Hi Rob and Marg.

Both my wife and myself have been following your journey,and thankyou for keeping us informed.Rob I have a question for you that has probably been asked before,I have just taken delivery of a new D – max ( just got rid of a 08 triton)how do you find it as a tow vehicle,is the fuel consumpion as good as you thought it would be and will I need to beef up the suspension.I have a WDH but it still seems to sit a bit low in the rear end,alot more than the Triton did.It is also my first auto,did you do all of your travells in drive and did you use the power button.Our van is a 21.6 ft Jayco sterling.Thanks Rob and both of you travel safe .Cheers

Hi Rob and Marg

love your work and enjoy your DVD, my partner and I are on tour from Melb to WA and decided to go to Denmark after an enjoyable stay in Cape Le Grand and Albany

Bugger me the barometer is gone !!, we kindly asked the lady at the tourism centre and the reception was some what, well ………..and little cold, needless to say the comment was, it may re appear in a year or somewhere else.

The Pies were great at the bakery and the trip is a pleasure so far, currently in Bussleton, followed by Perth, Kalgoorlie, followed by a return back home then back to work………..

regards

Anthony & Keera

Rob Orchard wrote:Hi Rob and Marg.

Both my wife and myself have been following your journey,and thankyou for keeping us informed.Rob I have a question for you that has probably been asked before,I have just taken delivery of a new D – max ( just got rid of a 08 triton)how do you find it as a tow vehicle,is the fuel consumpion as good as you thought it would be and will I need to beef up the suspension.I have a WDH but it still seems to sit a bit low in the rear end,alot more than the Triton did.It is also my first auto,did you do all of your travells in drive and did you use the power button.Our van is a 21.6 ft Jayco sterling.Thanks Rob and both of you travel safe .Cheers

G’day Folks,
Sorry about being a bit late in replying. Yep, you are right about the question, in fact it it probably was the most common question asked of me as we went around on the trip.
Essentially the DMax is a great tow vehicle and has great fuel economy. We achieved around the 18 to 18.5 ltrs per 100kms while towing the rig of close to 3 tonne. There were several significant enhancements made to the vehicle and these have been well documented here on the forum and on the DVD. Main additions were; Steinbauer Power Module, Taipan Exhaust system, large auto transmission cooler and enhanced suspension. All were needed to tow the 3 tonne load. We also used a heavy duty Hayman Reece tow hitch set-up along with a HR anti-sway bar.

There was no problem with the auto transmission, but we did install a larger auto transmission cooler. We mostly towed in 3rd with the power button engaged. Revs were generally in the 2200 – 2800 range for most travel and rarely did it go above the 3000rpm. However when conditions allowed, we popped it into drive and still maintained good road speed without labouring the motor. Speed was maintained somewhere in the 85-95kmph range.

You don’t state how heavy your van is, so the question about the “low ride” I can’t offer an informed comment about. Perhaps if you are close to a licensed HR distributor, have a chat with them about your set up and get a answer direct from them. Have you obtained a ball weight for the van yet ?

Hope this helps, but feel free to either post again or send me an Private Message via the forum if you wish.

cheers
Rob

Fish71 wrote:Hi Rob and Marg

love your work and enjoy your DVD, my partner and I are on tour from Melb to WA and decided to go to Denmark after an enjoyable stay in Cape Le Grand and Albany

Bugger me the barometer is gone !!, we kindly asked the lady at the tourism centre and the reception was some what, well ………..and little cold, needless to say the comment was, it may re appear in a year or somewhere else.

The Pies were great at the bakery and the trip is a pleasure so far, currently in Bussleton, followed by Perth, Kalgoorlie, followed by a return back home then back to work………..

regards

Anthony & Keera

Thanks Anthony & Keera,
That bottom corner of WA was one of our favourites along the trip and is a definite leader on our ” go back to list ” Cape Le Grande is a must.
Interesting comment about the Barometer, as we found staff at info centres around Australia overwhelmingly helpful. That’s news about the relocation of the instrument
I did conduct my own private test of pastry establishments on our trip, and the one at Denmark was up with the leaders.

We enjoyed Kalgoolie and even did the Langtrys’ Brothel Tour there ! Something quite differant, a bit of a laugh and certainly a change from the Super Pit tour. I guess you are travelling East, so also try and register for Nullarbor Golf. It breaks up your journey and gets you out of the rig to stretch your legs.

Let us know how the trip went when you get home, we’d be happy to hear from you.
Cheers
Rob

hello Rob and Marg,

My wife and I have enjoyed your trip in a voyeuristic sense from watching the DVD,s…..most interesting. Made us jealous really ,hopefully our turn will come before the earth runs out of fossil fuels.
Actually if you recall we missed meeting you over here in WA due some rather faulty directions issued by myself.

A couple of questions if I may….I know the caravan was owned by the magazine, so now you have towed a large van around would you buy one the same for yourselves(or smaller/larger etc) or do you already have a van of your own?

The Dmax…..how did you find it in the end after 40k of travell? Whats happening to the Dmax now your back and would you consider a dualcab if you went again? If not what would you consider?

Thanks for indulging me.
Cheers AL.

Yes I do own a Dmax but dont wish to have you think I am going to be offended if there are things you would change. Prefer candid comments.

G’Day Al,

How is it going?. Yes we do remember the attempt to catch up, but sometimes things don’t always go according to plan… maybe another time somewhere down the road.
Re the van, it was a biggie, however with size comes a good degree of comfortluxury, which we certainly enjoyed. Our own van, a Northstar Windeyer, is shorter by about 2 foot & about 200 to 300kgs in weight. With the benefit of the trip behind us, we would prefer a smaller set up. A couple of foot does make a difference when getting into the tighter sites & the lower weight has a positive effect on the wallet.

At the end of the trip we found the Dmax had performed very well. The vehicle was part of the contract & has been returned to the magazine publishers. We address the issue of the vehicle in greater length in the “special issue” the magazine is putting out in a month or so on the trip. In the final wash up though, I think that a bigger tow vehicle ( e.g. Landcruiser or Patrol ) would have provided a bit more passenger comfort for such a long trip while also bridging the weight difference between the DMax and van.

I quite like the dual cab setup though as it provides extra storage space for those chairs, tables, bar b qs etc that go with you on the trip. However, as they are basically a commercial or tradies style vehicle, you do loose some of the creature comforts like, great seat adjustments, softer seats & steering wheel controls for radio etc, plus you end up with a “harder” ride overall.

Hope that helps & happy travels.
Cheers
Rob

Hello Rob and Marg,

Thanks for the reply, basically I agree with your comments as from what we have seen on the DVD’s and what we have experienced ourselves your comments run parralell with how we see things.
I did not think you would recall our near miss as it were but who know’s what the future holds…..gives you an excuse to head west again lol.
Thanks again
Alan and Sue

First time saying hi, Loved your work Rob and Marg. Enjoyed your dvds as I am planning our trip to go around but we will be going clockwise. I am leaving on the 27th of December for up to 12months with the wife and our 2 girls who will be 3 and 4.
We had a dual cab bt-50 with exhaust and chip and even with our 2 ton jayco van the ball weight was high enough that even with load levellers the light truck chassis couldn’t handle the weight with major flexing in the chassis making driving unbearable and with the very upright back seat for the kids and rough ride impossiable for the kids to fall a sleep and if they did there heads flopping around making the wife nervous. So after a week free camping in the high country I was driving back up through cooma when the wife insisted she couldn’t handle going around Australia in the bt-50.

So started my search and I was keen still for a dual cab to beable to carry some tools, spares, kids bikes, our bikes and toys. After looking around I settled on a custom dual cab patrol that is so comfortable with its full triple bellow rear air bag conversion no coils or leaves. A chassis that is over twice the size of the bt-50 that I no longer run load levellers because my truck is so comfortable towing besides the fact I am using more fuel you wouldn’t know it was on the back. Plus I have Tregg off road hitch and when I go offroad for the special free camp spots I was getting sick and tired of disconnecting the load levellers hitch.

The bt50 pulled harder but at the end of a long day driving I tell you the family is alot happier in the new ride and I can still sit on 105 easy enough getting ready to sit on 90kph for the big lap to see how much fuel I save. Now I need to go apply for a job selling my story travelling Oz lol

Rob Orchard wrote:Hi Rob and Marg.

Both my wife and myself have been following your journey,and thankyou for keeping us informed.Rob I have a question for you that has probably been asked before,I have just taken delivery of a new D – max ( just got rid of a 08 triton)how do you find it as a tow vehicle,is the fuel consumpion as good as you thought it would be and will I need to beef up the suspension.I have a WDH but it still seems to sit a bit low in the rear end,alot more than the Triton did.It is also my first auto,did you do all of your travells in drive and did you use the power button.Our van is a 21.6 ft Jayco sterling.Thanks Rob and both of you travel safe .Cheers

G’day Rob, how come you got rid of the ’08 Triton ? Not up to the job as a tow vehicle ?

Geoff

Thank you so much. It is the article my husband remembers.
Carol