A Random approach to a Bluestorm 150 GXL D4D automatic

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

I was out your way this afternoon to pick up the camper from the transport company. Tows incredibly well. Auto in S and the 150 didn't feel like it was towing anything, no different to my trailer which was a surprise. 12 psi in the polyairs and a little high in the nose but ok. Mainly wanted to miss the pounding you guys were looking like copping.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

Love the matching wheels, exactly the way I would do it. Looks like it was built to suit the Prados ride height perfectly. Bring on the review

[Mattfunk 120 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mattfunk 120]

ok. Mainly wanted to miss the pounding you guys were looking like copping.

Not much we only got a bit of rain , but of course it waited till we started mixing concrete for post holes. Still raining.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

I haven't checked the track against the 150 with the alloys but it should be close. In the dim dark past I staked a few tyres and needed the trailer wheels to get out for repairs and I wouldn't think of doing it any other way now. It is at a cost though. Mind you my three spare 150 alloys cost me $250 each so I cannot complain. BIL is looking at something different and it cannot easily be fitted with 5 stud hubs to suit his 100 series, not sure why but the manufacturer won't change. The salesman made a story about it being cheaper to carry two spares anyway. Completely misses the point. So two 100 series spares and two camper spares?

As for the weather it was rumbling mightily when we left for home. Radar looked nasty.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

I have an MV22-TPMS to monitor tyre pressures on the Prado and trailer. Only used when we have a load on board. Wife noticed that one of the new KO2s was almost flat yesterday and while #2 changed it there was no sign of a leak. #2 pumped the tyre up to see how long it would hold pressure. As we have done about 500km on the new tyres it was strange. I had a closer look last night and checked the valve, no leak. So I refitted the sensor and sprayed it with water and sure enough the body has sprung a leak. I could get a new sensor for $42.95 plus postage but the sensors themselves are very average compared to Tyredogs. So as I no longer trust the sensors they are off and I will probably get a 6 sensor Tyredog system as I want to know what is going on with the Tvan tyres.

I cannot recommend this TPMS unit even though until now it has worked ok if very slow to pick up initial signals.

[OldGreyFart Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close OldGreyFart]

I have an MV22-TPMS to monitor tyre pressures on the Prado and trailer..... I will probably get a 6 sensor Tyredog system as I want to know what is going on with the Tvan tyres.

I cannot recommend this TPMS unit even though until now it has worked ok if very slow to pick up initial signals.

I run the 6 sensor tyredog system and have for the past 2 years. They are a great unit. Worked for me in the Fliders last month. Got a slow puncture over rocky terrain and the alarm went off at 20psi as asked of it. Stopped immediately and changed tyre. Repair to tyre was fine and saved it.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

OGF do you have the car and trailer with repeater or the truck unit with 6 sensors? No big deal with the camper since power is available but tricky for the box trailer.

[MYT150 Member Find all posts View Profile Close MYT150]

I run an Inawise TPMS system and have 5 on the Prado and 3 on the trailer, all pick up nice and quickly. They are internal sensors which I feel are better and I am happy with the system so far, have been running it now for over a year as I moved it form my previous 4wd.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Weeeellllllll. We went camping as usual and for the first time in the camper. What a difference! No more sleeping on stretchers and self inflating mattresses, well when I can use the camper anyway. Probably not going to work for kayak camping trips.

A few comments on the Tvan:

The negatives:
The screens for the hatches are poorly thought out. The roof is lined with felt or carpet and the screens Velcro onto that. I will be cutting the carpet and putting self adhesive Velcro strips in to properly secure the screens.
The light above the kitchen is pretty useless but as I run a KORR LED setup in the gazebo it was easy to put lights above the cooker and fridge.
The water pumps are noisy, not specifically a Tvan thing but something I will be looking at
Interior LED lights don't swivel enough to be out of the eyes so I will sort that out too
Fans caused the rear top panel to vibrate, probably a result of this being an ex demo van with 1,500 arses through it in 18 months, easily fixed
Batteries had copped a bit of abuse (monitor shows min voltage at 11.49V) so some capacity was lost, a 200 W nuclear power station fixed that

I fitted another spreader between the Tvan and the annexe above the kitchen (which is where I positioned the light though I need to sort out the cabling so it doesn't get in the way) and a strut to hold the long spreader, made setting up much better. I also made up a piece of angle to hang cooking utensils from so they were readily to hand. Also used some enamel bowls under the deck legs to spread the load in the sand and also filled these with water to stop the ants making their way onto the canvas.

Mostly we cook with the weber and the kitchen is for boiling water and cooking bacon and eggs. The weber was used for potato bake, pizzas, scones, a cake, toasted sandwiches, roast vegetables and a couple of times to barbecue dead animal bits.

The Tvan towed beautifully and I was very happy with how it performed on the sand tracks and beach. The track of the Tvan is about 10mm wider than the Prado so that was very useful in the soft stuff. I dropped the Tvan pressures to 20psi and that was easily enough. Tracks were quite soft given lack of rain and abundance of idiots churning up the fluffy sand.

The best thing though was getting into the tent section, sitting down in the body of the Tvan and washing the sand off your feet, drying the wet bits and then climbing into a queen sized bed! Very comfortable and restful. The one night it rained I reached up and closed the hatch, then went back to sleep which in past years would have meant getting out of the tent to check everything is tied down and making sure the water drained away from the tent.

We took our usual flat pack washing up stand and didn't use the sink in the Tvan kitchen and that was a good call. Will probably do that as a standard thing and I might remove the sink and make that more kitchen storage, need to think about that. We also used a spare gazebo wall to pretty much box in the kitchen area to keep out the sun and wind though I did leave a gap at the front. The 47L ARB fridge was set up as the cooking fridge at -2C while the NL in the Prado was the freezer. The 60L ARB in the Colorado was a specialist drinks fridge, just in case.

Before we left we bought a second sand mat to fit alongside the Tvan, this and the one under the gazebo are simply brilliant.

Anyway a couple of pics...

The annexe and cooking area, LED lights powered from a merit plug so switched off once you are tucked up inside...



The eating area...



The 150 snoozing away...



A couple of visitors (one was a bit reluctant and I had to drag it in, 'twas tasty though)...







Plenty of fatbiking though given the soft conditions I was running as low as 4psi front and 6psi rear...



The view from Russell's Rest to the North...



And the South...



And on the way home...



So all up very happy with the choice of the Tvan. It proved itself for the two week camp and yes all that fitted in the Tvan and Prado, only the back up gas fridge travelled in the Colorado.

I need to fix those couple of things I mentioned above and make a bike rack for the fatbike. While it was fine travelling with the fatbike on a silver tarp on the mattress I don't want to do that for a series of day trips especially if the fatbike has been on the beach.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Been a while and the Prado has been fine.

A couple of updates are due.

I have changed out the TJM suspension for something a little more speshul (!). Details later since it is still in testing phase and revalving is yet to be done. Details will follow.

After some procrastination I have run 12V power to the back for the camper. I was in no real hurry because we usually tow the camper to a camping spot and then use additional solar panels to top up the camper batteries. We are about to set off on a trip over the school holidays and we will be staying one or two nights only at each spot.

The Tvan uses a BCDC1240 to feed the two AGM batteries in the back. This has been wired with the blue trigger connected to the infeed so the moment the BCDC senses voltage current is drawn from the source. To ensure I didn't flatten the starting battery I fitted a voltage sensing relay between the starter battery and the Tvan BCDC. I chose a Redarc SBi12. I also needed to fit another circuit breaker so I could switch off power to the rear Anderson Plug when power wasn't needed.

My in car auxiliary circuit breaker was installed on top of the fuse and relay box and while this wasn't ideal it was convenient. Adding the relay and breaker for the external supply gave me the opportunity to tidy this up too.

I made a bracket up which sits on the guard and holds all these bits.



The bracket pics up a couple of spare holes in the guard and one inner guard clip which was replaced by a bolt and panel washer. Very secure and plenty of space.

At the back I fitted the Anderson Plug in one of those proprietary housings with a spring cover that holds the mating plug in place with a plastic tab. I went to glue the tab to the camper plug and decided to use a nice new plug and found this:



Very disappointing especially since there is such a huge potential for corrosion and vibration damage. New connectors went on as well and heat shrink to seal the connectors and cable. I will check the additional Anderson Plug that is fitted for additional solar infeed and if the same I will sent an email of extreme disappointment to Mr and Mrs Track.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

So an update on the suspension.

While some of you have had Whitey helping you with your Ironman suspenders he was also working with Fulcrum on a set of Bilstein B8 5160 rears and 60mm struts which were fitted to my 150 as a test mule.

It has taken a while, several months in fact due to delays with equipment breakdowns and me being away on a trip in the Prado but now the valving and set up is sorted and the transformation is quite staggering.

The valving is similar to the Ironman set up though the low speed damping isn't as good, or at least that is what Mark says... As others have reported with the Ironman shocks the suspension just works and it so much better than anything I have ever had in any of my 4wds. There are no secondary or higher level oscillations and many bumps that would previously unsettle the car are simply absorbed. Speed bumps are heard rather than felt and overall the Prado is much nicer to drive so kudos to Mark and his relentless pursuit of the optimum Prado suspension.

At some point in the future this kit will be available from Sydney Shocks and Fulcrum though what the final valving will be is an unknown at this stage. For the record I drove initially on the stock US valving which was as expected and floaty and seriously underdamped. It was not pleasant! Then revised damping was fitted and this was better but still underdamped. This was the setup I used towing the Tvan for 4,000km around Western Queensland. Since getting back the Whitey specification valving has been fitted as well as some 700lb/in front coils and it is all good. The coils are custom made by Kings and come with a "WHITEY" label! Look carefully at the pics...

The standard front struts came with 600lb/in coils and these were too soft even for my 150. I don't have a winch that lives permanently in the bar and no auxiliary battery up front and the T3 bar would be a few kilograms lighter than most steel bars. With these springs in place there were no grooves left and the front was not a full 50mm lift. Again not sure what will be ultimately offered when this gear is commercially available. I would have to say if you want to get the same insist on the Whitey valving. As a generalisation I would think most people will need heavier front springs too.

I took the opportunity while all this was going on to have Fulcrum fit a set of their adjustable UCAs and these things are the business. Camber and Caster now comfortably in the right area.

So again thanks to Mark for his knowledge and persistence in getting the set up right and thanks to Fulcrum for their work. Disclaimer: I didn't pay full price for the gear as I was the crash test dummy. My opinion however is unbiased and the suspension is every bit as good as I expected it to be. I am sure Mark would be happy to share over a beer the to'ing and fro'ing that we endured to get the suspension where it is now.

I did quite a few km on corrugated roads and the shocks remained cool and in control.

A couple of pics:





And a couple from the trip. When I get a chance to tidy up the pics I will post a trip report but essentially we spent a few days at Carnarvon Gorge, Lara wetlands, Longreach and Winton (dinosaurs) before heading home via Cania Gorge.











ThePrado and Tvan went well on the trip though a Bird strike smashed the front sky light. A roll and a half of duct tape, and some silicon sorted that out for the duration.

[Whitey Shockie Maker of the Month Award Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey]

Now that is some cracking looking suspension!

This was a long project to see through to the end, and it required a lot of effort! Big thanks to Graham at Fulcrum and Sydney Shocks for getting the valving in and sorted along with a lot of technical issues that needed sorting along the way. Thanks also to Steve at King Springs for knocking together the custom 700lb/in coils on the front. My WHITEY stamp on the coils is a shameless copy of AMTS custom coils for the Grande rear!

As Michael has mentioned, the valving and coil setup is very similar to what I am using in my Ironmans, and having test driven this 150 at all the different valving stages myself, I reckon it now handles superbly!

It is also very satisfying to finally see some genuinely custom valved Bilsteins here on Pradopoint!!

Finally a big thanks to Michael for hanging in there during the dark times of yankee softness, we got there in the end, and the RZ is going down nicely!

Looking forward to the next big off road adventure for the big Bluestorm!

Best

Mark

[LowRange Member Find all posts View Profile Close LowRange]

I dont know what looks nicer, the Carnarvon Gorge or that suspension setup! I can only imagine how well it handles.

Well done on the attention to detail on the whole rig, she's definitely a head turner.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

For those who dont get the RZ reference... Ron Zacapa XO.

Thanks LR!

Remaing jobs before our next camping trip are:

Mr Toyota to replace the leaking turbo next week (extended warranty pays for itself)
Fit the Prolocker
Change the head unit to something with a decent screen
Wash it

Change the Tvan fridge merit plug to an Anderson plug (it played up on the trip)
Fit two dual USB sockets inside the camper
Reversing camera and lights

[RBJET Member Find all posts View Profile Close RBJET]

Looked like an awesome trip. Almost as good as the new suspension!

I've been waiting for this stuff to pop up somewhere after seeing the testing shots months ago.

Just wondering if these will be worth the upgrade once my current Bilsteins are at the end of their life.