Five-star Camper Project, Part 1

Straight off the showroom floor very few vehicles are up to the beating that the Australian bush will dish out, and none that could without some sort of beefing up or modification.

My 2002 Mitsubishi diesel Pajero had been nurtured since new with mainly beach trips to Fraser Island and long distance road hauling towing a boat trailer. Performance has been faultless, with only a recent replacement of a headlight bulb.

I added early on an Electronic Rust Protection kit (ERPS) and poly air bags to the rear springs but other than that it was a standard rig.

And then along came this idea of going bush and in a shed down at Yatala in South East Queensland, an off-road trailer began to take shape.

Having done more than my fair share of caravanning as well as a two and a half year bus trip with the family around the coast of Australia, tenting should have been the last mode of abode on my mind. Especially considering that I lived in tents for 10 years, running a fishing tour operation across the Northern Territory and into Arnhem Land.

The last place I wanted to spend too much time in was busy caravan parks on main drags so I had to come up with a game plan. The common denominator for the types of trips I wished to undertake would be wide open and desolate places with minimum humans; places where ordinary caravans fail to go and break if they do. I had to get seriously ‘off road’ to achieve this.

STARS IN HIS EYES

To get this latest hair brain scheme across the line I had to promise the wife a ‘five star’ trailer which as it evolved increased in its contents and its GVM.

A trip to a couple of specialist fit-out centres and then the Brisbane 4X4 show led me to the TJM store at Coopers Plains. I sort of likened the experience to a kid in a lolly shop; so much gear and so little vehicle to put it on!

In the end I opted to take on a suspension rebuild and a few accessories to make life a little safer on the roads less travelled.

My back seat was to stay put with a clothes rack running across the top of it between the passenger grip handles.

A Waeco Cool Freeze CDF-11 was mounted on the back floor so drinks could be accessed on the run by driver and passenger.

Clothes storage would be in soft suit cases on the back seat and a half height Milford cargo barrier would retain the multitude of camera boxes and other video equipment stored in the back should it somehow end upside.

Also keeping it at half height allowed for a later installation of a lockable draw which I would have liked first up along with a winch but we all have a budget and mine was nearing its limit for the time being.
 
With three 65Ah batteries running off a Waeco charger in the trailer I was looking for more back up power in the tow vehicle. Not wanting to further gobble up valuable camera storage space I took on a Red Centa dual battery installation under the bonnet.

This is the basic unit that charges the isolated accessory battery with a cigarette lighter plug installed in the rear compartment.

I also had installed a 50amp Anderson plug to charge the trailer batteries on the run in case I didn’t set up base camp for long enough to charge with a generator or solar panels. Less generator noise in the peace of night would be welcome.

BREATHING EASY

Next on the hit list was a snorkel. Now while I have seen the water level lap over the bonnet of my LandCruisers up north on a few occasions, the secondary reason for prioritising this installation over a winch was dust.

The higher up off the dirt road your engine sucks its air, the less ingestion of foreign particles it gets. Blocked air filters starve engines, which in turn leads to excessive fuel consumption and loss of power as well as the obvious wear and tear to piston rings when some of the dust inevitably gets through.

It was with some trepidation that I gave the nod to put a 90mm hole-saw through the offside guard but hey; these guys are the experts.

What I thought was just a ‘drill a hole and bolt it on’ exercise was surprisingly complex and time consuming. The air filter housing and associated plumbing had to be completely stripped out and cut and shut to cater for the extra piping coming off the bottom end of the snorkel.

Between the extra plumbing and second battery and wiring under the bonnet there was little room for anything else.

UNDER THE PUMP

Now for that suspension. With the trailer build still underway and the back half of my shed crammed up with more gear to go into its compartments I was yet to ascertain a final GMV. I rated the trailer to two tonnes and ordered brakes on each of the four wheels accordingly.

A Hayman Reece load distribution kit was going to share the weight around and just how much needed to be levered to the rear was yet to be determined.

Height was what I was after primarily and I delivered the vehicle to TJM Coopers Plains with no load, a full 90litre  diesel tank with 545mm clearance from the road to the top of the tow bar tongue.

An estimate by the TJM crew put it another 40 to 50mm higher after the inclusion of TJM XGS Gold Series rear springs, shockers and poly air bags.

As it turned out, towbar tongue clearance above the road increased by 70mm off the hoist.

With some things best out of sight and out of mind a TJM roof rack  was installed on which the second spare wheel for the Pajero and the high lift jack could spend their idle time.

SHAKE DOWN

Rolling out onto Beaudesert Road the ride was miles away from the sponginess provided by the original suspension when delivered three days prior.

My son had just purchased a Holden Colorado with one tonne suspension and the ride in that was not comfortable at all; best described as ‘hard’.

Fearing this might be the case with the new Pajero suspension I was delighted that while firm it was soft on the top part of travel so that no jarring was felt.

I took it straight to the local shopping centre car park and gave it a hammering over the speed bumps which allayed all of my fears. Cornering was also greatly improved with markedly less body roll.

FINAL DAMAGE!

A breakdown on the installation is as follows: Red Centa battery kit; TJM Snorkel; extra hot wire to rear compartment with Anderson Plug; roof rack; front and rear suspension re-build; and Hayman Reece adjustable hitch and load sharing system.

The cost of the above accessories worked out around $8000 which is at least what the serious off-roader is going to have to wear even with a car straight from the showroom.

It comes back to whether you want to take such a pristine vehicle into some of the environments similar to that which I am heading to; definitely not in my case.

From start to finish good advice was not lacking from this aftermarket 4WD fit up company and ideas should be sought before taking the plunge into the plethora of gear available on the market; the volume of which is confusing to say the least with the quality of some dubious as well.

(Part 2 – building the campertrailer from hell!)