Burnsie's Unexpected 17.56-2 Outback

[bigcol]

just to "clarify" incase anyone is wondering.......

and also let it be known, I am NOT an Auto Electrician, just years of fault finding on Cars & 4WDs

I have removed the battery cables and got to work on them, heated up the lugs and soldered them, took quite a bit of solder

with a "crimped" lug on a cable, there is a lot of "air" in the joint, hence the need for a lot of solder to fill it
with this "air" in there, 2 things can and will happen

1) with Vibrations over time, the joint in the crimp will get loose, creating an intermittent fault

2) moisture (condensation) can get into the joint and degrade the copper to the point of bad connection, creating an intermittent fault

this is especially true with any heavy duty cable, ie: batteries

smaller cables (power feed for radios etc) using the smaller crimp lugs are usually ok, as long as they are crimped properly

 

[duncandonuts]

Burnsie, can you confirm the amount of rotation on your tv mount. I like your bracket but need pne that rotates 180 degrees. Also wondering on the size of your tv.

 

[dagree]

@duncandonuts You may not get an answer for a few days/weeks/months as @burnsie is in his final stages of packing and getting things ready for his 5 month trip around Oz starting tomorrow morning.

Guessing he's currently checking the van and Prado to make sure everything is where it should be and hasn't forgotten anything!

 

[duncandonuts]

@duncandonuts You may not get an answer for a few days/weeks/months as @burnsie is in his final stages of packing and getting things ready for his 5 month trip around Oz starting tomorrow morning.

Guessing he's currently checking the van and Prado to make sure everything is where it should be and hasn't forgotten anything!

Ok, thanx Dagree

 

[Dobbie]

And he's probably having a quiet ale somewhere while thinking....
...what have we forgotten?

....bugger it, who cares?

 

[Dove]

So hooked up the van this morning to check out the new hitch (DO35) I installed and also to see how the van sits with the new hitch and whether a WDH is required didn't think it would be but thought I better check. Just to confirm I have a 2inch lift with heavy duty suspension with airbags.

All measurements were taken from the bottom of the rim to the middle of the wheel arch

Prado without van attached
Front 790mm
Back 810mm

Prado with van attached no bags
Front 800mm
Back 790mm

Prado with van attached and 25PSI in Bags
Front 800mm
Back 800-810mm

View attachment 40356 View attachment 40357 View attachment 40358

With bags (25psi) the rear goes back up to 800-810mm and the front only increases 10mm from standard (without van)

I think it seems to sit pretty well and the measurements aren't to far out to require a WDH?

Hi Burnsie. I am thinking of changing my standard 3.5 t ball coupling for a DO35 hitch. Do you think there is a improvement in towing? Are they easy to fit? Any other thoughts? Are they worth the extra money?
Appreciate peoples thoughts.
Peter.

 

[burnsie]

Burnsie, can you confirm the amount of rotation on your tv mount. I like your bracket but need pne that rotates 180 degrees. Also wondering on the size of your tv.

Sorry @duncandonuts for the late reply, yeah I would say it goes 180degrees, we watch it in the sitting area and then turn it to watch in bed as well so it has a pretty good range of motion.

Hope that helps, even though it is a bit late

 

[burnsie]

Hi Burnsie. I am thinking of changing my standard 3.5 t ball coupling for a DO35 hitch. Do you think there is a improvement in towing? Are they easy to fit? Any other thoughts? Are they worth the extra money?
Appreciate peoples thoughts.
Peter.

Hey @Dove we went with the DO35 as we are on our trip at the moment and will be tackling some "outback/offroad" conditions and wanted to make sure we had the articulation if required. The other reason was we have a Kaymar Bar with built in Tow Bar and they don't "recommend" using a WDH with it so we went with the full "offroad/outback" setup without the WDH and beefed up the suspension and bags to tow.

But to continue to answer your question yes it tows really well so far, we have down about 1600km's with it and it just drops on and it is done. It is a direct replacement for the Alko Hitch most Jayco's have, they all "should" have the standard spacings which all manufactures use so I just unbolted the old and bolted up the new. I got mine through there store direct and also picked up the lock that goes with it, seems to work well so far.

Let me know if you have any other questions, but as above I am happy with the setup and how it is towing so far

Cheers

 

[pauljygrant]

looks great and looks like it all fits well.
Can I ask what model number of Bosch battery you used and how much you paid?

If you are looking for Bosch batteries in Adelaide, I recommend trying Peter Summers who runs Power Packed Batteries, Nairne 8388 0669. He specialises in Bosch and I've used him several times for work equipment - best rates and nice guy.