Recent content by loweredexpectations4x4

So fare I love them! It’s a little looser than it was stock. You can tell it’s got no sway bar. But it’s really manageable. It’s still not as bad as a stock XJ Cherokee. Lol

I’ve gotten to take the forester out on some early season shake down runs. A couple easy weekend trips up the north coast and the Sierras. Everything worked really well! The awning works really well and the new suspension solved problems I didn’t even know were bothering me.

The forester has always sagged pretty good when fully loaded with gear and this was not fixed by adding more roof storage/weight and the winch bumper. This was further compounded by the 150k miles on the factory struts. So a small suspension refresh and upgrade was needed. I already had a 3”...

Next up was a better roof rack system. Last year had a few pieces fall off the roof while strapped to the original roof rails. I wasn’t particularly thrilled at the selection of roof baskets specifically for the SG forester. It seems like all the nicer low profile racks cost about a grand or...

So! Finally getting around to this seasons list of upgrades to the forester. Have been accumulating parts and pieces for the forester, and with summer camping season approaching I finally got to work. first thing was adding a winch bumper. Since the forester lacks a proper low range I thought...

its got a 3" strut spacer lift on it. most of it is amazon stuff but ive gone through and found the individual spacers for the struts and the rear trailing arms as none of the full kits in my price range seemed heavy duty enough to handle what i want to do with it. ive got some heavy rear...

oreillys auto parts. I've got a commercial account with them for my shop so i get a bit of a discount.

after a long fall and winter started back on the forester. I picked my parts and upgrades with some specific trails and camping spots in mind. I replaced the old worn CV axels with some high travel ones. I added a front “skid plate” made from some shop scrap. I’ll upgrade this later to one with...

Took the forester out on its first off road camping trip! Three days in the sierras! It handled really well a for a first real off road trip! Did wind up breaking the front bumper off but that just means it’s time for some armor.

Today took the forester in to the shop to give it an inspection before heading on a three day off road trip over the forth of July. While I was I. The shop I installed a modification I’ve been working. It’s a couple relays and a resistor that take control of the AWD duty solenoid to lock the...

Nice rig! I just started building an 04 SG. I’ve been really impressed with the places these go! But I really wanted a first gen forester. But I got mine for free so beggars can’t be choosers.

Thanks!!! Even though mine is really high millage the previous owner took really good care of it mechanically. I’ve got the records on it from my shop going back to 2007. It was a well loved and well used vehicle.

Then time for it’s first test! Took a day trip out to a water Hole I know close to me. Mostly just fire roads but got to test it on some small hill climbs, rutted out side trails, and more than a few water crossings. Coming from a well built jeep im pretty impressed with how well it handled off...

Set my sights next on gaining some altitude. After a weeks of research and endless arguments and opposing views on the forums on lift and tire size limits I decided to go with 3” lift and 205/85 R16 tires to get maximum ground clearance. I decided to use a 3” strut spacer lift without dropping...

So I set to work fixing the head gasket and replacing the dirty cloth seats and carpet with a second hand black leather interior from a XT. The heated seats have been an amazing upgrade.