Rally’s Ranger

Yeah, no kidding. Here Jeep competition is fierce keeping prices reasonable. But Toyota aftermarket prices are crazy.
 
It’s the aftermarket which is expensive in this instance. I asked for this mob to build an aluminium canopy for the back of the ute in 3mm aluminium. Nothing too fancy, it needed a fridge drop down, water tank, spare wheel carrier, basic shelving and wiring in lights and the dual battery system, although that bit was only labour as I was supplying the parts. Now when I say build an aluminium canopy I mean something similar to what you see on the back of workman’s utes all the time. They wanted $27,000! I imagine if they were supplying the electrical parts it would be over $30,000.

So I decided to get a fibreglass canopy on to the existing tub, run a custom drawer setup and do the electrical work myself.
 
27,000:rotfl:
Otoh, I saw some really good offroad trailers made in Australia and selling there for like 10,000 USD. A much smaller dedicated offroad trailer here costs 20,000 USD.

But, yeah, crazy when you can have a trailer for nearly three times less!
 
I had the gvm/gcm upgrade kit installed this week. I got more than I expected which doesn’t happen very often. I’d rather get only what I was expecting, but as Ned once said, such is life. So instead of getting a 50mm lift all round, I got a 50mm lift at the front and a 70mm lift at the rear. It rides now unladen like my wrx, no doubt it will improve when fully laden.

I also installed a catch can over the weekend. So it’s been a busy time as I prepare the car for it’s new life. And there’s more to be done.
 
Monday week the drawer system goes in, along with the 80 litre water tank.

I’ve also ordered a new garage door. This one will be over 300mm taller, allowing me to mount the roof top tent on the canopy.

Really looking forward to this, as finally I will be able to clear the garage of camping equipment, although I will have some wiring work to do in between.
 
Drawers and water tank are in. The way they have done the water tank installation is interesting. They have done it in such a way as to have a gauge made up of clear tube at the tailgate end. There is enough room for 2 batteries in the battery compartment, as well as an inverter and the dual battery controller. On the side wings I have the recovery gear on one side and the compressor on the other. Stuff like gas stove, camp oven, gas bottle, cutlery and so on goes in the drawers. The second spare sits on top of the drawers.

I weighed both the standard alloy road wheel and tyre and the spare steel wheel. The spare weighs 2.5kg more.

I need to figure out a few things, such as where I put the switches, fuses and so on. Still plenty of work to do, but bit by bit I’m getting there.
 
Rally said:
Drawers and water tank are in. The way they have done the water tank installation is interesting. They have done it in such a way as to have a gauge made up of clear tube at the tailgate end.
Click to expand...

Old school. :thumbsup:
 
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