Merv and Di

Hi Bryan The new OEM trailer hitch (tow bar)was US$284.00 and shipping through myus.com was US$280.00 at a weight of 25.4kgs, which I thought was pretty reasonable. When I fitted it, all I did was to reinforce inside the chassis rall top and bottom with a length of 10mm mild steel on both the front and rear mounting points. I also reinforced the bolts where they attach to the bumper reinforcement bar the same. Cheers Merv

Hi Tony And they are both genuine factory items...Just makes you wonder doesn't it. I had a look at a couple of other 'trailer hitches' and they are all so similar in steel size that I decided to stay with the factory one. Just going to have to check it more often. I will be putting some decent extra bracing along all the weak points when I fit the new one this week and keep my fingers cross. I spoke to a Company in Gympy whilst trying to source parts here and I was informed that we all tow too heavy trailers here and that is why they are letting go. He also hung up on me when I mentioned that they have a 4.5t tow rating on the ball and if the engineering was better this would not happen. We were extremely lucky that it was still hanging on by two and a half bolts and only just because at the next whoopy do I believe that we would have lost the van as there was nothing to hold it. The brake safe would have gone with the bars, now looking for a new location to attach this separately. Cheers Merv

These are the parts that let go. Reinforcement bar which connects the rear bumper by two bolts from the tow bar centre and the second is the pieces torn off from rear most mounts on tow bar where it bolts onto the chassis. Please check your bar fittings, it is a very common problem and after trying to locate parts here, there are none. cheers Merv

Hi all We recently had the unfortunate mishap of rippng the tow bar off the rear chassis mounts along with snapping the reinforcement bar which holds up the rear bumper and part of the tow bar of our 2012 Silverado whilst up in Hells Gate (great place to visit). Yes the van came home to Melbourne on the back of a semi thanks to great assistance from RACV. Anyway a long story short this is apparently a common fault, the bars are not strong enough for our conditions as explained to me by Chev USA who simply wiped their hands of the matter. I now know of four others in Australia with the same fault. I managed to find all replacement parts via a Company called World Parts Direct.com who sell OEM part for Chev at very reasonable prices. They will not ship to Australia but I was informed by them about a forwarding Company in Florida who does, their name MyUS.com who have been brilliant. Parts are delivered to them and even using their economy shipping I had them the following week and I could not fault their rates they were far cheaper than using Shopmate.com (AusPost). If you need parts in the future please check them out, I could not recommend them more highly The owners and staff at Hells Gate Roadhouse bent over backwards to help us, so please when up that way drop in to say hi. Cheers Merv

We had a custom program installed into the old solar controller by Wheelhouse Marine in Darwin and all seems to be working quite well. They were recommended by Enerdrive to do the job, apparently the latter solar controller already has the lithium algorithm in it. Cheers Merv

Hi Rod setting 3, and make sure you disable equalisation at number 7. i have been advised by enerdrive to have a custom profile loaded when I get to Darwin just to make the system correct for the lithium. cheers Merv

Hi Rod Factory fit. The only piece of electrical that we have had to change was the battery charger. Cheers Merv

The Itech 120amp lithium batteries now have a 3 year warranty. Merv

390 solar & the 2x 120 lithium is the equivalent of the old 360agms or so I am told. Merv

Hi Rod They are a direct drop in replacement for the argms, same physical dimensions. Max charge is 14.7v and all reports I read none were detrimental. I have only had ours a week and so far so good, only time will tell. Weight of each battery is only 13ks so a total of 26kgs against the 100kgs for the old agms, which I might add lasted nearly 7 years. Set them up on your enerdrive charger by the instructions that came with it. I now have an extra box up front. I got $50 back from the recycling depot for the old agms. Cheers Merv

Hi Pete Itech world in Perth currently have 120amp lithium batteries that can be connected in series for $899 free delivery or can be cheaper to pick up. Working very well without changing the original system and only 13kgs each. Cheers Merv

Hi Rod We have the Enerdrive 3 bank 60amp charger combination with a Xantrex 1800 inverter and have just fitted 2x 120amp lithium batteries and the system is working a treat. Cheers Merv

Hi Paul We have had our Silverado now for six years towing our 21' Top Ender and I would not tow with anything else. They are an incredible towing beast with a brilliant fuel economy, and one of the most relaxing feelings you will find towing a big heavy van. The exhaust brakes work a treat as does the tow haul mode. They are one of the best towing vehicles around. Now saying that, we only use ours as a tow vehicle because they can be a pain in the but in a shopping centre because of the size but we always park further away from the doors and take up four spots and I no longer care after all it is a truck. We are fortunate enough to have a shopping car, general run around when we are home. Have a look at all the Americans and you could also check out the new Nissan Titan with the new Cummins V8 Diesel that is made for it as a slightly cheaper option, but still with a 4.5t tow. There has been a few discussions on this forum about similar questions over the past few years so check them out also. Cheers Merv

Why not simply put a set of duallies under the rear and take to an auto engineer to have increased. There is nothing else done between the 2500 and the 3500 maybe slightly heavier rear springs. Your 2500 can tow 4.5 t on the ball and 7.5t 5th wheeler. Don't forget a light truck endorsement will be required for vehicles over 4.5t. From memory the 2500 comes in at 4536kgs unless you have had it derated Cheers Merv

Hi John They are both top vans and will follow you anywhere, within reason that your truck can go. The main difference between those two are weight, the Top Ender is simply a heavier van. Ours is a 21’ and we have taken it almost every where from the top of the Cape to the desert roads/tracks to the Gibb and touch wood we have never had a flat. We were looking at the same Companies as you now are and what totally sold us was Kedrons after market service with smile attitude and nothing is a problem for them no matter where you are, if you need a problem sorted, they sort it. You won’t go wrong with these vans, it is pretty hard to break one. Cheers Merv