Advise - using Automatic Gearbox Off Road

[Nottingham]

Hi Guys

Well, I’m now a member here for just over a year and can clearly say hat I’ve got the Fronty Bug and that thanks to all of you guys - it’s a great Community, lots of nice people & a fantastic source of information regarding our beloved Fronties – so a big Thank you to all of you but particular the FOG Team, who helped me and I’m sure you guys too more than once.

Anyway, coming back to my Topic – as you can see in my Profile, I’ve got 2 of these babies – a LWB & a SWB. Over the last fee months I’ve successfully converted my SWB into a nice little off Roader and had a couple of times now the opportunity to test it – well it’s doing great . In fact, I already had some people asking if I wanted to sell it – mmh, now there is a thought.

Reason why I’m saying this is that I’m hungry for another project and in this case I’d love to convert a LWB. Don’t get me wrong, I love my shorty but you know my mind is running overtime (not always the best thing to do)

As I simply can’t effort a 3rd one of these, I’ve now the option of either selling my existing one and get a Manual Diesel Version or take what I’ve got and convert my Automatic Version – well, and that brings me to my question: Has anybody on here used or uses a Fronty with Automatic Gearbox for Off Roading and what are your experiences with it?

On one site I can see the advantage of using an Autobox on the other site, I know how sensitive and temperamental they can be as well as how expensive when having to be repair or to exchanged them. So before running blind into my new adventure, I’d greatly appreciated if I cold have as much feedback of you as possible.

Many Thanks

[MG Autos (Mark)]

A lot of the off roading community are pretty much split 50/50 on this topic.

If you look at PariDakar Vehicles or hill climb / trials trucks you'll see that there is a pretty even mix of manuals & autos.

In my opinion, it's very much down to driving style and personal preferance. For the majority green lanes & everday pay & play sites, an autobox will work perfectly well and as a novice, could even be considered a bonus as you can actually concentrate more on the driving, than messing about trying to get the gearing right.
An autobox has the added advantage of increased engine breaking so will only need the occasional dab on the brakes when travelling down steep imbankments and when travelling in the opposite direction (i.e. up hill) you have far less chance of stalling and rolling backwards into any vehicle following you, unless your driving a Range Rover Classic where anything seem's to be possible

A manual box in a Fronty will be more robust in my opinion and easier/cheaper to swop should their be any kind of mechanical failure.

Other manufacturers such as Toyota are bit more reliable when it comes to autoboxes, even modern Landy's are pretty good.

Other thing to remember is that an auto drinks alot more fuel than a manual, driving offroad can involve a fair amount of low gear / high revs driving so may well hit you in the pocket a bit when offroading as well.

[Nottingham]

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated.

Has anybody else had any experiences using an Autobox Offroad

[Sir-Doris]

With regards to Auto's offroad, a lot of the american trucks use automatics as their preferred transmission. Particularly in rockcrawling and as there is no clutch disengagement when changing gear can make for a more successful hill climb on occasion and hill starts are of course much easier. Going down tricky descents just move the selector to 1 or 2 to lock it into gear and control your speed as you would with a manual.

[Nottingham]

Thanks for the Encouragement - looks like I'll give this project a go in the near future. Defo need a Transmission Cooler for the Autobox. Did some reading on it and seems a recommended little extra when using it outside normal street use.