Considering KL Trailhawk

[JeanLuke]

I currently own a WG CRD and have spent quite a bit of time and money building it into a very capable off-road machine. It has front locker, 2" lift, skid plates, rock slides and winch. I mostly do beach work (Fraser & Bribie) but also play in the Glasshouse Mountains, Mt Mee and Ormeau Hills.

It's time to start thinking about modernising. Recent model low-km Trailhawks seem to be available at reasonable prices.

My question is, how capable is the KL Trailhawk? I see you can get a 1" lift and they have underbody plating standard, but what about things like winch bars, snorkel and rock rails? I'm struggling to find them. Are they available?

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[lujabe]

They grip like sh1t to a blanket - which is how they compensate with Independent suspension.

The 4x4 system does have a tendency to overheat in sand - at which point it’ll basically disable itself wherever you are until it’s good and ready to carry on (when sensors determine it’s cooled down).

The best way to keep the 4x4 system cool is to whack it in low range, which effectively locks the centre diff. Any other mode it’ll be shuffling torque front to rear and left to right continually - hence the traction, but also the overheating issue.

Low range in these isn’t via a transfer case - instead they have 2-speed diffs. Add that to the electronic actuator for the rear axle and the rear diff is a complicated and expensive bit of kit - and failures are not uncommon. Mine was replaced once and I’m certain was on the way out again when I traded it at 4.5 years old.

Pretty much anything other than lift kits you’ll need to import from the USA. Check out rocky road outfitters for a start, if you haven’t found them already.

Honestly - if you do a lot of off-roading - I’d hesitate to recommend the KL - particularly a used one. They are astonishingly capable for an SUV - but they're complicated, have some unresolved engineering IMO, and are expensive to fix.

[Trailfirst]

Having to get stuff from the states isn't as difficult as you'd imagine. Freight is an extra cost but sadly still generally cheaper than the ridiculous final retail price we can end up paying. There are a number of auto parts places that have fantastic range of stuff and ship no fuss to Australia.

I paid about $180 in freight for full set of Bilstein shocks from Summit Racing - they arrived in 4 days and the cost of the shocks themselves were about half what you'd pay the supplier here for them... (then wait 2 - 3 weeks for shipping). The other thing about sourcing stuff here is ignorance / stupidity / boofheadedness of Aussie suppliers. When I enquired about KL Bilsteins at the Aussie distributors for Bilstein they came back saying they didn't hold any stock that identified as suitable - that came as no surprise but when I asked about whether they could get them in they seemed totally baffled at the concept and didn't seem to be able to comprehend that there WERE suitable Bilsteins manufactured BY Bilstein and available in the US.

The Dobinsons springs I ordered from Brisbane cost about 3 times as much per kg in freight and took 2 weeks to get to me in Cairns... - I probably should have just ordered those from the US as well.

Other experience I've had with Aussie supply of stuff was years ago when I was chasing a particular type of Loctite Glue. The local well known commercial supplies store who identify as Loctite dealers didn't have the particular part number of glue in stock and never had - so acted like it didn't exist. Again they were baffled when I explained it's listed on the Loctite site. $40 and a week later and I had 2 bottles from the UK cheaper than any of the similar loctite products on that local supplier's shelf...

Sadly I've just about given up even trying to buy anything here that I can find overseas - usually cheaper than local supply and also usually quicker to get. Model aeroplane stuff from Czech republic ten days to my door - same items from Sydney 50% dearer and two weeks at best to arrive - WTF??

[Joe98]

On Youtube there is a channel called "Fearless Trailhawk".

His is not lifted and he takes it over very difficult terrain. You will be imprressed.
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