Article by Daniel Ho Subaru Wilderness range, come equipped with factory fitted underbody protection, they tend to be light weight protection plates and owners who take their vehicles on proper off-road adventures usually upgrade to proper heavy duty protection plates.
Typically, a 4x4 enthusiast will consider making the following modifications to their vehicle, to improve the vehicle’s off-road and touring capabilities. 1. Underbody protection 2. Recovery points
In Australia, there are two main suppliers of bash plates for Subarus, being Road-LessTravelled (run by David Wilson, a S4WDVic Club member) and SubaXtreme in NSW. Guards are available for all models of Subaru vehicles, both for the engine sump and transmission oil pans.
3. Tyres and wheels 4. Car mounted UHF Radio 5. Throttle controller 6. Roof carriage system
Recovery points
7. Lift kit
Very few 4x4 come factory equipped with proper off-road recovery points. Traditional “old school” 4x4s are built using the “Body-OnFrame” design, where the cabin body of the vehicle is placed over a chassis rail frame. Modern vehicles have adopted the unibody design where the entire body of the vehicle is part of the load carrying structure. Unibody vehicles have better road handling and are typically safer due to the intricate crumble zones designed into the frontal structures. This makes installation of rated front recovery points more problematic.
8. Bull bar 9. Snorkel 10. Differential and transmission breathers 11. Suspension and brakes upgrade 12. Differential lockers 13. Lights (Spotlights, a light bar, etc.) 14. Winch
15. Solar / Dual battery system Here we’ll examine which of the above are available for Subarus.
Underbody Protection Underbody protection such as bash plates for the engine sump and the transmission oil pan are extremely important. The oil pans of both the engine and the transmission are extremely vulnerable to punctures from impacts when offroading. While some 4x4s, including the new
The easiest way to incorporate a recovery point to the rear of the vehicle is by installing a tow bar that is compatible with a hitch recovery point (as depicted below). They are available from most 4x4 accessory outlets and simply slot into the square hitch of the tow bar.
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