WJ: Hammertone's Build Thread - '05 4.7HO Overland

[Hammertone]

I thought i'd get this thread started early on as i think it'd be interesting to see how my plans evolve over the life of the car.
I bought my '05 (MY04) Overland last week and it's box stock. She's got 139,000 kilometres on the clock, had new OME shocks put on 2-3 years ago along with some of the bushes, though i'm not sure how far they went with that. It's got fairly new highway tyres on.

First up is to get the thing converted to LPG so i can drive it without it killing my bank account. I’ve got it booked in to the Sprintgas head office next Monday. They don’t have accreditation or a program written for an 04 Grand, so they’ll be taking my car for an EPA assessment and writing up a program specifically for my car. All at a bottom dollar price! Pretty happy about that!

I’ve just completed a full service on the car. Dropped all the fluids and replaced all filters. The only things I’ve missed are steering fluid and I didn’t get to greasing the calliper pins, mainly because I attempted to remove the pins from the rear Teves callipers only to find that they’re a SAE allen key, so I cracked the shits and put the wheel back on!

Now, I’ve got exactly zero experience with off-roading, so this car is going to evolve as I do. First off is to get the car into a basic state where I can get it to move along some of the easier tracks and to make sure I can get myself out of trouble. We’re heading up to the Snowys for a week in the summer. We’ll be staying at Jindabyne and doing day trips into the surrounding area. So before I think about any mods, I have to look at the basics.

First off is to do something about the highway tyres. I want to look at lifting within the next 6 months, but I want to get the car into the bush on it’s stock suspension before then, so I’m after some AT tyres that will fit at stock height and that I either won’t have for too long, or will still work well with a bit of lift. I’ve worked out that something at 255/65/17 would be ok at stock height and still be useable after lifting until I get cash for new wheels and rubber. Alternatively, I’ve found some good quality second hand stock size ATs that I can get cheap. I think they might be the go. I can put them on for a few months and swap them out for the desired modified size to go with the lift once it’s done.

I’ve also just bought a radio. I got a second hand GME TX3500 for $150. It looks the business, though I’ve no idea how to work it. Have to find a suitable aerial for it.

Below are some pics of the car in it’s current unmolested state as it was purchased

If anyone has any comments or advice to share along the way i'm all ears. I'm starting with zero knowledge with all of this stuff so any and all input/criticism/advice is helpful.

Rick

[fester]

If you're only talking light offroading for now, then I'd just be getting about as it is. Before you waste a dollar on interim tyres I'd be spending the coin on recovery gear. Joining a club is a good idea and they wouldn't let you participate without gear. No point with A/T's if you get stuck and can't get recovered. Hold off and just do your tyres once to match the lift when ready. The money for a second hand set of tyres will get you a good basic recovery kit.

you'd be surprised what you can do initially on stock rubber if you are careful and think about what you are doing. Will also make you a better 4wder in the long term.

[Hammertone]

Recovery gear was going to be the next post, just didn't want to bore people with an overly long post

I've looked into that a bit. Snatch strap obviously. Can't do a hi-lift without appropriate bars, so i was thinking an inflatable jack.
I've looked into hand winches a lot and the tirfor types seem massively overpriced. I'm thinking a lever hoist (coffin hoist/cumalong/etc) would be cheaper and easier to store. And then again there's these... the wallet says "yes", the head says "3.5 metres isn't too bad, 4T is great, easy to store", and then the wallet says "yes" again. I think i'm sold on that one actually unless someone can talk me out of it.

And what else? CB is on its way, how about recovery tracks? I'll be doing high country mainly, mud and rocks. Should i get some? Are there cheapies that i can get started with that anyone knows about?

[fester]

Hi lifts jacks are overrated these days and rarely useful on a modern 4wd full of plastic and pretty bits, not to mention the lack of safety.

Come alongs/hand winches/ electric winches are all well and good but I wouldn't be getting carried away initially. I've been 4wding for over 20 years and I have only had a winch of any sort (electric) in the last 3. Still haven't got around to recovery tracks but will sometime soon.

If you are starting out with simple wheeling and building up then you only need to do the same with gear but its' up to you.

The things you should be sorting first are snatch strap, maybe extension strap (but not critical), couple of shackles, a rear recovery point like the towbar mounted ones and preferably 2 recovery points on the front. And making sure these front points are actually strong (not sure how they go with the nudgebar). Load equalisation strap is good to consider as it is preferable to snatch or get winched at the front from both sides of the body to minimise the chance of distorting the frame from a hefty one sided pull. A damper blanket is also handy to reduce risk when snatching. Was normally only used when winching in the old days which I never understood but is now gaining more popularity in a snatch operation which makes sense.

Don't forget all these things you think you need take up space and add weight.

[Big Dave]

Don't waste $48 on that hand winch, wouldn't pull the skin off custard. Only use for that would be to drag a car onto a trailer. As Fester said, invest in recovery points on the car and a Recovery kit first. Can't get pulled out of anything if there is nothing to safely attach to.

[bbbflash]

You should have recovery point with your bull bar. Same as I got on mine. I have qt2 and have only just put at tires on mine. They do stick to the road and trails better and the wife is happier with them. Other than that I haven't done anything more than that. I will be getting recovery gear very soon and getting back into the jeep club. What I want to do is find my limit and then upgrade from there. Mine is more for Turing/camping than it is offroad beast. It's the wife's dd. I'll probably put a 2" lift later but keep my 245/70/17's. I'll look at some maxtraxs later, but it's all about what the wallet will handle and it's not much at the moment. I'd find your limits, make some upgrades and find it again.

[fester]

Originally Posted by bbbflash

You should have recovery point with your bull bar. Same as I got on mine. .

Not all nudge bars have suitable recovery points, I had to make some for a guy in our workshop a couple of years ago.