A member of the camper trailing gang :)

**dullbird** · 19th September 2009, 09:15 AM

Well we got it...and we got it home safely.

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pleased with what we have.

the camper is in top condition it has two tiny little holes in the canvas one on each side where the polls when folded have pinched it.

it also has a massive chequer plate box which they had made for the camper 2 years ago on the front with two sperate compartments one of which can be access from the side as well as the top..and the removeable jockey weel can go in one of the boxes.

it also has an extended and reinforced tow bar with full off road hitch.
He has fitted an electric water pump with hose connector outlet. he has also fitted one (and gave us the rest to fit) dust and water covers for all the catches on the chequer plate box.
He fitted a volt meter to the new 105amp gel battery he has put in it. got electric brakes and means of charging the battery while on the move. all awnings are included and they have only used 1 of the two of them once. the other one got put up for the first time to show us what they look like.

Has 285/70/16 BFG AT on that dont look that warn at all.
He had all brakes and bearing checked.
gave us two brand new old man emu shocks as spares...but it has newly fitted bilstine shocks.

Its got independent suspension. And according to Ian was very easy to tow!!

The people we got it from....WOW what lovely people. not short of a quid or two...They lived in Sir Issac's (the first governor general) Summer house

.
And what a summer house it was

....We spent an hour chatting with them as they asked us in for tea and scones

..

He had a few toys too.....one of them being an immaculate 6 series BMW (manual apparently 1 of only 3 in the country) which turns into a classic next year at the grand age of 25.

here are a couple of pics of the trailer they are not great but you get the idea.

The trailer looks a tad nose heavy....not sure whether it is or that its because its a combination of the bigger tyres on the trailer ( i think there biogger) and the weight squashing the rear of the defender springs.

We were wondering whether we could turn the tounge upside down? I reckon for the time being if we do that it will be enough to make it almost level.

We plan on getting some airbags for the coild at the back of the fender to

**dullbird** · 19th September 2009, 09:20 AM

Now things on the to do list......If anyone has any ideas or suggestions feel free to post them up

.

battery controller
insurance
possibly some solar power
water level indicator
some sort of hot water...thinking about a Coleman unit have read good reports on here about them so far
try to find out if its possible to change the hubs to land rover ones then get wheels and tyres to match the car
some interior LED lights
possibly later stage change the rear lights on the camper to fully submersible LED trailer lights.

Now one thing we noticed on the journey home although all lights work on the trailer the trailer lamp doesn't flash in the defender...could there be a reason for this?

**Sleepy** · 19th September 2009, 09:28 AM

Very nice Lou.

Would be nice to match the tyres/hubs for obvious reasons. I think 235/85 16s on a couple of alloys would look the part and raise the trailer an inch or so too.

**dullbird** · 19th September 2009, 09:33 AM

whats the difference in height between a 285/70/16 and a 235/85/16 ? which one is bigger.......to stand back and look the 285 looks bigger in diameter

**Sleepy** · 19th September 2009, 09:39 AM

Yes I think I have made a blue there.....

I think the difference is only a couple of millimeters

actually .3mm........

**dullbird** · 19th September 2009, 12:26 PM

Does anyone know if its possibly to change the hubs on these aussie swag trailers to landrover defender ones?

It does have electric brakes I dont know if that makes a difference

**justinc** · 19th September 2009, 01:25 PM

Lou,

I chose to stay with 6 stud Toyota/Nissan/etc wheels and hubs on my CT because the availability of the ALCO type LR pattern hubs in remote areas is zilch. They also have odd ALCO specific studs and wheel nuts for the LR ones. You can also get any number of spare 6 stud rims from any Hilux/ cruiser/ patrol wreckers etc, and lets face it there are more of them out there than us...

For the times I will be really remote that requires 2 spares, I'll carry another one for the trailer on the trailer drawbar itself if req.

Thats my reasoning behind staying with the 6 stud set up. Different if the trailer had no electric brakes etc, then you could use actual LR stubs, hubs, wheel brgs and wheels.

...Oh and congrats that is a good looking CT!!

JC

**dullbird** · 19th September 2009, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by justinc

Lou,

I chose to stay with 6 stud Toyota/Nissan/etc wheels and hubs on my CT because the availability of the ALCO type LR pattern hubs in remote areas is zilch. They also have odd ALCO specific studs and wheel nuts for the LR ones. You can also get any number of spare 6 stud rims from any Hilux/ cruiser/ patrol wreckers etc, and lets face it there are more of them out there than us...

For the times I will be really remote that requires 2 spares, I'll carry another one for the trailer on the trailer drawbar itself if req.

Thats my reasoning behind staying with the 6 stud set up. Different if the trailer had no electric brakes etc, then you could use actual LR stubs, hubs, wheel brgs and wheels.

...Oh and congrats that is a good looking CT!!

JC

Jc carring a second spare for the car is hard enough let alone carrying a second spare for the trailer......
by the way there is no room on the draw bar to do this. thats why I would like comonality of wheels and tyres between the trailer and the car so they can share which mean cutting down on the amount needed to be carried.

Do the hubs fail a lot? I dont understand why you would need avaiabity of hubs in remote areas...I thought you fitted hubs fitted wheels and away you go

**slug_burner** · 19th September 2009, 05:28 PM

Lou,

Looks good and the extras sound great.

I don't know what would be involved in changing the stud pattern but I am with you, one less issue to have to contend with mixed wheels. Trailer manufacturers whould be able to give you an idea, just as well it is only one axle as worst case might be a complete swap.

**justinc** · 19th September 2009, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by dullbird

Jc carring a second spare for the car is hard enough let alone carrying a second spare for the trailer......
by the way there is no room on the draw bar to do this. thats why I would like comonality of wheels and tyres between the trailer and the car so they can share which mean cutting down on the amount needed to be carried.

Do the hubs fail a lot? I dont understand why you would need avaiabity of hubs in remote areas...I thought you fitted hubs fitted wheels and away you go

Certainly not usually a hub issue UNLESS you have a catastrophic bearing failure OR all the studs shear off etc, but THAT is all to do with lack of maintenance, which I guess won't happen with you guys anyway

It was just an observation about availability in outlying areas RE wheel studs and spare parts, and lets face it the trailer cops a hiding behind the tow vehicle at the best of times

Also, my comment about spare wheels is probably a leftover from the time we ran out of spares during the 1992 OZ safari, and finished a grueling and rocky/ fast special stage on the last RIM we had(We were carrying 2 spares

) in a 1982 2door RR, and faced exclusion from the event from a late penalty, only to find probably THE ONLY RRC within 400KM at the end of the stage ferrying photographers around, and borrowed his spare tyre/ rim to get us back to the overnight stop within time

This was the last stage of the day and we had a 100km transport to the O'night stop. We were VERY lucky as it would've been the end of the event for us

SO...That is where I get my reliance on commonly/ locally available parts in remote areas from

(call it a phobia, but it has made sense in the past

)

JC

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