Ahhhh that's too bad. The '04-'07s are the best of this gen of the car for a variety of reasons. Sorry yours bit the dust prematurely.
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The Adventure Wagon: A 2004 Volvo XC70 Overland Build
- Thread starter Young Satchel
- Start date
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I am happy to announce that after nearly 3.5 months off the road post-accident, The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] has at last made its return to the woods and trails of The Catskills, The Schoharie Valley, and beyond.
As I mentioned briefly, an unfortunate accident took it out of commission in mid-September. I had initially hoped to have it back in 3 weeks for a Swedespeed campout, but in retrospect that was an absurd expectation [emoji23]. Between numerous conversations with claims adjusters, and my decision to take it to my own independent shop Vs. the closer body shops, it took just over three damn months start-to-finish!
That being said, Precision Volvo in Albany, NY did a killer job on the rebuild, and worked with me to value engineer things such that I didn't end up having to come out of pocket hardly at all. While the accident was relatively minor, I managed to take out several front end components and there was talk of the possibility of the car being totaled due to its age and low value. Thankfully we narrowly missed that, and I didn't have to deal with a buy-back scenario or salvage title.
The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] was returned to me with a new radiator, new rad support, new condenser, two new (used) headlights, and some time spent on the rack to straighten out one of the frame rails. Sean and crew were happy to work to reuse the old bumper and grill and bend and tap it back into shape to save us some serious dough which was much appreciated. The bumper really doesn't look too much worse for the wear at all. My Hellas and the OEM light bracket are toast, so they capped the wires and tied them behind the grill so I can have them at-the-ready for whatever my next aux lighting solution may be. I'm actually glad to have them gone. The front end looks SO much cleaner now! I'm loving it.
Upon getting the wagon back it wasn't long before it had to taste some dirt! 3 months of driving around in the V60 had me starved for the stuff! A few people here can attest to the glee I felt when I first touched tires to trail. The love affair between me and this thing has definitely not been tamed by its absence nor by the encroachment of its attractive younger cousin that's for damn sure. [emoji16]
I gave it a few weeks of light trail time to re-acclimate before the perfect day rolled around for its real "welcome back" romp. It was one of those days where sky, weather, landscape, and trail conditions combine for a perfect storm of wagon wonderful. The east has gotten hit with some bizzare weather this winter. In fact, it's not much of a winter to speak of here. Constantly Rising and falling temperatures have done a good job of turning trails to ice pretty quickly after what little snow we've had, and the melt-refreeze-melt again cycle has made for some challenging outings. This one was no different, but I'm happy to say that The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] tackled it all with renewed gusto and looked pretty, pretty ****ing great in the process.
The following photographs were all shot in South Mountain State Forest, Leonard Hill State Forest, Bates State Forest, and High Knob State Forest, all places and names that you should be familiar with if you follow along with our regular adventuring schedule. It was a real "best of" so-to-speak, and I think the content reflects that.
Enjoy!
Soon-to-come: some photos from other, mini adventures of the last month. An exciting and useless-but-fun new mod write-up with photos and a video. A thorough 5k review of the BFG KO2 A/T Tires. Some thoughts on what's to come this spring, and the future of The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] for the long haul.
Keep your dials locked . . .
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As I mentioned briefly, an unfortunate accident took it out of commission in mid-September. I had initially hoped to have it back in 3 weeks for a Swedespeed campout, but in retrospect that was an absurd expectation [emoji23]. Between numerous conversations with claims adjusters, and my decision to take it to my own independent shop Vs. the closer body shops, it took just over three damn months start-to-finish!
That being said, Precision Volvo in Albany, NY did a killer job on the rebuild, and worked with me to value engineer things such that I didn't end up having to come out of pocket hardly at all. While the accident was relatively minor, I managed to take out several front end components and there was talk of the possibility of the car being totaled due to its age and low value. Thankfully we narrowly missed that, and I didn't have to deal with a buy-back scenario or salvage title.
The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] was returned to me with a new radiator, new rad support, new condenser, two new (used) headlights, and some time spent on the rack to straighten out one of the frame rails. Sean and crew were happy to work to reuse the old bumper and grill and bend and tap it back into shape to save us some serious dough which was much appreciated. The bumper really doesn't look too much worse for the wear at all. My Hellas and the OEM light bracket are toast, so they capped the wires and tied them behind the grill so I can have them at-the-ready for whatever my next aux lighting solution may be. I'm actually glad to have them gone. The front end looks SO much cleaner now! I'm loving it.
Upon getting the wagon back it wasn't long before it had to taste some dirt! 3 months of driving around in the V60 had me starved for the stuff! A few people here can attest to the glee I felt when I first touched tires to trail. The love affair between me and this thing has definitely not been tamed by its absence nor by the encroachment of its attractive younger cousin that's for damn sure. [emoji16]
I gave it a few weeks of light trail time to re-acclimate before the perfect day rolled around for its real "welcome back" romp. It was one of those days where sky, weather, landscape, and trail conditions combine for a perfect storm of wagon wonderful. The east has gotten hit with some bizzare weather this winter. In fact, it's not much of a winter to speak of here. Constantly Rising and falling temperatures have done a good job of turning trails to ice pretty quickly after what little snow we've had, and the melt-refreeze-melt again cycle has made for some challenging outings. This one was no different, but I'm happy to say that The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] tackled it all with renewed gusto and looked pretty, pretty ****ing great in the process.
The following photographs were all shot in South Mountain State Forest, Leonard Hill State Forest, Bates State Forest, and High Knob State Forest, all places and names that you should be familiar with if you follow along with our regular adventuring schedule. It was a real "best of" so-to-speak, and I think the content reflects that.
Enjoy!
Soon-to-come: some photos from other, mini adventures of the last month. An exciting and useless-but-fun new mod write-up with photos and a video. A thorough 5k review of the BFG KO2 A/T Tires. Some thoughts on what's to come this spring, and the future of The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] for the long haul.
Keep your dials locked . . .
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Traveler III
Excellent news! I'm glad to see you back on the trails with renewed vigor. Those are some very nice photos, but I really love the last one.
If we haven't discussed it before, a light bar works really well behind that flip down basket fairing. Clean looking, too.
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If we haven't discussed it before, a light bar works really well behind that flip down basket fairing. Clean looking, too.
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Thanks Steve! I love that last one too. The tones in it are just otherworldly [emoji3]
I've actually thought about exactly what you did several times and think it may be the way forward. Does the bar's light reflect off the hood and cause glare tho? That's one downside I've heard from some folks about roof basket installs.
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Traveler III
Not that I've noticed.
Here's photo from the driver's seat in my Outback with the light on the basket. The front of the basket was about 6" behind the top of the windscreen.
Here's photo from the driver's seat of my 4Runner with the light on the basket. The front of the basket is behind my sunroof, so maybe 24" behind the windscreen.
I used a pair of FourTreks mounts on the spare crossbar that came with the 18" basket extension. The light bar is held pretty snugly, but I wanted to eliminate any possible vibration on rough roads. So U used some sticky-back 1/4" think rubber squares underneath, push the lightbar down onto the rubber, and then tightened all of the fasteners. This has lasted about 14,000 miles so far.
Enthusiast I
These wagons always caught my I. This is awesome man! I looked into them and compared then with Subarus. As I too have a passion for doing something with a vehicle that most won't.
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Member I
They are more expensive to own than Subarus, and the older Haldex AWD is arguably inferior for offroad applications. Those two things aside, I think the P2 XC70 makes for a fantastic vehicle and a great canvas for an overland project.
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Thanks man!
The Hellas mounted as they were (to an OEM bracket behind the license plate) looked pretty good straight on, but Terrible in profile. Without a bull bar of any sort, they were also prone to getting whacked by idiots parallel parking into my front bumper all the time. Add to that the fact that their illumination was pretty sub-par, and I figure it was time for a better solution. I'm not necessarily opposed to front-mounted lights, but I do think the silhouette is now much cleaner.
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This looks great Steve, thank you!Not that I've noticed.
Here's photo from the driver's seat in my Outback with the light on the basket. The front of the basket was about 6" behind the top of the windscreen.
Here's photo from the driver's seat of my 4Runner with the light on the basket. The front of the basket is behind my sunroof, so maybe 24" behind the windscreen.
I used a pair of FourTreks mounts on the spare crossbar that came with the 18" basket extension. The light bar is held pretty snugly, but I wanted to eliminate any possible vibration on rough roads. So U used some sticky-back 1/4" think rubber squares underneath, push the lightbar down onto the rubber, and then tightened all of the fasteners. This has lasted about 14,000 miles so far.
I may have to rig up something like this. Gotta figure out how to hide the wiring cleanly tho. What did you do? Run it under windshield gasket or something?
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Traveler III
I went all Mickey Mouse, running the wiring down the edge of the windscreen with 3M zip tie bases, and in the rear or the hood.
Here was my Outback thread: Steve's Cross-Country Subaru Outback Look on page 5.
Here was my Outback thread: Steve's Cross-Country Subaru Outback Look on page 5.
Here's some brief video and a few flicks from another recent trip up into South Mountain State Forest. This should give you guys a pretty clear idea of the sort of trail conditions The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] has been up against lately.
Lots. Of. Ice. [emoji16]
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Lots. Of. Ice. [emoji16]
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Traveler III
It's not pretty! Worse yet, is I did the same on my 4Runner. I'll fix it when my PrinSu rack gets here...
BFG KO2 5K WINTER PERFORMANCE REVIEW
I've been meaning to comment specifically on the tire's performance on the Volvo since getting the wagon back and taking it out for several icy and snowy trail trips, in addition to regular DD-duties on wet and dry roads.
I've got to say, with just under 5k on this set of tires so far, I'm thoroughly impressed with them. While I've heard a few complaints about poorer quality on the newer versions, its quite easy to see how they got their reputation as the "go-to" A/T tire. They are expensive and heavy for sure, but assuming they continue to perform at current levels for a while I think they will have been a worthwhile investment.
While the Cooper Discoverer's were an excellent tire in their own right with stellar road manners, their performance in snow-- and particularly on ice--was pretty terrible. Given that they are NOT a winter-rated All-Terrain, I found this acceptable, though unfortunate for my purposes since I was hoping to find a solid year-round tire for The Adventure Wagon[emoji769]. The BFGs are a winter-rated A/T, and from my first day out on the ice, the difference was plainly obvious.
I am running them at between 26-28PSI, so as not to make the same mistake I made with the Coopers (over-inflation), and this alone may help explain some of the difference I've noted in their off-road performance in both the dry and the wet. But I have to say, the way their treads grip ice and snow still puts them in another class than the aforementioned tires when it comes to all-around cold weather performance. I have been able to creep down steep and narrow 15% grades of hard sheet ice in first gear with nary a slip to speak of. I actually was kind of nervous the first time we encountered such conditions because frankly, the coopers would have likely slid off the trail and left us on our ass. But with careful engine-breaking and pedal-feathering we were able to make our way down a few hairy passes without incident.
The tread pattern is fantastic at both griping and quickly expelling any variety of snow, gravel, icy mud, etc, and i've yet to encounter a situation where it has got badly jammed-up yet. The compound feels pretty soft too, and these two factors give the tires a ton of bite in the mixed conditions we encounter often here on the east coast. It's not uncommon to encounter powder, sheet ice, slush, and mud on the same trail run within 10 minutes hahaha.
They do pretty nicely at speed when the going gets a little more mellow. On smoother flat, wide, forest roads one can open up a bit for some winter rally-style driving in the 45-60mph range with relative confidence. It's great fun.
Overall my impressions remain very positive with one caveat. They suck on road [emoji23]. Now I'm sure on the light trucks they were designed for its less of a notable difference, but their increased weight, aggressive tread, and softer compound all mean that they require a **** ton of energy to make them do their rounds. They aren't too noisy, but you can feel them making the axles work harder than they want to, and getting up-to-speed on an un-tuned engine is an effort you can really feel in the driver's seat. New axles will likely be coming soon in part because of this, but I'll save details for another post.
I'll continue to update as we run through all the seasons and I get some more miles on em....
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I've been meaning to comment specifically on the tire's performance on the Volvo since getting the wagon back and taking it out for several icy and snowy trail trips, in addition to regular DD-duties on wet and dry roads.
I've got to say, with just under 5k on this set of tires so far, I'm thoroughly impressed with them. While I've heard a few complaints about poorer quality on the newer versions, its quite easy to see how they got their reputation as the "go-to" A/T tire. They are expensive and heavy for sure, but assuming they continue to perform at current levels for a while I think they will have been a worthwhile investment.
While the Cooper Discoverer's were an excellent tire in their own right with stellar road manners, their performance in snow-- and particularly on ice--was pretty terrible. Given that they are NOT a winter-rated All-Terrain, I found this acceptable, though unfortunate for my purposes since I was hoping to find a solid year-round tire for The Adventure Wagon[emoji769]. The BFGs are a winter-rated A/T, and from my first day out on the ice, the difference was plainly obvious.
I am running them at between 26-28PSI, so as not to make the same mistake I made with the Coopers (over-inflation), and this alone may help explain some of the difference I've noted in their off-road performance in both the dry and the wet. But I have to say, the way their treads grip ice and snow still puts them in another class than the aforementioned tires when it comes to all-around cold weather performance. I have been able to creep down steep and narrow 15% grades of hard sheet ice in first gear with nary a slip to speak of. I actually was kind of nervous the first time we encountered such conditions because frankly, the coopers would have likely slid off the trail and left us on our ass. But with careful engine-breaking and pedal-feathering we were able to make our way down a few hairy passes without incident.
The tread pattern is fantastic at both griping and quickly expelling any variety of snow, gravel, icy mud, etc, and i've yet to encounter a situation where it has got badly jammed-up yet. The compound feels pretty soft too, and these two factors give the tires a ton of bite in the mixed conditions we encounter often here on the east coast. It's not uncommon to encounter powder, sheet ice, slush, and mud on the same trail run within 10 minutes hahaha.
They do pretty nicely at speed when the going gets a little more mellow. On smoother flat, wide, forest roads one can open up a bit for some winter rally-style driving in the 45-60mph range with relative confidence. It's great fun.
Overall my impressions remain very positive with one caveat. They suck on road [emoji23]. Now I'm sure on the light trucks they were designed for its less of a notable difference, but their increased weight, aggressive tread, and softer compound all mean that they require a **** ton of energy to make them do their rounds. They aren't too noisy, but you can feel them making the axles work harder than they want to, and getting up-to-speed on an un-tuned engine is an effort you can really feel in the driver's seat. New axles will likely be coming soon in part because of this, but I'll save details for another post.
I'll continue to update as we run through all the seasons and I get some more miles on em....
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I've managed to do a couple things to The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] since its return to the homestead.
Right before the accident I ordered some new upper and lower mounts, and installed the new OEM upper the week I got it back. When I removed the old one it was ****ing toasted; tons of play!
The nice shiny new one feels like an improvement, though I think once I do the lower poly mount it will be more noticeable. unfortunately every day I hope to do that we get rain, ice rain, hail, or snow. It's been a weird winter. Not cold, but often pretty gross and since I don't have a garage, a car port, or even a driveway to work in, that becomes an easy excuse
At the last Volvo campout my friend Antherzoll from Swedespeed brought me a fun little AEM Dryflow Intake, which I also installed shortly after getting the XC back.
Ripped out the stock box....
In goes the new one with its heat shield. Easy-peasy, Plug-n-play! (I even got on-demand remote install support as part of the purchase price [emoji16])
So what does it do????
Makes rad noises!!!!!
[emoji41][emoji41][emoji41]
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Right before the accident I ordered some new upper and lower mounts, and installed the new OEM upper the week I got it back. When I removed the old one it was ****ing toasted; tons of play!
The nice shiny new one feels like an improvement, though I think once I do the lower poly mount it will be more noticeable. unfortunately every day I hope to do that we get rain, ice rain, hail, or snow. It's been a weird winter. Not cold, but often pretty gross and since I don't have a garage, a car port, or even a driveway to work in, that becomes an easy excuse
At the last Volvo campout my friend Antherzoll from Swedespeed brought me a fun little AEM Dryflow Intake, which I also installed shortly after getting the XC back.
Ripped out the stock box....
In goes the new one with its heat shield. Easy-peasy, Plug-n-play! (I even got on-demand remote install support as part of the purchase price [emoji16])
So what does it do????
Makes rad noises!!!!!
[emoji41][emoji41][emoji41]
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Took the wagon out for a great little snow run exploring some new side spur trails in Huntersfield State Forest yesterday.
Was about 6-8" of powder with a crust of freezing rain.
I fucking love driving this thing in the snow, it generally performs really well
That being said, we met our match trying to climb a 300' 15-18% grade that was untracked. I simply couldn't get the grip what with the ice still underneath from all the melt and refreeze. In instances like this I sometimes get frustrated with the Volvo AWD. The "slip-to-grip" style of the earlier Haldex gens proves a little unfortunate on occasion. Left me wondering if we would have made it up in an Outback [emoji16][emoji53]
So we turned back and moseyed on a different way through more beautiful conifers with low fog hanging amidst them...
The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] has an approach angle that leaves something to be desired. Gonna need some more lift. Hahaha.
Probably gonna fashion some spacers to supplement the springs, but won't be doing that until spring at the earliest. The XC needs new front axles badly, and I've been working with a friend who runs a Volvo shop to see about fitting it with some XC90 axles from its larger, higher SUV sibling. This different design should hopefully help better deal with the steep angles and larger tires and preserve the axles longer in the future!
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Was about 6-8" of powder with a crust of freezing rain.
I fucking love driving this thing in the snow, it generally performs really well
That being said, we met our match trying to climb a 300' 15-18% grade that was untracked. I simply couldn't get the grip what with the ice still underneath from all the melt and refreeze. In instances like this I sometimes get frustrated with the Volvo AWD. The "slip-to-grip" style of the earlier Haldex gens proves a little unfortunate on occasion. Left me wondering if we would have made it up in an Outback [emoji16][emoji53]
So we turned back and moseyed on a different way through more beautiful conifers with low fog hanging amidst them...
The Adventure Wagon[emoji769] has an approach angle that leaves something to be desired. Gonna need some more lift. Hahaha.
Probably gonna fashion some spacers to supplement the springs, but won't be doing that until spring at the earliest. The XC needs new front axles badly, and I've been working with a friend who runs a Volvo shop to see about fitting it with some XC90 axles from its larger, higher SUV sibling. This different design should hopefully help better deal with the steep angles and larger tires and preserve the axles longer in the future!
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Influencer II
Love the posts, pictures and reviews! Now that I have the Outback, next time I have to visit family up in Jersey I may have to meet up with you in NY to do some exploring.
Lemme know! I have 2 kids under 4 and 2 jobs so my time is sadly somewhat limited, but im always game to show fellow offroad wagon folks around up here in the Hudson Valley. What we've got trail wise is somewhat limited, but as you can see, I try and make the best of it.
I remember stumbling across your pre-purchase thread a while back. Have you started building it out yet? I look forward to seeing what you do with it. I get so jealous of the subie crowd with all your rad aftermarket options [emoji16]
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Influencer II
Haha! I hear you, I have a two year old myself. I just ordered the first parts yesterday. Picked up some skid plates and now some traction boards. Getting it ready for a beach run in may. I'd love to put new tires on but it came with brand new continental's so I told the wife I'd wear them down first so it won't come out of my "fun allowance money". Lol. I keep you in mind when I see the other Volvo wagons around, they are damn nice!
