josh_cod's GL-R

[josh_cod]

I have been admiring everyones rigs for some time now and thought it was about time to show everyone what I have done to mine.

My first car was an 80 series cruiser, which I had for 5 years. It was starting to cost me way too much to maintain and every service was uncovering something else. So it was either spend up big, or upgrade.

I decided to upgrade, but hadn’t yet decided what to get: new or second hand?, wagon or dual cab? etc. I decided on a dual cab and then did a lot of research. I settled on the Triton and was looking for one second hand until the end of year sales came along. With the discounts available, I decided to go for the new GL-R with diff lock and was told it would be about 2 weeks. When I went to pay the deposit, I was told “sorry, it looks like all the others have been sold already, there are none left in the country, you will have to wait a couple of months.” 3 ½ months later, I drove away with my brand new vehicle built and delivered within the same month. This was the day I got it.


It didn’t take long for the mods to start taking shape with the Razorback Canopy placed on order pretty quickly to protect my gear in the tub. I chose the Razorback over the other brands because I liked the look of them as they look like they are a part of the vehicle. The central locking is amazing, I love it and i can imagine how much of a hassle it would be without it. The only negative I have about the canopy so far is the dust sealing in it. It needs a lot of work around the bottom corners. This is the only place I got dust in, but I got a lot in.


Whilst waiting for the canopy I couldn’t leave the car alone and I needed to add something, so I went to my local dealer and purchased headlight protectors, weathershields, bonnet protector and floor mats.


I got some neoprene seat covers from ‘The Wetseat’ made up front and back and I also got some new bash plates through Baysie (thanks mate) which were an easy swap.


Not long after that I added an ORS drawer system in the tub. This includes a 65Lt water tank, which sits at the same level as the drawers right up against the headboard, accessed by a gravity fed line out the back. The drawers gave me a great spot to mount my Engel fridge. The fridge fit perfectly on top of the drawers and I purchased a platinum drop slide to give me easy access. Touring with this set-up made it so easy to access all the gear, water and fridge and without a trailer I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I also got the liner to protect the tailgate when it is used as a bench.


I had a big trip to Central Aus coming up fast, so the next mods happened real quick. I had the colour coded ARB bullbar, Icom IC-400pro UHF, Hella Rally FF4000 driving lights and the Safari Snorkel fitted.


I extended my cruising range with a Brown and Davis 135Ltr Long Range Fuel Tank to replace the factory tank. This tank is about 10L bigger than all the other brands, however it does come with a drawback - it sits proud a couple of mm's below the chasis rails. Hopefully this won't be a problem.

I then took the vehicle down to the boys at Ultimate Suspension to get the vehicle ready for the big trip. I wasn't sure if I was going to get the full setup or just an upgrade to the factory setup. The feedback on this site alone was enough to make me get the full setup, which I did and have no complaints.


I then got the wheels and tyres done. As a number of you would be aware from posts at the time, I had quite a bit of trouble convinvcing some people that 265/75/16 tyres would fit. So after I got my head around the offsets of different wheels, I decided on the Cooper Discover ST Maxx's in the 265/75/16 size. I had cooper ST's on my cruiser the whole time I had it, and loved them. So I decided to get the new ST Maxx's to give them a go. I got what I think was a good deal on 6 tyres fitted and balanced on to black steel 'King Wheel' rims. My neighbour who is a metal worker, fixed me up a spacer/adaptor so I could hang the steel wheel under the vehicle on the original hanger. He did an awesome job, I just gave him the photos that fridgie put up and he said 'oh yer, is that all you want, too easy'.

these are the tyres after my 11000km trip

Next to go in was a dual battery system, which being the GL-R, had a perfect space bahind the rear seat for the setup. I decided to go for two batteries, as I sometimes like to stay in the same place for a while, and these two 105AH batteries will allow me to keep the fridge and some lights running for about a week without needing to go for a drive. I got a redarc 40Amp dc-dc charger installed under the bonnet for fast charging and battery maintenance, 2 x 12 volt outlets went into the tub and a piranha digital voltmeter is in the cab to keep an eye on both the dual batteries as well as the main.

this setup leaves the jack and jack handle in place, with only the wheel brace needing to be relocated

this is where the redarc unit is mounted

The last addition before I left on my trip was the rhino roof rack mounted on the canopy. This was where I placed the second spare, alongside some additional camping gear.


n.b. edited to fix photo links

[Cowboy Dave]

That's awesome mate, a great and well thought out build-up in what looks like a very short time. Very jealous of that as it's taken me 18 months to get not even half as far with mine.

[Adam ace]

Second that, well planed and thought out

[josh_cod]

Thanks guys, yer it was very quick. about three months from purchase to this stage. I had a big trip planned and thought I might as well do it all before hand as it was all going to go on eventually.

[helicoptercow]

good write up josh. rigs looking sweet

[reeldreamer]

Nice looking truck mate!

[har05l]

Awesome build josh , wish I could have got to the stage your at before I caned the life out of mine

Keep the up dates coming

[snowman]

very nice.

might have to catch up - very interested in your rear drawer setup.

how did the tyres go on the trip? any punctures?

[patto]

very nice.

might have to catch up - very interested in your rear drawer setup.

how did the tyres go on the trip? any punctures?

Definatley want to look at that draw system....

[ratstriton]

Great write up and build mate it looks the good's.

[josh_cod]

thanks again everyone.

very nice.

might have to catch up - very interested in your rear drawer setup.

how did the tyres go on the trip? any punctures?

Definatley want to look at that draw system....

Snowman and patto, i'll be more than happy to catch up and show you the drawer system. After my trip there is definately one improvement I want to make, and that is the access to the water. At the moment it is from a gravity fed hose that comes out the back of the drawers through a small hole at the bottom. At the start, when storing the hose, I had the hose with tap pulled through the hole and it was then slammed in between the drawer and the tailgate. When I got the tailgate liner fitted, it didn't allow enough space for the hose to be stored in this position, so it was on the inside of the hole and needed to be pulled out each time it was to be used. However, that required having access to the cover of the wing to be able to reach down to pass it through and then turn the tap on, which meant that I had to take all the luggage off the cover. This turned out to be a PITA, and meant that I didn't use the water as much as I could have. The guys who make the system offer an electric pump option which pushes the front panel of the wing back a couple of inches and the tap and isolation switch are mounted to the front panel. This seems to be the way to go and I am going to try and see what I can knock up myself because it was the cost which made me go the other way in the first place.

The tyres went great. No punctures, tears or bad wear spots. They grip really well on both dirt and road. A tiny bit of road noise, but don't notice it unless you really listen hard for it. After 11,000kms the tread is only just worn a little. A number of pebbles/small rocks got caught in the tread and weren't self cleaned away, however mud was self cleaned very well.

[timbo]

Rig looks great mate love the setup

[andyj]

Nice looking setup josh, fast build but looks like you made all the right choices...

[ag9111]

Josh
How are the rhino racks attached to the top of the razorback canopy?

[josh_cod]

Josh
How are the rhino racks attached to the top of the razorback canopy?

They are attached via a track system which has been riveted to the canopy. Ill try and get some pics up tomorrow if i can.

[mad992]

yeah good work the tri looks great josh

[snowman]

Josh
How are the rhino racks attached to the top of the razorback canopy?

They are attached via a track system which has been riveted to the canopy. Ill try and get some pics up tomorrow if i can.

so when your rails are removed the rack is actually lower than the original hand rails of the Razorback canopy?

also where did you source the rail that is riveted to the canopy?

[ag9111]

I'm assuming that it is the standard Rhino racking. Pretty Exccy for what it is. Supposedly distributes the load better. My standard rails dented the roof of the canopy when I did the Simpson. How did your canopy roof hold up Josh with the Rails

[TJR]

^^I'm keen to know this as well.

Also, how do you rate your drawer system/drop slide set up? After doing the trip and using the fridge at those stops where you needed to (quite a few I'm guessing from your red dirt photo!) are you happy with the system you have put in place or do you wish you had done anything differently (and why!). I only ask because this is what I am looking at the same drawer/drop slide set up and want to know if the drop slide is worth the extra dosh or will it be better to go with a single drawer with a straight up fridge slide next to it?

Cheers,

[josh_cod]

The whole roof rack setup inc. rails is made by rhino rack. The setup is: Rhino Alloy Luggage Tray (Part#AT1210) sitting on top of Heavy Duty Aero Cross Bars (Part#RAB1250), on 50mm Leg Set (RLT500) on Rhino Rack Track System.

I was under the impression that the track system would go in the same spot as the previous rails did, however, as you can see, they have been installed further apart and therefore leave ugly bolts where the previous rails were.

The whole setup assembles, and disassembles quite easily. As you can see in the pictures, I have chosen to take the tray off when I'm not travelling. That took about 2mins to take off, but required more than one person. I am not sure how easy it will be when putting back on though. I have left the cross bars in place for taking a canoe or the like on top if/when needed. These can come off quite easily with just the one bolt in the middle of the leg to undo and then sliding off the end of the tracks.


So snowman, the cross bars are about the same height as the standard rails, maybe slightly higher. But they can be totally removed.
Ag, the canopy held up very well when on my trip with the roof rack on top. I can't see any dents from the rail system due to the weight. I had one stage on a dirt road that had me bouncing quite severely. I bounced three times and I think on one of those times I ended up with my wheels off the ground. If the canopy was to dent from the roof racks, then I reckon it would have then.

n.b. edited to fix photo links

[josh_cod]

Also, how do you rate your drawer system/drop slide set up? After doing the trip and using the fridge at those stops where you needed to (quite a few I'm guessing from your red dirt photo!) are you happy with the system you have put in place or do you wish you had done anything differently (and why!). I only ask because this is what I am looking at the same drawer/drop slide set up and want to know if the drop slide is worth the extra dosh or will it be better to go with a single drawer with a straight up fridge slide next to it?

Cheers,

I loved my setup, it made it soo much easier accessing everything both in the drawers and in the fridge. In previous cars I have had to climb into the back to access the fridge. The drop slide made it very easy when pulling up at any road stop/camp, without the need to climb up. I was travelling with another vehicle and we both had fridges. We ended up sharing both so that we had the stuff that we used all the time in mine, and the one-off stuff in the other. This was just to stop having to climb into the back of the other vehicle every time. If you were to go a drawer system with fridge slide on top, then I think the drop slide is essential, as you would need a step to get into the fridge otherwise.
The fridge fit perfectly on the top of the slide, (talking mm's between the top of the fridge and top/back of canopy) which meant no wasted space.
If you were to have just a single drawer next to the fridge, then unless you are storing things on top of the fridge(which just gets annoying when needing to access the fridge) you will be wasting alot of space.
When using any fridge slide, you just have to be careful you don't pack anything which may fall down against the fridge. As I found out a couple of times, if this happens, then as soon as you pull the fridge out, that item then falls down onto the slide, and you have to climb up anyway to move it.