Thread: Urgent Advice - Would you buy this 4WD?

Originally Posted by trapperjohn

Hmmm,, maybe the fellas that feel they need to trick out there 4x4 of the 2020's are the children of the soccer moms of the 1990's.
Think about it.

Hey guys,

For anyone interested, we got a 2006 Prado, petrol, auto with 105k kms. Absolutely love it. In mint condition apart from some cracks on the dash… no towbar and never had one, and according to the mechanic it doesnt look like its ever been off-road.

Continuing on the theme above, what mods do you consider crucial? We need roof racks for storage, but aside from that, what do we need to be doing given we just want a really capable vehicle that can take us all over the South Island camping… the more opportunities to go deep off road, the better.

Thoughts?


Cheers,
Mitch

Originally Posted by Mitcho

Hey guys,

For anyone interested, we got a 2006 Prado, petrol, auto with 105k kms. Absolutely love it. In mint condition apart from some cracks on the dash… no towbar and never had one, and according to the mechanic it doesnt look like its ever been off-road.

Continuing on the theme above, what mods do you consider crucial? We need roof racks for storage, but aside from that, what do we need to be doing given we just want a really capable vehicle that can take us all over the South Island camping… the more opportunities to go deep off road, the better.

Thoughts?


Cheers,
Mitch

Put some decent tyres on it, and use it as is for now. You will soon find out the limitations of the vehicle and yourselves. Then you can fit whatever you have discovered you need to push past those previous limits, safely.
All the modifications in the world won’t help you if you make a poor decision through inexperience.

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Thanks… I like that advice.

Below is a poc if the current tyres on there… any suggestions on what I should go for? A good mud terrain tyre?

Originally Posted by Mitcho

Hey guys,

For anyone interested, we got a 2006 Prado, petrol, auto with 105k kms. Absolutely love it. In mint condition apart from some cracks on the dash… no towbar and never had one, and according to the mechanic it doesnt look like its ever been off-road.

Continuing on the theme above, what mods do you consider crucial? We need roof racks for storage, but aside from that, what do we need to be doing given we just want a really capable vehicle that can take us all over the South Island camping… the more opportunities to go deep off road, the better.

Thoughts?


Cheers,
Mitch

Have a look at where the air intake is located. Factory it may be halfway down the rear of the passengers side front wheel, a sure recipe for a hydraulic in a splash crossing. Without a snorkel just unclipping the top of the aircleaner drum for a crossing will mean the engine sucks air from high under the bonnet which is fine for a 'top of the tires' crossing. Do the clips up again when past the water.

If your not happy with the tyres on it now, then a decent all terrain would likely serve you better than a mud terrain. There’s a lot of rocky river beds, and plenty of long driving stints where a mud tyre is not the best. But I’d probably use it as is, they sell tyres in the South Island, if you find they’re not up to it.


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Do not buy MTs. They will hammer your fuel consumption, wear out fast on the coarse S Island chip and cost more to buy.

Use the ones you have until they have ~5mm of tread. Then buy a sensible mid-range set of ATs like Khumo, Maxxis, Hankook, whatever. With the stage you are at in experience and probably life in general you will be doing the vast majority of mileage on the black top and you do not need to be wearing out an expensive set of proper off-road tires.

As you start to explore off-road the only thing you need for that vehicle is a compressor and tyre pressure gauge. Buy a half decent one that can pump a 17” 265 tyre reasonably fast. When you get off-road - as in properly off-road - drop the pressure in your tires. Have a look at some of tyre pressure charts for different conditions, and have a copy with you.

Appropriate tyre pressure for the conditions makes all the difference. It is a critical element of successful, enjoyable 4WDing. Thing is, as soon as you hit the blacktop, you need to return them to normal highway pressure.

When I first started getting into the serious stuff in Africa I was schooled by a chap in Cape Town who had driven the length and breadth of the continent. He had a little ditty he used to kind of sing / shout, over and over… WEIGHT IS THE ENEMY, DA DA DA… [Repeat]

My advice would be to resist the urge to fit things like roof racks and fill it up with heavy stuff. Roof racks also kill fuel consumption. Rather spend that money on good quality, robust but lightweight and low volume camping gear, and scale down, you don’t need as much stuff as you think you do. Ideally, fit a cargo rack and work out a modular packing system. It is great fun (I’m a packing nerd) and a good system makes travel and camping an awful lot more enjoyable. I use Frontrunner Wolfpacks. You would be amazed how much gear you can fit in a Prado, but there is nothing worse than an overstuffed chaotic 4WD.

Do you have kids?

Brilliant… thanks so much, again!

No kids at this stage, although we do have a Rotty and a Bulldog with us. The first thing I did was pull out all the seats except the front two… so now trying to figure out how to make the most of the space, whilst leaving just enough room behind the front seats for the hounds.

Could you please clarify what you mean by a cargo cage?

I see myself needing to become a ‘packing nerd’ also…


Cheers,
Mitch

Sorry I meant to say cargo barrier. One of these:



if you pack unwisely and then have an accident where you suddenly decelerate, your luggage will remove the back of your skull unless it is safely contained. You also don’t want your gear crushing your dogs.

Ahh OK I’m with you. That makes sense… I can set the cargo barrier back a bit to leave room for the dogs (and build some kind of platform to level it out)… and then just get good at packing the heck out of the cargo area.

Ironman 4x4 are about to lose a chunky payday… woops. Will get the compressor and Wolfpacks on the go.

Thanks again Flyblown and MSL.


Cheers!
Mitch

Winches are fine and dandy, but you can end up chasing your tail, and carting a shitload of extra weight twice around the South Island, and use it once.

Minimum for me would be: Air compressor or hand pump: dog turd tubeless tyre repair kit: spade: hand saw: A decent polyprop rope: Possibly a 2T come along hand winch. All up weight about 20kg.

What XR500 says, plus 4x MaxTrax. I use the MaxTrax to get myself out, and my winch is generally to get others out. Maxtrax are brilliant things.

Wow… thanks again guys… really generous with your time there. Really appreciate it. That gives me plenty of food for thought, and will save me a good bit of cash.

Have an awesome week!


Cheers,
Mitch

Polyester ropes for towing.
Nylon straps (snatch straps) for recovery, the 20% stretch that you get in a recovery strop aids in the recovery, the stored energy works like a rubber band and helps pull the stuck vehicle out once the strap reaches it full length.

Yep. My mistake. I've got 35mm dia Polyester ropes I have spliced up for hauling things with the tractor a dozer. Lovely and light and almost no stretch. Just what you need for attaching a hand winch to something immovable.

Bicycle track pump. Slays a foot pump for reinflating tyres. Or theres always an electric pump. But manual stuff is more reliable and fixable IMO.

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