Sunday, Dec 10, 2017 at 17:15
"In terms of heavy things that need to be taken along, would the following be a reasonable estimate?
Tools+spares 100kg, water 120kg, diesel 100kg, second battery 60kg, gas bottle 30kg, spare tyres 50kg. That's a total of approx 500kg, so plus the weight of the camper and other items I can see that being dangerous in terms of weight on a 79series with a payload of 1 tonne or so.
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Where do you intend going? We used to take less than that on Army trips. You can never carry enough to cover every possible thing that can happen in the bush. Your biggest risk is getting to the bush. Your chances of having a major road accident are far higher than a major mechanical
breakdown in the middle of
the desert.
There is always a risk involved in remote Outback tracks. Major roads like the
Gibb River Rd.,
Birdsville Track etc get a fair bit of maintenance and a lot of traffic. If you took it easy in a 2wd car you would get there easily enough.
Long remote tracks like the Canning and the Anne Beadell can be rough, corrugated, sandy or washed out in
places but they are not going to break any 4wd built since the early Land Rovers in the 1950s if you don't overload them or pound them along fast trying to keep to a tight time schedule. You have to hit holes or whatever hard to damage any type of car.
Taking too much gear to avoid problems can cause problems.
'However on a single cab defender, there's a payload of 1600kg."
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Not necessarily. I have an email from Land Rover saying the towing capacity for their Defender comes down from 3500 kg to 1500 kg in off road conditions. I would not be surprised if the carrying capacity also came down by about the same ratio. The editorial in the magazine that contained the bent chassis story in the link I gave you said the carrying capacity of all cars should be reduced by around 40% in off road conditions. I was taught the same thing in the Armed Forces. The maximums are usually for sealed roads only.
This is why so many cars have major mechanical failures in the bush each tourist season. If it is not chassis it is axle housings or wheel studs or wheels or clutches or overheating etc etc..
Remember the car leaves the assemble line with about ten litres of fuel in it. Anything added after that comes off its carrying capacity.. That includes fuel, driver/passengers, accessories and any body like a tray or whatever.
Our little ute at 200 kg under GVM is still high for off road conditions but geez do we nurse it along slowly. Around hundred ks a day is about our limit on roads like the Gunbarrell Hwy west of
Warburton and we rarely reach 70 on good unsealed roads. You must be able to stop in the distance you can see on those roads. Washouts and holes can suddenly appear anywhere..
"I won't have a shower or
toilet in there. "
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We have a portable
toilet that slides out from under shelves in our tiny camper. We also have an internal shower that can be set up in seconds. You can fit both into just about anything.
Have a look at these DVDs. They contain no advertising or technical
information but will give you a good idea of what conditions are like once you get off the main tourists routes. The ones on the Victorian High Country and
the Desert Highways will give you a good idea of what is involved in mountain and remote desert driving.
DVDs
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