XC90 Off Road Set Up

Tugalis · Jun 26, 2023

Off Road Set Up

First off, I'm talking about mud, camping, kayaking...soft roading. Not full on Jeep Renegade/LR Defender style off roading. The type you see Freelanders/ Rav4s doing.

Has anyone ever set up the XC90 for this? I use the XC90 for work (I build Canoes and Im a Joiner/Carpenter) to tow my trailer and fill with tools, then on the weekend we will go camping/kayaking etc with the kids.

Its a 2003 XC90 with 185k, the AWD has gone, the steering rack needs to be serviced/changed out and she needs a few other items doing on her to get her back to glory. (Alternator Pully, service etc)

The plan had been to sell her and my Jeep commander, then buy a 4WD for towing and work. The 4WD and Van market in the UK is insane at the moment and more than double the realistic price.

The parts for the XC90 are cheap enough, especially when shipped from Eastern EU.

Would you chuck some money on the XC or go for something different? The reason I ask is she is paid for, I know how to work on them and sometimes its better the Devil you know, especially when I'm only looking to spend £3-4000 AND the vehicle is going to get abused so I'm not looking for anything pretty.

I just wondered if anyone else had done the same, what your thoughts where and whether it was just poor thinking all round. I do love the Volvo, the seats are awesome, it's relatively easy to work on and very reliable.

The other alternative would be to sell this one for a £1000 and then use that towards another vehicle or another XC90

P.S. The Commander is going as its got a white leather interior lol, WAY too nice for work! Here is a picture of the setup when out on a Job.

Adam.Nonis · Jun 26, 2023

I use it for a similar use case. My kids and I go camping quite a bit. I’ve upgraded the trans and torque converter (I mean, on top of just about everything else). I love it and daily it too, but literally everything is custom.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Tugalis · Jun 26, 2023

Hey man! Ha awesome, the interview you did was one of the reasons I started thinking of doing this with the Volvo instead of looking at a Jeep etc. I've now brought a boring daily driver for the Mrs and kids so it's less of an issue if the Volvo is off the road while I work on it.

It looks sweet by the way! How does it drive? You did a huge amount of work to it, a little more than I'm planning lol but who knows 😁

Would you have done anything different? Was the suspension a pain to get all sorted? Any issues with the AWD system after the mods?

Adam.Nonis · Jun 26, 2023

Drives great. I think if someone wanted something close, but without all the custom work, just do of if the spacer kits that are available and run some smaller tires. Only thing I really had to do to the AWD was swap in a lower milage bevel gear. The transmission work was mostly preemptive work. Bigger tires are tougher on the trans.

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straight6pwr · Jun 27, 2023

practical answer: they really dont check many boxes for being useful for even light offroading. not a proper 4wd system. heavy. long wheel base. flexy. fragile interior, parts are expensive, etc

enthusiast answer: there's really no poor thinking when it comes to doing what you love for your car. remember, people race FWD cars. and they look pretty cool setup for offroad, as seen above.

Rambelaya · Jun 27, 2023

Adam's is the gold standard around here, but mine might be closer to what you're looking for. I've added a roof basket (I've since lengthened it from the pic below), added some camping lights, added some USB power and stuff to the back by tapping into the 12v plug, and some AT tires for better grip. The tires are on the factory rims, only about an inch wider. Otherwise it's pretty factory and he's gotten me everywhere I've wanted to go so far, while still keeping room for the kids hockey gear and my dog in the back.

Tugalis · Jul 2, 2023

Rambelaya said:
Adam's is the gold standard around here, but mine might be closer to what you're looking for. I've added a roof basket (I've since lengthened it from the pic below), added some camping lights, added some USB power and stuff to the back by tapping into the 12v plug, and some AT tires for better grip. The tires are on the factory rims, only about an inch wider. Otherwise it's pretty factory and he's gotten me everywhere I've wanted to go so far, while still keeping room for the kids hockey gear and my dog in the back.

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Thanks for the reply and apologies for the lack of comms on my part. Work has been super busy, the joys of self-employment and so I've had a couple of 2200 finishes 🥴 Still, better to be busy than not!

What size rims and tyres are you running? They look awesome!

How big is the rack on the roof? I like that idea.

What lights did you go with, are they on the front grill?

Love the little 12v power plug on in the boot, that's a great idea. We always charge our phones and cameras in the boot when away and its a pain if I use the 12v plug and forget to plug the phones back in lol.

I've got the trans fluid on order, I'm going to take it easy with the repair work and see what I can get away with. The plan is as follows....

Trans fluid - There is a slight knock when the engine is cold and the car is starting to stick on a couple of shifts when hot. Checked the fluid and it needs a change so Im going to drain what I can out of the dipstick, fill and repeat, the fluid is on order so I'll get that done this week.

If that works the next thing is the steering rack, I've found a place about an hour's drive which will recon my rack for a good price so that will be the next job.

Then its the bevel gear. Work is busy which is going to make doing the work a pain but Im reluctant to spend money if I dont have to. We shall see, trans fluid first!

If all of those things are doable and I don't find any other issues she will be staying.

The only other vehicle I would be interested in changing it out for would be a Hyundai Terracan but they are like hens teeth over here so I hope I can get these things fixed on the Volvo without spending too much money!

Rambelaya · Jul 3, 2023

Tugalis said:
What size rims and tyres are you running? They look awesome!

Just slightly wider than factory, otherwise the same. 255/55R18

Tugalis said:
How big is the rack on the roof? I like that idea.

Not sure. Standard size? I got the basic one used, but couldn't find the middle extender anywhere so ended up buying that piece new. Didn't come with a wind deflector so I made my own out of acrylic.

Tugalis said:
What lights did you go with, are they on the front grill?

Lights are standard from Amazon. They're Nilight, came with the 12" light bar underneath the bumper. I actually 3D printed some brackets to mount the lights on the bumper because otherwise they were too close to the grill and the hood wouldn't close. But when I moved them farther out, the curve of the bumper meant they pointed down and they didn't adjust enough to point straight. So those little brackets have been handy. I also 3D printed brackets to hold the wind deflector on the roof basket too.

Tugalis said:
Love the little 12v power plug on in the boot, that's a great idea. We always charge our phones and cameras in the boot when away and its a pain if I use the 12v plug and forget to plug the phones back in lol.

Totally. I have a USB battery pack mounted right above that panel, which just plugs in while I drive between sites, so that the battery pack is always charged when we get to a new place.

ChitownV · Jul 4, 2023

Tugalis said:
I've got the trans fluid on order, I'm going to take it easy with the repair work and see what I can get away with. The plan is as follows....

Trans fluid - There is a slight knock when the engine is cold and the car is starting to stick on a couple of shifts when hot. Checked the fluid and it needs a change so Im going to drain what I can out of the dipstick, fill and repeat, the fluid is on order so I'll get that done this week.

Just a word of caution if you are going to try to drain transmission fluid out of the dipstick tube. Since it’s a transmission, you cannot reach all the way down to the bottom to drain. Also, there are a few reports where the plastic vacuum/extractor tube breaks within the dipstick tube, thus adding another repair. Supposedly, they break because you start to hit the internals of the transmission when pushing the extraction tube in.

The drain/fill method or the cooler line method work well.

John C · Jul 4, 2023

ChitownV said:
Supposedly, they break because you start to hit the internals of the transmission when pushing the extraction tube in.

You would think the dip stick would hit them as well, or are we using the term "dip stick tube" very loosely?

ChitownV · Jul 4, 2023

John C said:
You would think the dip stick would hit them as well, or are we using the term "dip stick tube" very loosely?

Hahaha, you would be wrong in your theories again.

Since you haven’t done this on the 5spd transmission whereas I have tried it using my Mityvac fluid/oil extractor, my direct experience says to forgo this method with the much larger extraction tube, versus a thin, flat, plastic dipstick that only reaches the top of the fluid level. Since I actually mentioned this in my post, it won’t reach the bottom for draining before hitting internals.

The safe tried and true methods of the drain/fill or the cooler line 2 qts/L at a time works very well.

Again, I try to help from experience, @John C again tries to troll me, lol.

John C · Jul 5, 2023

The dip stick reaches the fluid, so the extraction tube will, also. Seems a simple experiment would determine how effective it is. If the tube breaks off, perhaps it is your technique, or maybe your tube suffers from Peyronie's Disease.

Parknest · Aug 17, 2023

I've only just joined this forum but I own basically the same XC90 as @Tugalis

The first priority is to get the AWD in working order. I had the dreaded "anti-skid service required" message which was a faulty DEM so I sent it off to Volvo Diagnostic in Tilbury, Essex to get it repaired. It was beyond repair so I had to get a reconditioned mouule and that fixed the problem. More recently I had a rubbing sound. The rear bearing in the bevel gear had collapsed. A good used bevel gear was found on eBay for just £200 delivered. I did call a local Volvo dealer for a price for a new one. I was straight up with the guy I spoke to and he said to get the eBay one as they're usually quite bulletproof. The 5-speed Aisin transmissions have a 24mm drain plug so there's no need to mess with the dipstick tube to get the fluid out. 5 litres of transmission fluid from Halfords was about £30 which is more than enough for change. Be aware that just draining the fluid and refilling it isn't a complete fluid change as there is still some fluid left in the torque converter after the transmission has been drained.

XC90 Off Road Set Up

Tugalis

Adam.Nonis

Tugalis

Adam.Nonis

straight6pwr

Rambelaya

Tugalis

Rambelaya

ChitownV

John C

ChitownV

John C

Parknest

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