21' Jayco Outback With Simplicity Suspension

have a look at thread 67700 here . try a search on gooooogle.

Definitely not the Canning ......

The suspension would probably be OK for fairly rough roads with appropriate tyre pressures etc but check the sturdiness of the interior fittings and how the cupboards are held to the walls and frame. We have heard lots of stories about the cupboards shaking to pieces on corrugations. Our previous Outback camper had very flimsy fittings and we never felt confident to take it anywhere too rough. Things may have changed since then. Also check Jayco's warranty carefully. They used to exclude rough conditions if we remember correctly. At the price well worth a look but look carefully. There are other vans out there cheaper than Bushtracker that will handle poor dirt roads well and have the appropriate warranty. Lynne

Hi Robert,
I don't have any experience on the roads mentioned but I do have an 18ft expanda with simplicity suspension.
I have towed is over some pretty serious wash outs, creek crossings and quite rough dirt tracks etc with no issues.
It is as said what I would class as a semi offroader. The simplicity suspension works very well and has great articulation when going through deep wash outs and as for onroad tows exceptionally well compaired to there std offroad model as i had previously. It all comes down to the driver, if you want to maintain top speed then things will break, I drive to the conditions and to date have not broken anything yet. Sustained long periods of corrugated roads will kill most things I have found.
I have however spent a lot of time and effort re running underfloor piping and wiring to ensure it does not get hung up and torn off as jayco do tend to just throw it all under with no thought or care.
I have made a serious rear bar and added a front stone guard to help protect the van as the fiberglass copped a hammering from stone chips before this was fitted from the dirt roads.
One thing I will advise is that the suspension upgrade will add around 450kg to the ATM in the book. I have just upgraded to a cruiser as the ranger did not cut it. The van weights 2460kg dry jayco specked it at 1970kg in the book
All in all we love our expanda and it goes any where we have wanted to go so far.
Unfortunately I could not justify the 120k for a spinifex.
Hope this helps.
Cheers.
Shaune

Many thanks to the replies received thus far.

I am under no illusion as to the limitations of this van and imagine that it could possibly cope with some tracks but not the really testing ones.

With careful driving to the prevailing conditions it will at least give us the opportunity to traverse a lot of bush roads which will suit us fine. I want to be able to travel along the Birdsville, and Oodnadatta Tracks, the Great Central Road, and that sort of thing. I would love to travel the Gibb River Road, but I don't fool myself that it is really suitable for the likes of the Tanami/Canning/Telegraph track etc.

As stated earlier, it is a poormans dirt roader, but at least it does come with a beefed up chassis and Simplicity Suspension, which is good enough for the likes of Bush Tracker etc, and that is good enough for me. Given its price, it makes an attractively cheaper option for us to get off on at least some of the many unsealed and obscure tracks around this country.

Robert

That it will, and will do it well.
I have found more limitations with my veichle physically being able to get the van where I want to go than the van having limitations, trust me when you take 2.7 t of van in to a creek crossing and need to come out the other side the van is not the issue.

Have fun.
Cheers.