"Farmizing" the Stagea

[Hertz Donut]

You hate me already, I can tell. Wall of text follows.

Our once-mint-condition PNM35 is now a neglected, dented shadow of its former glory. It's done us well but times have moved on, and the family hauler is now a Q7. The Stagea is now referred to as Farmtruck. No, sadly I haven't put a big block in it and trolled supercars at drag strips (if you know, you know).

It's currently sitting outside with 6 bales of hay in the back, because I tore my calf muscle wide open trying to get the 7th in there a couple of Saturdays ago and I'm on crutches so can't unload it. Did you know you can get 8 bales of hay in an M35? Well, now you do.

Farmtruck spends the majority of its life as a paddock support vehicle, for things like fencing, drainage, and towing a trailer for tree pruning. My property is almost entirely flat, so there's nothing too challenging most of the time, except one small uphill that gets muddy enough over Winter that I nearly bogged the tractor trying to get up it a few weeks ago.

AND SO I APPROACH MY ACTUAL STUPID, LUDICROUS, DON'T-BE-A-DICK, JEEZ-HERTZ-YOU'RE-A-MUPPET POINT...

Has anyone tried lifting an M35 by any great amount, and fitted more offroad-appropriate wheels and tyres, even A/Ts? The car's almost guaranteed to fail the WOF/roadworthy that was due a couple of weeks ago due to at least one near-bald tyre, so now is the time to consider if there's something that'll handle the slippery stuff a bit better. I guess ARX springs would lift a little bit but I suspect I'd run out of wheel arch pretty quickly so tyre circumference would have to be about the same. The AWD seems to do ok but I'll be keeping it away from the worst of the mud. I haven't had to resort to snow mode yet, that could be interesting.

I know, "just buy a ute, you moron", but honestly, if Farmtruck had ~200mm clearance and could tow about 2,500kg we'd run it forever, it's been a near-faultless hero for us for over 9 years now, fits a butt load in it, and we won't cry if we scratch it (more). Also, we already own Farmtruck, and utes are stupid money nowadays, while our budget is...not so stupid. The end result doesn't have to look pretty, it just has to work on and off road. I might even cut the back off down the line and turn it into a "proper" ute if this works out well.

You may now scoff.

[Duncan]

well......so while we've modified our C34 mainly for more whoosh.....we have also done a couple of things to help if get around the property in average conditions (bad conditions are reserved for the tractor and patrol)

Not sure exactly what snow mode does in M35, but I often use the centre diff lock in ours when the ground is tricky because it stops that issue of either front or rear spinning over uneven ground and giving up all traction as a result. It also has a working LSD in the back which helps too. For sure systems designed for reasonably flat tarmac fall down pretty quickly over soft or uneven ground so locking it up helps a lot.

The other thing we did that made a massive difference is taller wheels; it is on 245/45/18s which give a lot more ground clearance. The are wide road tyres though, so their traction in mud is poor.

We still had issues on very steep hills where there was enough traction but the oil flowed too far away from the pickup, I had to shut it down quickly and go back the long way.

I reckon if you put the biggest wheels you can fit under the guards, AT tyres and taller springs, lock the diff if possible, it should be pretty capable. Plus, for sure, cut the back off to fit more bales in.

Having said all that, an unregisterable ute is still the smart choice. It will have centre diff lock, low range, much better ground clearance and if it is mechanical diesel it will always start and run (probably poorly). Our property came with a hilux basher that we abuse when required

[Hertz Donut]

Thanks for the response, I guess ground clearance is the number 1 issue we need to deal with, we can probably get by with just the tractor in the muddy part of the year. I spent a fair bit of the Winter towing 4x4 utes out.

We crop over Summer, and while the car can still get around the paddocks after tilling it always comes out with plant remnants jammed into every nook and cranny. I might have to look for a taller wheel and tyre for the M35 though, looks like 245/45R18 is only a (*thumps calculator buttons*) 4.7mm difference in radius.

Afaik snow mode eases throttle response and starts off in 2nd gear, I don't know if it does much else. I used it on a muddy, rutted uphill section of a track on the way to a caving trip a few years ago and it handled it ok but that was nothing compared to how we ended up in July/August.

I may abandon this plan in the end and just get a kei truck or similar for the paddocks, but I think I'll look at what tyres are available for smaller SUVs first and see if there's anything I can squeeze in.

[Duncan]

Yeah sorry, to be clear, I'm not recommending that tyre size for you, for a C34 it is a lot bigger than the standard 205/55r16s I'd take the spring off one side front and rear, compress the tyre right up and see how much bigger diameter would fit and buy whatever suits that in your wheel size. 

Bigger diameter tyre makes a big difference to overall grip due to ground clearance and contact patch shape.

[Hertz Donut]

Cheers, will do. Once I'm back on two legs, of course.

[Stagea_Neo]

Some c34 inspiration

 

[iamhe77]

Funny thing, I need to replace my shagged out Bilsteins and was considering the same thing (idea provided by my pestering young fella a couple of weeks ago to do it). 

Snow mode works pretty well in mud although it is no serious 4WD, but with decent knobbly tyres would perform admirably considering it is a highway cruiser.

Haven't taken the plunge yet but I think you'll have to go higher than ARX springs.

 

On another note, what is your towbar rated at and is it custom or an "off the shelf" item over there?

[Hertz Donut]

Where'd my alert go? Sheesh...

Towbar is just an off-the-shelf item, it's only rated to 1200kg braked so if a load is big then it has to be light since my largest trailer is 680kg empty.

Still assessing options at the moment for the paddocks.