My wife Dawn and myself brought a nissan pathfinder 2007 just 6 weeks ago and today we put a contract on a 24 foot Grandcruiser ritz so it is starting to happen very quickly as we are about to sell up everything and travel for as long as we are able.Dawn retires in 2 weeks but she has made me go till end of june [ hard woman] then i will have to dye my hair grey to make myself fit in but should be off in early august
Sandym54 said
11:36 AM May 9, 2010
Congratulations!!!!
By the way you don't have to dye your hair grey to become a grey nomad, I am only 55 and still a blonde grey nomad (bottle of course lol)
Sandy
Martin said
12:02 PM May 9, 2010
flasher wrote:
My wife Dawn and myself brought a nissan pathfinder 2007 just 6 weeks ago and today we put a contract on a 24 foot Grandcruiser ritz
hope you have sufficient cash for the Landcruiser you will find out quickly you will need for towing 24' van living in full time. There is no way a Pathfinder is going to cope with a 24' van and all your personal possessions as full timer. After travelling the first few hills loaded you will wake up to what a nightmare combination a Pathfinder and 24' van will be. While a Pathfinder may be rated to tow 3000kg realistic safe load is 2300kg. Other issue is lacking engine power and failure of pistons when engine is stressed, clutch if manual, disc rotors and towbars on Pathfinder. Maintainence costs on a Pathfinder towing a big 24' van are horrific. Perhaps reconsider size and weight of van to something more realistic to suit vehicle
-- Edited by Martin on Sunday 9th of May 2010 12:04:57 PM
ozjohn said
03:18 PM May 9, 2010
I don't wish to pour cold water on your plans, but I seriously doubt that a Pathfinder can leaglly tow a 24' van. Check the ATM on the vans compliance plate. That is the legal maximum load that van can weigh when loaded for travel. Including the water in the tank(s) at 1kg per litre. Then check Nissans handbook. The more you load in the vehicle the less you're allowed to tow and the more the tow weight the less the ball weight. Nissan have a very complicated system that would drive a Mathematician crazy trying to stay legal with a big van. You may have to consider updating the Pathy for another vehicle. Nissan also don't recommend the use of a WDH with their vehicles. Personally I'd want one with just about any van. Cheers, ozjohn.
Wombat 280 said
06:11 PM May 9, 2010
Congrats on your upcoming retirement plans . I like the other would check out the tow weight of the van . I drive a 2009 Pathy 2.4 D turbo and I to doubt it it's the right vehicle for a 24 footer.
If only hauling it short distances between campsite then maybe but in time I feel it will stuff it.
Maybe need to reassess if you really need a van that big
flasher said
08:46 PM May 9, 2010
thanks for the information re pathfinder and van but i hope it will do the job as i now am commited but i am going to do some mods to it as it will have a hayman reese towbar with wdb bars - air bags in the rear springs-steinbauer power comander which take the power from 126 kw to 154 kw and torque from 403nm to 484nm and a digital engine temp gauge that measures the temp of the engine not the water and we will not be doing big ks as we plan to travel just 200-300 ks then park for a couple of weeks then go again and we will not be traveling heavy so lets hope but am still open comments or hints or ideas--- thanks
gold dandelion said
09:17 PM May 9, 2010
hey mate, we just spent 3 years going around o.z. towed a coramal sillouette 451, equivalent to 23 foot extended, stuff on the roof rack, chockers actually, done the gibb river road, savannah way in the gulf, the telegraph track down the cape, {went through shotgun twice}, we weighed 4.2 tonnes fully loaded. This was all done in the old pathfinder, 2004 drop. it loved the sand, had water on the bonnet and it went where a couple of the big name 4wds could not go. have seen that myself, so if the new model is the same, go for it, if people have not had one they dont rally know.
cheers
Martin said
09:45 PM May 9, 2010
flasher wrote:
steinbauer power comander which take the power from 126 kw to 154 kw and torque from 403nm to 484nm
somebody is telling you some big whoppers. While you may increase the power to 154kW there is no way possible to increase the torque of that engine to 484Nm. Easy to increase the power, but torque to that increased amount would need new hardware.
The engine explodes as standard under stress and is seriously costly rebuild. Increasing the power will only make it go sooner rather then later. Read the 'Dog and Lemon Guide'. Was at Nissan dealer 2 months ago and had 7 vehicles in for engine rebuild. All been towing.
Sadly going to be an expensive heart ache commitment. Why can't you scale down the size of the van?
Pejay said
09:50 AM May 10, 2010
Hi Flasher & Dawn,
Congrats!! Hubby & I will be doing the same come the end of the year - just on a short sojourn at present and heading home tomorrow. One thing to keep in mind if I may, hold off retiring 'til July - the reason? Tax man!! By the time you add super etc etc to your annual income for this financial year, you will pay a mountain of tax. Wait 'til first or second week of July and it goes into next financial years tax and as you will not then be working you will have less tax or none to pay come June '11. This is why we are holding off 'til December, then look out for us.
Would be interested in your thoughts and how you came to your decision to sell up everything, as this too is what we plan to do.
ozjohn said
01:15 PM May 10, 2010
Flasher. You can do all the mods you want, but if the tow vehicle doen't comply with the Nissan specifications re: Tow weight, ball weight and what's placed in or on the vehicle you'll still be illegal. That maybe OK until something goes pear shape and then watch the cops and insurance campanies pounce. ozjohn.
GypsyWanderers said
08:21 AM May 14, 2010
My husband and i just bought a bus/motorhome and we will be starting our trip in 8 months time, with our 16 yr daughter and out little dog. Looking forward to this great site for lots of help on our way and mking lots of friends..
Sandym54 said
11:44 AM May 14, 2010
GypsyWanderers wrote:
My husband and i just bought a bus/motorhome and we will be starting our trip in 8 months time, with our 16 yr daughter and out little dog. Looking forward to this great site for lots of help on our way and mking lots of friends..
Hi gypsy Wanderers and welcome aboard!!
What kind of bus/motorhome did you purchase? Ours is a 1991 Toyota Coaster fitted out as a motorhome 2 years ago and she is an absolute joy to travel in, we are traveling with our little Aussie Terrier Roxy and loving every minute of it.
Sandy
-- Edited by Sandym54 on Friday 14th of May 2010 11:44:57 AM
GypsyWanderers said
06:16 PM Jun 10, 2010
Hi Sandy, we bought a 1972 Bedford bus 30 ft. It has everything we need but im going to update the curtains and re cover all the seats, just to freshen up things a bit. We plan on taking off in 6 months time so hope to catch up with you somewhere on the trip. Sandra
GypsyWanderers said
11:23 AM Jun 16, 2010
hi guys it is getting close to taking off looking forward to my last day at work and hit the road with my lovely wife and daughter cant wait only 170 days but who is counting lol
Terro said
09:04 AM Jun 17, 2010
GypsyWanderers wrote
Hi Sandy, we bought a 1972 Bedford bus 30 ft. It has everything we need but im going to update the curtains and re cover all the seats, just to freshen up things a bit. We plan on taking off in 6 months time so hope to catch up with you somewhere on the trip. Sandra -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice hijack of a very intersting thread. Would have been better to start your own thread as most others do. Maybe we should have a section on thread etiquette. Just my thoughts.
By the way you don't have to dye your hair grey to become a grey nomad, I am only 55 and still a blonde grey nomad (bottle of course lol)
Sandy
hope you have sufficient cash for the Landcruiser you will find out quickly you will need for towing 24' van living in full time. There is no way a Pathfinder is going to cope with a 24' van and all your personal possessions as full timer. After travelling the first few hills loaded you will wake up to what a nightmare combination a Pathfinder and 24' van will be. While a Pathfinder may be rated to tow 3000kg realistic safe load is 2300kg. Other issue is lacking engine power and failure of pistons when engine is stressed, clutch if manual, disc rotors and towbars on Pathfinder. Maintainence costs on a Pathfinder towing a big 24' van are horrific.
Perhaps reconsider size and weight of van to something more realistic to suit vehicle
-- Edited by Martin on Sunday 9th of May 2010 12:04:57 PM
Check the ATM on the vans compliance plate. That is the legal maximum load that van can weigh when loaded for travel. Including the water in the tank(s) at 1kg per litre.
Then check Nissans handbook. The more you load in the vehicle the less you're allowed to tow and the more the tow weight the less the ball weight.
Nissan have a very complicated system that would drive a Mathematician crazy trying to stay legal with a big van. You may have to consider updating the Pathy for another vehicle. Nissan also don't recommend the use of a WDH with their vehicles. Personally I'd want one with just about any van.
Cheers, ozjohn.
The engine explodes as standard under stress and is seriously costly rebuild. Increasing the power will only make it go sooner rather then later. Read the 'Dog and Lemon Guide'. Was at Nissan dealer 2 months ago and had 7 vehicles in for engine rebuild. All been towing.
Sadly going to be an expensive heart ache commitment. Why can't you scale down the size of the van?
Congrats!! Hubby & I will be doing the same come the end of the year - just on a short sojourn at present and heading home tomorrow. One thing to keep in mind if I may, hold off retiring 'til July - the reason? Tax man!! By the time you add super etc etc to your annual income for this financial year, you will pay a mountain of tax. Wait 'til first or second week of July and it goes into next financial years tax and as you will not then be working you will have less tax or none to pay come June '11. This is why we are holding off 'til December, then look out for us.
Would be interested in your thoughts and how you came to your decision to sell up everything, as this too is what we plan to do.
You can do all the mods you want, but if the tow vehicle doen't comply with the Nissan specifications re: Tow weight, ball weight and what's placed in or on the vehicle you'll still be illegal. That maybe OK until something goes pear shape and then watch the cops and insurance campanies pounce.
ozjohn.
What kind of bus/motorhome did you purchase?
Ours is a 1991 Toyota Coaster fitted out as a motorhome 2 years ago and she is an absolute joy to travel in, we are traveling with our little Aussie Terrier Roxy and loving every minute of it.
Sandy
-- Edited by Sandym54 on Friday 14th of May 2010 11:44:57 AM
Hi Sandy, we bought a 1972 Bedford bus 30 ft. It has everything we need but im going to update the curtains and re cover all the seats, just to freshen up things a bit. We plan on taking off in 6 months time so hope to catch up with you somewhere on the trip. Sandra
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice hijack of a very intersting thread. Would have been better to start your own thread as most others do. Maybe we should have a section on thread etiquette. Just my thoughts.
Terry