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Driving Off The Beaten Track


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Getting out to some of our more remote locations is our Idea of living the dream but and for some of us such journeys can be weekly or monthly or even a yearly excursion but what ever it is no matter how much planning we do fate can always step in and throw us a curve ball, I bought another Truck/SUV In February I have been preparing it to reduce the chances of being caught by what ever mother nature can throw at us, What started out as something where I needed a 4x4 to get off the beaten track is turn in to a money pit, Not that I am complaining because I have always loved Pickups and 4x4's but setting up a vehicle has sort of taken over a lot of my spare time, I don't mind that because I get to play with lots of high end Gadgets,

Having been a bit OTT I have looked in to many Gadgets from Exhaust Jacks which can be a great life saver along with recovering ya truck from a bog hole with minimum effort, Also The Genuine American made Hi-Lift Jacks, having always used them I won't cut corners and buy any thing else in fact my first one (The HL-485) still looks like new, But a couple of months I happened to get on you tube and I saw their video showing the "NEW" 60" Extreme Hi-Lift Jack with a new colour scheme (paint job) and some very useful features such as removable foot plate and a new Clamping attachment that has extra features and is rated to the maximum rating of the jack (7000lbs) so out came the wallet again and my new toy arrived the next day, :wub:This thing is real hard core and a must have Item, It can be used for clamping Winching and of coarse lifting etc, 

These are the best jacks bar none, http://www.hi-lift.com/hi-lift-jacks/x-treme.html

The jack is the sort of thing that you only wanna break out in an emergency, and be very careful when operating the thing, theres enough videos on YT of people busting up their heads and loosing teeth, Anyway you get the picture, Although the jack can be used as a winch I decided that a good winch was in order so out came the plastic and "Yep" you guessed it and the next day it arrived, So I ordered one of Champion/Warrior 9500lbs short drum winches as in the same model the UK armed forces use (SAS) vehicles, Joy of joy this thing came with every thing including the normal remote and a spare cordless remote, Seeing that I was kind of hoping it had built in TV channels but sadly "No" but I will survive without watching NCIS or Nashville for a week or two,

All this thinking and spending made me hungry and it wasn't long before my thoughts turned to "Food" In February last year lowlifes broke in to my lockup and stole about $100K's worth of Tools and stuff but the thing that **** me off the most was the stole my 70 quart "Snap-On" Cooler and my electric cooler that I bought here all the way from Oz the lousy £&%@ers, So while I am on my excursions I thought about buying another cooler but the thought of all that Ice and soggy food did not bode well with me so I started looking up for Aussie Fridge Freezer, Brands that I knew and Trust well I did the research thing and I ended up buying the ARB 47L/50Qt version, I figured that It has enough room for enough food to last me on my own for about 21 days, I check this thing when it got here and I plugged it in and it cooled down pretty quick and I half filled it with frozen food and it came on for about 6 minutes and it never switched back on for over 2 and a half hours, once it settled down that became roughly every two hours and even then its run times got shorter and shorter which was fine with me because when this thing is mounted in the Truck it will use next to no power, ARB rate it at 0.87 Amps per hour, well I was seeing run times as little as 0.5 Amps per hour variable. I also bought the protective jacket for it to keep it safe and help with insulation because these things are not cheap and if looked after they will last forever. This Fridge freezer cost me a small fortune but I got it for a real good price at around $900.00 So life is Good and the fridge lives in my home because they is no way am I loosing this one.

See this Link, http://store.arbusa.com/Fridges-C11.aspx 

One thing that I have always done when I have bought a truck is replace the tyres, On this one they will be replaced soon, I got 2 that are driving me Nutz within a week the rear two loose Air and the drivers side one looses the lot, Back around 2003 I bought the American Made TruckAir 275 and they are a brilliant little compressor that are supposed to handle the big stuff and it does but they do hammer ya battery, Anyway I had seen these new Double pump versions that are on the market and they are impressive to say the leased, Now baring in mind these things are only about the size of a loaf of bread, This thing can put out a 150litres of Air per minute OR over 5 cfm (cubic feet per minute) what that mans in the real world is that it can blow 4x4 tyres real fast, My truck battery was 3 parts flat and it blew up my tyre in 3 and a half minutes which is incredible and considering with the truck running it will do it from Zero to 40lbs in under 2 minutes, I strongly advise you gentlemen to buy one of these things, I know the brand names with be different depending where you live in this world but if you read this review you can find the good ones that are sold near you in this link, http://www.unsealed4x4.com.au/issue017/#185

This is just some of the kit I have bought for my Truck and I have bought a whole lot more and have more to get still, It's not cheap but it will all make for a better safer time while I am off swinging a coil or two and my next task is to mount my solar panels on the roof to charge the Duel batteries that I have ordered because I need to charge them detector batteries up, I have bought a 115 Amp /1000 cca for the Trucks starting Battery I have 2 X 135 Amp /1100cca batteries to come then it is off to the Auto Electricians to get the wiring fitted so they will also charge via the Alternator,

And all because I like detecting.

John.

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10 minutes ago, beatup said:

John those hi lift jacks can be a killer but i keep one in every ranch rig

Yeah I always take it easy when I use mine, I saw a guy on YT get cut up pretty bad with one, They are a great tool to have but there is no safety feature on them so it is a case of user beware for sure.

John.

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38 minutes ago, klunker said:

 Dang AU! I always thought that if I remembered my lunch, I was well prepared. Any photos?

This is the Truck I bought, I wanted an SUV so I could sleep in it, Also I will be adding a roof top tent and for long trips I will be buying a camper trailer, But at the moment I need to start bolting on some of the things I have bought be cause I am running out of space,

This one is a Mitsubishi Shogun Sport 2.5 TDI and it does about 33 to about 40mpg if I don't lead foot it, It has only done 81,000 miles so for a diesel it is almost run in and I should get about another 600K miles out of it, With all the extras I have bought I am going to put a lift kit in to cope with the extra weight.

 

This is the Fridge Freezer I bought,

SS1.jpg

SS2b.jpg

Britpart Comp.jpg

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7 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I guess I'm confused John. Aren't you in the U.K. and have been for a number of years? Is your rig in the U.K. and you are going to ship it to Oz? Or are you back in Australia now gearing up?

No I am still in the UK but a friend contacted me and has asked me if I want to prospect on some land he has just got hold of back around Christmas time and he is pulling quite a few ounces a month out of it so I jumped at the chance, from what I have seen this is a worthwhile investment, But it is well off the beaten track and a 4x4 is the bare minimum required to get there, so I am hoping it all works out, past year or so I have not been in the best of health, but I think that I am on the mend, so fingers crossed.

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I wish you well too John, your equipment posts are great, thanks the taking the time.

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Its a nice looking truck John,must admit i have never had the need to use a winch or farm jack in all the years that i have been detecting but i guess all it takes is one bad trip and all the gear pays for itself.

My BMW X5 does everything that i need basically,big enough boot so that i can carry all my gear in and travel to and from the detecting site in comfort,must admit i still reckon though that the Jap 4x4's are the most reliable going,my favourite one was my Isuzu Trooper that lasted me nearly 18 years before in went to the great car grave yard in the sky due to tin worm,the engine was still getting sweeter as it was gradually getting run in at 250k miles.

Look forward to seeing you adventures in your new chariot.

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  • The title was changed to Driving Off The Beaten Track

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