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Author Topic: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.  (Read 1206 times)

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Offline stewie

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Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« on: February 07, 2017, 09:57:22 AM »
my wife and i decided to hold off on getting a UTV for the farm.

"stewie be crazy!" they say. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Stewie will be pretty much out of debt by late april and we don't want to take on more debt (loans, etc)...so we are opting to make a few mods to my Subaru Forester in the mean time. A decent UTV that we would be comfortable with is in the ballpark of $13000 and that's insane right now. ATV's are out of the question for safety reasons.

My land is blackland prairie. It is absent rocks and/or anything that would rip my undercarriage up, but i do have a few ravines, depressions and when it rains (even a little).... lots of mud. The subaru is small and nimble enough to get around the area, but I am mulling over dropping the rim size down to 16" so i can throw some AT's or more aggressive tires on it. I do need to maintain a nice ride quality as i do commute into hell a few days a week, but the car rarely leaves the property on the weekends now. It's got a hitch and i have one of hitch cargo beds I can use for moving equipment around.

Other enhancements will be a brush guard, high output lights (i am often traipsing around at night) and a winch (not sure if possible with this type of vehicle).

Any suggestions would be great.
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Offline EL TATE

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Re: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2017, 10:32:29 AM »
What year is the forester? I'm sure there are one or two characters like you out in "Seatthell" with some hipster esq mods to their subarus like you're talking about. I say hipster because they would never actually use the mods, but hey, it's something to talk about while waxing your beard and drinking out of test tubes while eating deconstructed tacos. I helped a buddy back in the 90's setup his legacy wagon w/ 33" mud terrains and a custom grill guard and it was a very capable off road.. car. I would say first thing, make sure you can fit 16" wheels; your disc brakes may be too big for the smaller diameter rim.
Husband, Father, Gear guy, Patriot.

Offline stewie

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Re: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2017, 10:46:24 AM »
What year is the forester? I'm sure there are one or two characters like you out in "Seatthell" with some hipster esq mods to their subarus like you're talking about. I say hipster because they would never actually use the mods, but hey, it's something to talk about while waxing your beard and drinking out of test tubes while eating deconstructed tacos. I helped a buddy back in the 90's setup his legacy wagon w/ 33" mud terrains and a custom grill guard and it was a very capable off road.. car. I would say first thing, make sure you can fit 16" wheels; your disc brakes may be too big for the smaller diameter rim.

2011. apparently i can go down to 16's. the trim level i have has the optional 17's

BTW - love the hipster lingo. hahahaha i gotta save that for all the snowflakes around the austin area here.
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Offline EL TATE

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Re: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2017, 11:37:29 AM »
Austin and Seattle are basically the same but with less/more rain. (shudder). It can certainly be done, but where do you start/stop? obviously you'd need way more stickers than this guy, but I'm thinking something along these lines but to a less image more functional extent.
Husband, Father, Gear guy, Patriot.

Offline EL TATE

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Re: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2017, 01:25:14 PM »
http://www.subtle-solutions.com/index.php?cPath=21_24_29_52

these guys were at SEMA last year and had some really nice rides.
Husband, Father, Gear guy, Patriot.

Offline stewie

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Re: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2017, 01:35:07 PM »
http://www.subtle-solutions.com/index.php?cPath=21_24_29_52

these guys were at SEMA last year and had some really nice rides.

lol. i dont need some SEMA pimp mobile. I just need a few utilitarian upgrades.
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Offline stlaser

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Re: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2017, 04:25:55 PM »
Stewie, scrolling thru their site briefly it looks like Tate sent you to the right company.......

Sema ain't all bling.
Living in the remote north hoping Ken doesn’t bring H up here any time soon…..

Offline EL TATE

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Re: Beefing up the Granola Burner... a little.
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2017, 01:03:15 PM »
They usually use customers' pimped out rides for rolling billboards but these guys make a good, simple quality product, and it's from here.
Husband, Father, Gear guy, Patriot.

 

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