After the damage i did to the GQ wagon on the cape york 2001 trip i started looking around for a GQ ute with an aftermarket turbo but the prices were up around $38,000 and GU utes were around the $46,000 mark and most of the utes had large mileage on them so when i saw the red GU in the yard i thought it looked great but would be very expensive as it only had 43,000 kms on it and was only two years old, had a Nissan steel winch bar,hella rallye 4000 driving/spot lightsand a gme 4200 UHF radio, i was very surprised to find it was only $39,000 so needless to say i rocked up next morning in the GQ to see how much they would give me for a very sorry looking wagon with 280,000 on it and still covered in cape york mud, i was even happier when the offered 2000 to 4000 dollars more than anyone else had offered but i did specify that i would put it back to a standard height and remove all the accessories, i did leave the body lift on and also left the side steps on to cover the badly dented sills but they were happy enough to do the deal and we arranged to swap cars the following monday.

My father was visiting us so he drove the GQ up for me and i followed in the work truck, i signed all the paperwork and dad drove the GU home for me while i went to work, talk about a long day, i could hardly wait to get my hands on the ute to start the modifications !!

That night i fitted the 35'' bfg mud terrains to it and serviced it and on the the next night i fitted the 7" wizard springs, rancho shocks, removed the swaybars and moved the brake lines to allow for the extra travel.

The rear brake bias lever was lifted with a wizard bracket to get the brakes to work properly.

The rancho 9012 rear shocks are too long for the springs so i made cones to locate the top of the springs and bolted the bottoms, i found it much better than the straps i had been using , Wizard now sells cones for those who want to use all the travel of longer shocks.

Saturday arrived and Brent at Wizard Performance fitted the caster plates for me and i was ready to do some 4 wheel driving but due to lack of money some other Wizard suspension bits would have to wait.

My first taste of 4 wheelin came on saturday night when i entered the "Midnight Madness" competition at Nerangba, talk about jumping in the deep end, this was my first competition and first drive offroad in the GU !!

We did fairly well considering we had to go around a couple of sections as the tray got badly hung up through steep gullys but we still came in 18th out of nearly 90 vehicles, looks like the competition bug has bitten !!

I modified the ends of the ARB GQ rear bar for extra clearance and fitted it to give me a towbar and help protect the fuel tank, it also has hi lift points and reversing fog lights cut into it.

It was not long before i decided to lift the tray 50mm and move it forward 50mm to stop the tyres hitting on the underside and increase the departure angle but that also meant i had to move the chassis mounts, exhaust mount and also grind back the round crossmember where it pokes through the chassis as the tyres then hit those bits, i cleared a bit more to allow for future 38" tyre fitment.

The fuel fillers had to be remounted as well and some rooflights were added to the rollbar/headboard, these were just some narva worklights, cheap spread beams and narva driving lights. I changed the globes to 55 watts to cut down on amperage as they dont have to shine very far and theres not much difference from the 100 watters.

The wiring is run through a solenoid to minimise power loss and is also the same type as the dual battery solenoid so they can be swapped if necesary and i also wired them to the high beam to make them legal.

Next i fitted the Wizard adjustable panhard rods and upper trailing arms as these were much stronger than originals and asked him if he would make me some adjustable lower trailing arms, these were not a stock item as he makes plain stronger ones normally but i wanted to be able to move the diff back to clear a cross brace on the tray so with this combination i could get everything lined up as well as get the pinion angles right.

He now makes these as well as the plain ones.

A set of JT beadlox rims off manny's yellow GQ swb found there way under the guards and with the 35 BFG's on it i tried it out on the Wizard 30 degree ramp, it drove 2010mm up the ramp forward and 2252mm up backwards, that equals an RTI of 676 and 758.

[measurement up ramp divided by wheelbase multiplied by 1000]

We entered a ramp competition on one of Kym Boltons nite runs and won it easily, also did fairly well in the "hard" nite run.

A TJM winch bar modified to take my high mount winch was next to go on and i wired it to switches on the dash and bullbar and hooked it up to dual overlander batteries under the bonnet.

The roller fairlead got damaged on a rock wall so i changed it to a hawser which is much better and changed the hook for a much larger locking one that will take both ends of a tree protector strap.

To get a bit more downwards travel from the front end i got wizard to fit a set of his radius arm drop brackets instead of the caster plates and these had the added bonus of improving the steering [ no wobbles at any time now] and it climbs ledges much better than before as well as keeping the standard nissan bushes which last longer than poly bushes.

 The bonnet is very hard to see over, especially for a shortarse like me so i lifted the drivers seat by 50mm which means i can see as close as most normal blokes now. The GPS on the dash does get in the way though.

With a simpson trip coming up i fitted the lifted long range tank from the GQ and a water tank as well as made up a rear tray roll bar and a roofrack, since that trip i have shortened the tray and modified the roofrack to suit.

Marks supplied the crawler gears for the transfer case and with the 4.625 diff ratios it gives me a respectable low range now and also suits the 35's on the highway.

A Wizard double chrome moly tie rod helps to keep me steering straight  on the way home.

I dug out the old Nissan winch bar and modified it to accept the high mount winch and with the extra holes in it for airflow it allows the truck to run cooler and with a small amount of grill cutting the winch now sits 150mm closer to the radiator which has improved the approach angle.

A problem encountered with the front rancho 9014 shocks on the [link to] cape york 2003 trip has been fixed by welding eyes on to the shocks and fitting eye to pin adaptors so i can still keep my rancho shocks with the in cab adjustment.

The corrugations seems to have shattered a LSD plate on the tightened rear diff so i have now fitted a rear airlocker and front airlocker so we should be a lot more capable, i was hopeing that CHRIS BRAME [my navigator/spotter] would get sick of moving rocks to get me through the competitions and buy me some lockers but he didn't seem to hear all those hints i dropped :>)

The modifications never seem to end as there is some more wizard stuff like "A" frame rear ends and "five link" front ends to get even better suspension travel, this whole thread may seem like an advert for Wizard performance products but the fact is it works well and i wouldn't use it if it didn't do the job.

At the moment i am modifying the side rail mounts to try and stop them from denting the sills so stay tuned for more news on the Big Red Truck.


Return to Big Red 4x4

© Copyright 2003 Big Red Racing, All Rights Reserved
http://www.bigred4x4.com