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Hi Team. im looking to transform my Brumby into a more capable 4x4 (more ground clearance)

so i'v been toying with the idea of getting a little Suzuki 4x4 (sierra/vitara etc), removing the body and mounting the Brumby body onto the Suzi chassis.

i will use the suzuki running gear and engine. i will loose the EA81 (mine is usless anyways. sounds terrible)

has this been covered before? i wouldnt mind some pointers before i dive in head first

someone did it with a hilux chassis and gave up, the unfinished project was for sale on either gumtree or ebay.

In the end it is a lot of work for little gain, it would probably be cheaper to put in a 4 or 6 inch lift kit and an EJ22 N/A or EJ20 turbo.

I have a 2 inch lift kit and 215/65/14s, I have very few clearance problems and Ive been bogged once on a chewed up beach.

TOONGA

i have 2 inch lift, new shocks and 27' Buckshots and have gotten stuck everywhere. taken my parents Suzuki out with simular mods and its unstopable.

where could i purchase a 4 or 6 inch lift kit?

Toonga owned up

Ive been bogged once on a chewed up beach.

so you're THAT guy!!!!!!!

lol

Green eyed liberty- Good luck. Do your research. Wear out your tape measure. When all that is done you will know whether to go ahead or not.

your going to get so much more flex out of the suzuki solid axle driveline especially if its coil this would be the biggest improvement rather then just ground clearance.
i don't know whether it could be done or not but good luck if you choose to have a crack

Green_eyed_liberty wrote:Hi Team. im looking to transform my Brumby into a more capable 4x4 (more ground clearance)

so i'v been toying with the idea of getting a little Suzuki 4x4 (sierra/vitara etc), removing the body and mounting the Brumby body onto the Suzi chassis.

i will use the suzuki running gear and engine. i will loose the EA81 (mine is usless anyways. sounds terrible)

has this been covered before? i wouldnt mind some pointers before i dive in head first

There is a guy in the club that's doing an L-series on a Range Rover chassis
He is nearly done drive shafts and brakes left i think
I know of an old member that is half way doing a Liberty on a Hilux chassis but he hasn't done much in a long time
I don't know much about the details tho Dave M night know

Jan

Why not just get a Suzuki? Don't get me wrong, Im all for new things, just interested in the reasoning behind keeping the brumby body.

Another option would be to just custom fab a sub-frame to support some solid axels. Then your just a transfer case, tranny and chevvy small block away from victory .

Regards

Doug

Green_eyed_liberty wrote:i have 2 inch lift, new shocks and 27' Buckshots and have gotten stuck everywhere. taken my parents Suzuki out with simular mods and its unstopable.

where could i purchase a 4 or 6 inch lift kit?

You would need to make anything bigger than 2 inch yourself and then it would need an engineers certificate. (to be legal for the road)

TOONGA

Tweety wrote:Toonga owned up
so you're THAT guy!!!!!!!
lol

Hahahahaha Lost it.


On topic: Sounds like a lot of hard work.

My brumby with 2" of lift and 14's on is damn near unstoppable. I wouldn't be keen on serious rock-crawling in it, but that's because I hate repairing. On sand she's dead sweet. Subaru's do need to be driven differently from other fourbies I find.

Maybe chase up a Daihatsu Rocky or something if you want live axles on a small vehicle - you can get them in a ute body.

If you do decide to proceed, I'm sure it's possible. I know of a 1960's VW Kombi with a patrol drivetrain mounted too it. Not sure how they worked around the engine being in the rear though. Must've been hell.

Anything can be done with enough hard work.

I'm all for customising, especially when you want something that's not commercially available. I build vehicles all the time, but only when I can't buy what I need. If you want a Zook, get a Zook. It'll never ride or handle like a Brumby but is one of the most capable off road 4WDs out there and has huge aftermarket support to boot. A Zook with a Brumby body will be like driving a Zook without the visibility.

Bit off topic again.
In 1986 I and my new wife (No 1) went to Tassy, where my reloes live. Rather than hire a car my cousin had a 2 stroke Suzuki soft top ding ding 4WD. He offered to take us to Strachan on the west coast. My wife would sit on a bean bag in the back. My cous took a long whip. I asked him why and he said "we might need it".

Off we went ding dinging ourselves down the coast at 70kph. We went through scrub and over mounds where lesser 4WD's fear to tread. Then we went over another mound and there standing about 5 metres ahead was the biggest bull I've ever seen. Wow says my cous...then gets his whip out and cracks it half a dozen times to scare it off. "Told you it would come in handy".

Bahahahahaha that is one funny story. They are a funny crew in tazzie. Last time I was down in tazzie I spotted a bloke sitting outside a coffee shop with a latte smoking a joint. Next to him was an alpaca on a lead.

Subydoug wrote:Why not just get a Suzuki? Don't get me wrong, Im all for new things, just interested in the reasoning behind keeping the brumby body.

Another option would be to just custom fab a sub-frame to support some solid axels. Then your just a transfer case, tranny and chevvy small block away from victory .

Regards

Doug

+1

To weld up a custom frame underneath will require an torsional rigidity test, where as using a known (all ready approved by DOT) chassis will not. Even though you an I both know that welding a custom frame would be a hell of a lot stronger than the monocoque frame of the ute

If you're comparing your brumby to the performance to your pero's zuk I hope you're driving them differently.

One thing I've learnt driving my L is that you need to drive subarus very differently to a live axle 4wd, no two ways about it.

I've seen a brumby done on a hilux chassis with a holden V6 in it - this was in SA. Dunno how this thing is going these days...

Personally it'd be a waste of a brumby...

Cheers

Bennie

Each to their own I say

I would love to drive down the beach/into a mudhole/up a granite hill in this (not necssesarily in that order either)



TOONGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2mc1LGb29g&app=desktop

We have plans for Jayson's Brumby which are along the same lines and once done it will look awesome. I know it won't be to all people's tastes but we are doing for our own enjoyment

The Subirover I built was a fun exercise but did no go down the road of getting it engineered or road worthy. Check out the build here
http://youtu.be/fzWrNX6KZkw
Since the video I have fitted hydro steer and softer springs and changed the shock mounts for better flex. It goes good but needs more test time.