Outback travel preparation

[Crusty181]

What are the outback travel preparations for the van and car before hitting the dust and corrugations of the north.

Dust would obviously be a big starter, as would some kind of sub floor protection. I interested in the details. Im also considering drawbar stone guards, huge rubber flaps, Rock Tamer, Stone Stomper etc and some feedback with those would be appreciated. I also after some real world "from experience" issues that people have identified and how you have addressed them ... or what in hindsight you would have prepped before leaving.

Im presuming that the majority of sub floor damage would be from stones flicking off the tyres??. Would that mean anything forward of the axles would be unlikely to get smacked.

One of my first mods was to relocate the water tank fillers and mains pressure plumbing from outside the chassis rail to inside the rail, so the pipework doesn't dangle under the chassis. Other then stupidity, I'm not really sure why Jayco couldn't drill the floor penetrations 100mm further inboard inside the chassis rail, and not create this issue in the first instance. That can't be done with the slide out because their no room.

Im considering redoing all the plumbing so it all sits above the bottom line of the chassis; welding some eyelets onto the chassis at say 500mm intervals and then stringing mesh (of some description) on shock cord across the entire chassis from front to back.

One of @skippys recent photo posts of his rig sitting on a dirt track seemed to be pretty much untouched, subfloor. We opted to delete the slide out from our 20.63.1 for a number of reasons, one being so I could relocate the plumbing to inside the inside of chassis rail, a mod that was deemed too difficult with the slide out.

 

[Holden_man]

Hi @Crusty181
Have a look at our trip report, will give you an idea what we did to our panda.

http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/hms-central-australia-trip.3136/

Regards

 

[cruza driver]

There is a thread on here, I think its called dust proofing

Sorry mate i'm on my phone so no time to find the link

 

[The Exterminator]

Hi @Crusty181
I have just started to look into outback prep aswell. We have had our 17.56.2 OB for just over a year now and haven't done anything serious off-road but this year we are heading up to Darwin, down to Alice Springs, Uluru and then thinking of coming back along the Plenty Highway (which I think should be ok but it's all dirt from what I have read so far, happy to be corrected if I'm incorrect). Our starting point is near Port Macquarie.
I'm off to find the dust proofing thread and read @Holden_man thread. I also better check my water pipes now after reading your comments on their location and see if they are the same.

 

[chartrock]

I did the Plenty Highway in 2001 with a camper trailer towed by a Camry sedan. It had no problems other than having to ride the crests instead of the ruts. It was our first camping trip.

 

[Billrw136]

Before our trip to Cameron corner last year I coated the floor underneath with bitumen paint and we fitted a Stone Stomper.
I had intended wrapping plumbing as well, but ran out of time.
We had no damage as far as I can see. I would highly recommend a SS.
As far as the ensuite door and range hood goes - well, that is another story!
Bill

 

[Stan53]

I was another who did the Corner last Sept/Oct last year. Apart from all terrain light truck tyres on Swifty I did very little except the usual "go over everything" check. Most of Swifty's "vital parts" are protected in the chassis rails. One thousand kays of dirt and I had only one breakage. That was rivets on a door.
But..... next time I would work better on the seals in order to keep out dust.
Swifty is the touring version, not the outback version. I did travel slow on the dirt. Mostly no more than around 80 kays and in places 20 kays. But then I am old and I drive an old car and I am slow. Some, who are younger and travel faster than me weren't as fortunate as me. In fact I was amazed at the damage some of the "outback" versions sustained.

 

[Matty4]

I took off on our big half lap 5 days after picking up our van from the dealers. Needless to say I didn't do anything to prep it before we left.
I had previously purchased a Stone Stomper but I didn't fit it until we got to Normanton. Other than several layers of cloth tape along the back roll pan area and tape over all external vents, I did nothing else underneath.
It all survived unscathed. Since then I haven't done anything else underneath it either.
It is rather sand-blasted and chipped under there...................but meh............I don't see it.

Maybe if (when) I sell it I'll tidy it up..

 

[Drover]

With only a few hundred Kms of dirt I've done first off I found the most stone damage underneath was really in front of the axles so coming up from the tug, the plumbing on mine was okay I had fitted old mud flaps in front of the tank plumbing to stop stones and it worked. Now I have a big conveyor belt strip across the front, broken into 3 sections, and it seems to stop the rocks flying around underneath at least going by the mud and cow dung it collects. It is slightly angled to deflect outwards.
Electrical cable tray is a better way of protecting your plumbing/cables underneath than having mesh/ shade cloth etc which can be caught by branches, blown out truck tyre rubber or dead roo's and end up doing more damage, even wrapping around a wheel, don't go down that path.
My rig is a Hybrid started off a Tour model but has evolved.

 

[skippy]

Hello @Crusty181
I have done quite a few off road adventures but with no real damage so far.
I must admit I am eventually looking at getting a stone stomper, but for now I am quite happy how my 20.63-1OB is handling the off road travling so far. I did however tape up some of the vents around the van for dust and to my amasement there was none that actually made its way into the van. One of the next jobs is to get some of that foam tubing and tape on as @Holden_man has done. As @Drover mentioned I to have found the most amount of damage happens forward of the front axels to the A frame.

 

[Drover]

Forgot to mention the inside of the rear bumper seems to cop a few hits but nothing else behind the axle

 

[Passionfingers]

Hi @The Exterminator, spent all last year working along the Plenty and the Sandover highway, saw a lot of camper trailers, not so many vans do the journey, but still a fair few.
The road is in pretty good nick though, has just been reopened from the Wet season this year. There are mainly a few corrugated sections near Jervois and Harts Range, but as per the norm, drop your tyre pressures and control your speed and you will be fine. The biggest issue I found was vehicles not allowing enough distance between vehicles and eating each others dust, then hitting a hazard due to poor visibility.

I had over 80 road trains and triples working on a campaign up there last year, and we did some horrendous damage to some of our equipment, but it could all be traced back to incorrect speeds, tyre pressures and assessments of a hazard, like hitting a bulldust hole or a blowout at 90 kmh!

 

[Drover]

Thats the same as when I took a truck up the Cape, I could have killed about 20 people so easily if I wasn't driving to conditions, they thought they were the only people using the track, scared the crap out of them when they slid around a corner and I was stopped waiting for them.
The damage I have seen was usually put down to lack of driving sense or CDF.

 

[Crusty181]

@Drover ..... CDF ..... naughty word

As a very wise man once said, Forrest Gump, @Drover and naughty words go together like peas and carrots

 

[Drover]

Common Dog Failure...............where's the problem @Crusty181 ..............mind in the gutter as usual ah ??...Bazinga.

 

[Crusty181]

Hi @Crusty181
I have just started to look into outback prep aswell. We have had our 17.56.2 OB for just over a year now and haven't done anything serious off-road but this year we are heading up to Darwin, down to Alice Springs, Uluru and then thinking of coming back along the Plenty Highway (which I think should be ok but it's all dirt from what I have read so far, happy to be corrected if I'm incorrect). Our starting point is near Port Macquarie.
I'm off to find the dust proofing thread and read @Holden_man thread. I also better check my water pipes now after reading your comments on their location and see if they are the same.

Frederickton ?? ... a favourite and repeated stop heading both north and south for us, although the bypass is a pest for that now. We were chatting with Marilyn recently in January.

You would have similar concerns to me in that if I don't get the setup right before I leave, I can't rectify much of it with the limited tools I carry and it could be a very unpleasant trip in parts with dust and damage etc. The advice of those that have gone before is invaluable. Left to my own devices I would probably over complicate, over compensate and over engineer things.

 

[Crusty181]

Common Dog Failure...............where's the problem @Crusty181 ..............mind in the gutter as usual ah ??...Bazinga.

More like Consistently Defiant Forum'itte

 

[Crusty181]

Hello @Crusty181
I have done quite a few off road adventures but with no real damage so far.
I must admit I am eventually looking at getting a stone stomper, but for now I am quite happy how my 20.63-1OB is handling the off road travling so far. I did however tape up some of the vents around the van for dust and to my amasement there was none that actually made its way into the van. One of the next jobs is to get some of that foam tubing and tape on as @Holden_man has done. As @Drover mentioned I to have found the most amount of damage happens forward of the front axels to the A frame.

Thats pretty reassuring to know. The most obvious damage potential underneath seems to be the filling pipes looping under the chassis, some of the wiring, the tank connections and the plumbing at the rear which is in direct firing line from the van tyres.

With the filler pipes Ill relocate the floor penetrations inside the chassis rail, conduit of some description should solved the wiring, tanks connectors protected with some old mud flaps and bigger mud flaps to the van. There not too much else I can see need much more attention. Im still considering the idea of welding eyelets along the inside of the chassis rails and suspending a reasonably open mesh across on shock cord and hooks.

 

[crackacoldie]

@Crusty181 , here is a link to our Cape trip, has lots of prep info in it.

http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/crackacoldie-heads-north-barossa-to-cape-york.2970/

 

[cruza driver]

Thats pretty reassuring to know. The most obvious damage potential underneath seems to be the filling pipes looping under the chassis, some of the wiring, the tank connections and the plumbing at the rear which is in direct firing line from the van tyres.

With the filler pipes Ill relocate the floor penetrations inside the chassis rail, conduit of some description should solved the wiring, tanks connectors protected with some old mud flaps and bigger mud flaps to the van. There not too much else I can see need much more attention. Im still considering the idea of welding eyelets along the inside of the chassis rails and suspending a reasonably open mesh across on shock cord and hooks.

Plenty of good ideas but I think hanging bungee and mesh could get weighed down if it gets wet and/or muddy, personally I would aim for something abit more permanant if doing this like rubber flap.