What to do with a rusted out SUbaru????

shinnlinger

Member
Neighbor wants to give me a good running but rusted out 4x4 automatic legacy sedan for no $. Mother bought it new in '92. Anyway, I am thinking I should get it to make into a gatoresque vehicle or something, but hey group brainstorm.......
 

Big Dog

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Sell it to one of those crazy SnowKatters over at FF, they like them engines .................. :yum:
 

Erik

Member
I like the off road/UTV idea.
if you have a way to shape metal, you could pull the fenders and replace them with pieces from a cut up 55 gallon barrel for mud guards. Pull the doors, cut the body behind the front seats, weld up a frame for a dump bed and line it with 3/4" treated plywood or advantech subflooring.
 

shvl73

Member
I've seen an older Subaru 4x4 that was made into a really cool off roader. Can you weld/fab a frame? It could be a fun project.
 

California

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I love my '99 Subaru Outback. (Legacy with lifter blocks under the suspension). It will run dirt roads fastest of anything I've owned. This road is typical, with a few 'slow to 5mph' obstacles in between 35mph stretches.
PIC00881rRoad@TurkeyTown.jpg
Subaru's AWD is really front wheel drive with rear wheel assist. The AWD engages, softly, as the wheel speed sensors sense the front wheels turning faster than the rears. (A/T version) The M/T version has the same effect but by binding up the front-rear open differential when speeds differ. This is excellent for maintaining traction at speed, on dirt or snow, basically rally conditions, because it prevents the front wheels from losing traction.

However - it's no offroad vehicle. The limited wheel travel and low clearance make it unsuitable for low speed rock-crawling. When I visit the mining claim I come down this grade dead-slow.

DSCN1154rSub@Claim.jpg

The lowest point underneath is a thousand dollars worth of exhaust manifolds. The pipes from the two sides meet at two catalytic converters right under the driver's set. High-center it and you've trashed the car. Even fabricating a suitable armored replacement would be a substantial project.

At the mining claim the only way out is steep, loose, rough and while climbing you have to cross gullys a foot deep, on a diagonal. Insufficient wheel travel left me with tires spinning the last time I was up there and it took several tries to climb that grade. Filling the gullies with rocks didn't help, they got tossed everywhere. I finally pruned the bushes on the left to run my tires on that relatively even surface.

Claim-lowerdriveway.jpg

I use mine often with a one ton trailer, in place of pickup truck, to take ladders down in the orchard for harvest or for general hauling. I bought the A/T version specifically to get maximum torque at zero mph, for example for for climbing out of a ditch delicately instead of with one big clutch-dumping lurch. There isn't any low range but the A/T torque converter gives gearing that can spin all four wheels.

P1530434rYM186D-onTrailer.JPG

In summary - it's a road car. You might use a cut down one as a dune buggy, at speed, but forget jeep-type bouldercrawling.

Those engines and drivetrains are popular. Those components are light, indestructible, and unique among FWD's in that the transmission is behind the engine like a RWD which makes adapting it a lot easier. I suggest sell the drivetrain.
 

California

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Yep! New toys! Another elderly Yanmar. This one was sorely neglected but it seems to run like new.

Here is the YM186D hauling harvest ladders. (For berry-picking, in this photo). I have used the Subaru for this task but it's kinda iffy whether it can drag that trailer back up the deeply-disced, loose slopes to get back to the house. The little Yanmar, at half the Subaru's weight, does it effortlessly.
attachment.php


And here's a thread showing it doing some actual farm work this spring. It's perfect for slipping under the trees in the orchard where the YM240 won't fit. (Note the branch in front of the steering wheel).

I kept the YM240 for its 5 ft wide loader and for carrying the backhoe that stays on it most of the time now.
 
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Joe Llamahead

New member
I have been kicking around an idea of making an amphibious machine like an Argo 6 wheel. Using a Subaru engine and transaxle. Basicly uild a heavy duty Jonboat. Mount the engine midship.Drive the wheels with the font wheel drive part(chain or gearboxes) and use the shaft going to the rear diff to drive. Jet drive or outdrive.
It would be a big project but mega cool to use in swampy conditions
 

California

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I love it!

Please, start a thread and post lots of photos if you decide to go ahead with this.

And - Welcome!
 
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