Show and Shine - Show us your tow vehicle set up!

[Moto Moto]

Alright, i'll get the ball rolling.

I thought this might be a good spot for people to show off their pride and joy. Its all well and good having and Expanda, but unless you have a tow vehicle, the van won't leave the driveway. So here's a chance for people to show of their cars, give to feedback and maybe a run down of some mods done to help with the holidaying experience.



Me, I have a 2006 3.0L Nissan Patrol. I got it second hand, 2 yrs old with 30,000km on the clock plus a number of factory fitted goodies, inlcuding; Alloy bar, spotties, snorkel, tint.

Since owning it I have replaced the alloy bullbar with a steel ARB one, BFG A/T's, added my old trusty GME UHF and aerial, dobinson suspension and a great Alpine stereo with Parrot Bluetooth and wired in my old 75aH Thumper battery pack to run the 40L Waeco. This week i am fitting a proper dual battery system under the bonnet. The best modifications for holidaying by far would be the polyair airbages and Polaris reversing camera where the screen lives on my sun visor.

Wish list include a winch, and to complete my crappy home made rear shelf in the cargo area. I have a longer wish list but i am being realistic here.

Economy wise i get about 16-17 L/100km while towing the expanda which would weigh about 1.6 to 1.7t, which is OK to me. It cruises nicley at about 95km/hr but feels like its working too hard over that so i'm happy to take it slow.

I love my 4wding, and that is where this car really shines

Here are a few picks:




Reverse camera screen

 

[cruza driver]

Seeing your Patrol in the flesh tackle some challenging climbs and numerous river crossings in the High Country Moto, this is one very nice and well set up Patrol

Here is a couple more of Moto's Patrol in action

 

[cruza driver]

OK here we go, we have had out 105 series Petrol/gas 99mdl Landcruiser for nearly 5 years and it was a 1 owner when we got it. It still had the original suspension and a factory alloy bullbar. We bought it to tow our OB Hawk and it replaced our dual cab Triton. The Cruiser has the job of towing the Expanda now and it has towed it to from Vic to the NT and numerous other trips too.

The other job of the Cruiser is to explore the High Country at any given time. I have built it as mainly a touring vehicle keeping the mods in check yet capable enough to tackle the High Country tracks comfortably and safely.

Since having it I have installed the brake controller, raised the suspension 2'', fitted firestone airbags, retinted the windows,rewired the dual batteries (it was done incorrect) and replaced the isolater with a Pirahana unit,wired anderson plug to the rear of the car. Installed a cargo barrier, fitted a snorkel, replaced the alloy bullbar with an ARB steel bar, fitted driving lights and a UHF. Oh and fitted a trademan oval roof rack with ARB awning and a Kaymar shovel holder and a rear work light on the wheel carrier.

When I bought the Cruiser it had Dunlop Grandtreks but I replaced them with 285's (33"s) after they wore out. I have so far got over 80k out of them with over half of that towing.

This was about 3 days after getting it as a blank canvas

Fitting the Bullbar

And when the Expanda is at home, Lovicks Hut


And doing what it was built for touring with the Expanda on the back (Oodnatta trk)

 

[Moto Moto]

Great stuff Cruza, can't wait to see your truck in action again one day. I mostly saw it from behind before, while i was trying to keep up with you:rockon:




OK time for a few other tow rigs, come on people!

 

[PMK]

Hi All,

Here are some pics of our 2005 GU IV Patrol. 3Ltr. 2" Lift ToughDog Suspension & Firestone Airbags in the rear. Snorkel, Awill aftermarket intercooler with fan. 3" Sterling Exhaust. BFG All Terrains. EGT & Boost Gauges. EGR Mod. Dawes Valve....... Plenty of bumps & Scratches..... I Think thats it. Otherwise pretty much standard. Oh by the way... It's just an all round great car thats taken us all round this Great Country.

Big Red QLD Birdsville QLD
Great Central Rd WA Painted Desert SA
Robe SA

 

[Matty4]

Here's my old Pajero.
NP Exceed 3.8 V6 petrol.
I got it off my father in law with exactly 99820k's on it.
He already has the colour coded ARB steel bar, IPF driving lights, Brown Davis 60lt aux tank and GME UHF fitted, all done pre-delivery by the dealer.
I got my hands on it a few weeks before we left on our trip in 2010 and in those few weeks I put a 2" lift with Lovells and Bilsteins in, new BFG All-Terrains,
Rhino alloy tray and 2nd spare wheel, dual battery system under bonnet with Redarc solenoid, 4 extra 12v outlets throughout car plus a Merrit plug for the Engel.

My mate and I knocked up the storage shelf in the rear with the fridge slide and 1000w inverter.

Here it is a couple of days before we left.

 

[Moto Moto]

Love the Patrol PMK. I see you have done all the NADS mods, i haven't done any, but maybe i should as i want to keep the car a bit longer. How many km's on the clock? I'm coming up to 95k.


And i love the home made rear shelf Matty4, i have made one myself but will soon be doing some modifications to it. My problem is the child anchor points are on the floor so i have to be mindful of keeping them useable for toddler seats, otherwise they would be great points to keep the shelf in place.

Thanks for sharing your mods guys.

 

[stuartcarr2002]

Here is our set up ...


Bit of mud

 

[PMK]

Love the Patrol PMK. I see you have done all the NADS mods, i haven't done any, but maybe i should as i want to keep the car a bit longer. How many km's on the clock? I'm coming up to 95k.
Thanks for sharing your mods guys.

Hi Moto,
Not all the NADS mods..... I still use the computor to control the turbo. The dawes just limits the boot to 16psi & stops the dredded spikes. Ive had it for over 5 years now & it's clocked up 180,000kms, mostly towing on long trips.
We love the car & intend to hang on to it for a while yet. Thanks to thier history they loose value pretty quick so may as well stick with it.
Cheers
Paul

 

[cruza driver]

Some very nice Tow Vehicles thanks for sharing :thumb: all different yet all have the same purpose and thats to get away and enjoy times away holidaying

 

[Matty4]

This is my current tow vehicle
2008 Ford Territory Ghia turbo...
Only minor mods done to this one...CAI, exhaust debung, tuned to approx 300kw (tows rather well....hehe)


Unfortunately I don't actually have any shots of it with the Expanda attached, but this is the last van we sold to buy the Expanda.




Territory is being replaced later this year with a new Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD.

 

[paulie484]

Hi Stuart (STUARTCARR2002)

Quick question mate - my new Pathy with our std 06 Swan has the same 'tilt' upwards of the drawbar similar to your photo here (see my pic below) First time we towed using the new tow rig

Just wondering does your hitch come thru the back bumper ?? (as mine does)..... as I have been told that if I put a offest hitch to get van to sit 'horizontal' it will affect the towing capacity as the tongues are rated as they are made, about a 45 degree bend not 90 degrees

I have air bags installed that are not even worth having 5psi in them !!

And as we are thinking of a OB Expanda your photo has got me thinking !!!

Cheers

Paul

ps - great looking setup might I add !!

 

[expanda]

From one of these.....



To this....




Then this......




And now first here is a different perspective from the inside of the car ....


[video=youtube;-jgcY209c4A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jgcY209c4A [/video]

Here is my current beast!

 

[D4Dazz]

Here's my 2010 LS Challenger.....looks good, but a dog to tow with!



And another with our Dove on the back in the Flinders Ranges

 

[Big Gee]

Hi everyone,

Its great to see the many & awesome difference's in our tow vehicles, Below is our new baby, I have a list of mods as long as my arm but here is a couple. Of course this is once the items come into stock!
ARB Bullbar (colour coded) (Still 4 weeks away)
Lightforce XGT240 lights
Dual Batteries (120 AH Fullriver)
Redarc DCDC charger
Quick release big mudflaps (to protect the Panda of course)

I havent had it in front of the van yet but this new 5cyl 3.2 ltr diesel leaves our old D4D Prado for dead:thumb:

 

[Bank of Dad]

The Ranger is great.

Bit over the top price wise but that won't change for a while 'cause they are rapidly replacing Hiluxes on the mines.

Supply problem; not enough V's high demand = high price. High school economics 101 that even a politician could understand (well some of them).

Nice one Big Gee, I'd love one of these but alas..................SWMBO!

 

[stuartcarr2002]

Hi Stuart (STUARTCARR2002)

Quick question mate - my new Pathy with our std 06 Swan has the same 'tilt' upwards of the drawbar similar to your photo here (see my pic below) First time we towed using the new tow rig

Just wondering does your hitch come thru the back bumper ?? (as mine does)..... as I have been told that if I put a offest hitch to get van to sit 'horizontal' it will affect the towing capacity as the tongues are rated as they are made, about a 45 degree bend not 90 degrees

I have air bags installed that are not even worth having 5psi in them !!

And as we are thinking of a OB Expanda your photo has got me thinking !!!

Cheers

Paul

ps - great looking setup might I add !!

View attachment 7705

Cheers,

THat photo was when we first got the van. I added the spacer block on the hitch on the A frame and it now sits almost level. We find the airbags great along with the use of WDH. Our towbar sticks out through a cutout in the bar. You will find the Nissan bar sits below, but we have the H/R towbar so we could use the WDH...

If you have the Nissan bar you cant use the WDH setup

Nice tow rig though Go the Pathy

 

[stormpatrol]

Here is my rig

 

[stormpatrol]

now with new expanda all set up first trip away

 

[Big Gee]

Here is my rig

What a machine,