Minimum clearance

[Renaissance_Man]

Hey everyone,
So I want to build a rig with enough clearance to go anywhere in Canada but I also have concerns with my build being so top heavy that it rolls over if I take a turn on a windy day

Does any one have any advice as to ball park figure minimum clearance to shoot for?

Best regards,
Nick

 

[leeloo]

Depends what you have, you have both solid axels or independent suspension ? On solid axles you can get away with a lower ground clearence.

 

[MazeVX]

Hey everyone,
So I want to build a rig with enough clearance to go anywhere in Canada but I also have concerns with my build being so top heavy that it rolls over if I take a turn on a windy day

Does any one have any advice as to ball park figure minimum clearance to shoot for?

Best regards,
Nick

Go anywhere? For sure? Aim for at least 40s...
If you think about "go most places depending on weather" depending on your vehicle, but to just throw a number in here, 25cm/10" at the lowest point will do a lot.

 

[Red_Leaf_Overland]

Go anywhere? I agree with 40" tires as stated above. But that comes with heavy axles, gears, all that fin stuff. Go most places? 35" tires maybe, depending on how well you can choose a line through a trail.
To get through most of ontario trails other than the trails people drive rock buggies on, I would say a 33" -35" would do.
How much clearance is needed to fit those tires will depend on the vehicle being driven.

Also keep in mind the further north that you go, there are fewer gas stations. A larger vehicle will be a thirsty one. I have plaued this game before and it's a loosing battle lol.

 

[Patman]

Loaded question of the day!

"Anywhere" is relative.

So many factors.

A properly armored, fully locked mid size rig on 33s will go ANYWHERE. may have to break out the winch now and then, but the places it will go, will scare the skirt off the average person.

My Crosstrek had more ground clearance on paper than my wife's JK Rubicon.

How much can you stomach the change in on-road driving dynamics that inherently come with size?

How "easy" do you expect the passing of obstacles to be?

What's your definition of "anywhere"

I would take my FJ80 Anywhere with enough armor. Anywhere to me is wherever it will fit. 33s are plenty.

I've found as experience increases and mature mechanical sympathy increases. The need for "big" is reduced. But the places you can go are increased (within reason)

 

[Deleted member 14476]

A properly armored, fully locked mid size rig on 33s will go ANYWHERE. may have to break out the winch now and then, but the places it will go, will scare the skirt off the average person.

Highlight, bold, and underline for this statement.

It’s all apart of the master equation. Departure angle, size of tire, type of tire, quality/type of suspension, lockers, rim size, rim type, recovery, the driver’s own capabilities, gear ratio, the type of aftermarket bumpers you could put on.

These are a couple more you could list..and you could keep adding onto that list too.

It’s a real juggling act.

 

[Alanymarce]

As others have said, it depends on what you mean by "anywhere".

However, from experience in many bits of the world, you can get most places with a clearance of 250mm. Our current vehicle has a 50mm lift giving clearance of 285mm and has taken us everywhere we've wanted to go including desert crossings, river crossings, rain forest, etc. If shipping costs were not ridiculous at present we'd be confident that it could take us "anywhere" in Canada, for a 6 month trip we're planning to make. Since shipping is exorbitant right now we're planning to buy a standard Jeep Wrangler LWB and don't plan any lift - the standard clearance is enough for our needs.

We spent a month in Iceland in July and August and rented a Tucson (needed "4x4" to be able to drive the F roads) and it couldn't take us everywhere we'd have liked to go but did a surprisingly good job with rough roads and river crossings where local advice was that 30mm clearance was that 30mm was the minimum needed, although 35mm would be better. The Tucson has 17mm!

 

[Smileyshaun]

Just buy a tank

 

[John Bishop]

Just buy a tank

How much storage does an Abrams tank have? If the barrel is removed, can a rtt be readily fitted without impeding turret acces?

I almost posted this response yesterday, but didn’t want to come across as an a$$!
My filter is broken today. lol

 

[Smileyshaun]

How much storage does an Abrams tank have? If the barrel is removed, can a rtt be readily fitted without impeding turret acces?

I almost posted this response yesterday, but didn’t want to come across as an a$$!
My filter is broken today. lol

I don’t see it as being a ass , just a realistic answer .
Keep the barrel and use it for a awning and a place to hang a hammock

 

[Alanymarce]

I don’t see it as being a ass , just a realistic answer .
Keep the barrel and use it for a awning and a place to hang a hammock

...and you can rotate the RTT (if fitted on the turret) as needed to get the best view

 

[Old Tanker]

How much storage does an Abrams tank have? If the barrel is removed, can a rtt be readily fitted without impeding turret acces?

I almost posted this response yesterday, but didn’t want to come across as an a$$!
My filter is broken today. lol

You can store a great deal in the rack on the rear of the turret, and the steel storage boxes on the sides. The hull has boxes for tools etc.

 

[Renaissance_Man]

As others have said, it depends on what you mean by "anywhere".

However, from experience in many bits of the world, you can get most places with a clearance of 250mm. Our current vehicle has a 50mm lift giving clearance of 285mm and has taken us everywhere we've wanted to go including desert crossings, river crossings, rain forest, etc. If shipping costs were not ridiculous at present we'd be confident that it could take us "anywhere" in Canada, for a 6 month trip we're planning to make. Since shipping is exorbitant right now we're planning to buy a standard Jeep Wrangler LWB and don't plan any lift - the standard clearance is enough for our needs.

We spent a month in Iceland in July and August and rented a Tucson (needed "4x4" to be able to drive the F roads) and it couldn't take us everywhere we'd have liked to go but did a surprisingly good job with rough roads and river crossings where local advice was that 30mm clearance was that 30mm was the minimum needed, although 35mm would be better. The Tucson has 17mm!

You keep mentioning mm, are you talking about clearance? If yes did you make a typo? Did you mean inches?

 

[Old Tanker]

You keep mentioning mm, are you talking about clearance? If yes did you make a typo? Did you mean inches?

Why would someone in Columbia use 11 inches rather than 285 mm to describe clearance?

 

[Renaissance_Man]

You keep mentioning mm, are you talking about clearance? If yes did you make a typo? Did you mean inches?

Why would someone in Columbia use 11 inches rather than 285 mm to describe clearance?

30mm & 17mm seems like very little

 

[Old Tanker]

30mm & 17mm seems like very little

That does read oddly - perhaps those are lift amounts.

 

[bgenlvtex]

You can store a great deal in the rack on the rear of the turret, and the steel storage boxes on the sides. The hull has boxes for tools etc.

Solar array on the turret and you can just rotate it with the sun.

 

[MazeVX]

30mm & 17mm seems like very little

I would say that's meant to be cm not mm...

 

[Dilldog]

Just buy a tank

D4 hightrack...
In all seriousness I would shoot for around 12" minimum. That being said a lot of this depends on driving style, my old 1980 Isuzu on 28" Super Swampers locked in the rear and limited slip up front got in and out of lots of places. Including many where it had no business being. This was due to small size, light weight, low engine power (read inability to break drive train parts), abundance of under body protection and my general hatred for body work, lol.

 

[Alanymarce]

You keep mentioning mm, are you talking about clearance? If yes did you make a typo? Did you mean inches?

I did make a couple of errors: should have written:

"However, from experience in many bits of the world, you can get most places with a clearance of 250mm. Our current vehicle has a 50mm lift giving clearance of 285mm and has taken us everywhere we've wanted to go including desert crossings, river crossings, rain forest, etc. If shipping costs were not ridiculous at present we'd be confident that it could take us "anywhere" in Canada, for a 6 month trip we're planning to make. Since shipping is exorbitant right now we're planning to buy a standard Jeep Wrangler LWB and don't plan any lift - the standard clearance is enough for our needs.

We spent a month in Iceland in July and August and rented a Tucson (needed "4x4" to be able to drive the F roads) and it couldn't take us everywhere we'd have liked to go but did a surprisingly good job with rough roads and river crossings where local advice was that 300mm clearance was the minimum needed, although 350mm would be better. The Tucson has 170mm!"

The reason perhaps is that in Colombia we think in mm and in Iceland they think in cm.

I'm surprised that one might think I meant inches - a 285 in clearance on our current vehicle would present significant challenges driving under most bridges...