D2a Overlanding ideas/inspiration

[Astrid14]

Keen to tap into the brains trust here 😀

Looking to gather ideas and hear people experiences using a td5 as an overlanding / camping/high country journey vehicle.

What are some essential mods to be considered?

What are things that shpd be avoided?

Assuming it just has CDL, are there simple things that could be added?

Can a long range fuel tank be added?

Are there things that can be done with wiring or cooling to improve longevity or assist with the experience?

Keen to hear all thoughts on internal storage ideas as well or innovatives that people have found practical that work especially well for discos 😀

Thanks for reading 👍

[shack]

The D2a already has a number of improvements over the original D2.

It should have a CDL with lever, updated reflashable ECU, stronger body mounts, updated SLABS controller with higher fault tolerance and revised ABS and TC characteristics.

Better steering box, better looking lights (if you polish them every other day!).

Updated intercooler and allegedly 100s of other things.

But the ones I've mentioned are the most important to me personally.

Things I would do:

If the ABS modulator hasn't been rewired inside, I'd do that.

I'd also probably delete the EGR.

The internals of the CDL can be pretty badly damaged if not used properly, there are upgrades available from Ashcroft engineering, but you can usually just rebuild unless you wanna go hard core off-road.

If you had one with ACE, they are great off-road, but it will need new hoses by now for sure.

Personally I'd go Auto box, but get an upgraded V8 converter.

The Auto is so much better off road it's not funny, the only thing the manual does better is engine braking, but there is a guy apparently that's working on fixing that.

I'd fit an EGT gauge if you remap, also a standalone coolant temp and coolant level alarm.

Silicone intercooler hoses, the originals delaminate with age.

I realise that's a few things and a few dollars, but that's pretty much everything I'd consider doing to a stock one.

The D2a with ACE, SLS and auto is_a_weapon_off-road, and nice enough on-road.

I don't think the manual is really any more reliable - some will disagree with this, or cheaper to fix...

Check out the cost of a new dual mass flywheel, pressure please and clutch.... That's just for starters.

I'm not good at the "fitting out for travel" thing, so someone else can answer that!


Edit:

Also the the trans cooler lines and cooler itself.

[Tins]

Also the the trans cooler lines and cooler itself.

X100.


PS. Disagree about the lights

[RobMichelle]

For me it was Ashcroft cv joints and shafts, my d2 seemed to break cvs just looking at sandy tracks with holes. Broke 2 then went Ashcroft front and rear.

[RRT]

187865

Stand up fridge, there is plenty of height in the D2, not so much length. Kings have a new stand up fridge = Home Page - Adventure Kings (https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/110l-upright-fridge-with-freezer) which I would have gone with if it was available and they are relatively cheap. The kings one is deeper than this one and hence shorter.

Years ago when I went this solution, the mates were let me say, laughing, now, wish they could!!

Concur on the Ashcroft driveline stuff, the CV's are impressive when compared to standard and any other CV's out there.

There are long range tanks available from a couple of sources such as Landrover Discovery II 150L Replacement (https://longrangeautomotive.com.au/Landrover-Discovery-II-150L-Replacement~264) and dependent on whether you have SLS or ACE, smaller supplementary tanks as well. As far as fuel economy on the VHC tracks goes, it will easily do a long weekend on a full tank and maybe just a jerry can to be sure.

I would also go diff guards.

[Astrid14]

187865

Stand up fridge, there is plenty of height in the D2, not so much length. Kings have a new stand up fridge = Home Page - Adventure Kings (https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/110l-upright-fridge-with-freezer) which I would have gone with if it was available and they are relatively cheap. The kings one is deeper than this one and hence shorter.

Years ago when I went this solution, the mates were let me say, laughing, now, wish they could!!

Concur on the Ashcroft driveline stuff, the CV's are impressive when compared to standard and any other CV's out there.

There are long range tanks available from a couple of sources such as Landrover Discovery II 150L Replacement (https://longrangeautomotive.com.au/Landrover-Discovery-II-150L-Replacement~264) and dependent on whether you have SLS or ACE, smaller supplementary tanks as well. As far as fuel economy on the VHC tracks goes, it will easily do a long weekend on a full tank and maybe just a jerry can to be sure.

I would also go diff guards.

That fridge in there is great. i have a 40L engel which i struggle to fill out - though bigger is usually better!

Thanks for the recommendations.

[jwb]

"The D2a with ACE, SLS and auto is_a_weapon_off-road, and nice enough on-road."

Completely agree with this statement.
My 2c worth...
Auto pulled into M1 Low range gives good engine braking also have used the often maligned HDC with good effect once you're used to it
Long range tank is very expensive and how often do you really need it? I carried good quality plastic jerry cans well secured inside the car (gasp!) on remote trips
As for fitout keep it lightweight. Steel and/or plywood drawer systems are a lot of deadweight. I've used aluminium qubelok frames and good plastic bins such as Front Runner then you can customise to your own needs and modify as needed.
Get a proper cargo barrier

[Tins]

187865

Stand up fridge, there is plenty of height in the D2, not so much length. Kings have a new stand up fridge = Home Page - Adventure Kings (https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/110l-upright-fridge-with-freezer) which I would have gone with if it was available and they are relatively cheap. The kings one is deeper than this one and hence shorter.

Years ago when I went this solution, the mates were let me say, laughing, now, wish they could!!

Concur on the Ashcroft driveline stuff, the CV's are impressive when compared to standard and any other CV's out there.

There are long range tanks available from a couple of sources such as Landrover Discovery II 150L Replacement (https://longrangeautomotive.com.au/Landrover-Discovery-II-150L-Replacement~264) and dependent on whether you have SLS or ACE, smaller supplementary tanks as well. As far as fuel economy on the VHC tracks goes, it will easily do a long weekend on a full tank and maybe just a jerry can to be sure.

I would also go diff guards.

OT, but that fridge may be just what I'm looking for for my OKA.

Fuel economy with a TD5 is pretty bloody good. Unless you're going to do the CSR I'm not sure I'd bother with an extra tank.

[V8Ian]

The nominal 90 litre tank is good for 100 litres, almost 1,000 on road.
EGR blank is an improvement, but apart from decent A/T boots, a D2a with ACE and SLS will do as described on the tin, short of tugging a beached OKA up a mountain.
A HD flex plate is a good mod, if the tranny or motor are out, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

[AK83]

Everyone has a different idea of 'overlanding' due to their specific needs. ie. some overland with two kids in the back, others are just one up .. both have different needs.

eg. keeping stuff compact and lightweight helps with fuel economy, and easy to do when solo. But so much harder if you have family to haul around too, just add a roof rack and there goes about 100klm of range out of the std tank. Add stuff to the roof rack and you now lose about 200klms from that same tank.
A well setup TD5 D2 should give you about 1000klms from the std tank if you drive it sensibly. Do you think you need more? More weight, so it becomes a self defeating exercise at some point.




...... Steel and/or plywood drawer systems are a lot of deadweight. ....



We did this for the brother when he had the D2 full time. He wanted the ability to go solo camping for a week. I built up a ply box that unfolded and unfolded till it made up a single bed base. D2 isn't the longest cargo area in the business, but when you slide drivers seat forward then fold seats forward, you can unfold a box that accommodates a single blow up mattress using the 2/3rds side of the rear seat. So he keeps the 1/3 side in the seated posi, and this is used to get into bed, and for example take you boots off. There's plenty of height for waist/head room due to the raised rear roof, and bro had his 10" tablet set up at the rear too, to watch a movie before sleeping(as an example).
Next to the bed in the rear was his 60L fridge, just a smidge higher than bed base, but similar to the mattress level, so made it easy whilst lying down to grab a drink or whatever out the fridge, and also acted as a platform, like a bedside table.
Under the bed base was a deep enough 'drawer' cavity where he had cooking stuff, and tools and spares stuff. As this was all a testing/ideas endeavour, his drawer system consisted of just a couple of $2 rectangular tubs.

All worked brilliantly, even for a partially disabled lump like myself, where getting in and out of a setup like this can be awkward.

Only 2 dowsides, . like jwb said, plywood is heavy. If I were to keep this setup id personally use welded mesh on square tubing, even trying to get it incorporated as a cargo barrier if needed too(as long as the math lines up for it). That is, the cargo barrier would transform into the bed base.
The other downside is his use of the cheapo kings awning. Had he had an easier to setup batwing style awning(which is really needed in such a compact setup for solo travel) would have made the experience a lot more pleasant.
I really hate those flop/roll out awnings for setup and packup.

In terms of car stuff, everything has already been said, and you may have been advised too to have a nanocom. And for any, even slightly remote travel... this is your primary priority. If you do happen to have some mishap/misfortune and something leads to a failure to proceed, you need to know what caused it.
And it goes without saying, that pre trip preparation is going to be vital. if in doubt, just fix some things to be sure that they won't come unstuck on you in no-mans-land.

I had this happen to me with the D2. The good ol notorious auto cooler lines. Read lot of advise to just redo them. they looked fine, but just to be sure, I bought the pair so that if they did fail at the least I had them handy in the shed.
I regularly checked them and they looked fine. Till one day suddenly the passenger side failed. It happens in an instant, you just lose all trans fluid and no drive. This could be catastrophic say on the highway at speed, because it'll kill the trans over the short distance it loses the fluid, compared to the much longer distance that you have to travel to stop at highway speeds. I was just lucky I was in traffic at close to zero speed, and as soon as I felt slipped drive, I just stopped in the middle of the road, and switched motor off immediately.
Idiot me! should have fitted the lines when I got them. PITA to do so, and very lucky to get away without multi $K trans rebuild.

There are other instances of "fix it before it destroys you" type situations. Front double cardan drive shaft. If you don't know it's history, just get it rebuilt or a replacement. Just because an expert says it's tight, doesn't mean it will stay tight on an overlanding trip.
Battery condition. Super vital in a D2. If it starts to fail slightly and drops to a low level, it will trigger the immobiliser and you're stuck. The previously mentioned important nanocom will be your friend here. You can both set an easier to use unlock sequence to disable immobiliser, or (better) disable immobiliser for a trip. You don't want to be stuck remotely in this situation.

etc, etc.

[Astrid14]

Everyone has a different idea of 'overlanding' due to their specific needs. ie. some overland with two kids in the back, others are just one up .. both have different needs.

eg. keeping stuff compact and lightweight helps with fuel economy, and easy to do when solo. But so much harder if you have family to haul around too, just add a roof rack and there goes about 100klm of range out of the std tank. Add stuff to the roof rack and you now lose about 200klms from that same tank.
A well setup TD5 D2 should give you about 1000klms from the std tank if you drive it sensibly. Do you think you need more? More weight, so it becomes a self defeating exercise at some point.



We did this for the brother when he had the D2 full time. He wanted the ability to go solo camping for a week. I built up a ply box that unfolded and unfolded till it made up a single bed base. D2 isn't the longest cargo area in the business, but when you slide drivers seat forward then fold seats forward, you can unfold a box that accommodates a single blow up mattress using the 2/3rds side of the rear seat. So he keeps the 1/3 side in the seated posi, and this is used to get into bed, and for example take you boots off. There's plenty of height for waist/head room due to the raised rear roof, and bro had his 10" tablet set up at the rear too, to watch a movie before sleeping(as an example).
Next to the bed in the rear was his 60L fridge, just a smidge higher than bed base, but similar to the mattress level, so made it easy whilst lying down to grab a drink or whatever out the fridge, and also acted as a platform, like a bedside table.
Under the bed base was a deep enough 'drawer' cavity where he had cooking stuff, and tools and spares stuff. As this was all a testing/ideas endeavour, his drawer system consisted of just a couple of $2 rectangular tubs.

All worked brilliantly, even for a partially disabled lump like myself, where getting in and out of a setup like this can be awkward.

Only 2 dowsides, . like jwb said, plywood is heavy. If I were to keep this setup id personally use welded mesh on square tubing, even trying to get it incorporated as a cargo barrier if needed too(as long as the math lines up for it). That is, the cargo barrier would transform into the bed base.
The other downside is his use of the cheapo kings awning. Had he had an easier to setup batwing style awning(which is really needed in such a compact setup for solo travel) would have made the experience a lot more pleasant.
I really hate those flop/roll out awnings for setup and packup.

In terms of car stuff, everything has already been said, and you may have been advised too to have a nanocom. And for any, even slightly remote travel... this is your primary priority. If you do happen to have some mishap/misfortune and something leads to a failure to proceed, you need to know what caused it.
And it goes without saying, that pre trip preparation is going to be vital. if in doubt, just fix some things to be sure that they won't come unstuck on you in no-mans-land.

I had this happen to me with the D2. The good ol notorious auto cooler lines. Read lot of advise to just redo them. they looked fine, but just to be sure, I bought the pair so that if they did fail at the least I had them handy in the shed.
I regularly checked them and they looked fine. Till one day suddenly the passenger side failed. It happens in an instant, you just lose all trans fluid and no drive. This could be catastrophic say on the highway at speed, because it'll kill the trans over the short distance it loses the fluid, compared to the much longer distance that you have to travel to stop at highway speeds. I was just lucky I was in traffic at close to zero speed, and as soon as I felt slipped drive, I just stopped in the middle of the road, and switched motor off immediately.
Idiot me! should have fitted the lines when I got them. PITA to do so, and very lucky to get away without multi $K trans rebuild.

There are other instances of "fix it before it destroys you" type situations. Front double cardan drive shaft. If you don't know it's history, just get it rebuilt or a replacement. Just because an expert says it's tight, doesn't mean it will stay tight on an overlanding trip.
Battery condition. Super vital in a D2. If it starts to fail slightly and drops to a low level, it will trigger the immobiliser and you're stuck. The previously mentioned important nanocom will be your friend here. You can both set an easier to use unlock sequence to disable immobiliser, or (better) disable immobiliser for a trip. You don't want to be stuck remotely in this situation.

etc, etc.

Really good suggestions thanks. I am prepared to put a bit of money in to make sure it's up to standard. Do you think they are capable for two people to do some big trips, such as cape York or various zig zags through or around aus?
I imagine a lot should be done to ensure its up to that standard, I imagine a full rebuild on some cases?

Are there any shorter trips you think that might be good to test the waters a bit and find out what might need doing before something like a head gasket happens?

Thanks

[V8Ian]

Really good suggestions thanks. I am prepared to put a bit of money in to make sure it's up to standard. Do you think they are capable for two people to do some big trips, such as cape York or various zig zags through or around aus?
I imagine a lot should be done to ensure its up to that standard, I imagine a full rebuild on some cases?

Are there any shorter trips you think that might be good to test the waters a bit and find out what might need doing before something like a head gasket happens?

Thanks
One of the better vehicle choices for long distance touring. More comfortable than most.

[d2dave]

Fuel economy with a TD5 is pretty bloody good. Unless you're going to do the CSR I'm not sure I'd bother with an extra tank.

Not necessarily. I have 150 litre long range tank. I recently crossed the Simpson desert towing a Tvan.

I had a total of 250 litres and I did not have much left when I got to Birdsville.

[Astrid14]

Not necessarily. I have 150 litre long range tank. I recently crossed the Simpson desert towing a Tvan.

I had a total of 250 litres and I did not have much left when I got to Birdsville.

That is interesting. I wont be looking at towing anything, but will have a rooftop tent. Are there any situations with a long range fuel tank where you would need underguard protection or some such? not really sure how this works.

Is it generally recommended to get the underside reinforced? Or is it good stock with/without a LR tank.

Thanks

[AK83]

That is interesting. I wont be looking at towing anything, but will have a rooftop tent. Are there any situations with a long range fuel tank where you would need underguard protection or some such? .....

I think it depends on where you plan on going, and or how hard you intend to go offroad and stuff like that.
Scrambling over rocks, can always do damage undercar if you're not too careful. Too high speeds on gibber type tracks can have rocks fling back into shock absorbers and tank, and fuel filter and whatnot. There is no specific speed which would be considered too high, it'll be a matter of the conditions at the time. So do you 'need' undercar protection, I'd say not really, but is it handy to have .. for sure.

Add a rooftop tent and I reckon you may lose between 100-200klm of range out of a std '95lt' D2 fuel tank.

[RRT]

That is interesting. I wont be looking at towing anything, but will have a rooftop tent. Are there any situations with a long range fuel tank where you would need underguard protection or some such? not really sure how this works.

Is it generally recommended to get the underside reinforced? Or is it good stock with/without a LR tank.

Thanks

The long range tank manufacturers state they are actually protected without need for additional protection.

When you look at the standard tank, they are pretty well tucked away with the chassis rail either side. To my knowledge, there are not many D2's with a guard fitted to the tank.

[discorevy]

No extra underbody protection on mine and the paint behind the rear wheels is just about gone from high speed gravel and sand over the years
I average approximately 11L / hundred k's on the highway at 105-110 kph with this set up ( manual VGT, etc ) . 9.5-10L / hundred without the rooftop tent.
The old girl is coming up for 500 000k's and has spent a lot of that off the bitumen, still a very comfortable, capable drive, I won't be parting with it in the foreseeable future

We're about to leave for a 5 day trip between Esperance and Balladonia with some friends in another well set up D2 to check out some old settlement ruins, some of which no longer even have a track to them, many beach kilometres first to get there.

Should be interesting and fun, these trips usually are.

[scarry]

Not necessarily. I have 150 litre long range tank. I recently crossed the Simpson desert towing a Tvan.

I had a total of 250 litres and I did not have much left when I got to Birdsville.

FWIW,we have done Mt Dare to Birdsville twice in a D2,and back.Probably not fully loaded,just camping gear,etc,for two.
Needed one jerry can each way.In fact in the later 5 seat D2a we had it may have done it on a tank,but i put the jerry in to be sure.

Conditions make a difference,one of the trips it rained,and the other it had recently rained,so the going was pretty easy.

The D4 needed two jerrys,but has a much smaller tank than the D2.