Wednesday, Jul 14, 2010 at 18:07
Hi there Chas , and welcome to ExplorOz.
Like many questions of this type, the initial answer is usually “that depends”. Will you be
bush camping, rather than camping at caravan parks, etc? Will you be sticking to the bitumen, or hitting the dirt or a beach somewhere? Will you be driving “on track” or “off track? We’ve made the trek to the Centre and the Gulf on a number of occasions over the years. We typically
bush camp for three to five days then head for a motel for a night. Sometimes we
bush camp for longer periods; sometimes shorter. We use dirt tracks and beaches where we can, but only rarely drive “off track”.
Two complete spares with AT (better if they are LT) tyres is great.
This is what we’ve done for the four Prados we’ve owned. They’ve all been autos, so the first thing we acquired is a good set of jumper leads. Secondly, because of weight restrictions, we’ve tended to carry less spares than in previous years but have added top RACV road service cover and a Satphone to cover this risk. We’ve had to use the former once, but not the latter. The
breakdown we had involved a transmission failure, so none of the spares we used to carry would have saved us.
Weight is a big issue with coil springs. The more spares you carry the more weight, and therefore (IMHO) the higher the probability of a mechanical failure. It's all about reasonable risk and balance, and that is a personal issue.
With a load of 400kg (how many adults and kids?) you’ll find the Prado suffers from tail droop – not a good position to be in on corrugated roads, or crawling up a
hill where you need a bit of
suspension travel. Get yourself a set of Polyair springs. If you plan to drive where you need to vary tyre pressures (beaches or dirt roads/tracks) I recommend a tyre gauge and a GOOD electric pump. If you’re
bush camping you may need a shovel and an axe, or at least a bush saw with spare blades. Don’t forget a clothes line and a few pegs.
For general safety gear I include a jack base plate, an engine belt (you only need one - about $50), two snatch straps and a pair of shackles. Other stuff we carry includes spare tools (fencing pliers, spanners, hammer), two spark plugs saved after the 40K service, a
UHF radio (nice to have), tyre plug kit, small tarp (to lie on), a handful of fuses, two spare wheel studs/nuts, radiator stop leak, some of that magic
putty that fixes/plugs everything, and a small coil of wire. We also run two fluro lights off our second battery, as
well as the fridge.
We no longer carry hoses, oil and fluids.
So, if you don’t want to travel “off track”, you can get a fair way with a modest collection of spares and safety gear. And at the end of the day it all depends on your appetite for risk, and who is travelling with you. Most of the people you’ll meet on the track will probably have NONE of this stuff, and the only time you’ll use your snatch strap is to pull someone else out of a bog (lol).
Let the
Forum know if you'd like more information.
Have a great trip!
George_M
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