2006 Ubaru Forester

[tcederwall]

Hello Overlanders! New member #2467 here!

My wife and I bought the Forester just over a year ago to replace my 1966 Plymouth Barracuda as my daily driver. I never had any set plans on doing much with it, but after a couple trips and seeing the growing community of offroad subarus, ideas started to flow.

Here is whats been done so far:

Blacked out rims
Upgraded Front Brakes
Custom front lightbar
Window Tint
New Stereo from 2011 Subaru
Yakima round bars
Nilight Led Lights - 12in on front, 2 4in on top
Thule cargo carrier
Yell0w Fog lights
Rally armor mudflaps



Here is the plan for the future:

Tires
Lift
Awning
some sort of radio communications
Steel bumpers?


Here's to many adventures to come!

Tim

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

Welcome and nice Subaru @Forester06! With the plans you have I'm looking forward to seeing it grow. Feel free to include yourself in this thread https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/subaru-owners-registry.3450/

 

[Explore Maine]

Welcome Forester06! I'm looking forward to seeing your future mods.

 

[Young Satchel]

Awesome man another wagon joins the gang. Im Volvoing not Subaruing but nothing but love for my fellow dirt wagon bros [emoji1306]

 

[expeditionnorth]

Welcome and nice rig
I cringe at the thought of you letting a 66 Cuda go, though I miss my 73 gold duster too

 

[tcederwall]

Welcome and nice rig
I cringe at the thought of you letting a 66 Cuda go, though I miss my 73 gold duster too

Still have the Cuda fortunately! Just sitting in a garage as a side project for now.

 

[tcederwall]

Quick update here:

Finally got my emblems in the mail after they jumped around post offices for a couple days! Also took a quick trip to Yosemite before our daughter is born in January.






On one of my daily searches on Craigslist I came across a set of 215/70/16 Yokohama Geolander a/t-s, barely used, and well taken care of. I couldn't resist! Drove down to Santa Cruz with a buddy to pick them up and ended up meeting a fellow Overlander (not a member on here). Got them on the other night and it is a tight fit! Rear there is no rubbing what so ever, on the front it is just on the inner wheel well plastic lining. On the drivers side I decided to cut back the liner to stop the rubbing only to find a nice metal joint sitting millimeters from my tire. Daily driving should be fine, but I will definitely be doing some slight modifying before heading offroad anywhere. Overall I thing they fit the Ubaru much better than the factory 215/60/16. Enjoy the pics below!

Any of you other Subaru rigs run the factory steelies? Is there any need for a dust cap?


Tim

 

[krzyboy2o]

Awesome ride! Love seeing more Subaru's in the Overland community!

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

Looks like you've got a date with an angle grinder and some undercoating. Or a BFH. All depends on how much of an issue there is. Gotta love rubbing issues...

I don't run steelies but there's no need for the cap. You may want to smear a super thin layer of grease or anti-sieze to the wheel/rotor interface to prevent them from attempting to become one with each other. I'd give the hub a nice shot of black paint so they match before you do though.

 

[krzyboy2o]

Ubaru06 How'd you run the wiring for the pod lights on your roof? I'm slowly working on a light bar install.

 

[vicali]

I run wrx takeoffs for winters, but you would have to watch your offset closely with those tires.
Forester et is 48, Impreza, wrx, and outback are usually 55 so you are closer to the rear struts.

 

[tcederwall]

krzyboy2o - I got some shrink tube and ran the wires through that, then ran the shrink tube down the windshield weatherstripping and under the hood. Then down the windshield I covered the shrink tube with electrical tape to hold it in place. Up further on the roof I also ran it through some wire loom for an extra layer of protection. Overall Im happy with it. You really dont notice it with the tape down the windshield, and I didnt have to cut a hole anywhere. Heres a couple pics before I taped it. Ill try and get some more once it stops raining here!

 

[krzyboy2o]

That's pretty clean! I have to
check is the SJ has "lip" between the windshield and the pillar.



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[Steve]

That's a lot cleaner than the "temporary" Mickey Mouse job that I did on my Outback, and left that way until I sold it. And then turned around and did it the same way on my 4Runner until I get around to doing a major electrical modification...

 

[tcederwall]

Here are some pics with the electric tape covering the shrink tube. It's held up just fine through a couple good storms so far!

 

[tyleromyah]

Welcome fellow Forester owner! I love how fast this Subaru off road community is growing. It's awesome! I like your idea for running the wiring for your pods. I went back down through the rear hatch, but this is great too! Nice work!

Sent from my SM-G935V using OB Talk mobile app

 

[tcederwall]

Did some playing around with how I want the back of the Ubaru to look. I borrowed the rear bumper from Fozroamer since it pretty much hits everything Im looking at. Hoping to convince my uncle to lend a hand at building up a custom bumper/tire mount. If not Ill be looking for a custom shop around the Bay Area to see if theyre up for the task.

What do you guys think??

 

[tcederwall]

UPDATE:

ADF lift ordered.

 

[Young Satchel]

Awesome! Look forward to seeing it installed.


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[tcederwall]

Update (I need to start taking more build pictures...)

While waiting for the ADF lift to arrive, I went ahead a made a pretty rough custom sink that pulls out of the back. I was able to mount it into some factory screw holes, and then the rear seat gives it some extra support. Finally found a hand pump faucet for a trailer sink, and a holding tank, which I had to order through an agricultural company. I was able to get it narrow enough so I can still get access to the spare tire compartment (which is all storage now).



This last Saturday I rallied some guys to help with the ADF lift. It took about 7 hours, some head scratching, and a couple beers, but we got it on! And I couldn't be happier! It feels a TON better sitting up higher, in my opinion, where it should be. Dealing with and intermittent scraping, don't know if I bent a dust shield or something, but it doesn't seem too concerning yet (fingers crossed). Unfortunately I didn't snap a before and after (rookie mistake) but I tried to match angles from a picture I took a couple days before for comparison.





Off to Yosemite this weekend to give the lift a little trial!

Next on the list: CUSTOM BUMPER WITH TIRE MOUNT!