AG9111's UN-Bootylicious MN

[mjc85]

Doesn't it annoy you having to change wheels when you want to play? What if you decide to play while work? I know I have a few times, gone for a quick 4x4 in that cool looking mud puddle on the way to a job.

[ag9111]

I dont really have that sort of oppurtunity with my job. I also cart a lot of customers around with me at times so cant have a set of howling muddies on all the time.
Using up the standard stuff and will get another set of H/T's due to the distance I travel on the blacktop. I dont mind the standard rubber and dont think they are dangerous. Saying that I know there is better stuff out there, there definetly not top shelf. Takes me longer to get the tyres oout from under the house than it does to change them over.
I also think mud is like unprotected sex. 15 sec of fun for a lifetime of grief. Mud were I live is full of sand and chews everything out real quick. Not a fan of playing in the mud.

[ag9111]

Been a while since i have updated this thread but have done heaps to the ute. Getting the ute ready for our simpson trip in august so have added an ARB Delux Bullbar and a terrain Tamer Winch

First thing you do to a brand new winch is pull it apart and attack it with an angle grinder to make it fit






Pretty impressed with the bar and it weighs heaps more than the ironman bar i had
Mounted the control box under the bonnet in front of the battery as I dont like the look of a control box mounted on the front bar





Also mounted the Cibie Oscar spotlights that are now 18 years old and still going strong. Had them color matched when I had the canopy sprayed. Have mounted the UHF Aerial on the passenger side Tab and the 27MHZ CB Aerial on the drivers tab. Mounted the UHF radio on the passenger side under the glove box. Not the best spot but there insnt a lot of options on the MN

[aff38]

Hi ag911
Did you have to cut the front bumper and flares?

[ag9111]

Chop, Chop dont be scared.

[Tony]

What did you have to trim off the winch? Bar looks good.

[ag9111]

The winch was designed to be mounted on top of a bar like on a 45 series cruiser, aka Roothy. The cluch end shield was not designed to rotate but needed to so i could get to the clutch handle.I ground away the locking pin and rotated the end shield 72 deg so it was accessible from on top instead of punching through the radiator.
Made it do what I wanted it to. Not all winches are like this and the end shields are designed to rotate for multiple mounting options.
Bar looks familiar Tony

[Wallace]

Nice job Garth.....more to come before the trip......

[ag9111]

Lots more Mark. Most of its done, just need to upload

[4wd26]

So was that a ML bar on a MN, or the ARB MN bar.

Just, your doing some things different need that info to be sure.

[ag9111]

Yeah sorry. My job is to make things work together so i'm not scared to try different things, if I've done the research and I believe there is a possibility of success.
In this case it is just a boring MN bar on a MN. ML Ironman bar, was told looked ugly on a MN and the ML ARB bar left big holes so happy to wait for the MN bar.
Look like putting an ML snorkel on though

[Tony]

Be interesting how you go about that snorkel. I've had a look at mine and it seems a few things have to be relocated. The outer bit is the same anyway The bar was worth the wait

[borngeek]

bar looks REALLY GOOD Garth! Well done
//look forward to more simpson trip stuff too there mate

[daryn]

What have you done with the front coils AG?

[ag9111]

What do you mean Daryn?

[daryn]

Last we spoke you had a kit in the shed to go on but you were thinking of maybe changing the coil type as i had some problems initially, now with the bar and winch I was curious how you ended up, like mine, that's a fair bit of weight now up front, and you probably have more than me.

[borngeek]

looks higher there in the photos??? more to come

[ag9111]

looks higher there in the photos??? more to come

FAIL

Sorry BG but all photos taken on Standard Suspension and Tyres. Have fitted a lift kit since though

In answer to your question Daryn. I went back to Ultimate and had the heavy duty suspension kit installed as is.

Picked up the dreaded SHUUUUUUDDDDDDDDER.

Yes, this is not supposed to happen to an MN. Have spoken to Ken and was working only around the corner from them the other day. Dropped the car in for an hour so they could have a look, they are going to get same gearbox spacers and a tailshaft spacer. I've already flipped the center bearing.

[ag9111]

Inside creature comforts have been looked after.
replaced the standard stereo which is mounted in the trip computer position on the ML with a DVD player mounted in the normal position. there is usually a singlr din pocket in this position. Where the stereo was , now sits a touch screen for the carputer.



The carputer resides under the passenger seat and pokes out towards the door. Built the carputer from components purchased maily of the internet.



Mainly running oziexplorer and turn by turn navigation

[al coholic]

Looking good mate.........

[subi_man]

Nice

[ag9111]

Back from the simpson/outback trip so before I get into that trip report I have to sort through the 948 photos that we took, will start a new thread on that so I will finish the mods that I did to the ute before the trip.

Any truck needs decent tyres and suspension, so on went a set of 6 cooper ST's in LT265/75/16 and the ultimate suspension. You've all seen lifted and tired trucks before so I wont throw up heaps of photos but I must admit that the suspension is a vast improvement over the old and the tyres certainly give me greater confidence over the original. Picked up all 6 tyres second hand of Ebay for $1000. 5 about 95% worn and one brand new gotta love that



Decided that I needed to get better organised in the rear so made up a frame that takes a 60l water tank, 2nd battery and the fridge slide with a shelf over the lot.





all the steel and wood was lying around home, as left overs from other projects. Salvaged a shipping box from the garbage bin at work to make the drawers out of. There is nothing special here like runners and bearings as this is a unit that willl be pulled out till the next big trip. The drawers are huge, one took all the tools and spares as well as 10L of oil and a lot of other stuff. Well worth the $0 I spent on them



The tank was plumbed up to a gravity feed tape with a breather out the top. I had multiple ciggie outlets for lights and a heavy duty 20A supply for my invertor which I never used.





I had 3 cheap Bunnings recyling boxes sitting on the top shelf, across the front of the tray. Every thing fitted in perfectly, chairs, stove, tent cutlery box, etc etc.

Total cost for the shelf unit excluding tank and fridge slide, which I already had, was $40. Bunnings boxes were another $27. Was a little worried about my welding as it had been 15 years since i last welded but everything held together over the trip so more than happy

[Joe]

Good job ag. I love it when this sort of stuff costs next to nothing and it's very satisfying when you've done it yourself.

Looking forward to the trip report

[ultimate]

Nice work Ag. Can't wait to see the rest of the photos.

[ag9111]

Ta Dad. Still walking around with a chubby from that one. The only work I havent done on the ute is the suspension as that was an insurance company requirement, but I did do the suspension on my ML.

That brings me to Brendon.
That suspension was incredible Brendon. Fully loaded with 140L of diesel, 120L of water, six tyres, and all the other crap I took, it performed brilliantly. Developed a squeak on the simpson but that was due to the mud between the leaves. Doing 110KPH on the highway fully loaded, sat and cornered really well. 20KPH in 4 high in the rough stuff it didn't rebound, it just got on with job. Very happy with it on the trip. God I sound like Daryn
Soon as i unloaded when I got home, the shudder is back. Have 10000K under the suspension now, all fully loaded, so will give you a call as to the fixes Ken recommended