Signed contract today for new FG

[oz101]

Hi All.

I have just ordered my new Canter today...... Its taken me a while to decide on the FG but now I have I am excited, I pick it up on the 2nd July.

Not that I will have it for long, The day I pick it up I will be driving it up the coast and there it will stay for 8 weeks or so getting all the mods done.

Going to put a tray on it that can be jacked up and lifted off and I will do the same with the camper body, so I will have a work truck during the week and at the weekend I will just lift the tray off and put the camper on. Thats the idea anyway.

I will put some photos up on the site when it is done.

 

[alan]

half your luck!
why not sit the camper on the tray, it sounds painful removing tray and fitting camper each time.

 

[haven]

Oz101, welcome to the ExPo Forums. Please keep us updated
on your progress (with photos, of course!).

Chip Haven

 

[redthies]

The tray / camper double duty has been in the back of my mind for years. Just have to wait to win the lotto to do it! Good luck with yours. I will keep an eye on this thread.

 

[engineer]

half your luck!
why not sit the camper on the tray, it sounds painful removing tray and fitting camper each time.

Not true Alan, they do quick release turntables and tippers on the decent size stuff, I'm sure it would be easy to adapt for smaller size.

 

[fowldarr]

Saw one a while back that sat the camper on the tray, it seemed like there was some height issues involved when done that way, I think, and by no means am I an expert, that by removing the tray you can reduce the height, and COG considerably with the camper.

 

[oz101]

I have thought about it for while the main issue I have with slide on campers is weight that extra 800kg for the tray is a lot of unnecessary weight, most of the major problems I hear about with not just the FG but any 4 x 4 that is used off road comes down to weight. For me the lighter the better.

The other issue is as fowldarr has rightly said, hight, I want to keep the camper in line with the top of the cab so the extra 150 - 200mm you would need for the tray and camper floor frame would just be to much.

I reckon it will be a 30 min change over, to me that is not a lot of time considering the benefits to weight & hight.

Thanks Chip, I will defiantly put some pics up as the build goes along.

 

[Garrie]

Just joined today and found the thread. Good one for getting the Mitsubishi. I have a 94 model with a lot of work done to it, and have just done a 5000 km trip in 10 days going from Brisbane to Oodnadatta and across the Simpson.I am happy to help out if you need some ideas. Mine has a lift off camper that takes about 20 mins to get off .
Good luck

 

[Tony LEE]

Garrie, since you have just joined, you may not have caught up with all the information about torsion-free mounting of camper bodies (and the major problems that come from either having that sort of mounting - or not having it depending what side of the argument you are coming from

Yours has obviously survived the trip across a lot of sandhills and a lot of road corrugations so could you share the method you use to mount the camper body.

 

[Garrie]

I have mine set up with center pivots with a spring on each side. This is with a steel checker plate floor with steel channel frame. The guys who I went with said it really flexed on the rough stuff.

 

[oz101]

Hi Garrie, welcome, do you keep the tray on all the time and have a slide on camper or do you take the tray off.
You were also asking about wheels tyres another subject that has been discussed a lot here on this forum, I am putting 285 R19.5 on my truck, thought about it a lot and decided to go this way for 2 reasons, price and availability out bush, someone somewhere will have a 19.5 truck tyre when you are desperate.

Took my truck up the coast to ATW yesterday my back didn't like it much, trucks don't ride very well with no tray and new standard suspension, and our roads over here are not the best so I hope the new suspension will make a difference.

Here are some pics of my truck and the tray being made.

 

[Garrie]

Hi All, I will get some photos of the truck and put the site.I will run through what I have done and what I want to do in the future. I have an early model with aftermarket turbo fitted,its a turbo glide.Bull bar I got from the truck wreckers and converted to a tlt model,Takes a minuit to undo and tilt the cab,2 x 100 watt spotties.12000 lb winch ,Truck is also 24 volt .Air bags on the front with Rancho adjustable shocks,only single as these seem to work ok ,Konis on the back,also single.2 x suspension seats and a UHF.
Extra 100 litre fuel tank ,also from the wreckers,fuel runs through a Cav filter and standard filter.I have a box behind the cab accessable from both sides which has a swing out stove ,60 litres of water centre mounted between the rails.Also 2 boxes behind rear wheels for tools ,winh straps,spares etc.Currently running 33'' x 12.5 x 16.5 BFG .These are great on the sand.
Tray is checker plate and camper has wind up jacks which allows the truck to drive out. I have made up sides that I can then fit so I have a UTE as well.
Camper is fitted out wth another 50 litres of water ,stove sink water filter,cupboards, 2 battaries and a small solar panel.Fridge runs off gas.
For the Simpson trip I left the camper at home and made up a tarp to cover everything and slept in swags. I took 4 spares as I went with a Rental camper ( Troopy) and I carried another 100 litres of fuel and 100 litres of water,firewood all the food ,eskys and all the beer,spirits and wine.
I am thinking of upgrading the wheels to 19.5 as I intend to do some remote travel and think the extra weight rating I will get from larger tyres will be a good insurance policy.But first will have to find out how much extra they will weigh as the unsprung weight may increase and will change the current suspension.Mine has the 5 stud pattern so if any ideas if it has been already done will be appreciated. Must be tubeless as I have learnt they are the best in the realy hard stuff.

 

[Garrie]

OZ 101 ,Where are you situated ,somewhere on the east coast.

 

[Mickldo]

G'day oz101

Welcome to ExPo. Nice truck. Keep the photos coming.



G'day Garrie

Welcome to ExPo too. I would love to see pics of yours as well.

 

[oz101]

Hi Garrie,

Sorry I haven't answer you , but I have been having real problems logging on. They seemed to have sorted the problem out now.

I live Brisbane Southside, how about you?