Vehicle

Most people start this section with an elaborate discussion on how difficult it was to choose between the stereotypical Land Rover 110 and the Japanese alternatives. For me, having already driven from Sussex to Durban in a Land Rover Series III when I was 20, the decision was simple - buy Japanese.  Even as a care free, take on the world, 20 year old, spannering the Land Rover was still tedious and ultimately unavoidable as their inherent manufacturing defects manifested themselves in the harsh African conditions.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Land Rovers and have owned 7 of them. They are the best vehicles off road but as someone once said to me in Tanzania, if you want to own a Land Rover in East Africa and use it in the bush you need to employ a fundi (mechanic) full time to keep it on the road.  As this trip is going to be a 4 month sabbatical for fun and relaxation, the last thing I want to do is spend hours mending a Landie.

 

Even so, the temptation to get a 300tdi Discovery was still strong until I read all the journals on Africa Overland Network of people who had taken them overland in Africa.  The reports of breakdowns were extensive, shame really as they are getting pretty affordable in the UK and are theoretically a perfect truck for our trip.

 

Having used a mate's Toyota Land Cruiser HJ62 in Tanzania for a couple of weeks I had a fair idea that it was the type of vehicle I wanted to use.  My first choice was the hard core HJ70 Troopie but they are all but non existent in the UK, we also looked at HJ80s but they were still pretty expensive, and the affordable ones had huge mileage, most of which had been towing.

 

The beauty of the HJ60 is its simplicity, leaf springs, an enormous normally aspirated 6 cylinder diesel engine, rock solid transmission and loads of space for Oli to play and relax in the back. The only issue with 60s is that they too are rare in the UK, but a chance phone call from a mate who knew what we wanted led us to see a 1989 HJ60 from a customer of his who had owned it for 15 years and was buying a Toyota Four Runner.  She had high mileage but had received regular servicing from a Toyota mechanic, we had it checked over by the family mechanic and £2000 later she was all ours!  

 

We were off - no stopping us now, out came the 4x4 magazines and it was like kid in a sweet shop time for me.  The one draw back of TLCs v LRs is that the Landie spares and after market kit is extensive and TLCs is less so and expensive, usually having to come from Oz/SA or the States.  We contacted Frog's Island who seemed to have the best offer of TLC equipment and they came up with every conceivable piece of kit available for the HJ60 (unfortunately totalling £16k!!).

 

So far we have done the following:

  • ARB winch/bull bar with Warn XD9000 winch
  • Full OME Dakar suspension and steering dampener (oh my god this transformed the ride, and was worth every penny….of which there were quite a few spent)
  • Safari Snorkel raised air intake with raised transmission breathers
  • A BAR replacement rear bumper with spare wheel and jerry can holder (custom made by Eddie at Frogs Island)
  • Front Runner Aluminium roof rack (modified for HJ60 by Frogs Island)
  • 2 new front wings and tailgate (originals rotted beyond recovery from sea water)
  • All electric windows removed and replaced with manual winders.
  • Re spray to Toyota matt green
  • 6 new wheels and tyres
  • New Sills
  • 2 new batteries 
  • 2 x Lumina 9 interior lights

Click here for pictures of the Landcruiser.

 

A split charge system will be fitted in Namibia, which will enable us to run the Engel fridge and the laptop and anything else we need.  The Engel fridge, and possibly a roof tent, will be purchased and fitted in Namibia at significant saving from UK.  We will probably also buy quite a lot of our camping supplies when we get to Namibia through a company called Cymot.  They are the biggest supplier of camping equipment and outdoor accessories in Namibia and are really, really helpful.  We emailed them our requirements and received a reply within a few hours with quotes and loads of info.  Click here for their website http://www.cymot.com.na/.

 

Shipping and Clearance

 

We are shipping the Cruiser to Walvis Bay in Namibia and have organised it through a company called Seaspace International Fowarders Ltd.  The shipping will take approximately 3 to 4 weeks and once it has arrived it will need to be cleared through customs, etc in Walvis Bay.  

 

For clearance we are using Namship (http://www.namship.com/) - if anyone needs a clearing agent in Namibia, Michael at Namship is your man.  He has been extremely helpful and, with us being totally clueless about what is involved, he is proving invaluable.

 

 

Equipment

 

Obviously space will be at a premium but following is some of the extra equipment we will be taking with us:

  • spares for the Cruiser
  • recovery equipment - hopefully we won't need to use it but just in case
  • toolkit in case we (well Toby) has to 'tinker' with anything
  • camping stuff - most of our accommodation will be camping so we need to ensure we have enough equipment to be self sufficient and comfortable!
  • laptop so that we can update the website and download photos
  • portable dvd player so that Oli doesn't get too bored on long journeys in the car

That should hopefully leave us with some space for clothes and toys/games/books, etc.



VERDICT

The Cruiser was magnificant, she did everything we asked of her, including some mental roads in Chobe (Bostwana) and a very steep long climb out of the Zambezi escarpment.  We did 2 full services on her, one in Livingstone (Zambia), and one in Morogoro (TZ) just before we left.  We had 2 mechanical issues to deal with - the first was the rear diff seal which had gone hard after 18 years in UK, this was changed at little cost; the second was the water pump, which was a simple job, but took 2.5 days to get the part from TZ while we were stuck in Malawi.  Considering she is 18 years old, and hearing about some of the problems other people had with their trucks, we think we had a damn good vehicle.  We learnt plenty and would definately make some key changes next time, primarily the set up of the back (storage) could have been better, less clothes, better cooker etc.

Following are some comments on our main equipment:

  • BF Goodrich tyres were brilliant, no punctures on the whole trip.
  • Eazi Awn roof tent was superb and very useful when camping in the bush with no fences - oli loved it.  It took us literally 3 minutes to put up or de-erect.  We sold it to friends in TZ as it wouldn't fit in the container to ship home!
  • Engel fridge - an awesone piece of kit, we would recommend them to anyone thinking of such a trip.
  • Frontrunner roofrack and jerry can holders - couldn't have been better.  
  • OME suspension was spot on, except we should have had 2 more leaves for weight bearing up 800kg.  She rode a little low at the back when loaded which led to grounding of second spare occasionally, especially in deep sand.