Thread: How Much Should I Budget For Accessories?

Hi Figjam,
Baz is pretty well on the money, not sure if you are looking at a UHF you don't mention that, I did the majority of what you mention and I didn't get much change out of $10k, dual wheel carrier you have to buy the extra rim and tyre, I ended up buying 6 tyres just because of the state of the other five and the extra load at the back.
If you are looking at a fridge possibly, you are going to either need a roof rack or a trailer. Putting everything on the back such as the dual wheel carrier and the LR tank makes the vehicle very heavy on the back end, I needed to go up a tyre rating and even then had to experiment with pressures on bitumen and gravel, tyre temperature for me was an issue. The ally bull bar for lightening the load will be the least of your problems, ally breaks, steel bends.............point of note I have always been wary of, plus getting the head light out after the bull bar has been fitted.

"you're going to need a bigger boat"......................................

The alloy bars are within about 10kg of the steel units... Just something to consider.

Look at Pod Trailers - tough units and light as to tow.

You all realise you don't need to fully remove a light to change the bulb right?!?! So the point is pretty irrelevant unless you break one.

Thanks for all your comments so far I do appreciate the advice. The vehicle I am replacing is a Nissan Patrol seven seater. It had a really basic setup, alloy bulbar, roof rack, dual battery with plugs in the back, towbar and a UHF radio. For quick trips from Nhulunbuy to Darwin I removed one of the rear side back seats to fit a 65 Litre Waeco in. The roof rack had the 6th wheel, 20 litre jerry can of diesel, tool box with tools, recovery gear, air compressor and a small amount of cloths up there. For longer trips out the camper came with us. The only difference was that the 6th wheel for the Nissan went on the draw bar of the camper, jerry can on the side of the trailer and cloths into the camper. The recovery gear and toolbox stayed on the roof rack. The reasons for a dual wheel carrier is to remove the 6th wheel off the roof rack for obvious reasons, long range tank means no jerry cans on the roof rack. I do understand that you have to be aware of the GVM of the vehicle and it is the same for any other vehicle as well. Yes accessories come at a cost in so many ways. You have to decide what stuff you can and can’t compromise on. With the D3 and D4’s weight is an obvious issue here as it brings you close to the GVM of the vehicle. The accessories I want to put on one is what I would call a typical setup for any 4WD, yes I can tow a trailer but I still want the freedom of not having to. So what accessories are the must haves on a D3 or D4?

Originally Posted by figjam76

Thanks for all your comments so far I do appreciate the advice. The vehicle I am replacing is a Nissan Patrol seven seater. It had a really basic setup, alloy bulbar, roof rack, dual battery with plugs in the back, towbar and a UHF radio. For quick trips from Nhulunbuy to Darwin I removed one of the rear side back seats to fit a 65 Litre Waeco in. The roof rack had the 6th wheel, 20 litre jerry can of diesel, tool box with tools, recovery gear, air compressor and a small amount of cloths up there. For longer trips out the camper came with us. The only difference was that the 6th wheel for the Nissan went on the draw bar of the camper, jerry can on the side of the trailer and cloths into the camper. The recovery gear and toolbox stayed on the roof rack. The reasons for a dual wheel carrier is to remove the 6th wheel off the roof rack for obvious reasons, long range tank means no jerry cans on the roof rack. I do understand that you have to be aware of the GVM of the vehicle and it is the same for any other vehicle as well. Yes accessories come at a cost in so many ways. You have to decide what stuff you can and can’t compromise on. With the D3 and D4’s weight is an obvious issue here as it brings you close to the GVM of the vehicle. The accessories I want to put on one is what I would call a typical setup for any 4WD, yes I can tow a trailer but I still want the freedom of not having to. So what accessories are the must haves on a D3 or D4?

Because of where you are, Bullbar and winch (with synthetic rope) is a must, single carrier and jerry holder, roof platform, alloy of coarse, awning, long handle shovel, diagnostic tool, UHF, spotties, basicallY what you had on the Patrol, I would go the rear bar, Long Range tank would be an advantage, if not using the 3rd row seats, remove them, there's 75kg of weight gone straight off, unlike the patrol, you can't just take one seat out, they are connected(welded together) so you can fold them down seperately, we removed ours completely and put a false floor in.

Baz.