Archiv für die Kategorie ‘2) Technicalities’

Fact is, the new Land Cruiser LC79 Bakkie has a front track 4” wider than the rear track (or axle). This was apparently done to accommodate the larger V8 Turbo Diesel engine, which absurdly may not even become available in Southern Africa.

Common sense dictates, and some seem to have experienced this already, that the narrower track in the back may present a problem, especially in sand. In our specific case we have added worries, because Wohni definitely has a higher centre of gravity than a non-converted Bakkie would have – plus – we will more often than not travel on the limit of gross weight, thus exaggerating any phenomenon and/or occurrence.

Wheel Spacers

The obvious thing to do would be adding wheel spacers at the back. However, a 2” extension of leverage on each side is no minor alteration and may or may not cause havoc in difficult terrain. Doing a quick thumb suck I guesstimate the increase in forces applied to be approximately 3-4% each side, yes?

On a positive note, we are ‘only’ concerned about the rear and hence don’t have to deal with reinforcing ball joints, etc. Also, as far as roll stability goes we would definitely have an added bonus. Still, forces on the diff, bearings and the axle itself are reason enough to be concerned.

I feel somewhat between a rock and a hard place about this, but tend towards going for the added benefit of the spacers versus the minor risk of breakage, hoping that Murphy is not around when push comes to shove.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts and/or input.

All the best

Tommy

Amended 27/10/2008 - Interesting threads and discussions about this:

@ ExplorOz

@ Expeditionportal

@ Landcruiserclub

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Because I like to sleep straight and steady and because I’d like to be able to use every drop of water, especially from a flat tank and for some various other reasons, including that I may be full of nonsense, I want the camper straight and level when stationary. That may be a bit over the top, but hey, caravans have been kitted out with leveling devices ever since. Admittedly, caravans are usually stationary for much longer periods than a camper, nevertheless, that’s no reason to abstain from this convenience, especially if the solution is reasonably simple.

Leveling Jack

Rummaging around between the shelves at Bushwhackers, the Namibian sister to Campworld, I found something that looked pretty much the same as what I had in mind anyway and what I also had sketched up a while ago (see picture). They’ll set you back short of 700 bucks each and weigh in at around 5kg each. We tested them on a caravan and they were easy and smooth to operate. All that’s needed are either jack-points at key locations and/or a slight modification of the lift arms to fit your already existing jack-points. They also sell all sorts of miniature water levels, which will aid you in getting it right.

I suppose a good place to store them is either right at/on the entry door to the cabin or any other place where they are easy to reach and immediately accessible, as leveling will be the first thing to do once a place for the night(s) has been chosen, yes?. Grab the jacks, wind them until steady, have someone check the water level(s), adjust … voila … shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. Whaddayafink?

So long,

Tommy (trying to keep it straight)

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Pursuant to the experiences described in ” Garmin GPS or Why Me? ” I felt the urge to publish the following list of things to consider when buying a GPS:

1. Make sure what your requirements are, research available options and talk to somebody who knows (apparently not me).

2. I f you decide to buy i.e. a Garmin, go to an official Garmin dealer and make sure he has actually sold a GPS before.

3. Insist on features and compatibilities as per your requirements and let them give you a demo.

4. Make sure the software that comes with is it is up-to-date and/or that the latest applications, maps, etc. are loaded on the device.

5. Make sure that you will be able to upgrade and/or load additional features at a later stage by yourself without having to go through a nightmarish rigmarole in cyberspace.

6. If you are a Bushwhacker, you might want to consider devices with Routing, Recording and/or (Back)Tracking abilities.

7. Don’t buy a GPS at HiFi Corporation, Incredible Con-Artists and/or the likes. The sales people hardly know the difference between a Flat Screen and a Laptop.

8. If your GPS tells you that you are three kilometers off the main road, which has been in existence since 1954, you might have bought a lemon.

Feel free to ad to this list at anytime - the likes of me will highly appreciate it. After all, a good GPS will set you back by a considerable amount.

All the best

Tommy

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The day before I delivered the Landcruiser to J-Bay, and unfortunately in a hurry, I organised a Garmin GPS to be built in properly by Schroeder. I was actually lured by a special deal for a Garmin Nüvi 250 advertised by HiFi Corporation. Due to time contstraints I skipped the usual thorough research, which turned out to be a mistake, and rushed to the shop to grab the GPS. I should have known better and especially listened to the alarm bells inside my head. The salesman had an answer to EVERY question, usually something like “yes yes” or “no no”, generally quite short on communication and giving me the impression that he wants to get rid of me and my questions.

Anywho, it turned out I purchased a GPS without routing and/or tracking abilities and trying to upload the Tracks4Africa Maps turned into an unsolvable nightmare. The latter may be due to the Garmin 250’s capability/compatibility and/or my incompetence and/or due to the fact that you seem to need some sort of map viewer software (Mapsource), which comes on a DVD, which again is only available to South African buyers and/or when bying some or the other Garmin Maps product - hmmm. Trying to download and activate the software from Garmin ended up in being subscribed and registered to numerous portals with endless new product numbers and and and. What a f***up.

Related Links:

• Tracks4Africa FAQs
• Garmin Support

I eventually instructed Schroeder to organise the proper Garmin, the 710 I believe, and have the T4A maps loaded, because I’m really getting tired of a GPS constantly telling me that I am about 3 kilometres off the main road, which has been in existence since 1954 mind you.

Cheers & Beers

Tommy

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… that’s the question. Most in the knowing, and I tend to agree, claim that once you have it, it will be utilised mainly to help others - nothing wrong with that. Another theory and my main concern, when you really need it, i.e. sand, mud, river, etc., will there be something to hook onto. If not, it’s useless, right? Not quite.

Pull-Pal in action Copyright Pull-Pal

A fellow Namibian off-roader (thanks Werner) - funny enough we met through a German forum - pointed me to Pull-Pal, an American product also used by the military. When I saw it, everything came together and started making sense. I had a rough concept of some sort of ground anchor in mind for a long time, I just couldn’t figure out how to best do it, plus what kinda steel to use, as regular mild steel obviously won’t do it (Werner, I agree).

Looking at the product and its price, I don’t think it would be worth even attempting a home-made solution. I believe the Pull-Pal is properly conceptualised, manufactured and tested - no need to reinvent the wheel.

To me, that’s a no-brainer. I’ll order one and the winch question is now also a definite ‘yes’. It is one of those items I rather have than not have. If the rare occasion, where you really do need it, never arises, even the better.

What do you think?

Cheers & Beers

Tommy

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Maybe because I was a (not half bad) plumber many many moons ago, maybe because I always have to be different or maybe not such a bad idea after all, here is what I came up with in terms of water system and layout.

Tank no.1 & Battery no.1

Contrary to what you see on the layout plan at this stage, we will most probably have only two tanks apart from the warm water tank; one 60l main tank integrated into the frame and one 40l tank underneath one of the second row seats.

Water System & Layout

Both tanks can be filled (and will be vented) through one common filler neck and are connected and bypassed in case something goes wrong with one of the tanks. Water is extracted from the bottom of the main tank by means of a flow-jet water pump integrated into the plumbing upstream of the tanks. In addition there is a fine grain filter upstream of the pump and a pressure vessel downstream of the pump.

Basically what you are looking at here is a semi pressurised system, unpressurised (and open!) before the pump and pressurised (and closed!) after the pump.

Cold/fresh water is taken directly to the kitchen- and shower-taps respectively, plus to the warm water tank, which I conceptualised as follows:

• Cold water is fed into the tank via a dip pipe and through a perforated baffle plate about 2-3cm above the tank’s bottom. This is supposed to avoid unintentional and too swift blending of fresh/cold water with already heated warm water. Additionally to that, gravity should keep the cold and warm waters in check.
• Warm water is extracted right at the top of the tank, basically “pushed” out by the pump feeding fresh water into it at the bottom. This is very similar to most household geyser systems.
• The heartbeat of warm water preparation is obviously the heating element. I purchased this element, together with other nifty stuff, from Fritz Berger in Germany. The clou about this element is, that it heats water to 37-40 degrees only, while using minimal electricity. If I remember correctly from the manual, it will use 6-8 amps and take approximately 1-2 hours to heat up 20 liters. You obviously want this to happen while driving and have the tank properly insulated to keep the water at temperature until you need it.
• The interesting thing for me was that I can save the money (and weight) spent on the usual geyser units (Truma, etc.), plus save water due to the fact that you do not have to adjust/regulate water temperature at the tap (mixer) with the water running until you eventually get it right.

I will yet have to see, whether this will at all work as planned. But then, if I don’t try I will never know. I would be interested to hear what you think about this.

All the best

Tommy

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Obviously, when going off-road, especially in rough/tough terrain, be it sand, rocks or mud, weight is the first and foremost issue, centre of gravity right next to it.

You will see from figures below, that we are working just about at the limit with Wohni’s configuration and outfitting:

• The empty cabin shell plus frame, mountings and fittings is estimated at ~500-600kg
• Fuel (220l) plus Water (120l) plus battery (~80kg) adds another ~400kg
• With that we already arrive at the certified payload limit of the Landcruiser. However, Toyota states (boffins and farmers confirm that) that the LC can take ~1500kg without problems - plus - you have to subtract the load bin, which I estimated to be ~ 200kg (please correct me if I’m wrong)
• That leaves us with a net payload of ~700kg
• Subtract from that (in order of priority) the occupants (~200kg for the four of us at this stage), 2 spare tires (~60-70kg), interior, shelves, seats, etc. (~150kg), bullbar, recovery gear, tools, generator, porta potti, tables & chairs, cutlery & crockery, etc. (~150kg)
• What remains would be strictly speaking only 150kg for drinking water (20-30 liters), food and drinks in the two Engels, clothes and other “stuff”

I suppose it’s easy to deduct from the above, how crucial not only weight but also centre of gravity is with a rig like that. Hence the decision to keep the allover height as low as possible by fabricating a pop-up roof, plus drastically reducing weight in the upper half to two thirds. I guess if one would plot Wohni’s centre of gravity, it would be located somewhere at the lower third and pretty much mid of the two axles.

The only additional and unavoidable weight located within the upper third are the spares and their rack, plus whatever is stowed high in the back of the cabin and/or on the roof rack.

Especially with such an important subject matter, any thoughts would be highly appreciated.

So long,

Tommy

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As briefly addressed in Considerations & Thoughts, an obviously very important consideration is self-sufficiency, hence suitable amounts of water, food, electricity and fuel, sometimes for many days and kilometers, presenting a challenge for the vehicle, which has to carry all of the before mentioned - plus - occupants (in our case a family), their clothes, toys, etc. pp. you name it (the weight issue will be addressed in yet another post).

Some figures of what Wohni will be equipped with for starters:

• Standard long range tanks containing 180 liters two Jerry Cans = 220 liters of fuel
• Two water tanks (60l + 40l) = 100l plus 20l warm water tank = 120l water
• 300 amp deep cycle battery
• 60l Engel fridge-freezer plus 45l Engel cool box

The above should result in the following self suffiency, calculating averages only:

Let’s start with fuel:

• Cruising on tarred and/or good roads @ 80-100km/h average speed, with an assumed consumption of approximately 15l/km, gives a range of ~1500km and 15-19 hours endurance
• Cruising on gravel and/or badish roads @ 40-80km/h average speed, with an assumed consumption of 20l/km, gives a range of ~1000km range and 12.5-25 hours endurance
• Tough terrain, sand, etc. mixed into the equation @ 20-40km/h average speed, with an assumed consumption of 35l/km, gives a range of ~ 600km and 15-20 hours endurance
• Drawing the averages of all of the above, on a typical trip (mixed) this should give ~1000km range and 13-22 hours endurance @ 45-75km/h average speed
• Furthermore, assuming an average daily driving of 3-5 hours this should result in 225-375km covered distance/day @ 75km/h and 135-225km covered distance/day @ 45km/h and hence 4.5-2.6 days or 7.5-4.5 days respectively.
• We concluded a required self sufficiency of approximately 1000km and 5-7 days in extreme cases and/or the maximum stretch allowed for route planning without visiting a refueling facility

Which brings us to Water:

• The above mentioned 120 liters will not be utilised for drinking at all, but for washing dishes, showering and the likes.
• We assume approximately 20-30 liters per day using water economically and wisely i.e. body hygiene from a bucket or bowl and with a washrag, dish washing once a day only and if need be to have a shower, approximately 3-5 liters have to suffice. This again will result in approximately 4-6 days self-sufficiency.
• Drinking water will be bought in bottles before the trip plus where and when possible, assuming at least 2 liters per day per person. The before mentioned obviously in addition an d on top of cool drinks, beer, wine and whatever else is consumed during the day or evening. Before setting off on a tour and/or stretch we will want to stack approximately 20-30 liters of drinking water.

Electricity:

• The 300 amp deep cycle Sonnenschein battery has to run the fridge-freezer, lights in the evening, mayhap some music every now and then plus, albeit not always, the warm water heater. In my special case there are additional requirements, the likes of charging camera and laptop batteries.
• On a rough thumb-suck calculation we arrived at approximately 3 days @ worse case scenario, meaning that there would be no driving in between.
• On top of that we will have a 2kw generator with us for emergencies. Solar is considered for the future if and when the wallet has recovered a bit.

Food:

• This to me is the least worry. The amount of fresh goodies, such as meat, cold meat, fruits and veggies, etc., you can store in a 60l fridge-freezer plus a 45l cool box will be more than enough in any event.
• Additionally to that, there will be long-live food stuff, such as canned food, snacks, noodles, rice, etc.

Summa summarum, Wohni should be able to get us from A to B as long as A is not much further than ~1000km from B - plus - provided that it does not take us more then 5-7 days to get there.

As always, your thoughts, input and comments are welcome and appreciated.

So long

Tommy

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