Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i NZ4WD

Sam Merrin and Yael Pook entered the Shore (Auckland) 4Wheelers’ club’s recent Beginners’ Winch Challenge in Woodhill Forest in good faith using Sam’s tidy, late-model Ford Ranger ute. No one said it was going to be easy and – for the record – Sam and Yale placed a respectable 13th overall. This Ashley Lucas pic captures – believe it or not – one of the easier sections the lads winched through. For the story of the event plus some pics showing just how hard some of the others sections were, head to Ashley’s coverage which starts on page 8.…

Holden’s popular Colorado Z71 ute will receive a suite of new features – at no extra cost - when the updated 2020 model arrives in dealerships around the country in November. New additions to the Colorado Z71 include wheel-arch fender flares, a new black grille, underbody protection, DuraGuard Spray-on tub liner and a soft-drop tailgate. The extras add to the overall appeal of the Z71, and build on other exclusive features including 18-inch alloy wheels, leather interior and heated front seats. The new Colorado Z71 – as with all new vehicles sold at authorised Holden dealers around the country – comes complete with a three-year free scheduled servicing plan, together with three-year free roadside assistance and three-year free warranty.”…

Redarc has released a range of model-specific mounting brackets for its BCDC in-vehicle charger range to suit Toyota’s popular Land Cruiser 200, 70 Prado and Hilux models. The Redarc BCDCMB-001 mounting bracket provides simple installation of the BCDC into the engine bay of a Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series (11/2008 – onwards). The 304 stainless steel bracket allows installation into the front of the vehicle allowing for cooler airflow, ensuring optimal performance and has been designed to fit existing mounting points in the vehicle. It comes complete with instructions and fasteners to complete the installation process. The other Toyota mounting brackets are the Redarc BCDCMB-002 for the Toyota 70 series Land Cruiser built from March 2007 onwards, the Redarc BCDCMB-003 for Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 models built from October…

Look, as a fan for as long as I can remember, of what these days is officially called the (let’s see now) Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, but which most of us still think of simply as ‘the Aussie V8s’ I can understand the dilemma Holden faced when they were forced to phase out local design and assembly of the iconic Commodore. Ford? Not so much, because though the company also lost its key, signature ‘Aussiemade’ Falcon model in the huge global shuffle which effectively turned their market upside down and inside out, the Blue Oval had already plotted an escape route with its plan to – for the first time in the model’s 50+ year history – produce its iconic Mustang in RHD. Given how important the Virgin Aust… (pah!)…

After spending months planning a weekend getaway for the (not so) Official Cashmere 4WD Club and after countless emails of organization and coordination, our best efforts for an August getaway were foiled by snow. Way too much snow! Yes, it was winter, so perhaps we could have seen this coming. But it’s New Zealand, so there also could have been any of the other three seasons of weather in August, including the perfect sunny weekend we had all been hoping for.  So, as most Cantabrians, including some of our 4WD crew (traitors!) gleefully headed west for some skiing, the committed members of the club headed south to Geraldine for the weekend.  Saturday’s plan was a drive up the Rangitata River and branch off to the Havelock River with the ultimate…

Boss Air Suspension Airbags are designed to assist your factory suspension. They can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the air pressure. With the base kit you manually fill the bags from valves with your own compressor, the local service station, or as we have heard a few times a standing bicycle hand pump. The most common place these valves are installed is at the rear next to the tow ball When installed, Boss Air Suspension kits allow you to raise the vehicle back to standard ride height using air pressure to compensate for any added weight. This helps to keep the vehicle level while towing or carrying that half metre of builders’ mix and prevents rear sagging, bottoming out, and excessive pressure on your vehicle’s tyres. Airbags work best…

The Rhino-Rack Backbone for the new JL Jeep Wrangler is an interior structure which is fitted to the inside of the vehicles hard top. This integrates with three pairs of custom mount plates on the outside of the Jeep’s factory hard top. The connected system enables the once fragile plastic top to carry a max load rating of up to 120kg, more befitting, certainly, of an offroader of this calibre. What’s more the hard top need not be removed to undertake the fit. And once fitted the hardtop can then be simply removed when not needed. The backbone base system can be applied with a choice of leg types and then be applied with cross bars or for the ultimate in load carrying be fitted with the Rhino-Rack Pioneer Platform.…

ARB roof racks are built to support the full rated load capacity of a vehicle with the mounting system and structural integrity of the rack being designed to withstand the most demanding of conditions. The company’s racks are available in a variety of lengths and widths for vehicles with or without gutters, so you can choose the appropriate size to suit your requirements. Both steel and aluminium roof racks are available, and along with fitting a roof rack to your vehicle, you can also select from a number of optional extras to tailor it more specifically to your load carrying needs. A good example is the new Flat Rack range (pictured). As an evolution of ARB’s extensive range of steel and alloy roof racks, ARB Flat Racks offer an expanded…

Our trip started at Lake Wairarapa taking in the swans just offshore over a quiet coffee. We then met up with Ashley and Gillian, and their friend Dave in a Land Rover Freelander, with a plan to take White Rock Rd from just out of Martinborough and visit every possible side road on the way to first White Rock and then the Tora coast. The first detour was to follow the unsealed Range Rd along the ridge line among a small wind farm and down to a T-intersection in a very pleasant and scenic valley in the upper reaches of the Makara River, one of the tributaries that eventually becomes the main Ruamahanga River. With the map showing that the road along the valley only ran a few hundred metres…

Who needs rear brakes? Nick Hall obviously didn’t as he completed the final race at the final round of this year’s ORANZ championships at Crownthorpe in the Hawke’s Bay in his Chev-engined Toyota Hilux without any (rear brakes). Second overall in the championship – just the one point behind – was Tauranga’s Dyson Delahunty, with Waikato racer Neil Hook third, incredibly just another single, measly, point back, making it the closest 1-2-3 margin in the history of the championship. The championship was fought out over two days on a massive farm course near Hastings in Hawke’s Bay. On Saturday the 49 championship entries contested four in-class heats, then on the following day the survivors lined up for a 240 km endurance race that would decide the title. Tough competition Hall…

It’s December already and that means Christmas is only a few days away and everyone will be closing up shop and heading away on that great extended Kiwi holiday break. Many of you as four-wheel-drive owners will be joining the masses on our roads heading to some of your favourite destinations or for new adventures and thus playing dodgems with many of those impatient idiots that we get to share the roads with at this time of the year. Of course with so many on the roads the chances of an accident naturally increases and those elected into positions in government think that the answer to reducing our road toll is by reducing the speed limits. The police along with local authorities seem to be in favour of reduced speed…

Father verses daughter, daughter verses boyfriend was how it was going to be at the Shore 4 Wheelers’ Beginners’ Winch Challenge held in Auckland’s Woodhill Forest in early October. It was all that was talked about around the family dinner table, especially when the boyfriend was dining with the Williams family as well. Graeme Williams, you see, was entered as winch man for his 17-year-old daughter Rebekah’s boyfriend, Jack Haslam. Rebekah, wasn’t about to be left on the sideline, however, and joined up with family friend and fellow four-wheeler Betty Holdaway in Betty’s Land Rover Discovery. The banter was strong and filled with confidence but experience was definitely on the side of the boys who entered in the ‘parts vehicle,’ a V8 LR Discovery purchased for $500. On the other…

Narva’s new Generation II Performance LED Globe Conversion Kits make it easier for owners of passenger cars, commercial vehicles, four-wheel-drives, and even motorcycles, to reap the benefits of LED globes. Available in 12V/24V and in a wide range of globe types, the Generation II Performance Conversion Globe Kits project a crisp white light (5700deg.K) that provides impressive penetration down the road, and also delivers an extremely favourable colour rendering index, resulting in optimum depth perception for increased safety. Output from the globes is up to 80 percent greater than more traditional headlamp arrangements, and they also deliver up to 20 percent more light output than Narva’s Ultima LED Performance Globes. Durability is another selling point. An external driver and adjustable heatsink provide superior cooling allowing the bulbs to run at…

When you grow up in a typical rural service town in this country it’s just assumed that when the time comes when you need to tow something you will – as if by magic, or more likely, osmosis – ‘know how.’ Not for me, born and raised the son of a sheep farmer near Gore, the modern way as espoused by my Auckland-born son Andrew, whose answer to everything these days seems to be an impatient and/or exasperated ‘just Google it’ or ‘just look on You Tube’ Dad! No, the first time I had to tow a trailer I had to work everything out for myself. I can remember the day, too, as if it was yesterday... from the borrowing of an old high-riding, leaf-sprung axle wooden jobbie from a…

Ironman4x4 has a large range of accessories to make carrying that load in the back of your 4wd station wagon or utility easier and safer. Products include deck liners, ute boxes, rear sliding draws, canopies and a range of deck mounted tool boxes. Deck liners Deck liners are available for late model double cabs including Hiluxes, Navaras, Ford Rangers, Mazda BT-50s, Mitsubishi Tritons, Holden Colarados and Isuzu’s D-Max. The liners are produced from three mm thick extruded polyethylene which is UV stable and gives high impact resistance, as well as protection from most common chemicals including oil, petrol, paint and battery acid. The liners are compatible with canopies and come standard with chrome tie down points and require no drilling to fit. Ute boxes To offer a secure and watertight…

Featuring a sleek, modern design, high quality components and the ability to create a fully customised system tailored to your requirements, the Outback Solutions range from ARB is the answer to all of your storage needs. As a complete modular system, the range can be individually selected and customised to your needs and vehicle, while reducing redundant areas and providing increased storage space. Sold exclusively by ARB and suitable for many vehicles including wagons, utes, buses and trailers, this system can be just as easily applied to non-vehicle applications such as down in the back shed. Three types of modules are available, and these modules (a roller drawer, a roller drawer with roller floor and a roller floor) come in a range of sizes which can be mixed and matched…

Auckland-based ute and 4WD load-carrying specialist Airplex has got you covered when it comes to innovative storage and luggage/load support systems. Airplex ute drawers Keep your goods and tools secure, for instance, with Airplex’s lockable drawer systems. The company has a range of drawer systems to suit your needs. They are universal so can be fitted to your ute, van or 4x4. All you have to do is check the listing on the company’s website (www.airplex.co.nz) for product sizes to see which fits best for your vehicle. Basic options to choose from are a standard two-drawer system with a fixed top, a two-drawer with left hand side top slide-out, and also the newly released two-drawer with both left and right hand side tops that slide out.   Airplex load carrying…

A road trip back in October from Melbourne to Adelaide in Australia, via their ‘Great Ocean Road’ around the southern coast, was in interesting journey. Fortunately, my wife and I did not go across to Australia to improve our suntans, as that south facing coast and a week of southerly winds managed to keep temperatures quite low. Probably a bit of a shock too for the occupants of the many four-wheel-drive rigs towing all sorts of camping trailers and caravans. There are some rather impressive camping rigs on wheels! With the seasonal temperatures climbing in northern and central Australia, a fair proportion of those travellers had seemingly moved south in anticipation of cooler weather, maybe it was a bit fresher than expected! Our Toyota Corolla rental car was as comfortable…

The final round of this year’s Superwinch Mainland Challenge also carried NZ1 status for the year. The 4x4 Events Club were the hosts and had the local Lions Club on board helping out. They were running the usual three classes (Open, Outlaw, Clubman) plus an extra class called Invitational the latter allowing Club trucks to enter that were running 35-inch tyres and no WoF or Rego. There were stages on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday followed by prize-giving at a lodge in Methven. It was a long weekend for those travelling from afar, with only one team from Wellington, 18-year-old Michael Duncan and co-driver Tom Goodman. This pair don’t travel lightly either, they always have their support crew with them in the form of Michael’s younger brother, 12-year-old Fraser whose…

December winner – Jay Sanders A trip north-west to Thompson’s Flat has earned keen Christchurch-based 4WDer Jay Sanders this month’s Your4s photo spot. “After a long spell not tackling the ‘flat the CR4WD Club had a great weekend away,” he told us. “As we headed in we crossed the ford with was flowing the highest I have seen in the last six+ years, then made our way through a challenging section before arriving at the hut. Here are a few pics from the weekend, hope you enjoy them.”…

Land Rover has updated its Discovery Sport with a completely new infotainment interface and latest connectivity, plus a more flexible seating arrangement.  A subtle redesign sees new LED headlights at the front and (taillights) at the rear, along with an updated front grille and bumpers while inside, there is a new digital Touch Pro infotainment system plus new seats across each of the three rows. The updated model is built on Land Rover’s latest Premium Transverse Architecture (PTA), and is one of the first of the Land Rover range to use Real Driving Emissions stage 2 (RDE2) certified engines. It is also available with both ClearSight Interior Rear View Mirror, and ClearSight Ground View technology which uses cameras front and back to offer enhanced visibility from the driver’s seat. Wireless…

Cunning ‘Euro Truck’ Hack 4x4 Explorer’s Richard Soult followed fellow Overlander Aaron Rich’s lead in building a Mitsubishi Shogun/Pajero for his route plotting European sojourn over out winter. We arrived in the UK at the beginning of June and had given ourselves a month to buy and prepare a truck for our European Route logging expedition. Despite having spent many of my formative years in the UK, I had forgotten a few things, like how lousy the weather is and how crowded the place is. Quite honestly, people in Auckland don’t know that they are born when they complain about traffic. Here in the UK, the roads are busy all the time and I’m writing this in the Cambridgshire countryside far from London. We drive a 1997 Toyota Prado in…

One of the great things that I love about Overlanding is the great people that you meet and the great places we visit. About two days into our trip from Chamonix to Nice via the French and Italian Alps, we had an amazing end to the day. We had been in Italy for a day and were in the area of Sestriere, home to the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. Andrea, my partner, is always checking on various websites for things to do in the places that we visit. It had been quite a long hot day and we had one last Col (Saddle) to get over before camping at an old military fort. As we climbed up through a ski field, Andrea told me that she had found a bar…

One of the really great things about locally-developed suspension kits like the Lift Junkie ones from suspension and driveline specialist Autolign is that you are NOT buying a ‘one-size-fits-all’ compromise engineered for completely different roads, vehicle and customers. That’s right. The basic kit specs were developed right here in New Zealand, to suit specific models sold here and the unique work ‘n play use patterns Kiwis are famous for. While the initial ‘selling point’ for most local ute owners is the lift of around 50mm over standard (hence the name ‘Lift Junkies,’ the unique mix of springs, shock absorbers and bushes which go into each kit, offers all sorts of other advantages, from more room under the wheel arches for bigger wheels and tyres to improved road-holding and handling, better…

Rhino-Rack has long been a bit of a ‘pioneer’ in the hard-core rooftop load carrying business over the years. To be exact, it’s now over 25 years since the very first glass-reinforced nylon legs emerged on the scene, replacing what were until then heavy and often fragile steel legs which were the norm at the time. Over the ensuing years it has been refinement upon refinement with Rhino-Rack legs and fittings becoming smarter and smarter. These days Rhino-Rack have – and continue to develop – roof rack kits that will cover near any vehicle on the road. While they have always been around it is more so in recent years that we have seen the huge popularity of utility vehicles in both New Zealand and Australia, and these alongside many…

With four canopy designs in its range, ARB has just about every ute on the market covered (pardon the pun). There are high and low roof versions of the Classic canopy (with textured or smooth finish), there’s the Classic Plus canopy and the top-of-the-range Ascent canopy. Classic Textured Classic canopies can be supplied in a raw finish (which is white) or they can be colour coded to match the vehicle to which they’re being fitted for a more integrated appearance. All smooth-finish canopies are supplied with a colour-coded UV-rated painted finish. The Classic canopy features a weatherproof design and an easy-to-clean smooth interior that’s made of an inert material to ensure there are no odours. A lift-up front window provides access to the vehicle’s rear window for easy cleaning and…

When you last heard from me (in the October edition), we were in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, having entered that country through a tiny, remote border checkpoint in the north east and circumnavigated a portion of the Gobi Desert. The GPS track map provided shows that since then we’ve exited Mongolia via a long route across the north west, transited through a beautiful part of Russia, travelled the length of Kazakhstan and travelled extensively through stunning high-altitude Kyrgyzstan. This article was submitted from Kyrgyzstan’s second largest city, Osh, home to Central Asia’s biggest bazaar and where we paused to catch up on a few things... and explore this interesting city! Highlights and challenges It’s been pure adventure all the way; sometimes highlights and other times challenges to overcome. Most of the…

If disgruntled means pissed-off, that’s me. As it’s a ‘dis’- word it’s opposite – happy – must be ‘gruntled’? I’ve been disgruntled for too long now about some aspects of the freedom camping (FC) rules. I’d like some Gratis Gruntling please! While I agree wholeheartedly with efforts to tidy the place up, get FCs out of residential areas and some public ones, current rules are removing my rights – and yours – to camp anywhere bar a commercial campground. Tighter rules, with the assistance of social media are driving FCs further into the hinterland that not long ago was clear of them. They mess those places, rubbishing formerly pristine spots and parking over accessways and remote tracks. I’m a Kiwi who’s been freedom camping for a long time, and doing…

One of the great things about the national championship final round this year was the strong turnout of young racers to contest the Kiwitruck classes. Over the past few years the category has pumped a solid stream of new talent into the sport – which is part of its mission. Fergus Crabb, Dyson Delahunty, the Carrington boys, the Storer sisters, Ollie McCall and many others have emerged from the ranks of J class and then M class Kiwitrucks and stepped up into the main championship. That surge shows no sign of dying off, with no less than nine Kiwitrucks gridding up at Hawke’s Bay during Labour weekend: six J class and no less than three of the quicker ‘gearbox’ M class trucks. I’ve referred to this group as offroad racing’s…

Our monthly feature showcases 4WDs doing just about anything except rolling over or burning! We will award a grand prize of a set of four Kumho 4x4 tyres in the NZ4WD Annual issue. This contest is open to all readers who are not professional photographers. IMPORTANT: Photographs must have been taken by the person entering them, or have the photographer’s written permission. Email your digital images and a detailed caption to: editor@NZ4WD.co.nz Send your prints and detailed captions to: Your4s with Kumho, PO Box 65-092, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 0754. Be sure to include your postal address! Submitting photos The basics: as with any photo, there’s no substitute for an image that’s sharp – in focus and free of camera shake. It should be well-exposed. Size and type The ideal submission…