10,000Km Trip. What mods to do on a stock D40?

[MattWij]

Hi Guys,

I just got 6 weeks of leave approved for a trip up around the Kimberlys, I'll be working over christmas to make sure it will happen!

The Navara is in the shop this week getting the timing chain done due to some very loud cringe worthy rattling on startup which unfortunately eats up a lot of funds for upgrades for the trip.

I realised that maby the Rock sliders I just bought probably don't make any sense for the trip, so its time to prioritise!

To give you an idea of what we will be driving, We are leaving from Melbourne, through South Australia visiting Coober Pedy, through the Centre, up to Kununurra down the Gibb River road to Broome, then Heading back to Alice Springs Via Tanami Track. We are going at the end of April and will be in Western Australia in early May. I have been told the roads should be open but not graded and probably in poor condition.

I've decided that Suspension and Tires are probably the 2 most important things to do to deal with the roads. I'll also be adding a roof rack to throw some gear on and a dual battery system for a fridge. I figure ABS sensor protectors for the rear axle might be a good idea since apparently its a quick easy way to stop your trip if one of those are hit.

Everything else I'm really on the fence about, I live in a inner city suburb and want to keep the car light and decent enough to avoid offending the neighbours since I already stick out of my car spot on the street.. Want to avoid a bullbar.

Can any experienced travellers chip in to provide some insight on must haves for a trip like this? For the long term I'm definitely not after making a 4x4 monster, its about building up a car that will remain reasonable and comfortable for the regular trips to the shop but be ready for some touring!

Cheers for any input.

 

[bods]

Hey mate. Sounds like a great trip. Your plan so far sounds good. It would probably be worth investing in a second spare wheel and probably an inner tube or 2 to suit the tyre size you are running. Along with a tyre repair kit, tyre removal tools and a decent compressor as you will be very much on your own out there as far as puncture repairs go... I got hold of a couple of spare alloy wheels for my d22 so I have a 2nd spare. It will be going on the roof when travelling so I didn't fancy lugging a steel wheel along up there, not to mention having to lift it up there too haha. That may be something to think about as the roof racks can't carry a heap of weight. Spare belts, hoses, some coolant and oil wouldn't go astray either, as well as a spare oil and fuel filter. Maybe an air filter just in case there is a lot of dust, especially if you don't have a snorkel.

What have you considered in the way of fuel? A long range tank may be a bit too much of an expense if you haven't got one already, so jerry cans would probably be the go.

As for bullbar, that really depends how much night time travel you will be doing. There aren't any fences on the roads up that way and it is all cattle station country so the cows get pretty big, not to mention the horses and roos. But they aren't too bad during the day. If you do want to travel at night or you aren't sure, it might be worth looking at getting a nudge bar. They are easily removable if you don't want to leave it on all the time, but at least you can mount a pair of hids or a light bar (or maybe both if you get creative) on there for some extra light at night time.

That's probably all I can think of straight off the top of my head. I will be doing that trip one day haha. Used to drive road trains from perth to kununurra up the highway every 2nd week, but you can't explore as much in them as a 4wd...

I should also add, a basic tool kit would be a good idea too. Personally I have a butane powered soldering iron and multimeter just in case of any electrical dramas, but a basic socket and spanner set and some screwdrivers should help get you out of trouble.

 

[MattWij]

Thanks for the reply bods.

We have already looked at the fuel situation and we should never have more than 600K between stops at most, and we will each carry about 20L of Diesel in a Jerry. (There will be 2 other cars on the trip)

Also not planning to do any night driving at all. So I should be able to get away without a bullbar I think. If I have a bit of cash after all the essentials are paid I may put a light bar on the roof rack, but another mate coming on the trip already has some good lighting on his car anyway.

Hadn't thought of bringing inner tubes/tyre levers so will do. Butane soldering iron is a good idea too. I already have a bag of tools and a socket set which will come along for the trip.

While I'm here, can anyone suggest some decent leaf springs for the back? 80% of the time this car will be unloaded, but I'd like it to be capable for touring and I also need to occasionally tow a car trailer behind me. I'd like something that has a reasonable balance, I don't know much about these since this is my first 4WD. My plan is to put in adjustable tough dog shocks so I get some flexibility there but not sure what to look for in leaf springs?

 

[Old.Tony]

That's going to be an awesome trip. You've missed the most important tool you need to take: cameras! Not only a decent still photo camera, but a good mountable external motion camera (Go-Pro) and a means of extracting the images during rest stops would be invaluable. Plus a couple of Tb of storage just in case.

The tyre gear is vital and a second spare makes it very handy. Cordless impact wrench for getting the wheels off is also valuable but do 'em up by hand.

Not sure 20L of fuel is enough if the going gets tough because the fuel consumption skyrockets - if you hit 20LPHK your 80L will only last you 400km. I'd go long range tank (the Long Ranger gives you another 70L underneath where it doesn't bother your storage space, or even your spare). It's what we have - and I still intend to carry 5x jerry cans (total fuel on board = 250L).

The choice of springs really must be multi-rate. Whether it's the dual-rate springs like Old Man Emu Dakar springs (awesome springs, I have them and definitely vouch for their performance loaded and unloaded) or the triple-rate springs from Sax Suspension, there's really no reason why you'd choose single-rate springs any more. Take a spare set of plastic wedges with the OMEs, mine squished rather badly under extreme movement and the Tanami + GRR is going to give you all of that and then some. I can't say that there's any benefit to triple rate either - dual rate is more than enough.

As for shocks, the wider the bore the better. ShockWerx make probably the biggest bore I've seen for the Navara - I thought Tough Dog's 41mm was ok but they have 45mm rebuildable and 53mm "Ralph" shocks. The OME Nitrocharger's 43mm was good, but ShockWerx are 57mm across and can have a remote reservoir. My next set of shocks (and I am not only driving heavy, but towing 2.5T too) will be ShockWerx for sure.

Got UHF sorted? Hand-held will probably do but get something that can punch up to 5W, the little 1W units are only good for relatively close range and if you have to go scouting you'll want the extra power.

An awning off the side of the rig would be handy but also consider a 10W single CREE worklight that you can mount and move about. It'll draw nearly an amp so a decent second battery won't be bothered by it. Are you charging yours by isolator, DC-DC (eg D250S) or solar?

Most important ... enjoy the trip!

 

[MattWij]

Cheers Old.Tony for the advice, I'll look into an extended range tank. I do have a go pro that I won at work, so it will definitely be part of the trip too!

Goodness there is a lot to choose from when it comes to suspension! I might park that until I'm ready to make the purchase and come back to it then.

I do have a Uniden 80Ch unit in the car installed by the previous owner, no idea of its power output. I also have a couple of nice handhelds that was in one of those bundle deals at 4WD Supa Centre with a recovery kit bag. So pretty well sorted for UHF in and out the car.

I haven't installed the dual battery system yet, I just got a nice big 80Ah Eaton AGM battery, so still need to decide on the setup.

 

[Old.Tony]

AGMs are maintenance free and declared safe for a cabin area (I wouldn't risk it myself, but the regs allow AGM and other VRLA to be installed in enclosed spaces). That gives you 3 options:

1) In the cabin! Not my first choice actually, but it's convenient if you plan to cart it out to the tent/campsite/etc. Charge it several ways in here - low-power AC charger (eg 7A) powered by inverter driven by the ciggy lighter (7A * 12V * 1.3 for losses = 109.2W / 12 = 9A so it's safe for your ciggy lighter outlet.

2) In the tub. That's my choice, up on one of the wheel arches. Easy to get to, run cables into the tub up and over the wheel arch and up the corner of the tub into a little opening at the top then over into the battery area. Easy as. I've also got a solar panel on the roof of my canopy with the cable running into the canopy and onto an MPPT regulator to the battery. I even added a volt meter that I've cabled through to the cabin.

3) UNDER the tub. You can buy trays for this, or make it yourself. Several areas show promise but get the LRT in first. Stay clear of the exhaust side, it does get a bit warm. There's an opportunity behind the guard of the rear wheel under the tub (you can see it when lying down under the car).

If you have stock springs and shocks now, you won't know what hit you when you get new ones. Or should I say "real ones" ?

 

[Wallaby2407]

Hi Matt

Gopro's got to love them, they are a great thing I have a few of them. Learn how to use them with your smart phone.

How many people are going?

Mate I would throw in the following items in addition to the above.

Max traxs
Compressor - a good one or an ARB fitted one.
recovery kit so some one can pull you out using your snatch strap
The country your going in I would put a bull bar on
Agree on the long range fuel tank or 3 jerries (plastic)
Spare oil
Oil filter
spare belts
spare air filter
spare fuel filter
A really really good first aid kit

What type of roof rack are you looking at? One over the cab or one over the tube?

For springs it will come down to personal preference, I love my OME setup. Just be careful of airbags they are good but only when used correctly.

6 weeks sounds great as Tony said enjoy yourself, there is some great country out there. Have you thought about on your return trip to turn off at the three ways and come back home via Mt Isa??

 

[MattWij]

I'll be putting all the electrics either under the bonnet or in the tray, don't want to take room in the cabin.

Hi Wallaby2407, I wont be fitting airbags hah, I don't need to go overboard with suspension as the car is rarely loaded. Just want to get something that will be safe/reliable on bad roads and behave decently for that other 90% of the year. There is a workshop literally 5 houses down from mine plastered in 4WD brands and frequently has big rigs parked out the front, so I'm thinking I might drop in and tell them exactly what I'm after and they might be able to help me.

For roof rack I'm thinking I'm just going to try get a flat low profile one. I suppose I will find out soon enough but I don't think I will have to carry too much up top, just the long stuff like tents etc. Eyeing off a nice looking Awning 'side tent' that is 2x2 meters, it goes up really quick but packed up its still 2m long.

I will be going with a few people, there will be 4 cars for most of the trip. Have someone leaving after the first week, and within a day or so after we will be meeting someone else who will do the gibb with us and split when we head down Tanami Track. My sister is also planning on doing a trip, although a bit different as she will be going in her Nissan Tiida hahahah, and we plan to meet on the road at some point.

The "main" Group though is myself in my D40, a good mate with his partner in a previous model Diesel SantaFe which will also see suspension/tyre upgrades for the trip and another mate and his partner. Though my second mate changes his mind every 30 seconds on what car he will bring, it will likely end up being a Nissan XTrail. I'm going with him this weekend to look at one, I'll be there to listen and look for mechanical issues... which I failed to do for my own purchase on the D40, but I guess I learned the hard way for his benefit.

We have only just really settled on a rough route that will work, but im sure Mt Isa could be slipped in too! I'll put that idea forward at the next BBQ, Probably at the Murray Sunset national park in a few weekends!