Prepping the JK for some touring....

[Tote]

After the terminal failure to proceed of my Disco 3 and the late arrival of my new Defender which is at this moment sitting on a dock at Port Kembla we needed to kit up the JK, which has only been a day trip vehicle for a 3 week tour of Tassie. On Christmas Day I spent the afternoon nervously drilling holes in the hardtop for the Rhino Pioneer Platform rack.

We selected the Rhino platform as it was reasonably priced (~$1500.00) and was compatible with the AEV snorkle that is fitted to the JK. I would have liked a Gobi rack but given that the JK won't remain our main touring vehicle the extra $1k was difficult to justify. We did have a look at the AEV rack but it seems to be a more permanent fixture than the Rhino which when removed only leaves the backbone kit and the unobtrusive mounting pads on the vehicle.

The Backbone mounting system



Mounting screws for the rear mount pads




The rack mounting pads on the outside of the hardtop



Rack mounting feet attached



Platform rack fitted to the legs



Still fits in the shed, The height of the vehicle is 1.93m with the rack fitted, it has a 50 cm lift kit as well.



Fitted photos







Overall the Rhino rack was pretty easy to fit although the front mount points were a couple of mm out, maybe due to the template that you use to drill the holes, although there is enough flexibility in the rack cross bars for a small amount of ajustment. The rack itself is not as strong as the frontrunner rack I had on the disco but it isn't as heavy either. Theres plenty of room to remove the front roof panels should you wish to as well.

Tomorrows job is fitting the ridge ryder winch, I'll post a few photos of that as well..

Regards,

Tote

[Johnboy]

Looks great I was quoted $1560 here in SA fitted have you jumped around on top of it to feel how rigid it is?

[samft]

Great pics,
This it the rack i'll get if I ever need one.
Good to see how low profile it is

Also, which pre-fliter is that for your snorkel? and where did you get it from?

Sam

[Nanook]

Have you travelled far with that cyclone pre filter head? I have one for mine (7" from memory) but only put it on once and drove around town no faster than 80kph then took it off. I was thinking about giving it another go but wasn't sure how it would go on the freeway. I couldn't believe how loud the thing was sucking in air in 2nd and 3rd gear.

[Tote]

I haven't jumped on top yet but the rack seems at least as rigid as the Frontrunner rack. The precleaner is a Donaldson one available from your nearest ag parts supplier for about $40. Bareco stockists would be a good place to start http://www.bareco.com.au/files-filters-un7 a list of dealers is here http://www.bareco.com.au/files-dealers

The pre cleaner is noisy when you are accelerating hard but you don't notice it if the window is up and if you are cruising at highway speed. The reason that it is there is that the first trip we had the snorkle on we crossed the Macquarie river at Long Point and happened to get a splash of water in the forward facing scoop that was fitted. I drained about a cup of water from the airbox and fitted the pre cleaner soon afterward. We do a fair bit of dusty gravel roads to and from our farm and it does collect a considerable amount of dirt that would otherwise end up in the air filter element.

I fitted the winch this morning and I would have to say it would be the easiest install I have done in a long time. The bolt holes in the ARB bar lined up perfectly with the winch mounts, the hardest part was removing the bolts holding the blanking plate.

The winch mount in the bar with the cover removed.



The boots on the solenoid wires needed trimming a bit to fit neatly



The winch fitted and wired up



I had an Optima yellow top sitting around that was only fitted to the Disco last February. After reading on here that people are using successfully with winches I put it in to give a bit of extra power over the OEM battery



Respooled and ready to go.......




Regards,
Tote

[Tote]

A couple of shots of the pre cleaner for those that are interested. There's probably about six weeks of dirt build up in there.





Regards,
Tote

[Nanook]

I bought my pre-cleaner for the same reason. The beach I fish at has a creek crossing that sometimes involves a lot of splashing depending on the sand erosion. I took it off as I was worried that maybe the engine wouldn't get enough air when towing the camper trailer at speed but it sounds like you have no problems.

I had the same issue when I fitted my winch. The winch was easy, it was getting the blanking plate off at the start.

I run a red top in mine. Fantastic batteries.