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The Royal Nonesuch posted:I'm just over halfway through reading this thread you linked, but congratulations on causing my work performance to suffer on of our busiest days of the year. I kept stopping to obsessively read it on my phone. All I can say is what the gently caress - I'm all for a good adventure but this guy's brass balls are crossing firmly over into brass brain. As far as I can tell he didn't even have a socket set or a tube of RTV, but he brought his wife/girlfriend???? loving crazy, but what a fantastic story. Yeah, that part was mindblowing. If they'd brought a spare third member (when both of your diffs use the same one and you're gonna be 500 miles out in the bush that's not the craziest idea...), some bolts, some axleshafts, some RTV and seals, and a winch, they would have suffered a LOT less. That's actually where most of the suggestions I made came from, but I'm sure I missed some important ones as I haven't read that thread in a year or two.
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Dec 31, 2015 16:24
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This is literally how I mended the exhaust on my jeep pickup truck a month ago.
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Dec 31, 2015 16:36
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Sandbagger SA posted:This is literally how I mended the exhaust on my jeep pickup truck a month ago. The Tool thread recommended the Clamptite tool as a general-use addition to my travel pack. Does this thread also recommend those as an alternative to carrying a bunch of hose lamps around? Basically it's a little wire-twisting tool that's supposed to be great for making clamps, binding items together, etc: http://clamptool.com
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Dec 31, 2015 17:59
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Kevin Kelly seems to like it, which is a pretty good endorsement in my book. http://kk.org/cooltools/clamptite/
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Dec 31, 2015 18:20
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:The Tool thread recommended the Clamptite tool as a general-use addition to my travel pack. Does this thread also recommend those as an alternative to carrying a bunch of hose lamps around? Basically it's a little wire-twisting tool that's supposed to be great for making clamps, binding items together, etc: http://clamptool.com
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Dec 31, 2015 18:53
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What's better - $40 tool plus wire, or a bunch of hose clamps? For hoses, which is what they are showing these used on, hose clamps seem gently caress-loads easier and they usually work just fine. I can definitely see the usefulness of being able to bind with wire on a farm or something, but it's seems like there would be little use on the trail. e: nm, I guess you can fix tools and stuff with it too. Astonishing Wang fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Dec 31, 2015 |
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Dec 31, 2015 19:21
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Astonishing Wang posted:e: nm, I guess you can fix tools and stuff with it too. You could technically do that with hose clamps too, but with some bulk wire on hand you don't need to sweat whether or not you have the right clamps still in your stash. I'm not gonna rush out and buy one, but I did stick it on my Amazon wishlist for shits and grins.
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Dec 31, 2015 19:35
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For someone out in the bush with limited tool space one of those with a spool of wire seems way more useful than a hose clamp assortment.
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Dec 31, 2015 19:47
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Didn't get very dirty but I went to the Hokitika Gorge for a look today, hadn't been out there despite living here for a year and a half. Saw a monster trout in the river from the swing bridge then did a bit of boulder hopping down a creek with the Cruiser into the main Hoki riverbed to do some fishing. Has great clearance even with 31s compared to my Surf with 31s 
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Jan 1, 2016 07:10
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Just got an opportunity to buy my uncles JK for way less than market price. 2009 2 door JK X. Has minor surface rust spots here and there on the paint [metallic orange], soft top, base truck. Frame and everything is fine, just surface rust, no rot, about 75,000 miles. Needs a new clutch, and all and all I can get it for... uh really really cheap since it needs to be fixed and re-registered. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on it. It'll give me a canadian 4x4 for a few months and then I can import it back to the US, clean up the cosmetic issues and sell it for a profit if I need to. Since the H1 is pretty much more or less finished/complete , I need another project to work on anyways.  I'm wondering if there's anything I should look out for. I looked under the carpet, no rot or anything, crawled all over, everything is still stock, just need a good cleaning. I'd probably redo/repaint the chassis down the road. Might add a rear locker and leave the rest as is. Not familiar with the 3.8 engine. Big K of Justice fucked around with this message at 07:26 on Jan 1, 2016 |
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Jan 1, 2016 07:23
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kastein posted:Here's a similar story, which you should read end to end and not make the same mistakes they did - http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/50799-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo-Lubumbashi-to-Kinshasa I'm only partway through the Congo thread, but it is pretty fascinating. Though agreeing with Royal Nonesuch that this dude didn't just [i]push[o] his luck, he shoved it down, kicked it in the ribs, and beat his luck with a lead pipe and still somehow made it through okay. I'm still terrible at visually identifying trucks and his badges are covered by his brush guards and whatnot, is that a Landrover he's got? Model? I particularly winced at some of the parts where he had run-ins with cops. I've dealt with cops and shakedowns a lot in Liberia, and generally managed to get out of them through some combination of "friendly but not deferential", emphasizing the (claimed) keen interest that big players have in my work, and stumbled onto great results with the ex-military angle since Liberians loving love Marines. So now every single time I get pulled over it's "Good afternoon, I'm Retired Marine Captain TTFA, how is everything?" So yeah, cops are a hassle... but then I realize that this is Liberia where they consider themselves to be America's little brother, they love Marines, and the US gov spends a shitload of money here. So I can't imagine what it's like being a white Belgian guy in Congo with a basic "my nation enslaved, raped, mutilated, and totally ripped off your country until driven out by force" narrative going on behind every interaction. So, hope he's still out there and truckin'. Quick question re the Suzuki Jimny. Are there any other cars I should be looking at seriously in the Mini-4x4 category? For a moment I noticed that the Rav4 actually has measurements kinda similar to the Jimny but with a much larger engine, but on second look the Rav4 simply isn't a real offroad truck as much as it's a scaled-up road car, yes? I have friends who love theirs for rural highways and some light cargo/towing, but it's not really a viable offroad truck, is it? I glanced at some threads and people talk about the lack of lift points, lots of exposed sensitive stuff in the underbody, AWD is simply not 4x4, etc. I was momentarily hopeful since there are just tons of RAV4s rolling around Monrovia, but come to think of it there's probably a reason I never see NGOs or the UN rolling one in the bush. Or overall am I just putting way too much thought into this whole "get a tiny/agile/light SUV for offroad" niche and should just be sticking with Landcruisers and Hiluxes?
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Jan 5, 2016 18:21
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
The older 90s Jimnys (I'm not sure about the new ones that can't come into the US) have fairly bullet proof solid axles and leaf springs. While they don't make for the most comfortable ride, they are pretty easy to fix or replace if and when they do fail.
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Jan 5, 2016 18:34
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Continuing to keep an eye out for Jimnies in Liberia. I don't see a ton here, but I see a scattering of mostly newer ones. The Suzuki Grand Vitara is relatively common though, so there's definitely some Suzuki presence. I read up a little on the other "mini SUVs" that are allegedly off-road capable, but not seeing anything really parallel, a lot of the vaguely similar cars being more AWD crossovers that aren't really bush cars. One interesting possible exception: Daihatsu Terios. I'd see it mentioned but ignored it because is never heard of it, but saw two of them downtown this weekend. Tiny little thing, but apparently it's a true 4WD and people do actually off-road with them. Other than my obsession with getting a tiny SUV for niche purposes, I've been doing more scoping of mid-sized SUV options since our company does need to add another truck to our Liberia crew. We got a 2002 Pathfinder last month, but that's our city car for getting around. I debated trying to get the bosses to put some bush upgrades on the PF and give it to me for field work and just get themselves a city driver, even a Corolla, for around the capital. But thought better of it since it's probably optimal that every vehicle we own be bush-capable so that in an emergency we can scramble all our vehicles to go to the bush, whether to help evacuate staff, move emergency supplies, or flee the country (always a valid concern). I've been doing more looking at the Nissan Xterra, which would be smaller and notably cheaper than a Landcruiser, and seems reasonably capable. EDIT: South Africa seems to have a huge Jimny scene, and I'm looking to go down to Capetown for a month or two of downtime after this gig until our next one (also probably Liberia...) fires up. I'll have to see if I can find a chance to rent or borrow a Jimny and explore some in that area. Also I have a longer term goal of wanting to get out of West Africa and down to South or East Africa, especially Mozambique since I speak Portuguese, and given SA's economic ties to Mozambique I'd imagine a lot of SA-sourced cars there. Maybe by the time I finally get a Jimny it'll be right-side driver? TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 13:35 on Jan 10, 2016 |
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Jan 10, 2016 13:31
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Continuing to keep an eye out for Jimnies in Liberia. I don't see a ton here, but I see a scattering of mostly newer ones. The Suzuki Grand Vitara is relatively common though, so there's definitely some Suzuki presence. I had a standard 4door Vitara i4 5speed 4x4. I honestly really enjoyed it until the aluminum diff case exploded.  My understanding is that the Gran Vitara has a steel diff case but I would be sure to check that out before hand since it didn't take much to make mine poo poo its guts all over the driveway.
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Jan 11, 2016 04:49
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They also have the tendency to go tits-up unexpectedly due to a faulty "You-rolled-over-I'm-gonna-cut-the-fuel-off-now" safety switch.
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Jan 11, 2016 06:04
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Continuing to keep an eye out for Jimnies in Liberia. I don't see a ton here, but I see a scattering of mostly newer ones. The Suzuki Grand Vitara is relatively common though, so there's definitely some Suzuki presence. I read up a little on the other "mini SUVs" that are allegedly off-road capable, but not seeing anything really parallel, a lot of the vaguely similar cars being more AWD crossovers that aren't really bush cars. One interesting possible exception: Daihatsu Terios. I'd see it mentioned but ignored it because is never heard of it, but saw two of them downtown this weekend. Tiny little thing, but apparently it's a true 4WD and people do actually off-road with them. I don't think the Terios, at least the newer one, has a low range, so I think the Jimny would be preferable.
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Jan 11, 2016 20:25
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powderific posted:I don't think the Terios, at least the newer one, has a low range, so I think the Jimny would be preferable. Man, really seems the Jimny is in a class of its own. Admittedly a class with features like "over twice the engine displacement of my 1991 Kawasaki Ninja 500". I guess I'm just kinda surprised that there aren't more micro-4x4s out there. Is it just that there isn't a lot of crossover between "people who like tiny kei cars" and "people who like SUVs"? Is there really not much utility for a small/light 4x4, or is the Jimny just in the awkward spot where people tend to either break smaller and get an ATV, or break bigger and get a slightly larger SUV? EDIT: Okay, maybe there are more options when you get outside the US-spere, Skoda Yeti, Nissan Qashqai, Dacia Duster, etc. Still seems a pretty small niche though. Turns out Jeep's Renegade is pretty Jimny-ish, though again I'm not a fan of American-brand cars and Jeep parts availability is poor in West Africa. That said, interesting article from last year mentions that Jeep is planning a 4x4 even smaller than the Renegade for markets in the developing world: http://www.motoring.com.au/jeep-plotting-sub-renegade-micro-suv-49105/ TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jan 13, 2016 |
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Jan 13, 2016 01:15
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The Jimmy is pretty much the only tiny 4wd I can think of with a proper chassis, suspension etc. Everything else is dressed up cars I got bored and cleaned, degreased, and resprayed inside my rear wheel arches on the cruiser with rubberised underbody liner, then did the whole chassis pretty much with fish oil. Before   After  Also got a high lift jack mount & a used jack for cheap, have to mount the jack upside down otherwise it ruins my angles.  Gearbox appears to have a moderately severe oil leak, been away from home for 9 days and there's a big stain on the concrete under there, dunno if it's PTO, gearbox or tfer case. Will pull the bash plate off and degrease and try track it down. Also have a pretty bad sag from back to front, looks like the truck has been lifted at some point but the front springs aren't up to it anymore. Doing some more work on the winch housing in the next couple of weeks but if ditching the steel cable for a nylon one doesn't lift the front a bit I'll have to get some new springs I guess?
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Jan 16, 2016 04:33
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Man, really seems the Jimny is in a class of its own. Admittedly a class with features like "over twice the engine displacement of my 1991 Kawasaki Ninja 500". I guess I'm just kinda surprised that there aren't more micro-4x4s out there. The US market combined with regulations on emissions and vehicle safety have pretty much destroyed the small 4x4 and truck here.
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Jan 16, 2016 18:40
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Hello, would I be an idiot for flipping a beat up ZJ Grand Cherokee for a Suzuki Samurai? I have a friend who is really into Jeeps and owned the Samurai as a project vehicle, but now that he's finished with working on it he wants to work on a Jeep and proposed a trade. The Samurai has a recently rebuilt engine, transmission sounds good and doesn't struggle, 4WD intact. Nice timing, didn't know there was a Samurai discussion going
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Jan 16, 2016 19:51
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Top Hats Monthly posted:Hello, would I be an idiot for flipping a beat up ZJ Grand Cherokee for a Suzuki Samurai? I have a friend who is really into Jeeps and owned the Samurai as a project vehicle, but now that he's finished with working on it he wants to work on a Jeep and proposed a trade. The Samurai has a recently rebuilt engine, transmission sounds good and doesn't struggle, 4WD intact. Do it, there's so many more ZJs than Samurais that you will never not win out on that deal.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:29
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Get the Samurai, get a lift kit on it, and know you've made me very jealous I've seen three Jimnies in Liberia this week, a 90s, a 00s, and a 10s, so looks like each decade of them drifts in here. Still need to collar one of the owners and ask what shop is best for finding/fixing them around here. Though I'm becoming quite curious about Jeep's "smaller than the Renegade" tentative concept.
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Jan 18, 2016 00:30
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We've had an unusual amount of rain the past month in the Northern Territory, took some time to enjoy it. Mine is the blue 80 series Landcruiser       
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Jan 19, 2016 14:01
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It is -20°C here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA this morning and those photos are simultaneously frustrating and beautiful
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Jan 19, 2016 14:08
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I'm only partway through the Congo thread, but it is pretty fascinating. Though agreeing with Royal Nonesuch that this dude didn't just [i]push[o] his luck, he shoved it down, kicked it in the ribs, and beat his luck with a lead pipe and still somehow made it through okay. I'm still terrible at visually identifying trucks and his badges are covered by his brush guards and whatnot, is that a Landrover he's got? Model? HJ75/HZJ75 Troopcarrier is what hes got... And what the gently caress was he doing to bust those diffs? those cruisers didnt have a lot of power to start with (the 2H even more so than the 1HZ) and those diffs are huge on that model! quote:Or overall am I just putting way too much thought into this whole "get a tiny/agile/light SUV for offroad" niche and should just be sticking with Landcruisers and Hiluxes? For maximum simplicity and bush readyness- your looking at a non turbo landcruiser. 1HZ engine, solid axles front and rear, depending on if its a post 1999 model or not, coils front/leafs rear, if its earlier, leaf/leaf. Big solid axles, solid drive train, engine will literally run off two 6v dolphin torch batteries in series to keep the fuel solenoid open if you can bump start it and will run on diesel with sticks and leaves in it. Even comes in the option of the bush bread box or a ute! I may be biased tho..... <---------
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Jan 19, 2016 14:39
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Ferremit posted:Landcruiser I can endorse this couse of action. My former landlord had a cruiser 5 speed with a straight six and it gave me a car chubby everytime I saw it. 
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Jan 19, 2016 14:50
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Sandbagger SA posted:I can endorse this couse of action. ive had my 4.2L I6 Turbodiesel landcruiser for 5 years now and turning the key every morning still makes me smile.
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Jan 20, 2016 14:23
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Sandbagger SA posted:I can endorse this couse of action. I'm super jealous of the five speed. That's the next big thing for my 60, the four speed is fine most of the time but pretty miserable on the highway.  I picked this up in California last May while traveling around the country (sold my '05 Legacy GT manual to a guy in Oregon to get this) and drove it back to Maine this November. Tucked it away for the winter but I can't wait to get back to it. I rebuilt the steering knuckles, put in an OME suspension and stuck 33's on it this summer while living in Portland, Oregon and it's a blast. skinner fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Jan 20, 2016 |
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Jan 20, 2016 18:54
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I'm heading back up into the Liberian bush tomorrow morning, so this time I'll try to get some good photos of bush driving conditions for y'all. I drove some really cool little back trails where I didn't get any photos because I was in 4L trying not to bog down or slide off the road, until eventually I hit a soft spot and sank to the axle and gave two local farmboys a box of Clif Bars each to shove the car out of the hole for me. The tiny road I think I'll just bicycle next time to save my axles, but here's what the "main road" looks like up where I work. Here's an area where the county road crew recently rolled through to do a Fern Gully:  EDIT: and I'll take some exterior and interior shots of my lovely rig, a Red China-made JAC that on any individual trip costs more to repair than it does to fuel. Great little Mitsubishi engine, but ghastly truck and we have several employees who refuse to ride in it anymore. EDIT2: Rain and downed trees up in the highlands, so departure pushed back a day. I'll aim to post some engine shots today while we're dicking around. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Jan 20, 2016 19:58
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Landcruisers are pretty much the best
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Jan 22, 2016 00:48
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If I never post on SA again it's probably because I died trying to pilot this piece of poo poo through a patch of wet clay and slid off a cliff.  I'm bringing a shitload of zip-ties for the inevitable breakdown. I'll take pics. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 01:25
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Is that a Jac Stallion?
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Jan 22, 2016 05:36
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CharlieWhiskey posted:Is that a Jac Stallion? It's a model HFC 1027, which best as I can tell is their T6 pickup, itself a revamp of their Ford F150 ripoff they got yelled at a bunch for, sued by Ford, etc. The front wheels keep trying to work their way off the axle, the alignment goes off if you so much as sneeze, and last big trip a battery clamp rattled loose and somehow managed to bounce off and ground on the frame, blowing out my front headlights in the middle of night driving. The silver lining is that we don't actually own this monstrosity, just borrowing it. Long/short we're a pretty small firm with very minimal capitalization, and we had a dire need for a pickup for a bioenergy project up in the bush. We're buddies with an expat managing a larger company's Liberia operations, and their work has been slow so they had over a dozen trucks just wilting under the African sun in their motor pool, so we hit him up to see if we could cut a deal to borrow a vehicle, since formal rentals of decent trucks are really drat expensive in Liberia (renting a truck for our three month project would've cost as much as buying a beater truck). He had some great gear, so we were optimistic, but when we got to his motor pool he walks us past all his big Ford and Chevy rigs, stops at this dented and rusting JAC with bald tires and says "it needs some work, but you can borrow this as long as you bring it back better then it went out". Little did we know that would turn into an exciting adventure in guessing which part of the JAC would fail next, and if/when it would run out of new things to fail.
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Jan 22, 2016 09:43
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Good luck Jaccin' it, TTFA. Don't get any in your eyes. How's the interior? I find Chinese cars are either a weird pretend luxury (think Chrysler Sebring) or lawn tractors.
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Jan 22, 2016 15:50
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Good luck Jaccin' it, TTFA. Don't get any in your eyes. The interior is pretty basic, like a Toyota Corolla but a little shoddier. Also the JAC... has reached a point where it is no longer sustainable so let us never speak of this truck again. So since the JAC is out of the running, the boss man and I are planning our last trip up into the bush for this gig. We don't have to haul any large amount of gear and no more than five passengers, so the dilemma is whether to rent a Nissan Patrol or Landcruiser for 10-15 days, or to take our primary household car, a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder, up into the bush. Initially the boss was really against taking the Nissan because if it goes down we don't have any transport of our own around Monrovia. I argued though that since renting a large SUV is going to cost us *minimum* $100 a day, I'd rather put $500 of work into the Nissan to make sure it's ready for the bush, and drive carefully and hope we don't cause more than $1000 of damage to it out there. We're already doing a few hundred of basic PMs and fluid changes before heading up, and I've sold him on spending roughly $500ish to upgrade the vehicle itself. Given that the tires are fine, what should be the first upgrade for a Pathfinder that we plan to take for many hours along badly washed/rutted dirt roads in the West African jungle? My total non-expert guess would be a skid plate, since even in downtown Monrovia we had trouble this week when both our front tires went down into a partially-covered gutter running *across* the roadway (apparently you're supposed to dive into the oncoming lane where there are some strips of concrete block laid down to bridge the gap, but boss thought the gap was just small enough for the tires to make it, he was wrong). I would also guesstimate that a skid-plate might not be too hard to find used at a scrapyard since the Pathfinder is pretty popular here. 1996-2004 Pathfinders all take the same skid kits, and I think that period has some compatibility with the Xterra. Or am I over-assessing the risk of damage from bumping down ruts and all, and instead the priority should something different? Shocks? Brush bar? Brakes? Snorkel? Light bar? Or, given that we're running just regular street tires (of indeterminate age but decent tread) on it now, would upgrading to new off-road tires be the best investment? TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Feb 4, 2016 |
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Feb 4, 2016 13:06
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It definitely seems like the skid plate is a good way to go - what about a cheap lift kit? I know zero about the pathfinder but perhaps there's a spacer lift you can add to get the body an inch or two further away from trouble? Get the skid plate. I have one that I've never hit (radiator) and a few that I scrape almost every time I go out. I've never regretted a skid plate, aside from the one on my front diff that I had to cut off with an angle grinder.
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Feb 4, 2016 16:55
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I'd see if you can find a couple of spare wheel/tire combos, if you don't already have a good full-size spare already. 2 spare tires, already mounted on wheels, is a great insurance policy. Skidplates would be good, as would a simple body lift if you can find one cheaply.
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Feb 4, 2016 17:14
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I dunno about your Monrovia, but at the junkyard in my Monrovia skid plates are quite cheap Wouldn't hurt, that's for sure. Good quality offroad/all-terrain tires make such a big difference in adverse conditions, so I gotta suggest those. I had some average level ATs on my jeep and thought they were fine and had some good trips with them. When I finally upgraded to something more aggressive it was like night and day. I don't even have to engage 4wd as much as I did before. Other than that, maybe spend the cash on a Rubbermaid bin filled with good spare parts? Belts/ujoints/radiator hose/spare starter/tirepatch kit/etc.
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Feb 4, 2016 17:38
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I'm a little hesitant to get into lifts until we have a little more budget, and I'd want to be really selective as to who I let install something like that, so will have to ask other expats who they trust. My understanding too is that lifting should usually be synchronized with decisions about new tires, but four decent new tires will cost at-minimum US$600-800 for the four. A snorkel is supposed to help performance by improving airflow, it's not only for fording rivers, right? I'd been under that misapprehension, but read up a little online and see how that in general it's supposed to help provide cleaner/cooler air, cutting back on filter clogging and improving firing. I'm still pondering snorkel because if I can find a used one on a wreck, labor is incredibly cheap here so installation will be nothing. I don't know how vaguely cross-compatible snorkels from other makes/models are, but again with the cheap cost of labor, if a Landcruiser snorkel can remotely be fabricated/rigged to fit a Pathfinder, I'm sure those can be had cheaply because thousands of NGO/IC trucks have them all over this country. EDIT: the Pathfinder we have now is gasoline, not diesel, so does that negate snorkel utility? The Pathfinder isn't planned to be a constant dirt-road vehicle so I don't want to go absolutely crazy with it. But I have argued to the boss that we do want any key vehicles we own to be reasonably capable of dealing with rough conditions, in case we have to scramble up into the bush, or in case everything goes to poo poo and we need to make our way overland to the nearest international border. I'm still pushing to get a Jimny for site inspections (which involve just one or two people and minimal equipment), but more realistically something small but with some cargo capacity would probably be the next thing. I'm pushing for a not-too-old Nissan Xterra with proper bush upgrades (and we'd keep the Pathfinder for the city and as backup) or equivalently tricked-out 4Runner. As fringe options I'm reading up more on the Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero/Shogun, and the Honda CR-V is extremely popular in Monrovia so I'm trying to figure out if one would be any good in the bush since there must be plenty of used ones floating around. Though my understanding is that the CR-V, like the RAV4, is more a pseudo-SUV crossover rather than a serious rig? The Toyota Landcruiser just comes with such a high premium here, even heavily used (as does to a lesser degree the Nissan Patrol), so I've really been looking at the more mid- and event compact 4x4 vehicles since we're mostly moving people and small amounts of gear in the bush, and when there's heavy moving we just hire a heavy truck with crew to do it. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Feb 4, 2016 |
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Feb 4, 2016 18:44
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Tyres, tyres, tyres. If you can, go up a profile size to get a little more clearance. But if you have decent tyres you have more traction to play with, and can take your time over sections where you would need to brute force with momentum if you didn't have traction, meaning less chance of breaking stuff. Decent tyres also gives you a chance of staying on top of, instead of in ruts. Making ground clearance less of an issue. On the skid plate front, have a look underneath how exposed certain parts are and how critical they are. Bashing an exhaust is no biggie but crushing a fuel line or holing a sump is bad times. FWIW we have a lovely FWD estate car (Chevrolet lacetti) that we use off road at work, and with the only modification being mud and snow tyres in a 65 profile instead of 55. It will plod along anywhere up to a point, it's saving grace being a sump way above the front crossmember, and that it has just enough power in first to pull along without breaking traction or stalling.
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