Why do posters here continually use the ABC website to post opinion news articles.

The link in this has miss information pertaining to Toyota Landcruiser towing upgrade from Lovell to 4.2T.

Gundog wrote:

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Why do posters here continually use the ABC website to post opinion news articles.

The link in this has miss information pertaining to Toyota Landcruiser towing upgrade from Lovell to 4.2T.

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  miss information ?

Gundog wrote:

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The link in this has miss information pertaining to Toyota Landcruiser towing upgrade from Lovell to 4.2T.

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 What is the misinformation?  

https://fulcrumsuspensions.com.au/4200kg-lovells-gvm-upgrade-kit-to-suit-toyota-landcruiser-79-series-single-cab-01-17-on-dual-cab-0-9972-toykit080-gvm-ind-162903.html

vince56 wrote:

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Couldn't agree more, all this sounds good and exciting at the moment but give it a year or two and reality will bite I would think. Selling up is probably one of the worst financial decisions a family can make, in a lot of cases it destroys their financial future. Gutsy move, good on 'em but I fear for their long term situation.

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 I'll sit on the fence with that.

Although inclined to agree that it is bettter to retain the security of a family home I also think that far too many people spend their lives being overly safe, & fail to live the life they really want to. Dreams get placed on hold, eventually becoming regrets. 

My wife & I seem to have managed to do both. Live our dreams & retain some modest security.  In our mid 20's we left the UK with our then 18 month old son, selling up everything to make a move to somewhere we had never been. It was a gamble we took knowing there would be no turning back, but with a mindset to make it work.

After 10 years or so in Australia we left the city to live in the bush knowing we could never afford to move back to the city. Another bridge burning decision we have never regretted.

At age 40 I 'retired' to become a hobby farmer & provider of the lifestyle we loved, whilst my wife continued to work fulltime to provide for what we could not produce ourselves. It was a huge decision with no going back & one that neither of us ever once regretted. We became debt free within a couple of years & have remained so ever since. 

At 59 my wife retired & we left our loved property in the bush, bought a small house, on a couple of acres, in relative suburbia, where most folk live on 5 or 10 acres.  Our plan was to travel indefinitely, but with the security of a house to return to when we need to. 

So yes we did sell up & arrive in Australia with very little (in '87) & yes we have been able to prioritise our dreams & live the life that we wanted, & sometimes we have worried that mainstream society with all it's financial needs & worries was right & that we had got it wrong. 

However now in our mid 60's, on the road for the past five years, never collected a cent from the government, we are still living our life as we want to live it.

I know it's not the same as that younger couple in the article, but the similarities I see is folk following their dreams, with a mindset to make it work, & that this will take them on a different, as yet unknown path, & I see no reason why in 20 years time they wont have found another place to be & that their self confidence built from a belief that 'it will work out' will make this possible. 

Certainly not everyone can pull this off, but we have been told so many times in our life "I envy what you are doing but I couldn't do it" & think to ourselves occasionally "Yes you could" but mostly, sadly agree that many couldn't. 

Primarily what I think is needed which so many 'regretters' lack is the courage to go against the grain of accepted practice, a belief that it can be done, & the understanding that 'enough is enough' ie. not subscribing to the view that we always need more. 

All that said I wouldn't dream of telling anyone else how to live their lives, there are many ways to be happy. If I have one regret it is that we didn't do what we have done at earlier stages in our lives, but the reality is that before we could opt out of the rat race we needed the rat race to give us the secure standing which enabled us to become debt free by the time we were in our early 40's. We were never employed at the higher end of the salary scales, but as nurses we did have the relative luxury of secure jobs.  The price we have paid to us seems small - insomuch as we don't have a luxury house, or latest of everything, the value is in having the life that we wanted. 

 

-- Edited by Cuppa on Monday 13th of June 2022 11:28:35 AM

As long was their caravan and tug are not overweight I'm happy for them.

 

I do however wonder if their children will get the equivalent education as a state school.

The one thing that I noticed in that article was that they had set their rig up for lots of off-grid camping & the photos show them camped on a concrete slab with a power outlet in a Big4 type CP with a jumping pillow.

We did this when we were in our early 20's, I took leave without pay, and never really looked back. I had a block of land at Lennox Head , overlooking the sea, and paid it off in 3 yrs, and had that as our nest egg. It was the best thing we ever did, was to travel. Met many a grey nomad, whom said, they wished they had done it whilst they were young like us. We had all our life ahead of us after the trip, and the trip grounded us. So prior to the trip, I was deciding to leave the army after 7 years, but instead came back and knuckled down with the intent to retire early which is what we did when we were 40-41 yo. And life has been a mix of bliss and pain ever since. We are so glad that we retired then. We are nearing our mid 60's now, maybe 10 years left in my case, and would not have been happy to be retiring this late in life, trying to squeeze everything in with not much time left. So I think doing it when relatively young is the better idea. They will go back to work, with a totally different idea then what they had before they started, and it will be the better for them.

Are We Lost wrote:

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Back to that 4200kg link and the comments "4200kg is not possible".

It is not referring to the towed capacity. It is an upgrade to the Landcruiser GVM to 4200kg. Presumably the main benefit is to increase the rear axle limit enabling a far more reasonable payload. There is no mention that GCM of 6850kg would be raised.

It still does not mean the LC can safely tow 3500kg because the van would be heavier than the car to fit within GCM. But it would come close, and certainly improve the towing capability.

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 Some good points here, Stephen, but my comment referred to the 4200kg GVM upgrade, which costs many thousands of dollars. NEVER can 4200kg be reached if the car is towing a heavy van (PIG trailer) assuming 10% towball weight. That upgrade is great if the car is built as a tourer and can it be LOADED up, but again the rear axle is the problem if you're towing. No amount of ducking and weaving can get around that if all other weights are to be legal. Cheers

Almost five decades ago I had relatives who bought a caravan and travelled around Australia. They didn't sell the home but it was a very small caravan. I saw the caravan and wondered how they did it with four kids.

Are We Lost wrote:

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Yobarr, we are in agreement with the standard LC200 limitations. The standard rear axle load limit of 1950kg with around 600kg or so payload is the main factor that limits its towing capacity. But from my view this upgrade changes the situation substantially ... ignoring the comfort reduction.

You said " NEVER can 4200kg be reached"? It doesn't need to. There is no mention of the new rear axle load rating but I would expect most of that GVM increase would be to beef up that rating from its low 1950kg. That solves the main LC200 towing limitation.

Also, I had not noticed on the link that the GCM also gets increased by almost 1000kg to 7800kg. So depending on the actual specs of the upgrade, it may be able to safely tow 3500kg.

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 You obviously understand how this all works, Stephen. Don't have figures on me at moment, but from memory, with the 4200kg GVM upgrade maximum tow capacity still is 3500kg for GCM of 7700kg ON PAPER. The chances of ever ,reaching anywhere NEAR that when towing a PIG trailer are less than zero. With the 4000kg Braked Towing Capacity upgrade the GVM remains at 3800kg to give an apparent GCM of 7800kg, but once again the chances of getting within cooee of that are below zero when a PIG trailer is involved. Rear axle capacity increases to a miserable 2145kg, from memory, still 155kg below the STANDARD 79 series rear axle rating. These limitations are unfortunately not understood by the vast majority of people who fork out BIG money on upgrades. Cheers

Cuppa wrote

Although inclined to agree that it is bettter to retain the security of a family home I also think that far too many people spend their lives being overly safe, & fail to live the life they really want to. Dreams get placed on hold, eventually becoming regrets. 

My wife & I seem to have managed to do both. Live our dreams & retain some modest security.  In our mid 20's we left the UK with our then 18 month old son, selling up everything to make a move to somewhere we had never been. It was a gamble we took knowing there would be no turning back, but with a mindset to make it work.

 

Great post and and a few similarities to what my wife and I did. 

Im sure the family wont have any regrets.

Hardly news, I remember running in to several families doing just the same with young families home schooling 35yrs ago?
Good for them, go for it
Ian

shakey55 wrote:

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Gundog wrote:

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Why do posters here continually use the ABC website to post opinion news articles.

The link in this has miss information pertaining to Toyota Landcruiser towing upgrade from Lovell to 4.2T.

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 I will not read anything produced by the ABC

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 Then there's no need to comment. 

Do what you have got to do in life.
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