A Fast Lady ....

She is not!!

These trucks are not geared for fast living. Fortunately the motors are renowned for fast revving not doing them too much harm and well over 500,000km is expected before any sign of trouble. However I prefer a more relaxed tone in relationships so I wouldn't mind slowing things down a bit. In addition I don't believe that dual rear tyres are ideal for dirt/gravel/off road work so something has to change. The original tyres are 8.25R20 on 6.25 x 20" rims - something a little larger would be nice.

(As an aside it is technically not possible to change anything on an Aus. motor vehicle unless the original manufacturer approves or offered a similar item (which must then have an independent qualified motor engineer approved certificate of roadworthiness) in order to be registered. This particularly applies to wheel sizes and offsets!!) In order to get the front and rear wheels of trucks like this to run in the same track when fitted with single rear wheel/tyre combinations it is necessary to alter the offset of the rims from standard (if you require to use the same tyre/rim combination front and rear to save on the number of spares carried) and mount the rim on opposite sides at the front and rear as the front and rear axles are of quite different width. (Don't give up now !)

Nevertheless nearly all mining and government vehicles seem to be able to fit them when required so this avenue will be investigated further.

Some weeks later ....

Finally after multiple blind alleys we have "proper wheels and tyres".
The original skinny front tyre.

















The new 385/65R22.5 on 11.25 x 22.5 8 stud tubeless rims



















The original dual rear wheels













and the new rear tyres on the same rims as the new front tyres with only 12mm variation in track width!



















As an added bonus these tyres are 10% larger in rolling radius so now the engine runs 10% slower at any given speed and the speedometer is exactly correct. (No it will not give me any better fuel economy).

Getting to know Suz

5000 km in about a week together and you start to learn a few things about each other. Suz is a highly geared individual - about 2800+ rpm for 85kph. I thought I was making slow progress at an indicated 90kph and didn't realise that the speedometer was 10% slow at all speeds - until I checked it against my GPS. Radio sound was completely unlistenable - turn that off. Darn that passing road-train threw up a rock and chipped the windscreen! Passenger seat back is broken - but I don't have to sit in that. Dashboard is a bit scruffy - I don't think she was treated with proper respect by itinerent government workers responsible for her.

In Aus. vehicles must be registered in the state in which they are resident. That means despite passing a government inspection in New South Wales 10 days ago she will have to undergo another inspection in Western Australia within 90 days. ("$150 Thank You") The regulations say that "no visible defects in the windscreen must exist in or can be repaired in the driver's normal lines of sight". Oh Dear! I guess that means a new windscreen - I can hear the cash register ringing now. Surprise! Surprise! $325 fitted! (And that's another saga all by itself!)

So while the windscreen is out I might just tidy up a few things while they're easy to get at. So out with the dashboard and all the atttached "accoutrements"and a bit of a "spruce-up". The overhead console, dashboard, door pillars etc are all converted to black (either with vinyl paint or cloth cover).


















Then


















Now



















Then














Now

You may also notice the disappearance of the window winder. I have always liked convenience so I have converted Suz to have power windows and remote central locking. The left over white knob will disappear when the remainder of the door trim is replaced with new cloth trim.

As these items (and some others) required 12v power and Suz only supplied 24v I decided some electrical work was in order. To this end I fitted new starting batteries and utilised the old starter batteries as auxiliaries with voltage sensitive isolation and a 30amp 12v converter connected only to the auxiliary batteries and an external chassis mounted manual isolation switch for the entire system. (That ought to do it for a while!)















Battery setup












Hiding under the passenger seat is a very convenient space which could be converted to a storage compartment and on top of which I could (temporarily?) hide all the necessary electronics.

As an aside ...

On the trip back I decided to take a more direct route than the shortest sealed road. There is a section from Norseman to Hyden in WA which is unsealed gravel road that cuts off several hundred kilometres. I have travelled this route before in my 4WD Toyota Prado and even in my VZ Commodore SS Ute!! It is quite remote but provides some interesting scenery on the way.

One of the more interesting spots is Peak Charles - a 40km detour - but "what the heck?" - I'm retired without a timetable. As you approach from 40km away it looks remarkably regular.














From 5km away the approach winds around to the other side and it takes on a completely different appearance.















From 1km away with the afternoon wearing on it becomes more rugged and quite pretty. I noted somewhere that it is used for practice alpine climbing.



















Early next morning I decided to climb the "easy" walk trail. This is as far as I got - there is a sign here warning of "exposed hard scrabbling required" and as I am not good with heights I stopped here part way up.















There was an unusual lot of cloud around for this time of the year and it made for some interesting views.

































Some of the rock formations are quite interesting as well.

The right truck

Most trucks of this type in Australia are purchased by either government "Power Authorities" or mining companies. The ones for mining companies tend to be driven to destruction - they are seldom available second hand. The power co. ones are used as service vehicles for the power transmission lines which cross the countryside. The service "roads" are the tracks left from construction and are not maintained so end up looking a bit like this :



















However with a little bit of searching a reasonable one can be found. Mine was found (via the net) on the other side of the country (and in "Aus" this can be significant) in a place called Macksville (north of Sydney and south of Coffs Harbour) on the East Coast!! So after much email with pictures a deposit was paid and a flight booked. After much trepidation an inspection proved "Suz" to be as good as hoped for. I strapped a few 200ltr drums of diesel on the back (fuel was in short supply in a few places across Aus. at the time) and headed off. Steady cruising at about 80 km(2800rpm!) and a few deviations to check on some items for the proposed camper (eg composite panels in Adelaide and Jacana Motorhomes in New South Wales) saw me arrive home in Perth just over a week later using this route:

The longest journeys begin with the first step

One day recently I decided I'd worked long enough - I closed my business the following Friday and decide to do some travelling. I'm a 60yr old Aussie (currently residing in Aus.) but would like to travel in Europe for an extended period. I have travelled a little in US and NZ and "touristed" in some other countries. While thinking about how to do this without breaking (into) the bank I have started to build (my third) camper for Aus. I have fallen in love with the Unicat style of luxurious overkill. To this end I have purchased an Isuzu 1992 FSS500 4x4 (all 11000kg GVM) with only 100,000km and fitted it with Super Single ie 385/65R18 22.5 wheels/tyres (at a ludicrous price) as a start. I am currently designing a torsion free body mount and accommodation unit etc. (my business was engineering manufacturing). My intention was to make this unit self contained and eventually ship it to UK (as a start - as I only speak English) in a container and do some extensive travelling. I don't have a return timetable.

It's all "growing a bit like Topsy" . . . and I have discovered I am attached to my Isuzu. So - now I'm trying to figure out if its possible (I'm sure it's not too sensible - but that's not the point) to ship/drive the whole kit and caboodle to Europe.

As purchased

ISUZU FSS500

Manufactured : 1992
Kilometres : 100,000
Type : 4WD
Size : wheelbase 3650, Tare 5140kg, GVM 11000kg
Engine : 6 cylinder, 6494cc, diesel, 120kw
Transmission : 5 speed