The Truck (THE BEAST).

‘The Beast’ has been with me for a week now, and I have to say, I’m loving it. It’s very much a look at me kind of vehicle, and I get a bit of a kick out of watching peoples reactions as it thunders down the road past them.

Of course, it is not without its problems. Finding car parks is probably at the top of that list. Actually, thus far, that’s pretty much the full list. It’s just something that we have to consider and what I would consider a small sacrifice.

To summarise, ‘The Beast’ is a Dodge Ram 3500 in Laramie spec. It is powered by a stonking 6.7L, 6 cylinder turbo diesel, which puts out 261KW and 881Nm. In comparison, a brand new 200 series Landcruiser with a V8 Twin Turbo diesel manages 195Kw and 650Nm. I think ‘The Beast’ ought to have the power to pull our van along without too much of a concern.

Whilst the preparation to get it trip ready is not yet complete, on the outside you’ll find a few extras in the way of HID spotties, a ZCG Scalar antenna, all fitted to a chrome nudge bar. BFG all terrain tyres wrapped around 20″ rims complete the picture. I’m yet to fit a tool box in the tray to give us some secure storage space and a canopy. I have a firm picture in my mind of how the canopy will look, but finding someone who can custom make it for me is proving rather difficult.

On the inside, there are leather pews for 5, with the front two being heated and cooled. If anyone asks, the cooled seating is probably one of the highlights of the truck for me. We’re going to be spending quite a few hours in them seats, and a gentle breath of air on your nether regions makes it surprisingly bearable.

Now, one of the reasons I was after such a large vehicle was so that I could have a drinks fridge mounted right there inside the cabin. I didn’t want it mounted way back out in the tub, where it would be exposed to the weather and any nefarious sorts that might take a liking to it. I also still wanted to be able to use the rear seat for passengers. Apart from that, who wants to stop every time you want a cool drink? So I had our fridge secured right there between the front seats. How great is that?

I was ecstatic with the way the fridge mounting came out. John from Trucks ‘N’ Toys designed and fabricated a custom bracket to bolt the fridge to and it fitted in like it was always meant to have been there. It made a perfect arm rest for me, was easy to access while on the move, and you could even use it as a table. I loved it! Bec on the other hand wasn’t so pleased with the set up, finding it sat too high to comfortably use as an arm rest and generally feeling constricted.

The only solution we could come up with was to undo all of Johns hard work (sorry John), and re-fit the original centre console. This did have the effect of dramatically increasing our available storage, and we now have a funky little Waeco fridge sitting on the rear floor behind the console. It does mean ‘The Beast’ is essentially a four seater with the fridge in, although it’s a doodle to remove.

As for the conversion from left hand drive to right hand drive, I wouldn’t know any different. Apart from some of the switch gear being quite a stretch across to the other side of the cabin, the 4 wheel drive selector (which I could have had moved if I had wanted) and the switch for the exhaust brake in particular, it feels for all the money that it came out of the factory with the steering wheel on the right side. Apparently it is no easy feat to get these vehicles converted, and it is a testament to the skill of John and Ben, and the effort they go to, to ensure everything works just how it should.

I’ll be hooking up the van in a few days time for a quick test run, so check back soon for a report on how ‘The Beast’ handles the van.

Update: 24/03/13

I’ve been living with ‘The Beast’ now for almost 3 months, and things are going well. I am more than happy with my investment, despite a few negatives. It is certainly unwieldy, and parking can be a pain. Most undercover car parks are a no go, short of converting ‘The Beast’ to a rather unconventional convertible. Fuel use is also slightly higher than what I had hoped, around town edging up towards 17L/100Km. On the open road, it purrs along on as close to the smell of an oily rag as a truck of this size can. Only the big trip and an extended run with the van hanging off of the back will really let us know what we’re in for. We’ll find out soon enough.

Thus far, the only towing I’ve managed was a quick trip over to Campbellfield and home again. A total of about 70Km, which was barely enough to stretch the legs. I can say though that ‘The Beast’ hardly noticed the 2.5t bouncing along behind which was what I had hoped for.

As far as being trip ready, we’re about as good as we’re going to get. I had a list of stuff I would have loved, but time and money has seen me pare that down to the absolute necessities. UHF radio, fridge, battery monitor, dual (or triple in actual fact) battery system, tool box and finally the much anxiety producing canopy. All done.

The tool box and battery installation was a pretty big job, involving designing a custom mount for the battery as well as the electrical equipment within the tool box (which was also custom built). I have gone with a Haze 100AH gel deep cycle battery, which is a match for the 2 in the caravan. This gives me the easy option of swapping them around if the need arises. To keep the charge up to this battery, I’m running a Redarc BCDC1240 battery charger. The beauty of this over a standard dual battery set up is two-fold. Firstly, it’s set and forget, working as an isolator so there is absolutely no chance of the starter batteries being accidentally drained by our accessories. Secondly, being a dedicated charger rather than just splitting the available amperage from the alternator, it takes care of batteries of dissimilar chemical compositions and can provide as close to 100% charge as possible. As a bonus, the unit also has a built in solar regulator, so down the track it’s a relatively simple task to hook ‘The Beast’ up for solar input as well. Coupled with marine grade fuse boxes, and over engineered wiring, I’m hoping the system will keep us powered up without a hassle.

As regular readers would know, I have been rather stressed about the canopy since day one, but it was all delivered this week. It has come up an absolute treat, produced exactly to my design. Not a bad effort considering how much my drawing skills leave to the imagination, despite me knowing precisely what I was after. A huge thanks have to go out to Allan and John at Custom Boats & Canopies. Admittedly, I must say, I think ‘The Beast’ looks tougher sans canopy, but the extra lockable storage area was an absolute must have for the trip. Not to mention further storage for lengthy items on the racks, a sweet roll out awning and a fantastic spot to set up a tripod for some high angle photography. With pretty burgundy canvas, to match the detailing on the van, we can roll up any or all of the flaps, and leave the dogs secured behind the security grill sides.

Stay tuned for the next update on ‘The Beast’ probably a week or so after we embark upon our expedition. I should know by then if we can afford to keep ‘The Beast’ fuelled up for the entire trip!

Update: 04/07/13

One thing I hate, is when a website promises something, and then fails to deliver. Like, for instance, an update on how ‘The Beast’ is travelling. Keeping the blog updated on a daily basis has been more onerous than I had originally envisioned however, and so time has slipped away from me. Secondly, ‘The Beast’ features in many of my daily updates in a most complimentary way in any case, so my regular readers would well and truly know that I am loving everything about it.

Just quickly though, I will let you know that despite early misgivings that the fuel usage was higher than I had hoped it would be, I had been working on a complete estimation. I had no firm fuel economy figures prior to leaving on our trip, with the van hitched up. Having now travelled almost half way around the country, both towing and doing solo duties, without the added weight of the caravan I have calculated that our overall average is currently sitting at just a smidge over 21L/100Km. Given the huge amount of torque available to us, and the fact that we have been travelling at close to 100Km/h where allowed (and a little higher through the Norther Territory where the maximum speed limit tops out at 130Km/h), I am more than happy with the results.

To get this figure, I haven’t been driving with an overly heavy right foot, keeping my acceleration gentle, and generally driving as best I can to the conditions. It hasn’t stopped me from sticking the boot in where needed during some high speed overtaking manoeuvres though. I can’t compare this figure to what I was able to achieve in the Patrol, for several reasons. First of all, we only managed to travel about 1000km with our current van bouncing along behind the Patrol. Not really enough to obtain a decent average. Secondly, I generally kept the Patrol humming along at about 86Km/h, regardless of any higher maximum speeds.

In all cases, the weight of the van (about 2.8t) have been handled by ‘The Beast’ with aplomb, and even in some pretty savage cross winds, I haven’t detected any noticeable trailer sway. This is in contrast to the old Patrol, that used to wag its tail like a happy dog at the first sign of a lateral breeze.

Furthermore, apart from a couple of minor issues (who needs a heated steering wheel when it’s 30+ outside?) that the guys at ‘Trucks ‘N’ Toys’ are still looking into, I have had no serious issues with the vehicle. In an effort to continue a trouble free run, I am currently getting a service at 10,000Km intervals, with additional oil changes as indicated by the electronic brain which monitors such things.

The electrics which I spent many an hour fitting have also performed faultlessly thus far, keeping the fridge powered 24 hours a day since the day we left home, without the need for plugging into any auxiliary power source. That sure beats our previous ride, which saw us having to plug the fridge into power each night to save the battery. A sight I now observe all too often with mirth as we travel around and stop at various caravan parks.

As for the canopy, despite leaving the dogs more often than not in the comfort of the caravan, it has performed as required. It is of great comfort to know that all of our gear can be left in the tub, and secured behind the grates of the canopy. I small squeak which was evident initially, has either disappeared, or we are now that accustomed to it, that it presents us no further aural issues.

In summary, ‘The Beast’ is just that, a beast, and I’m loving it.

To prevent any further heartaches on my part, I am not going to issue a date on which I  expect to provide further updates, but stay tuned. They’ll be here either when I can, or if I have to rave about ‘The Beast’ any further.