dual cabs, how much more space?

yes we have one kid and another planned for next year . we have just packed for our trip to the kimberlies this year(with one seat out) and have little space left. thought that the new dual cabs would have plenty of room in the back seat and also a bit more room out the back. thought lift up windows would give better access to gear. just not to sure how they handle reasonably tough touring (canning,cape etc)

Molzy, we did GRR, Mitchell Plateau, Cape :eveque, Bungle Bungles and much more last year in the HIlux dual cab with canopy. Easy as pie. For this type of touring the ute is at least the equivelant of the wagon IMO.

did you get lift up windows?

Lift ups on passenger side, sliding on drivers side.

thats a good set up john!! is it four door or single rear door conversion

Molzy

Its an ex-miner!

It started life as a single cab which they cut in half and extended the chassis by 300 mm. Then they tack the extra cab on to the back of the existing two door ute cab, bang on a new roof and hey presto 4 door, with buckets of room. The cab retains the old rear back panel to about knee height which gives the structure strength and the back doors are full size with heaps of leg room. I have mine set up for the dog in the back and chart table nav area on drivers side but for your application with kids it would be ideal as its tough as old boots with buckets of room.

There are some pictures in my rig profile before I put the Al canopy on the back but the old girl is now the mother ship for all our camping expeditions simply because it can carry all the fuel, food, water, camping gear etc for three vehicles on a two to three week bush trip.

they are a bit hard to find now as they stopped making them when the major companies started producing dual cabs in all shappes and sizes. The WA mob who made them reckon they are simply too costly to manufacture now at a reasonable profit. Conversion was around the $25-30k mark. If you were in the market for a real bush truck, they are ideal to pick up for about $15K and do a bare chassis rebuild of the lot to a stage you decide upon. This one has been pretty well done to the max and we just love it.

do you have a rough price to do the conversion?

Molzy.....mine was already done when I bought it. Bloke who bought the Patrol new in 2000, immediately took it to Brunswick Diesel and had the 6.5 Chev fitted, then took it to an engineering place to get the back chopped off.

I would suggest you have a yarn to Mr Al and/or Lyn (see the response earlier on this thread). Al is a very accomplished engineer and his work is 2nd to none in this regard. I believe you'd be looking at anything between $7K and $15K depending on what you want done..........(ie: from simple cut-off up to fully equipped professional box on the back).

But, well worth it as far as I'm concerned.

Cheers

Roachie

they would sell thousands! makes you wonder why they dont.