Hi My name is rod and I have a Basestation20 64 6 ob which I purchased in 07 after I had seen it at the Moto GP on Philip island. My tug is a 1988 Nissan patrol diesel 4.2 I live in qld.Since the purchase we have been to the motor bike races at the island four times and around the block twice with my bike in the back, a Honda 1800cc.We have been to the Rock and the Birdsville races and down the track to Adelaide , enjoyed the freedom that this van gives to us. I am just gearing up now for another trip round the block if a proposed trip to NZ with my bike in Feb 2014 does not come off.so as you can see ,a well travelled basestation,I have no complaints as to the build quality or performance.Since 07 I have had two flat tires,thank god,I did find that the wheel jack supplied with the van did not have enough height to allow a wheel change,Jayco replaced the jack with a Trial mate this year ,good on Jayco. However I am OVER bad attitudes, bad service and rip off prices from caravan service centres and spare parts.I recently asked if I could change my spare wheel from the front drawbar to the rear like the new Basestation models after conflicting yes and nos, some in the same Jayco service/repair centre I gave up.I came upon this site while researching a mates new purchase of a work n play,cheers happy to be here.
new to forum
- Thread starter rod nolan
- Start date
GDay Rod. Welcome.Sounds like you've put the base station to good use. Glad to hear it has stood up to the test of time.
As you trawl through the posts here you will find quite a few spare wheel relocations. Both rear bumper and under van. This will be one of my first mods to make way for a toolbox on the drawbar.
Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures.
As you trawl through the posts here you will find quite a few spare wheel relocations. Both rear bumper and under van. This will be one of my first mods to make way for a toolbox on the drawbar.
Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures.
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G'day Rod and welcome. Looks like you been around a bit with the van.
I just read a thread on the spare wheel carrier on the rear. That might be worth a look.
Have fun.
I just read a thread on the spare wheel carrier on the rear. That might be worth a look.
Have fun.
G'day Rod, sounds like the 88 patrol has also handled the test of time!
I hear those older 4.2 diesels are hard to kill?
I hear those older 4.2 diesels are hard to kill?
I was told that my ball weight was too high, so I started researching ways and means to reduce the same ,i.e. removing the second battery, rearranging the load,( the motor bike I carry is in excess of 300 kilos so I am looking for a lighter bike).As I understand it once a bike is added to the basestation,the ball weight reduces, simple, eh,but a soon as I started to move things around my mind stared going What if I did this? The end result is I have been advised that the rear ramp on my 07 model will not be strong enough to cope with a wheel hanging off it, due to the compression of the wall sandwich under a wheel bracket so I have consigned this idea to the dreaming bin.Thanks for your welcome ,cheers.
Yes the gq does handle it well ,however after I picked the van up in melb for the trip back to Bris I found that she was a bit slow on the hills so when I stopped in syd with a mate we put a after market Trubo on the old girl WOW talk about a new lease of life,that was in 07 .In 011 I then put lpg gas on and it has given a total make over to the performance.This one will see me out with at present over 450000k.cheers
Good to see the car keep on keeping on and probably still plenty more in her yet!
What is your car and van ballweight? Is there much in it?
Had same problems myself but mine was bad enough to have to change cars.
Have you thought about putting spare under back of van as per some on here using the wind down Landcruiser style winch?
I thought with the bike in the back it would also reduce your ballweight, but wouldn't it also peak your overall weight carrying limit?
cheers
Fair enough. I did some mucking around with ball weights also, with my 18' if I fill my rear water tank only it takes 24kg off the ball! How much is too high.....what was the weight?
Hi mate, I was experimenting with empty/full tanks to see the difference it made on the ball plus I was always curious on the weight anyway. I used the bathroom scale method, I've seen it on here before and have heard it works well and fairly accurate and I'd have to agree. Check out this pic.....just remember to multiply your result by 3!
http://members.optusnet.com.au/bpdons/stars/neville/handyhints/towball_weight_diag_big.jpg
If you want to calculate the change or combinations then it is similar to the towball and scales. Measure the distance from the towball to the centre of the axle(s) (axle line) (the measurment should be done on the centre line of the van. For single axle it is the center of axle, for double axle it is halve way between both axles. (if your suspension does not have axles then halve way between the wheels).
Call this the pivot length.
The next measurement is to measure from the axle point to the item that you are adding or removing. This distance should be to the centre of the item (or more specifically the centre of gravity (mass) of the item). If you are moving an item then consider this as a remove (old position) and an added (new position).
Call this the item length.
Next you will need the weight of the item (item weight)
Once you have these measurements then anything that you add or remove will change the ball weight as follows:
Adding in front of axle:
ball weight will increase by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
Removing from behind the axle:
ball weight will increase by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
Adding behind the axle:
ball weight will decrease by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
Removing from in front of axle:
ball weight will decrease by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
For the case of water tanks and filling and emptying them. If you have one in front and one behind the axles, this would mean that if you fill both with the same amount of water and they a approximately the same distance from the axle line then that is an add in front and an add behind meaning an increase and decrease of ball weight by the same amount.
If you measure from the centre of the water tank to the axle line that is the item length and the weight of water can be calculated as 1 kg per litre.
Sorry if all of this is obvious and I am telling you how to suck eggs
Call this the pivot length.
The next measurement is to measure from the axle point to the item that you are adding or removing. This distance should be to the centre of the item (or more specifically the centre of gravity (mass) of the item). If you are moving an item then consider this as a remove (old position) and an added (new position).
Call this the item length.
Next you will need the weight of the item (item weight)
Once you have these measurements then anything that you add or remove will change the ball weight as follows:
Adding in front of axle:
ball weight will increase by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
Removing from behind the axle:
ball weight will increase by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
Adding behind the axle:
ball weight will decrease by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
Removing from in front of axle:
ball weight will decrease by: (item weight) x (item length) / (pivot length)
For the case of water tanks and filling and emptying them. If you have one in front and one behind the axles, this would mean that if you fill both with the same amount of water and they a approximately the same distance from the axle line then that is an add in front and an add behind meaning an increase and decrease of ball weight by the same amount.
If you measure from the centre of the water tank to the axle line that is the item length and the weight of water can be calculated as 1 kg per litre.
Sorry if all of this is obvious and I am telling you how to suck eggs
Ball weight, Had some services done and had a new Hayman Reese head added as I changed to 16 " wheels on the tug, which meant that the van was high in the front, all going well until person doing the measuring weighted the front and told me that it was 250kilograms ball weight and that was too much ( this was without a bike in the back) and that I had to reduce the front weight. When I stated that with the bike in the back surely that would pivot the van and reduce the ball weight I was told "your dreaming". Needless to say the Irish in me came to the surface but I stopped listened and said thanks .and off I went. The only thing I can think off that would cause the increase in the front would be the thin metal protection sheeting that was installed underneath during my stay in syd.so off it comes this weekend. Before I went to The Birdsville races in 08 I installed a second battery(120 ah),so with my 70ah and 120ah one of them goes as well. Its funny what a little knowledge does, but I am always learning. Today we picked up my mates WORK NPLAY and wow didn't I get van envy.Many thanks for all your welcomes and I feel quite at home here already,cheers,oh and any comments or suggestions are fine by me.