Rod's Rig - Round 2

[KTM525EXC]

awsome stuff Rod,

good to see you snip one wire at a time not like ive seen others cut all at once

cheers Troy

[fitzo]

Hi Rod

Nice rig mate, very envious.

Got a few questions.
1. How much were the sliders
2. Who is brooksy
3. How do i contact him

[rodw]

Hi Rod

Nice rig mate, very envious.

Got a few questions.
1. How much were the sliders
2. Who is brooksy
3. How do i contact him

Search for Brooksy's posts on this forum or 4WD Action and you willf find his contact details and ask for pricing

[bill_i_am]

Had a mate talk to Brooksy recently in regards to sliders. Brooksy said he is taking a step back from fabrication for a bit. Give budscustoms a try mate. Google it, the man is a genius

[fitzo]

cheers mate ill check em out

[ktm950adv]

Hi Rod and all

Just did the same as you ( that is copied your idea ) for the cargo Draws

Just a hint to others
Get the tube from somewhere like Metaland
I obtained 25.4 by 1.2 Ali square tube at 6 Meters for $19.24 a Lenght
( They will cut it into 3 meter lengths for transport if u wish for free)

Bit cheaper than the bunnings rip off
(Bunnings use a different name)

Cheers
Tim

[mechfx]

just read all 34 pages....... loved it, thanks for putting in the effort.....

[toddie]

yeah just read all 34 pages, and might i say rod very jealous mate

hope to talk to you tommorrow about the BL

[rodw]

just read all 34 pages....... loved it, thanks for putting in the effort.....

yeah just read all 34 pages, and might i say rod very jealous mate

hope to talk to you tommorrow about the BL

Glad you guys are enjoying my buildup. I am actually enjoying it more now I am not doing it

Toddy, you can get me here if you want to talk on the phone:
http://www.vehiclemods.net.au/contact-us.html

[rodw]

Hi guys, there is fair bit happening on my truck as we speak (Shh don't tell anybody I am driving my wife's Corolla for a couple of days. Anyway, I thought I'd share with you a few pics from my last outing at The Springs 4WD Park about a month ago. It was a really nice spot for camping:



Sadly, that is where my truck stayed for the weekend becasue on a quick lap round the Rum Run on Friday afternoon, I busted my rear diff badly and um had to get a lift home on a RACQ tow truck....


Anyway here are some pics,

Jeeps always seem to be Photogenic


Anyway back on topic with some Toyota's

I tagged along with Marty who has a very well setup touring rig and a big fridge! Um, Marty also had a breakage on Friday Night too. His missus tripped over a chair and broke her foot!



Wayne in his 4 Runner which Ihe bought new 23 years aago always puts on a good performance


It is a very capable rig and he can drive it too!









Sometimes, things don't quite work out for him though, but we managed to reseat the tyre on the car.



Chris was not so lucky



Rolled this tyre off both sides and we could not reseat it. It ws a bad spot and it took ages to sort out how to change the tyre. Got it back to camp later and I reseated one side for him and we finally realised the 2" cut on one side was the reason it would not pop back on! 10 day old tyre Ouch!

Country was quite pretty






But the tracks were pretty tough





On Saturday afternoon, right behind my tent there in the first pic was a small hill called Beer O'clock Hill. Only to be driven under supervision by the managers of the park. Des said he was not having a go as he had seen two trucks flip backwards on this hill.

21 year old Emily showed us how it was done in her truck.







She is the owner's daughter and the truck came with the park when they purchased about 12 months ago. It was built by Wizard Performance on the Gold Coast and features a mere 1.2 metres of rear wheel travel. Cost of the conversion to GU diffs and the crazy suspension (GU uner a Landcruiser) was $23k.

Anyway, guys that was just a few pics.It was rather nice to be a passenger for a change. Stayed there Friday and Saturday night before limping the 2 km to the main gate to meet the tow truck nad wnet home with Wayne. Believeit or not, in comfort in his company Ranger while his wife drove the beast with no Airconditioning the two hours home.

[rodw]

So once I got home, I got a quote from the dealer for a new 4.1:1 Crown Wheel and Pinion based on the data Max and I collected in the Drive Train Gearing Bible and they said they had ne in the country and I could have it for just $1,020. In addition to that, I would need the bearings and seals to complete the job.

VMN rang Chris at Loxktup4x4 in WA on my behalf and organised to send me over a new Crown Wheel and pinion and a master fitting kit. We had a bit of confusion getting everything we needed but eventually it arrived. Chris did not have the ring and Pinion in the country so he arranged to ship it direct to Fourbys from the US at no extra charge! It was all finally here this week and I dropped the fitting kit off at Fourbys on Tuesday. By this morning, they had it all back together. Included in the kit was four new bearings, a heavy duty Marlin Crawler pinion seal, a solid spacer and a shim kit. It even included a bottle of locktite and some blue to mark the gears up. The replacement gear set had a different spline count (27 instead of 29 in our truck ...I think) so to make sure it all mated up, Chris included a brand new flange that had a matching spline for the aftermarket gear set and a multi fit 5 way hole pattern flange to allow any drive shaft to mate up to it.




This shows the nice shiny Marlin Crawler seal:




Sean, my instaler at Fourbys particularly liked the idea of using a brand new flange so there was no wear on any of the mating parts around the seals.

So here it is all done sitting on the bench ready to pop in tomorrow.



While he stuffing around with the rear of my car, Sean is going to replace the rear brake drums and whack in some greasable shackles and some heavy duty Lovells 50mm leaf springs that will handle all of the weight I tug around and the extra 150 kg's that will be planted on the towball when I pick up my caraven on 7 December. He's also working with VMN to wave his magic wand over the front end at the same timeand has already started on that:

As you know VMN has hooked up with Camburg in the US and rounded up a set of these



and some upper control arms to match


And Sean and his men have been busy under my truck today and had one side of it apart.



Now we can see the Tough Dog adjustable strut beside the Camburg Coilover.



Wow!

Interesting that the boys reckoned they had a lot of trouble getting the TD strut out and disconnected a few more linkages to avoid risking tearing a CV boot



So anyway, keep an eye on this as I hope to get back to Fourbys in the morning with Camera in hand!

[rodw]

Sorry, been a bit busy and have not updated these. Here are some pics of the Coilovers fitted.



This one shows the new slotted RDA rotors and QFS pads.



There is not a lot of room between the coil and sway bar and I think sometiems they rub but not too bad at all.



I can't tell you how much of a difference these have made to the handling. While the ride is much the same, the feel on the road is more precise, no wandering around and great thrown into corners as hard as you like!

Anyway, if you are interested in taking the plunge, don't hesitate to PM VMN and he'll sort something out for you. One thing we have learnt though, they take time to get in so don't expect instant response. Eventually VMN will have stock in the country but it seems hard to keep them on the shelf.

[KTM525EXC]

Hey Rod,

Where the UCA ball joints are pressed into the camburg UCA arms what's stopping them from coming out again? Or is it totally relying on the press in fit to stop them coming apart?

Cheers Troy

[rodw]

The other thing I have been remiss in posting up is some pics of my Beaudesert Exhaust





This is what you get with the kit:





Anyway, if you are interested in these, check out the VMN sponsers pages or send VMN a PM.

[rodw]

Hey Rod,

Where the UCA ball joints are pressed into the camburg UCA arms what's stopping them from coming out again? Or is it totally relying on the press in fit to stop them coming apart?

Cheers Troy

Troy, It is not visible but the Ball joint presses in from the top and is secured by a big circlip underneath just like the factory one. If you look under your existing UCA, you should be able to see the circlip.

[rodw]

Well, guys, this buildup is coming to a close as there is really not anything much left for me to do. You see, Last week we finally took delivery of this a week ago today:



Yup, the rig has been pushed to the background here...



Amazing how lived in it looks on the first shakedown trip. Picked it up last Tuesday, a week ago today and had a mad rush to get it sorted for a 3 day lazy trip away to a powered site so we could shake it all down.





Pretty homely inside too. Come and have a look









So what we are looking at is a Coramal Magnum 16'9" caravan with their XC off Road Pack. She is nice and light with an aluminium frame and weighs in at 1400 kg's empty and carries a 180 litres of water. Maximum weight is 1700 kgs. You can see it is cut away to the rear to help with departure angles and has a Treg Offroad hitch. All Coromal vans come with independent suspension as standard and it has beefed up offroad hubs with parallel bearings, a heavier frame and additional offroad fixings to all cupboards. We also ensured we have a on board air split system conditioner (you can see the circular fan for it on the outside and the remote controlled uni inside beside the microwave). It also has a gas/electric hot water system to the sink and an external shower which is behind the rear hatch in the first photo. we decided against an internal toilet which adds a lot of weight, length and bout $10k to the bill and will just stick to the chemical toilet we already have. Most of these vans have a storage cupboard under the bed for a toilet but our dunny is a bit too high to fit so it will live in the ute. The front boot houses 2 x 9 kg gas bottles. I must say it was very novel (and also very handy) to have a microwave oven, toaster and electric jug available while camping!

Since we came back on the weekend, we have sourced the last few bits and pieces including a Honda EU20i generator which I picked up on special today. This will let us run the air con anywhere. We also had a bayonet gas fitting fitted to the van. Most people use the Weber Baby Q BBQ for cooking outside the van but as we already have a Cobb Cooker to do any roasts or baking, we settled on a Coleman RoadTrip Grill so we had a more conventional BBQ. Its a fair bit bigger but is very compact when folded down. I think I will get a tool box made up to put on the draw bar to hold the BBQ and the genny. I want to rearrange some wring so I have a direct 12 volt line from the rig to the fridge.

The really good thing about the pop top was that I was able to back it right through our carport into the back yard after I let the tyres down to about 12 psi! It is not really much higher than the Hilux and tows very nicely.

[9W6VX]

I just saw my retirement dream wish .................



Nice Rod ..............

[bill_i_am]

Newcaravan.net???

[KTM525EXC]

Hey Rod,

Where the UCA ball joints are pressed into the camburg UCA arms what's stopping them from coming out again? Or is it totally relying on the press in fit to stop them coming apart?

Cheers Troy

Troy, It is not visible but the Ball joint presses in from the top and is secured by a big circlip underneath just like the factory one. If you look under your existing UCA, you should be able to see the circlip.

ahh thats good i was thinking how could just a press fit stop it 100% working its way out but with a circlip behind it no worries
caravan looks awsome
you sure are roughing it these days lol

cheers Troy

[Hilux Max]

Thats an awesome caravan Rod, congrats, would love to have something similar one day, but the hilux comes first

so when the house/caravan party?

all invited?