GU4 Chassis/Coil tower strength and options for Africa expedition

[karllovesmercedes]

Hey guys,

a bunch of mates and I are taking two trucks up through Africa and Europe in 2017 for our ultimate OE. The decision on which truck I am going to buy though is a tough one, at the moment the choice is between a Landcruiser 76 Series with the grunty Diesel V8, and a GU4 Patrol TD42. I was initially set on a GU4 Patrol 4.2 Intercooled Turbo because of the pretty much indestructible drivetrain. However I had a good research on the truck and the issue of the chassis cracking and coil-towers and it seems to be a pretty common problem on any decently loaded truck that does hardcore touring.

What I know so far is that poly-airbags tend to make the problem worse (don't plan on them anyway!) though so does a stiffer spring rate to cater for increased weight such as accessories, and that you can also crack the chassis from the same issue and accelerated by corrugations.

What I am trying to establish is maybe a bit more info and maybe some help from you guys as to what would be the best way to go about solving this problem and whether it will stand up to about 6 months of Africa!!!

The truck setup will be as follows,
Full steel barwork all round with twin spare wheel carrier, full steel underbody guards, alloy roof rack and Hannibal roof top tent, spotlights, 50" LED bar, UHF, HF and Codan 9350 HF tail mounted to twin spare wheel (will be running 33s or 35s), a 4" or 5" Superior Engineering lift kit with drop boxes, long range fuel tank and 2 jerry cans, 60L minimum of water, rear drawer setup, fridge, and all our gear including spare parts, a comprehensive amount of tools, food, clothing and general stuff for 3 adults in the car. These are basically all the main weight adding accessories. I have no experience with a weigh bridge, though I am assuming that this could easily see the truck pushing past GVM and around 3.5T loaded and ready to go?

Much of Africa is paved and new roads are being put in every year by Chinese contractors so it's not like potholes and corrugations are the daily, but for the most part we intend to do Africa proper and head off the beaten and well worn track when possible and sub standard and hardcore roads will be a common occurrence especially around Central Africa. Based on this I've been looking at various different chassis reinforcements to negate the issue of cracking the chassis or coil towers. The two most common ones seem to be these two.

- Superior Engineering weld-on braces for the coil towers (these were my first option but don't seem that strong and don't seem to reinforce the chassis at all; only the coil towers
- ATOC weld-in reinforcement, the photo I have seen of it ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/54576226@N06/13214264543/ ) seems seriously comprehensive, though like a massive amount of work is needed (if the body has to be removed) I take it the photo is the correct one of ATOC's kit?

Which of the two is the strongest option and what amount of work is required (such as needing to remove the body)? Will a weld in brace such as either of these fatigue the chassis'/tower's metal and possibly cause any further cracks over corrugations or otherwise?
After the reinforcement, assuming there hasn't ever been any previous cracking, how likely is it to ever have the issue of chassis cracking in the future?


A huge thanks in advance, your help would really be appreciated! (be nice, it's only my second post here )

[happygu]

Karl,

I have had my rear towers gusseted by a company that does all the offroad racers, and I don't even think about it anymore....


Check out these guys, as they have been all around the world in a 3 Litre Diesel Patrol - no issues at all - even with the different quality fuels out there, and here is there vehicle mods
http://www.unurban.no/unurban%20vehicle.html

Here is the blog of their travels.... with travel right through Africa - fascinating reading, and has crystallized my desire to do something like they have done
http://www.unurban.no/

Mic

[happygu]

Just noticed you are in NZ - I am in Auckland for the week at the moment.....

Happy to chat about anything and everything if you are around here...

Mic

[BigRAWesty]

First up.. Fark you.. Lol
Sounds like a hell of an experience..
Make sure you doc it fully.. Will be an awesome read..

Ok down to business. Guessing your looking at utes yea??
If so the plate style brace from superior which runs across the chassis from tower to tower is the go..
If you are using a wagon you need a small body lift to fit this one..

The bolt on one has some issues with certain sub tanks, not the stock 40ltr one but the bigger 75ltr tanks..

I'm with you, you will be busting the gmv..
Lovells do a gmv upgrade kit for the gu utes. Unsure how far back in the fleet it's compatible with but Cuppa has fitted it to his gu ute and from memory was a smidgen over $4000 engineered..

Good move on the td42. You will be paying for it but you know you'll be getting a solid, reliable car..

If your keen seeing you have time you might be able to pick up a blower 3ltr and do a 4.2 conversion.. Plenty have done it and is very achievable..

[karllovesmercedes]

Cheers Mic!

I had a brief look at UnUrban's trip at an earlier stage but never really looked at all the gear they have on the truck - It's reassuring that they went fine with pretty much the same setup as us! Cheers mate that's a kind offer, I would love to have done that but I'm down in Hamilton - enjoy Auckland though, plenty to see there; the Orbit restaurant in the Skytower is epic: 360° twice an hour

Kallen, thanks for the details, we are taking wagons for the trip but the concept is similar I guess. A weld-on looks the way to go in that case unless I get a body lift done, what is the least amount needed would you happen to know? Want to minimise the complications a bigger lift block will bring! I actually considered a 3.0 conversion but for the amount of time needed for it, coupled with the cost it'd be easier for us to get a tidy 4.2 and set about preparing it before getting it shipped and rego'd in NZ!

With the GVM upgrade all I could honestly find are kits with stiffer springs and a coil tower brace which boosts your rating to about 3.5T, most of us would be doing this in any case as part of our mods - would that mean we could get a certification plate approving a higher GVM with a well chosen lift kit and chassis reinforcement, or does it need to be a specifically approved kit like the Lovells one?

I hope I'm not overthinking the chassis cracking issue! Saw a couple of threads with some pretty hefty damage that actually made me double-take! chassis' cracked half through and towers snapped off like potato chips - made me question the capability of the Patrol as a hardcore tourer!

Which would you guys reckon is the best option out of the weld-on superior plates, the tower-to-tower Superior Engineering option, or the ATOC option?

We are definitely going to be doing a comprehensive daily blog on a website about it! Hoping to make it as detailed as possible, visas, costs, equipment needed, travel times etc. might make it easier for someone else keen on doing the trip themselves! .....Maybe that's you Kallen?

[happygu]

Cheers Mic!

I had a brief look at UnUrban's trip at an earlier stage but never really looked at all the gear they have on the truck - It's reassuring that they went fine with pretty much the same setup as us! Cheers mate that's a kind offer, I would love to have done that but I'm down in Hamilton - enjoy Auckland though, plenty to see there; the Orbit restaurant in the Skytower is epic: 360° twice an hour

Kallen, thanks for the details, we are taking wagons for the trip but the concept is similar I guess. A weld-on looks the way to go in that case unless I get a body lift done, what is the least amount needed would you happen to know? Want to minimise the complications a bigger lift block will bring! I actually considered a 3.0 conversion but for the amount of time needed for it, coupled with the cost it'd be easier for us to get a tidy 4.2 and set about preparing it before getting it shipped and rego'd in NZ!

With the GVM upgrade all I could honestly find are kits with stiffer springs and a coil tower brace which boosts your rating to about 3.5T, most of us would be doing this in any case as part of our mods - would that mean we could get a certification plate approving a higher GVM with a well chosen lift kit and chassis reinforcement, or does it need to be a specifically approved kit like the Lovells one?

I hope I'm not overthinking the chassis cracking issue! Saw a couple of threads with some pretty hefty damage that actually made me double-take! chassis' cracked half through and towers snapped off like potato chips - made me question the capability of the Patrol as a hardcore tourer!

Which would you guys reckon is the best option out of the weld-on superior plates, the tower-to-tower Superior Engineering option, or the ATOC option?

We are definitely going to be doing a comprehensive daily blog on a website about it! Hoping to make it as detailed as possible, visas, costs, equipment needed, travel times etc. might make it easier for someone else keen on doing the trip themselves! .....Maybe that's you Kallen?

I would love to read another blog like theirs ..... hurry up and get on with it ...

Hamilton for me on Friday - before I fly out - gotta get my dose of fog and rain ....

Mic

[Parksy]

Currently running this kit from superior in my rig.





Installation was fairly straight forward and it utilises the other cross members to brace the tower hat, which I believe is a similar setup to what Toyota run.

[MudRunnerTD]

Being a wagon will restrict you a little with the bracing. superiors do a very good Bolt aim brace kit for the GU. That link looks like a Ute setup.

My understanding of the need for a brace is that the spring towers have a counter lever force through them. By bracing across the top of the 2 towers the counter lever is supported across it and would require to stretch the brace to face. Extra weld in gussets would be beneficial too.

The GVM upgrade from Lovels is specifically for a Ute and only suited to Brand New utes without an independent Engineer. Also this is for the ADRs in Australia.

Have a look at the superiors bolt in for wagons.

Being in NZ what year GU can you buy with a TD42Ti in it?? In Australia the latest is 2006 and they are now very highly sort after and hold a very high value. I don't think NZ would have the same problem.


Oh yeah...... Your lucky lucky lucky bastard!!!

[BigRAWesty]

A wagon. Fair enough.
As above the bolt in kit is the way to go to keep things simple, but as I mentioned does foul some sub tanks..

So I'm guessing the gu have a 3T GMV??
Personally I'd do some test runs with gear and see how it sits. You may find you don't need a whole arsenal of tools.
Ie, patrols are all metric bolts. 8mm is the smallest and 16 the biggest I've seen on em so far..

[threedogs]

My mate has done this trip heaps of time I think he is just back from Nepal and yes he took his stretched GU.
I'll email him and the shop that services his rig to find out what he has done. He tows an A van when travelling OZ

Edit:: Also what Nissan spares he takes, I know he uses
Red Line oil So services are not necessary, just filter changes and a top up