Thread: Lada Niva

Yeah, the 4WD you would never admit to owning! Heres the place for all you closet lada owners to come clean.

I have heard they are pretty good, very basic but quite capable. Anyone have first hand knowledge? Been offered one for a box of piss. Pretty pricey I know but as a farm hack I think thats fair?

Its about the right price for one!

They are surprisingly capable but absolutely horrible to drive - well worth having at that price

2 major things to go:

the worm drive steering box - a bad one can have a crazy amount of play side to side
manual cam chain adjuster - if its rattly as then it might just need a tickle up

oh and RUST

Impress your mates by hand crank starting it (might have been the other lada, but try it if it has a hole)

The ones the Dairy Board ended up with (in lieu of payment) were tarted up a bit I understand and were quite a good (basic) vehicle.

G'Day Fella's,

Have you ever heard the one about........

Q) Why do Lada Niva's have Heated Rear Window's?
A) To keep your Hands Warm, while your Pushing It!

Doh!
Homer

Before you hand over that box, check underneath and the sills for rust. There's alot of steel in them but they did/do rust through. I used to break front LH axles in them getting too much air then coming down.

Thanks chaps - the doors are stuffed, rusting through. Other than the sills barefoot anywhere else? I don't mind a bit of rust as it is going to suffer a worse fate at my hands but I can't have it snappign in half on me!

Plans are welded rear diff, cut guards and big rubber I have lying around. then it will see duty as beach/bush farm hack.

Cyclist how to check the steering rack? just in amount of free play on the steering wheel?

Wouldnt bother with the big rubber depending what tyres it has on it - they are gutless as fuck at the best of times, nowhere near enough poke to push big tyres (unless you drop a 2l twin cam fiat into it). Slightly taller ones are ok but best to stay pretty narrow.
Steering rack play = in bryces one you could turn the wheel from 9-3 oclock with no effect whatsoever didnt slow him down too much though, just drove it like he stole it and relied on bump steer... Ours steered fine but developed a deafening throbbing roaring sound over 80k's ahhh fine european engineering.

big rubber will make it hard to push but at least your hands will be warm
homer bet me to it

Originally Posted by longrange308

big rubber will make it hard to push but at least your hands will be warm
homer bet me to it

Amatuers - the rear window heaters on Ladas never lasted more than a couple of years before clapping out!

[QUOTE=Pointer;19318]Thanks chaps - the doors are stuffed, rusting through. Other than the sills barefoot anywhere else? I don't mind a bit of rust as it is going to suffer a worse fate at my hands but I can't have it snappign in half on me!
Plans are welded rear diff, cut guards and big rubber I have lying around. then it will see duty as beach/bush farm hack.
QUOTE]

You can cut the roof off them and they don't even sag, so chances of it snapping it in two are pretty slim . Check the floor pan under the drivers seats to make sure there aren't too many holes and check the front seat mounts.
Don't bother putting any tyres bigger than 30"s on it otherwise you won't move, either a 6.00 or 6.50x16 work really well on them. The nivas are good for challenging other 4wders to slide slope dares in - most people chicken out before you will get in trouble.

Just get a 4WD Subaru Justy & put some ATV tyres on it

I ended up with a 2wd one once ( part of a deal done when selling a wrx ) & it was a hoot to drive, nearly squeezed a ton out of the little pig ( well just hit 150 on the clock )

I'll never forget the creative profanity my old man used to describe the Lada Niva we had when I was much younger. There was constantly something going wrong it.

Lada Niva Jump Commercial - YouTube



Tyres

Trial de Balerma 2010 (Lada Niva Juan) - YouTube

They look like tractor tyres in the last vid.

First one is bloody cool saw it years ago and its still ballsy.You can see they have done a few runs on the same line and I always wonder how many they wrote off before getting that shot?
Second one his clutch is toast
Amazing where you can get an old land crab with tractor tread tires of a rotary hoe on the front

And as a wee snippet of advice for anyone attempting deep water(where your entire powertrain is underwater) select a gear where you will not run out of power,have to change gear or dip the clutch. It wont grip again(or not very well) and to stop is to fail most times.

Ie the clutch wont grip