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Post Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:58 pm 
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G'day everyone, I have a swb wt sierra and was wondering if anyone had any tricks for packing there swb suzukis to do longer trips.
I run 600 16 bar treads on lj rims and it has a marati ute roof if that makes any different.
cheers Jack

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Post Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:52 pm 
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Visit some hiking shops.

I've done many trips in LJ50 soft tops. First time was a minor disaster ... overloaded, way overloaded.

Swapped out all the gear for hiking stuff and it became fun.

Basically plan around say a four day hike and then take it from there.

We had nets hanging under the inside of the soft-top for clothing, dehydrated food ... most of the light stuff leaving the floor area for water and cansa etc.
Mounted the spare tyre on the bonnet ... landrover style, and hung two jerry cans of fuel on the spare wheel carrier.
Most tools can be carried under the bonnet ... somewhere in the engine bay there will be somewhere to stash a couple spanners etc.

Don't be too stingy with your bedding tho .. a day of travel in a zuk swb will need to be followed by a damn good sleep.

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Vehicle: LJs, Sierra, Jimny, Swift.

Post Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:58 am 
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We did 3 weeks away up north in my sierra last year. This is probably the best photo I've got of how we packed it.

Image

40L engel on the passengers side. 2 luggage cases go next to it, one has clothes ect and the other has cooking stuff and dry food. Really the cooking stuff would have been much better off in a drawer but I ran out of time to build that before we went. Both cases are way bigger than they needed to be but that's just what we had.

On top of that we have our tent that is rolled up like a swag with all the bedding in it it's got an air matress in it and we use an AEG 18v workshop blower to pump it up so it goes up wayyyy quicker than anything else I've tried.

Behind the drivers seat I had my tools, bag of spare parts and air compressor. Behind the passengers seat we had one of those cubes of 24 water bottles and a 12v oven/cooker thingo.

The chairs and umbrella fit tidily down the side of the engel and cases.

Under the drivers seat I had a snatch strap, small axe, fold up saw, tyre deflator and the big socket thingo for doing the wheel bearing nuts. Pretty sure Kellie just had shoes under her seat.

Penrite 1L spare oils fit perfectly in the front 1/4s next to the head lights. Spare radiator hoses fit in the cavity next to the battery. It has an MF51 (commodore) second battery on the passengers side against the firewall with a VSR isolator. This was plenty for our use.

There's a jerry can on the tailgate and a camp light coming off the spare wheel. The tailgate table was real handy. Half way through the trip we stood the luggage cases upright so we could get another jerry can in there for going through Millstream. That was a bit of PITA but we fitted it easily.

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 6:53 am 
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Thanks for the ideas guys, I will look at some hiking shops can you carry enough fuel is a SWB to do a 5 day trip without needing to refuel? I have only ever done trips that I could refuel every day.
Cheers Jack


Last edited by Jack jr on Tue Aug 06, 2019 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 1:28 pm 
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Haha I was about to reply to this yesterday but I though I’d let you chime in sideways!! Way more practice than anyone else I know on this topic!!

Adelaide to Perth I had double swag, small esky, water, 20ltr Jerry can, clothes and a tow strap/bow shackles. Tow strap is cheap insurance, if it all goes to poo someone will be able to tow you to somewhere!!

Basic tools, a spare set of radiator hoses and some oil is pretty good to have handy. Tyre compressor and a plug kit is valuable!!

Make sure the car is well maintained BEFORE you go. But basic spares such as wheel bearings, hose clamps and a fuel filter are small and good to have. Small cooking equipment is also good, as suggested the camping/hiking stores are great to look at for these.

As for water, make sure you have heaps for your use. I prefer to have a 20ltr Jerry can of water that I can refill from anywhere, this can be for washing up, rinsing and radiator if the urgent need arises. For drinking water I pack the goon bags of water. Come in a box of around 10ltrs but if you remove them from the box they’ll happily blob around in vacant cavities. Just be sure not to pack anything with them that will puncture the bag.

Of course everything depends on where you’re traveling and what roads etc you’re traveling on!

Report back and tell us how you end up doing it!!

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 8:03 pm 
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g'day everyone I've replaced all the wheel bearings the king pins the kingpin bearings the radiator the carby and the throttle cable. i carry around in the car a basic recovery kit a tool kit 1l of oil and some jump leads.
cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:54 pm 
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Seems pretty reasonable unless you’re venturing far, wide or off trail.

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Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 7:33 am 
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What would you add to that for off road camping trips?
cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:54 am 
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Just what I’ve listed above, that’s what I pack but it’s really dependent on where you’re going and the driving you’ll be doing. My driving trips are almost certainly different from yours!

But water, took kit, tyre plug kit, air compress and radiator hoses are a must in my opinion

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Post Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 7:38 am 
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G'day I forgot to put in I have an air compressor, I will get some radiator hoses, I pack water when I'm doing trips but don't bother on the daily drive, I have tube tyres is it worth taking those tube patches or just carry a spare tube?
Cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 5:51 pm 
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Hmmmm... Tube tyres [emoji848] Dunno!! If you had a spare tube have you any means of changing the tube in the middle of BF nowhere? Could you break the bead and allow enough space to get a tube out and in?

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Post Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:49 pm 
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bumstein wrote:
Hmmmm... Tube tyres [emoji848] Dunno!! If you had a spare tube have you any means of changing the tube in the middle of BF nowhere? Could you break the bead and allow enough space to get a tube out and in?
LJ rims are non-safety rims, so bead pop off fairly easily. Also deep well based, so easy to peel the tyre off.

I would be taking both repair patches, and spare tube.

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Post Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:53 am 
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Sounds good to me! I just don’t have any experience with tube tyres on the jalopy. Might be worth my while looking into it somewhat

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Post Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 11:21 am 
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G'day thanks for the info I will get some patches, a spare tube and throw some tyre levers in my kit, can you get split rims for a Sierra? Sorry for all the questions.
Cheers Jack

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Post Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 8:46 pm 
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No, and they’re stupid heavy anyway.

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Post Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 10:40 pm 
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Jack jr wrote:
can you get split rims for a Sierra?
Mullins made some for F100s back in the 70s - 80s, but like rocking horse shit to find now ... would be pure blind luck to trip over some.
Overall tho .. splitties are a PITA and no easier to work with than one piece well-based rims.
LJ wheels are among the easiest to work with any way.

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Sorry for all the questions.
's ok ... best way to find out stuff

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:25 am 
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Jack jr wrote:
can you get split rims for a Sierra?
Cheers Jack
GwagenSteve wrote:
No, and they’re stupid heavy anyway.

Well, actually, Yes, you can. WW2 Jeep Combat rims fit available brand new from Jeep suppliers like Marathon Spares, and they're not particularly heavy compared to a standard LJ rim, but they're probably expensive in comparison

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:27 am 
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Aren’t they a bolted 2 piece rim as opposed to a truck style split rim?

I wonder if they’re legal for use on a vehicle covered by ADR’s?

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 1:08 pm 
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thanks for all the help, a bit off topic but how do you guys stop your cooling fan pulling through the radiator during water crossings? I noticed some marks in the back of my radiator after the last trip.
cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:56 pm 
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Vitara viscous fan. Bonus for massively improved cooling.

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Post Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:04 am 
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G'day i found some jerrycans that will let me keep 50l of fuel in front of the rear axle but behind the divider i made for there marati roof, then a box for camping gear/food and 2 water jerrycans totalling 30l behind the fuel cans, all of this fits very neatly in the tub with very little wasted space and non of it over the tub height, Gwagensteve i will find someone wrecking a vitara and get the fan out of it.
cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 8:38 pm 
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Gday, does anyone have a vitara viscous fan around south tassie?
cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:18 pm 
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Brad 0437 097 475

He’ll have something

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:13 am 
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Eddy. any pics of the bonnet mounted spare wheel, and how did you do it, ie. any reinforcing under the bonnet, wheel mount, etc, sounds like a good idea to me to carry an extra spare for the really long trips.. regards Barbender

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 6:54 pm 
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G'day everyone I got onto brad i'm going there on the weekend to pickup a fan and clutch (thanks for that), the trip i'm going on is going to the north west of Tassie and coming down the west coast doing as many tracks as possible i have been told there will be many water crossings as we are doing tracks like the Balfour track.

I have fitted diff breathers and am going to fit a snorkel, is there anything else i should waterproof, how do speakers handle getting wet i'm thinking i will take the tools to remove the radio if its going to go under.
Cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 5:17 pm 
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G'day everyone, Eddy as barbender said earlier if you had some photos of your bonnet mounted spare that would be great to see.
cheers Jack

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Post Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 6:57 pm 
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Sorry no pix.

Made a frame of 20mm square tube, H shaped ... from hinges forward to a crossover to the rest pads at the clips, then a pair of bolts through the bonnet. pretty much screwed the bonnet, and if doing it again would probably use 25mm with trusses.



... and maybe some speedholes ...

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Post Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:01 pm 
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Thanks for that Eddy just one more question could you still flip the bonnet up and rest it on the windscreen?
Cheers Jack.

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Post Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:24 pm 
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well ... kind of ... At first it would just barely stay, so i either propped it with a stick, or tied back with a ocky cord. After a while the wheel settled into the bannet a bit and it would stay up no problems.

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Post Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 6:00 pm 
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Thanks for that Eddy, just a quick update the car now has a rear arb diff locker.
Cheers Jack

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