richard sheppard

Hi all just after some advice. we have finally picked up our new GXL ute and can't wait to go on holidays out to longreach, mt moffat, cania gorge, sunshine coast, fraser island,harvey bay and make our way back to townsville. Be away around 5 weeks starting at the end of October . The question I'm asking is about the clearances bewteen the top of the round crome locking wheel on the 6 tonne mchitch and the back of the tray .Has any one with this combination [toyota glx ute and 21 foot topender].It looks like I cannot drop the pin that is on the hammond reese tow bar any lower has anyone come across this problem with their setups.

Hi Rob.We are more than happy with our full ensuite as my wife likes to have the extra room for storage for the toiletry,towels,hairdries, makeup etc (not that she needs much of this). We like the idea of the dry floor in the ensuite and the seperate toilet. If you like to have a look at our van to see the seperate toilet and shower don't hesitate give me a ring and we can go there after work. Richard

Hi Gary and kaye I'm glad you have raised the question as we are about to take delivery in two weeks time of our new GXL ute. I have been looking for a while at the travers on the road to see what they are using. I have seen only the standard mirrors on this vehicles and was hoping that they would do the job.When we picked up our van in brisbane we were towing it with a nissan patrol. Which had a recess around the edge of the mirror which worked will but I don't think that they will fix the toyota mirrors. Let me know if you fine something.Richard and Celeste

Hi Mark & Simone we are waiting for delivery of our new landcruiser ute GXL late September we should pick it up. We to have a 21 foot topender and I'm glad you raise this point. Are you happy with your landcruiser ute, what is the fuel economy like pulling your weight. Was this a hayman reese bar or a genuine toyota towbar, as we are getting a toyota bar. We have also weighed our van and our weight was 3560kgs with all water tanks full but not the jerry cans [not shaw about the tow ball weight] But will be putting it across the way bridge before taking off in November. We are also looking at puting air suspension on the back. Is there any think else that I should know or consider about my new tow vehicle .Thanks for the heads up. safe traveling. Thanks Richard & Celeste

Hi Den and Col.We have just sold our nissan patrol wagon and have place a order with Toyota for a GXL ute. Hoping to get better fuel consumption . We were looking to take our van up to Port Douglas for the long weekend [Queens birthday]. But sold it the a few days before , still went but booked in to a cabin.Are you happy with yours.Toyota tells me that it will be here around the end of September October .So not heading over to the Kimberlys this year but instead we will be heading out to longreach and then on the Carnarvan gorge Sunshine coast area. Next year to the kimberlys. Cheers Richard and Celeste

Hi Gary and Kaye. Sorry for taking so long to reply to your info. Been busy and I'm still working. Not lucky or old enough to be traverling full time. It sound's like you are happy with your GXL Toyota ute. Maybe you should buy shares in ARB, sound's good :.) We are happy with our Nissan Patrol. It pulls our topender no worries as long as the BP tanker is still in the revision mirrorand keepting up to us. This is our second patrol. We had a 4.5 litre petrol patrol before we bought this one last year. We had up graded from a camper trailer to a topender when we discovered that the the 4.5 Nissan's towing capacity was 3.2 tonne so we up graded to this new 4.8 litre petrol. It's a great tow vehicle but has not got the fuel distance we were hopingfor. We can only get close to 300 km out of a tank of fuel and we are planing a trip over to the Kimberly in August September for 8 weeks. We are very happy with our topender it tows well and is very comforable. It took 3 years to make up our mind and a number of trip to the caravan show and to the Kedron factor in Brisbane. The staff at the factory are really good to deal with. I'm a fairly fussy person and I was happy with their service. We had a small problem with the seal around some of the windows and Kedron flew a tradesman up to Townsville to fix our problems. Could not ask for better service than tha! We were looking at buying a ATV but decided on the topender. We have our patrol up for sale and are hoping to buy a Toyota ute as there is only the two of us. Have been talking to some Toyota dealers and they are telling me that there is a shortage because they were wiped out through the sunami in Japan. So we are hoping that we will pick up one before we leave to go to the Kimberlys. Good luck with your new van and safe travels. +Richard and Celeste

Hi Neil could you please send me some info on your gxl ute as we have a patrol petrol 4.8 litre wagon. We have just bought a topender in November and finding our wagon very thirsty so we have it up for sale and looking at buying a v8 cruiser ute could you please email me kms, extras, photo's and the price.Also what is the fuel litres per 100 kms towing your van .My email address is richardsheppard@bigpond.com Thanks Richard and Celeste :thumbsup:

Hi Neil could you please send me some info on your gxl ute as we we have a patrol petrol 4.8 litre wagon. We have just bought a topender in November and finding our wagon very thirsty so we have it up for sale and looking at buying a v8 cruiser ute could you please email me kms, extras, photo's and the price.Also what is the fuel litres per 100 kms towing your van .My email address is richardsheppard@bigpond.com Thanks Richard and Celeste :thumbsup:

Hi again Den and Col I thank you for the info that you have provided me with of your 4.5 litre tubro diesel . These figures that you have provided is great news.My nissan pulls our van really well except for the fuel side of things .We have it up for sale as we speek and looking at buy and new 4.5 litre gxl ute before going over to the Kimberlys in August September . We picked up our new topender last November tryed to get away in January but didn't go far due to the flooding . Once again thank you and safe travelling Richard and Celeste.

Hi Jacky Jacky.Thanks for those trip I will do what you say and tape up all the jars only again Thanks Richard and Celeste :thumbsup:

Hi Den and Col Thanks for our reply just looking at your kms per litres are you saying that you are getting 360 to 400 kms out of two tanks of fuel is this right .If I divide 360 kms by 140 litres =2.5 kilometers per litres or 400 kms divide 140 litre =2.85 kilometres per litre. But if I muiltply 4.9 kilometers by 140 litres =686 kms. [This sounds better ] Pulling my topender along the Queensland coast with our 4.8 litre petrol patrol we are getting around 3.2 kilometers per litre which = to 90 litre x 3.2 kilometers =288 kms . My concerns are traveling thru the Gibb river road is there enough places that I can get unleaded fuel to take me across that distance. We have two jerry cans on the draw bar of our van taking this into account 90 literes plus 40 litres [jerry cans ] = 130 liters x 3.2 kilometers per litre =416 kms. I am concern about head winds or heavy going and if my fuel consumpsion falls even lower, distances bewteen fuel stops with only single tank Once again thanks for your feed back if you could get back to me with kilometres per litres if what you are saying is right Richard and Celeste :thumbsup:

Hi all ,looking for some advice on tow vehicle. I have a 4.8 litre patrol wagon 2010 model ,which is very thirsty towing our 21foot topender it weighs 3.5tonnes .We are planning a trip to the Kimberlys in August September for eight weeks. I only get around 300kms out of a tank[90litres] ,I have two jerry cans on the draw which will give around 400km all up . Does any one out there have info on unleaded fuel and distances in the Kimberlys. I am looking at changing my vehicle to a new Toyota landcruiser 4.5 litre turbo ute but I'm hearing different stories on fuel consumpsion. COULD someone who has this combination please advise me what fuel consumpsion they are getting .Also if someone could help me out with distances and fuel along the Gibb river road section of the Kimberlys. :helpsmilie: Thanks Richard and Celeste

Hi Rousosm .We purchase a 21ft topender with full ensuit across the back in November tare weight 2920kg fully loaded with all 3 water tanks full plus every thing require for us to get up and including 2.4kw generator . I put it across the way station here in Townsville the day we left for a 5 week trip in January and way in at 3540kg happy caravaning. Regards Richard and Celeste :thumbsup:

Hi All Just chasing some information on fuel economy with the 4.5 tubro diesel . We had just purchase our new topender in November and we are very happy with it . My tow vehicle is a new 4.8 litre petrol nissan patrol wagon which tows it without any problems except for the fuel. We are only getting around 29 to 30 litres per 100km . This is keeping it around the 90km per hour pulling around 2300 revs . I have weigh the van loaded 3500 kgs The question I would like to know is the 4.5 litre diesel any better on fuel than this.My problem is that I'm only getting around 300kms if I'm lucky out of a tank .Some fuel stops are further than that when going west.Is the toyota landcruiser ute capable of :thumbsup pulling 3.5 tonne van. Any info would be great :thumbsup:

Hi Reg we have just bought a topender and picked it up 1/11/10 .I was concerned about securing my spare wheels to the back of our van I tried chaining them down ,but then the tyre cover would not go around the tyres . so my mine went in to overdrive constantly thinking of how to secure the wheels to the van . so I came up with an idea so I went out and bought 2 wheel studs and nut to suit my van.What I done was grindered back the rounded sides of the studs to suit the wheel nut to 21mm then I put the stud thru the mag and grinder a flat side on the stud drilled a small hole to suit a small padlock and secured the mag to the van . the padlock is out of site and can't be seen unit you put your head between the back of the van and the spare wheels . hope this helps it's neat and tidy :laugh: :thumbsup:

Hi Chris My wife and I will be heading up to Rollingstone north of Townsville on the 27/12 10 for two nights to spend some with my family , back to townsville to fill up and then heading down to Emerald,Carnarvon gorge ,Cania gorge then on to Harvey bay and the sunshine coast should be away about 5 weeks.looking forward to getting away from work for a while :thumbsup: :laugh:

Hi Gary and kate sorry for taking so long to get back to you , but we are both back at work. Every thing is great with the van the guy at Kedron factory done a great job with it . very happy .I tow it with a new 4.8 litre nissan patrol and it tows beauitful . keping the foot of the pedal and the fuel is around 4.5 to 5 km per litre on open flat country plenty of power. We went with plan 14 queens size bed up front ensuite at the rear.I did not go for the bar b q or the diesel heater as we live in Townsville. We are going on hoildays and going to Carnarvon and Cania gorge and then down to the sunshine coast should be away about 5 weeks. Looking forward to it and living work behind. Would like to go out to Birdsville in September for the races ? : :thumbsup:

:After three long years and plenty of hard work we are finerly picking up our van .We are leaving Townsville on Saturday morning to be at the Kedron factory 0900 Monday to take delivery of our new topender .We are only new at this , up to now we love camping with offroad camper trailer. But decided to spoil ourself and orded our toy :laugh: