Pete and Tracey

Hi OBdreamer, We had the table in the dining area converted to a bi fold, this allowed the table to be folded back towards the wall of the van. Allso included a little cabinet under the table as well. Should of had this done when the van was built as it makes for HEAPS more room to move around in. Next G ariel

Hey everyone, On the subject of this does anyone know the name of the "type" of connector or plate Kedron put in the van? For instance the connector for the external aieral on the next G gateway is an "SMA" connection. Looks like the same of as the sat connections? Cheers, Pete

Thanks for the info Winnecke. I believe the anodes from the eBay dealer are of the magneisum type. Will wait to see what turns up, I have ordered one as a test to see the quality and composition before I purchase a batch. It will be interesting to see what info cvtripper comes up with. Have a good one all.

Hey Tony H, The item number is 170446587757 as an example. He has a number of them up for auction. Works out to be $24 each incl postage. I will get 4 or 5 and combine postage, shout work out reasonable. So are they the Magneisum ones I am after?

Hey Guys and Gals, The Suburban HWS uses the magneisum anodes correct???? I am just about to purchase from FleaBay and just checking. Thanks.

Hi Hermit, We did the Birdsville developmental track from Windorah to Birdsville a couple of months ago. A good days driving on dusty gibber road. The main ingestion of dust came from the rangehood extractor van. We have the kitchen at the back of the van and the tube that came from the rangehood is exhausted from the rear of the van through the wall and a vent on the outside. The tube needed to be modified to create a gapless fitt to the wall of the van as this is how dust got in. Easy fix with a bit of foam and tape. Otherwise there was no other problems as we had blocked the door vent etc. On the door vent topic, what do most people do to cover it? We undid the 4 screws that holds the vent together placed a piece of newspaper between and refitted. Seemed to work alright, and other easier thoughts?

Hi All, I too have a VMS and have found it a great unit. I purchased from Olbis in Brisbane and they have been great with support. i run OziExplorer for the maps and iGo for the road. Mate of mine at work purchased a unit from China (where all these unist originate) and had it fitted by Hyundi. The unit he ordered is for his model car and fit exactly into the dash as though it was factory. The site seems to be legit as they had it in his hands within a week via UPS. I am looking at upgrading the mine to the 7000 series via these mob. http://www.chinacargps.com/ I also noticed that the 7000 series that VMS are offering is on the site as well for a fraction of the price of the VMS unit. Cheers.

Thanks for all your opinions regarding our vehicle choice. I have talked with people both on line and on the phone and I can't get any bad reports from anyone. We have ordered a 76 and should get it early Feb. We like to keep things simple as well, hence the 76 as opposed to the 200. We looked at both. The 30 k saving is a bonus as after ARB has finished with th 76 we will still have plenty of change. We'll see how it goes I guess. Thanks again everyone.

Hey Adam S, Good news. I haven't heard anything bad about them as of yet. Must be a good thing. Looking forward to seeing how it goes on Saturday.

Thanks for the replys everyone. We are going to the Toyota dealer on Saturday to testdrive, and probably purchase, an 09 76 Cruiser V8TD. I like the v8 as it puts out about two and a half times the Patrols power and bucket loads of torque. I like the solid axles as well. So we will see how it goes eh?

Hey guys, Thanks for the replies. Zolle, the 4.2 is not a CRD and can't be chipped unfortunately. The 4.2 is pretty old and is truck like. I have a 3" exhaust dynoed etc etc. The power on the flats is fine, just the hill climbs that worry me. Especially the long laborious ones, they sap the power!! King and Deb, you said "Normally drops to 2nd gear and sit on about 30-40 Klms/Hr". That is encouraging as going up the Toowoomba range or Cunninghams Gap for example, the Patrol is doing much the same. I have an impression in my head that the Cruiser will "drive" up hills like that with the van. Perhaps it doesn't and labours as well ?!?!?! This is where I struggle, if I did spend the 15 - 20K on upgrading I may not see a return on investment and be back or just above square one! Like I said for that money I would expect the tug to power up those hills compared to what I can do now. Don't get me wrong either, I don't want to race around the countryside. I would like the vehicle not to be too stressed out. We sit on 90K/H. I hope this makes sense, I know most of you have had Cruisers. Thanks for the feedback, keep them coming so I can make an informed decision. Pete and Tracey

Hey Everyone, We have just returned from a 4,500 k trip from Brisbane to Phillip Island with the TE and Patrol. The car went "alright" but am left wondering if a 100 series would be any better. What I would like is someone here in Brisbane with a late model 100 series diesel to chat to and possibly have a drive of thier vehicle to make an informed choice as to wether to upgrade to a 100 or not. I would like to know if the 20 odd k that I have to spend will be worth it or not. I am sure that the Cruiser will be better, but 20 k better?? It would be nice to get sone perspective on this. I hope I am not out of line asking this but I have a bit of soul searching to do before we head off mid next year. Thanks, and any help appreciated. Pete and Tracey.

Hi ATV42, I thought as much. I was going to run around 30psi and slow down to 70 odd. From memory the Birdsville Track is in pretty good nick. Cheers.

Hi Everyone, Well....after doing a few short trips in the Kedron to familiarise ourselves we are ready to do a serious shakedown of the van. We are going to take a week off and head out to Birdsville. Last time we were there we shot through on the way across the Simpson and didn't have a good look around. Everyone talks about dragging the van over the Toowoomba Ranges, we have had the van over Cunningham's Gap a few times and the Patrol did an alright job albeit slowly! Are the Toowoomba Ranges steeper, longer ? Or can I expect the same as Cunningham's Gap? I can't remember too much of the last time I drove over it as I just drove it! Now I have 3 tone on the back! One last question....... When we hit the track and the dirt I am going to be running about 30 psi on the van tyres. How does that sound? What do other people run on those sort of roads? This will be my first time on that sort of road with the van, anything else to watch out for besides other people and speed?? Thanks for your insight and wisdom.

Hi Chris, We have heard as much and have not tested it in 45 degree heat yet. The guys at The Generator Shop suggest to drape a wet hessian bag over the generator as it runs in high temps. The theory goes, and sounds feasible, is that as the air is drawn in around the unit it is cooled. Much the same as the water bags you see sometimes on peoples bullbars cools the water within. Once again, theory. I have no personal experience yet. Can't hurt giving it a go though! Interested to see what other peoples opinions and/or experiences are. Might just rip the slide out of the boot and get a Yamaha anyway.

Hi Gilly, We have 4 X 130W panels as well and have never been short of power. Consistently pumping in more amps than we use during the day, even on an overcast day. Very happy so far. We have the Honda genny as a backup. All bases covered. The Honda JUST runs the aircon. You can't fire up the aircon and have the battery charger fired up as well. If I had my time again I would do away with the slide and buy the Yamaha. I actually was under the impression that the genny stayed on the slide during use, not so.

Hi Chris, Good weekend had. Got down to -2 and the days were great. No one camping in the van areas : - ) an there was a youth group camping. Pretty quiet though. Cheers.

Hi All, Tracey and I are going to Girrawween NP this weekend to do a bit of busk walking. Leaving lunch time today (Friday). If you are in the area drop in and say G'Day. We will be in the camping area on the right as you drive in. Have a good weekend.

Hey there evan, Welcome to the forum. We have an 07 4.2 patrol and an 09 Top Ender. The Patrol has had the 3" exhaust fitted and tuned by AMMS in Sandgate. The Patrol pulls the van quite well. OI was worried when we ordered the van as all the people I had spoken to or read about had a Cruiser. Anyway..... We have the Patrol. The main reason we stuck with the Patrol is that we like getting out and roughing it. That includes getting well off the beaten track, camping with a swag and I feel the Patrol is just a bit more capable than the Cruiser. The Patrol pulls the Top Ender just fine. The Kedron is plated at 2800 Kg and we have heavy duty springs in the car and Polyair Bags. With the WDH the car sits perfect. Fuel consumption is not too good, but we will just fill her up when needed. The 4.2 engine is bulletproof, we change oil at 5000 K and keep all the filters up to date. Overall we are happy with the patrol and our setup. No question though, if you want power and a "car" like driving experience the Cruiser is the go. The Patrol can feel like a truck at time as you may well know.

Hi Glen, Haven't had a chance to get the van out since the tune. We have a trip planed next weekend to Girraween. This is the same run we did last time, so I will be able to directly compare the performance. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks for taking to time to help me out. I think if we sorted it, the Patrol will be great on the road and even better off road.

Hi there Winnecke, I too have found a bit of surface rust, predominantly in the hatch locks. There is a roll pin that holds the mechanism together that is just starting to rust. I have cleaned them up and coated them with lanolin (Lanotec). I would much rather clean up a bit of dust attracted by the coating than have them rust completely. I had the handle for the jockey wheel come off in my hand the other day because the roll pin in that had just about corroded away. The van is less than 2 months old! Replaced it with a stainless steel pin. In the end I think I want to give some areas a spray of galv paint or something like that I guess.

Thanks for the replys guys, No sooner did we have the thing dry and fitted, it rained again!

Hi Everyone, Just wondering after all this rain we have had in Brisbane over the last couple of weeks, do you need to dry the cover on the front of the van? That's that cover that covers the front window. We took it off today to see if it was wet on the inside and it was soaked. Got most of it dried and refitted. So.....does anyone leave them or do you have to actively take it off and dry it every time it rains? Thanks.

Hey CCC, Purchase an "ARC" type hitch lock on the weekend and quickly learnt that it will not fit the hyland hitch. Got a refund. Still looking for a solution to the hitch lock. I will try Webby's reccomendation of locking the chains to the hitch and see how we go. I am also going to purchase a lockable hitch pin as well as I have read that people will steal the hitch unit. The Hayman Reese unit looks good. Any other suggestions would be great.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Might familiarise myself with the flat changing procedure using the Patrol unit. Thanks again.