Landrcuiser 79 series ute build project 2010

[micko]

Just thought I'd introduce myself as a new member to the Expedition Portal and share me experiences in building a purpose built vehicle for travel around the great southern land. The project is coming up to its first birthday. The link is to my blog on the build.


http://www.exploroz.com/Members/92954.75/10/2010/Creating_the_dream_off-roader.aspx


Happy New Year and the best of travels for 2011. Mick

 

[washington taco]

WOW!! Impresive!!!

 

[preacherman]

Very nice, thank you for sharing.

 

[haven]

Welcome to ExPo, Mick, and thanks for sharing your beautiful camper. I don't think I would have the guts to cut a brand new vehicle's frame in half! Please tell us how tall the finished vehicle is. I'm interested to know if it would fit into a shipping container!

I stole a couple of screen grabs from your web page to show your project to our members

 

[targa88]

Mick,
Welcome aboard and Happy New Year.
Brilliant custom build.
Your comments about choice of vehicle are very pertinent. Unfortunately we do not have access to either the 70s or Patrols (and their venerable 4.2L Turbo) in North America.
Cheers mate

 

[greentruck]

:drool:

 

[Toyotero]

That is one 'beaut' of a ute!

 

[micko]

Thanks Haven and all. Only discovered the site this week when I found one of my videos on a 2009 trip into the Great Sandy Desert posted linked to a post. Thanks for getting the photos up. I'll have to do a bit of reading to see how that's done.

The rig is 1840mm wide (6'1") and 2150mm high (7'). It's about 6.5 metres in length. Rear pod is removable having four wind up legs. Ute tray remains a standard size of 2.4m in length. It's shakedown cruise this year was a 14,000 km trip through the deserts of Western Australia. We spent 11,000 off the bitumen with 1800km "off track" making our own way across the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts. I tow an Arctic Cat 700cc Diesel ATV for the really rough exploration endeavours and use it as an outrider when I have a travel companion.

A lot of fun. Just a pity I have to go back to work to pay for it all.





Cheers Mick

 

[Harald Hansen]

Very nice build!

 

[NM-Frontier]

That is a truly exceptional build. I love all of the integration and the tire carrier. Thanks for posting and keep us up to date with any changes or mods to your set up.

 

[womacje]

Absolutely, beautiful rig! question: what was the reason for leaving the front pod uncovered, ie the fridge?

Jeremy

 

[ddog45]

This is the truck I want when the kids move out. I love it.

 

[micko]

Ute awning and the fridge

Absolutely, beautiful rig! question: what was the reason for leaving the front pod uncovered, ie the fridge?

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

the back pod is designed to lift off so even if the full annex and awnings are set up, the ute can be driven out from under it. It has four wind-up legs that slide into receivers in each corner. Including it in the awning would have meant some problems when it came to disconnect time. I'll probably make some alterations to the wall next to the fridge to allow access to it from inside (perhaps make the window a zip down arrangement). When I'm out bush, I usually only use the awning so the fridge is easily accessible in those circumstances.

Regards Mick