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TRANS-OZ ODYSSEY

When this F250 moves, the earth stops!

WORDS BY MIKE JACOBSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBB COX

Okay, we don't normally start a custom 4WD story by talking about a caravan. But Jay Gould bought his F-250 mainly because it was the best tow vehicle for his new Bushtracker. If you're not familiar with the name, it's the Rolls Royce of off-road 'vans. Built to tour the outback in style, with as many mod cons as you like. Like a Roller, though, Bushtrackers aren't light around 2500kg for Jay's 21-footer, without options. And his add-on list was as long as your arm. (This extraordinary RV will feature in a separate story in a couple of issues' time.) Hence the F-250.

Here's how it all started. New York-born, LA-raised Jay and his Australian partner, Jackie Fell, aren't your average 'grey nomads'. Jay spent much of the 1990s globetrotting on a 44ft sailboat. In early 2004, three years after selling the boat and settling down in Melbourne, he felt the urge to roam again. "The gypsy in me started getting itchy feet!" he said. So he hatched a plan to go touring all over this wide, brown land: Cape York, Tassie, and all points in between. Indefinitely. That meant buying a caravan not just big enough to live in, but capable of going off-road as well. The last point is what makes Australia so different from the USA, Jay explained: "In the States, all the national parks have asphalt roads through them. There's nothing like the Canning Stock Route or the Gibb River Road. That's why you see so many motorhomes over there. "But a lot of the Australian places we're planning to go to are on dirt roads with hundreds of kilometres of corrugations, or rough 4WD tracks. A motorhome couldn't get through in the dry, never mind if it's wet. We needed a full-size off-road caravan, and a 4WD big enough and strong enough to tow it anywhere."

Now when it comes to buying equipment, Jay has a simple philosophy: "I only accept the best, and if I can't afford the best then I save up until I can." Which is why he bought a Bushtracker. That decision put a broom through his list of potential tow cars. For starters, anything that wasn't rated to pull a braked trailer of more than 2500kg was out. But even the 3500kg-rated contenders weren't up to his minimum standards. Either too lightweight, too basic or too urban. Which left just one choice: the F-250 XLT. The big Effie had 684Nm of V8 turbo-diesel grunt more than enough to handle a fully loaded Bushtracker. On top of that, its tow rating was recently upped from 3500kg to 4500kg (another Ford best-kept secret!). Another plus with the SuperCab, which strangely has a slightly longer wheelbase than the Crew Cab, was its mammoth load space. Enough room for everything you'd ever need in a tourer even a washing machine! (see ‘Everything, Including the Twin-Tub’)

Jay's happy to admit that he's no 4WD expert. "My only previous 'fourby' was a CR-V," he said with a grin. But he's not afraid to ask others with first-hand experience for their opinions, either. That's how he came to buy the Bushtracker, which led to the F-250, which led to the various aftermarket equipment suppliers and fitters. "I'm a tradesman's dream come true!" he joked. "I tell them that I want the best and that money's no object!"

Few people would be prepared to invest the sort of time and money that Jay has in pursuit of his ideals. Like travelling 100-odd kilometres umpteen times from Melbourne to Warragul in south-eastern Victoria. That's where you'll find Steve's 4WD, which Jay entrusted to recommend and fit most of the aftermarket accessories, and Metal Form Industries, which built the spectacular service body. Or staying on the Sunshine Coast for two months after taking delivery of his caravan just to be near Bushtracker to make sure everything was working properly. At the time of writing, Jay said his F-250 had clocked up 11,000 mainly trouble-free kays with just a couple of minor glitches. One was a steering pull to the right, which apparently was caused by misalignment; the other was that the tie-rods ends had no grease in em (RHD F-250s are built in Brazil, by the way). The other's a micro-leak in the Rancho adjustable shocks' pneumatic system. It's barely noticeable during the day, but until the source is found they need a short burst from the compressor each morning.

The CDMA mobile phone car kit in the Effie, with another kit in the caravan, aren't fashion items. They're Jay's work tools that let him conduct his Income Priority Investment business (www.tgintl.com.au) while he travels the outback! It goes without saying that Jay didn't get where he is by doing things half-arsed. Ditto for the people he got to build his "ultimate camping 4WD". Take it as read that Metal Form Industries director Dallas Needham, Steve's 4WD boss Steve Hoskin, and Sean Scully at David Nutter Ford all have Jay's seal of approval. If you're keen to check out this awesome rig, there's no need to keep an eye out. You'd only miss it if you had both of ‘em shut!

EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE TWIN-TUB
The standout feature of this truck has to be the service body that replaces the original 'well' behind the cab. Custom designed and built to Jay's exacting requirements by Metal Form Industries in Warrigal, the steel-framed and aluminium-skinned body has lockable gull wing doors on either side, bed boxes fore and aft of the rear wheels, and is painted to match the cab. The passenger's side lower level holds a huge Waeco 110L fridge on a slide tray, food storage boxes and cooking equipment. The 12V microwave oven and Coleman Road Trip griller on a slide make food preparation a breeze! On the upper shelf are boxes for scuba diving, boating, cycling, fishing and camping gear, with two 32W solar panels on top. A 2kVA Honda generator sits in the bed box in front of the rear wheel, while two 4kg gas bottles for the griller are in the vented rear box.

On the drivers side, the upper shelf is storage for the drawbar and other components for the Bull Dog folding boat trailer on the back of the canopy, as well as a Dahon SpeedPro folding bicycle and more camping gear. On the lower level are an Abrolga satellite dish for the TV, a second Dahon bicycle, a 15hp Mercury outboard on a slide tray, and a 180L aluminium auxiliary fuel tank. The tank, which was manufactured by Warrington Industries and fitted by Metal Form Industries and Steve's 4WD, has a filter and cabin-activated pump to transfer fuel on the move. Being higher than the main tank, it has a cabin-activated solenoid to stop fuel siphoning after the pump has been turned off.
The front bed box holds one of two deep cycle batteries (the other's under the bonnet), and the rear box is for an outboard fuel tank.

As well as the boat trailer, the rear of the canopy has a second spare tyre mount, fillers and taps for two 90L water tanks one for drinking water and the other for cooking and showering an air hose connection, and two backing cameras. One gives a rearward view, and the other points down at the tow hitch! On top is a Stessl 12ft Edgetracker Lite tinny on a steel roof-rack also designed and built by Metal Form Industries. It goes up and down via a Rhino aluminium loader that Jay says is light enough for a child to operate. Naturally there's internal lighting on both sides, 240V courtesy of an inverter (see Other Stuff). The piece de resistance is the Samsung 4.5kg twin-tub washing machine. It's stored on its side over the driver's-side rear wheel, and Jay said it worked perfectly after lying there for some time since it was installed. "I'm glad I picked the twin-tub, because a single-tub uses too much water and I'm not sure that a single-tub would survive over rough roads," he said.

DOWN THE DRIVELINE
The 7.3L direct-injection turbo-diesel hardly needs an upgrade, with 175kW and 684Nm on tap. Ditto the four-speed auto. Jay had a factory snorkel fitted before delivery, though. ARB Air Lockers are fitted at both ends it's recovery time if those babies can't get this rig out of a sticky situation! Also unchanged at this stage is the suspension, except for Rancho 9000 nine-position shocks and Firestone airbags. Both have in-cab adjustment. Like the standard tyres, which we've always thought were a bit puny compared to the boots on other similar-sized fourbies. Now Jay's on the hunt for opinions from other F-250 owners and 4WD experts to see if there's something better around.

INSIDE RIDE
In the cockpit, a Rhino ceiling console houses the Piranha battery management system, GME 4400 UHF, auxiliary fuel tank gauge, and the airbag and shock controls and gauges. Elsewhere are an ARB turbo timer, SmartTire pressure and temperature sensors for the truck and 'van, Tekonsha Prodigy electronic brake control unit for the Bushtracker and a Garmin Street Pilot III. There's a GME 6500 hand-held UHF down on the centre console.
For sound, Jay went for an Alpine amplifier and front door speakers, with JBL rear door speakers fitted by Sound In Motion in Nambour, Queensland.

OTHER STUFF
Jay picked TJM's T15 steel front bar because its wrap-around design gave more protection than the others he'd seen. The Warn low-mount 15,000lb winch should be just strong enough to extract any Jimnys that need a helping hand! The recovery kit comprises Megastrap 6000kg and 11,000kg snatch straps and 9500kg tree protector, a Premier Off-Road 8000kg block, four 4.7-tonne shackles, and a Rugged portable shovel/saw/axe kit. A Piranha BBE150 Mk3 dual-battery system keeps the two Gaston 90A glass mat deep-cycle cells (one under the bonnet and the other in the service body) at full charge. Power for the 240V canopy lighting and backing cameras and a 240V power point in the console between the front seats comes from a Dick Smith 300W inverter. There isn't a lot of spare room under the F-250's snub-bonnet with a third battery squeezed in there, but it's enough for a Piranha hot water heat exchanger for the shower.

BRIEFLY…
Vehicle: 2004 F250 SuperCab XLT
Chassis: Ladder-frame
Engine: Standard 7.3L direct-injection intercooled turbo-diesel V8. 175kW and 684Nm
Gearbox: 4-speed automatic
4WD activation: Part-time (shift-on-the-fly, automatic-locking front hubs)
Suspension: Front rigid axles with leaf springs, swaybar and Rancho 9000 dampers; Rear rigid axles with leaf springs, Rancho 9000 dampers and Firestone airbags
Brakes: Front and Rear ventilated discs with ABS
Tyres & Wheels: 265/75 Goodyear Wranglers on 16x7in alloy rims