 | Home > My Defender > Nuggets 110 Aussie Crew Cab Tourer Build |
 
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50  
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The big trip is rolling around faster than my ability to do the planned mods which were converting the crew cab to ute and having a slide on camping unit with a roof top camper on top of the slide on.
Whilst that is still the long term plan, the immediate problem is carrying a lot of things which were going to pack neatly into the slide on. Finally I decided to do a temporary fix which will get us through this trip plus a couple more if needed without wasting a heap of $'s. Finally decided to build a frame to take the roof top whilst retaining the canvas back, and making provision for the 2nd spare to stand vertically in the back. The design has 4 plates on top of the frame and sitting under the canvas which will bolt to an external frame for the camper. Damage is a series of 4 X 4 bolt holes which could have a patch sewn over if I wanted to return to standard. We bent up the hoops in position and spot welded it all up. The frame sits on top of the tub and bolts down and also in from the side. 
The spare will bolt tot he support bracing.
My son welding up the frame.
The frame will be finished over the next couple of nights with the Hannibal roof top due to be ready early next week. I have already stripped out the rear seats and will be doing some storage shelving and a 60L water tank. Installed the frame for the roof top today after finishing it during the week and giving it a coat of roll bar paint. [img] [URL=http:640:425:548c77b62f]https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/i.hubnuts.uk/xpb/5c/5c77e2c73315016e5c5b3b3fe6ba7d9f34122d07a02121d521295070e20c4308.jpg[/img:548c77b62f] Frame for the roof top then bolted on through the canvas. Roof top due to be ready Tuesday afternoon if the plan holds together.
Used the polyurethans pads I used for my roof rack either side of the canvas to ensure a water tight seal and also protect the canvas from the edges of the steel plates. With the next trip covering 10,000kms with about 6,000 on dirt, a hole in the canvas is something I can do without.
Also got a start on the shelf for where the rear seat used to be and should finish tomorrow with the sill tank bash plates the following weekend.....just starting to run out of weekends. Knocked up most of the rear shelves today. Still need to do some dividers which will bolt on top to stop stuff sliding around. The security mesh frames top and bottom protect my power board which has inverter, fuses etc, and the amp which are mounted on the back of the cab, normally out of sight behind the seats. The board on the floor has holes cut in where the bolts heads for the seats are. This gives a flat area as the last thing you need on corrugations is something like a 5l oil container rubbing a hole in it on an exposed bolt head.
The power board is powered from the dual battery so I made provision to run the cable thru the frame to keep it out of the way.
Bit of silicon around the seat bolts to make sure red dust doesn’t come thru
All the bracket fixings utilise existing points in the Defender with the exception of one each side to stop the bottom screen from moving forward/back. For that I used a stainless nutsert which goes into the wheel arch. The gap behind the drivers seat is for a 60 L water tank which will feed water to the back of the truck, hopefully one night this week!
All the goodies starting to come together, which is just as well as we leave Monday week. Picking up the roof top tent from Hannibal this afternoon...getting Big Kev excited! This is the plan for the trip. Basically I am planning to cross Australia from East coast to west and return with as much dirt road as possible. Black line is going out Brisbane –Thargomindah – Innanminka - Innaminka Track to Lyndhurst – Marree – Ooodnadatta track to William Creek – Coober Pedy – start the Anne Beadell Highway – Centre Line track from Anne Beadell to 250 mile and then 350 mile pegs – Dingo claypan – Emu including the 2 ground zeros from Atomic tests – Kalgoorlie - Perth and green line the return leg. Perth – Kalgoorlie – Follow Trans Continental Rail Line to Rawlinna, - Connie Sue Highway to Warburton – Sandy Blight Junction Rd – Alice Spring – Plenty Highway to Boulia and back to Brisbane. Basically I am looking to cover as many of Len Beadells tracks as possible.
The guys at Hannibal fitted the roof top on last night. Not as neat as it will end up when I eventually do the tray/slide on conversion but will get us through this trip without breaking the bank.
Still tossing up between stilts/small ladder/toe holds in the body work/wife on my shoulders, to reach it but sure I'll come up with something before we leave! Did a cut and shut job on the cargo barrier I originally made for the H3
Has come up nice and strong. Will not have anything really heavy on the top shelve but better safe then sorry...
60L water tank left over from the H3 as well fits in nicely. Deliberately left it exposed on top as it makes it so much easier to fill and my camera bag can open onto it. Going to run it to the back of the truck with a spout and power button.
Plenty of room for spares, tools and power pack under the shelf.
I braced back to the centre pillar and also the rear seat belt mount to keep it all nice and solid. [img] [URL=http:640:425:548c77b62f]https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/i.hubnuts.uk/xpb/12/12d72bbdb8dcc7240edcb40fcfc4136c6b1007ac6b7f98ff01b658598f28d963.jpg[/img:548c77b62f] Back on the trail of storing things efficiently and came up with this to carry my Tripod. Bit of bent ally and some neoprene strip with adhesive on one side to protect the tripod. The little occy's are the ball end type to make it easy to clip in and out.
Also got onto the ladder issue and came up with this which is light and folds flat. The other issue is that I needed to get to the top of the wheel as the best height especially for closing the roof top.
Still working my way through the list of things to be done before we leave. Wanted to have easy access for the steps as they are the first things needed every over night stop.
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10th Nov 2014 8:45pm |
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50
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Been held up for ages finishing the rocker rails and bash plates to protect the sill tanks.....finally, and am I happy to get this one off the list , but very happy with the end result.
Had some sheet folded up Click image to enlarge Welded some socket nuts on for fixing
Put rivnuts into the chassis rail to bolt the other side up
Bolted them on and Bob’s your uncle
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Always like it as easy as possible for the good lady when we are away. Fel;t bad her having to lift the 20L water containers around so I plumbed it all in for her! Water at the tailgate where the cooking etc it done saves a lot of messing around. Also has the light switch for an LED mounted on one of the hoops.
Also fitted the Thumper which doubles as a back up cranking battery and also backs up the dual battery. As I travel alone a fair bit, it pays to have a back up system for everything!
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13th Nov 2014 8:05pm |
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50
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. As background information, Len Beadell was an army surveyor who cut roads thru the virgin bush in the 50's and 60's. He drove an army Land Rover and was followed by a D10, Grader and chuck wagon. It all revolved around the rocket and atomic testing being done at Woomera, Emu and Maralinga by you British lot!
Len found, recommended and subsequently surveyed all of those sights. As I had already covered a couple of thousand k’s to get to Coober Pedy and was about to start the Anne Beadell Highway, another of his tracks named after his wife when I found the post and decided to do a “small detour.” This is remote Aussie bush. The Centre Line track was cut by Len in 1951 and in fact is the centre line of fire from the launch pad at Woomera and he cut a track along it and placed pegs with canvas paged to the ground to form X's at 50 mile intervals for markers for observation from the air. The Edijt's boys from the AULRO forum had done the track 2.5 months before me in a convoy of 4 vehicles with 2 ex surveyors on board. The last entry in the visitor book before them was 2007! I was on my own and 400kms from the nearest help so this is how it went..... I was sitting at Coober Pedy waiting to leave for the Anne Beadell the next day and cruising around the forum when I found Bushie's Centre Line post. Firstly a massive thank you to Bushie for his help in very short time which enabled me to follow their footsteps. Without his help I would not have done it, being on my own but I was well prepared and with a copy of their Ozi Explorer track log and hopefully some tyre tracks to follow I set off. The track wasn't that evident once you got along it a bit as the prevailing winds had erased EDJITS tracks in places which made things interesting.
Greeting me the first morning....only a 1 plug fix
Unfortunately when I went to fix the flat, I found that my trusty old 2nd battery had died and as the pump was connected to it, I had to rig up a by pass....this was doubly important as the fridge was also connected to the doggy battery and the beer was getting warm.
One thing I did forget in the packing was a jack plate for in the sand.... am sure I am not the first Defender driver to use the cover from under the seat..
The track was pretty tight between the mulga and took plenty with me..by the end of the track there was about a .6m of leaves and sticks between the back of the cab and the canvas on the crew cab
Reaching the 250 mile peg was really exciting. Len had been in this exact spot and done his thing in 1951, 4 years before I was born and the condition of what he left was amazing. Some of the original mallee pegs to hold the stretched canvas markers were still there!
A quick satellite phone call to Bushie to thank him for his help and a bit of a leg on trying to find the astro station and I was exploring again. As this had not been part of my original plan, I didn't have a Garmin with me but drawing on all the available resources the white painted rock with Edjits post nearby by were found with my...IPhone...
The heaviest going was between the 250 and Dingo claypan and I took a wrong option at a Y in the tyre tracks and whilst turning around....you guessed it, staked a side wall which needed 4 plugs. The investment in the tyre monitoring system paid for itself right there as I am sure I would probably shredded the tyre if I hadn't been able to stop so quickly before it started running on the rim. By now I had decided to fix the tyre as much as possible as it was likely to get staked again anyway and this was the same tyre I had already plugged.
Between Dingo Claypan and the 300, the track is well defined and I assumed that it followed the original track but when I got to the 300 and checked the screen, I saw how much it deviated and how Edjits had followed the original track. No option but to head bush until I picked up their tracks and followed it until it met up with the main track again. Some one else wasn't quite so keen on their new option and placed logs across their track..
The 300 mile marker is more readily accessible so gets a lot more traffic but it was still a thrill for a history buff like me to get there. They re-surveyed the marker and as you can see, old Len wasn’t too far out with his star observations and calculations.
Again a massive thank you to Bushie. This was of enormous help. My only regret is I didn't recover your pre cleaner for you! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just found some extra pics of the trip which I thought might be of interest. The track was virtually non existent especially on top of the dune and the western faces where the prevailing wind quickly erase any evidence of tyre tracks. The tracks seen in the photo are mine as I backed up to take the pic. Basically I was using the navigation but at times would walk out at 45 degrees and then back across where I thought the track would be to try and pick it up as it inevitable saved driving over even more tree roots which quickly stake tyres.
The original mallee wood stakes driven in by Len and his party in 1951..amazing how they have survived.
Dingo claypan. The last time some one followed the sign to the 250 Mile marker from this direction I believe was in 2007.
Spent the night on the claypan
Even cooked up some tucker
The sun set was fantastic
Few more shots from the 300 mile marker
The original peg marking the spot of the astro station
The sign on the new 300 mile post. As you can see in the earlier pic, Len wasn’t too far out!
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16th Nov 2014 11:29pm |
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50
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Am I posting the trip stuff in the wrong area?
I just see it as part of the build being used for how it was designed. Hope that's OK |
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17th Nov 2014 11:46pm |
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| Cheshire110 Member Since: 26 Jul 2013 Location: Cheshire/London Posts: 2751 
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Really nice thread to read through there
hopefully one day i'll have the time and ability to take on and complete jobs to that level. As always with you upside down folk, your scenery is making me jealous! you really have a huge wealth of places to explore don't you ! and what better way to do it?? Cheers, David Land Rovers of all shapes S3 onwards… Daily is a 110 V8. |
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18th Nov 2014 12:06am |
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50
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We are very lucky I must admit but the scenery in the bush does make a nice change from looking up kilts when we look north!
One of my long term goals was to do all Len's tracks in a Defender as he did all of the survey work in army Series. |
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18th Nov 2014 1:19am |
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| couplands Member Since: 31 Aug 2011 Location: Peak District & Cornwall Posts: 1826 
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This is a great thread, your skills are first class, your innovations and ideas second to none and the road trip is a delight to read.
Very inspiring and keep posting.. 
Cheers Simon |
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18th Nov 2014 7:24am |
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| Tiger Member Since: 06 Jul 2012 Location: Wales Posts: 2265 
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Brilliant stuff
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18th Nov 2014 7:29am |
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| shaggydog Member Since: 12 Aug 2012 Location: Kent Posts: 3347 
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Christ Britain is dull..... Fantastic thread very envious of your skills and surroundings! Running Restoration Thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/post323197.html#323197
Self confessed mileage hunter  |
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18th Nov 2014 1:04pm |
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50
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The Anne Beadell runs from Coober Pedy in South Australia in an east-west direction,1,350kms across the Great Victoria Desert to Laverton, north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
Coober Pedy is a pretty wild opal mining town int he outback where it gets so hot, over half the people live under ground.
The country has more holes in it than a piece of Swiss cheese with every hole accompanied by a mound of dirt. [/URL][/img]
This track crosses the restricted weapons testing area of Woomera which was the catalyst for all of the tracks I have been doing. All about access for monitoring equipment. [/URL][/img]
Also had to cross some of our Indigenous brothers country which required "special" permission only given to really good looking blokes. [/URL][/img]
Some great bush camping perfect for cracking a coldie with no one for 200kms in any direction. [/URL][/img]
The "highway" was Lens idea of a joke as it was cut as the double blade width of a D10 and over the years has widened a bit as people have tried to avoid the corrugations. These days it is just wall to wall corrugations which can be driven at speeds of under 5kms/hr or over 60kms/hr. Anything in between has the dash jumping into your lap. [/URL][/img]
The Poms set off a couple of atomic bombs at Emu in 1953 and this is me at ground zero. Eyes only glowed at night for a couple of days!!!! [/URL][/img]
The bombs were detonated above ground from towers and the effect on the tower footings are self evident .The only other known man made force equal to or greater is that exerted on Gunner_45's toilet bowl on a daily basis. [/URL][/img]
Still some equipment left behind in the desert at Emu Claypan which was used as the airstrip. [/URL][/img]
This more like it...long straight 2 wheel track over many many sand dunes... nugget country... [/URL][/img]
The old track is still there but over grown in sections and now by passed [/URL][/img]
Neale Junction is the intersection of 2 of Lens tracks..the Anne Beadell and the Connie Sue named after his wife and his daughter. [/URL][/img]
[/URL][/img]
A light plane went down 10kms off the track aver 20 years ago....still in pretty good nick [/URL][/img]
Some spectacular country Yeo Homestead is still in great nick [/URL][/img]
Even a first class bush shower..flash stuff in this neck of the woods.... [/URL][/img]
The young bull and the old bull fighting over who was going to get to pose with the Defender [/URL][/img]
Sorry about some of the photos being off colour but a setting got changed on one of my cameras with out me realising. Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated |
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18th Nov 2014 8:24pm |
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| GSLRO Member Since: 13 May 2012 Location: Tyne and Wear Posts: 499 
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Excellent read both travels and modifications
 Adventure isn't paved! |
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18th Nov 2014 8:40pm |
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50
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Thanks all...glad you are enjoying.
Cheers |
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18th Nov 2014 8:45pm |
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| Pickles Member Since: 26 May 2013 Location: Melbourne Posts: 3784 
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Hello from sunny downtown Melbourne.
AWESOME thread Nugget,.....you could do a TV doco!! I am enjoying, Pickles. |
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18th Nov 2014 9:26pm |
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| nugge t Member Since: 03 Apr 2014 Location: Brisbane Posts: 50
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Hey Pickles..thanks for the vote but I have been told I have a great head for radio
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18th Nov 2014 9:32pm |
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