Archive
A $400 Roof Rack for My 4WD
The new Obieco box on the back of the Nissan has three Rhino rack uni-strut type assemblies running across front, middle and rear of the box. They are somewhat peaked in the middle. I needed to fit some kind of rack to allow tying down of swags etc but did not want to fork out over $1000 dollars. Whatever I came up with would have to be strong because I walk up there and carry large quantities of firewood at times.
While getting some other bits and pieces in Capral I noticed some aluminium walkway 6 metres long and 600 wide. It was very heavy duty mesh designed for elevated walkways. I figured at $400 a sheet, it would make a very strong and economical roof rack, so I purchased a sheet.
I cut two lengths to fit the racks front to back. At 600mm wide they would not fir all the way across the rack, so I left a small gap in the middle allowing the mesh to come out towards the edge of the box. I bolted it down with large washers and 10mm high-tensile bolts.
I am pretty happy with the result.
Fitting the New winch
Some of you may be surprised to learn that I did not have a winch fitted particularly doing what I do, however over my 30 years of off-road driving, I’ve hardly ever found a front mounted electric winch to be of significant enough use to warrant having one. Of course I have had them over the years on various vehicles, but not on this vehicle. I’ve always erred on the side of caution and almost never needed to winch. When I have to, I use a hand winch. Since it is usually my clients who get bogged, the portability of a hand winch is handy.
Finally however I decided that given the amount of winch training we do as a training organisation, I’d best fit a winch rather than use the clients’, or my other trainer’s vehicles. These days there are some great winches available at low prices, so after lots of research I decided to give the Tigers11 winch a try. I’d seen a few of them working out on the tracks and thought there were many attractive features, not the least of which was the price. I bought the 12000lb winch with plasma rope.
The winch was delivered to my house, and despite very minor damage to the switch cover it arrived intact. I watched the DVD which advises to buy the winch from someone who can offer warranty, and I must say I agree with that.
Fitting it to the Nissan (ARB) Commercial bar was not as easy as I had hoped. Eventually I relented and removed the bullbar which made the job very simple. Removing my bullbar is not simple, with 3 antennas and water connections running to it, as well as earth straps- it took some time.
I’ll post an update with pictures as soon as I complete the wiring.
New Tyres This Week
We have been running Toyo tyres since 1982, and have been using the Toyo OPAT LT tyres on our 4wd’s for many years. This year we had an offer from Pirelli to run their Scorpions but negotiations failed there. I wanted to stick with the Toyos but negotiations were not fruitful with Toyo either. I am going to give the Mickey Thompson ATZ’s a run this year. The new ATZ has large lugs and ample void space bordering on a mud tyre in appearance. 
Cabin Modifications
While doing the heater reinstall, I made a few changes. The rear wall of the cabin allows quite a bit of noise into the cab, and could use some better soundproofing. Additionally I needed more suitable means to mount radios etc. A 9mm sheet of ply cut to fit and covered with carpet suited both purposes. Rather than go to the trouble of fitting nutserts, I chose to use a bit of aluminium angle to attach the ply to the inner panels near the seatbelt mounts and side vents.
The ply sheet allowed me to fit the Barrett 950 HF and the Icom 706 MKIIG bracket. The 706 is currently in the house. The centre of the ply is screwed to the christmas tree plugs used to hold the plastic trim. The plastic trim has not been removed.
It is all back together now.
Some Minor in Cab Work :-)
The cabin heater in the GU died some time ago, releasing hot water into the cabin. The aircon relies on this to balance hot and cold air, otherwise the air is too cold. Additionally the vent direction adjustment was damaged and needed repair. So the complete dash had to be removed. While doing this I thought it would be the ideal time to clean up the cabin, remove the carpet to clean it and put some more new soundproofing under the carpet.
I also purchased a new in dash DVD/Nav so wished to install that and tidy up some of the wiring done previously.
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