Jayco Outback

Wilko it will be ok if you stay on the bitumen !!
You get what you pay for we went with a gold stream and it was great, i believe a little heaver?
Good luck
David

Wilko, I have a 17.55.3 outback and have travelled many dirt roads such as GRR etc they are not bush trackers but do the job if you take reasonable care$for $ good value IMHO.


Cheers

Is it a dual axle with standard load sharing leaf springs.

If so check the centre hanger that holds the rocker arm in the middle. Some of them are butt welded onto the bottom of the chassis rail.

Brother in Laws ripped a piece out of the bottom of the chassis rail.

They did do a mod on the later vans, not sure what year from.

Hi Wilko,
I have a Jayco Discovery 17.55.3 Double bed with shower toilet in the OUTBACK model.
We graduated to this after taking our offroad camper all over Australia.
With a few easy mods and some careful driving to conditions you can go most of the places that the big 3 tonne plus boys go.
After some very easy blacktop trips I was concerned with the number of plastic corner brackets that hold the furniture to the frame breaking and the short screws pulling out. I replaced these with aluminium angle held in place with multiple screws and construction adhesive. I used a fair bit of Liquid Nails and even if I could not fit the angle I filleted the glue to every angle joint and even used a plastic tube extension on the cartridge to get the glue in. This ensures that the different furniture pieces do not fret against each other when subjected to corrugations and twisting. The slight give in Liquid Nails [ or even better use Sixaflex] helps absorb the vibration.
I reinforced all the drawers by running thin model aeroplane super glue into all the drawer joints and bracing the bottoms with small square aluminium strips as well as filleting some more with Liquid nails.
The draw runners are held in with only a few screws and these easily fall out. I used extra screws as well as gluing the runners on. I also added extra hinges to the cupboard doors.After this the furniture was as solid as a rock and these mods only took a day to complete.
Underneath the van there are a few things that you can do to protect the underpinnings. I fitted a full width mudflap to the chassis cross member underneath the front boot. This helps protect all the normally exposed pipes and wires underneath. The tank guards are flimsy and are easily dented with rocks and they do not protect the pipe fittings. This is easily fixed by gluing sections of old rubber backed carpet tile [using Liquid Nails again] to the front of the tank guards and extending the guard to protect the pipes.[ie full width]
I also gave the underneath of the van a heavy coating of thick black underbody coating as well as doubling up on the sealing of all penetrations into the van.
Having done all that the van has survived some pretty rough treatment over some very corrugated and uneven roads including Gulf and desert tracks in recent months.
I have had some issue in getting the van to sit level behind the raised Landcruiser which have included raising the van tow hitch which was mounted to the bottom of the draw bar and raising the handbrake lever for better clearance. This will not be entirely addressed until I fit straight axles to replace the overlay models.
As my Discovery is very similar to your Destiny I hope these thoughts are helpful.
With sensible driving to the conditions your Destiny will go 90% of the places the Gall Boys have traveled albeit with more care, less speed and dont forget your tyre pressures
I am situated in Mudgee NSW and willing to talk if you so desire.
regards...Guy

I've had mine down the Strezlekki, Oodnadatta, GCRx2, Tanimi (rough) and have little trouble. Like the previous poster I covered all the pipes to the tanks and put covers over the exposed wires, except the brakes. The only trouble I have had is that the en suite door has fallen off twice, we now brace it with rubber and a bolt fitting, we lost the brake wires on one side, and the slider drawer has come off. I reckon the carpet on the tank protection is a great idea and wish I'd known about it before. The other thing I have done is remove the spare wheel off the back because I didn't like the idea of carrying it there on corrugations, its in the ute. Just remembered we smashed with rocks/gravel the plastic cover right up the back that drains any gas under the stove. Took a long time to get the dust out of there.
Very happy with it as we couldn't afford the real deal and with a little bit of preparation we saved a lot of dollars.
Geoff

A sections from the Jayco outback model warranty as 'Not Being Covered'.
# Movement or damage caused by dislodgment of appliances
and fittings resulting from use on corrugated or uneven
surfaces.
OJ

We currently own a Jayco destiny outback 17.55.3 we have travelled many roads so far.[ Eg.between Winton and Stonehenge after the heavy rains last year very washed out in the culverts]
We do have simplicity suspension on our van and have lined the underneath of van with galvanised plating[very thin] to protect exposed plumbing and wires. The van is now 4yrs old and other than the drawer problems others have, we are very happy with our Jayco. So far about 20,000km and about to start off on another trip which will be about 7,000km.
Our next van would be a Jayco without a second thought, we bought ours new and can't fault Jayco for service.
Hope this helps. Henrie

Hi Wilko,

We've got a new Jayco Discovery 17.55-5SH outback on order, to be delivered in 8 weeks time. Bought it for the same reason as you .... we consider it a "dirt-road" van and it sounds like we'll be doing the same sort of tracks as you. Will be following others advice -- hubby will be getting underneath and covering pipes with rubber tubbing and the water tanks with outdoor carpet (or similar). Will also be fitting a Stone Stomper to protect the upper body from stones.

Sass.