We had quite an early start and were packed and off by 8:30am.  Petrol was required at Tamworth and we also stopped at a café and got coffees.  A sign outside Kathmandu stating 60% off also got us in

The boys also wanted to stop at Repco to get some bits and pieces.  Then we headed towards Sofala. Lunch stop was at Merriwa; where we also filled our water tanks at the park.  The drive was very scenic on the way from Tamworth to Sofala.  We got to Sofala quite late and then we started looking for a camp.

The First Crossing Campground was quite full, so we continued on (after googling) to Coles Bridge Campground.  To get there, you take Hill End Road (heading west) from Sofala, take the left onto Turonbridge Road (about 11ish km’s from Sofala), then there’s campsites either side of the first bridge “Coles Bridge”.

Camp at Coles Bridge

We had Beef Casserole (made in Sandy’s Dream Pot) and cheesy mashed potato.  Yummo!

Steve & Sandy got to our camp at 6:20am after a really cold night.  I didn’t sleep much.  We had 3 blankets on the bed and we were both chilly.  After a leisurely pack up, we continued on to Glen Innes.  The Info Centre had some good brochures and flicking through, we found a great photo of Ebor Falls.  A quick discussion, we decided it was worth the drive to see it.

On the Way to Ebor Falls. Steve & Dog

The road there was shocking.  A nutcase driving a Cruiser flew past us and we have a great star on windscreen.  We had lunch at Ebor Falls and the girls and kids did the walk from the Upper Lookout to the Lower Lookout.  The views were awesome.

Dog at Ebor Falls

We looked at Little Styx Campground and at 1:30pm it was a toasty 17 degrees.   Seeing it was quite early, we decided to keep going.  Glen had me googling free campsites between Uralla and Tamworth.  Lots of research later and we headed to Kootingal (unfortunately we were late for the Pumpkin Festival – doh!) and went east to find Cockburn River Campground.  There were a few others there, but we managed to snag a big enough spot for the three trailers.

Dinner was Steak & Salads (potato, wombok and garden)

This trip is a bit different to our prior touring trips.  We are the proud owners of a Kimberley Kamper now, which was purchased due to the impending addition (Horace).  This trip we are travelling with Steve & Sandy (Jayco Caravan) and Gen & Troy (Softfloor Camper Trailer).

Bill & Dot when we left

Our little group had organised to meet at Deepwater.  Steve and Sandy had gotten there the day before to catch up with family.  They have family history there.

We left at about 8am and we stopped at Warwick’s Famous Pie Shop.  Nothing really worth it being famous for, maybe the cost?  $16.20 for a pie and drinks.

We continued down through Stanthorpe and Tenterfield.  We got to Deepwater about lunch time and set up at a free camp on Crown Land off Bezzants Road.  Glen and I had a bit of a arvo kip and waited to hear from the others.  Gen & Troy were having electrical issues before we’d left, so they left quite late and didn’t get to camp until almost dinner time.  Steve & Sandy decided to have tea with the family at the pub and would catch up with us in the morning.

Deepwater Camp

Dinner was Satay Stirfry.

Now everything was cleaned up and painted, it was time for the ally checker plate.

Folded the ally at the ends, nothed the ally where needed as well and then drilled holes in the stays, plus put some sikaflex on the contact points to stop any rattle.

Looking real good I reakon.

Now on the car!

Now to reveil our special modification to allow the radius arm’s to be removed without having to remove the sliders!

More photos HERE

Now that ive had the Kimberley Kamper for a few months, Ive not gotten used to it and have discovered some areas where it can be improved.

The non 240v charging system although basic and reliable, IMHO needed a good old fashioned upgrade

So anyway, I figured I can always make a good thing better 

Heres the old controller.. (The black box)

I ripped that out and put a Ctek 250S Dual in its place, this is a solar MPPT controller PLUS a DC to DC charger, this makes sure that your batteries always get topped up with the right voltage, personally I think this is pretty important in a trailer as you get fairly decent voltage loss on the long run from the front of the car to the trailers batteries.

I reused the old wiring for now, but have ordered some bigger wire that I will replace it with in the future.

Now as well as using the Ctek DC to DC charger, I installed a smart solenoid (you can see it just behind the right of the big white box) so that the camper batteries wont start charging until the vehicles battery has been charged first, again I think this is fairly important.

As I said before I reused the existing wire at this stage, but will be replacing ALL the wiring from the anderson plug on the trailer to the charging system at some stage, and eventually the internal solar cabling too.

Once the sliders were welded together, we made a modification we were thinking about….more info later !, then cleaned them up and painted!

Looking good ey?

Part 4, next week!

More photos HERE

http://www.monster4x4.com.au/gallery3/var/resizes/Misc/Gu-Patrol-Ute-Sliders/Stage-3/IMG_1036%20%28Large%29.JPG?m=1330471559

Now since the new motor has gone in the ute, ive had the issue of the engine not wanting to stay put, unless im fairly conservative in the way I drive, the engine will tear the mount on the torque side.  I know the holden mounts are pretty weak, but I dont really have time at this stage to cut mounts off the chassis and come up with something better….so….I decided to go “old school” and chain the bugger down

So heres whats been happening, the VN – VT mount only has a captive lug on one side, so it starts peeling from the other side, such a silly design.

Please forgive the pink paint! This was just a spare mount I had.  you can see the weak captive system here.  Theres about 8mm play between the captive lugs stops any movement.

Preparing the side of the mount so I can weld some chain on it.

So I measured about 7mm a play for the chain and welded it to the mount,  i made up some spacers for the top of the mount so that the chains wouldn’t foul on the rubber itself, had to find a long bolt for this as well..

I did both sides…just to be sure

More photos HERE

Ok…once we had a chance we removed the bare sliders and started on the steps.

We went and purchased a carbide tip 50mm hole saw, hooked up a simple coolant loop on the drill press and notched the tube

Measured them about 500mm apart and tacked them on the check distances etc.

We set the angle of the step to 25″ and this seemed to look very good, while still lining up pretty well with the bottom of the door.

After that, I welded them up.

Stage 3, next week!

More Photos HERE

http://www.monster4x4.com.au/gallery3/var/albums/Misc/Gu-Patrol-Ute-Sliders/Stage-2/IMG_1007%20%28Large%29.JPG?m=1330471485

Well, a while ago a mate of mine asked if we could build a set of sliders for his Gu ute, he was starting to do some harder stuff and was a bit worried about damaging his sills.

So we copied the sliders off my GQ Ute a bit, but changed the design to be a bit more touring friendly, as his ute serves both roles.

This ‘stage 1′ was installed on the car for a few months so he could do some more trips….They were definitely used and abused and didnt bend at all.

From memory we used 4mm tube and 5mm 50x75mm box for the slider.

Next week ill show you stage 2 !

Heres a quick vid from a Glass House Mountains trip I did on Sunday.