Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Making the most of a cold, miserable day.
I actually managed to de-bead a tyre on the day, forcing me to take it easy for the rest of the day.

Sigh.... I must get out there again...

What pressure were your tyres at when you debeaded?

I had a faulty tyre pressure gauge and was running at 0.5 bar when I tested it with another one.

Nice learning exercise though. The '96 3.5V6 LWB is surprisingly good in the dunes when the going gets tough, but the '97 diff-lock would definitely help.

Nico.

ghost_traffic wrote:...the '97 diff-lock would definitely help.

Nico, I think the diff lock only appeared in 1998 with the Blister Fender facelift in SA. You should see about getting hold of a Blister Fender rear axle and transplanting it into your Paj. If you get the little air compressor and activation switch as well, it is a plug-and-play exercise. It does transform the vehicle's abilities in the rough.

ghost_traffic wrote:Nice learning exercise though. The '96 3.5V6 LWB is surprisingly good in the dunes when the going gets tough, but the '97 diff-lock would definitely help.

Not sure why you say surprisingly good... i think it's one of the best dune capable vehicles around IMO, without being overpowered.

I have also never been in a situation at AD where I thought a difflock would have been a major advantage. Certaily the lack of DL has not hampered me in any way.

I don't know AD well at all (I have only driven there once in a borrowed 2.8 TD Gen 2 Paj and found the fact that it is so difficult to see steep drop-offs quite scary actually.), but I know of a long, steep sandy climb close to where I live where my rear diff lock helps a lot. This is because one needs quite some momentum and the surface is sufficiently undulating to allow a wheel to spin from time to time as it lifts off. When this happens, tractive effort is reduced and momentum is lost. With the rear diff locked there is a lot less wheelspin and one progresses up the climb much more easily.

The quote I received for a rear locker and compressor fitment was R15 000. Definitely not in my budget for this year.

Rear diff-lock would be an advantage when quickly changing direction, and not for going up dunes. The vehicle has very good dune climbing abilities, but when having fun going around the smaller dunes ( figure of 8 ) the vehicle's turning circle is just too great and I cannot negotiate the turn without going nose first into the dune.

It is exactly one of these obstacles that I de-beaded the tyre which I feel would not have happened with a rear diff-lock.

Just my 2c anyway.

Nico.

ghost_traffic wrote:The vehicle has very good dune climbing abilities, but when having fun going around the smaller dunes ( figure of 8 ) the vehicle's turning circle is just too great and I cannot negotiate the turn without going nose first into the dune.

It is exactly one of these obstacles that I de-beaded the tyre which I feel would not have happened with a rear diff-lock.

Nico

I have no trouble on Figure 8... getting round there is all about technique... I have even seen a 320 Isuzu Frontier getting round there in 2WD.

ghost_traffic wrote:The quote I received for a rear locker and compressor fitment was R15 000. Definitely not in my budget for this year.

That would be for an ARB diff lock system, I assume. You might well be able to find a Blister Fender axle from a breaker's yard for a third of the price...

Gerrit Loubser wrote:

ghost_traffic wrote:The quote I received for a rear locker and compressor fitment was R15 000. Definitely not in my budget for this year.

That would be for an ARB diff lock system, I assume. You might well be able to find a Blister Fender axle from a breaker's yard for a third of the price...

When last I looked ARB didn't do a rear locker for Gen2 but I see from their catalogue they do one now. Also the best price I was ever quoted for a rear axle w/ diff lock was R6500 and that didn't include the compressor and switches etc.