Geoff's Xtra Cab. Prep for WA trip

[Bushbound]

[quote="jakelux"]
lads im planning a trip to saw back in a few weeks... whos keen?
Jake, my mates have just done it in well set up cruisers and said it was a real tough track and they had to winch each vehicle out of the hole I slid into and filled the Rhino up with mud and water in 2010. Post up a thread with a date and I'll se what I'm doing but wont even try the Saw Back, will take the easy route and set up camp in Admonsfield so you have fire going when you arrive all wet, muddy and cold.
Geoff

[jakelux]

lads im planning a trip to saw back in a few weeks... whos keen?
Jake, my mates have just done it in well set up cruisers and said it was a real tough track and they had to winch each vehicle out of the hole I slid into and filled the Rhino up with mud and water in 2010. Post up a thread with a date and I'll se what I'm doing but wont even try the Saw Back, will take the easy route and set up camp in Admonsfield so you have fire going when you arrive all wet, muddy and cold.
Geoff

Yes I've heard it has a few challenging sections from people that i have kept up with on tracks so not to worried.
How 'well setup' are your mates cruisers?
You setting up camp for us sounds like a good idea
Gotta sort a few things on my rig first, have grease/oil leaking from rear hubs, have no handbrake and half made sliders

[Bushbound]

The count down for a major trip to WA is happening. My mate Alan will drive my Hilux to Perth and save me the long boring drive across the Nullabour, I'll fly across and meet up with Alan and we'll race the Australasian Safari as service crew for one of the race cars. We dont have the car number yet but its a Show Room Class TD Pajero waggon, I will post up some updates on the Safari as we race along.
http://www.australasiansafari.com.au/website/home.html
After Safari, I will swap passengers and head east across the Anne Beadell Highway, a track from Laverton to Coober Pedy surveyed and built by Len Beadell in the late 1950's for the Emu Atomic tests - 1350km of dirt road and corrigations.
Vehicle prep is well underway and still a few jobs to do so the White Rhino is as ready as it can be, inside the cab is nearly finished ----



I've removed the gear stick and repaired it, fitted the filter to the air conditioner and modified the hold down bolts on the Engel.
Under the bonnet I've made a brace to help eliminate vibration from the second battery box and second fuel filter.



Over the weekend I'll do a couple of mods to the canopy frame and might even start to pack some of the gear , if time allows.
Geoff

[dwglwc]

Hi Geoff,

Great idea with the support bracket for the battery and filter. I will be adding a second filter soon as well. Drained my long range tank the other day and after 20K their was a lot of shit in the bottom..........

Good luck and i hope you have a great trip. Will be looking forward to the trip report and pic's

Cheers Duncan

[jakelux]

She's gonna be an epic trip across the AB Geoff, i also can't wait for the pics and writeup

[Bushbound]

I will be adding a second filter soon as well. Drained my long range tank the other day and after 20K their was a lot of shit in the bottom..........

Duncan,
I bought a Delphy with water probe in the bottom, uses a standard delphy filter but has the added advantage of a water probe that runs back to a red LED on the dash. I bought the filter from Burnie Diesel Service.
Changed it for first time since fitting LR tank and Vic Alps, was clean as so very happy. I also have Steve9R's buzzer wired onto the original filter so all bases are covered.
I have an ARB battery box and the filter housing fits on it really well, easier enough to change the filter and running the hoses was fairly easy. I like it a lot better now its braced back to the mudguard.
I've put a lot of prep work into the Hilux so think I've covered everything I can to make the trip as good as possible, still have a list of a million little things that need attention - tailshaft recall, change rear wheel bearing, change bearing and seal in RHS of front diff, modify the canopy frame --------- the list goes on and on but I'm on track to fit it all in.
Geoff

[jakelux]

So you will change out your rear wheel bearings? Have you had much leaking?
Mine has settled (for now)If i was doing any big trips in isolated area's i would be putting the genuine bearings back in.
Do you carry a spare CV on your trips Geoff... with your 8 inch lift...?
Will Alan take a straight route over there or will he tour around a bit?

[Bushbound]

Yeah Jake I will change the wheel bearing, just haven't got to it yet, probably one day next week. Not sure genuine is the best option as they only lasted 80k km, will give it some thought when I see why the terrain tamer seal has failed.
I bought a complete strutt from a low km wreck and will carry it but not a CV - I'm preparing more for corrigations than hard wheeling.
Alan will drive straight across the bitumen, he's never crossed the Nullabour and Ceduna is the furthest west he's been, when we did Googs Track. He's taking his grandson on a boys road trip.
Geoff

[Bushbound]

Since removing my side steps I've noticed a bit of damage to the paint work from stones thrown up by the front wheels so bought a set of Bushranger mud flaps, they seemed the best about, fibre reinforced rubber that seem flexable enough and fairly strong. They look a bit daggy but with 1400km+ of dirt / sand road across he Anne Beadell they will provide plenty of protection. I just copied the shape of the original mudflap and used the original 3 mounting screws, so easy to take off in really rough country and they likely to get ripped off.





I also officially finished building my tray by fitting a set of mud flaps on he back mudguards.
Fitted a new breather for the back diff, to the tray crossmember so its closer to the diff and less likely to be blocked by moisture.



I've made some mods to the camp kitchen slides after the inside gave trouble in the past. Welded a new RHS slide inside the frame,






and fitted a new slippery plastic slide to the bottom of the kitchen, along with doubling the number of screws that hold it on.

Will start putting it all together and packing over the weekend.
Geoff

[MarkYounger]

Looking good, like some top quality work. Keep her up.

[Bushbound]

Looking good, like some top quality work. Keep her up.

Mark,
Thanks, I'm a tradesman / engineer and have custom made everything on my Hilux except bull bar and snorkel - I was given a brand new snorkel (still in its box) so no point making one and bull bars aren't worth the effort of designing and building one. At some stage I will pull the bull bar off and make a few modifications to it as there are some things I dont like about it.
Where I intend to travel, everything must be spot on, functional and work well - so thats the way I've built it.
Geoff

[Bushbound]

I'm sitting in Perth at a conference while my mate Allan is driving my Hilux across from Tasmania. WE finished the few mods that needed to be done to the camper before I tackle the Anne Beadell, made saddles to hold the Camper unit and Canopy Frame to the tray, in the past I've relied on the weight to hold it all in place but have fixed them down as I think there may be some BIG bumps along the way.



Put similar saddles on all 4 corners and it was ready to load.







Fitted new inverter and second fire extinguisher into the back of the cab.



and we were ready to travel.
Geoff

[Alby]

Good move with the tie downs
My canopy ripped the floor up on my tray from the up motion of the top of the dunes in the Simpson, I then changed my fixing points so they went right through to the tray bearers

You have a nice lightweight setup which will be good for the trip

[Bushbound]

Good move with the tie downs
My canopy ripped the floor up on my tray from the up motion of the top of the dunes in the Simpson, I then changed my fixing points so they went right through to the tray bearers

Thanks Alby, I hit a washout last year at 80kmh, when I should have been doing 8kmh and most of the gear in the back landed on either the 7th or 8th bounce, one of the crates of food escaped and we had to stop and repack the load so I dont want that to happen again - I'm sure there will be some more big bumps on the ABH.
Geoff

[Just V]

Brilliant built mate, i am trying to decide how to build my extra cab tray right for touring, and you have given me some good ideas and confimed many others, thanks..

[Bushbound]

I'm home from a trip to WA and happy to say that my Hilux has performed everything asked of it - the trip across the Nulabour, then service vehicle for a race car in the Australasian Safari, then home across the Anne Beadell Highway, 1450km across the Great Victoria Desert. The AB was a great trip and a real test of any set up and mine passed the test again. I wont make any changes to the camp set up as it works spot on.
I'll post up a trip report when I have time
Geoff

[Alby]

Looking forward to your pics Geoff

[Bushbound]

Alby, I've just posted up a trip report and photo's on the ABH
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15721&p=230767#p230767
Geoff

[Bushbound]

Brilliant built mate, i am trying to decide how to build my extra cab tray right for touring, and you have given me some good ideas and confimed many others, thanks..

My build up has proven itself again and I wont make any changes to it as its pretty much right, easy and quick to put up and pack away, looks a bit funny but is super practicle. If you need any help or advise, pm me
Geoff

[Bushbound]

I've just returned from a trip to WA, my travelling mate Alan drove my Hilux to Perth and I flew over and met him. We then raced the Australasian safari as Service Crew for car 127, I towed a trailer with spare tyres, fuel and tools to the Service points and serviced the race car between Special Stages, then head back to the Bivouac and help prepare the car for tomorrows racing. We raced a Production Class 2002 Diesel Pajero wagon, the most underpowered car in the race but very reliable as it doesn't have enough power to break things and we had the car ready to race again fairly early most nights. We finished in 6th outright, 2nd in Production Class so very happy with the results. A couple of pickys of the White Rhino on Safari ---





The Hilux Toyota should have made us, Pootrol chassis and running gear, 350 chev and Hilux Xtra cab body .



WE stopped at the Pinnacles on our way back to Perth



Swapped passengers and headed east across the Anne Beadell Hway.
This what the camper looks like after a weeks camping, the clothes lines are invaluable and all sorts of stuff gets hung up















A huge trip of almost 13000km, Hilux performed really well, greased and oil change in Gascoyne Junction, replaced front transfer case seal in Geraldton, replaced a zip in the canopy in Perth and 1 puncture on the AB.
Geoff