Moby the white whale super tourer

[twindiff]

2006 ex Telstra GU
2 inch ARB suspension (Telstra spec)
TJM steel winch bar and side steps
16x8 King steel wheels (black) and 285/75/16 Cooper STT
Dual batteries
Outback roof console and ICOM UHF

[Clunk]

The more I see these things the more I like them....... cheers for the pics mate

[AB]

Love the ex Telstras, looks very well set up mate!!!

[nissannewby]

Two of my favourite things :) a patrol parked out the front of the bundy factory :) lol. Good looking ute mate

[The BigFella]

Awesome looking rig dude, now the only way it could be any more awesomer is if it was six wheeled,,,,,,,

[rusty_nail]

Nice truck mate, love the roof top camper


Tappin

[growler2058]

Mighty fine lookin ute and setup mate wel done

[twindiff]

Thanks everyone. I've only had this truck for a couple of months with a rapid development plan.

Moby's full details are:

12/2006 GU DX 4.2 TDi Ex Telstra
80,000 Klm's when bought
2 inch Old Man Emu suspension (Telstra)
Obieco canopy (Telstra)

My modifications are (so far):

TJM steel winch bar and side steps
16x8 Black steel King wheels and 285/75/16 Cooper STT's
Dual batteries
Outback roof console and Icom UHF (antenna mounted on canopy roof)
2 x 90 litre poly water tanks (inside canopy)
Original Telstra power distribution box still used but Merit sockets swapped out for Engel sockets - running 2 Engels (1 fridge, 1 freezer)
Replaced canopy interior lights with LED strip lights (2)
Twin spare wheel mounts modified to fit larger/wider rims and tyres

Trips so far:

1 quick trip to the Watagans just to check 4wd actually worked after buying and modifying!

Then a 4 week, 9000 Klm round trip to Cape York and back as a shake down cruise!

All good

Cheers, Errol

[DX grunt]

Gotta love the ex Telstra Utes, don't ya? lol

Looking forward to seeing the build up

Take care out there.

Rossco

[Old Wal]

Great looking setup.
Thanks for the photo's & description. Just what I needed.
The photo's are great to show my wife as I'm in the process of building a custom slide on camper for my GU. The woman has no imagination!
Thanks from Old Wal.

[Cuppa]

We could start an ex Telstra camper club. :-) Will look forward to hearing about your trip.
I've been beavering away installing all the wiring for the charging side of things on my truck. (solar & dc to dc), quite a big job, much of the work better suited to a contortionist or a dwarf, neither being descriptions that apply to me!

Cuppa

Sent from my iPad thingy using Tapatalk HD

[DX grunt]

We could start an ex Telstra camper club.

Could? We should. lol

I'm loving all the build ups and answering questions. Keep em coming.

Take care out there.

Rossco

[twindiff]

Hell yes! I'm in.

Of course club trips may be a problem with 1 in WA, 1 in Vic and 1 in NSW.......

[GUtsy ute]

Nice set up you've got there Errol.
Good to see you're getting out and enjoying using it.
I've got a canopy the same as you, except I use an Oz-Tent.
I'll join the club too, even though none of the others mentioned me!LOL.
Here's the link to my build thread.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?3639-My-GU-Canopy-Build-Up

Cheers Gavin

[twindiff]

Yeeha another member. That's the east and west covered, now all we need is the centre and the annual meeting can be at the rock!

Cheers,

Errol.

[threedogs]

Yeah X2 with everyone else, got a soft spot for utes. IMO the best for touring, 4x4ing the lot. MOF said no to ute, but have plans to cut the back off my patrol and turn it into a dualcab. Hope she doesn't notice

[macca]

Yeeha another member. That's the east and west covered, now all we need is the centre and the annual meeting can be at the rock!

Cheers,

Errol.

That is a damn good idea

[Cuppa]

Just got back to this thread. Yeah the Rock sounds good, but the 'Westerners' get the better route. Should we make Rossco the Prez?

Cuppa

[macca]

Just got back to this thread. Yeah the Rock sounds good, but the 'Westerners' get the better route. Should we make Rossco the Prez?

Cuppa

Cupper a run up through the Flinders then on to the Oodnadatta is one.
Or my choice; Corner country, Innaminka, Birdsville, Simpson Desert not forgetting Dalhousie, Mount Dare is another.
Make them Westies green with a trip like that!!

I thought Rosco was the Prez, he has been leading the way....

Cheers Macca

[Cuppa]

Corner country sounds good. Haven't been to Innamincka. Not sure about the Simpson though. Think I need a bit of sand practice before giving that route a go!

Should we call the Podders community something so we can have an acronym?
Eg.
The PP's (PatrolPodders)

COPs (Canopies on Patrols)

CCOPs Camping Canopies on Patrols

CCCOP Cunning Camping Canopies On Patrols

POCCs Pod owners Campers Club

POOP (Pod Owners On Patrols)

Cuppa :tease:

[macca]

Corner country sounds good. Haven't been to Innamincka. Not sure about the Simpson though. Think I need a bit of sand practice before giving that route a go!

Should we call the Podders community something so we can have an acronym?
Eg.
The PP's (PatrolPodders)

COPs (Canopies on Patrols)

CCOPs Camping Canopies on Patrols

CCCOP Cunning Camping Canopies On Patrols

POCCs Pod owners Campers Club

POOP (Pod Owners On Patrols)

Cuppa :tease:

Love em all

[DX grunt]

I thought Rosco was the Prez, he has been leading the way....Cheers Macca

Am I ?????

What about PoP....Pods on Patrols ?????? It is also more age friendly to me.... hahahahahaha

[twindiff]

Corner country and on for me too!
Yep, Rosco for prez, Cuppa for vice.....
Cheers,
Errol

[Cuppa]

Yep, nothin' like a good bit of vice eh? :smile:

Cuppa. ♨

[GU CAMPER]

Hi Errol

What size tyres can you fit on the modified spare tyre holders

I have the same obieco ones as you and was looking at changing them so I can fit my 35's on them

Any chance you can get a close up pic for me

Cheers Andy

[twindiff]

Hi Andy,

Mine are 33's, 285/75/16, I simply pulled apart the original Obieco carriers and used the center handle/bolt assembly and added a 5mm round plate to fit the center of the wheel. The plate hole had to be offset from center because of the extra height from the original 7.50 R16's (31's), 2 inches overall but 1 inch at the center of the wheel.

To use 35's the grab rail above the tyres would have to go (easy) but the trick would be lining up the center bolt/pin that holds the wheel on, it would now be another inch offset. A plate with 2 wheel studs fitted would be ideal or perhaps the mounting points inside lifted to the right height.

On mine I also added 2 brackets (from the original ladder racks) to the mounting points so that I could also put straps on for that extra peace of mind, after all the whole assembly is held together by the quality of the weld between the bolt and the handle (if the handle snaps off the whole lot falls on the road). It all worked well, 1600 klm's of corrugations to the tip and back and they didn't budge at all. Of course I use R pins (tow bar tongue hitch pins) on the inside of the canopy to prevent theft.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Errol.

[twindiff]

More photo's, elec outlet box with merit sockets removed and engel sockets added. 2 x 90 litre poly water tanks. Outback roof console, aftermarket stereo with pop up touch screen and rear view camera and clip on monitor. I have wired it so that when it's turned on it's on all the time (not just in reverse), when it's turned off it still works as well as the original mirror. Time will tell if the mirror suffers premature droop from the extra weight! :)

Cheers,

Errol.

[twindiff]

Hi Macca,

Mine is well covered by the base plate but my shocks are Old Man Emu Nitrochargers. From the front the bottom shock mounts look vulnerable but from the rear it looks like there is only about 2 mm showing of shock stud. Hope the pics help.

Cheers,

Errol.

[macca]

Thanks mate mine are a bit beaten up compared to yours, try and get some pics!!!

[threedogs]

Hi Twin diff ended up taking my reverse mirror off, was forever adiusting it,way too heavy for a 4x4, in the process of trying something different using multi cameras when I work it out.


Pic is of a skid plate I made for my last Leaf sprung 4x4. It'll stop your spring hangers digging in on rutted tracks, big holes are for access to u bolt nuts

[macca]

Heres what my problem is, this is a new shock and the stud is quite low so they get smashed scraping along ruts that the coilies clear

[twindiff]

At the risk of sounding dumb how about cutting off the excess stud below the protection of the bracket. Of course the whole assembly is still quite low, what we need is a spring over conversion and 6 inch coils on the front or maybe portals....

mmm portals...... drooling now

Cheers, Errol

[threedogs]

Just cut it off, it wont cause any problems.

[macca]

At the risk of sounding dumb how about cutting off the excess stud below the protection of the bracket. Of course the whole assembly is still quite low, what we need is a spring over conversion and 6 inch coils on the front or maybe portals....

mmm portals...... drooling now

Cheers, Errol

Sounds awsome, but better organise a divorce lawyer when ordering the bits!!!!

Thought of cutting it off but when trying to get the nut on there is not much thread exposed through the bush.

That bit with the flat sides for the spanner can go though.

[threedogs]

You only need a nut of thread showing. Have you bent them before or is it another brand?
I'd be more worried of breaking the controll knob off the shockers
can you fabricate some shields to protect them some how
WOW thats some spring pack, is it Mine spec or do you have heaps of weight with the pod???

[macca]

You only need a nut of thread showing. Have you bent them before or is it another brand?
I'd be more worried of breaking the controll knob off the shockers
can you fabricate some shields to protect them some how
WOW thats some spring pack, is it Mine spec or do you have heaps of weight with the pod???

Same brand, that is a new one that was in the shed as a spare. Never even scratched the control knob they seem to stay out of the way.
When new the bush is so thick it took some effort to get the nut started, after some use it probably wont be a problem untill replacement time.
Wieghed the ute loaded for an outback trip with 8 gerrys full of fuel / water etc then gave the axle wieghts to a spring mob and said design a system around that.
It sits nice and handles just as well. Have a speed bump in our village here 50kph speed limit smooth as, empty or full. Very well matched package I ended up with.

[threedogs]

Sounds all good then, mate had one of those Carry on, pods on his coil tipper ute, pod weighed 800kg. Set it up for a Cape trip but all went pear shaped when rear Koni destroyed themselves {brand new} on the way up.
Only got to Musgrove, not a happy camper I can tell you. but all got sorted and he was on his way again in no time, Sold ute as soon as he got home,
IMO think pods are more suited to leaf rear cab/chassis

[nissannewby]

You could throw a second nut on there if your concerned or possibly some sort of nut like a wheel nut. You could also throw soem decen rubber hose over the expose thread to help prevent if you do this throw some silicone on it as well to prevent water and dirt getting in.