Our Defender Td4 Expedition Conversion

I doubt you'd be so envious of our climate of recent weeks, plenty of places in the very high 40's celsius, added to a large proportion of the continent being on fire!
If you do cart a high lift jack around the country be sure and get a good base plate for it, you'll be glad to have it if you try to use the jack to escape from a salt lake (you'll need "slider bars" under your doors too for the jack to be really useful).
On the fuel tank subject I have a 127L tank in my Tdi 130 and have crossed the Simpson west to east as well as north to south without needing the jerry cans. Having said that I'm fitting a further 80L for this year's trip down the Canning Stock Route.

Thanks for the posts, mates!
Yeah, the car simply is great ... we have been planning and dreaming for more than 5 years ... saving up ... and now, bit by bit, we'll make the dream come true. By the way, the photo with the jerry can holders is not our Land Rover! That one is owned by the company who did the first part of the conversion ... and I'm having trouble with about money issues :-( ! Don't want the jerry cans hanging to the side of the car! Probably I'll have one or two 20l jerry cans fixed to the roof rack (which then would add up to 160l in total). And, we do have two spares, of course (... didn't have them in AUS, though, but luckily didn't have a flat tyre anyway).
Which Auto Club would you recommend?? Have been scanning the sites of one or two (NRMA, I think, and one other club) and am not sure which one has the best coverage ... also, I'm not sure whether I as a non Australian are able to join.
Concerning the winch ... thought about a hand winch .. just not sure which make? Are there any ARB-packages around??
Alan, thanks for the idea with the 2nd Diesel filter ... is it difficult to install?? And: Thanks for the invitation! We'll definitely contact you when we're somewhere near Robin Falls.
Climate ... Yes, I posted that before the news had reached me about the bush fires ... That really is a disaster! Have been following the news on the net during the last few days! Really terrible for the people who lost everything, for the nature ...!
All the Best, Michael

And still another question ...
I am thinking of buying a gps / navi system and just don't know which to take!
Garmin seems to be the best on the market, but which one is best the nüvi, zumo or montana series?? It should have more than just street navigation, which speaks for zumo or montana. And then, there is the ecoroute hd thingy, which you can use to read out the failure numbers (do you call it that in English?) ... and that is only compatible with nüvi or zumo! Do you think it can be problematic to have the ecoroute plugged in all the time?

This is a great thread and a great trip for you.
Apologies if it has been mentioned in this thread already, but have you thought about purchasing a set of Max Trax? MAXTRAX: Vehicle Extraction & Recovery

Brilliant bit of gear, especially if you are travelling on your own.

Good luck with the trip prep.
Lots of great advice already given here.
Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike Walkabout

And still another question ...
I am thinking of buying a gps / navi system and just don't know which to take!
Garmin seems to be the best on the market, but which one is best the nüvi, zumo or montana series?? It should have more than just street navigation, which speaks for zumo or montana. And then, there is the ecoroute hd thingy, which you can use to read out the failure numbers (do you call it that in English?) ... and that is only compatible with nüvi or zumo! Do you think it can be problematic to have the ecoroute plugged in all the time?

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I can give good feedback on the Zumo 660, which I bought for motorbike touring but I also use in the cars too. It is designed for use with motorbike gloves on, so it is good for fat fingered people or when things are vibrating around on rough roads. Plays music and has bluetooth too.

Been 100% reliable and I've used it in the pouring rain on my motorbike for a couple of thousand KMs through Germany and France.

Cheers
David

... just two new pics ... All the best, Mike

hi.
were just back from a 4 + month trip in a td5 {following mutch of youre route. My thoughts are
.....light as posible, take a spare tyre off the rim and changing gear , with a 125 L tank we found a jerry can extra handy but didnt have to rely on it. {there cheep and you can pick them up as needed rather than carrying them all the time}
...two jacks
....new shocks and springs {130 springs on front}
.....we used a 110 ah deep cycle battery and a cteck charger....locktite everything you can, it will shake loose...

We found any parts needed were easy and cheep provided you order in rather than get ordered localy {provided you have time to sit and wait}

The winch we used once to pull us from somewhere we wouldn't have been withought it.good peice of mind though.
..good comms..we used hf and vks737 for phone ,check ins,road info etc and found the network more useful on a day by day basis than a sat phone would have been.

We hit 2 roos on our trip so a bar is comforting .
As mentioned above we found a 125L tank good enough with a 20L can as back up and id put in a water tank in preferance to another 40 l of fuel and a larger/second deep cycle battery.
cheers mark

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the post ...
Jacks: would you recommend two bottle jacks or one bottle jack + a hilift?
Shocks: we have front: Koni Heavy Track Raid and rear: Koni Heavy Track Raid + Koni Heavy Track (due to the added constant weight of the pop top roof and the other stuff inside the car). With the OME-springs, it's a great combination and driving has been impressively improved since the conversion.
Winch simply is veeery expensive ... not really sure whether it's worth spending the money for 30 to 40 days on a winch instead of spending it "on the road" ... ?? If you have to - in an emergency - use it, you know better!
How much was the two way radio??? Which brand should we get? Which network is the best to join?
Concerning motor clubs ... which one would be the best one for us ...? Are foreigners allowed to join?
Thanks again,
Mike

re auto clubs ,there interconected here {ie racv{victoria} got my car back from the birdsville area after a gear box colapse (accomodation and shipping car home to a value of around 2000 bucks} iirc there mutch the same cost wise. Jack wise i took a highlift{bolted in the rear footwell in front of the seat}and a disco bottle jack.
RE winches my bar had provisions for it {cheepish chinese winch with syn rope}and wile it was used ,it was because the winch was there that we got stuck........turfors are good but large and took up to mutch space inside for us so it stayed in the shed.
Hf radios can be had for around 1500 bucks upwards and say 400 for a taped wip.Have a peep at hf radio online Hf-Radio.com.au Online Store - Home the guy who runs it is great to deal with.Re networks have a loook at www.vks737.on.They offer a good overview of the network.
Regarding freeing up space inside id be thinking of a water tank rather than an exta fuel tank. Unless youre doing somthing like the canning 120 odd litres gets you there,fuels available all over the place.If you think youll be driving more than 1000 kms between fuel grab a jerry can or two.

Hi again,
Concerning water tanks ... we have two inbuilt tanks, one containing 70l and a smaller one containing 15l, plus a plastic jerry can, which contains a further 30l. A total of 115l (plus soft drinks in the esky, mineral water and the such incl. wine ;-) ) should be enough, hopefully!
Cheers Mike