New To Forum

June 13, 2009

Hi. I'm new to this forum, and new to Toyota's. I've just bought a 1996 Rav4 automatic, and I was wondering if any members had done any serious off roading in one? Specifically, what breaks! I've had a play in some deep mud, and it managed admirably, but what are they like for cross axling, what grounds out first, what can get bent? It looks to me like the exhaust is pretty vulnerable. One tree stump could drag the whole thing off from the manifold back!

My last foray into off roading was with an old style Panda 4x4, which coped admirably. The only major 'ouch' was when the front diff was forced out of the gearbox casing when too much torque was delivered going up a hill. Other than that, it put a lot of larger more expensive vehicles to shame. When I was doing it, the Rav had only just come out, so there were not any people willing to take their brand new toys into rivers and over logs etc. No surprise there!

Also, I'm amazed at how little petrol the thing uses. How come!!!

June 13, 2009

Well this is the limitations with road tyres....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILdi1_8Mdc

Lots of Youtube links for RAV4 light to medium off roading :) , i guess an Auto box is going to limit the amount of engine braking down steep hills.

June 13, 2009

I was looking into getting some monster grabber tyres, but the bloke at the tyre shop said they'd be too noisy! As if I'd care!

As I said, I used to do it in a Panda, with no low box, and was always being shouted at for braking downhill. I showed them the consequences of *not* braking downhill once, on a wide open slope, and the thing got up to 25mph before I applied the brakes. Braking on a descent is seen as a big no no holy grail thing in off road circles, but if you're gentle and listen to the engine revs, it's fine, and indeed totally necessary under certain circumstances. I don't see it as a problem, and have yet to be caught out. Meanwhile, the Range Rovers and Land Rovers and Suzuki Jeeps lock up all four wheels at the first whiff of braking and spin round to face backwards. Quite funny!

PS, the bloke in the mud hole did it all wrong. :)