AussieTriton's........MN Triton?

[AussieTriton]

Nope, my tray is lighter than the factory tub by 35 kg,

Do you know what the original factory style side weighs???

Alian, probably because I weighed it. Its actually supposed to be 3.5 kg, not 35 kg, I accidently left out the .

[AussieTriton]

Time for an update (not that anyone on here gives a stuff).
Late last year I finally finished the tray and fitted it. It took a week to fit the ML style towbar, wire it and make the aluminium floor sheet, mudguards / flaps, etc. but I wasn't in any hurry, only having an hour or two each night to play with it. I wasn't happy with the LED lights I bought, they weren't very bright, even at night. After a test run to Wodonga for the caravan show, on the way home it rained heavily and I was very surprised to see the water on the back window travelling UP the glass rather violently. I also noticed a lot of wind noise and a loss of roughly 100 - 120 km off my normal fuel range over the next few weeks.

Fast forward to January '15 and we decided to take the new Jayco Outback up to Lake Boga for the weekend for it's maiden voyage. Did all the usual prep and headed off. What a disappointment! With a mild head / cross wind the Triton was fine up to 100 km/h in 4th, but wouldn't pull a condom off your willie in 5th. It was a slow cruise up to 'Boga in 4th gear, averaging 90 km/h. The wind would gust, too and the "tail would wag the dog" so to speak. More than a few times I had 1/4 of a turn lock on to "keep the train on the rails" against the wind. The weekend at Boga was nice, and the van did it's part admirably, quite comfortable and well appointed. I detoured into Swan Hill to fuel up and noted my fuel useage: 53.5 ltrs for only 195 km travelled and did the same on the way home, luckily following a B double stock hauler most of the way which made for 51L for the 198 km. At this time, I started trawling the classifieds for a F250 Superduty. I figured that if I was going to use that much fuel towing the van, I might as well have to power to hold highway speed while I was at it.

Fast forward again to Easter, when we decided to go to Bright for the holidays. The fortnight before, I pulled the tray and broke out the angle grinder and cut the sides, rear and rollbar off. I was never happy with it (it was measured and built off the truck, bad choice) so I decided to make some alterations. I narrowed it down 40mm a side, took 100mm off the tray length and lowered the roll hoop 70mm. The amount of work to clean up the cut-offs would have wasted too much time, so I fitted new sides and rear RHS and cut and shut 80mm out of the roll hoop width, tacked it all together and did a quick fit-up on the ute to see if it was better. I liked the end product, so it came off, got welded up, new Narva LED lights fitted to the smaller lightboxes and a repaint and the floor got trimmed to suit. The end result, the tray hugs the body much better, wind noise is all but gone, I have to do at least 90 km/h before the water starts running UP the back window and I've gained 70 - 80km back on my fuel range. I havent missed the 100mm loss of tray length yet, so that doesnt bother me. I have 2 ex-Army toughboxes coming from Ebay to fit to the tray for storage (tempaorary attachment) and finishing it 2 days before the holiday trip, I did my own oil and filter change (it was at 30,700 km and I couldnt get in for the 30,000 service before Easter anyway) using Peak 15W40 oil and Sakura oil and air filters.

The trip to Bright was a big surprise. As soon as we left the house, I noticed the roar from the snorkel was really loud and the pulling power was the best I'd experienced for quite some time. It was a VAST improvment over the Boga trip, easily able to hold the speed limits in 5th on the highway even with a headwind. On the Hume heading north, I was overtaking most trucks and other vans with ease at a comfortable 110 - 112 km/h cruise and the only time I had to use lower than 4th was Gap Hill on the Great Alpine Road. A top-up in Bright saw 54L for 335 km, and I was impressed. 4 days in Bright, visits to Hotham, Buffalo and several other tourist meccas for the wife and step daughter were done with ease and the trip home was just as easy, except I detoured via Benalla instead of Seymour.
I'm convinced the factory air filter is WAY too restrictive, and the aftermarket Sakura filter was much more free flowing. This would explain the HUGE difference in performance between the 2 trips. Apart form the tray mods and the air filter, nothing changed between trips, so I'll put it down to that. Now that its finally had its 30,000 service, I'm looking for a bullbar and saving for some new rubber. I'll try and post some pics, if I have time.
Cheers.

[AussieTriton]

Decided to come back and update. I've been crook for a while, and haven't really had time for life's niceties, although since getting better, I've done a few trips and the Triton is up to almost 74K now. We are only a week back from a 15 day trip to Alice Springs and Uluru towing the Outback van, 6,000 kms and besides the barely adequate power, the Triton did well. I averaged 18L per 100 km over the trip, didn't see a single live 'roo the entire time and got to see a lot more of this land than I have in my lifetime (and plan to see more).
I damaged the LR tyre due to a stick stabbing through the side wall early on at about 22K, so I fitted 2 Bridgestone BT50 take-offs in 255 size on the rear at 22K, and replaced the fronts at 63K with Acillies Hyfly All terrains in 255. The 60K service was a disaster. The dealer in Bendigo didn't check any of the drive-train fluid levels ( all the drain/fill plugs were still caked with undisturbed dirt) and the rear diff oil wasn't replaced as required in the service schedule. I took it back once I discovered that these items were not done and not only did the get done, I received a free 75K service to compensate me. I have to replace the worn rear tyres in a couple of weeks with more Hyflys and the spare so they all match. The rear Dunlops lasted 22k, because the centres wore out quickly with the factory recommended pressures (I now run the rears at 24 psi to compensate0, and used the RR to replace the LF which wore out the outer edge at 30K to the belts. The front Dunlops were worn out at 63K and the bridgys are nearly done at 50K, so tyre life hasn't been bad. So far the Hyflys have been really good at 11K so far with neglegable wear, so I'll fit more of them. After the 75K service, going to fit a Xrox bar, make a canvas canopy for the tray and new rear springs and front lift. If I can access the stupidmotors account, I'll throw up some pics to update. The engine bay still looks like it just got delivered, it's so clean, and the truck holding up well overall. I need more power for towing the van, so I need to look at upgrades. That's all I can think of for now, will update again shortly.
Cheers.

[snakesoup]

thanks for the update mate !!

[AussieTriton]

7 1/2 years goes by fast, huh? Spent a large portion of it FIFO, paying off the house and getting myself out of debt.
Still have the Triton, going on 220k now. Did manage to fit the Xrox bar, with some Aldi 9" LED spots. Also, the best investment so far, a 3" exhaust with cat convertor and hot dog (should have gone with the oval muffler). What a HUGE difference that made. Now, it goes like a cut cat all the way until the ECU says enough at 5300 rpm. Before, it would run out of steam at 3500. Service it myself at 10k intervals, still getting 10L/100 unless towing a car on a tandem, then it's around 12L/100. Tray is off, getting some updates.
Lost my Mum in 2019. Never had the poison jabs, never had the vid, even when working around them at contact distance, lost my job because of the BS. My Dad has just been diagnosed with leukeamia, so I travel to Melb twice a week to help out and visit him.
That's my life so far, hope you all have been well.

[Longranger1]

More power to you refusing the death shots. Lost my Mum in '22 due to that sh!t. I dodged it and although they pushed hard, they realised they wouldn't have an electrical crew. Ain't solidarity great!? One guy relented and had a serious stroke at 40.
I enjoyed your build write up. Still Tritoning here, too.