GU4 Chassis/Coil tower strength and options for Africa expedition
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 ;) ) :biggrin:
