NewHilux.net

Congratulations, great patience and skill work

Grazie mille

No time to wrap the roof. Loaded up for a another quick tour






Crater Rim in background


Crater at sunrise


Back on the Tanami - grader had just been thru

I like the look
Well done

Nice!

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Awesome job mate!!

Looks awesome mate. You're a patient man! I did my bonnet back in the day and that was enough for me


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Looks awesome mate

Thanks guys.
I did good job giving it a rub up against dry scrub and dead tree branches camping just off a track near Balgo.
So far so good - holding up well.

No one held the expenses back for the grand border crossing here



Not much to see from Balgo until the 'Granites'. A good few hundred km of sleep to be had if you have a spare driver... no such luck for me

Pulled of the Tanami to take a photo of the 'granites' just past the mine site and saw these guys
Amazing colour on these variegated fairy wrens


Enjoyed a few hours of cool grey overcast driving.
Even though the colours looked dull the low light brings a different beauty to the landscape



Pulled into Yuendumu as a storm approached to check out the bowser there - one quick look.. no thanks



Started to pour down shortly after passing this. Knew there was only about 15km to go to the bitumen but was enjoying the rain so decided to camp up in the rocky hills overlooking the community

Hey DB - the wrap's looking great. Good to hear it's holding up well.

Just noticed from your new pictures that you've switched out the grille to the mesh-style. Is that sourced from eBay - the Thailand sellers? Or did you do that custom?

How's it holding up? I've heard some criticisms of the mesh, tabs, plastic, etc.

You da man DB! Wish I had the tine and money to tour like that! Atleast I get to dream whilst looking at your pics!

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ApS - Yeah cheap and nasty Thai grille eBay special. Less than average alignment of tabs, moulding and paint isnt flash, mesh is so thin it would stove in from a bird strike it but had it on there for a couple of years now and still looks okay from 10 paces When I get time I will modify the original grill

Luke - I managed to do the Tanami leg on the back of work travel more to come

Just a quick question that might have been covered in your build.

Your front bar supporting the RTT, is it the original with original mounts, or have you replaced it with steel and beefed up the mounting points?

And if your wondering, I too am jealous. Spent a large amount of the last 4 years flying over the Pilbara, Kimberly and Savanah but it just isn't the same from 30 000 feet.

Hi Marty,

I thought I had covered it in my 07 build but must have posted it else where
I transferred the old bar work to the new tub as its appears better built compared to the new roll bar.
So yes - original but old

The front bar is part of the tradesman rack. The front tradesman bar bolts onto the top of the roll bar - solid
I did replace the original RTT bars however with some 20mm square tube and welded some tabs on to fix to the bars with U-bolts. Added some fuel hose to protect the alloy bar - perfect fit

Some old pics, exact same setup:

Thanks for the pics.

So no extra re-enforcements to the tub where the bars mount?

No problem
No extra reinforcement at the front at the front.
Just had to drill some holes in the new tub front and rear to make the bar work fit
This rear mount came with the tradesman kit

Looks awesome, any new rattles from all the parts that had to be removed and refitted?

Cheers Taresk. Other than the top hat suspension bushes crapping out way too prematurely and sounding like a rattle can earlier this year + the usual D4D rattle there has been nothing else making any noise mate

Next morning was cold and wet.
Bit of a rough night sleeping even that far from the community - many dogs barking most of the night

Took some time to run around with a towel drying out the RTT.

Only 15km from Yuendumu until the bitumen starts

Start of the Bitumen

Around 100km from Yuendumu to Tillmouth Well


If I had of known that Tilmouth had a restaurant, camp sites/ accommodation, clean fuel, showers, friendly staff and good coffee, I would have pressed on from Yuendumu.
However, there is no mobile reception at Tilmouth whereas there is at Yuendumu.

Topped up the tank with my last 20L jerry at Tilmouth.
With my fuel consumption I calculated I didnt need to pump any fuel from the bowser here.
Scan gauge worked a charm.

Averaged 11.0L/100km on the unsealed leg of the Tanami : 70-80km/hr top speed.
Average speed with taking in the sights, photos, piss stops etc was a meagre 58km/hr

DeadlyBeast wrote:ApS - Yeah cheap and nasty Thai grille eBay special. Less than average alignment of tabs, moulding and paint isnt flash, mesh is so thin it would stove in from a bird strike it but had it on there for a couple of years now and still looks okay from 10 paces When I get time I will modify the original grill

Damn! Been looking for a quality mesh-style grille for the '05-'15 lot but no luck. Looks like modifying the original grille is the go.

The vinyl wrap looks fantastic in all your tour shots. Sounds like a nice break away from the hustle and bustle - I'm envious.

Need to stop look at this! Im liking the green more and more![WINKING FACE]

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