Canopy is a beaut
setup for living out of- 5inch suspension lift
- Falcon Engineering alloy canopy/toolbox
- TJM barwork
Lifting a ute with coils under the front and leaves under the
rear up a total of fi ve inches isn’t a particularly cheap job – not
if you want the vehicle actually drive properly and perform well
off-road. Jamie hasn’t cut any corners here, going to town with
all the right components. At its core, the suspension uses a set
of Dobinson 5inch coils in the front, with custom-built 300kg
constant-load leaf packs that the boys at L&S Suspension put
together. At both ends the ute’s running the Dobinson MRR
remote-reservoir shocks and there’s a full spread of Superior
Engineering gear at the point end too; Superfl ex arms, Panhard
rods and swaybar extensions. Lifting just about any rig that
high will cause some sort of unexpected problem – in the 79’s
case it’s the need for a tailshaft spacer as the front diff is now
physically far enough away from the output fl ange of the
transfer case that the splines don’t engage. Superior
Engineering came to the party with one of their spacers, which
solved the problem.
“My favourite part of the suspension is the custom leaf
packs,” explains Jamie. “They’re made longer than the usual
springs so the suspension geometry is kept spot-on. I love the
way L&S has set it up, the ute handles really well at faster
speeds, even when fully loaded and towing three tonnes. I’m
happy with it and won’t ever change anything, besides coil-
converting the rear end.”
No touring ute’s complete without some sort of slick canopy
setup, and in Jamie’s case it comes in the form of a neat
custom toolbox setup from the fellas at Falcon Engineering. On
the passenger side is a 40L Engel fridge on an MSA fridge slide- “the ute’s too high to get into the fridge otherwise,” Jamie
laughs – and there’s also a 20L stainless water tank under the
tray with a simple gravity-fed tap. Up the front, the ute wears a
TJM Outback steel winch bar with the usual assortment of
winch, lights and aerial. Tough, simple, practical.
TOURING MODS
- A A A Fabrications stainless snorkel
- Moonlight Fabrications airbox and intake piping
- 315/75R16 BF-Goodrich KM2 muddies
- Full gauges setup
One of the best things about owning a ute as popular as a VDJ
is that there are so many companies making incredibly
high-quality gear for em. Stainless snorkels and airboxes are
the big thing in diesel tuning these days, with common
knowledge being that the V8s perform so much better when
the restrictive factory air intakes are opened up to breathe.
Jamie’s running a 4inch stainless snorkel from A A A
Fabrications, which fl ows air down to the Moonlight
Fabrications airbox and intake piping. It’s a massive upgrade
from the factory stuff and coupled with the big exhaust it lets
the 4.5L turbo-diesel V8 absolutely hammer.
Like a lot of the blokes up in Darwin, Jamie’s running a set of
BF-Goodrich KM2 muddies on his ute. He says he’s stoked with
how they’re performing, and has no plans on changing the
setup except for the possibility of adding a set of black Walker
Evans Racing beadlocked rims in the future. Inside, the ute
benefi ts from a huge range of gauges and dials so Jamie can
keep a close eye on what’s happening under the bonnet. Aside
from the usual EGT and boost gauges, there’s a turbo timer,
I-drive throttle controller and a ScanGauge II.TOUGH GEAR
“IT HANDLES REALLY
WELL, EVEN FULLY
LOADED AND TOWING
THREE TONNES”
79 SERIES TOW RIG TOURERREAL 4WD