Going bush!

[shogun2]

I possibly have a project that requires us to take equipment to remote locations to set up permanent telecommunications facilities. I need to take about one cubic metre, and 200 Kg to each site. We hope to carry all tools and enough equipment to do four or five sites before we return to civilisation.
I have been thinking that I need the Seikel conversion to my T5, and would possibly purchase a second unit so we can go in tandem - one carrying equipment and the other carrying people and supplies, and possibly an off-road camper trailer.
Can anyone suggest alternatives or other options for this type of treck?
Cheers,
Rod

[phaeton]

Troopcarrier ???? (Reliable, have parts in remote areas and cheap at auctions etc).

Otherwise I have no clue

[evorobin]

Flatbed truck and a Winnebago.

[jets]

I possibly have a project that requires us to take equipment to remote locations to set up permanent telecommunications facilities. I need to take about one cubic metre, and 200 Kg to each site. We hope to carry all tools and enough equipment to do four or five sites before we return to civilisation.
I have been thinking that I need the Seikel conversion to my T5, and would possibly purchase a second unit so we can go in tandem - one carrying equipment and the other carrying people and supplies, and possibly an off-road camper trailer.
Can anyone suggest alternatives or other options for this type of treck?
Cheers,
Rod

How rough are the roads/tracks you intend to travel on?
I have just returned from Alice Springs & rode in a road train & a side lifter on some outback roads delivering 5 shipping containers to remote communities.
The roads were badly corrugated & wrecked a shock absorber that was only 2 months old.The owner told me that he only gets around 2/3 months life out of any of his shockers. There is no way known I would put my T4 on those roads.
The best advice I can give is a secondhand Landcruiser ute or troopcarrier as has been suggested.

Rob
.

[shogun2]

Thanks Rob,
Those are the types of places we need to go - potentially 19 of them. I figured if the T5 survived the Dakar with the right suspension then they should be good for the remote Territory roads. I will have a look at a troopie, but from memory I don't think they have the load space we need. (or maybe I just want a effen' big 4WD bus)

[gregozedobe]

Thanks Rob,
Those are the types of places we need to go - potentially 19 of them. I figured if the T5 survived the Dakar with the right suspension then they should be good for the remote Territory roads. I will have a look at a troopie, but from memory I don't think they have the load space we need. (or maybe I just want a effen' big 4WD bus)

But the Dakar T5s have probably got lots of expensive components made from unobtanium, and they only have to survive one Dakar at a time, and have very experienced mechanics to support them.

Have you looked at an OKA or other small 4WD commercials such as Mitsubishis and Hinos ? (a bit bigger than Landcruisers, but not so huge as to be unmanageable on the narrower tracks you are likely to be going on). If your budget is more generous then a Mercedes Unimog could be very impressive off road (but not too fast on road due to the portal axles).

You should look carefully at the various compromises in carrying capacity, comfort, fuel and food capacity, purchase price, running costs, remote area support, reliability etc. If you are only doing a once-only setup for 19 different locations then a short term lease for a suitable vehicle might be the go (or will you also need to do long term support ?)

If you haven't got people with a lot of experience in remote area work I would suggest making sure at least two people on each trip have some 4wd training (driving and recovery), and reasonable first aid skills may save a life if things go horribly wrong when you are a long way from anywhere.

[phaeton]

+ 1 for what Greg said about 1st Aid and 4x4 recovery skills

[Seano]

The Seikel kit is available in Oz from Trakka. But it costs a bomb and there are some parts of the underside of a T5 that are definitely NOT rock resistant such as the fluid cooler behind the front passenger wheel.

The Seikel suspension kit IS relatively simple - revalved Bilstein shocks and new springs. After that there's a low range transmission mod which is high grade but, of course, high cost.

There are a couple of options which have already been canvassed such as 4x4 Canters and Izuzu's are greta fun but in my experience neither make great bush cruisers if you want to get anywhere in a hurry......besides they are too big. New Toyota troopies are stupidly expensive and recently used ones are typically seriously abused (same goes for the Cruiser utes) because only the miners could afford them. The Nissan Patrol utes in coil cab form are a fine ute but are bigger than what you need and terrifying consumers of diesel (mine usually got through 17 litres per 100k's of dirt road).

I've travelled some rather interesting roads in WA and NT in the T4 (Great Central Road and the Tanami Track come to mind) and it handled it quite well although as pointed out the original shocks weren't that thrilled. So a T4 with a little fettling is an option too.....but then who really wants to be that concerned.

As someone who has spent much of the last eight years working in far western NSW and has driven and destroyed the odd vehicle in that time I can vouch for a couple of options for you.

I would suggest something like the Falcon RTV ute (perhaps even a Ford Territory) or the 2WD versions of the Tdi Hilux/Rodeo/Triton type single utes especially if you can get a limited slip diff - even better it you can get an ARB or Detroit rear diff lock or similar fitted. All the small utes now have basically the same suspension whether they are 4x2 or 4x4....and drive to all four wheels is needed very rarely if ever unless you are truly off track - something that sounds unlikely in your case. If you ended up somewhere a little tricky then the rear diff lock would help no end.

[The_Hawk]

As an alternative suggestion...

What about air travel via helicopter?

No idea what sort of helicopter you would need to carry your equipment or how many people you are talking about.

Consider the reduced travel time, which reduces people cost and how much supplies you need into the calculation.

Depending on the the availability of landing areas there could be the option to fly back to a relatively civilised base station at the end of each day/week for new supplies/equipment.

There are lots of 'ifs' like the capacity, range and cost of hiring (or purchasing) a heli as well as a pilot.

A combination of the two could also be an option with a smaller vehicle to get the people there coupled with a heli to carry your equipment once your on site.

[shogun2]

Thanks for all the comments.
Helicopters may be an option - one that I will look in to.
I take everyone's points about experience. My tech is a regular off-road person, as I used to be many years ago. I have also spoken to some peoples who regularly go to the communities. A builder friend in Darwin used to build houses out bush, so I will also be asking him what he used - he may even still have the vehicles hanging around.
I wanted an excuse for a fully kitted T5, but that may not be practical in the end.