What mods would you recommend

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Originally Posted by jon3950

I think the trouble with many of us is we tend to get carried away with modifications, when in reality most of them aren't necessary and a standard D3/4 will do pretty much everything we'd ask of it.

I have had my D4 for nearly 6 months now and its still virtually standard (except for the Zeons, dual battery, cargo barrier, uhf, rear draws, water bladder, roof rack, rear ladder & RAI) and I intend to keep it that way. The only things I plan to fit to it are 18's, a bar, winch, driving lights and an awning.

Hmmm... :o

Cheers,
Jon

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Yep, sounds pretty standard too me:cool:

A Mitch Hitch in my opinion is a no brainer even for a 2 ton van. A good set of A/T tyres wouldn't go astray either.

Carrying Jerry cans of fuel is a pain in the arse to say the least, unless you can carry them on your A frame. The standard tank for Australian vanning is a D3/4's weakpoint. I wouldn't bet on getting much more than 500 km between fill ups when towing on good straight roads at 110 kph. Hilly back rounds will be worse on fuel consumption.

If your mainly doing highway towing with the odd side road / track then standard will do the trick easy. If your planning on being adventurous on a regular basis then for peace of mind some other common Disco mods would be a good idea.

Personally given the number of Roo's we have hit while away with our van I wouldn't want to go anywhere to far off the beaten track without a bull bar. Hit one and take out your headlights and radiator and your trip comes to an abrupt end.

Enjoy your D4 you have purchased an excellent vehicle.

My D4's main use is towing.... So

Mitch Hitch & Rapid Hitch Combo

The Van has a McHitch Coupling which is a simply great.

I have an AUX tank, I did one trip without it and that was enough to convince me to get one fitted. I have a Kaymar rear bar for the spare but there are cheaper options.

Thanks for the replies.

I can carry a couple of jerry cans on the van but agree it is a pain.

Even with highway driving knowing you don't have to fill up for a whole day (I do some long trips) is great.

I have an aux tank and a smart bar on my current vehicle. The aux tank has been great. Where it has been a pain is that they had to redirect the exhaust pipe and that has been a problem since.

The aux tank for the LR seems to be a much cleaner install, just more expensive as you need the move the tyre.

Rich

Yes you have to move the spare wheel if you have a long range tank ... but then you don't have to get down and grovel in the wet/mud/dirt/traffic etc to get the spare out as its sitting up there on a carrier just waiting for you.

Much easier, cleaner, no hassle, no swearing or skinned knuckles, no having to unload the back of the D4 in the wet/mud/dirt/traffic etc to unwind the bloody spare and then reload it after changing it.

There you have it, a couple of good reasons for a rear wheel carrier ...;)

For me anyway, a pretty basic set up for a D3/4 which is required for reasonable vanning off road and towing long distances is as follows.

Bull Bar
Longe Range Tank
Rear Wheel Carrier
UHF with a decent arial
A/T Tyres
Mitch Hitch
Stone Stomper (protects your van and the back of the Tug from rocks)
Decent tow hitch. (I like the Trigg hitch but not many do)
Hawkeye or Fault Mate etc (For diagnosing and clearing faults in the middle of no where)

My list of mods for bush camping with a van, for most, might be considered excessive, but I'd rather have most bases covered then be stuck in the middle of no where because of something that was easily avoided or fixable.

Hi All,

Do you really think the mitch hitch is necessary? I have one and needed it with the camper trailer as I needed the height I now have an off road van and need a lower ball height so I am thinking of going back to the standard hitch. The d4 hitch is much better than the d3 version so I am thinking it may be acceptable. It will also enable me to secure my breakaway cable to the recovery point and make my car approx 100mm shorter making it easier to park.

P.S You dont need to unload the car to lower rear spare. With a 1/4 inch drive 23mm I think socket and extension you leave the socket on the wind down nut and with removal of one ofcthe plastic trims on the seat you can lower wheel without lifting rear seats I regularly do this even with nothing in the rear.

I fitted a Mitch Hitch after hearing about a couple of confirmed D4 hitch failures. My van is over 3000kg I just didn't want to gamble with the standard D4 system.

I use a Rapid Hitch to get the height I needs for the van. The van actually tows better because all that extra movement the standard hitch cause is gone.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'm more than happy with the std hitch for my 2.7T van. If I was in a situation where there was the requirement for a lot of articulation, I'd go for the Mitch Hitch, but I'm not, and I like the fact that its removable and that the ball is a little closer to the rear axle. And really, no more D4 hitches have failed than Mitch hitches - it's usually down to the user.

Cheers

Gordon

I too have stuck with D4 hitch with no issues. I have towed 3500Kg van for three years now, includes to cape york and back in 2011 and just returned from 15000km loop which included the savanah way and Gibb river road, which is a fair test on corrigations. I only ever remove the tongue and leave the thing with the green knob permanently attached.
I also put safety chains to the tow loop rather than to holes under the hitch.

Regards
Gerry

Their is very few occasions where you will have need to carry extra fuel when towing a van, so if its possible to put a couple of jerry cans on your van, I think this is the best way to go. The occasional inconvenience of filling from a jerry in my view out ways the constant inconvenience of the spare wheel carrier on the back.

Ivan

PS I have a tvan and carry up to 4 Jerrys and often find myself 1 or 2 full even on remote trips. They are there to keep SWMBO happy