Will this be the Ultimate Prospecting Vehicle?

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 16, 2017
Messages
1,767
Reaction score
3,612
Location
Stanthorpe, QLD
In July 2017 we had a brilliant 10 days in the Sapphire/Rubyvale but all good things had to come to an end, so homeward bound Sunday morning with Monday back at work to look forward to.

We were driving a Patrol (3l) and towing an MDC Cape York, about 100k south of Emerald we lost power so tried a bunch of tricks but all to no avail, something was wrong in the electronics department, but on a Sunday in the bush, there is about zero chance of finding anyone who could find out what was going on, so 800km and many long hours later we crawled into bed for about 1hrs kip before work.

During that long trip a decision was made: No Computers in our next vehicle!!

We'd been discussing the round Aus trip we want to do and at Anakie had met a couple who had been nomads for 7 yrs and were loving it, dreams were forming, but what Tug to get?

2 months later the decision was made and I flew to Melbourne then up to Mansfield and bought a tow truck! Yep, it had a crane, 6 wheels on the black top and NO Computer!

1525436967_6x6-tow-truck.jpg


Then came an edifying trip home with a few diversions, a hardware store for ear plugs followed by a wrong turn in front of a very confused Highway Patrol Officer, he turned out to be amused, fascinated and helpful, then a couple of nights in Holbrook with a leaking injector pipe, repairs in Wagga then finally the long road home to the Gold Coast to be greeted by some very confused neighbors.

Now the fun started, first job was to strip the back of the crane, chests etc. Gumtree saw the tool chests go, but the jib, just a bunch of tyre kickers! Eventually some horse trading with another Perentie nut saw the jib go with one winch, (kept the second) and scored jerry can holders, rear steps, free wheeling hubs and a few other bits and pieces.

From here priority one was sound proofing.
 
Mate, I am green with envy, what a pickup :Y:

Was up FNQ and the Savannah Way last July and the rats were busy. Had my water wiper hoses (braded) chewed thru, they had a go at the turbo hoses as well, didn't get thru (that would of been limp mode) :eek:

Meat a guy in Kununarra, the rats chewed the electronics on his Nevada, 7k later and it still wouldn't start.

Spotted this on our travels, Canning Stock Route, round trip from Broome. 10 days, 14k a seat, 3 of these
1525444054_img_20170715_165102-2448x1836.jpg


Look forward to watch your progress,

Cheers David
 
Love it!
Will be following this thread with great interest :Y:
 
Great to see the start and original vehicle Di H .................. ditto on what MT said :Y:

Rats ....................... destroyed knock sensor wiring on my 4b whilst parked in garage and luckily found as would have shot it into limp mode. Yeah computers again :rolleyes: They had built a nest in the valley under inlet manifold, and only found by chance when investigating the source of all the yellow pieces of foam found on floor under vehicle. Was the remains of an old sponge they had chewed up whilst building nest.
Remedy replace loom, solution was leave bonnet up and ran an LED light strip permanent in valley when parked up. Many people make the mistake and place baits on vehicle .................. baits attract vermin but they hate bright light :N:

1525451818_navara_rat_wire.jpg
 
Rats.. that's one I haven't thought of, also haven't encountered. Done the mouse plague, but rats that's a very different problem. I think like anything, there will always be places in a vehicle they can damage, but computer cabling brings things into a whole new and expensive realm. Guaranteed to wreck the 'trip of a lifetime'!
 
It will be fun to watch your build. You will need a back brace however and be in traction after each trip but hey at least you will get home LOL
Happy building.

GT :) :Y:
 
Adventure.b4 dementia said:
Mate, I am green with envy, what a pickup :Y:

Was up FNQ and the Savannah Way last July and the rats were busy. Had my water wiper hoses (braded) chewed thru, they had a go at the turbo hoses as well, didn't get thru (that would of been limp mode) :eek:

Meat a guy in Kununarra, the rats chewed the electronics on his Nevada, 7k later and it still wouldn't start.

Spotted this on our travels, Canning Stock Route, round trip from Broome. 10 days, 14k a seat, 3 of these.

Look forward to watch your progress,

Cheers David

Thanks David, there are still a good few 6x6 Perenties around if you want a project to fill the spare hours!!

Did a costing on one of these 6x6 Landcruiser builds and scared the hell out of us, was coming in at around $150k before one even started to think of things like long range tanks and the camper setup. Would probably got zero change from $200k by the time one was hitting the road.
 
Great rig can you tell us what you paid for it understand if you don't want to. I'm thinking through a few things at the moment to put a 5 to 7 year plan in place and one of these might be part of it :Y: the plan will be a trip of 12 months or more hopefully.
 
RM Outback said:
Great rig can you tell us what you paid for it understand if you don't want to. I'm thinking through a few things at the moment to put a 5 to 7 year plan in place and one of these might be part of it :Y: the plan will be a trip of 12 months or more hopefully.

I don't have a problem with that, we paid $22.5k, clean and tidy with only 13,250 logged klms on the clock. She'd been completely rebuilt by the army in 2010, prior to that we have no history. Genuinely, we got a bargain.
 
Soundproofing.

There is a sign above the drivers door telling the driver not to go over 80 kph without hearing protection, it's not a joke, these vehicles are noisy, not sure what the dB is but it's high so this had to be addressed. This was a learning curve as we had never tackled an issue like this, so learnt a heap. The first problem is resonance from the panels and the second is sound attenuation.

First off the resonance, the cabin got stripped.

1525496849_partial_cabin_strip.jpg


Then we started with the doors, both the external skin and the internal skin was covered with Dynamat Extreme.

1525497116_interior_passenger_door.jpg

1525497204_window_mechanism-drivers_door.jpg


While we had the doors apart door locks were also fitted and the 'anti lock' weld on the mechanism cut off so the locks would work.

Then to the cabin, every surface was Dynamatted except for the floor and seat box, on these we used "RoadKill" which is heavier.

1525497456_love_dynamat.jpg


Once this stupp is applied to a clean surface and rollered into place, it is there to stay so bolt holes etc all had to be marked as we went and circles cut out with a razor sharp wad punch, place, turn and lift, a neat hole.

Next was the sound attenuation layer, this came from 'Car Builders' 6mm foam for the walls and roof and 10mm waterproof foam for the floor and seat box, the 10mm was easy, the 6mm a bitch as contact with anything, it sticks instantly, including us! Again it don't come off!!

Finally we covered everything in marine carpet, thick for the floor etc and thin for the walls and roof, plus had some fun with vinyl for a cosmetic touch.
 
1525498229_foor-finish.jpg


Finished section of the floor.

1525498285_roof_insulation.jpg


Cabin roof with the foam lining prior to the carpet.

1525498353_roof-console-installed.jpg


Finished roof, with vinyl work and our communications console, this is a bit later as the wiring work has also been completed.

I ran a comparative test with a dB app on my phone, all vehicles were on the same piece of road at the same speed. The Perentie was reading 80dB, the Patrol was 79dB and my wife's Kia Cerato 74dB. Now we can listen to the radio around town, though at 90+ is is a bit hard to hear. It's a different type of noise, predominantly coming from the transmission, so though much improved, this deep rumble is hard to kill. Anyway, our hearing isn't going to be damaged on the open road which was the primary target.
 
Hi Dihusky,

I remember a couple of lifetimes ago when I was in the RAAF, i was transferred to the Army for a year when we gave them the helicopters. We went down to Shoalwater Bay Training Area for about a month in a 6x6 perenti. We used to sit on 100kph on the road, young and dumb and deaf from using firearms anyway, never noticed how loud it was. :/

Found out that the low/high gearstick used to disengage from low range when you backed off a bit under load. Fixed that, we lockwired it into high range. :eek:

The rear wheel bearings came a bit loose on the way back and noticed that the limiting straps under the rear axle housings had left an indentation on the underside. Hmmm, must have been when we had it airborne coming back from the beach. 8)

This thing had about 1000km on it at the start of the exercise and about 4000km on and looking a little bit tired when we gave it back. They used to say these things were grunt proof but they forgot to get the RAAFies to test them. ]:D

The build is coming along nicely and you are certainly doing a good job of bit. The engine in it should last you forever.

Cheers

Doug.

PS. If you run into Carol and I out and about, don't offer me a drive of it. :lol:
 
If that rumble gets too much the unbolt the cab and slide some 1/2" thick strips of rubber the width of the chassis rails between the cab and the chassis and bolt it back down that should isolate some of the noise. Good Luck, :Y:
 
Ridge Runner said:
If that rumble gets too much the unbolt the cab and slide some 1/2" thick strips of rubber the width of the chassis rails between the cab and the chassis and bolt it back down that should isolate some of the noise. Good Luck, :Y:

I like the idea, will take a look tomorrow to see if the cab is rigid or has isolation mounts. :) :Y: :Y:
 
Maybe theres solid mounts on the gear box, transfer case or engine ?
One may have failed and been bolted straight through to keep it rolling.

But i am guessing they were all noisy .
 
It would have to have body mounts on it surely especially if the bottom of the cab is alluminium,cant imagine landrover mounting them rigid,recipe for disaster,keep the updates comin dihusky,what a beast.
RM cuppla nights back couldnt help myself and had a squizz on ebay,bloke has 3 listed in coolangatta for mid to low $20s each,there to cheap!
 
Goldchaser1, I just had a look, it's Les, he advertises of eBay and Gumtree, more for the awareness and contacts. He normally converts them to 12 seaters for the tourism operators. Bit of a character., my early 'horse trading' was done with him, it was a good win win deal. The ones I have seen on his property are fairly rough, the good ones you'll probably find via serious ferreting or the FB 'Land Rover Perentie Owners' group. They have over 2000 members many of whom have an incredible depth of knowledge. It's a great group to join if you are seriously interested in buying a Perentie 4x4 or 6x6. The final source is AFM auctions which occur every month, but these can be a can of worms if you are not familiar with the vehicles.

David Bailey of www.buymilitaryvehicles.com puts out an excellent e-book which will provides background and buying check lists. It's worth every penny if you're going shopping.
 
Dihusky said:
Adventure.b4 dementia said:
Mate, I am green with envy, what a pickup :Y:

Was up FNQ and the Savannah Way last July and the rats were busy. Had my water wiper hoses (braded) chewed thru, they had a go at the turbo hoses as well, didn't get thru (that would of been limp mode) :eek:

Meat a guy in Kununarra, the rats chewed the electronics on his Nevada, 7k later and it still wouldn't start.

Spotted this on our travels, Canning Stock Route, round trip from Broome. 10 days, 14k a seat, 3 of these.

Look forward to watch your progress,

Cheers David

Thanks David, there are still a good few 6x6 Perenties around if you want a project to fill the spare hours!!

Did a costing on one of these 6x6 Landcruiser builds and scared the hell out of us, was coming in at around $150k before one even started to think of things like long range tanks and the camper setup. Would probably got zero change from $200k by the time one was hitting the road.

I have watched the Grays Online auctions since they started .

The 6x6 Perenties are not my thing but I have seen some good ones with low ks as low as $12,000

I watch the unimogs more , cheapest ones sold last month with brown slip $13,400 , most expensive was some deadshitsss who went as high as $ 70,000 each . LOL
 
Top