Still working on it but making progress

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OldManBeard

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2021
Messages
248
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Location
Mount Evelyn, Vic, Australia
I retired at the end of February 2002 although my wife, who is 5 years younger than me, is currently still working 3 days a week. We have been planing an extended trip, probably a year or more, around Oz. For that purpose my/our (depending on whether the wife is within earshot) Navara is undergoing some changes. Apart from a few items, like the bullbar, I make and fit it all myself. This proved to be a bit of a challenge with the canopy, on account of the fact that I had never worked with aluminium before. And, as my MIG welder is DC only and aluminium really requires an AC welder, I also had to buy and learn to use a TIG welder, which is one type of welder I had long wanted to learn to use but never had the chance before. Luckily, I managed to buy a pretty decent new one for under $600. Nevertheless, while it's not pretty, it's all completely functional, which for me is the most important thing.

When we purchased this can it was fitted with a regular tub and poly canopy. The first changes were to fit things like bonnet struts (why are they not standard in the 21st century?), LED headlight and parking globes and of course the snorkel, which is fully sealed up to and including the airbox. When water can't really get in there's absolutely no need to have the drainage holes, which of course become places where water can enter if doing a river crossing.

Here are a few photos of the progress so far, with some text for each below the photos.

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An MCC Falcon model bullbar, with an Aldi winch we've had and used since 2008. This is the 4th car to have it fitted It's been fully stripped, cleaned and regreased several times over the years and continues to perform like new. The driving lights are Kings Domin8r Xtreme 9”.

Part of one air horn trumpet can be seen in the photo as well. Because space is so tight everywhere on these models I opted to fit the air horns, including its compressor, inside the bullbar before installing it on the car.

Those grey patches on the bonnet are due to nobody having warned me to wash a Navara using a high-pressure cleaner. It literally blaster flakes clean off the paintwork in several places, although the bonnet came out the worst. The primer remains intact, which means the car had been sat out in the weather for some time between having been primed and receiving the finish colour and not having been properly prepared first, resulting in extremely poor bonding between the two paint layers.

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This shot also shows the camper behind the car. The 300 watt solar panel (I don't really believe it will produce more than 200+ watts) supplies charge to a pair of 100 Ah deep cycle batteries, which live in a steel box beneath the tray. I'll be adding an additional 250 watts of solar on top of the canopy, as I already have that panel anyway. The towing mirrors are a cheap knockoff. While not quite the same standard as Clearview mirrors, they work perfectly fine for our needs and only cost half as much. The awning is has a front bracket attached to the cabin roof rack so that the bit extending forward of the canopy isn't "floppy".

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This shows the wife's side of the canopy. The great thing about making your own is that you can make it to suit your own needs, rather than settling for whatever compromises a manufacturer is obliged to use. This has been made to take 4 tubs. I will be adding more storage above the fridge soon. I had originally wanted to make my own drop-down fridge slide, in the MSA style. However, after getting half way through that I started thinking about the weaknesses of the MSA style. Given how much this slide will be used during our travels we decided this was an item worth spending a bit on and the Clearview design is much better than the MSA but it does come at a premium. The fridge in the canopy will be used only as a freezer, with the main fridge being in the camper. The white thing on the left is the air intake filter for venting the canopy. The outside is ducted to try and eliminate water entry.

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This my side, about half finished. Just tubs here, as a lot of the gear is in bags. I find bags just work out much easier for things like recovery gear or tyre repair tools (which include an R&R bead breaker). The electrical panel will shortly have a major overhaul, as I intend to install a much better, and larger, solar charge controller, a 240v battery charger and a few additional components.

The little box at the top with the red display is the fan thermostat, which switches on the fan in the centre divider, as well as the one on the rear wall when the temperature goes above whatever temperature I set it to. This is to get rid of the heat, which will otherwise just build up and limit the performance of the fridge. Another electronic switch will also switch on the fans when the voltage is above a preset point. This will ensure they operate while we're driving, which should also prevent dust entry through the fan opening, and when the solar panels are working well, which generally coincides with higher ambient temperatures. I'll be adding the same arrangement to the camper.

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On the rear we have a set of lights matching those on the tray. That white vent is the exhaust fan. The hinge in the lower right is a very heavy-duty stainless steel one, to which will be attached a swinging arm, which will hold the HF autotune antenna. The canopy has a 6mm plate welded in that corner to ensure the things is solidly attached and the antenna won't wobble all over the place. The hinge has almost no noticeable slop in it. I need to be able to swing it out because there needs to be some distance between the antenna and the canopy body when the radio is in use. This is a part I have not yet finished making.

That grey appearance on the right-hand side is where I used a rotary wire brush to clean the weld. I didn't notice what was happening until I stood back a bit. Oh well, live and learn.
 
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Some changes and additions inside the cabin as well.

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On the left are tyre pressure and temperature monitors for the car and camper. You can get ones that have enough inputs for both but, as the tyre pressures of the two are vastly different, I wanted to use the 2 units. They are normally solar charge and will switch on when they detect movement. The main one, on the right, is currently needing a charge via cable. I think its internal battery might be knackered. I'll see about opening it up to see if I can replace the battery.

For touring the phone cradle is replaced with one that holds my tablet. We use that, running Oziexplorer Android, for navigation and trip recording. For navigating in built-up areas (we avoid cities like the plague whenever possible) I have Igo on the phone or, if we have mobile coverage, possibly even Google Maps.

The camera monitor, which has poor colour rendition and probably needs to be replaced, can show any combination of 4 cameras at once. In this shot I have it showing the camera just below the rear number plate, which makes coupling the camper a breeze, and one on the rear of the canopy. Not visible here is the handset for the UHF radio.

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On the other side are the HF radio head unit and some switches. These 3 are for the driving lights and light bar (on the same switch), the air compressor, which is mounted below the tray, and one to switch the dual battery controller into direct mode. The latter means that if the main battery happens to get too low, I can turn that switch on and it's like having a jumper cable between the main and the deep cycle batteries. This can in very handy last year when the main battery developed a fault. On the other side of the steering column are the winch switches. One is to enable and disable the remote control. The other operates the winch from the driver's seat. I find that combination of controls suits us the best, as it provides the flexibility we want in how we use the winch, without the risk of stray radio signals possibly operating the winch. I don't entirely trust these cheaper wireless controls. I did make a mess of the switch cutout (I started cutting in the wrong place), so I'll probably end up chasing a replacement trim panel and doing it again.

There also QC phone/tablet charging outlets on each side of the cabin, and an additional regular USB charging outlet for things like our torches. We also have the same in the canopy.

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Here's the tray. It's tubular steel tubing around the outside and smaller steel support tubing to support the deck. The deck itself is 3mm aluminium and sits flush with the top of the supports welded all the way around the frame so that it sits flush with the top of the frame. There are a set of 2 holes at each corner. They are used to attach the steel carry bars and one of each pair of holes is also used when bolting the canopy down. The mudguards are made from leftover 3mm aluminium and formed but cutting the notches and being the lips over a wooden block, with the assistance of some not-so-gentle whacking with a large rubber mallet. They were then welded where the notches closed up. The tie bars are just some half inch water pipe I had kicking around under the house for 30 years or so, with some flat bar for the vertical parts.

I just took the canopy off, which is about half an hour's work on my own using my modified engine crane, as I want to lift the deck and add a meter shunt in the battery line. I'll take some more shots when I do that. I was going to do it today but it started raining.

Incidentally, those tyres, which are what the car came with, will be replaced before we head off. They have bugger all grip in the dry and can get quite hairy in the wet. I have had one blow a great hole in the sidewall for no apparent reason. For those familiar with the area, this happened while we were towing the camper down through the Black Spur, northeast of Melbourne. It's a dangerous road at any time, with barely enough width for a car in each direction. I did my best to roll to a relatively self spot but my wife had to direct traffic while I worked in high heat changing that bloody tyre. It's also where I learned to really loath the RX's lack of some kind of guide to get the end of the rod into the winch and we still had the original tub at that time, making it even harder. That part at least has been fixed. I'll show that when I lift the deck.
 
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Very cool my man.... They're great fun eh, it's like Meccano for adults, well it is for me ;)

Looks trick, good job!
 
Very cool my man.... They're great fun eh, it's like Meccano for adults, well it is for me ;)

Looks trick, good job!
Thanks. I'm not entirely sure it's all fun but overall I have enjoyed myself. Incidentally, I discovered that my wife has been saving all my Meccano for the grandchildren (we only have one so far). We'll see who ends up playing with it the most when she brings it out from wherever she's been hiding it.
 
Lol have you seen the knew lego sets... There's a few rainy days gone there, the stinking kids get it all eh.

And i call b.s, it's rewarding and you know it, nothing better than when i build something and it doesn't fall off.

That tray looks trick...
I wanna build another one now..... i love doing it, wish i had a shop...


That's basically my design background, lego ;)
Although, i did "step out" with my last tray build with a few odd angles..
 
I lifted the tray deck today, as I need to add a meter shunt at the batteries, as well as a battery temperature sensor for the new solar controller. Let me just point out that (nearly) all that red stuff that looks like rust is in fact a mixture of red dust, blown over from central Asutralia, and wattle pollen. The entire car, in fact all the cars in the area, looked like that at one stage. I'll take this opportunity to give it a good cleanout and treat those bits that really are rust. I like to use a rust disolver first to get rid of the surface rust and a rust converter for what's left, then paint.

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At the front of the tray sits the air compressor and canopy connection sockets. I will add another socket to cater for the battery monitor and temperature connections. There are matching sockets on the canopy and I use short patch leads to connect between the car and canopy. That avoids having leads having off either one, although here they're still plugged in because the canopy will be re-attached soon enough.

The compressor is mounted using industrial rubber mounts. I've had the exact same mounts under my 2.7HP workshop compressor for years, with no sign of wear. Inside their mesh protectors are the cable from the main battery and the airline for the socket on the bullbar. That eliminates the need to carry a long hose and I just carry one of those curly ones.

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The battery box, which houses the two 100 AH deep cycle batteries. The silver thing is just a heatshield because the positive battery cables get a bit closer to the exhaust in this area. The dual battery controller can just be seen beneath its plastic protective cover behind the red cable.

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I've added plates to where the tyre gets clamped up because the first time I lowered the tyre it had rather deep impressions forced to it. It took more than a week before it retuned to normal. The plates eliminate the problem by spreading the load. The bottom of the battery box provides a third such surface. The dual battery controller can also be seen here.

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The air tank sits at the rear. On the left, in the input line, is a non-return valve, as without it the air leaks back through the compressor. The pressure switch, which is set to about 60 PSI, pressure relief valve and drain valve are on the right. The coiled cable is the excess length of the lower rear camera lead because I didn't feel the urge to buy a suitable plug and socket for the purposes of shortening it.

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The trailer sockets (the camera socket is on the other side) were moved from below the towbar to above. While driving in the Flinders Ranges we had the cables ripped out, presumably by some rock on the track, and the plug ends were worn completely away. Luckily I had enough length left to be able to fit new plugs. The car is currently on the charger because it's going to be just sitting there for a while.

For the record, I do realise that it's not exactly legal to drill and tap into the towbar, or to weld things to it. I don't care, from the engineering point of view, what I've done here and on the other end of the bar does not materially affect the strength or capacity of the towbar.

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I used to use the valve stem type fittings for the airlines to the suspension airbags. This meant that I had to plug in a hose to adjust the pressures. I recently changed it to this arrangement. When I want to change the airbag pressure I run the compressor, as I would have done anyway, set the regulator to what I want and open the two taps. I could of course just open one tap if I just want to lift one side. The reason there are two taps is to prevent air flowing between the airbags, which does horrible things to the handling, or back through the regulator.

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Airbag suspension assist. There are stories around that using these has cause chassis to break. I believe that only occurs where people have chosen to boost their suspension with the airbags, rather than fitting appropriate suspension in the first place. Photos of such case invariably shows vehicles that are massively overloaded and still running standard suspension. My intention is, once I complete all the mods and re-weight the car, to fit appropriate suspension and use the airbags only to adjust for the relatively small changes in load, not to have them take all the load.

The line from the axle housing to the breather has a large loop to cater for the vertical movement of the rear end.

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The front air socket is tucked in behind a driving light on the bullbar.

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This very small modification to the spare wheel crane means it will no longer take me 10 minutes to get the end of the rod into the bloody thing! It's just a short piece of screw pipe but the internal diameter is perfect for this job. I only need to make the original opening larger by about 1mm for it to fit snuggly inside. Remember, that's not rust.

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Breathers for the diffs, transmission and transfer case on the rear of the cabin, just below where it curves outwards. The transfer case has two breathers but, as I already had this kit I simply used a tee to join them to one breather line. I've has some people question whether the breathers are situated high enough. I figure that when crossing a river the bow wave will result in the water at this point being a fair bit lower. Besides, if we ever end up in water deep enough to cover these then the breathers will be the least of our problems.

The other cable goes up the back of the cabin to a socket near the roof for the light bar wiring to plug into. I did it this way because I didn't want to drill a hole in the roof, where any leakage is problematic.
 
And i call b.s, it's rewarding and you know it, nothing better than when i build something and it doesn't fall off.
Thanks for your comments but I never said it wasn't rewarding. Quite the contrary, it's extremely rewarding, just not always fun (but mostly it is). At this point in my life, I have more time for this stuff and I'm naturally a tight-arse, so why not? I've estimated the cost of the materials to build the tray and canopy at around $3,000, including things like welding consumables. I reckon that's not too bad for something built to my requirements, rather than someone else's.
 
For sure, plus the tools added to the tool box and sheed...good job. I know where to go to borrow a welder ;)

The friend that allowed me to clean his machine shop for the alloy off cuts, floor space and his many skills, estimated mine to be around 6 to 8gs to replace... it adds up huh
 
I was just joking with you too bloke, lol didn't quite come out the way i wanted ...
Using B.s was a little dramatic huh

Losing knuckle skin is never fun, but those beach drives make up for them, you get to soak your cuts in the salt water too, win win ;)
 
For sure, plus the tools added to the tool box and sheed...good job. I know where to go to borrow a welder ;)
I was lucky. The only tools I had to buy were the TIG welder and the various bits and pieces that go with it. Plus some stainless steel wire brushes for the aluminium work and a couple of deep throat clamps. I've been accumulating tools for a fair while and still have some I bought up to 50 years ago. One of my angle grinders must be at least 35 years old and I still used it as much as any of the others. Never even replaced the brushes.
 
Losing knuckle skin is never fun, but those beach drives make up for them, you get to soak your cuts in the salt water too, win win ;)
Yeah, lost a bit of skin here end there. My wife won't even believe I've been working unless I draw blood.

Don't/can't do much beach driving and don't live anywhere near the coast. The only place you can legally drive on a beach in Vic is the Portland dune buggy club grounds, although there are plenty who drive on the beaches in the east of the state, even if it's just to get to the better fishing spots. We were at the Portland club once when we were in the Pajero club (organised by the head driving instructor), partly for training but mostly for fun. Other than that we only drive the beach or dunes when we go interstate, which we don't do often enough.
 
I loooooove the beach front driving, I could die doing that and be very very happy :)

Yeah Vic closed it down decades ago, shame in a way, but the morons always ruin a great thing eh some of the most stunning coast line too...

Anyways, back to finishing that tray bloke, the beach isn't getting any closer...
 

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