Calamity Jane

[Maxiy]

HI ALL

So i have been around the forum for about 2 years now (coming up to 2 years with the triton aswell) and i think i have done enough work on the truck to warrant a build thread

So i bought a brand new White GLX+ MN triton from my local canberra dealer back in late august 2014. I upgraded from an old clapped out lancer, as i found myself steeling my dads hilux every second weekend for camping, going to the snow, fishing, etc. I was originally in the market for a D-MAX but when the triton popped up for the same price brand new, as a second hand D-MAX with 50k on the clock, i booking in a test drive.

Test drove the car one saturday, and walked out the door with all the papers signed. AND SO BEGAN THE JOURNEY



This is it on the day i picked it up. All shiny and new. It didnt take long for me to get stuck into some 4 wheel driving. Within a week i took her out to my parents property and threw her down some rough tracks.

Didnt take long for me to start looking for things to bolt onto her.First i Picked up a genuine nudge bar for $100 off gumtree, and some black duck front seat covers.

After my first outing into the wild, and a few runs into some bog holes a little bigger than expected (water a quater way up the doors) i decided some dif breathers were in order. Got an ARB breather kit and turnded up an adapter plug for the rear diff. Next mod to go in was Tonys EGR blank, Then a secondary fuel filter.



While on a trip down the south coast for some kiteboarding over new years 2014/15, i went for an adventure along some powerlin tracks, misjudging some bog holes again, this time well and truly giving the stock bash plates a work out. So onto the forum i went and picked up some new stainless plates on a christmas special. I also found out on this trip that having no cover over the tub, means wet gear, so jumped on trusty gumtree again and got a flush cover for $150 bucks.




I went on my annual fishing trip to Eucambene near cooma, where i quickly found out how alloy side steps not only decrease your clearance, but are also not very good at sliding over rocks. So onto the forum i jumped and found some slider plans. Got some sliders whipped up by a local steel fabricator for $350 for the pair. Pretty happy.



Then i managed to pick up an ARB delux winch bar off gumtree for $200. Did not come with mounting brackets however, so that sat in the shed for a long time.



Next i got a Thumper air compressor from 4wd supa centre, works a treat and was really cheap. Got some free tie downs and dirty bag with it so can not complain.

Next was new tyres, on went some 265/70/16 Dick Cepek trail countries, on 16 inch black sunnies. Tyres made a massive differance in off road performance. I revisited the bog holes that had me stuck when i first got her, and this time i got through no troubles (i must admit it was partly due to my lack of off road skill, that i got stuck the first times).



Although even with the new tyres i was still getting stuck, so i was in the market for some recovery tracks. I'm a landscape architect by day and i had used FRP industrial grating for a number of board walks, bridges and decks i had design over the years. So i managed to get hold of some panels of grating and whipped up some home made tracks. They work a treat and have saved me on several occasions now.



Then i managed to pick up a free high lift jack from my dad, so that got added to my recover gear



From here i had exhausted most of my funds with the new tyres so she stayed this way for some time.

Next on went the snorkel earlier this year for a trip down to buckenderra.



Next i got some spotties from 4wd supacentre



Then i managed to get enough coin together to get my bar sorted. The bar went off to NFTF to get painted (They did a stunning job, and for a very decent price). Order went into ARB for the fit kit, and then the waiting game started for it to arrive.
The kit finally arrived 4 months after i ordered it. Took me and a mate 7 hours all up to fit the bar.




so this is how she looks at the moment. I have recently managed to pick up an old steel rack from a 100 series, a warn XD9000 winch, and some recovery gear. so they shall be making their way onto Calamity in the coming months.



Next on the list is a DIY canopy from to hold the roof rack i got
Lift will hopefully go in when i sell my lancer that has been sitting round for the last 2 years
a Batwing/foxwing awning will go on when i get the roof rack sorted out

[Quinny]

Good story mate ... and welcome along after 2 years in the lurkyness

[Jacobie]

Looks sweet man! If you don't mind me asking... how much did the mount kit cost from ARB?

[Maxiy]

Looks sweet man! If you don't mind me asking... how much did the mount kit cost from ARB?

It cost $550 i think (definitely under $600 though).
The kit came with:
Mounting bracket
All nuts, bolts and spacers
New rubber bar bumpers (the ones in the middle)
New fog light surrounds + indictors
All the associated hardware for mounting a winch
Instructions

From what i can tell, it came with everything you would normally get when buying a bar from ARB MINUS the actual bar. I thought it was just going to come with the mount bracket, so was cheering when it came with bloody everything

[Jacobie]

That's awesome mate! A lot better then buying an actual ARB bar haha! 2k plus... No thanks!

[Maxiy]

That's awesome mate! A lot better then buying an actual ARB bar haha! 2k plus... No thanks!

Yep the bar, new paint, and fit kit cost me just under 1k, and there is only a small ding in the front of the bar. VERY happy with my bargain skills on this one

[Jacobie]

That's awesome mate! A lot better then buying an actual ARB bar haha! 2k plus... No thanks!

Yep the bar, new paint, and fit kit cost me just under 1k, and there is only a small ding in the front of the bar. VERY happy with my bargain skills on this one

Yeah mate... Deadest bargain!

[Joel]

Looking good maxiy we will have to get together again on the tracks soon

[Maxiy]

Looking good maxiy we will have to get together again on the tracks soon

yep for sure, have not been for a decent drive in ages.

[Maxiy]

seems my pictures have become unlinked, how do i edit my original posts???

[Adinfinitum]

seems my pictures have become unlinked, how do i edit my original posts???

I thought I was doing something wrong

[NowForThe5th]

seems my pictures have become unlinked, how do i edit my original posts???

I thought I was doing something wrong

Trying to access your photos I get:

The image........cannot be displayed because it contains errors"

So, thought you'd store your images in the cloud where they'd be nice and safe? Microsoft strikes again. Oh, and you do realise that they're on a public server where all and sundry can access them? Not only that but you can't delete them either and you can use up your whole allowance when it tries to sync.

Get rid of that Microsoft junk and sign up for a Photobucket account if you don't have your own server. Set your albums to private, upload your photos and get the links. Send the links to me and I'll edit your post to include them.

[Maxiy]

Hey NFTF

hahah ok wow.

shall set up a photobucket. The photos seem to be working now, did you do something to them? if so, thanks very much. Shall be using photobucket from now on.


ANYWAY to an update

have been fabricating up a frame to mount a roof top cage i got from a mate, i'm very short for time these days so it has taken a fair bit longer than i had hoped. shall post pics when i sort out a photobucket.

i'm making a simple bar that will bolt to the bottom/back of my tub. the bar follows the same profile as the cabin protection bar. The roof cage will then mount to the cabin bar and the bar at the back of the tub. I will see how that goes for starters and then will likely add in some additional support at the cabin end, as the cabin bar is pretty flimsy.
shall be modifying my flush tonneau cover so that it wraps around the bar at the back, so i can still keep stuff in the tub dry, and things that i can get wet i will store of the roof cage (tubs, camping poles, tarps blah blah blah)

From here i want to get hold of a batwing/foxwing awning to mount to the side, and will fab up some boxes for recovery gear to mount on the roof cage.

[Cowboy Dave]

Photos aren't showing at all here mate, so maybe it was something local that changed for you? Or you're looking via tapatalk and I'm not maybe.

[Maxiy]

Photos aren't showing at all here mate, so maybe it was something local that changed for you? Or you're looking via tapatalk and I'm not maybe.

hmmm thanks CD

Shall take NFTF up on his offer to fix my thread then haha

[Maxiy]

HI ALL

So thought i would fix my thread, thanks NFTF for offering to help out, but dont want you to waste your spare time so thought i would just repost my original post.

"HI ALL

So i have been around the forum for about 2 years now (coming up to 2 years with the triton aswell) and i think i have done enough work on the truck to warrant a build thread

So i bought a brand new White GLX+ MN triton from my local canberra dealer back in late august 2014. I upgraded from an old clapped out lancer, as i found myself steeling my dads hilux every second weekend for camping, going to the snow, fishing, etc. I was originally in the market for a D-MAX but when the triton popped up for the same price brand new, as a second hand D-MAX with 50k on the clock, i booking in a test drive.

Test drove the car one saturday, and walked out the door with all the papers signed. AND SO BEGAN THE JOURNEY



This is it on the day i picked it up. All shiny and new. It didnt take long for me to get stuck into some 4 wheel driving. Within a week i took her out to my parents property and threw her down some rough tracks.

Didnt take long for me to start looking for things to bolt onto her.First i Picked up a genuine nudge bar for $100 off gumtree, and some black duck front seat covers.

After my first outing into the wild, and a few runs into some bog holes a little bigger than expected (water a quater way up the doors) i decided some dif breathers were in order. Got an ARB breather kit and turnded up an adapter plug for the rear diff. Next mod to go in was Tonys EGR blank, Then a secondary fuel filter.



While on a trip down the south coast for some kiteboarding over new years 2014/15, i went for an adventure along some powerlin tracks, misjudging some bog holes again, this time well and truly giving the stock bash plates a work out. So onto the forum i went and picked up some new stainless plates on a christmas special. I also found out on this trip that having no cover over the tub, means wet gear, so jumped on trusty gumtree again and got a flush cover for $150 bucks.





I went on my annual fishing trip to Eucambene near cooma, where i quickly found out how alloy side steps not only decrease your clearance, but are also not very good at sliding over rocks. So onto the forum i jumped and found some slider plans. Got some sliders whipped up by a local steel fabricator for $350 for the pair. Pretty happy.



Then i managed to pick up an ARB delux winch bar off gumtree for $200. Did not come with mounting brackets however, so that sat in the shed for a long time.



Next i got a Thumper air compressor from 4wd supa centre, works a treat and was really cheap. Got some free tie downs and dirty bag with it so can not complain.

Next was new tyres, on went some 265/70/16 Dick Cepek trail countries, on 16 inch black sunnies. Tyres made a massive differance in off road performance. I revisited the bog holes that had me stuck when i first got her, and this time i got through no troubles (i must admit it was partly due to my lack of off road skill, that i got stuck the first times).



Although even with the new tyres i was still getting stuck, so i was in the market for some recovery tracks. I'm a landscape architect by day and i had used FRP industrial grating for a number of board walks, bridges and decks i had design over the years. So i managed to get hold of some panels of grating and whipped up some home made tracks. They work a treat and have saved me on several occasions now.



Then i managed to pick up a free high lift jack from my dad, so that got added to my recover gear

From here i had exhausted most of my funds with the new tyres so she stayed this way for some time.



Next on went the snorkel earlier this year for a trip down to buckenderra.



Testing the stock flex and sliders




Next i got some spotties from 4wd supacentre



Then i managed to get enough coin together to get my bar sorted. The bar went off to NFTF to get painted (They did a stunning job, and for a very decent price). Order went into ARB for the fit kit, and then the waiting game started for it to arrive.
The kit finally arrived 4 months after i ordered it. Took me and a mate 7 hours all up to fit the bar.





so this is how she looks at the moment. I have recently managed to pick up an old steel rack from a 100 series, a warn XD9000 winch, and some recovery gear. so they shall be making their way onto Calamity in the coming months.



Next on the list is a DIY canopy from to hold the roof rack i got
Lift will hopefully go in when i sell my lancer that has been sitting round for the last 2 years
a Batwing/foxwing awning will go on when i get the roof rack sorted out
Maxiy

[Jacobie]

Looks good mate. I myself just put a bull bar on! A lot easier then i thought it would be!

[Maxiy]

Looks good mate. I myself just put a bull bar on! A lot easier then i thought it would be!

Yeah pretty straight forward. I unfortunately forgot 2 brackets, had the bar all fitted up and then noticed them on the shed floor

had to take it all off again and fit them.

[Jacobie]

Spewin mate. I basically had to wing it all as it didn't come with fitting instructions, just dimensions for the bumper cut. Oh and how to mount the new washer bottle.

[Maxiy]

Oh and how to mount the new washer bottle.

Yeah i have not done my washer bottle yet, i chose to not put the wings on the under side, to gain some approach angle. So my washer bottle is sticking out just begging to be ripped off haha

[Jacobie]

Oh and how to mount the new washer bottle.

Yeah i have not done my washer bottle yet, i chose to not put the wings on the under side, to gain some approach angle. So my washer bottle is sticking out just begging to be ripped off haha

HAHA just get the bladder one seems to be working fine for me. I do agree, if i got a 3 loop bar i wouldnt have the flaps on either.
The bladder is basically a camel pack that is mounted behind the battery. Can take a pic if you like. Reused the existing tube and power.

[Maxiy]

Oh and how to mount the new washer bottle.

Yeah i have not done my washer bottle yet, i chose to not put the wings on the under side, to gain some approach angle. So my washer bottle is sticking out just begging to be ripped off haha

HAHA just get the bladder one seems to be working fine for me. I do agree, if i got a 3 loop bar i wouldnt have the flaps on either.
The bladder is basically a camel pack that is mounted behind the battery. Can take a pic if you like. Reused the existing tube and power.

Thanks mate, a pick would be greatly appreciated

[Jacobie]

Hey mate, don't have a pic just yet, can get one off my truck if you want. Looks exactly like this, same mounts and everything, just bolt the bracket to the back of the battery and it just mounts on those hooks. You use the existing power (I cut off the factory connector to make new connection) and use existing tubing... Working fine for me.

[Maxiy]

Interesting. Thanks mate, may have to look into this option

[Jacobie]

Interesting. Thanks mate, may have to look into this option

Not the best looking alternative, I'm sure there's others but I got this with the Xrox so I didn't really get a choice