WE asked our readers to submit a snapshot of their off-road rigs to our Facebook page – and the third instalment of Readers’ Rigs has some crackers!

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of Readers’ Rigs if you need further inspiration.

To get your 4×4 on these pages, head to our Facebook and look for the opportunity to send through your best pics. Your adventure machine might even get published in the mag one day and, if we really like it, perhaps you’ll even see it on the cover of 4X4 Australia!

1988 TOYOTA HJ LANDCRUISER – JARED HARRISON

WHAT IT’S GOT: A 6.2-litre Detroit V8 diesel, a four-inch lift and 33-inch Mickey Thompson TTCs. It’s also twin-locked. This thing is an absolute beast and eats anything in its path!

2014 JEEP WRANGLER JKU – RYAN LENNON

WHAT IT’S GOT: 33-inch M/T tyres. AEV has supplied Savegre wheels in dark argent, a heat-reduction hood, a winch steel bar and a 2.5-inch lift. It’s also had a few other mods, including the exhaust.

1989 NISSAN GQ PATROL – BLAKE PEARL REEDMAN

WHAT IT’S GOT: 4.2TD extractors, 2.5-inch exhaust with a high flow muffler, 90-litre main tank with a 50-litre reserve tank, three-inch lift, six-inch shocks, six-inch adjustable Panhards, extended brake lines, four-inch caster corrections, 33-inch M/Ts, ARB bullbar with 1200lb winch, seven-inch HID spot light, 26-inch light bar, UHF aerial, roof rack, a high lift jack, MaxTrax, 52-inch light bar, Tigerz11 awning, RhinoRack roof-top console, dual batteries, snorkel, drilled and slotted brake disks, and performance brake pads. I’ve had the car about 18 months and have only done local stuff. On the to-do list are five-inch coils, 35-inch M/Ts and a set of lockers – then I’m off around Australia.

2011 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE WK2 – BENN ATKINSON

WHAT IT’S GOT: A 5.7-litre Hemi V8, 2.5-inch Murchison coil lift, Uneek 4×4 rock sliders, 32-inch tyres, Chief Products’ underbody protection/front/hooks, ARB under-bonnet air compressor, chipped engine, K&N full cold-air intake, rear mufflers deleted with four-inch tips. Plus there are plenty of genuine Mopar accessories.

1997 TOYOTA PRADO – ANDRE VAN DER WALT

WHAT IT’S GOT: A two-inch lift, winch bar, snorkel and 32-inch Muddies! It goes most places.

2013 NISSAN NAVARA D22 – ROBERT CRONK

WHAT IT’S GOT: I’ve had my Navara from new. It has an ARB two-inch lift with 32-inch BFG KO2s. I love this combination and it handles well on- and off-road. I’ve separated the factory dual battery and replaced it with a deep-cycle battery. I’ve also removed the back seat and built it in with a switch panel – here I carry my Waeco fridges and charge all my phones and tablets. Other mods include a snorkel, a K&N filter, roof racks with a few accessories and reverse lights on a three-way switch. This photo was taken at Cape Creek in Cape Palmerston near Mackay. Other places she’s taken me to include Byfield, Nine Mile Beach and regular beach trips around Yeppoon.

FORD’S PX Ranger has been a welcome addition to the one-tonne 4×4 ute segment, as it has provided the first serious competition for the dominant Toyota HiLux in that booming category.

Vote for Harrop’s Ford Ranger to decide this year’s Custom 4×4 of the Year.

The popularity of the Ranger is good news for Ford and good news for 4×4 buyers, because it provides another strong option in new-car showrooms. Its healthy sales numbers also prick the ears of eager aftermarket companies, as they clamour to produce products for the flock-favourite fourbie.

All the big traditional 4×4 aftermarket mobs make and sell everything you need to kit out your Ranger, while other smaller firms are getting in on the action as well.

One of those firms (although not really small) is Melbourne’s Harrop Engineering. Best known for its long history in Australian motorsport through its founder Ron Harrop, today Harrop Engineering also tailors products to suit 4×4 vehicles.

Not wanting to be just a trend-follower, Harrop prefers to set the trends – its stable of in-house project cars, both 4x4s and performance rides, are capable and innovative. It was only a matter of time before Harrop applied its talents to the Ford Ranger.

This Ford Ranger is a PXII XLT spec but has copped the pre-runner or chase-truck look, which is popular in the USA. This look mimics the style of the cars that off-road racers use to ‘pre-run’ tracks such as the Baja 100, and to follow and service the competition vehicles in such events. It’s a striking style and one that is gaining traction here in Australia.

The key piece of gear on this ute that attracts attention is the chase rack, made by Uneek 4×4 in Melbourne. Chase trucks employ similar racks to carry wheels, tyres, tools and spares to maintain the race cars on the punishing off-road racing tracks. The Uneek chase rack is comprised of three different components: the base rack, the spare wheel carrier and the roof rack.

They can be used separately or together, as seen in this application. The base rack and roof rack are TIG-welded in 6061 aluminium, while the tyre carrier needs to be more heavy duty and is made from steel. It’s fully powder-coated for durability and, being local, Uneek can make custom-designed side plates. This particular rack wears the Harrop ‘H’ logo on its flanks.

Method Race Wheels are another staple of the US off-road racing scene, and the Ranger wears a set of 18-inchers wrapped in 285/65R18 Nitto Trail Grappler rubber – there’s a matching tyre and wheel on the rack. Along the sills, in between the wheels, you’ll see a set of MCC side steps, while at the front a subtle yet sturdy low-cut bar from Rhino 4×4 provides protection and improves the approach angle.

The front bar is made for a Ford Everest, which is slightly different to the Ranger part. As such, a grille from an Everest had to be fitted and, like a few other parts around the car, it has been coated in a hard-wearing black polyurethane finish.

Harrop partnered with Tough Dog 4WD Suspension to supply the springs and shocks, and the package is a winner. One-tonne utes with IFS are not known for their wheel travel, but the articulation of the Harrop Ranger surprised as it slinked over obstacles and rough terrain.

It certainly has more travel than the standard vehicle, yet it hasn’t lost any on-road handling. In fact, it’s a tad firmer than standard without compromising ride quality. Impressive!

Despite the Tough Dog suspension’s increased ride height for extra clearance, we still scraped those MCC steps on one particular hump where we got hung up and the factory electronic traction control wouldn’t get us over. Harrop has fitted one of its ELockers to the front axle and its easy, instant activation made short work of the hump. The ELocker works in tandem with the factory Ford rear locker and can be switched to run independently.

Ford’s 3.2-litre five-cylinder diesel is a favourite in the 4X4 Australia office, and the updates that came with the PXII made a good thing even better. Harrop has taken it up a few notches further, fitting a free-flowing exhaust system and a Unichip Q4 tuning module to extract a bit more power and torque.

On Harrop’s in-house dyno, torque shot from 420Nm to 536Nm at the wheels, while power jumped from 125kW to 157kW. Significantly, the torque now comes on earlier with more than 500Nm on tap at 2000rpm, where that figure was closer to 350Nm on the standard tune.

From behind the wheel the performance upgrades don’t feel massive – it’s not a kick-in-the-back tune as some of them can be. However, the torque coming in sooner is noticeable and it’s there right off the mark where you want it. This makes for a more controllable off-road drive, as well as more entertaining traffic-light duels.

The performance upgrades are more in line with Harrop’s idea of developing a total improvement package for whatever car they are concentrating on. For the Ranger, its on- and off-road performance is improved, its wheel, tyre and suspension package is refined, and its overall appearance is enhanced.

Sure, the style of the front bar won’t appeal to those in the bush, where ’roo strikes can be a daily occurrence, and the rear rack won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the package does show what can be done and how a different look can be achieved by working with quality suppliers and an open mind.

Locked & loaded

A KEY product in Harrop Engineering’s 4×4 range is its ELocker. The Aussie company saw the potential of the Eaton ELocker from the USA and redeveloped it using a stronger four-pinion-design differential. Harrop also casts and machines the carriers in-house to suit popular 4×4 vehicles.

The simplicity of the Harrop-Eaton ELocker centres on its electro-magnetic actuation, which means there’s just one wire going to the differential. That means no air compressors or lines are needed, as with many other locking differentials.

A single wire comes back from a relay mounted in the engine bay, with its switch located in the cabin. Once powered, the electro-magnet locks the two sides of the differential together to send equal drive to both wheels. Simple, selectable traction!

While the rear diff lock that’s factory-fitted to the Ranger is also electronically actuated, its manufacturer isn’t known. However, even if it’s a US-sourced Eaton ELocker, it won’t be as strong as the Australian-made Harrop derivative.

Harrop ELockers are available for most popular 4×4 models.

Vote for Harrop’s Ford Ranger to decide this year’s Custom 4×4 of the Year.

ON THE south coast of New South Wales between Tathra and Bermagui, four state forests were recently converted to flora reserves, so they’ll now have similar protection to a national park.

In all, more than 250km² of land will be included in the flora reserves and, while it will still be owned by the Forestry Corporation of NSW, it will be managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

This has supposedly been done to protect the habitat of the last colony of koalas on the far south coast of NSW, where it is estimated that only 30 to 60 of the animals remain.

It got me wondering why the surrounding national parks on the south coast of NSW, some of which were established in the 1970s, aren’t providing the habitat protection the animals require. Is it another example of poor management of our national park estate?

No one is admitting poor management of our national parks is resulting in a decline of native animal populations, but there’s a realisation that wildlife – reptiles, birds and mammals – is decreasing Australia-wide in both number and range, while the national park estate has been increasing at a seemingly exponential rate.

Professor Hugh Possingham, a conservation scientist at the University of Queensland, has been quoted in Nature magazine saying there were too many parks of little value in Australia.

He mentioned these should be sold off and the money used to buy land of higher ecological value. He went on to say that no one has done any research to prove that national parks are the best way of protecting an area. What an interesting point of view. I’m hazarding a guess it didn’t go down too well with the green movement, or those pushing for more national parks.

Over the past 10 (or more) years, the Federal Government has been funding a number of private groups, such as Australian Bush Heritage and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, in buying land to include in private nature reserves. The reasoning for this is that these private groups can do things for the betterment of wildlife that can’t be done in our government-funded, controlled and managed national parks… what the?

Meanwhile, in Victoria, another fight is developing over a large swathe of state forest that the Greens, the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) and the Labor Government want to declare as the Great Forest National Park (GFNP).

The area stretches from Erica and Noojee (in the south-east) to Woods Point and Eildon (in the north-east), across to Toolangi and Kinglake, and through to just north of Whittlesea (in the west). The park will take in some of the most used and visited areas by four-wheel drivers, campers, motorbike riders, hunters and anglers in the state.

You can expect a lot more restrictions and job losses if the GFNP comes about, but what about the perceived major benefit that it will protect the last great habitat of the Leadbeater’s possum?

It seems the vast areas of surrounding national park and highly protected water catchment areas, including the Alpine NP (6474km²), Baw Baw NP (135.3km²), Eildon NP (277.5km²), Yarra Ranges NP (760km²) and Mt Buffalo NP (310km²), hasn’t been enough to ensure the continual existence of the delightful Leadbeater’s. And now the last stronghold of these creatures is in a working forest that has been logged for more than 100 years.

Ironic, you’ve got to say! Maybe even a coincidence?

So, for these and other reasons, you can see why I’m not in favour of another national park.

More restrictions, more job losses in our forestry industry and, it seems with current management practices, the continuing loss of wildlife in our national park estate.

THE Mountain Trail EDX Touring Edition is a premium camper. If you want quality, reliability and a camper that is super-easy to use – and you have the budget to match – then this is it.

Prior to its launch in 2013, the EDX’s engineering fees exceeded $200,000, with Mountain Trail investing a further $200,000 on CNC machinery just to build it. Let’s take a closer look.

GEARED FOR CONVENIENCE THE whole camper seems to have been designed for convenience. Setting up a rear-fold camper is supposed to be easy, but the EDX is the best we’ve seen. We watched as Mountain Trail’s Heidi Edwards set up the camper on her own, including the kitchen, fridge/pantry and the awning, in three minutes and 40 seconds in steadily falling rain. A total set-up, with the en-suite, toilet and mesh floor under the awning, takes less than 10 minutes for one person.

But there’s more to this camper than functional convenience. The EDX is built similar to a standard automobile with replaceable panels and parts, an attractive feature for an off-road camper. In all there are more than 300 separate laser-cut components. Everything is built to last, with metal components made from aluminium, stainless steel, Zincanneal or galvanised steel.

The chassis is 150x50x3mm with a 125x75x3mm drawbar, all hot-dip galvanised. The independent trailing arm suspension is Mountain Trail’s own design, with replaceable stub axles, adjustable toe-in and -out camber and 12in electric brakes. Custom King Springs and Monroe shocks were also designed for the EDX.

The 16x8in six-stud wheels are equipped with 265/75 R16 all-terrain tyres and the spare is tucked under the chassis, with a Toyota Land Cruiser 100 Series spare wheel carrier to raise and lower it.

The camper has a stylish look, with its raked bodywork along the bottom giving a 30-degree departure angle. That’s more than what’s offered on a Land Cruiser 200 Series, so if your car can make the transition, then you’d expect the camper to as well. Mountain Trail’s Erok protection package stiffens the rear body edge and minimises damage to the bodywork by sharing imposed load with the adjacent chassis.

The body is made from 1.2mm Zincanneal steel bonded with Sikaflex and secured by concealed rivets for a stylish automotive outer finish. The camper we tested was finished in the standard white two-pack, but Mountain Trail will colour-match to your tow vehicle.

LUXURY AND CONVENIENCE THE most notable feature of the set-up and pack-up process is the auto opening and closing function. Press a button and the camper steadily opens, pulling out the canvas as it moves, which takes about 45 seconds. You can stop it at any point in pack-up mode to tuck in canvas, but there’s generally time to do what’s needed without interrupting the process.

The electric actuators inside the camper near the foot of the bed are synchronised by a factory-programmed parallel controller. Fourteen parameters control and monitor soft-start and close, amperage overload limits, pack-up and set-up speed and so on. You can disable the system and close the camper manually in a similar fashion to a typical rear-fold hardfloor.

The actuators are pre-programmed for 1000kg of push/pull on either side and are rated for 10,000 strokes before requiring a service.

The tent bows are square for strength and fixed at their usable length, except for one at the back of the tent, which swings up and is braced by two upright poles. This arrangement extends the tent further than would otherwise be possible and allows for a straight rear wall and a door that’s close to the bed, leaving plenty of room for bunks or a table across the back.

The flip-over floor is made from a German honeycomb composite material with fibreglass laminates on either side. It weighs just 20kg and is finished with a quality marine-grade carpet.

There is an in-built step for the queen-size bed across the back, making entry and exit a dream. The innerspring mattress has a full cover to protect against damp canvas if the weather has been unpleasant. There are reading lights and bedhead storage compartments with dual USB ports to charge a phone or tablet overnight.

Under the bed is a deep sturdy drawer with internal baffles that is accessible from outside when the camper is closed.

At the foot of the bed are the internal double-pole stereo, 240V outlets, 12V auxiliary socket, dual USB outlets and the upgraded 1000W pure sine wave inverter. The cabin heater duct is next to the other side of the drawer.

Even the stitch-welded sections are laser-cut and keyed together to ensure the EDX is built with the same structural integrity throughout.

COOKING CLASS THE stainless-steel kitchen is well designed – it slides out and the top flips over to provide a huge food preparation area. The whole structure is self-supporting and automatically locks into place.

The sink is large and the auto ignition three-burner cooktop will handle all your cooking needs. There are two large drawers and an enclosed storage compartment under the sink. Above the kitchen is a large LED touch-light built into the bulkhead. The end handle doubles as a towel rail.

There are two 240V powerpoints, a 12V auxiliary socket and two USB ports at the kitchen. Above the fridge is the full electrical heart of the trailer, with a Redarc battery monitor panel, six circuit switches and a water level gauge.

Water is carried in the 130L stainless-steel tank with internal baffles underneath. The camper includes a three-way water valve for access to external water sources and connection of mains water if it is available.

Immediately adjacent are two roomy pantry drawers on soft-close slides – one 300mm deep to cater for wine bottles or similar, the other shallower for spices and condiments. Next to that is a fridge slide with an 80L Waeco fridge/freezer firmly locked into place by the custom-built fridge slide, which doesn’t require tie-down straps.

All up, it’s a very practical and well-equipped kitchen, which, being situated at the front, leaves a large area towards the rear for other undercover activities.

All storage bays are fitted with friction hinges that rest at the angle they’re opened to, preventing the locker doors from swinging shut or opening – just another feature that improves the camper’s functionality as a whole.

All doors have a double return folded edge with the return inner lip radius in the corners to match the pinchweld seals. This method of construction ensures the camper remains dust-free, as it proved to be on this test.

Above the pantry and fridge is a stainless-steel Rhino-Rack channel bar system that allows you to fit Rhino-Rack accessories for carrying bikes, boats or whatever else you might want to transport. The braced top of the camper is also strong enough to carry trailbikes, making it a versatile choice for those who enjoy getting active in the outdoors.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY LIKE other aspects of this trailer, the enclosed toolbox up front is well thought-out. The one-piece unit is aluminium to keep weight down and is coated in Rhino lining, with mud flaps underneath to protect it against stones.

There’s a jerry can holder in the two outer bays, a diesel fuel tank for the hot water system in the right-hand bay, and two 4.5kg gas cylinders in the centre. The perforated aluminium floor makes it ideal for firewood, garbage, wheel chocks or any dirty or wet items.

However, the LED in the tub would probably be better fitted to the lid.

On the driver’s side at the front are three storage bays, with friction hinge-equipped doors. There’s a heap of storage here for the supplied portable toilet, a generator, or anything else you’ll need to make your camping comfortable and convenient.

Electrically, the EDX is well-equipped. The once-standard dual 105Ah AGM batteries were replaced with an equivalent 100Ah lithium battery that charges from effective flat to full in

2.5 hours, while also shedding 50kg of weight. It is charged by the Redarc 30A battery management system (lithium version) with a DC-DC charger and MPPT solar regulator.

There is a huge inventory of lights for the EDX, with 11 separate LED units included, six of which are inside. The main wiring harness is a complete sheathed electrically engineered automotive wiring loom, with Deutsch connectors for a simple plug-and-play installation.

CANVAS ART THE tent is Australian-made Dynaproof 12oz canvas, with thermal blanket insulation in the roof. A shower annexe, which attaches adjacent to the driver’s side rear door, is made from a waterproof lightweight nylon, with a mesh floor and pockets for toiletries. It goes on with one zip, two poles and a spreader bar in two-to-three minutes.

There are two awnings available for the EDX. The Touring Edition comes standard with the touring awning, which goes up on three radiating aluminium spreader bars that brace against the body and two short uprights on the ‘pack rack’ channel bar. When packing up, the thermal blanket and the awning can remain attached to minimise work at the next set-up. A ground cover mesh is also included.

The Touring Edition comes standard with almost everything, including a diesel hot water system and space heater, shower, portable toilet, a lithium battery, the one-minute touring awning and provisions for a children’s room.

For all the extras and luxuries included here, the tare weight of 1300kg is not excessive and, with an ATM of 2000kg, there’s a substantial load capacity of 700kg. The ball weight is 130kg, which is respectable for a camper of this size.

THE VERDICT THE Mountain Trail EDX Touring Edition is one classy camper – there is no other way to put it. We could look at it and pick maybe a handful of minor areas where we might have preferred a different approach, but they are so trivial that they don’t warrant a mention. Rest assured, if you have the money, the Mountain Trail EDX Touring Edition is a camper that will leave you well and truly satisfied.

WHAT MAKES IT SO GOOD:

• Quality engineering and finish
• All-Australian build
• Quick set-up
• Auto open and close function
• Superb kitchen

HONESTLY, who doesn’t love stewed apple wrapped in crispy pastry?

But who can be bothered cooking up a dessert on the Coleman Gladiator after a hard day’s slog through the rough and red stuff. Putting dinner on is hard enough!

Roothy’s got the answer: apple spring rolls that’ll be ready before you’ve reached the dregs of your first tinnie.

That’s right. These apple treats are so simple they’ll be ready in less than 10 minutes!

The key ingredient to bring this dish to life is Duncan Hines’ Country Apple – you can stew your own apples, but using tinned fruit is the quick and easy way.

Mash up the apple in a bowl, add a packet of sultanas and a good sprinkle of cinnamon, and then stir through.

Layer the mixture on top of a sheet of spring roll pastry and fold it closed. Water is the secret weapon to keep the wrap sealed.

Spring roll pastry can be bought from any supermarket and it shouldn’t cost you more than a few bucks – again, feel free to make your own pastry.

Throw a couple of rolls in a pan of boiling oil and turn once until golden brown.

Place the apple spring rolls on top of a paper towel to drain some of the oil, and then let it rest for a few minutes to cool down.

A spoonful of ice cream (or a dollop of cream) is the best sidekick for this brilliant dessert.

At the very least it’ll keep the kiddies quiet for a few minutes!

Fitting the correct tyres to your vehicle is critical when dealing with an off-road workhorse.

4WD tyres are broadly grouped into three categories: Highway Terrain, All Terrain and Mud Terrain. Deciding which tyre is best for your rig depends entirely on where you intend to drive it. For example, you wouldn’t fit a set of MT tyres if you spend your time cruising highways and taking the kids to school.

Here are five simple tips to ensure your 4×4 tyres last longer and will take you where you want to go.

1. Choose the right tyre for the task. For instance, open-tread (mud) tyres suffer when used extensively on bitumen, while a showroom-spec H/T tyre probably won’t like thousands of kays of outback gravel.

2. Run the correct pressures. Your vehicle’s manufacturer recommendation (listed on the tyre placard and in the owner’s manual) will list pressures – including increases when loaded and/or towing. Check tyre pressures regularly.

3. Rotate your tyres every 5000km, as the four corners of your vehicle treat tyres differently. In particular, the front left tyre of a vehicle used around town will round- off its outside shoulder more than the right. Front to rear and side to side.

4. When travelling, make checking tyre pressures a part of your morning routine (just like you check oil and fluids). Blowouts are often the result of a tyre overheating due to low pressure.

5. Get regular wheel alignments. Many 4x4s can have wheel alignments knocked awry by rough roads. Most wheel alignments set the vehicle ‘toe’ only, but there can also be benefits to tyre life with adjustments to camber and caster. You’ll often have a crisper-handling rig, too!

COMPANION Brands recently brought out a range of strip lights that looked so impressive, we just had to get our mitts on one. And now that we’ve used them for the past few weeks, we are even more impressed with the product.

A rigid light kit is available for caravans, boats and vehicles, while three flexible strip lighting kits – a one-metre strip light; a two-metre strip light; and a five-metre, multi-coloured strip light for those looking for a bit more razzamatazz – can be used around the campsite. We opted for the two-metre, single-coloured strip.

The two-metre-long strip light has 120 5050 surface-mounted-device (SMD) LEDs. Each LED has a maximum light output of 1580 Lumens, at a current draw of 2.4A at 12 volts. In layman’s terms: It’s a bloody bright white light.

A five-metre-long cable connects the strip light to a 12-volt power outlet. Connecting the cable to the strip light is a screw connector, while at the other end a fused power plug can fit a cigarette lighter socket or a merit socket. The kit also includes four Velcro fixing straps.

The strip light and the cable are rated at IP66 for weather proofing, which means they are dustproof to the maximum rated level and waterproof to withstand a powerful water jet (rain won’t bother it).

What impressed us when we first saw the kit was the quality of the strip light and how it was all put together. We’ve used a few over the past couple of years and have found some to be a bit flimsy where the cable joins into the strip light. This unit shows none of that weakness and is as good a quality as you will find in this genre of camp lighting.

The strip light is easy to set up, even though the Velcro straps are fiddly. Another bonus is the adjustable light output; we had the strip light turned down to its lowest output level most of the time, such is the light quality. It packs away quickly into a small bag and we use it every time we set up camp for more than a day.

If anything, we should have spent the extra cash and bought the multi-coloured version!

RATED Available from: www.companionleisure.com.au RRP: $79 We say: Great light output; handy and adjustable; well made.

I HAVE been getting stuck into the annual Milo rebuild and, as you’ve seen in recent issues, the job isn’t getting easier as the years go by.

But, if nothing else, the last 750,000km in the old mud-jumper have given me a few ideas on what works and what doesn’t.

This month it’s not just the truck itself, but it’s everything in it or bolted to it. Take that lot and shake it up a few corrugated tracks and pretty soon there’ll be shrapnel scattered everywhere.

The difference, when there was one, was always the suspension. The more bumps you can smooth out, the more rebounds you can control and the less damage gets done. The difference between good and bad suspension – read: expensive or cheap – is incredible.

Unfortunately, there are trade-offs everywhere here. My old truck’s leaf suspension might be uncomfortable and harsh compared to a modern coil-sprung vehicle, but it’ll handle bigger variations in loads without breaking or bending. Plus, it’s a whole lot easier to bodge up if it does break.

In the four-wheel drive world, just about everything else this side of a few commercial vehicles has coil suspension because the stuff is so good. I know having coils up the front of the 76 Series Workmate makes a big difference in the ride, but the stock coils and shocks were almost dead after 70,000km, while the rear leaf springs showed no droop at all. I still replaced them, though. Stock suspension is designed for test drives, not tough tracks!

Meanwhile, life goes on with Milo and Mustard. I couldn’t help plucking the old Engel out if its bag to show off the damage from a decade’s worth of belting around. Some of that red dirt is so ingrained it won’t come out this side of a wire brush on a grinder, but the thing still works well.

It’s worth pointing out that Milo’s destroyed three other fridges supplied for promotions, usually in about 12 months. Milo’s as rough on gear as I am, and there’s not much a year’s worth of hardcore travelling won’t destroy. I threw out a trailer-load of busted cooking gear during the last Christmas cleanout.

However, not much is rougher than turning a truck on its side, and that’s exactly what I did with old Mustard down in Tasmania. As well as a hefty panel-beating bill, virtually everything in the back was trashed – apart from the fridge, recovery gear and my swag. Three years later I’ve started to notice the old girl sitting down a bit on the side she tipped on, and I figured the leaf packs might have copped some damage, too.

Sure enough, the cheapo springs we’d put in before the Tassie trip had started to bend. My old mate Allan Gray from Terrain Tamer was visiting, so I got him out in the shed for a look. Allan’s the most experienced Toyota mechanic in the country and you should never miss a chance to learn from him, even when it’s simple stuff like suspension. In fact, sometimes the simplest stuff is the hardest to get right.

Allan’s experience goes right back to the birth of Toyota in Australia in 1958, when the Thiess Brothers imported the first Land Cruisers to work at the Snowy Mountain Scheme. To think that just the previous weekend, I’d been surrounded by a bunch of 40 Series nuts who weren’t even born when the Snowy Scheme was switched on.

Those old Land Cruisers, once the preserve of hard nuts who needed to get to work, are making a comeback. Let’s face it, though, the old 40s are about as trendy as a box of rusty spanners. Taught me a lot of lessons in the bush, though!

One of those lessons is how much of our country we’re being locked out of. You’d think with the massive growth of outdoor sports, camping and grey nomads looking for a nice spot to park the van, this would be a big issue, but the extreme greens have done an incredible job of bluffing and bullying governments into locking up our lands.

One party has got unlocking the bush on its agenda, so it’s getting my support. That’s why I’m running on the Liberal Democrat ticket for the federal senate in the upcoming election in July. Yes, it’s strange to think of an old bush mechanic going to Canberra – I doubt you could fix that lot with wire and tape!

I wouldn’t worry too much about Milo leaking oil on the steps of Parliament House yet, because Gabe Buckley’s running number one on our LDP ticket and he’s a lot more polite than me.

However, Australia is a democracy and we’re all entitled to have a say. Whatever your politics, I urge you to ask your local candidates what their stance is on opening up public lands. We need to get this issue on the table, before we all get swept into the cracks in the floor.

Cracks in the floor? Oh, I figured we were talking about Milo again.

Holden and Land Rover are the latest vehicle manufacturers to issue recalls for technical glitches.

GM Holden has issued a recall for MY16 RG Colorado seven-seaters produced between October 10, 2015 and June 1, 2016.

The issue involves a defective recliner mechanism fitted to the second row seats. When the seat is placed into the upright position there is a chance the seat won’t lock correctly into position.

You mightn’t think it’s worthy of a recall, but the seat may move unintentionally during an accident. This increases the risk of injury for second-row passengers.

Land Rover has issued a recall for the following vehicles: Discovery 3.0L TDV6; Range Rover 3.0L TDV6; Range Rover Sport 3.0L TDV6; and Range Rover 4.4L TDV8. Production dates of affected vehicles are from April 2, 2012 to May 2, 2013.

The recall is due to the diesel engines not starting or cutting out without warning. If the engine cuts out, the rig will lose brake power assistance and power-assisted steering. If the vehicle is fitted with an air suspension system, the system may reduce the vehicle to its lowest ride height position.

Unsurprisingly, this poses a serious threat to both the driver of the vehicle and other road users.

Owners of affected vehicles should expect to be contacted by the respective manufacturers.

If you’re unsure whether you’re affected, give your local dealership a call.

The point at which SUVs become more popular in Australia than passenger cars is edging ever closer with the latest VFACTS data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries revealing the gap is fast reducing.

While passenger cars still outsold SUVs during the month of June, with 53,832 new passenger cars compared to 46,011 new SUVS sold, it’s when you compare the figures to the same period last year that the cracks in the passenger car market start to appear.

Compared to the four-week period of June last year, the passenger car market experienced a decrease of 2554 units (4.5 percent) while the SUV segment was up by 3755 units (8.9 percent) in the same period.

And while each segment is made up four sectors; private sales, business sales, government fleet vehicles as well as rentals, digging down into the private sector of each segment highlights the change in Australian consumer behaviour.

The private passenger car segment recorded a decline of 1797 units (5.2 percent) over the same period in 2015, while at the same time the number of SUVs sold to Australia’s private sector grew by 1019 units, which represents at 3.7 percent increase over the same 2015 period.

And as for which vehicles Australian consumers are purchasing, for the month of June, Mazda’s CX-5outsold any other SUV with 2643 new units changing hands in the four-week period, a result which is reflected in the year-to-date figures also, with 12,593 new CX-5-badged SUVs sold in the first six months of 2016.

Next in line for June was Mitsubishi’s ASX (2182 units) followed by Toyota’s RAV4 with 2088 new units sold. RAV4 trails Mazda’s CX-5 in the year-to-date figures with 9728 units sold in the first six months of this year, followed by the Hyundai Tucson with 9609 units with Nissan’s X-Trail hot on its heels at 9426 units.

With more and more manufacturers jumping on the SUV bandwagon, the country’s most popular brands don’t necessarily reflect the individual vehicles purchased. For the month of June, Australia’s most popular SUV brand was actually Toyota with 13.4 percent of June’s market share (6186 of the total 46,011 units). Second in line was Mitsubishi (10 percent of the share with 4584 units) followed by Mazda in third place with its 4571 SUVs sold making up 9.9 percent of the month’s market. Nissan came a close fourth with 4280 new SUV units moved in June for a 9.3 percent share of sales.

Interestingly, it’s a different story again for brand market share when you consider the year-to-date figures. Toyota remains top-dog for the first six months of 2016, with 14.3 percent of the half-yearly market share. Mazda, with a 10.2 percent share is in second place, with Nissan in third on 9.3 percent.

TOP 10 SUVS FOR JUNE 2016