What have I done

[jazzeddie1234]

Well after much faffing about I decided it was time for a new tug. The Dmax is at 180,000kms, and while super reliable, is showing it's age and all the dirt roads.
So in keeping with my tendency to buy Chinese on ebay I bought this...

A demo GWM Cannon Ultra with 700kms on the clock and a factory tow bar - hopefully without the advertising - for $44k. It will need new all terrains and a canopy but that should still be not much more than a non demo model with 600 less kms

The one long range tank I could find only adds 30l so it might be jerries this time around. But the extra 100nm of torque should be very welcome.

 

[Drover]

180,000km the DMax is just run in .......................................

Interesting to see how it goes, at that price a new one every couple of years ............................................ quite a few Pensioner Utes around here so pretty popular ............................... LR tanks are an expensive bit of kit, the Colorado was all lined up for a poly tank against the headboard, more fuel and less dollars than one underneath............ not sure if they do them for tubs though....................

2.4lt with a 9 speed, slowly starting to get some legs by the sound of it and 18" wheels is good choice, I actually would think of having one, not my first choice but a realistic choice for my wallet ....................... So hook up and let us know how it goes, my wife hates digital controls, we have all sorts of fun trying to adjust things as we roll down the road ......................................

 

[crackacoldie]

Hearing lots of positives about the Cannon, my neighbour tows his 19’ New Age with one and says it does a better job than his D23 Navara.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Now the joy of fitting out a new tug. Today I just faffed around going from idea to idea to some completely unrelated jobs...

The cannon towbar is quite low so the wdh will have to move up a notch and the receiver pin hole is much closer to the end for some stupid reason so the whole hitch sticks out way more. They don't publish a towball to diff max measurement like the dmax so we shall see.

Started looking at the uhf. I want to keep my current one so I have to see the unit.
Designed a low profile housing that I can stick on rather than screw. The channel is for the mic cable

First test fit looks ok from the top and well away from my knee

I printed a longer section to hide the cables. Looks a bit chunky in the pic....hope it works ok. Sadly, in the facelift model, they removed the little shelf under the steering column where it sits in the dmax

What do you think? Looks ok or try harder

 

[Drover]

Looks okay, so long as knee doesn't whack it .............................. Most envious regarding the printer, I often find one would be handy but would probably frustrate me more......... Stock springs will probably be too spongy as well so I wouldn't do anything major to the WDH untill you see how the suspension goes.... mate who just replaced his old BT for another went and reset his tow hitch set up, new shank and now finds the stock suspension is pretty ordinary so is upgrading it, something he had to do with his old one and we talked about with this one but he believed the dealer talk ................

 

[jazzeddie1234]

I have wondered about doing a trip without the wdh to see how it goes - less weight, less fiddling around. The Cannon is a bit heavier and wider. But the early towing days with the dmax still haunt me. Then again lots of people are towing without it...

And my new brake controller arrived. A curt spectrum that has a fancy rotary knob - a bit like the redarc but with lights. Looks like I can run the control cable up the same channel as the uhf mic in my new holder and stick the knob just to the left of the uhf. I wanted a brake controller that had a separate sensitivity (or boost) setting so I can set max and min brake force as my van works better with a higher start voltage. Seems to be a unique option that USA made controllers have