All Terrain Warriors campers

[haven]

Wow! ExPo members in North America would love to get our hands on this combination!

 

[engineer]

Why ONLY North American Expo members????
We'd all love to get one I reckon.

 

[kerry]

Why ONLY North American Expo members????

The is always greener on the other side of the Pacific.

 

[haven]

The difference is that Australians can actually buy one!
Fuso, in its wisdom, doesn't import the crew cab FG to
North America. It's forbidden fruit to us, as it were.

 

[whatcharterboat]

The difference is that Australians can actually buy one!
Fuso, in its wisdom, doesn't import the crew cab FG to
North America. It's forbidden fruit to us, as it were.

Chip, never been my intention to gloat and sincerely apologize if it ever comes across like this. As Kerry says

The is always greener on the other side of the Pacific.

You see I dream of H1's, Scorpion4x4's and whatever you call those big Ford vans with the Ftruck running gear. Oh and going to OvEx and SEMA. Haha.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hope you guys aren't getting sick of all these pics.

This is a new job we're working on. SWB FG84. We're trying lots of new things on this truck. Very different electrical system with true 3 stage dual battery management instead of parallel charging, 15CFM belt driven compressor, hydraulic leveling legs that you can hopefully use to lift the truck out of a bog, and a new tube front bar to aid cooling. We changed the layout a little to cater for 2 adults and 2 kids. Very compact with a shower and proper flushing toilet as well.

 

[Harald Hansen]

Hope you guys aren't getting sick of all these pics.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm certainly not tired of them yet!

We changed the layout a little to sleeps 2 adults and 2 kids. Very compact with a shower and proper flushing toilet as well.

What kind of sleeping arrangement did you end up with? Full-length beds for everyone or just the adults? Do all the beds fold or stow away?

 

[VicHanson]

Keep the pics and information coming, please!

 

[dzzz]

Hope you guys aren't getting sick of all these pics.

This is a new job we're working on. SWB FG84. We're trying lots of new things on this truck. Very different electrical system with true 3 stage dual battery management instead of parallel charging, 15CFM belt driven compressor, hydraulic leveling legs that you can hopefully use to lift the truck out of a bog, and a new tube front bar to aid cooling. We changed the layout a little to sleeps 2 adults and 2 kids. Very compact with a shower and proper flushing toilet as well.

Do you guys have your own camper shell now? I don't know how I missed that.

I'm looking at using hydraulics for leveling jacks on a U 500. It could be useful for vehicle extraction, but maybe just make a big mess. I plan to use cross supports between two hydraulic cylinders that operate independently.
This seems to me the best way to control stability.
You vehicle is closer to the ground and may be inherently more stable.

I'm not sure what you mean with the charging system. I believe a properly regulated large alternator can do a much better job at charging house batteries than most people believe. I hate diesel gen sets.

As you know good marine alternators do a great job with house batteries.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Again Harald,

What kind of sleeping arrangement did you end up with? Full-length beds for everyone or just the adults? Do all the beds fold or stow away?

The bed arrangement on this one is a double for the adults and a 1600 x 1300 kids bed that comes down from the roof and clips away when it's not needed. Again, I'll post some pics when it's all done.

John.

 

[Kingchevy]

Wow I love this trucks I have had the chance to work on a few of them and they are really well built are you guys building a new one for mapoon up here in the cape as I have heard a rumour they were ordering one.....

 

[whatcharterboat]

Kingchevy, Welcome to Expo. Light truck / diesel mechanic's experience on here is gold.

Love to get some pics of trucks in action up on Cape York if you have any. Let me know if you need a hand posting.
IIRC this was the Mappoon bus or maybe it was for Arakuun . A stretched LWB 4x4 NPS. Is that right???

For every one else >>>> These buses were built as Aboriginal community shuttles and some of these communities are very remote and can only be accessed to by barge. They told me they might get used to take some of the locals down to the river fishing. I thought " How hard could that be." They were driving to the waters edge and everyone would climb on the roof and fish from up there so the crocs wouldn't grab them !!!! Then they showed me a pic of the old landcruiser they used to use for the same purpose. Very sad roof. haha. So Kingchevy, was he serious or telling porky pies????????????

Haven't heard about a new bus for Mapoon yet. Doing a nice FG bus for a tour company in Broken Hill at the moment.

What's with the "Kingchevy" nickname??

 

[whatcharterboat]

Do you guys have your own camper shell now? I don't know how I missed that.

Hey, Dzzz. You must be thinking of someone else. My boss and a couple of the other guys here starting building composite bodies for beach buses ad campers over 20 years ago and has been doing it ever since. Probably have molds for well over a dozen different types of "shells" lying around.

I'm looking at using hydraulics for leveling jacks on a U 500. It could be useful for vehicle extraction, but maybe just make a big mess. I plan to use cross supports between two hydraulic cylinders that operate independently.
This seems to me the best way to control stability.
You vehicle is closer to the ground and may be inherently more stable.

In '03 I had to fit a "folding/levelling leg" system that we adapted from a Kwikee RV kit. Once we extended the legs to cater for the higher ground clearance of an FG on XML tyres, it worked quite well to aid recovery in sand anyway. Of course it was really handy to be able to level everything when you arrived at a campsite.So anyway maybe the controller part of the Kwikee RV kit (and maybe even the pump and valve bank too) could be useful for your setup. It also had reed switches on all 4 rams so if you had a hose failure and a leg started to drop a warning comes up on the panel. Also the control panel was setup for exactly the purpose of levelling. So you could operate legs individually or in pairs of legs. So say you could lift up the leftside only but with one button. Very easy to use. Then it had an "all up" button.

This was the pump that came in the kit. The one in the middle with the 8 hoses going to the manifold on the end of the pump. The pump at the top of the pic and the other remote valve banks were for the winches and spare wheel / trailbike lift.

And as I just put this pic in to show that it doesn't really hang down at all to cause a problem.

And with the legs down. Although I don't know why.

Oh and definitely brace between the rams on your U500. Good move. When they lift really high, you're right, I think it could get very unstable.

I'm not sure what you mean with the charging system. I believe a properly regulated large alternator can do a much better job at charging house batteries than most people believe. I hate diesel gen sets.

As you know good marine alternators do a great job with house batteries.

Well actually a properly set up yacht will have 2 alternators. One for the start battery and a second smart (3 stage) alternator dedicated to the house batteries. The second alternator would also be programmed to charge at the correct parameters to suit the battery type( ... AGM, gel, etc.) rather than simply a single alternator charging both battery banks (and most likely different battery types) in parallel.

The system I'm talking about (and we really are only trying it out now) takes power from the start battery,solar, and 240V AC if available and provides true 3 stage charging to the house bank. Sounds good in theory anyway. Certainly a neat install in basically one main box with a remote LCD display / control panel rather than a mains charger AND a dual battery system AND a solar regulator AND a battery management monitor.

A normal alternator is not really designed to charge deep cycle batteries efficiently either. They take a long time to reach that "float" point that a smart unit will get to in the optimum time.

 

[Kingchevy]

Kingchevy, Welcome to Expo. Light truck / diesel mechanic's experience on here is gold.

Love to get some pics of trucks in action up on Cape York if you have any. Let me know if you need a hand posting.
IIRC this was the Mappoon bus or maybe it was for Arakuun . A stretched LWB 4x4 NPS. Is that right???

For every one else >>>> These buses were built as Aboriginal community shuttles and some of these communities are very remote and can only be accessed to by barge. They told me they might get used to take some of the locals down to the river fishing. I thought " How hard could that be." They were driving to the waters edge and everyone would climb on the roof and fish from up there so the crocs wouldn't grab them !!!! Then they showed me a pic of the old landcruiser they used to use for the same purpose. Very sad roof. haha. So Kingchevy, was he serious or telling porky pies????????????

Haven't heard about a new bus for Mapoon yet. Doing a nice FG bus for a tour company in Broken Hill at the moment.

What's with the "Kingchevy" nickname??

It wouldn't suprise me mate I have seen them do worse than that. I have some photos of the aurukun council vehicles..
this one only has 20000km on it and is about a 2004

these 2 are both around 2004 models I think

And another 2004 model note none of these are over 70000kms

my knickname comes from my favourite car the kingswood and I also had a 6.5 litre chev diesel in my landcruiser so put them both together and you get kingchevy.

your poor busses get a real flogging up here I think there is 2 one is located in naprunum at the moment and the other one would have been for aurukun from memory.

Did they have the air-con on the roof of the busses because I heard a rumour they had to have the a/c removed from the roof so they could fit through the drive through haha.

I think they mainly use them to run the elders and family into town from the comunities for there shopping and medical issues the busses are also rented out to families and other comunities mate if your busses last up here with them driving it you will be doing well...

I am actually a auto electrician by trade but I run a own a workshop that does diesel fitting and mechanical I am also the R.A.C.Q in wiepa.

 

[whatcharterboat]

"You're not taking the KINGSWOOD ...I just changed the air in the tyres".

your poor busses get a real flogging up here I think there is 2 one is located in naprunum at the moment and the other one would have been for aurukun from memory.

Unbelieveable. That poor Hilux with 20000k's. Obviously you don't need any help with posting pics. Haha.


Yeah . Aurukun, Mappoon and Naprunum. I worked on the 3 of them. All went through Irelands Isuzu in Cairns. They were built with abuse in mind. The interiors were "hose out" and very little soft trim and the AC was simply preset to "flat out".