An expedition truck on portals...

D

Deep Down

New member
Well I've been reading this thread over the last few mornings, very inspiring indeed and I've gained a wealth of knowledge and ideas. I can see I'm going to have to start saving up for new additions to my 110 DC. I've already got a price from Wolfgang for the Portal upgrade..... I'll need new doors into my garage though.

Robert, I like the idea of the roof tent below the roof line.
Does the support frame clamp on to the Safety Devices cage, or is it something you had made up?
Is it attached using the tilt frame attachment points?
Is it approved for carrying loads, just thinking worst case scenario if the load came off etc, insurance claims.
Thanks in advance and carry on the good work.
Tudor
 
Oilworker

Oilworker

Explorer
Hi Tudor,

thanx for your kind words.

The utility rack on the back of my 130CC-R is of my design and is not attached to the Safety Devices roll cage.

It does bolt into the corners of the original tray, using original holes and fixed by additional holes, too.

I have redesigned it a bit further, though maintaining the level of my Eezi Awn roof tent.
It should be finished by mid April and I will post images along with more updates and upgrades on the truck then, too.

I didn´t do an approval for the utility rack, but the way it´s fixed to the tray you´ll have to rip of the tray to loose it :D
At the last 2 presentation of the vehicle at the german TUEV (MOT) it wasn´t commented on either.

Regards,

Robert
 
Oilworker

Oilworker

Explorer
Hi Andrew,

about my travel gear in the car.
I can sort if for a few pictures next week or so, if you like.

It´s usually two Zarges boxes and one large Pelicase with spare clothes (I pay a lot of attention not to by anything chinese!), all the technical stuff for my cameras and computers (chargers, spare batteries, etc), and cooking gear and food.

From my experiences of the past 30+ years I keep it very basic and wash along the road instead of bringing a heap of clothes.

Laptops are Panasonic Toughbooks and now a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for navigation (together with my old Garmin).

Cooking is my 20 year old MSR Whisperlite (plus a new one that also burns Diesel as spare), cutlery, 2 plates, stainless steel pan, bowl and cup.
For water purification I use a Catadyn Filter and silver tablets and in my medical kit I have an amazingly strong, prescription only pill against diarrhea.
Other than the latter the kit, put together by a reuse medic friend of mine, consist of anything that you might need in case of illness, trauma or severe injuries.
On long trips I take dehydrated meals for a full week with me, breakfast, lunch and dinner, even though I mostly skip lunch when on assignment or in the field.
This is only for emergencies as I always buy food along the road and sofar have never had any problems, other than with watery, goat milk in Afghanistan, which after 4 weeks of diarrhea I can´t recommend ;-)

My universal knife is the "Neil Roberts BUD/S" by Chris Reeves and a Leatherman EOD.

Flashlights have always been Maglite.

That´s about it, I guess. I surely forget some of these things that you pick up while traveling and which seem to life in your cases forever :D

I don´t have a fridge, yet. I always wanted one but then decided against the hefty price tag and bought either new camera gear or spent the money on travels instead.

And everything works out as planned, I will be in Oregon in April 2015 ;-)

So long,

Robert
 
K

karma11

Observer
Robert,

It seems that great minds think alike!! I was looking though your gear list, and checking off the things that I have and have used for along time now. the Samsung tablet got it. BTW what navigation are you using for that? The Katadyn water filter, yep that too, Leatherman, extensive first aid kit, oh boy do I. And I even have a similar story about having diarrhea for an extended amount of time. for me it was my 6 month deployment. granted it wasn't everyday but definitely more often than not. and could never figure out what i was getting it from. pretty sure i got dysentery one time. so yes I probably have the same anti diarrhea med in my aid kit. I think we are kindred spirits when it comes to quality gear!

As far as the fridge, if it were me, i would save the extra $ and get one, it doesn't have to be big but enough to get a few things cold. I like cold water to drink. and not sure if you know this, but if you take a full water bottle and put a wet cotton sock around it and then hang it up, it will get surprisingly cool / cold just from the evaporation. you might have to wet the sock down a couple of times, but it worked well for us when we were in 120 F weather. (Sinai peninsula, Egypt)

As far as buying anything Chinese, take a look at the Carhartt tags. the shirts and jackets i was looking at, were all made there. it really got me depressed that Carhartt would farm out production. maybe it was a recent thing, or that stuff only gets shipped over here to the states.

If you already have the pictures taken of the boxes in your rig, and any others you would care to share, that would be great. pictures are always welcome, especially yours.
and what Navigation software are you using on your Samsung?

I have just cleared my schedule for April of 2015. if you need a dry place to work on your rig, we have a quite big shop here at the house, and yes the doors are tall enough for your beast. Heck if you need a place to crash, just pm me by that time im sure you will have my phone # we have nice 4 acres here if you want to camp it, or a guest room if you want.

As always thank you for taking your time to answer my questions.

Thank you
Andrew
 
B

bill the dill

New member
mog9 said:
some more pics




16856314kl.jpg
Click to expand...

Do my eyes deceive me, or is this front axle lacking the bottom swivel pin supports that are fitted to Robert's 130 ? I doubt that the stock swivel housings would survive long without the supports. Perhaps the truck above was hurriedly assembled for the photo shoot and they were forgotten.
Speaking of front axles Robert, I might have missed it in the last 45 pages I have read today, but I don't think you got around to describing what damage was sustained to your front axle during your crashing through the brick wall incident. Were the swivel balls or axle housing flanges bent, or the axle tubes ? Collateral damage to halfshafts and differential gears? Any photos of the damaged components? Cheers.
 
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B

bill the dill

New member
mog9 said:
I am glad to hear that our portals on Robert´s truck are still do their work.

The portals on the "Valiant" are our 4" portals. In the future they use our new generation 2 portals with bigger wheel bearings and bigger outer shafts to be on the safe side with the heavy weight of the armoured truck. We will deliver the first set to them next week.

Just finished our first car with the new generation of portals

16840026dj.jpg



Comparison of bearings: left Defender, middle Mercedes G, right our new big bearing!

16840027qw.jpg


.
Click to expand...

The bearing comparison is not really valid, because the LandRover bearings are generally spaced further apart on a traditional fully floating hub, where as the g wagon and the portals are unit bearings and more closely spaced.

Don't know how common stubshaft failures have been, and this may be an isolated case, but there is a guy in Australia that has broken 2 of them I believe, and on the first incident, the wheel apparently fell off. http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-chatter/18571 The link doesn't work as it should, but just go to the 'Technical Chatter' sub forum, and the relevant thread titled 'Portals' is currently on page 2 . There is some qualified discussion on the possible cause.
Perhaps the new 'big bearing' and larger outer shafts should be made standard on all variants ?

Maybe the problem has already been addressed ! Robert's 130 has 1st generation portals. The guy in Australia ( Chook ) has 'New Generation' Portals, is there a 'New-New Generation' version out now ?
 
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4Rescue

4Rescue

Expedition Leader
mk216v said:
Can't wait!!! :wings:
Click to expand...
WAIT WHAT!?!?!?!?!?! Dammit if I missed this truck being in town/State I'm gonna cry myself to sleep tonight ;) ....

EDIT: I see you're planning to be here next year aye??? Is the truck coming with you and in general what are your plans for our lovely state???
 
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Oilworker

Oilworker

Explorer
No worries, you won't miss the truck ;-)
I am just back from 2 months on the road working and shooting races and am starting getting the Rhino back on the road this weekend.

The text for the website about the upcoming expedition are translated, too and the the website will be online shortly (www.sae2015.com).

Here´s a little video teaser

 
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