

[quote=wosdam;1164475Subaru's have a reall fulltime system that can NEVER disengage to 2wd. Its a true symmetrical, mechanical connection to all the wheels..[/quote]

May I suggest this. The difference is the engine orientation.

If it's an east-west engine, don't take it to fraser :cool:

Think about that :tongue:

[YOOT]

I found when driving on Fraser that the centre hump was always kept to a certain height....

Have a look under the front of a prado, the clearance under the bashplate is quite low, and check the rear diff/suspension setup of a pajero, also low.

Very true, this is what I find when I take the Forester beach tripping, the clearance underneath is equal or greater than the IFS on most well regarded 4WDs, its only when young drug fukced idiots take their mates to the beach in there 1994 hilux with 34" Muddies and place bets on how far they can get up the access track in 2WD while the bounce from track to track destroying the road.

Even then I smoothed out the track again with the Subaru LOL!

When I was last at Fraser (sep 09) I checkened out of Lake Wabby, had enough dragging the Forester's ass through to Lake Makenzie and back with another old Forester that had a completely burn out clutch. Anyway my brother went on his own in his hilux and caught up to a 2009 Outlander. He reckoned it was awesome, he had the hilux in low range with full flex and this outlander just bumped a dragged its way along. It did run aground in one soft spot but the blokes inside it hopped out and pushed it free and they were fine all the way back to the beach.

If your prepared to knock the shine off the outlander then your good to go, but just double check you have front and rear recovery (forester has two front and a 50mm receiver hitch rear), consider a bash plate ( the plastic thing has a 90% chance of tearing off), and take a snatch strap, and rated shackles, and throw in a small shovel.

Update: Upgraded Forester too 2011 outback for the Missus and bought myself a new patrol (done 70,000 kms in it already). Been to my favorite beaches in the Patrol and loved the space and confidence of having a truck like fourby. Won't take the outback off road.

[YOOT]

May I suggest this. The difference is the engine orientation.

If it's an east-west engine, don't take it to fraser :cool:

Think about that :tongue:

Torque steer and uneven axel lengths? Definately not a subaru problem!

[GBC]

I've done all the beaches now in the Forester and am over it all.

Words fail me.

[YOOT]

I've done all the beaches now in the Forester and am over it all.

Words fail me.

Sorry should have specified ,everything south of Bundaberg or SEQ if you like.

The beaches are easy, I want to explore every inland track, and head to themountains, tackle mud, cross up my axles and lock the diffs, crawl up rock shales and tow 1000kg camper trailers every where I go.

[GBC]

I'll be back up there soon, post up the easy way to jump Wathumba and head down the beach pls, 'cause it changes yearly and quite frankly scares me a bit. But shoot, since it must have bored you in the sube I don't know what all the fuss is about.

Loosen your grip fella - you've only done the tourist traps not ALL the beaches.

[wosdam]

Remember what Easer 09 and cyclone hamish did to fraser?

Here's a vid, filmed from a Subaru Forester.