Thread: Touring 4wd, what would you buy?

regarding the timing belt on a Tdi 300 I cannot see what it is the issue
I have a Disco which I bought with 98000 km, I changed the timing belt and the next cahange was @ 180000 km What it is the problem with that?
As long as the owner do a proper preventative maintenance the Tdi is ok like any other engine that it is look after.

I think, threads like this one are useful because you get an idea of what is needed to prepare your vehicle and what you would do when out in the bush if something went wrong with the vehicle and how you need to prepare for various scenarios.

But as for vehicle choice, it is very simple, you go with what you WANT. I tour in Defenders because they are what I like/loce. Like many here I think the fear of computer components is over done (that's coming from a 300tdi driver).

I can learn a lot be a thread that tells us the most sensible tourer would be, say, a 200 or 70s series. I'd read about the high and why but there is NO WAY I would follow this advice.

The head (research/knowledge/common sense) is to be used to prepare for a decision. The actual decision is best made with the guts or the heart in the light of your research Houses/cars etc are for the most of us the biggest financial decision we'll ever make; they far too important to base on mere logic alone.

A very interesting thread folks.
Having a vested interested in the subject, it was read with interest.
A bit of back ground, and how I came to my decision (which is set in still soft concrete).
Before kids:
Motor cycle touring, Tassie (home state), big one round the block in '76, Birdsville, Laura, Gibb River Rd, and the Ghan back to Adelaide, (suspension problems) back via Murray Valley, 25,000km - lots of fun.
Kids:
Car camping, occasionally borrowing parent's camper (which we inherited), borrowed/hired caravans, big and small tents.
Post kids:
Now use the camper, 2 ton Toyota truck with built on 'house'.
Advantages:
No set up time.
Drive it like a car (albeit s-l-o-w)
Almost 4wd (low gearing, massive clearance, but bogs easily)
Very comfy, kitchen/dining/sleeping
12L/100km average
Did I mention comfy (in all weathers)
Camp any where, suburban street, car park, lane way, lay by, picnic spot, local rec area, lookouts, quarries, roadworks sites, bowls clubs, local halls, cemeteries, or any of the more usual remote bush sites.
Disadvantages:
Limited external storage, (tools, chains, fire irons etc all live 'inside')
Height clearance, multi story car parks are out of the question.
Can't leave the 'camp' behind to go for supplies.
No easy transition from inside to outside living space, steps and a narrow door. (An awning would be good, but would get wiped off the side with branches)
Narrow tracks and low branches are a pain.
What do we want next:
The truck is now 34 years old, still very reliable, but we are retiring soon and want a new vehicle to last us till we finish driving and pass it on to our kids, like my parents did for us.
We like the idea of 'no canvas' but don't like the idea of all that surface area over the top of the truck with many of the motor homes or slide-ons.
We have decided that we can live with a slightly smaller space than we have now
We have looked at trayons, poptops, ute campers that flip over sideways/backwards, roof top tents with living/kitchen under neath and all have their advantages and would suit for extended mainland touring.
All these require some setup time and are reasonably obvious if you are trying to 'stealth camp', and some what open to passing pedestrian traffic if stopped in the carpark area of the start of walking tracks. Not a major problem for us, but a little off putting.
We were most impressed with the Innovan concept of a fiberglass shell that lifted up to raise the roof and the interior layout seems very close to what we want.
There is loads of external access for storage, and some very clever ideas used in accessing storage inside that appeals to us.
I have some ideas that I would like changed which should not cause the manufacturer any major headache.
I would change the gas stove for one of the webasto diesel hotplates and include the space heating option in the same installation.
It would be nice to not have the gas fumes in the van, and the necessary ventilation (read cold draft) to keep it safe, and a fresh supply of ducted warm air sounds like an absolutely essential luxury.
The other feature of the external kitchen with stainless stove, barbecue and sink I think are totally unnecessary for what we want, nice as they are.
I think a sliding bench top in the same position would suffice, and we would use the Coleman dual fuel stove out side, and a plastic tub is better than a stainless steel sink for washing up outside as it is quieter and doesn't take the heat out of the wash-up water as quickly.
I think we will have to live with the ss sink inside, but we do have to check out the performance of those ubiquitous little caravan taps fitted as standard. To me they look like 'toys' and will provide too much 'squirt' vs 'flow', but I could be wrong.
There are some ideas I want in the electrical dept, I want to take 240V from the electrical inlet and have it in a single power point in the front storage area. Then I will plug the rest of the van in to either it, or the inverter from the storage batteries. That way I can use the couple of power points in the van on mains or inverter power.
I have some similar ideas on the plumbing as well, definitely 2 independent water tanks, a self priming sureflow pump, and the ability to draw water from an external source to either fill the tank, or shower without contaminating the potable water.
This way a bucket of warm water from the fire can be used straight through the shower.
I have thought about engine warming the water with a glind or similar, but I can see no sense in warming water with diesel when there is wood available. I will consider a 10L hot water tank in the chassis, may be warmed by a glind or the exhaust pipe and be completely separate from the innovan. Still in the concept stage of that though.
Solar panels:
The Innovan is made of curved surfaces, and I have yet to see how the manufacturer will incorporate any panels on the roof. I am imagining having them mounted on the roof of the ute, and folding them out when stopped. Again, still concept stage on that one.
The Vehicle:
Ok, it has to be a 4wd ute flat tray to take the Innovan.
That distills the problem to Lancruiser, Patrol or Landrover.
I was worried about the dissimilar wheel track of Mr T, no worries on the vehicle itself, apart from the fact that a V8 was more expensive to register, and it seemed a little excessive.
Mr N. made a nice ute with a 4.2L motor, but changed it before I was ready to buy.
Landrover seemed to not be making flat trays anymore, so they had been left out of the research for a while, but recently were advertising the new D110 and D130 as a flat tray.
A quick analysis of vehicle weight vs load carrying capacity and wheel base vs tray length put the D130 at the top of the list very smartly.
I had no preconceptions of which vehicle I wanted, and my only 4wd experience is with Lancruisers in the fireservice.
So:
My ideal vehicle on which to spend my hard earned Super payout on looks like being a D130 cab-chassis with an Innovan for most of our touring.
This gives me the option for unloading the Innovan and going light weight with a tent and boxes to do some of the dessert tracks like the Canning and Gun barrel, and I'm quite happy to do that. I can't see the need to take 1/2 tonne of 'house' over difficult and fragile country.
It also gives me the option of leaving the Innovan at Cairns and hiring a camper trailer for Cape York, a bit of luxury for a trip I really want to do.
Keeping some of the weight off the vehicle, and comfy accomodation/living quaters - what more could a bloke ask for.
Cheers

Having watched, thought, read, asked, begged and borrowed a LOT on this topic. My situation came down to the simple things. You could have all the money in the world, but if you are broken down in the middle of nowhere with the truck not going, then you are behind the eight ball to start with. So, for me, it would have to be a simple donk. By simple I mean no electronic injection. So that rules out the D3, 200, GU, 75, 76, Puma 110, 130. These "brands" of truck, Nissan, Toyota, Land rover and Merc seem to be the only real options if you want to head bush. What puts the land rover ahead I think is that these things have been used and abused EVERYWHERE. You name it, Land rover has done it. Now I am not a Land rover junkie, in fact far from it, I just like the simplicity of it all. If it doesnt really work well, then you dont need it. It is the simple things. And for my money I think that is the best option, simplicity. So, my options even if I had a million dollars would be, 40 series with a 3B Turbo (ute troopie), 60 series, 80 series with the 1HZ, 110 Tdi, 130Tdi, GQ 4.2 (not 2.8), HZJ75, HJ75 (both turboed), maybe a 300tdi disco, an older OKA with the 4.2 perkins, Unimog (which would be the coolest by far even if you couldn't fit it everywhere). It needs to be simple with less electronics because bumps and stuff (think water and mud) kill electronics. Simple. Trying to diagnose a broken wire on the side of the road in the middle of no where aint fun. I work in the mining industry doing hydro blasting, and the best units we get (think of temperature extremes from -2 in winter to 50 degrees + during summer) are the simple ones. No electronics, if it starts it runs, if it runs you make money, if you are making money everyone is happy. Anyways, love the thread and keep the posts coming...

A very well done analysis Austastar.
We use to have a Mazda T3500 bus converted to a motorhome and it have all the advantages and points against it like you rig.
I am trying to find an expedition vehicle that would give me the advantages that give us the Mazda during bad weather and be able to set camp in any place (not off road) and I cannot find any
Your selection of the LR130 and try top is very close but do not have access to the cabin from the camper which was a very good security issue for us when we was on the road for 2 years. Couple of times this advantage saved us from a nasty situation.
I guess that a rig similar to Mulgo's 130 will be very close to what we would like to have but, compromisses have to taken into consideration so our Defe 110 is the best for us
We are looking into building a compact caravan like the Conqueror Comander because we do not contemplating in selling the Defe which have only 108000 km.
It would be very hard to find a 130 crew cab for the same money and same condition.

Originally Posted by Chucaro

A very well done analysis Austastar.
We use to have a Mazda T3500 bus converted to a motorhome and it have all the advantages and points against it like you rig.
I am trying to find an expedition vehicle that would give me the advantages that give us the Mazda during bad weather and be able to set camp in any place (not off road) and I cannot find any
Your selection of the LR130 and try top is very close but do not have access to the cabin from the camper which was a very good security issue for us when we was on the road for 2 years. Couple of times this advantage saved us from a nasty situation.
I guess that a rig similar to Mulgo's 130 will be very close to what we would like to have but, compromisses have to taken into consideration so our Defe 110 is the best for us
We are looking into building a compact caravan like the Conqueror Comander because we do not contemplating in selling the Defe which have only 108000 km.
It would be very hard to find a 130 crew cab for the same money and same condition.

Is there a reason why you couldn't put one in, even if you have to have it engineered,, its probably not hard to do, I've seen it done on other vehicles, but I dont know if they had to be engineer passed,,

I would much rather go bush in an older deefer that has had money spent on it by a good mechanic,JC is a person in point than a newer vehicle I know nothing about.It is also a must to know how to trouble shoot problems so if it does happen,and being bogged,rained in etc comes into it you know what to do.In my travels I have met people without a spare tyre,people with a spare but no brace,people with a winch but no idea how it works,a winch with no snatch blocks,tree protectors the list goes on.The outback is a great place but it doesn't suffer fools. Pat

Well Chops, it have to be build for that purpose because the trayon type of camper are not made for that.