Cool Ridjobradi, whereabouts in this vast country were you working?

We were visiting down in the lower mainland of BC last month and got out to Vedder Mountain with an old friend with his Land Cruiser and my brother in law with his Xterra. This is a neat mountain to play on as there is a main logging road going around the perimeter and many trails criss-crossing over it and around the botttom as well. Unfortunately, since I moved away from this area almost a decade ago, it's been logged a few times and some of the old trails are now just gravel roads and some of the old forests have been completely clear cut. Progress I guess. But the good news is there is plenty of wilderness to go around in the rest of BC outside the lower mainland, and this was a good reminder of why I don't miss living down there anymore!

The cruiser didn't quite fit where the Suzuki easily did:


Hang Glider's Point, the top of the mountain. Visibility was good enough to see the Pacific Ocean from here.


A challenging climb where I found out one of my front hubs has been improperly installed for the last 12 months and finally didn't lock in all the way, causing me to spin out in 2wd before figuring out the problem and correcting it. The Xterra had no issues since he had a front locker...makes me think maybe I should invest in one someday....






And here is a video my nephew put together from the day. Nothing too exciting but you get a better idea of some of the terrain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flElLrrswAM
Happy 2019 to all my fellow Zookers!

Started another fairly big project on the XL7. Been putting off rock sliders for about 2 summers now...it's time to get some on before I do something I regret! I didn't want to put frame-mounted sliders on because you lose a fair bit of clearance with those compared to chopping out the rockers and welding tubing to the body, plus I needed to do some work at the fenders to get the tires to fit properly, and there was a bit of rust starting at the rear of the rockers. So, I started by making a surgical incision:

Olija - I spent most of it Saskatchewan, but I was iaround Edmonton and Calgary often also. I had a Jeep Wrangler as a rental, most of the tie I was there. I would hang out with Flatland 4x4,moatly camping and wheeling on Crown land.

Oh yeah, flat landing for sure! That's a far cry from my neck of the woods. Calgary is borderline acceptable as far as terrain goes...at least it's only an hour's drive to the Rockies from there. But an hour seems pretty far when I've got an 8500 foot peak looming right over my town!

I spent about a day working on the passenger side rock slider doorsill. It's basically done except for the final finish which I will do at the same time as the other side, which is completely undone at this point. It's a fair bit of work but it is turning out nicely.

Clearance check at full compression. Had to do some more hammering and trimming at the front.Still not sure if it's going to be completely rub free, but I think I've fixed the metal rib inside the fender which was slicing the outboard tread off my tires!


Sizing things up:


Before putting a cap on the back:


After. I smeared seam sealer all over this later too.


Before capping the front, which was more work because the top of the tube is also open:


So I had to cap the end and the top, using a rectangle and a triangle and a whole shwack of seam sealer.


I'm happy with how it turned out, but might add some details by the bottom of the fender flares because it looks like something's missing there. Or maybe I'll add another tube that sits out a few inches to provide protection from sliding sideways into stuff, and allows the slider to be used as access for the roof rack. Each one only weighs 38 pounds after I got 40% of the tube removed by plasma cutter to fit around the side impact protection in the body...prior to that they came in at 58 so it is considerable savings, so I could afford to add a bit again, but I am trying to avoid adding unnecessary weight so we'll see.

What tubing did you use for your sliders?  So far I have just built a driver side for my ‘Kick, but I incorporated a full length step into mine.  It sure helps the little ones be able to get inside.

These are 3x4x3/16" tubing. Any slimmer than that in either direction and they won't fit right...it's basically exactly 3" from the pinch seam at the bottom to the part of the door sill that is vertical (in theory the strongest part) and if they are less than 4" wide then they would be recessed inside your doorsills. Even at 4" wide, the front and rear ends are pretty much flush, because the body tapers out towards the fenders. This mod is really popular on BC Suzuki Club with all the older Sidekicks that are now 20+ years old and rotting away, so I basically just modified the idea to work on mine. I've also done this on my old 97 Kick as well as an 89 FJ62. Some guys on BC Zuks say they wish they did 6" wide tubing to add more sideways protection. I have a pair of old 2x2 rock sliders from my old Tacoma that I was thinking about adding as s side step...just weighing the pros and cons of doing that:

Pros: added side protection, ease of access to roof rack, maybe a step for the kids, deals with the "missing pieces" look by the bottoms of the flares effectively
Cons: added weight (guessing 20 lbs per side), possibly annoying ankle-biter when getting in and out, more leverage on welds on sheetmetal

In the meantime, I've since tackled the driver's side, mostly. Just need another evening or two to finish it up. Hoping to take it out next weekend and do a little early spring camping in the snow, but we'll see if I manage to finish it up enough to take outside...

I put in a late, late night last Thursday so I could take the Zuk up the mountain on Friday. I'm still planning on finishing it with some rocker guard and maybe some matching paint, but other than that it's done and it works. I decided not to add more tubing for side protection because it didn't look good and adds a significant amount of weight. I may still make some pieces at the bottom of the flares but I don't think it's worth the effort involved, might just have to get used to the slightly unfinished look...tell me what you think, guys!


On to the winter camping pics. First things went pretty well, nice hard frozen snow with lots of traction and flotation.




Then I found the soft spot at the bottom of the hill.


With the help of several guys pushing at the back plus these awesome ATV loading ramps that matched my wheelbase exactly, it took about 2 hours to get up this 100 foot long hill. Just makes me think how nice it would have been to have a winch and not be eating dinner at 10:00 After getting the Zuk up.we spent a bit of time trying to coax my friends 1994 Land Cruiser up the same hill, but it sank almost instantly and we said forget it. All items needed at camp were loaded into the Suzuki and it went the rest of the distance into camp. Not without some more difficulty, but with 2 big boys to push on the front bumper to help me back up onto the crust every time I broke through, I managed to make it all the way to the lake, which was the idea because I had all the firewood in the trunk.




The backside of Hudson Bay Mountain as viewed from the frozen Dennis Lake

And here's a 2 1/2 minute long video of part of the drive out in the morning, which was a piece of cake compared to the drive in because we weren't breaking trail, plus the temperature was below 0 again compared to around +15C the afternoon before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVD_c2XEpbA

I finished up the rock sliders with some rock guard and black paint. Also installed Trail Tough's new 3:1 low range gears! It was pretty straightforward except for the VERY IMPORTANT NOTE NOT INCLUDED IN THE INSTRUCTIONS: take care NOT to drop the THIRD STEEL DETENT BALL inside the transfer case after removing the two shift shafts and two detent balls!!!! I couldn't believe there was no warning provided about this in the instructions and I made sure to let them know right away!





I tried it out on a steep but not too technical mountain trail on Saturday and it seems to work well. The engine isn't lugging the whole way up the mountain, and on the way down it's no longer necessary to use the brake pedal at all. I would confidently say that these are the gears Suzuki should have built these trucks with. Can't wait to get many more miles out of them down the road.

Thanks for that "mini-review", and the warning - I'm thinking about the Trail Savage gear set myself (have the instructions right in front of me), but all of the details I found on line are a repeat of the Trail Tough introductory blurb, rather than personal experience.

I just went out for a good long trail ride today and I gotta say again...these are the gears Suzuki should have built these trucks with! It completely changes the driving dynamic from a fast, gutless trot to a smooth, controlled climb with torque available if required. I was amazed by how much more traction it feels like there is with the tires at 15 psi and the new 3:1 low range gears, simply because it's not bouncing and scrambling, but just moving forward slow and steady. I guess a good way to describe it, now it feels like the suspension can keep up with the vehicle! And then on the way down I found myself loving that I don't need to ride the brake pedal down all the steep parts. Quite often 1st gear is almost too low if you don't give it any throttle. 2nd gear works all right until the steeper or rougher parts, then it's back to 1st. There's also 1st/Hi which might be somewhere between 1st/Lo and 2nd/Lo, but I didn't think about that until later.

Dropping into the creek:










My son really enjoyed the drive up. There were lots of waterfalls, creeks, and snowpiles to keep him entertained.






This photo was taken on a narrow, off-camber section that leans you toward the edge of the trail with a long fall below you. There is a 1990's Toyota 4Runner somewhere down there as proof that someone didn't make it safely. The picture came out fuzzy but you can see the difference in the angle of the flatter road ahead and the inclinometer- that's 30 degrees!

If I'm recalling correctly, when I did the math, H1 fell between L2 & L3 - reading your post makes me want to run out and buy a set - my dilemma is that I have to "spread the love" around, I've already spent quite a bit on my GV this year, and I've got another vehicle that needs some attention also...

Love doesn't divide, it multiplies! Get your gears and do some wheeling!

Went out on a family trip- camped at the campground on Ferry Island in Terrace, then next day went to Exstew Falls about 45 km west of Terrace. Wasn't much of a 4wd route but the falls were fairly excellent and I'd been wanting to do this since last fall so now was the time!











The cross is a memorial of an ATVer killed in an accident up here in 2013. RIP.

Here is the Exstew River, where there is a forestry campsite and opportunities for fishing and paddling down the river from the bridge up the road

My friend was itching to take his Land Cruiser out, so I led him up the Dome with the Zuk:



The view wasn't as great as I'd hoped, thanks to a whole pile of smoke blown in from forest fires

Went up the Orange Road, an old mining road that is among the steepest in the area:

This is the most puckersome part: a steep, slightly off-camber, high-stakes climb on a loose, deep gravelly surface. I try not to think about what would happen if the brakes failed in an emergency situation:





I'm working on getting a video of the descent onto Youtube as well.