From the mechanical to the electrical side of things to bolt-ons and suspension, here’s how to get your vehicle up to scratch for the big lap.
Ah yes, the hallowed ‘Big Lap’. The plan so many of us share. Setting off from the big smoke and chasing lines until you find a magical spot to park up for a few days at a time, then moving on and doing it all over again. Making your way around the country, camper or caravan in tow, living your best life and enjoying the scenery, and not having to worry about the pesky trivialities of the rat race. Annie Lennox was onto something. Sweet dreams are definitely made of this.
And that’s exactly why you want to make sure your tow rig is in optimal condition before setting off, because all it takes for a dream to turn into a nightmare is a breakdown 300 kilometres out of Karratha, and you don’t have a means of fixing it, let alone getting in touch with somebody who can help.
Yep, having a vehicle that’s just as ready for your trip as you are is paramount in ensuring you’ll not only make it to your destination but do it more comfortably, more safely and with a lot less stress on both you and your rig.
Here’s how to go about getting your vehicle up to scratch for the big lap!
The mechanical bits
Engine performance
Getting a little more mumbo out of a modern engine is super easy via an engine tune or plug-and-play module (sometimes called performance chips). It not only makes a huge difference to towing ability but can also help out with fuel economy. Assuming you’ve seen the price of fuel lately, you’ll know why this is such a big tick in the pro column.
However, not all chips or tunes are created equal. In fact, the rule of thumb is ‘the cheaper it is, the worse it is.’ Some chips simply bump up fuel-rail pressure, or injector duration or any number of other tricks that will get you more power, maybe, but could potentially place your engine under a lot of stress.
That’s why we like to stick with quality products, such as Steinbauer’s Power Module, which oversees an array of fuel delivery, boost and injection timing parameters – meaning reliability is not compromised at all. They also can sense when the engine is working hard (such as towing up a long hill) and back things off accordingly, saving your EGTs from spiking.
The Power Module will net you a smooth 20% increase in power and torque, and because your engine is not working as hard, will likely use less fuel with the correct driving technique.
Fresh fuel
At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, water being mixed with your fuel, and then delivered into your combustion chambers is arguably one of the most effective and efficient ways to kill your engine. Most people see it as cheap insurance to fit a fuel-water separator, which will not only add a layer of extra filtration for your fuel but prevent an accidental ingestion of some non-combustible, con-rod-bending, valve-destroying H2O.
In ye olde days, you would have to do a visual inspection of the fuel-water separator to determine when it needed attention, but we live in the modern age, and there’s an app for that.
Ryco have just released a beaut new wireless sensor kit as part of their Ryco Connect range. It lets you know the status of your Ryco Separator without you having to drill through your firewall or even pop the bonnet.
As far as “peace of mind per dollars spent”, this one has to be right up there we reckon.
Transmission cooling
Modern transmissions, in general, are pretty bloody amazing. They offer seamless gear changes and are overseen by enough electric doo-dads that we’re fairly sure they could facilitate a moon landing while whipping up a soufflé. Even so, they’re still governed by the immutable laws of physics, one of which is: when they’re working hard (like when they’re towing), they get hot, and heat is the number one killer of anything mechanical.
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to see that fitting up an extra transmission cooler is not only preventative maintenance but could quite easily save your gearbox from cooking itself.
Wholesale Automatics are the go-to here. They offer a huge range of Aussie-built transmission cooling options for just about every vehicle on the market and have decades of industry expertise to point you in the right direction.
Also, just a side note when towing with an auto: On the approach to a big hill, it’s good practice to shift into manual mode and drop it back a gear or two. The revs will rise, but that means the torque converter is turning faster and pumping the ATF around the transmission’s cooling system much quicker – so it’ll shed more heat. Keeping the vehicle in the fat part of the torque curve will also ensure you get up the climb with the least possible stress to the mechanicals.
Brake dancing
Remember old mate Mr Newton’s kid, Isaac? Mr ‘Force equals mass times acceleration’ himself? Yeah, him. He was the bloke who realised that the more mass an object has, the more force it’ll have too. So, a Toyota Land Cruiser travelling at 100km/h will have remarkably less force than a Land Cruiser and caravan combo at the same speed. You see where we’re going with this?
Yep, we’re talking brakes. You’ll need them in tip-top order before heading off on your trip. Now you can say “pfft, brakes only slow you down” all you like, but that doesn’t change the fact that when you need them, it’s really nice if they work.
Bendix Australia are a premium name in braking technology and have a range of upgrades for most vehicles on the market, and the increase in stopping power is well worth the outlay. A brand-new rig may not need them right away, but keep in mind stock brakes can get flogged out remarkably quickly when pulling up your vehicle and a 3T van. We’ve seen nearly transparent rotors and pads worn down to the backing plates after only 30,000 kilometres of heavy towing, so be warned. Not to get all melodramatic on you, but a brake upgrade is relatively cheap compared to spearing off the road into a drainage ditch.
Tools n spares
Even with your tow pig in tip top condition, things can and do still go awry from time to time, so having a decent tool kit along for the ride is a no-brainer. Just like Lord Baden-Powell, you want to be prepared if things get spicy and you suddenly need to swap out a shagged serpentine belt.
Among the usual hand tools, fuses, `leccy tape, tyre plugs, rescue tape and fencing wire, make sure you bring a code-reader too, preferably one with the means to clear engine codes via the OBD port. These are largely vehicle specific, so make sure you get one that can talk to your engine and transmission.
And while we’re talking things that can go wrong, have a solid range of spares too. Belts, hoses, clamps, clips and an air and fuel filter to give yourself a fighting chance of making it to the next stop.
The electrical side of things
Comms gear
Keeping in touch on and off the road is important, be it with the truck driver asking if it’s safe to overtake or a convoy of friends along for the ride, installing a Uniden UHF is one of the first things to tick off the mods list. They can be used for a surprising number of helpful functions, such as road or track conditions updates, chatting with other folks along the way or even being able to call for aid in remote areas with the use of repeater towers.
If you’re heading way off the beaten track, then a sat-phone is a necessary expense and should be in the vehicle for emergency use. However, if you’re pinching pennies or simply don’t want to carry one, have a look at signal boosters for your mobile phone. Units such as Cel-fi are extremely popular and come highly recommended.
Pulling up
If your camper weighs more than 750kg, then having a trailer-brake controller wired up is really a non-negotiable (unless your rig comes with one pre-installed like the newer Ford F-Trucks). There’s no shortage of units on the market that’ll do the job, however, we like the Towpro product from Aussie-company Redarc. It’s comprehensive, unobtrusive in the cab, and is one of the best brake controllers on the market.
There’s no “set the controller to where the trailer’s brakes lock up then back it off a quarter-turn” required either. Once the Towpro is wired in, it sets the braking force with its proportional mode, although you can still tweak it to your preferred setting via the control knob. Once it’s dialled, you can forget about it and cruise along without worry that your electric brakes are working at maximum efficiency.
Backing up
Having a reverse camera on your tow rig is a fantastic tool. It makes hitching up way quicker and easier and is a huge safety advantage when reverse parking without a trailer in tow. So, it makes sense to have a reverse camera for your camper, right?
There are several products on the market, and quite a bit of variation in price and quality so don’t be afraid to ask around to see which ones are worth the money. Having a hardwired or Bluetooth connection is a plus, and a good warranty should things go wrong.
We’ve seen a fair few Safety Dave cameras being installed and the people who have had them fitted have had nothing but positive reports regarding their use.
We reckon being able to see exactly how far you can back your van into a site or having the ability to get your camper in the perfect position to take advantage of the view is worth its weight in non-broken taillight housings.
After dark
While it’s always worth while trying to avoid driving an hour either side of dawn and be set-up with a glass of single-malt and a fine Cohiba before sundown, sometimes driving after dark is simply unavoidable. Fitting up a pair of driving lights takes a huge chunk of the stress out of night-time journeys, and drastically cuts down on the likelihood of an animal strike or damaging your vehicle on an unexpected washout.
While the type of light you buy can often come down to personal preference, most people are opting for LEDs over HID or Halogen lights these days. Mainly because LED technology is improving at a rapid pace while the other two have largely stagnated. Modern LED lights are simply amazing, and well worth the investment.
We won’t recommend a brand here as there are simply too many good ones to choose from but take a look at things like the brand of LED used in the light, the housing construction, the warranty, the mounting system and of course the light output. You’ll quickly find a contender (or two or three) that’ll be right up your alley.
The bolt-ons
Frontal protection
Animal strikes are an unfortunate reality, almost inevitable when traversing some of Australia’s more remote roadways, which means having some sort of frontal protection for your tow rig is a good call. The design and construction of your front bar is a fairly subjective thing, and it pays to make the decision based around your vehicle rather than what your mate runs.
Some auto manufacturers have the radiator, AC condenser and the rest of the cooling pack mounted fairly low, so you may not need a front bar with hoops. Similarly, headlight protection may be a non-negotiable for you personally, so a bar with more frontal area may be your cup of English brekky.
Probably the bigger decision is whether to go for steel or alloy. Steel is traditionally stronger but heavier, however, modern alloy bars are designed with huge amounts of strength built in thanks to internal gusseting, while maintaining a relatively low weight. But they’re more expensive. Basically, compromises will have to be made at some point.
You’ve got your traditional players – ARB, TJM and Ironman – but make sure you assess the options from smaller manufacturers too, such as AFN or Rival, who have more contemporary designs, if that’s what you’re into.
Mirror mirror, on the door
This message may be brought to you by Captain Obvious, but it’s still worth mentioning. If you’re towing a trailer with significant width – which is most vans, hybrid campers and even some of the larger camper trailers – then towing mirrors are a necessity. Not just for safety reasons either, they make backing up a whole lot easier as well.
We’ve fitted a few Clearview mirrors up to our vehicles now and we reckon they’re right up there in terms of quality and ease of use and install. And they look great to boot.
Controlling the ride
Hitting the GVM gym
“Wait, why are you putting suspension last?” I hear you say. Well, that’s because it should really be the last thing on your build list. Why? Because suspension choice is largely predicated on the weight your vehicle is running, and it’s hard to determine that without everything already bolted in place.
Weight falls into two categories: Static and dynamic. Static weight is what’s mounted to the vehicle 24/7. Things like bullbars, drawers, lights, winches, roof racks and so on. Dynamic weight is stuff that can be removed. Tools, fridges, trailers (ballweight), the in-laws… you get the gist.
Now, what you count as static and dynamic will depend on your individual needs. Let’s say you’re travelling around the country and plan to rarely, if ever, not have the van hitched up. That ballweight should then be counted as static weight. You with us?
Now that you know what weights you’re dealing with, you’ll decide if that’s going to fall within your vehicle’s GVM or not. If the answer is no, or if it’s perilously close to being overweight, then you’ll need to invest in a GVM upgrade.
This is vehicle dependent and usually involves fitting upgraded springs, shocks and sometimes even having chassis-strengthening plates welded in. It also involves an engineering signatory signing off on the work (depending on state the vehicle is registered in) and having your rego papers updated with your motoring authority.
It’s a fair chunk of work and expense, but our ever-present road pirates, sorry, Highway Patrol, tend to frown heavily upon overloaded vehicles, and in the worst case, you need to make an insurance claim after an accident, expect to be laughed at by your friendly insurer if you’ve had to put a couple extra holes in your rig’s belt.
Leaf spring back ends, step inside
If you’re towing and the rear suspension in your rig consists of leaf springs, then you’re in luck, because leaves are ideal for heavy loads. They offer a true progressive spring rate – the more you load them up, the stiffer they become. Ideal for towing.
With that said, almost all manufacturers design a degree of compromise into the leaf packs, sometimes a large degree. Yep, it’s time to upgrade the springs.
In our experience fitting a true parabolic leaf pack, such as the ones from Terrain Tamer, can make a huge difference in both towing ability and ride quality. Each parabolic spring is tapered as it moves away from the centre, meaning each individual spring has a progressive rate, as does the whole pack. It’s a versatile solution to a common problem of heavier leaves being too stiff and makes a lot of sense for a tow vehicle.
Coil rear ends? Right this way
Got coils in the rear end? You could fit a heavier-rated coil spring to soak up the extra ballweight, but then you’ll be sacrificing ride quality when unladen. A more elegant solution is to fit airbag helper springs that can be inflated when you’re loaded up and let down when you’re scooting around town with the camper parked up.
Polyair has a range of bags suited to different vehicles and usage, and even offer complete kits, including an onboard air tank and compressor if you don’t want to inflate the bags at the servo.
Also, we need to make a quick mention of shock absorbers. While your springs will handle the load bearing, the shocks determine the ride. Shocks convert kinetic energy into thermal energy – movement into heat basically. When the fluid inside the shock can no longer dissipate the heat through the shock body, such as when driving at speed over corrugated roads, they lose all effectiveness and suffer from shock fade, often leading to damage. By having an extra cooling reservoir, like the Terrain Tamer Pro units, you’re giving your bus the best shot at maintaining a better-than-stock ride.
So very tyred
The last, and arguably least obvious, factor in setting up your suspension is tyre choice. You could spend hours poring over the design differences, load ratings, speed ratings and tread patterns of the billions of tyre makes and models on the market. So, we’ll share what we look for.
We like a tyre that’ll offer a decent amount of traction both on-road and in the dirt, have a high enough load rating that’ll handle the weight of our gear and a large caravan, have good wear rates without sacrificing grip and not break the bank when we need to replace them.
For example, lately, we’ve been eyeballing the Kumho AT52s for our next set of rubber. Well priced, a nice load rating and great consumer reviews for handling and longevity.
Oh, and just a quick second on choosing the right size for you. If you’re piloting a dedicated van-hauler, then staying as close to the stock size as possible will do wonders for your fuel economy. If off-road use is a consideration, then going up a size or two could be worthwhile. Having the same size tyres on your trailer as your vehicle, if possible, provides a wonderful safety net of emergency spares as well.
Tightening up the nut behind the wheel
Towing and driver courses
Last step in building the dream tow rig? Yep, making sure your skills are as equally well-prepared as your set-up is. More and more folks are selling up and hitting the road, 25ft van in tow behind the Patrol, never having towed anything beyond a little box trailer. Truck drivers and experienced caravanners alike know this is a recipe for disaster.
What happens if your trailer gets a sway on? What about if one of the hubs seizes? Why is backing this thing up so f#&^ing difficult?! Do you even know how to optimally load your van so that it handles correctly?
No? Well, book yourself and your partner in for a towing education course and get yourself learned. Trust us, even if you’ve been towing since you were too young to reach the pedals, you’ll still come out of the other end a much better driver overall. It’s money well-spent.
Tow-Ed and Great Divide Tours are two companies that offer towing courses that are taught by instructors who have been there, done that and got the fridge magnet.
If you’re travelling in only one vehicle and are not mechanically inclined, it may also be worth asking your friendly local mechanic to show you how to change your own air and fuel filters, clean out a catch can, change globes, swap out a belt and how to swap over your spare tyre. Just in case. Now go and enjoy your trip.
