My first Patrol

[lorrieandjas]

Hi mate - nice looking ride! You're going to have a ball in it!

Jas

[Jordo]

Hi everyone,

I am just going to revive this thread for now, unless someone can help me put it where it should go.

I have picked out a small fortune in ARB mods for the car, and have looked at places such as TJM. Does anyone have suggestions about good shops to go to to buy the mods, and also places to stay away from. I have read a lot around the forum, but from my very little experience, it seems like ARB can be very expensive with some of their stuff?

The mods planned for the Troll are mainly standard stuff:
Front and rear lockers
Rear Kaymar bar
New bullbar so I can fit a 12,000lb WARN winch
Better driving lights (Narva HID or ARB Intensity lights at this stage)
Roof rack
UHF Radio and roof console
Dual batteries
Fridge
Black Widow drawer system
Side rails

Being relatively new to the forum and the modified 4WD world, I look forward to the great feedback from all the members here. The knowledge and reviews of gear on here is amazing.

Thanks for all the help.

Jordo

[Drewboyaus]

Hi Jordo,
Nice Truck!

Front and rear lockers
- I'd be looking at either TJM or Harrop.....generally aren't must haves though to get out and have fun, my GQ with some lift, good tyres and smart lines will go 95% of places you will want to IMO. Save your money for other things for now....

Rear Kaymar bar
-holy moly they are pricey. If you really need it then go with a Millweld one. Well built and a third of the price.

New bullbar so I can fit a 12,000lb WARN winch
-ARB for sure.....should be third on your list

Better driving lights (Narva HID or ARB Intensity lights at this stage)
-Buy a good set of IPF, Lightforce etc and upgrade to HID when ready.

Roof rack- Alloy. Search the forum, MudrunnerTD has some good info on alloy racks

UHF Radio and roof console
- UHF, must have. Roof console, nice to have.

Dual batteries
- Redarc or Pirahana

Fridge
-ARB

Black Widow drawer system
-Could make your own or buy second hand in my opinion. A few grand is a lot to pay when there are more important mods.

Side rails
-ARB

A couple you missed:
1. Most important IMO.....tyres. Buy the best you can....they're pretty much what will hold you on the hill. Micky Thompson's, BFG's, Coopers, all good choices, maybe Maxxis too, though I'm not as much of a fan.
2. Suspension. Nice 50mm lift for a bit of extra clearance and significantly improved on and off road behaviour.
OME, EFS, there are many good setups....we can all help out with info when the time is right.

Hope that helps....



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[Drewboyaus]

In general in this addiction, you get what you pay for.....but there can be exceptions to this, particularly at the top end of the market.
A good example is the Kaymar bar....really nice bar, well built but worth 3 times more than a Millweld? Not for me it's not.....
At the other end though, You could pay half the price of an ARB winch bar and get a Tigerz or Powerfull 4x4 one.....but I wouldn't.
Ask plenty of questions around here and at 4wd shops when it comes to each and every purchase and you'll have an awesome rig to go anywhere, with the right bits built economically...
Cheers


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[Jordo]

Hi Drewboy,

Thanks heaps for the suggestions. That info has really helped to prioritise more than I already had… I need to win Tatts to get everything on my wishlist, but part of that is also the missing "Patience" gene that doesn't run in either side of my family. I don't want to wait. I just want to start building things ASAP. Haha.

I was reading your signature, and the things I'd be doing similar to your truck would be:
OME 2" lift (quoted $2,015 by ARB yesterday),
33" BFG KM2 tyres (read all about tyres on the forum this morning)
GME UHF radio

I'll definitely drop MudrunnerTD a PM later asking about roof racks.

It's good to know the lockers aren't high priority, as they are very expensive.

The fridge I will get from ARB. I was quoted $1,600 from them regarding a dual battery setup (without fitting) which included the Optima Blue Deep Cycle Battery, Redarc Smart Start Battery Charger and the rest of the gear. Is that a good price?

I've got what seem to be a half-decent set of IPF lights on the front of the truck at the moment, but I'll definitely be saving for some HID later. Is it possible to order road legal HID headlights for the truck as well, as I've heard that the HID conversion kits are not ADR approved, and I'm not excited about being on the bad side of the law.

Thanks again for your assistance. I will definitely have more questions for you soon. I'm just working out the priorities and trying to get the finances up to start the project.

The car is running very well, but compared to some I was reading about here this morning, the fuel economy seems to be a little higher than others. It could be that I am heavy on the pedal, but I try to change around the 2,000 - 2,500 rpm mark and generally drive pretty slow. Most of the driving has been around town at this stage and I calculated about 14L/100km. It's a 2010 ST with just over 100,000 kms on it. It's got 275/65/R17 Nankang FT-7 tyres on it, which I am still not sure about, but I've only done about 1,000kms in the car since I've had it, so time will tell.

[Drewboyaus]

Yeah, I'm not sure about those tyres either....
I had an ok set of duellers on mine and they were the first thing I did (mine was pretty much stock as a rock when I bought it). Sold the tyres I pulled off on eBay for a few hundred (paid for one of my BFG's!) LOL but it all counts. Think about the main type of driving you're going to do and base your AT-MT decision on that. Mines a play truck not my daily drive so I never have to worry about if it will be a pug to drive in traffic.
Go to a few other places like Opposite lock or TJM or Guests and get some more suspension setups and pricing....ARB should be able to do better than what they quoted you I reckon. A mate who is a mechanic did mine in his garage and bought the bits at trade from ARB so mine cost about half your quote.
The price for the dual battery setup is OTT in my opinion. I bought all the bits for mine for about three hundred and installed it myself....did a better job than the ARB guys would ever have done too.
One of the best bits about playing with my toy is the ability to do things myself, hunt out bargains on eBay/Gumtree (eg: my drawer and fridge slide system cost me $240 from a bloke at Yarra glen via eBay) and have the satisfaction of doing it your way.
As example you could grab a secondhand Engel fridge on eBay, that'll save you $300-$400...
As you say, patience is what's required and you'll save a bucketload.
Think about what sort of off road adventures you want to have and build it to suit.
Cheers,
Drew


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[Jordo]

Hi Drew,

Thanks again for the hints and tips. I've not heard of Guests before, so I will definitely check them out. I am just waiting on quotes from Opposite Lock and TJM, but thankfully I live close to a TJM place, so I might even take the car to them when I get another day off work shortly and see what they can do for me as well. Both the dual battery setup and the Suspension setup from ARB seemed abnormally expensive, especially as the dual battery setup in my dad's Patrol didn't cost half that much. I will also get some other quotes on that before I go ahead with anything and see what comes of it.

My favourite thing about the Patrol is that it can be so heavily modified so easily, and it can be some serious fun being able to do it. I'm sort of following in my dad's footsteps, as he has done some good custom work on his car, as well as a mix of Black Widow, ARB and other companies gear as well.

I will do some research and I will keep you updated on how I go. I'd also be happy to get some of the guys from the forum to help, or get them to do the work and pay them rather than pay one of the bigger companies instead, if there is anyone interested in helping me do some of the work on the car.

Jordan

[Lonicus]

For headlight upgrade have a look at what Mick is doing. Link to his post in the Vendor section

[DX grunt]

Hey Jordo. Nice truck.

If I could get 14L/100km around town, or at any time, I'd be happy.

Take care out there.

Rossco

[Jordo]

Thanks Lonicus. I called him yesterday, and we are getting something organised.

I hope you had a great New Years.