Landcruiser 70 series Rust-o-Mod: "OLBETSY ZX"

PajEvo · October 3, 2024, 1:28am

Rolled up 300k kms on the way and had a glorious couple days in the wild.

PajEvo · October 20, 2024, 7:04pm

It’s time to switch things up again! After running the typical two drawers, fridge on top etc, for a few years, I’m going to switch things up. But blank slate first.

PajEvo · November 10, 2024, 4:46am

Well… I got several quotes to cut off my roof and install a pop top. Both were north of 22 thousand dollars. I just couldn’t do it. That’s a lot of scratch for what is essentially a bespoke rooftop tent with no bottom in it not to mention a truck that’ll never get its value back.

So… I’m moving in a different direction. Instead I’m going back to an overland trailer. But this one is going to be different.

I’m going AUSSIE STYLE. It’s a Kamparoo Camper, now made in Canada but based off the old CUB camper. So rear fold out tent made of high quality Aussie canvas and a tub that’s 5’x8’ when folded in, at around 900 pounds. Seriously overbuilt galvanized frame and all metal walls.

Deposit has been made, specs have been decided and now I wait. Probably finished by the end of March.

But my frame has already been welded up.

Newly turboed olBetsy will shed her rooftop tent and pull this instead!

PajEvo · November 14, 2024, 3:51am

Pretty quiet around here… How about some Aussie rear folding camper goodness?
Kamparoo_July0616_sm-595x397

It’s gonna be a long wait till March.

PajEvo · November 16, 2024, 5:57pm

And to finish it off (because heating my rear tire with my exhaust doesn’t really improve road holding on this brick)… I fashioned a new tailpipe, ie a 90° bend…

Video was too big and crashed my pic upload, so here is my tailpipe again…

Brian · November 20, 2024, 6:21pm

That’s really cool Phil. The pop-up roof is a neat piece of kit, but no easy feat. I seem to remember Tim and Kelsey (DirtSunrise - now living on a catamaran) found a guy in Canada who was selling his, then drove from Phoenix to his place, to cut the roof off THEIR 80 in his garage, installed, and drove home right after.

Neat setups but so much work!

CrankshaftCulture · November 20, 2024, 6:40pm

$22,000!?!?! Yikes! I’ve had an off-road trailer for years and it’s been great. Mine’s very simple but has storage and an RTT on top. Mine’s a Dinoot (out of Salem, OR). Solid axle, leaf springs, no shocks. Square-tube frame, pressure-treated plywood base, and fiberglass sides. It got towed behind my old Pajero on the '22 Overland Adventure with Four Wheeler. The trailer did GREAT even over terrain in which I expected to flop it. It gave me a lot of confidence in traveling with an off-road trailer. Granted, without shocks, I think it spent 50% of its time without the wheels touching the ground, but still. Off-road camper trailers can be great.

PajEvo · November 20, 2024, 10:34pm

I forgot about the Dinoot! Such a cool trailer! I had an M101CDn for a while too if you recall. It really adds a bit of fun to a trail, for sure!

My new one is going to be specced with shocks and brakes, so it should spend a little more time in contact with terra firma. And it’s going to have some indoor space, where you can stand, sit, etc, without being in/on the bed.

We still have the Wolfpup travel trailer, but this is for a different kind of camping…

Brian · November 22, 2024, 4:31pm

@CrankshaftCulture Andy! Good seeing you!

And how long has it been since I’ve seen “Dinoot” mentioned–or thought about Phil’s old military trailer? Damn.

I feel like I’ve always been a trailer kinda guy, but have never had one. Mostly because of entry cost, but also because Gen 2 Monteros aren’t known for their towing performance–especially uphill, right? The two of you have been rocking turbo diesels for years now, so I know your towing experience is better and worse than mine would be at the same time. And then you need somewhere to store it when not in use (which seems even more problematic than RTTs), too.

For me, the draw is having base camp sorted and both easily deployed and stowed. No back-of-the-truck sleeping platform or air-mattress-in-a-tent comes close to the sleep I got in a friends dual-pop-out trailer. You just can’t beat opening a real door, walking past a real table, and climbing into a more or less proper bed.

How often have you trailer camp boys been disappointed with your trailers? What’s really need-to-know?

PS: Did you get an email about my reply, here? I’m not sure they’re going out. Thanks.

PajEvo · November 22, 2024, 6:33pm

They are going out. Worky work email notifications…

I’ve had trailers for many many years now, and except for the current V8 to tow the big (relative to our others) travel trailer, its always been behind turbo diesels.

The primary reasons for this latest iteration of camping glory are two-fold:

To reduce the height of my roofline:
I want to always BE ABLE to park in my garage, even if I don’t. Even with boards and seals removed, my 84.5 inch RTT only JUST squeaked in, without snow on the apron, without any racks on the tent, without air in the airbags, and WITH fuel and supplies on board. To raise the garage height is possible but stupid expensive, and besides: a headwind makes a rooftop tent on an underpowered diesel turn into a brick wall.
Inside space.
RTT means you get up, do calisthenics to get dressed (probably in damp clothes), then descend a ladder in the cold. Then go back up to retrieve your dog and your phone, then go back up again to get your keys, all the while rain is dripping down your neck, and you’re being careful not to slide off the ladder. (Okay, yes wah wah wah)

A rear fold trailer conversely, gives one space to stand, get dressed, walk out of an actual (zippered) door upright, like an evolved homo sapiens. LOL. The actual towing of it, as long as I keep it light-ish, probably won’t be much different than smacking through the wind with an RTT, and possibly better in a headwind?

Downsides:
-city parking needs two inline spots.
-backing up in crowded parking lots is a no-go, and sometimes even small things like fuel stops need to be carefully curated for entrance and exit plans.
-storage needs to be accounted for, although this one might be a wash since unless you are running your RTT fulltime, RTT storage is also a thing, and painful in a different way. thankfully my garage allows pass through so storage is multi faceted…
-fuel economy will suffer although compared to an RTT, it may again be a draw.
-offroadability is semi compromised, although I see it as a worthy challenge, and can make mild trails more fun…?
-cost. Yep. Call it 10 times more expensive, if you wanna be fancy. Or maybe 50 times if you start going really fancy schmancy.

NEED TO KNOW?

Keep it light, and you “wont even know its there”. When I was bringing my M1010CDN back from Ontario, we were bombing down some fireroads at speed, and suddenly I saw something in my rearview as I took a fast chiccane… realized I had forgotten about the trailer and it was doing a little drifting. Woohoo! LIKE I DIDNT EVEN KNOW IT WAS THERE. Light. Keep it light. Or tow with a V8.
Trailer brakes: Even on a little guy, trailer brakes are huge advantage, esp offroad. All kinds of tricks can be employed, from tank turns, to jack knifing, to hill descent control.
Wheelbase: A short tongue makes backing up almost impossible. If you can match your hitch to axle length to your truck’s wheelbase, you have almost the perfect towing match, and all maneuvering is easier. My M101CDN was uber short, and backing it up was an exercise in very small movements and concentration, and 3 times out of 10 I’d have to pull ahead and readjust (after I got real good).
Articulating hitch - pintles are effective but noisy AF and I won’t be doing one this time around. There are a few good ones now, but I’m buying a max coupler. YMMV.
Tongue jack - one that can hold the weight and actually roll on uneven ground is huge. My last one felt like it would fold under itself anytime I tried to move the trailer by hand. This time around I’m getting an ARK XO500 jockey wheel. Aussies have most things dialled and this is no exception.

Okay, that’s maybe TMI, even if it is need to know basis. LOL.