Thread: Trip through SA, WA, NT & NSW with new D4

Just returned from a huge 4 month, 23,000 km trip towing a 3.2 tonne van with a brand new MY15 D4. As we were leaving our home town of Port Macquarie, we pulled into a public weigh station and were astonished to find that all up we weighed 6.3 tonnes - legal, but oh my gosh! That TowPro electric braking system better work (which it did and sometimes didn't - another story to come). So with trepidation we headed down the Pacific Hwy wondering how our new vehicle was going to perform up those big hills around Bulahdelah and how it would handle the rough sections of road around Herons Creek. Well regarding the rough sections of road - what rough sections? Did someone fix that bit of road in the last few weeks . That is when we first realised just how good the D4's suspension is - just unbelievably good.

Then we hit the big hills (we even have names for some of them - like bastard hill and here comes *****-of-a-hill etc) and I just couldn't believe it. The engine didn't even rise in revs that much It just cruised over the hills at 90 kph maybe dropping a gear or two, but I didn't really notice that either. This vehicle is just fantastic - and so quite! So with a big smile on our faces we were off on our big adventure knowing that we had an extremely capable 4wd. We later did some full on 4wding - sand, ruts and steep rocky climbs and the vehicle just kept going. Still learning which button to press, but it is very flexible even if you put it in the wrong terrain setting.

One of the main highlights of our trip was crossing the Gibson and Victoria Deserts along the Great Central Rd which is 1,126 kms from Laverton to Yulara. Nearly all unsealed and in places heavily corrugated - with the last 190 kms on the NT side extremely bad - for a 6.3 tonne rig that is (although when we finished the crossing there was a grader starting from the east end and a week later had smoothed out that whole 190 km section). The D4 handled the conditions very well with the suspension absorbing the big corrugations and pulling the van through sand and rough sections was effortless - the van suffered a lot more though even with the Cruismaster suspension and sucked in masses of red dust. I had the standard road tyres that the D4 came with - Goodyear Wrangler All Weather (that's another story for later ) and reduced the pressure to around 30 psi. All was good for 1,000 kms until one morning along the NT heavily corrugated section I was driving on the steepish left bank that was thick with sand - but at least no corrugations for a while - and noticed that I was losing power and seemed to be plowing. I suddenly had a thought and quickly centred the rig in the middle of the road, got out and - yep the rear drivers side tyre was shredded Put on the spare and when we got to Alice Springs we bought a new one - $517!!!!

The other incident was the engine oil. A message suddenly popped up saying that we were "Critically Low" in oil. Hundreds of kms from any roadhouse - we were "Critically" low . We later found out that apparently the oil gauge just measures the top 2 litres of the reservoir to ensure that you never fully run out of oil. That oil incident came up after 17,000 kms so we didn't wait for the 26k service and had an oil change and service in Alice Springs - another $500 which was reasonable I thought.

The only other issue with the vehicle was the mud flaps. We didn't have much time from buying the vehicle in late May and heading off on our trip on 3 June to have custom made mud flaps fitted - wish we had though . On reflection even the factory stupid ones would have been better than nothing. Even with the Stone Stomper fitted to the van, the D4 sprayed masses of mud and fine sand onto the van - the front of the van was a mess and is damaged. The mud spray went right over the top of the front of the van on both sides - and we have a very tall van!

So after all of our adventures and incidents we have learned a lot about our D4, but most of all we have learned to love it

Originally Posted by BMKal

I've since fitted the Sensatyre TPMS system to four tyres... I know that this system has saved me destroying at least one more tyre - paid for itself in that alone.

Well - funny you should say that, 'cause I was just this morning looking at the Sensatyre system. I am going to get a set when these Wrangler tyres fully wear out in about another 15k's or so. I am not sure what to get next - but our 4wd mechanic here in Port Macquarie reckons that Mickey Thompson will be releasing 19" rim tyres soon. No idea if it is the low profile though.
I had a set of big MT ATZ P3 tyres on our previous vehicle - Nissan Patrol 4.2 TDi and they were very good, probably the best tyre I have ever driven on - but expensive.