03 – Preparation

Here I should point out, right at the start, that I did not allow myself enough preparation time. I bought the Landcruiser at the end of November 06 for a trip starting 3 months later. That should have been more like 6 months MINIMUM before the start of the trip. A lot of my preparation was done using the ‘lastminute.com’ and ‘just-in-time’ methods, which caused unnecessary stress and running around for me and unfortunately others at times. Moreover, as with the balancing of the wheels/tyres and the rear spring settling, getting the work done sooner before leaving the UK would have allowed more time to sort out problems. I also ended up having to buy things at a higher price because I needed them by a certain date, rather than having time to wait till they came up on ebay etc.

The same remarks apply to the non-vehicle preparation. If, like me, you plan to rent out your property while travelling then getting it ready and all the other adminy settling-of-affairs stuff is sure to take longer than you think. For me, the whole month of February 07, after I finished work but before I left the UK, was spent doing this – I didn’t even have time to go flying or the cinema. And this was nowhere near enough. Between finishing work and leaving home – 2 months minimum, or more like 3 or 4 if you keep working till the last moment and do the getting ready stuff in evenings and weekends.

Why did I go for a Land Cruiser in the first place? I certainly had to go on a mental journey to get to one of these.

I started this process wanting an ex-Army truck:-

But that quickly died a death when cost came into the equation…..maybe in the future, when I’m in the campervan phase of my life.

So then I turned to Landrover….for years I have always looked at them in the street and thought how cool they were – especially the ex-Army ones – but I’d never actually driven or ridden in one.

Culturally and temperamentally I am more of a Land Rover than a Land Cruiser person. I have owned 5 Citroens (2 GSAs, 1 BX, 1 DS and 1 XM), so am no stranger whatsoever to the underside of a bonnet. HOWEVER – I took the view that, when in foreign parts, the reassurance that something would happen every time I pushed a button, turned a key or pulled a lever was more important than the finer points of Gallic sophistication. I also didn’t want to spend any more of my precious and finite travelling time working on a vehicle than necessary, although obviously I didn’t begrudge the Landcruiser its regular oil changes, grease-ups and so on. That would have been asking for trouble. It is ironic in the extreme that the one place I did get stranded was one of the few places on earth where Landcruiser spares aren’t easy to get hold of – Turkey, although breaking down in a Landcruiser in India wouldn’t have been much fun either.

But for some people emotion plays a bigger part and, provided you have access to the necessary parts backup / logistical support, the lesser reliability of LRs may be outweighed by the greater character. Just a shame LRs don’t have that lovely 6 cylinder diesel engine that LCs have.

Landrovers probably are better off-road than Landcruisers, but as I didn’t (and don’t) have the expertise to use this superior ability, I didn’t see the point in going for a Landrover. And in any case, the further away you are from ‘civilisation’ the less likely you are to do anything that’s going to risk breaking something or getting stuck – if you have any sense.

Were I going green-laning in the UK at weekends, the Landrover would be a better choice. And the British Army manages with them (at least mechanically, if not in bomb-proofing terms) in Afghanistan and Iraq – but you can manage with any vehicle when it’s got a whole infrastructure of spares and personnel backup on hand whenever needed.

Charles Fletcher at Leavesley Military Surplus was also a little influential on my choice of vehicle. Even though he was able to sell me a Landrover Ambulance, I remember him trying to steer me towards something Japanese – “if you buy a Landrover funny things will happen. You’ll lose all your social skills and develop a desire to wear woolly sweaters and spend all your time mixing with weirdos at off-road events discussing how to fix mechanical problems.” I think to be honest Landrovers are like Morgan cars, or Citroens, for that matter – if you like them, you’ll put up with the problems and indeed welcome the opportunity to get your hands dirty.

Nevertheless, I was still keen on a Landrover initially – the ambulance version, as it can be used as a 4×4 camper van:-

I spent some considerable time researching and talking to the MOD and to military surplus dealers. Unfortunately the actuality of the driving didn’t correspond to the image I’d had of these vehicles for so many years. For a start the body roll was so frightening I could not understand how the MOD had accepted it – how the hell can you rush patients to hospital when you can’t corner any faster than 20 mph? Interestingly, in February 2007 I was discussing this with the instructor at the Landrover Experience 4WD training course I did. He told me the story of how he had been on an exercise one day in the Falklands when he was in the RAF years before, which involved the rescue of personnel from a supposedly crashed plane on the runway. He and a colleague watched as a Landrover ambulance sped along the taxiway towards the slip road nearest to the ‘crash site’. As the Landrover approached the turning (doing at least 25 mph), he and the colleague looked at each other and said ‘that Landrover’s not going to make that turn, isn’t it?’ Sure enough, it didn’t and the exercise was abruptly replaced by a real emergency. Neither was the driving position very comfortable, with the steering wheel touching my tummy even with the seat fully back and the pedals were also badly offset. Add to that the fish-like petrol consumption from the V8 engine and the stories I’d begun to hear about the reliability of Landrovers and, in the end, despite a brief dalliance with the idea of getting a diesel Defender that had already been around Africa, I ended up following the advice of Footloose and of the Sahara Overland book and going for a Landy…but a Landcruiser and not a Landrover.

However, not all Landcruisers are perfect! http://www.pictureafrica.org/Picture_Africa_a_photographic_celebration_of_Traveling_on_the_continent_of_Africa/Blog/Entries/2009/3/3_The_Ollie_and_Cat_Story….html

I also briefly thought about a Nissan Patrol, but was advised to go for a Landcruiser because of spares availability. Ironically, the one time on my trip where my LC broke down was when the fuel injection pump went in Turkey, which is one of the few places where you can’t easily get LC 80 parts. But the garage people in Kayseri managed to rebuild the innards of the pump with………Patrol bits!

My research was nothing if not thorough, as I spent every weekend in November 2006 going around and looking at every Landcruiser within a 50 mile radius of London under £3500 – specifically the 80 series 4.2 diesel – and after looking at 9, all with issues of one sort or another, eventually bought the 10th one I’d looked at. I actually ended up quite lucky with no 10 – a reasonable Jap import for £2600 on Ebay. Or rather hadn’t looked at, as ironically it was the one I’d bid for on Ebay but hadn’t been to see prior to the sale. After buying it, I took it to Paul at Footloose to be looked over. Paul seemed quite taken by it, and told me it should have sold for more like £4000. As can be imagined, this was music to my ears.

The advice of Footloose and of the Sahara Overland book was to go for an automatic gearbox. Automatics do have some advantages, but I DO wish I had got a manual Landcruiser. Why? Mainly because I prefer manual anyway, but I also found the auto would overheat in desert conditions especially when on sand. And yes, I could have fitted an oil cooler, but that’s extra expense.

There are also situations where you need to be able to give it a bit of extra power when you’re pulling away eg when you’re stuck. In a manual, this is easily done by giving it a bit of extra welly just before/as you let the clutch in. But with an auto, if you have the engine going any faster than idle speed when you put it into drive you get a nasty jolt and risk shock-loading bits of the transmission into oblivion.

So there was the Landcruiser. Now for the preparation of it. Briefly, I did the following:-
- Fenced off rear load area, with a raised rear deck and metal drawer.
- Full length galvanised roof rack, made by Brownchurch.
- High lift farm jack.
- 120cm wide roof tent, made by Eezi-Awn.
- Raised and hardened springs with heavy duty shocks (Dobinsons).
- Steel wheels with BF Goodrich All-Terrain (A/T) tyres.
- Load securing rails and cleats.

On recommendation, I used for preparation advice Footloose 4×4 (www.footloose4x4.com). I would suggest that their advice works best in conjunction with the ‘Sahara Overland’ and ‘Vehicle Dependent Expeditions’ books. I do wish I had become aware of the latter book more than 2 days before I left Ealing, for it’s highly informative. Some of Footloose’s patrons could best be described as high net worth and I would further suggest that this is borne in mind when deciding whether to use Footloose purely for their advice or to use them for all the vehicle preparation. Footloose also proved invaluable for sourcing second hand equipment, like my roof tent.

Those of you that know me will know my favourite way of operating is to get something cheaper than it should have been – in other words, to buck the system. Years ago I remember someone telling me she had…..not any old hi-fi or even a “Bang and Olufsen hi-fi” but a “£2000 Bang and Olufsen hi-fi”. This, to my upbringing, was anathema. Had she told me about her “£1000 Bang and Olufsen hi-fi” which should have been £2000 but she’d managed to get it for £1000 because she had happened across a fire sale then I’d have had far more respect. For this, I blame my mother! I like wearing my Crombie overcoat, but get much satisfaction from knowing that my mother paid £1 for it at a car boot sale after it had been bought for £200 and worn 4 times before ending up being bought by me. Likewise, a few years ago I got myself a stainless steel fridge for £185 when it should have been double because I was riding along Ealing Broadway one Saturday and happened across a sale of shop-soiled stock by Iceland….the very last thing on my mind was getting a new fridge but for the sake of a couple of scratches I ended up getting a bargain, and I had more enjoyment in telling people that story than I’d have ever got by telling people “look how much I paid for my fridge.”

Not only did I go into the preparation exercise with the ‘bargain’ mindset, but I didn’t have that much money full stop, plus the realisation that, the more I spent on the vehicle, the more it would cost to insure and to get a carnet for. In this I was reminded of some of the vehicles I saw at Footloose…..£40,000 to get a Landrover prepared for an expedition?! Am afraid that to me, spending that sort of money is akin to blowing £10,000 on a hi-fi – 1% extra benefit for 50% extra cost. Or the law of dininishing marginal returns. So handing the whole affair over to an overland vehicle preparation company and saying ‘get me a vehicle and prepare it’ (together with a blank cheque) was out of the question and I did more of a DIY job, paying Paul at Footloose for his advice but doing the physical work myself. Paul was very understanding of this course of action and, although a lot of the mods for overland vehicles aren’t cheap, was full of helpful suggestions for low-cost and easy solutions to problems and ways of doing things.

As can be imagined, I also spoke to a number of overlanders on the internet and met face to face with Martin Pittwood, of overland-underwater.com, who had recently returned from Africa and Asia overland. Martin was an absolute mine of information.

ESSENTIAL STUFF

Full-length roofrack. There are various kinds. The best in terms of strength and weight are bolted aluminium – lighter than steel but predictably also the most expensive. Then we have welded aluminium – far cheaper but impossible to repair in the field without specialised aluminium welding kit. Lastly ones made of welded mild steel – a bit heavier, but far cheaper and easier to weld in the field if it breaks than a welded aluminium one.

I’d waited as long as I could before ordering a new roofrack as I had wanted to see if a used one by FrontRunner or ARB etc came up on Ebay. If I could, I would have preferred a bolted aluminium one.

But none came up and so I bit the bullet and bought a new welded galvanised steel one from Brownchurch (www.brownchurch.co.uk) who habitually make roofracks and many other accessories for Landrovers. There followed a bit of a problem…..the rack didn’t fit properly as there was a discrepancy with the measurements. It bowed up at the front and at the rear – I was a bit worried when they seemed to have to jump on the rack to bend it to fit the vehicle, but I assumed they knew what they were doing. It is highly possible that I had a hand in it by giving them the measurements over the phone, rather than bringing the vehicle in for them to measure it. But, like the reputable company they are, Brownchurch sorted the problem out promptly and willingly and I would not hesitate to recommend them. If nothing else, Brownchurch now has the correct measurements for a full length galvanised steel roofrack for an 80 series Landcruiser!

High-lift jack was recommended, both because the standard one wouldn’t work with a fully-laden vehicle and because a high-lift one works better on uneven ground, or when trying to free a stuck vehicle. But a high-lift jack requires extra jacking points. I don’t have any pictures of the ones I put on my vehicle, but there will be info on the internet. My high-lift was pressed-steel and made by T-Max, although Brownchurch seemed to have better quality drop-forged ones for £20 or £30 more. A word of warning – when using a high-lift jack, keep all parts of your body away from the arc of its handle. Brownchurch also supplied a set of recovery straps and a pulley – invaluable either when the overlander gets stuck or if they want to help someone else – both situations happened to me.

Wheels. I’d been advised to replace the existing alloys with steel ones on the basis that they were stronger and, if the rims got damaged by extreme off-roading in somewhere like the Sahara, they could be bent back as opposed to breaking as alloys would do. As with the roofrack, the time factor I’d caused for myself meant I had to buy new ones rather than be able to wait for second-hand ones to come up. The ones I bought were painted white and came from a place in the Midlands which does them for Landrovers as well as Landcruisers, and cost about £165 for 5. Martin P had said that the brushed steel ones on his were a little more expensive but were prone to cracking.

In retrospect, although I can’t answer for the load-bearing capabilities of the alloy wheels on a fully-loaded expedition vehicle, I would suggest that getting steel wheels purely in case the rims get damaged is probably not necessary for the sort of trip I did. Although I did spend some time in the desert / off-roading, the further away you are from ‘civilisation’ the less likely you are to do anything that’s going to risk breaking something or getting stuck. And overall, it would take a pretty extreme piece of off-roading to go over rocks which would go anywhere near the rim of the wheel. You would be far more likely to gash the tyre sidewall.

NB Also see Tyres below for further remarks re the wheels.

Tyres I had been advised to get BF Goodrich All Terrain tyres. In 64,500 kms I had just 2 punctures – absolutely amazing. I have heard a few times that the sidewalls aren’t as strong on BFG tyres as on others but can merely say mine were fine and that’s despite putting a gash in the surface of one of the sidewalls in Pakistan. However the loadings on my BFGs, even at the back, were never more than 50% of the stated maximum and I rotated all 5 tyres clockwise around the car every 5000 kms. Steve Breen’s Landcuiser has BFGs also, but Mud/Sand rather than A/T and it’s quite noticeable how much noisier these are. Rose and Dave, of Nessie’s Adventures, did mention another American make they were happy with, which was Cooper.

There followed a problem when I had the tyres fitted. I had bought the tyres from Wembley Tyres, and had taken the new steel wheels with me to get both done at the same time, about 2 days before I left the UK. Wembley Tyres had said the tyres couldn’t be balanced properly because the steel wheels were out of true – ‘strong but cheap and not very well-made’ was what was said. Sure enough, once I got above 50/60 mph on the way to Dover the familiar vibration of unbalanced tyres coursed through the car. Wembley Tyres refused to budge on this issue when I phoned them up having reached Hannover, and this is another example of how not to do things so late in the day. I pretty much shot myself in the foot by not being able to go back there in person and get it sorted out. I took the car to a place in Hannover and got the problem largely resolved, but even this took 2 attempts and a LOT of balancing weights – far more than should have been needed.

However, there wouldn’t have been much sorting out that could have been done – except perhaps better understanding on my part. At the time I had blamed Wembley Tyres for not doing the job properly, but I found out later that Steve Breen’s own Landcruiser also had the same steel wheels as mine, and that Steve had had exactly the same balancing problem as me. I also didn’t understand that, by ‘out of true’, Wembley Tyres was trying to tell me the wheels (or at least one of them) was effectively slightly buckled, whereas I had it in my head that there was a lumpy welding seam on the rim which was making the rim heavier at 1 point on its circumference but not putting the whole thing out and I therefore couldn’t understand why it couldn’t simply be balanced out. One to put down to experience, and sorry to Wembley Tyres.

Suspension. I was advised by Footloose to fit uprated Dobinsons springs and shocks, with a 2-inch lift and 50KG extra load at the front / 350KG extra at the back. A castor correction kit was suggested, but this is NOT required for a 2-inch lift. Old Man Emu is a well-known make also, but with a mixed reputation in some quarters. Rose and Dave had certainly had problems with their OME gear. I did have problems with my own Dobinsons shocks – in fact, I made all 4 of them fail at once – but this was because I drove too fast for too long on a bumpy road. Oddly, one of my rear springs seemed to ‘settle’ after a month or 2 and I did the entire trip with the rear axle about an inch closer to the bump stop on 1 side than the other. It made no difference to the ride or handling, though, and I have found out subsequently the reason for this – Dobinsons springs are ‘handed’! They are longer on one side than the other by about half an inch to counter the camber found on many of the Aussie roads, with the longer spring on the passenger side which is generally on the down slope of the camber so it levels the truck out. Maybe best to follow the advice of Julian Voelcker on this and reverse the fitting instructions so the longer springs are on the right-hand side of the vehicle if you plan to spend a lot of time in drive-on-the-right countries with cambered roads ie most of North Africa.

http://www.tlocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4129&sid=543689d1166221b0d3634745aeb6edc9

Roof tent. Footloose reckons that the best quality of rooftents is Howling Moon, followed by Eezi-Awn and Hannibal. I ended up going for an Eezi-Awn, purely because one came up secondhand at Footloose. No complaints, although the one on the ex-Africa Landrover I looked at above had a plastic/UPVC base – probably better than the varnished wooden one on the Eezi-Awn. And sorry to Ollie and Jenny, of jollyfollies.com, but I really couldn’t recommend a Serengeti! It looked to be made of much cheaper quality materials.

Have the tent facing forwards rather than backwards

I had been advised at the start to have it facing rearwards because it would form a canopy over the back end of the car when cooking/eating, but the tailgate does that anyway on a LC. We also found that having the ladder of the tent based on the ground meant we were dependent on finding even ground and that, having put the tent up with a level floor, the floor would then flex as our weight compressed the suspension when we climbed into it. Having the ladder of the tent resting on the front bulbar rather than the ground eradicated these problems so in Pakistan I emulated Martin P and turned the roofrack around, having some metal feet fashioned for this by Ehsan’s people. I didn’t have a proper bulbar like Martin, but had a steel thing bolted to the existing bumper which did the job well enough.

Fuel storage. Once or twice on the trip, like in the Fezzan desert in Libya or when crossing borders from a place with cheap fuel to one with expensive, it proved invaluable to be able to carry more fuel than the standard 90-litre fuel tank. As with a lot of these things, there is either an expensive but neat solution, or a quick-and-dirty one. A long-range fuel tank can be fitted beneath the floor of the rear load area – but this costs £1000. Or you can just get Jerry Cans – can you guess which one I went for? Of course you don’t want to carry heavy weights on the roof, so I quickly developed a technique once on the road of keeping the empty cans on the roof but strapping them to the load-securing rail inside the car when full.

As an aside – Japan-spec 80 series Landcruisers have a rear-mounted spare wheel carrier rather than the spare fitted beneath the floor of the rear load area, as with the European-spec ones. If not used for the fitting of a long-range fuel tank, this unused space can be used for storing extra spares or, as I did, fitting the cross-member and winch mechanism from a scrapped European-spec Landcruiser so as to carry an extra spare wheel.

Water storage and filtration. Again, various ways of doing this. You can either do the fitted water-tank like Martin P


or the less elaborate, but cheaper and just as effective approach I saw in the ex-African Landrover

the pipe from which feeds into the white cannister…..

I plumped for 3 ex-Army PVC storage containers and the Nature Pure First Need but would probably advise going for the larger filter as seen on Martin P’s setup as it can get far more water filtered through it relative to its cost. As with the freezer, I never got around to setting mine up properly and we ended up using bottled water for the most part, or filling the PVC containers with water we could trust. Bad karma – I wouldn’t do that again. Far better to use your own filtration system rather than all those plastic bottles.

Storage. I had been recommended not only to have plenty of storage space, but also to have the rear of the car (the ‘cube’ between the tailgate and the rear of the back seats) turned into a secure, fenced off area to keep valuables if ever I wanted to leave the car anywhere. This is generally done by way of a metal bulkhead behind the rear seats and perforated steel sheets inside the tailgate glass and the rear side windows. Often preparees of a LC 80 series with a horizontally-split tailgate will take out the existing carpet on the inside of the bottom half and replace it with metal – I did this and it was a good move, but suggest you use smooth metal rather than the patterned tread plate I used – the smooth is far easier than the tread plate to keep clean if you want to do what some overlanders do and use this as a cooking area.

The metalwork in the rear was done by KAB of Penzance in Cornwall (no website – 01736 740803). Suffice to say that Paul from Footloose took one look at the workmanship and immediately asked for KAB’s number. This is another place I would recommend, but make sure you book well ahead. Other people share my opinion of KAB and Keith Billington is busy!

As mine was a Jap-spec 80 series, it had a rear-mounted spare wheel carrier. Keith suggested bolting a stainless steel eye to the right-hand strike plate of the tailgate so that this protruded from the back of the car when the tailgate was closed, then getting a length of plastic-coated hawser with a loop on each end, like is used for bike locks, to go from this eye through the spare wheel and back again, to be secured with a big padlock through the eye and both loops. Not only did the padlock make the tailgate impossible to open when it was locked, but it also made the spare wheel harder to steal. Very useful idea. Unfortunately I no longer have any pictures of this, but if anyone is interested then please contact me and I will sketch something out.

Another suggestion, having seen this done on an off-roading weekend with Julian Voelcker’s people, is that, rather than keeping the glass rear side windows and putting metal screens on the inside of them, the side windows are removed and replaced with sheet steel/aluminium. You can even sell the glass side windows on, but keep them until the vehicle has been through its first MOT with these just in case!

Personally I quite liked the netting arrangement as seen in Martin’s Landcruiser.

I had also been advised to use Wolf storage boxes – see Equipment.

Load-securing rail – obviously with any storage, you also need to make sure things don’t slide around. http://www.load-lok.com/catalog/en_tracks.pdf#page=11 – the 5001 type – was invaluable. The bolts securing the rear seats on the 80 series form a handy way to anchor this to the floor. Unfortunately I no longer have any pictures of this, but if anyone is interested then please contact me and I will sketch something out.

Ratchet straps are excellent, to secure things, both to the floor and to the roofrack.

Seating. The 80 series Landcruiser has a split-folding rear seat and I had been advised to take one of them out, on the basis that the freed-up space could be used for storage and the remaining ½ seat could either be folded away or put down when we carried people. This worked very well – this isn’t my vehicle, but is very similar to what I did.

Deep service. Paul at Footloose recommended a deep service when I took the Landcruiser to him shortly after I had bought it. The following is a combination of what Paul suggested, spliced in with what was suggested by Julian Voelcker (www.overland-cruisers.co.uk) to Harry Purcell, another person I met recently who started a trip like mine, together with what I actually did and how I would do it in the future.

This leads neatly onto another point – namely that, depending on how much time one has, not all preparation needs to be done before starting the UK. Mechanical work that is essential to the very running of the vehicle probably does but if, for example, you are shipping the car to South Africa to start your trip then you could just as easily – and far more cheaply – get things like bull-bars, roofracks and rooftents there and maybe even the mechanical work too. And with my route going the way it did, it worked very well to leave as much non-essential but expensive mechanical work as possible until reaching Pakistan (or any other place where there are lots of Landcruisers) eg rebuilding the steering box, front axle, injection pump/injectors or automatic gearbox.

1) Drain all fluids and check condition – if there is excessive dirt/swarf in the oil investigate further, and change oil, air and fuel filters – all reasonable things to do in the UK

2) Strip the ends of the axles at the front and back, replacing all the seals, wheel bearings, swivel bearings, replace the CV joints if necessary and then repack with fresh grease – by all means regrease, but I wouldn’t bother doing any further stripping down with this in the UK, unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem.

3) Check the brake discs and pads, rebuild/replace brake calipers if required, fit new pads (keep good old ones as spares) – by all means replace discs/pads, but I wouldn’t bother doing any further stripping down with this in the UK, unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem.

4) Check prop shafts, clean out old grease and then regrease – by all means regrease, but I wouldn’t bother doing any further stripping down with this in the UK, unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem.

5) Strip diff lock actuators and refit/strip and check alternator and starter motor, checking brushes and solenoids and replacing worn parts if necessary – I wouldn’t bother doing any stripping down with this in the UK, unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem.

6) Flush cooling system with some sort of flushing product eg Radflush, then drain coolant and replace coolant, thermostat and main hoses, keeping the old ones as spares. Replace all belts, keeping the old ones as spares. Check the radiator and aircon cores – replace if necessary. All reasonable things to do in the UK.

6a) Check to see if there’s any mention of the cam belt change in the service history, otherwise replace if not sure. Must do. THAT is the same for any car with a timing belt.

7) Toyota Landcruiser 1HD-T engine – replace big end bearings and adjust valve clearances – keep changing the oil regularly and wait till somewhere Landcruiser-friendly to change the big end bearings and and adjust the tappets unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem.

8 ) Servicing the injectors and injection pump – DEFINITELY wait till somewhere Landcruiser-friendly unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem – this happened to me!

9) Simple split charge system for around £135 / Optima Yellow Top battery (£180) which you will need to power your fridge-freezer properly (see Equipment). There is no need to spend £1000 on one made by the likes of National Luna. An omission I would not make again.

http://forum.landrovernet.com/showthread.php?t=108281

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f31/split-charge-system-battery-18734-2.html

http://archive.difflock.com/discus/messages/9853/140974.html

all reasonable things to do in the UK, but wiring, sockets, etc – look at getting done on the road – much cheaper than the UK.

10) Replace existing batteries – cheaper to get on the road unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem. But as soon as any battery does start playing up, don’t bother with putting it on charge or anything else but just replace it – it won’t get better.

11) An ARB winch bar / bullbar – personally I wouldn’t bother unless a second hand one comes up. But you SHOULD get a high-lift jack, and appropriate bolt-on jacking points.

12) Check for play in the front drive shaft CV joints, but be careful. Each front CV joint has a little shaft with splines on it, which mates up with a splined flange that in turn is bolted to the front hubs. Play can develop here – it happened with mine and made me think I had play in my front diff – I didn’t! If changing the CV joint, change the flange as well. But I wouldn’t bother doing any work on this in the UK, unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem. Landcruisers will go on for a long long time with a bit of slop in the CV joints / flanges.

13) Suspension rubber bushes – check and replaceif necessary, but I wouldn’t bother doing any work on this in the UK, unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem.

14) Steering – any excessive play / leakage in the box/knuckle joints? I wouldn’t bother doing any work on this in the UK, unless there is some sort of pre-existing problem.

15) Swivel Bearings – any excessive play? As steering box

I did do a Land Rover Experience driving day shortly before I left the UK (http://www.landroverdriving.co.uk/). About this, I would say that they were a good company to train with but 1 day really isn’t enough. Moreover, after a session such as this you badly need more practice in your own vehicle. Many people have found that doing IT courses at work is all very well at the time, but then find that they forget what they’ve learned unless they can put it straight into practice. This, I would suggest, holds true for 4×4 driving courses too.

Preparation

Here’s a good website about choosing and preparing an overland vehicle

http://www.xor.org.uk/silkroute/equipment/choosevan.htm

NOT ESSENTIAL BUT DESIRABLE OR NICE TO HAVE

Awning. Some people use these, some don’t. They probably have more relevance on safari in Africa.

Vehicle shower system. You can, if you wish, pay £1000 for a heat exchanger which plumbs into the engine cooling system to heat your shower water. Be aware though, that the engine needs to be warm and running for these systems. You may find a s/h one coming up on Ebay, just as with other stuff like roof racks/tents/bull bars etc etc. APB Trading import them

What the ex-Africa Landrover had was quite good

Paul at Footloose suggested using a garden sprayer and this worked OK……

…but on balance I would probably go for some sort of mounted setup.

Martin P also had a solar shower bag, which had the rather catch-22 property of working quite well, but providing hot water in the evenings rather than when wanted in the mornings. But some people prefer to shower in the evenings.

Bull-bar. Far too expensive compared to any advantage, but OK if you happen across a second-hand one. Harry P also found that he was able to save £££ by importing his direct from South Africa, rather than going to a UK retailer.