My MN Triton......another white GLX

[Pearcie45]

Looking good. What are your thread spacers made out of?

[Amaroo]

Looking good. What are your thread spacers made out of?

Aluminium, can't remember the grade though.

The crush tubes are stainless.

[Pearcie45]

I think I need something like that for the seats. Did you buy it and drill and tap it yourself

[Amaroo]

They actually are a spare set of seat spacers that I didn't use on the passenger side of my car and had sitting around. I just tapped them to suit the 12mm thread of the bolts I am using.

These are the spacers I am wanting to get made in larger numbers but I haven't seen the guy since he made mine.

I spoke to another guy about making them but he has to hand make each one on the lathe and it would be too expensive. The guy who made mine has them saved in his cnc program so he can make them in large numbers at a better price I am hoping.

Check the photos on my first page to see what the spacers look like fitted to the seat rail.

[ratzy]

hey mate,

nice rig!! love the side steps... i might have to have a go this weekend... my plan is to install mu new ultimate suspention so if i do this at the same time i should have a massive dffernece

im aso a canberra boy and have a white GLX tray back.

keep the updates coming

Ratzy

[Smj276]

Hi all. sorry to bump again.
I have been trying to find the breather hose you used above but have had no luck so far. I'm obviously not using the right search string in google.

can anyone give me some info on where I can source this hose?

Thanks heaps

[Amaroo]

It's metric sized air hose 6mm OD, any pneumatics supply place should have it or worst case just grab it off ebay from the guy who I got mine from, 'lazzyharry':

http://bit.ly/1aQAuki

[Smj276]

thank heaps.

[alpine triton]

SMC have the hose if you have a dealer near you
TE 0604 is the polyethylene tubing which is a bit stiffer
TU 0604 is the polyurethane tubing which is a bit more flexible
Both should do the job
Adam

[Amaroo]

Great info on the hose there Adam

Made another practical addition to the Triton a couple of weekends ago in preparation for our trip on the weekend just past.

I mentioned a few posts back that we had recently picked up an Oztent RV4 and a tagalong tent. The RV4 is a long sucker when packed up and had no chance of fitting in the back of the tub with all our other gear. So a couple of Saturdays ago I enlisted the help of my old man and set about installing the Rhino track mounts on the roof to which the Pioneer platform would be attached.

Now I'm not sure how many people on here have fitted the track mounts themselves but far# me it did not go as smoothly as I had thought it would

Following the instructions to the letter it was all going great until we went to install the third rivet on the first side and the rivet didn't take, which meant the track just lifted back up. Drilled that rivet out and the preceding two and checked what was going on. There were too many sheet metal layers in that spot meaning the rivet was too short to take.

No problem, get some longer blind rivets and start again. Get to the second last rivet on the first side and the thing snaps in two meaning the rivet gun couldn't pull it all the way through Die grind off the stub and drill out the rivets and contemplate starting again.

Now I'm sure a few people are thinking big deal, so you had to drill off a few rivet heads, get over it. But bear in mind each time that the mounting failed I had to clean up all the sealant on the track and roof channel and redo it again. Such a damn messy job

At this point I was over it and had lost faith in the rivets so I removed the roof lining and bolted the rails to the roof with caps head screws and nylock nuts. Grade 12 M6 screws, overkill probably but I don't ever want to have to worry about it.

I had cold galvanised all the drilled holes and used the appropriate sealant on each hole so that this thing doesn't leak. Removing the roof lining also allowed me to clean up some of the swarf that had dropped down (even though we had the vacuum going full bore on the drill bit some still dropped through).

The other hot tip is that the paper instructions have no warning about the presence of wiring under two of the holes, the online instructions do. Removing the roof lining and seeing where the wiring was on the drivers side and where the hole came through I am pretty sure that no matter how cautiously the drilling took place a sharp drill bit would have nicked those wires. Having the lining out meant I could just move them aside and safely drill.

Taking the latter approach we had the track mounts on and beautifully installed in no time and dropping the roof lining down was a very easy task as well.

Due to my anger that brewed early on in the installation I was too pissed off to take any photos until it was finished

Completed and at our relaxing campsite in the Geehi Valley one weekend later.....



I am very happy with the end result and it worked a treat carrying our gear.



Still got pretty good fuel economy with all that gear on the roof and the tub loaded up too, hit approx 620km before the fuel light came on.

Had a great weekend in the Geehi Valley and around the Tom Groggin area. Spent two nights in this picturesque valley...



That open grassy area in the valley is the Geehi Valley, you can just barely make the track out. This is being viewed from Scammel's lookout.



A view of the mountains from the lookout, not much snow left.....





Just coming on dusk at camp....



One of our neighbours.....



We set up just near Keebles hut....





Over the few days we were there we crossed the Murray into Victoria and had a drive around checking out the tracks and on the NSW side we drove the Geehi Walls trail and Major Clews Fire trail which allowed us to check out Major Clews hut along the way.

As seems to be the norm on these trips now we had to take a bit of a detour on the second day after a motorbike rider told us about a bloke in an 80 series that had blown a radiator hose and had no water to refill it or container to put some in. So I pulled up alongside the crystal clear waters of the Murray and filled up one of my water jerry cans.

About 15 minutes later we found the bloke and had a chat, he had the radiator hose blow off and lost all his coolant. Probably in not a very wise move he had driven another few km's with no coolant to try and reach a creek to get water. He said that him and his wife would be fine once the cruiser cooled down and was refilled, so I gave him my jerry can full of water so he could refill it in case he needed to top it up on the road and we parted ways. He wasn't there when we came back through later so he must have got going again.

In summary we had a great weekend away in an awesome location, with cracking weather and the mighty Triton loved every minute of it.

[salt36]

Top photos mate, some awesome looking country there...

Good on you for helping out the Cruiser bloke too, what comes around, goes around. When in need you will have help

[Juggz]

Sounds like a ripper escape mate. I'll have to see the new addition to the ute too.

Mine is a little worse for wear at the moment so perhaps not an intense drive to catch up

[lgil86]

[quote="Amaroo"]

Due to my anger that brewed early on in the installation I was too pissed off to take any photos until it was finished

Sounds like we are cut from the same cloth Amaroo!

[Amaroo]

Sounds like a ripper escape mate. I'll have to see the new addition to the ute too.

Mine is a little worse for wear at the moment so perhaps not an intense drive to catch up

Will have to organise a sedate outing before Xmas I reckon, we don't want anyone missing out on Xmas presents because they are paying for a busted truck

I've got a ton of places I want to check out but most of them would be a full day out to do the whole trip so we will see what we can organise.

[Amaroo]

Sounds like we are cut from the same cloth Amaroo!

I like to think I'm focused but other people seem to think its anger

[Juggz]

Sounds like a ripper escape mate. I'll have to see the new addition to the ute too.

Mine is a little worse for wear at the moment so perhaps not an intense drive to catch up

Will have to organise a sedate outing before Xmas I reckon, we don't want anyone missing out on Xmas presents because they are paying for a busted truck

I've got a ton of places I want to check out but most of them would be a full day out to do the whole trip so we will see what we can organise.

I think Michael would appreciate a more sedate outing too

Somewhere nice, have a ripper christmas picnic.

[alpine triton]

Geehi/Tom Groggin is a great area to explore, have spent quite a bit of time over the years checking out tracks in that area and beyond
Amaroo, have you got the tag along tent for the RV4?
The oztent RV5 is the best tent we have ever owned, so quick and easy to set up and it fits on the ARB roof rack perfectly
I am trying to get the rear diff breather done this week in preparation for a weekend trip into the Buckland valley, the gearbox breathers will have to wait until afterwards.
Adam

[Amaroo]

I can't wait to get back up to that area Adam, such a nice bit of the country. I'd like to head up Mt Pinnibar next time we are up there.

We did grab a Tagalong tent for our RV4, my son sleeps in the Tagalong and it gives us a bit more room for gear too. They are great tents and I'm so glad we switched over to them.

Have a good trip to the Buckland Valley.

[emjayar]

Sounds like a ripper escape mate. I'll have to see the new addition to the ute too.

Mine is a little worse for wear at the moment so perhaps not an intense drive to catch up

Will have to organise a sedate outing before Xmas I reckon, we don't want anyone missing out on Xmas presents because they are paying for a busted truck

I've got a ton of places I want to check out but most of them would be a full day out to do the whole trip so we will see what we can organise.

I think Michael would appreciate a more sedate outing too

Somewhere nice, have a ripper christmas picnic.

I'm keen to come along for a full day as always and yes as quoted a more sedate adventure would be appreciated.

You're truck is looking seriously nice now! Which brand of roof rack did you decide on?

In other news I just ordered the same snorkel as you and Juggz. I'm looking forward to fitting it.

[Amaroo]

I'm keen to come along for a full day as always and yes as quoted a more sedate adventure would be appreciated.

You're truck is looking seriously nice now! Which brand of roof rack did you decide on?

In other news I just ordered the same snorkel as you and Juggz. I'm looking forward to fitting it.

We will have to organise a day that suits everyone then

The roof rack setup is all Rhino gear using their track mount system and the Pioneer platform. I'm really happy with it and it suits what I need perfectly.

Those particular eBay snorkels are great, I'm really impressed with mine and gave it a good test last weekend with plenty of bonnet high river crossings.

[Hugebettyswollocks]

How much hose length did you use overall?

[Amaroo]

How much hose length did you use overall?

I ended up using just about the whole 10m that was supplied. I maybe had about 20cm leftover in the end.

[Hugebettyswollocks]

Thanks, great post btw, will be using it when l get around to doing mine

[Amaroo]

Another small update....

Last weekend I knocked over a few more tasks on the Triton, fitted the interior air filter or air-con filter, or whatever it's called. Installed a compressor behind the rear seat for a massive improvement in convenience at airing up time and also fitted up the new rear step bar.

Firstly I'll comment on the interior air-filter. I ordered the one off eBay that everyone else on here has been getting. Dropped the glovebox down, cut out the required plastic to fit the filter and secured the new filter in place with two screws - job done .

Super easy and straight forward, plenty of people on here have pics of how to do it and detailed instructions so I won't go into it any further other than to say it's well worth doing for such a small cost in time and money.

Next up was to fit my new TJM RB6 rear bar that I picked up last week. Now I will be the first to admit that when I have choices for new products to fit I am a huge procrastinator and extremely indecisive. I'll deliberate over the smallest detail for weeks and change my mind 20 times before I decide what to go with and choosing a rear bar was no different.

I narrowed it down to an ARB rear step bar or the TJM RB6 and I'll get this comment out of the way straight up..........I don't really fancy the look of either of them if I am perfectly honest. So given that my decision wasn't going to be based on looks at all I just chose based on function and for me the RB6 got it by a whisker.

I had an ARB item on my last Hilux and the only downside was the "grader blade" on the bar and how it got a bit bent over time when it hooked up on stuff. My Hilux had a wayyyy better departure angle than the Triton and still copped a few knocks so I knew this new bar is going to cop a few knocks and some plus a few more. The TJM bar looks like it will cope well in that regard and that is all it took to get it over the line.

It came in a massive box, as you'd expect. The box weighed in at 60kg with the bar itself weighing approximately 52kg.



My 2 year old son was keen to help unpack everything.



I was impressed with the build quality and construction, it certainly appears to be a solid bar.



It was dead easy to install in about 30 minutes, fitted up perfectly and in the end looked better than I expected. Definitely looks better in the flesh than in the pics in the catalogues. The two high lift jack points are a nice addition too.



So that should protect the back end of the Triton

I'll note too that I didn't wire up a trailer plug, mainly because I have nothing I need to tow and it's a good excuse to not have to tow other peoples crap around the country side

I will wire up a trailer plug later but I'm in no rush.

Once the rear bar was on I got stuck into something I had been meaning to do for ages and that was instal the air compressor behind the rear seat. It's basically wasted space for me behind there because I have a child seat attached so it's a pain in the arse to remove it to access behind the seat.

I checked out what a few people on here had done to utilise the space and then set to work.

I didn't want to drill any holes in the floor to fit the compressor because there was no neat way to do it as the feet didn't align with the pressed ridges in the floor and the fuel tank is directly under the floor. So I set about making a mount to hold the compressor that utilised existing mounting points.

Constructed from 5x30mm flat bar steel and a few careful measurements.







Once the bracket was made it was bolted in and the compressor mounted up so it could be wired up.



Wiring consisted of power from the battery (fused of course) to an Anderson plug mounted up on the rear wall of the cab and then from the Anderson plug to the compressor.

The compressor already had an internal relay so the switch on the pump was removed and a new switch wired up remotely on the centre console.





ONce wired up it was simply a case of making up a short section of hose from the compressor through the centre arm rest of the rear seat and it was good to go





So now there is no more lugging the compressor out of the back of the ute and rummaging around amongst the luggage to get it out, I just simply fold down the arm rest and connect the hose and flick the switch on the centre console.

Much easier

A keen eye will notice that I have ditched the factory jack, which is of no concern as I carry the high lift around now.

I was happy with the outcome, the Triton is slowly coming along.

Now to just make my mind up on a bullbar

[Tritonail]

Great work here mate rear bar looks great and really like how tidy your comp install is.....very impressed simple and practical...