‘The Wilderness Explorer’, my old 1983, 2.2litre diesel 4 speed Hilux had reached its ‘Use By date’ and after 350000 slow km it was time for a new vehicle. I bought a standard 2005 Xtra Cab D4D with aluminium tray from a dealer in Qld and my Dad and I drove it home to Tasmania on AFL grand final weekend, 2009. We left Nambour early Friday morning and arrived in Melbourne midday Saturday, navigated through the traffic to the ferry terminal and onto the ferry, got tossed about all night as we crossed Bass Straight on a rough crossing and home Sunday lunch time.
I set about turning a standard Hilux into ‘The White Rhino’, a multi purpose vehicle that would be used for extended touring in the outback, camping in Tasmania’s highlands in extreme weather and carting firewood for my wood heater at home.
I quickly had the windows tinted, a dash mat and seat covers and LED interior light made the vehicle bearable to drive, then fitted 245 X 16 tyres onto silver Sunnies, a TJM T13 bull bar and a pair of Hella Rally 4000 spot lights. While at the auto electrician, we also wired in the reversing lights and a power supply to the headboard on the tray for work lights and a power supply for the new GME 3100 UHF that I fitted into the ash tray slot. Next I fitted the mobile phone car kit and LR aerial. I was given a new snorkel by a friend who had a disagreement with its supplier over another matter, so on it went and the Rhino was starting to look how I wanted it.
Whoops, this caused a hiccup as it took weeks to clean the mud out and get the carpet dry.
Between March and August 2010 I custom built a Flat Tray with steel sides and ply wood floor. It has LED tail lights and High Lift Jacking points beside the tail lights.
An under tray tool box on passengers side for rubbish bin when we travel. Under the floor there is a holder for long handle shovel, an 85 litre plastic water tank and a small stainless steel tank that holds about 15 litres and is kept full at all times. I also made and fitted a reserve diesel tank that holds 18 litres of diesel that can be drained into the main tank when needed.
I had a canvas canopy made that includes an annex 2.1 long that zips across the rear of the main canopy and has 3 sides that zip on when needed. This annex forms the kitchen and is put on every time I camp. It takes 10 minutes to put it on by myself in strong winds but much quicker with 2 people. With the Camp Kitchen fully extended there is enough room for 2 people + dog to sit out of the weather – or 1 person to sit while other cooks a meal.
There is a similar but larger annex that zips onto the passengers side of the canopy and combined they give a lot of area under cover and 2 people can pack the whole camp away in less that 15 minutes.
The camper consists of a box frame that fits inside the canopy as a false floor. The top is a QS bed with a 4x4 mat inside a custom made swag to keep everything dust free and inside the false floor has runners at the rear for the Camp Kitchen, and 2 utility draws + draws and storage space up the passengers side.
The Camp Kitchen slides out the rear of the canopy and has a cutlery draw, full size 2 burner gas stove and a big Pantry Draw for storing tin food and other heavy items. It can be pulled out to use stove without putting legs under but needs support when fully out.
I fitted an ARB battery box + N70ZZ battery using a constant duty solenoid to isolate the 2 batteries. This will be upgraded to a dc – dc charging system somewhere down the track. Fitted an extra Fuse Box behind Glove Box, this is fed from second battery and powers all the vehicle accessories, it has 3 fuses with constant power and 3 that are switched with the accessories. Fitted 3 marine grade cigarette lighters into panel under ash tray, 2 with switched power for GPS, Satnav, phone etc and 1 with constant power for Engel but plan to fit another before next trip.
I then permanently mounted a 45 litre Engel behind my seat and we were ready to travel.
The first trip to Lake Eyre was a successful test of the whole set up and needed very few mods when we got home.
I have since fitted Cal Offroad Touring Pack with Billies all round that gave me 2” lift when its loaded, so sits pretty tall and rides nice when its loaded. Thanks to Tassiebrett for his assistance fitting the struts.
After filling the Transfer Case with mud and water during at trip to Sth Aust. in March 2011, I have fitted breathers to both diffs, gearbox and transfer case. I custom made a manifold and use standard pneumatic fittings for the rest.
To save drilling holes in the vehicle I have made up a rail with drilled and tapped holes to hold the electrical relays and fuse holders along the RHS inner guard. Working on a mounting plate for ARB compressor under passengers seat + separate manifold for hose fitting and Locker solonoids under the bonnet.
That’s all I can afford as I recover from replacing a transfer case but before I cross the Simpson Desert next year I’ll add a long range fuel tank and bigger tyres to fill in the guards now its lifted.
It’s a great vehicle to travel in and the camper works really well offering enough comfort and ease of use that even a woman doesn’t complain when we camp.
Geoff
