A Fender 90 or 130 HD

[Witchdoctor]

Hi Guys,

Im thinking of up grading from our faithful Courier tray top, that carries a custom tray top camper. The problem we now have the complete package in remote travel setup is just over its GVM.
Do we purchase a 130 single cab HD & start afresh setting the truck up or do we get a 90 & put the camper on a chassis & tow it.
The other factor is, this vehicle is my wife's work car, my thinking is the 90 would be more civilised in day to day use for her.
More work is required for the 90, as the 130 would only require a custom tray & camping we go.
As i've always owned 4x4 ute's i'm starting to tip to the 90.
The other thing on my mind is i've never owned a Landy, they have a great reputation as a hard as offroader but this comes with nigles.

Cheers

[vnx205]

Something else to consider is what sort of driving and camping you do.

For example, there are places I go to a lot that I either couldn't or wouldn't want to tow a trailer. Getting there with my slide-on camper is no problem. So a trailer is out of the question for what I want to do. It also save me an extra lot of rego and saves me having to maintain another set of tyres, wheel bearings etc.

If you frequently set up camp and then want to go driving, then a trailer is a slightly simpler arrangement. My camper takes about 5 minutes to pack up, so this isn't a huge problem for me.

Both arrangements have their advantages. You just need to think carefully about where you want to go and what you want to do when you get there.

[Witchdoctor]

vnx205,

Our camping of late has involved trips down the Birdsville track & the Strezie across the Simpson. Many trips into the Vic high country & across to Moreton & Fraser Island.
Most of our camping is short stays, the camper can be removed with jacking legs if need be.
Yes the trailer would be a cost problem & a manoeuvre issue in tight country also double fee's on barges.
What is the load capacity of the 130 HD single cab? What bits of kit are available to improve there off road ability on the 130? Do they take kindly to engine mods?
My wife just informed me she would be happy with the ute,rather than towing.

Thanks for your help.

[Benz]

looking at my land rover hand book (this one is for a td5 but i would imagine other defenders would be the same)
it states 110 Heavy Duty and 130 models
1580kg front axle
2200kg rear axle
gross weight = 3500kg

but...

my rego papers say my 130 crew cab has a Tare of 2058kg, Agg of 3500kg and a GCM of 7500kg

to me that doesn't makes sense....

[Psimpson7]

GCM is including a trailer which is 4000kg maximum.

tare = unladen (maybe fuel and driver?) weight so subtract that from the 3500 gross to get payload.

so 1442kgs capacity all up. obviously you would need to stay within the axle weights

3500 gross is the capacity for 130's and heavy duty 110's

standard duty 110's have a 3050kg gross

[austastar]

Hi
I'm very happy with my D130, it carries the Innovan with ease.

(click on the thumbnails to see a bigger image)









The Innovan is 2800 long, 2150 wide and 1500 high when driving, 2620 high when camped.

It just over hangs a standard 8ft tray, but the 130 could legally go another 400mm on the tray, taking it to about 10ft.

The max payload for the D130 cab chassis is 1.7tonne according to the brochure.

cheers

[Witchdoctor]

austastar,

Thanks for the info on the load carrying capacity of 1.7t. That number was one big concern for me as my Courier has a load capacity of 1.2t, but with all the gear on the truck & camper onboard for our last trip across the Simpson our GVM was 2.97 with out my wife, our legal GVM is 2.919, not happy.
The truck has always performed excellently off road, but i'm just not prepared to get in to legal problems if involved in an accident.
This is the real driving force to move to a bigger capacity truck & had been told the Defender was the way to go.
The 130 looks the goods so far.
Now find one!

Cheers
David

[The ho har's]

Good to see you found this section

We opted not to have a trailer as we do remote touring, though when fully loaded our 130 HCPU is nearing the maximum of 3500kg, that's with fuel, water, food, us, gas bottles etc.

As for your wife's daily driver, the only difference is the length, just learn to reverse into car parks with gardens beds to hang the rear over

Mrs hh

[Witchdoctor]

That is a great tip, this size could be an issue for some unsuspecting driver.
I'm hoping my wife will handle this as her last vehicle was a double cab hilux 4x4 with a canopy.

What interesting bits come with the 130 HD?

I would be looking at an exhaust system turbo back, winch to start with.

Cheers

[Offender90]

I'll second what the others have said (re: going the 130) if you're looking for a good base for a touring vehicle.

I've got both a 90 and a 120 ute. (In case you're wondering, a Land Rover "120" is an Aus special, extended version of the 110 that was available as a ute between 1984 and 1990.)

I love the 120 for camping (with a slide on camper) - excellent load capacity, huge range with 240L fuel on board, stable at speed... But I have to say it's a bit of a dog navigating around the city (big turning circle).

The 90 on the other hand is as nimble as a medium sized car (so great in the city), but I wouldn't want to do long distance travel /trailer tow with it (not to mention you're not allowed a trailer on tracks like the Canning). My better half and I have managed to get away for a week at a time in the 90 without space issues, but that's probably the limit.

Dont get me wrong, I'd easily use the 120 as a daily driver, but my better half wouldn't. If it were me, I'd encourage her to take a 130 for a test drive, make sure she's comfortable with the turning circle / parkability for her every day use, and if she says yes, then I'd go for it.

Cheers