Hi All,
I decided I wanted a cheap camping vehicle that could go most places, be reliable but still be family friendly, so what to buy?
Having spent far too much money on other car projects in the past, I set a budget of under $10,000- which didn't give me as much choice as I had hoped. Ebay turned out to be a winner. I found a 1998 petrol Jackaroo with 175,000km, all service records, two owners since new, both mums with kids so as far as I could tell no offroad. Nice interior and tidy enough outside.
It was being sold unregistered due to an unwillingness on the part of the seller to do a rwc which perplexed me given the minor amount of apparent work needed, but at the risk of finding something disasterous I bit the bullet and bought it for $5200. Got it home, called a mobile rwc guy, who passed it straight away without a single repair.![Posted Image]()
So far so good.
Quick trip to rego then did a transmission service, changed all the fluids, changed the front brake rotors and pads. Bought a set of new shocks and 2 inch raised Dobinson springs from Suspension Stuff in Brisbane and wound up the torsion bars at the front. Found a brand new set of Nissan Navara rims and 265/70 Bridgestones on ebay for $800 the set, bargain! Found an old heavy duty truck style bullbar on ebay for $85, which made the car look like a road train from mad max, so inspired by others I have seen on here I cut of the hoops with a grinder to reduce weight and give more clearance. Installed a Tigerz11 12000lb winch and good to go. Set of roof racks from RAK allowed me to fit a cargo pod I already had from a previous car and I added a rack for my OzTent and a heavy duty storage box for recovery gear.
I was just on my $10000 limit at that point, but to keep the kids happy I got a pair of cheap headrest dvd players, changed the stereo to an Alpine and bought a Garmin GPS which has pushed the total cost out to just under $12,000. Still, l am pretty happy with the result as there is nothing else to do and it will hopefully last for a while and go most places.
![Posted Image]()
I decided I wanted a cheap camping vehicle that could go most places, be reliable but still be family friendly, so what to buy?
Having spent far too much money on other car projects in the past, I set a budget of under $10,000- which didn't give me as much choice as I had hoped. Ebay turned out to be a winner. I found a 1998 petrol Jackaroo with 175,000km, all service records, two owners since new, both mums with kids so as far as I could tell no offroad. Nice interior and tidy enough outside.
It was being sold unregistered due to an unwillingness on the part of the seller to do a rwc which perplexed me given the minor amount of apparent work needed, but at the risk of finding something disasterous I bit the bullet and bought it for $5200. Got it home, called a mobile rwc guy, who passed it straight away without a single repair.
So far so good.Quick trip to rego then did a transmission service, changed all the fluids, changed the front brake rotors and pads. Bought a set of new shocks and 2 inch raised Dobinson springs from Suspension Stuff in Brisbane and wound up the torsion bars at the front. Found a brand new set of Nissan Navara rims and 265/70 Bridgestones on ebay for $800 the set, bargain! Found an old heavy duty truck style bullbar on ebay for $85, which made the car look like a road train from mad max, so inspired by others I have seen on here I cut of the hoops with a grinder to reduce weight and give more clearance. Installed a Tigerz11 12000lb winch and good to go. Set of roof racks from RAK allowed me to fit a cargo pod I already had from a previous car and I added a rack for my OzTent and a heavy duty storage box for recovery gear.
I was just on my $10000 limit at that point, but to keep the kids happy I got a pair of cheap headrest dvd players, changed the stereo to an Alpine and bought a Garmin GPS which has pushed the total cost out to just under $12,000. Still, l am pretty happy with the result as there is nothing else to do and it will hopefully last for a while and go most places.
