I have been debating what to do with tyres and have decided that I don't trust the standard GrandTreks enough to drive to Cape York with them. We had 5 new Cooper ATR tyres fitted today and also bought a 6th spare tyre only as a spare spare.
They are slightly noisier and a little bit harder ride but seem to handle very well so far. They certainly have a more aggressive tread pattern which will be much better for off road traction.
Well, we went off on our first trip with the new Trak Shak.
We had everything with us (including the kitchen sink) and certainly were packed for the trip. All in all it went very well. I learnt not to try and cook chicken too fast and nearly smoked us out. We slept well but could have done with better 'bathroom' facilities.
Some friends of ours who actually put us on to the "rock the Mount" festival camped just near us.
We had been waiting quite a long time for our Trak Shak camper to arrive in Sydney after we ordered one late in February. We had been planning to go to "Rock the Mount" at Mt Remarkable in Melrose and take the camper along. We all had the long weekend days off and really wanted to go.
Well! The camper was available on Wednesday before we had to leave on Friday to go to Melrose. Slight problem though.....the camper was in Sydney. I made the decision to take a quick trip there from Adelaide to pick it up so we had it for the weekend. I left work at lunchtime on Tuesday and got on the road about 1pm. I arrived in Wagga at 10:30pm and stayed in a motel for the night. I left at 6:30am on Wednesday and arrived at Trak Shak at 11:30am. They went through everything with me quite thoroughly and I left there at 1:00pm. I basically drive the 1,400km straight home and arrived home at 3am. I rocked up to work on Thursday a little bit worse for wear but quite ok.
This pic taken on the way home.
I finally got around to installing the DVD in the roof. This unit is pretty cool. I can play normal DVD but also DivX and mpeg files from DVD or USB. It also links to the SatNav DVD player so we can watch the video in the front and also the Roof can watch the front DVD. It also has inputs for Video camera or Playstation etc. It does have a TV tuner which works ok as long as it is in a TV coverage area of course.
We decided to take the Cruiser for a run off road and Loveday 4x4 park was the destination. We haven't been there before but it has a good reputation. 2hrs after finally leaving home we arrived.
Had a play around and got stuck on the top of a sand dune. The fella running the park came and snatched us out after calling him up on the UHF.
We did most of the little tracks and the Cruiser went really well. Amelia loved the "roller coaster" track and was giggling her head off!
We took a few photos and did the loop track around the whole park and checked out the campsites. Very and dry and dusty because off the lack of rain of course but we will be back to camp sometime.
Front Gate:
Dropping in to a dip:
Some video:
I installed the UHF and while I was at it I connected the front 12V socket to permanent 12V via the auxiliary battery so things can charge or stay on when I'm not in the car.
I ran some decent sized wire to the power socket because the Toyota stuff is like cotton!
I installed the brake controller just near the driver's foot well. It doesn't get in the way at all.
I still had the dash apart in this pic.
The search for a bull bar ended with TJM and I decided to go with their OX 10,000lb winch too. They fitted it all up for me.
They do cut the bumper bar but they do a good job and put on a rubber sleeve and it looks good.
With all the accessories running, it was important to have dual batteries. The Cruiser comes with 2 batteries as standard which are wired in parallel. I decided to split them (apparently 2 batteries are only necessary for very cold starts and then I can jumper them anyway - never been a problem so far). I used a Piranha 180 Amp kit.
This was a fairly easy install. The reverse camera sits just underneath the top tailgate.
I fitted up the factory tow bar wiring kit and also ran 6mm heavy duty wiring to the rear Anderson plug directly from the auxiliary battery.
While I had the inside panelling off, I fitted up a genuine Engel socket for the fridge and also a spare 12V locking lighter type socket. I can't believe Toyota didn't fit these as standard! These are wired direct to the auxiliary battery also.
One of the fist things that I had fitted was the Pioneer AVIC-HD3 Satellite Navigation System. This also has a reverse camera, in dash DVD, iPod connection and bluetooth handsfree kit.
