Mrs Lynn Astill

Hi Pete and Tracey, We have the same setup as Jaygee. Had the ARB OME setup first, but needed to have the Lovell's GVM upgrade to be legal. My advice, go straight to the Lovell's and save $2500 by not wasting time with OME upgrade. We had ours done by Northside 4x4 at North Lakes Brisbane. regards Chris

Hi Neville and Kay We have a separate switch (circuit breaker)in the front boot for the fridge. It is behind the 12v - 240v switch in ours. Hope this is useful regards Chris

Hi JK, I think that you need to put the van over a weighstation bridge to find out the reality of it. Otherwise you are wasting your time on calculations. No point in putting off the inevitable as the Transport Inspectors won't be interested in your spreadsheet. Sorry Chris

Hi Laurie, We have been through the same issues as you are experiencing. We originally had an excellent 100 Series TD until we realised it was no chance of towing 3500kg legally with us staying in the vehicle (lol). The 100 series cannot have the GVM upgraded in Qld thanks to Qld Transport, so we reluctantly upgraded to a 200 series at significant cost. It now has a GVM of 3800 kg (An additional 500kg payload). Our TE is 19 feet externally and first weighed in fully loaded at 3860 kg subsequent to a 6000km trip to the Flinders Ranges. We were absolutely stunned!! Lucky we didn't get pulled over I guess. Anyway, the short story is, the guys at Kedron were great and helped us out no end. We removed about 14 drawers at around 3kgs each and replaced them with single large doors. Got rid of the washer and plumbing entirely and replaced it with a portable twin tub that weighs about 13kg and has a lot less moving parts. A saving of about 40kg. Ditched the 100 l drinking water tank for a 63 l tank, a further saving of nearly 40kg. The 2 jerry cans and holders together with the outboard bracket have also been removed which was about 62kg. An audit of the contents was also conducted with lots of weighing etc etc... It now weighs in at 3460kg without clothes and food. We will still have to run with the front water tank empty though to be legal and get the towball weight down. By the way, as I understand it, the tare weight includes both spare wheels and 1 gas bottle with sufficient gas to test the onboard installations, 1 battery, mattress and seat cushions, but no water whatsoever. Don't quote me though please, as I was nearly wrong once before many years ago........ (lol) Hope this helps. Regards Chris

Hi Tony, We put a Pioneer DVD player in the dash and use a separate Garmin GPS. Much easier that way as the GPS can be used elswhere with different maps and connected to PC for upgrades etc. The DVD player also accepts a usb stick for music on bad roads... Regards Chris

Hi Bill, Not meaning to hijack the post, but I am interested in how and where you had your Patrol's towing capacity upgraded, if you don't mind. Thanks Chris

Morning all, I have seen the same discussion on the Caravaners Forum from the same character (Inventor). I would like to know if he really does have a Kedron caravan as claimed.... or is he just drumming up some business? Regards Chris

Hi Phil, It was not an option for the 750 bars. I already had a set and have since sold them. Yes, the stainless does work, however there is not as much movement now, if any it seems. I originally had 5 links hanging loose, now only 3 after the adjudsment of the head. Hope this helps. Chris

Hi Phil, Sorry all, don't wanna hijack the topic, but have you changed the angle of your hitch to allow for a gretaer length of chain to hang between the bars and the chain hangers (clamps). I did exactly the same thing as you when we were in Lightning Ridge, but all seems a lot better now that the hitch has been adjusted. (See the Hayman Reece website for the adjustment). BTW, I also rivetted a small length of 316 stainless plate to the inside of the A-frame to stop the bolt from gouging the steel. Regards Chris

Hi Tolley, I could be wrong, but won't the cruiser still be over weight at 3420kg and the GCM at 6550kg? Regards Chris

Thanks Russ, I appreciate your advice. Regards Chris

Hi all, particularly Grahame and Russ....... Very interesting information, thank you. About a month ago, I had the chaps at the factory check my HWS as it was difficult to start. Unfortunately , they left it in ignition mode and when I entered the van last week to get some keys, I noticed the battery gauge was flashing 'low'. Very strange, as nothing was turned on as far as I was aware and they were fully charged before I took it to the factory. When I checked the batteries with a multi meter, they were all at 11.7 volts. Later that evening when I returned to the van to replace the keys, I jus happened to notice the red light of the HWS igition being on. The HWS igition had been running for about 3 weeks, non stop. The van and batteries are 9 months old. Do you think the battery life has been significantly shortened by this. I have reported the problem to Tom at the factory. I look forward to your responses. Regards Chris

Hi guys, We have the 8 sensor tyredogs with relay and had similar problems to you. I ended up ringing tyredogs aus and found that the relay MUST be connected to a non-switchable power source ie, rear fridge plug etc. or use batteries. Mine now seems to work fine for the car, but I havent hitched the van up yet. We have a 200 series cruiser and I installed the relay next to the spare tyre on the passenger side. I note that the manual does NOT mention the non switched power source. Hope this helps. Regards Chris

Hi Colin, We got ours from Kedron when we picked up our van last year. About $50 if I recall. Regards Chris

Hi Rusty, Yes, the fridge and radio are on the same circuit. If I recall, this is so you don't lose your programmed radio stations when you turn everything off in the boot except the fridge. Regards Chris

awsome, do you think the gall boys could include it as an optional extra.....;-))

Excellent Tony, thanks very much for taking the time to explain. I guess I should have picked up on the o/s/r ........ lol I will have a look at those wheel sensors so I understand where they are. Kind regards Chris

Hi Tony, Thanks for posting that info. I am no mechanic, so, if you don't mind, can you please tell me what the O/S/R sensor thing is and where I would find it. I'm not being a smart*rse, it really does help to know these things that can go wrong in the middle of nowhere. Their is so much electronic wizardry on cars these days, it's a bit confronting. Kind regards Chris

Morning all, This may sound dumb, but when installing the fan, is it sucking or blowing past the condensor, ie which way round is the fan? Regards Chris

gday richard, we have a 200 series TTD and a 3500kg (??) T/Ender. we average 19/20 litres per 100km at around 90/95 kph. with 138 litres of diesel in the truck and another 40 on the van drawbar, we would get a comfortable range of 700/800 kms. regards chris

Hi John, After you fill the water tanks, there won't be much payload left to play with... Our Tare was 2820kg, but we can only run with the front water tank empty to keep the ball weight down to around 350kg. Regards Chris

Morning all, Just remember, don't get too carried away with GVM of the vehicle as the Gross Combined Weight (GCM) for the 200 series is 6800kg. Take away the total weight of the van, if 3500kg, you are only left with an available GVM of 3300kg for the vehicle. Not much point in having a GVM of 3800kg with the Lovell upgrade if you can only use 3300kg. It is well worth having the ARB (or similar) upgrade to 3580kg to improve the suspension performance though. Regards Chris

Greg, Thanks very much for your thoughts and opinions. I do think the easiest and maybe safest (at this point) 'fix' will be the blue boat trailer teflon slide strips. As you have said, moving the tow pin placement could unleash other problems that are not immediately obvious and potentialy very dangerous. When we were at Lightning Ridge recently on the vans first major trip, I discovered that I had done the drivers side bolt on the chain hanger to tight which bent the hanger completely out of shape and gouged the A frame badly. Fortunately I was able to track down a local engineering works and the bloke there was able to heat it and return it to its original shape. There are a lot of forces coming into play in that hitch. It's not something to play with, that's for sure. Actually, the van is at the Kedron yard at the moment getting a couple of things done. When I pick it up, I will have a chat to them about the pin placement if I get a chance. Regards Chris.

Hi Greg, Thanks for your response. I now understand what the problem is, though short of moving the tow pin forward 150mm, I don't know the answer. Would allowing the chain hangers to slide and preparing the A frame accordingly be a satisfactory fix in your opinion? I realise that you are not en engineer, but you certainly seem to have a better grasp of the problem than Kedron, or anyone else ..... Is it possible to just reposition the tow pin simply by redrilling the plate? Does your mate, the engineer have any ideas about all this. There is no way I can get my towball weight under 300kgs with the setup of the van. I don't understand why the positioning of the axles isn't something that is customised to each van based on design etc. Regards Chris

Hi all, I made a goose of myself earlier this week when I took our van back to have some repairs done (my fault) and when I did, I asked Tom if they would change the hitch over from the 3.5 ton to the 6 ton after seeing that the "offroad capacity" is only 3 tons. He had a look at it and said no need, we already had the 6 ton version .... :laugh: how embarrassing, guess I should have looked a bit closer before I opened my big mouth. We picked our van up in July this year and I asked Stan to change the hitch over from the AT35(??? or whatever) to the McHitch which was on their newer vans. This was fine and only another 300 bucks, but I was sure he told me that they put the 3.5 ton one on as the 6 ton was way too big. Oh well, live and learn... On the subject of hitches and WDH, we have experienced the WDH thingies on the drawbar sliding back and forward on tight turns. I understand that this is normal, though I have conerns about the Aframe being significantly scored by the locating bolt and the galvaninsing on top being rubbed away. Do others have this issue and if so, what have you done to combat this? I know that the bars should be removed for U turns etc, but this isn't possible in a lot of cases. I am considering fitting some of the blue strips used on boat trailer bilge supports to improve the problem. Looking forward to your thoughts Regards Chris