Category: 4WD

Dual Battery Setup – Part One

Disclaimer: this is how I put this together, it is not intended as a guide, and is based on my limited personal experience. I am not an electrician, nor do I accept any personal liability for any accidents that may occur after reading this post. Always speak to a professional and be aware that electricity kills.

I’m a bit of a tinkerer, especially when it comes to electronics and electrical systems. A fair amount of my teens and early twenties was spent running cables through cars and mounting speakers in cars, and then swapping them out and doing them again after reading magazines on how to do this in a more professional way. It kept me out of trouble for the most part, and eventually I grew out of it.

Until now.

I had a couple of estimates for running a dual battery setup, and my inner Scot told me I was being seen over. Unlike fitting a bullbar, with the move of crash sensors and cruise control, this is something I could do myself. Cue late nights on YouTube and Google to see what had changed, and discussions with friends on what I should get. Continue reading “Dual Battery Setup – Part One”

Vehicle Prep

I spent Saturday on a hobby farm with my head in my truck.  It was productive as I’ve added lights, and in-vehicle storage.


The lights I’ve chosen are a compromise between cost and function. Leaning heavily towards cost. Lights in Australia can cost anywhere up to $2000, a princely sum that is not in the ballpark of what I’m willing to pay. So for $200 I bought some lights from an online store, with the associated wiring kit.


The vehicle storage that I’ve gone for are the ute drawers.  The drawers are a kit, and offer a nicer way to storage all of the random bits that are needed on a trip like this in a managed way. Three weeks living out of plastic crates and a broom to pull them forward wasn’t overly appealing. This kit came with a fridge slide included, an essential bit of kit when you’re away as long as we are.

Continue reading “Vehicle Prep”

Getting Away

When I feel the need to disappear into the bush and get away from the city the areas I go to can vary from camp sites with designated camping areas, through to overnight on the beach, all the way through to sustained camping in the bush. A normal day trip of 400km round trip and camping of further than this means that the transportation of myself, my gear, and sharing the load across the group when relevant is key. I’ve camped with both a jeep and a ford ranger and wanted to share the pros and cons that I’ve seen so far.

The 2006 Jeep TJ Wrangler that I had went everywhere that I pointed it whilst laden down with all the gear mentioned, typically with additional bags of firewood and jerrycans of petrol as well. This was definitely the most capable 4wd I’ve owned, however ran out of space as soon as you looked at it hard. Continue reading “Getting Away”

Truck Prep – Part One

I’ve just gotten my truck back from my mates at TJM Perth. They’ve had it for a couple of days to get some much needed clearance and protection added, and I had them mount my roof racks in the gutters rather than using the under door clips.


The bullbar is front end protection and before I leave to head up North this was my must have modification.  The protection it offers is paramount against kangaroos and cows, especially if travelling at night. Continue reading “Truck Prep – Part One”

#RescueRanger

Over the Easter weekend I had a couple of phone calls from a mate who was camping at Ningaloo, around 1200km away from Perth.  As I was in another room of the house I didn’t get the calls until later in the day.  The first call went along the lines of “I may need a favour”, the second was “I absolutely need a favour”.  Turns out my friends ute had a damaged gearbox and he couldn’t drive it any further.

As the phone calls came in on Good Friday this made the whole rescue a little bit harder, as obtaining a flatbed car trailer became a mission of its own.  To keep family in the picture social media was bombarded with the tag #RescueRanger.  Continue reading “#RescueRanger”