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14th Off Road 4WD Recreation Show 1997.
13 - 16 February 1997
Melbourne Off-Road 4 Wheel Drive Recreation Show '97
Exhibition Centre, Melbourne (Au).
Some new technology to improve the coil-sprung
Jeep Wrangler TJ's
suspension travel, was on show at the USA 4x4 stand:-
Teraflex Lift Suspension
kits which upgrade springs and dampers
(as featured in `Four Wheeler' magazine December 1996).
Lift kits allow bigger tyres to be fitted
and replacement lower control-arms rotate
to give greater freedom of movement.
Each new control arm is in two parts with internal bearing so that
the ends of the arm can rotate independently without limiting axle
articulation, or tearing the bushes to pieces.
European Prestige Imports of Brisbane had a real life, legal,
Land Rover D90 V8,
brought in (pre-loved) from the UK, as a small volume (up to 50/year) import;
see the clothes-horse, left.
They are looking at importing D90 Tdi diesels too, but the story
from the bureaucrats is that the D90 Tdi may be "too close"
to the D110 Tdi,
which Land Rover already sell here officially, and so might require
full certification, crash testing etc.
This doesn't make much sense to me, but that's the story.
Four Wheel Drive Systems had a LandCruiser 80-series on show
and were selling various "car improvements", including
Lock-Right
self locking and unlocking diff' centres.
Just to prove that Lock-Rights can handle the big stuff,
they had a unit to suit a Rockwell 22,000 lb axle -
it might be just what you need if you have fitted a 7L twin-turbo V8
and Road Ranger transmission to your SUV.
You could buy a tent (right) and camping equipment or
an offroad trailer, and if you don't like
roughing it there were stands promoting
outback accommodation and professionally run tours.
An old favourite to these pages, Roger Smith and Jim Patterson's
Range Rover,
which came third in the 1996 Malaysian Monsoon Challenge (~ Transpen),
was on show - still looking very straight after its adventures.
Four Wheel Drive Clubs were well represented,
with always a smile on the
VAFWDC stand,
and Tread Lightly (Vic) was also there spreading
the word about responsible four wheeling.
Details of exhibitors are available
from Pat Irwin, tel:03-9499-6299
Go to
1996
or other
Melbourne OR
shows
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