Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hmmmmmm ......Not sure. I know it came from LA Sport. Hopefully Grant has a look in here. He will be able to give you loads more info on that.

I have a secondhand ONCA bullbar with high lift jack points, but for the 98-2004 model. It can be modified to fit your model, but takes a little work apparently. Let me know

http://www.patrol4x4.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=3737

Thank you Cedric. At this point in time they bull bar is relatively low down my priority list. My experience is that for general over landing you do not really need that or a winch – only for the pretty extreme stuff. I will get there, but in due course. Right now it is firstly a question of trying to figure out whether to "roofrack or tow", sort out seat covers, load liners drawers and so forth. As you know, it all adds up pretty quickly so one really does need to prioritise in the early days.

Absolutely... slowly slowly does it best...

Don't forget to post a few pics of your Patrol so we can all drooooooooooool a bit !!

if you are looking for stuff like drawer systems ect speak to angus he works from his house in centorion comes highly recommended
i dont like to plough so if you can get away with a roof rack and no trailer do it but it all depends on your amount of people and where you are going

ricster wrote:Absolutely... slowly slowly does it best...

Don't forget to post a few pics of your Patrol so we can all drooooooooooool a bit !!

Okay Cedric – it is though simply a rather boring plain white vehicle. The colour though is quite practical, heat perspective and from a repair perspective.

Tinus lotz wrote:if you are looking for stuff like drawer systems ect speak to angus he works from his house in centorion comes highly recommended
i dont like to plough so if you can get away with a roof rack and no trailer do it but it all depends on your amount of people and where you are going

Tinus, traditionally I have avoided trailers like the plague – but then you need to see that in the context of the vehicle I had as well. I suspect that I may end up getting a comparatively small and light trailer. But we will see.

I will indeed be looking for drawers systems and the like. In fact I have been looking around the web already and trying to figure out where a water tank is going to go and how best to configure the load bay, bearing in mind that I will need to be able to remove things relatively easily as well for when the configuration of the vehicle needs to change because of the nature of the trip .

Where do I contact Angus?

Clem my car has a total capacity of 200l. The main tank is around 140l and the second tank about 60-65. I am not sure, as I bought the car with them, but I believe they were made by Silverton Radiators in Krugersdorp. They are mild steel which is less suscepible to stress cracking than stainless, it might be worth giving them a call.

Note that you will need wheels of at least 16" to clear your brake calipers. I have a "smiths"-type rim for my second spare (but 15" since those fit on my older model), and it fitted without a hitch, although the offset is somewhat different. I also found aftermarket mags with a good offset, although I had to have a buddy of mine machine them out slightly to fit the centre spigot. One of the forum members was involved in an accident a couple of weeks ago, and his car has just been written off, but I suspect some of the wheels should still be OK. Tinus can give you the owner's contacts.

But I would like to add a controversial suggestion: I believe most tire failures are as a result of driving for extended periods with a wheel that is slowly losing pressure, causing a fatal heat buildup. I believe these failures can be avoided by fitting a tire monitoring system, and this should reduce the need for a sixth wheel in most situations?

These things now cost less than one tire!

Peter Connan wrote:Clem my car has a total capacity of 200l. The main tank is around 140l and the second tank about 60-65. I am not sure, as I bought the car with them, but I believe they were made by Silverton Radiators in Krugersdorp. They are mild steel which is less suscepible to stress cracking than stainless, it might be worth giving them a call.

Note that you will need wheels of at least 16" to clear your brake calipers. I have a "smiths"-type rim for my second spare (but 15" since those fit on my older model), and it fitted without a hitch, although the offset is somewhat different. I also found aftermarket mags with a good offset, although I had to have a buddy of mine machine them out slightly to fit the centre spigot. One of the forum members was involved in an accident a couple of weeks ago, and his car has just been written off, but I suspect some of the wheels should still be OK. Tinus can give you the owner's contacts.

But I would like to add a controversial suggestion: I believe most tire failures are as a result of driving for extended periods with a wheel that is slowly losing pressure, causing a fatal heat buildup. I believe these failures can be avoided by fitting a tire monitoring system, and this should reduce the need for a sixth wheel in most situations?

These things now cost less than one tire!

Peter, an excellent suggestion on the tyre monitor! It is something I should look into again. My tyre losses have always been as a result of some penetration or another; sometimes a piece of steel; on one occasion a sharp rock; on yet other occasions sticks and the like (yes I know, one would not expect it). The problem is when you badly damage a tyre in such a manner that you cannot plug it. I have on occasion carried an appropriately sized tube and some sheets of thickish rubber, so as to be able to create a crude internal patch that would enable me to keep moving, albeit slowly for safety reasons on such a very jerryrigged affair. An alternative is for me to carry my tyre pliers (which enable one to break the bead), my decent set of Gedore tyre levers and a high-volume compressor and simply to fit a new tyre when necessary. These alloy rims nowadays are unbelievably strong and virtually indestructible so almost invariably it is the tyre that gets ruined while the rim is still fine. But to be frank, a whole wheel is a lot easier to deal with. Also, given the nature of the family at the moment a small trailer is going to be called for at some point and I will need to set it up with an axle that matches the track of the vehicle and with interchangeable wheels, as far as possible. But that is a matter for a few weeks or months from now.

Very much off topic, I apologise, but:
I am in fact busy with this very exercise right as we speak (speccing a trailer that is), and have provisionally come to a fairly unorthodox conclusion: I am purposely use smaller tires on my trailer than on my car.

There are a variety of reasons, but basically:
Firstly, and most importantly is the factor of cost. 30"x9.5"x15" are 60% of the cost of the 33"x12.5"x15" currntly on my car. The price of three of these is a substantial proportion of the cost of my trailer build.
Secondly, the next time I buy tires for my car, they will be of a different (as yet undetermined) size.
Thirdly, I want to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible. The difference in the wheels makes about 100mm difference in my trailer's centre of gravity as the design currently stands, or about 10 degrees on the rollover angle, which is surprisingly substantial.
Fourthly, the 30"x9.5"x15" is a very common size, far more so than what's on the car, thus making field replacement less problematic

Having said all that though, the rims will fit on the car, and the trailer will accept the car's wheels.

Furthermore, I suspect that the trailer should have a slightly narrower track than the car. I realize that this will make it harder to pull through soft stuff, but I also believe it will reduce the risk of punctures and sidewall damage substancially when negotiating twisty twee-spoor tracks.

Peter you raise some very novel and interesting points. There's something to think about in that lot.