newbies

I have towed a 3+ tonne caravan on the Gibb River Road and Savannah Way from Roper Bar to Borroloola, plus sundry other rough tracks around Oz. Unless I am very confident that the road is of moderate to high speed graded gravel construction throughout,I always remove the tensioning bars from my HR WDH as a precaution, in case we come across a steep /rough gully, creek crossing or similar. My view is that on roads such as these, the speed of travel is generally much slower than sealed highway driving, therefore the operation of the WDH is pretty much irrelevant. And if you want to see an adverse consequence of leaving the WDH bars on while travelling a rough track (sand in this case), check out the Gall Boys' "Making the most of the Fraser Coast" DVD. Dave Gall snapped the tow receiver off a Prado through forces generated by the WDH being attached.

Hi Red Rubi. I'll bet each of the 3 lenses 'pops' into the black surround, that is attached by 2 srews into the caravan wall. the screws will be hidden while the lenses are in place. On my lights (a bit different, and made by Brytec, but close enough)there are two little projections on the top and bottom horizontal surfaces of each lens. These projections click into equivalent recesses in the mounting frame itself. If you get two thin-bladed screwdrivers, insert between the mounting and the lens on the top of the lens (to start) and lever out gently - but it may take a few goes. Once the top is free or has moved, at least, do the same on the bottom of the lens. Be careful you do not break the eletrical connections as the lens comes out. If they refuse to budge, it is likely that whatever sealant was used to waterproof the hole for the wires coming out of the caravan has spread to the back of the lenses. This may prevent the lenses coming out cleanly, especially if sikaflex sealant was used. In my case, we had to saw through the sealant carefully, avoiding cutting the electrical connections, with a thin flexible serrated kitchen knife - not a lot of fun! Had to do this with lights on both sides of my van when the original lights became dodgy. If you are lucky enough to pop out the dodgy lens intact,take a photo of the eletrical wiring connections before you cut them as close to the lens as possible, so that there is sufficient length to reconnect them to a new lens. Then you may need to take the old lens to your nearest auto-electrician or auto parts shop to see if they can supply an identical replacement. In our case, we had to buy two new complete light units, at about $100 each, and start from scratch, being careful to reseal the hole into the caravan, but NOT with sikaflex (a silicone gel ought to do the job)!! Best of luck.... Mike

Hi Koggers. We are not Kedron owners, but tow a 3+ tonne Free Spirit caravan. We believe it does not matter what brand of off-road van is involved, but we owners share the same objectives in travelling the roads less popular in this great land of ours. Therefore, we would be grateful for any recent updates and advice on road conditions on the Savannah Way past Roper River to Hells Gate and down to Lawn Hill NP. Thanks in anticipation. Mike & Helen.

I am not a Kedron (or BT) owner, but had a turn section on my offroad van tail/brake/turn LED fail the day before I left on a big trip. Long story short...auto electricians took 1 hour to lever out the dead section which basically stuffed the whole integrated unit. The reason? Sicaflex had been used to seal the hole where the wires came through the van wall to the light unit, and so much had been used that it spread across the back of all 3 sections of the light unit, doing a great job of sticking the light to the aluminium siding of the van. So, the whole unit was damaged beyond repair. After another hour of careful sawing behind the mounting bracket (with a serated kitchen knife blade, as nothing else seemed to work), a replacement combined LED unit was fitted, unfortunately not identical to the original. I would have changed both left and right LED units if not for the hassle - and cost in time - of removing the originals. I wonder how many other vans might encounter the same problem if ever the lights need to be replaced or repaired? I did inform the van manufacturer of this incident, and recommended they not use sicaflex, or if they do, to be very careful how much and where it is applied. My replacement light has been waterproofed with bog standard wet area silicone. Fingers crossed.... Mike

Hi Gilly, I am relatively new to the 200 Series turbo diesel, as well, having picked up a 2008 model in June from Maroochydore. I strongly recommend that you surf the forum in the Landcruiser Owners Group (google LCOOL and you can follow your interests from there). Great info from genuine users - not flogging any particular products, etc. All you ever wanted to know (and maybe some things you didn't want to know!) will be there - somewhere! I am really happy so far with my 'Cruiser which I have driven for about 5,500km so far, the majority with a 3 tonne off road van (Free Spirit) in tow back to Perth from Qld. Awesome power and I haven't done anything to her - yet! Cheers, Mike :thumbsup: