Sydney, Cameron Corner to Uluru

Peterjg,
I did a half lap with a Tribute V6 and pulled a camper. We went up the east coast, across the Savanah way, up to Darwin, down to the rock, through the painted desert into Oodnadatta, through the Flinders and back along the Murray. We had no touble at all including six river crossings on the Savanah. I would recommend the Tribute V6 as a very good soft roader. Not so confident in the 4 cyl.

As to using a trailer or putting it on the roof, it all depends on the load. I believe the roof load capacity in quite low, 70 kgs, but if you are not going to carry much then roof storage could be the way to go. I would look at a pod. We pulled about 1000 kgs without a prob and could do 140kph down the Stuart!
Regards
Martin

Peter,

A few more knowledgeable posters will jump in soon with some advice but just a couple of quick questions first

Which way do you intend to travel to Cameron Corner? Any way you choose from Sydney means several hundred kms of dirt/gravel roads. Then there's quite a few hundred more to the Centre.

How long do you have to do this trip? You won't be able to travel at 100kph all the way.

Do you have a reliable compressor for your tyres ? You may need to air down/up for some sections.

Do you carry a second spare tyre?

When do you plan to travel? It's getting warm out there.

Do you have a tyre repair kit (plugs/patches etc)?

Your answers to the above will help other posters help you.

Regards

Al

Your question contains too little information
As previously said
which way from Sydney to Camerons Corner?
which way from CC to where?
how long are you planning to take?
how many people are you taking?
what type of trailer do you have, old box trailer or off road camper trailer?
Do you know the weight limit of your roof and racks?
What type of tyres and how much tread is left on them.

Research the above and then you will get answers that will be of value.

In short a mechanically sound Tribute will make it comfortably to Camerons Corner, down the Strezleki track, then bitumen to Uluru. That assumes you drive "to the conditions", generally meaning maximum 80km/hour with near new good tyres and have a maximum of two people in the vehicle.

Peter
Firstly, I wouldn't place too much weight on the advice of a person who thinks it's something to brag about that he can tow a 1000kg at 140kph. In response to your question, it really depends on where you intend going, and what you consider you have to carry. Sure the Tribute is a competent vehicle, but like all soft roaders it has its limitations. If you intend to stick to the bitumen, you will probably be able to tow a trailer and travel quite comfortably. If, however, you intend to travel on the Oodnadatta Track, or any of those similar outback tracks you could strike problems with a trailer. Firstly you have to be prepared to fit appropriate tyres. The corrugations and gravel in the outback will rip your normal street tyres to shreds. But the major difficulty with that part of our great land is the unpredictability of it all. The outback tracks can vary from 4 lane highways to impassable bogheaps - and it only takes rain overnight to make the difference. We have camped on the side of the track for up to 72 hours waiting for the road to dry out and become passable. And even then it can be a nightmare for a "full" 4wd to get through. Add the dead weight of a trailer onto that and it becomes even more difficult. You will hear countless stories of people who have taken soft roaders into the outback and come back unscathed. You never hear of the unsuccessful ones, perhaps partly because of the embarassment factor. Sure you might get through, in fact you probably will. But, I wouldn't like to be putting my family into that situation, particularly if I had no experience in that area. Your concern about the road conditions is well founded, and unfortunatly, nobody can tell you what the conditions will be like at some time in the future.

teege

Make sure you have good tyres (preferably AT type at least) is all I will say, and carry an extra spare especially if you have an uncommon size. You really don't need 4wd to do Sydney, Cameron Corner, Strezlecki Track, Oodnadatta track, Uluru in dry weather, but if it rains then it can be a different story. The only other way is through the Simpson Desert and the Tribute would not be able to handle that at all. I don't think towing a trailer will be a problem. I've seen a number of XTrails out there near Innaminka with trailers.
Your tyres will cop a real hiding anywhere the road goes through the Sturt Stoney Desert, which is a lot of places. Starts near Tibooburra and on again off again to near Oodnadatta. The garages out there do a LOT of tyre repairs. The Pink Roadhouse has a leaflet with recommended pressures (all on the low side) for different type of vehicles but its a bit late getting that info after you've already made it there. Same comments (tyre pressures too high) from the guys at Mt Dare and Birdsville.
Those in big rigs with heavy duty tyres may think I'm over reacting, but I've been out there with normal HT road tyres and I won't make that mistake again. I've had quite a few trips out there with proper tyres on proper 4by's and didn't overly notice the normal gravel roads. The last trip I had HT's because that was what came with the car and I was conscious of every rock after losing 2 tyres with 2000km's still to get home.
Other than that, its a great trip which I'm sure you will enjoy.

Mike

Hi there

We did the Red Centre last year towing an off road camper (Brand = Challenge) and driving a Tribute - Sydney via the blacktop to Alice and back. We did the Mareenie Loop from Kings Canyon to Alice.

As people have mentioned, off road tyres. I have BFGs ATs.

Replace the space saver with a full size one. The plastic cover on the spare will need a modification to fit in the full size spare.

I think the limit on the roof racks is 40kgs (brilliant eh?).

Ensure your shocks and springs are okay. The Tribute has some weak parts in the front end (control arms etc). Make sure they are okay. Also carry some spares, eg top & bottom radiator hoses. In this way, you won';t have to wait for parts to be shipped in.

Cheers.