Hi from Brisbane

[Old Mate]

Hi all,
Newbie from Brisbane. I found the site yesterday while searching for details on our expanda. We have an '06 16.49-1, bought second hand about 12 months ago after selling our Swan outback. The expanda suits us better with 2 kids as we found that our longer trips could be broken up with stops other than the usual fast food joints.
Favourite destination is Woody Head Iluka and Xmas this year will be there. Planning a trip next year throughout Queensland; wanting to do the dinosaur trail.
Cheers,
Old Mate

 

[Bushman]

G'day Old Mate

Welcome aboard, I'm fairly new here myself. seems to be the natural progression from camper to Expanda, thats what we did and a few othesr I know are also in the process.

 

[Old Mate]

Hi there Bushman,
Thanks for the welcome. I was telling Kylie (wife) about your outfit; we are running an '02 Pajero with an '06 Expanda and hope to upgrade both eventually. At the moment though they both do the job well with the Pajero having just clocked 220 000 k's.
Does your expanda have an under-slung axle? I'm querying this because our expanda doesn't have the markings of an outback but we have plenty of clearance unlike the standard version. Whats confusing is that the axle setup isn't the same as our swan outback. I'll get some photos up soon.
Cheers,
Old Mate

 

[Bushman]

Hi Old Mate, No ours doesn't have underslung axles either I rang the dealer and asked why, he muttered something to do with ball height restrictions (yeah right)
Outback models are advertised with "underslug". I went to a local show a few days later and looked under another "Outback" Expanda and it wasn't underslug either.

Then looked at a Sterling Outback plus a Discovery Outback both Underslug

My Eagle Outback was underslung, though my Swan had Simplicity Suspension

I was going to enquire with Jayco HQ but haven't yet.

 

[chartrock]

G'day Old Mate and welcome to the forum.
My new Outback Expanda does not have an 'underslung' axle. It is still higher than my old Jayco Freedom even though I reversed the springs and axle on that. If I swapped the axle on the Expanda then I would not be able to reach the pop-top latches without a ladder. But it would cure my ball height problem.

 

[Old Mate]

Thanks guys, it has frustrated me for some time as I wasn't sure whether our expanda was a true outback or not. I spoke to a caravan repair co on the north side of Brisbane who do the mods but they said if they were to alter the axle setup from standard it would probably void our warranty, and, raising the expanda any more would make it more unstable to tow. Reality is that I haven't and probably won't ever take it into conditions that require that much ground clearance.
Plenty more questions to follow!!!

 

[expanda]

Gday Old Mate, welcome to the site!

Good old Iluka, geez just thought makes me want to grab the fishing rod and drop a line in!

When you get a chance post up some pics of your rig!

 

[Old Mate]

I don't know how the logistics of this could be managed but...has anyone ever thought of an Expanda weekend? I can imagine a park filled with Expanda's, very cool!! Maybe Jayco could get involved with some merchandise? Just thinking out aloud but it could work.

 

[Bushman]

I don't know how the logistics of this could be managed but...has anyone ever thought of an Expanda weekend? I can imagine a park filled with Expanda's, very cool!! Maybe Jayco could get involved with some merchandise? Just thinking out aloud but it could work.

g'day Old Mate

Yes it can work, I've done several of these sort of get togethers on another forum I'm a member of and had very good turn outs, bare in mind this forum isn't that big and very active as yet but it only takes a few members to kick things off. sometime we get 4 members comings other time you get 40 attending in anything from Swags to top of the line campers. and the odd van of coarse.

 

[chartrock]

I don't know how the logistics of this could be managed but...has anyone ever thought of an Expanda weekend? I can imagine a park filled with Expanda's, very cool!! Maybe Jayco could get involved with some merchandise? Just thinking out aloud but it could work.

I would love to get together with like minded people and be able to discus pros and cons of the different models as well as places to go.

We are heading down the coast to Sydney about the 2nd January and I'd happily meet up with folks on the way down. Not sure about the return journey as we may head inland and travel up the Newell Hgwy for a change.