New member looking for 1st patrol

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JTEC
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by JTEC »

Welcome Nico, all the best on the shopping, Im sure Tinus will find you a lekka Trol :thumbup:
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by PatrolNewbie »

These are some photos of the 4.8 I’m looking at 👍🏼
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by ricster »

"With the part time 4x4, is this a case of flipping a switch inside the car for it to change over or is it old school where you have to get out the car and fiddle with wheels?

Both the GQ Y60 and GU Y61 models are good old "old school" stick shift. Only the new Y62 I think is electronic. On the GQ Y60 the front hubs are manual, so you have to get out and physically lock them. The GU Y61 has auto hubs as standard, unless someone has changed them over. I like my auto hubs, but some prefer the manual ones... different strokes i guess.

That one in the pic looks standard with auto hubs.

Regarding the stepping out, I really doubt you will ever unwillingly get it to step out. They are heavy vehicles (close to 3t) to start with and even though the 4.8 has more than enough power, you will have to punch it to really experience that. A slight lessening of the throttle will step it back in line super quickly.
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by Peter Connan »

In the pics you posted, I can see that somebody moved the rear hub caps to the front wheels, hiding the hubs.
It should, as Cedric mentioned, have auto locking hubs. These hubs do have a "manual override", IE you can (using the wheel spanner) lock the hubs manually, although you cannot un-lock them manually. The fact that this one's hub caps are swopped makes me believe it probably has the auto hubs, as one can't access the hubs to lock them now.

Each type of hub has pros and cons. I prefer the manual hubs on the older cars. Maybe it's what one was first exposed to.

The only advantage of the auto hub is that one can put the vehicle in 4wd without having to "fiddle with the wheels". The draw-backs are:
1) The auto hubs are weaker than the manuals.
2) With the hubs in auto, one can only shift into 4wd at relatively low speed (I think 30km/h or something like that). With manual hubs pre-locked (and with the auto hubs manually locked) one can shift into 4wd at any speed, as long as you aren't actually spinning wheels at the time)
3) with manual hubs, one can use low range to reverse/maneuver a trailer, even on a hard surface. This is not possible with auto hubs as one gets drivetrain wind-up.
4) Under tough off-road conditions, the auto hubs can sometimes unlock as you roll back on an obstacle, and then only partially re-lock, causing breakage.
5) With the auto hubs, when one disengages 4wd, you need to reverse a little bit to un-lock the hubs. This is not necessary with the manual hubs.

As for what an AA inspector actually inspects, I have absolutely no idea. Never used one.

The way to do it yourself:
The water must be blue or green. There must be no sign of rust in the radiator or it's expansion tank. If the water is brown from rust, walk away. As for the gearbox oil, if it has a dipstick, it's easy. Pull it out, look and smell the oil. It must be red, not black, and it must not smell burnt.

If it doesn't have a dipstick, then unfortunately one has to either un-screw the drain plug (carefully, so as to get just a couple of drops of oil), or release the hose between the gearbox and it's oil cooler and get a little bit of oil from there. Not sure if they will let you do that.
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by PatrolNewbie »

Peter Connan wrote: 04 May 2020 13:55 In the pics you posted, I can see that somebody moved the rear hub caps to the front wheels, hiding the hubs.
It should, as Cedric mentioned, have auto locking hubs. These hubs do have a "manual override", IE you can (using the wheel spanner) lock the hubs manually, although you cannot un-lock them manually. The fact that this one's hub caps are swopped makes me believe it probably has the auto hubs, as one can't access the hubs to lock them now.

Each type of hub has pros and cons. I prefer the manual hubs on the older cars. Maybe it's what one was first exposed to.

The only advantage of the auto hub is that one can put the vehicle in 4wd without having to "fiddle with the wheels". The draw-backs are:
1) The auto hubs are weaker than the manuals.
2) With the hubs in auto, one can only shift into 4wd at relatively low speed (I think 30km/h or something like that). With manual hubs pre-locked (and with the auto hubs manually locked) one can shift into 4wd at any speed, as long as you aren't actually spinning wheels at the time)
3) with manual hubs, one can use low range to reverse/maneuver a trailer, even on a hard surface. This is not possible with auto hubs as one gets drivetrain wind-up.
4) Under tough off-road conditions, the auto hubs can sometimes unlock as you roll back on an obstacle, and then only partially re-lock, causing breakage.
5) With the auto hubs, when one disengages 4wd, you need to reverse a little bit to un-lock the hubs. This is not necessary with the manual hubs.

As for what an AA inspector actually inspects, I have absolutely no idea. Never used one.

The way to do it yourself:
The water must be blue or green. There must be no sign of rust in the radiator or it's expansion tank. If the water is brown from rust, walk away. As for the gearbox oil, if it has a dipstick, it's easy. Pull it out, look and smell the oil. It must be red, not black, and it must not smell burnt.

If it doesn't have a dipstick, then unfortunately one has to either un-screw the drain plug (carefully, so as to get just a couple of drops of oil), or release the hose between the gearbox and it's oil cooler and get a little bit of oil from there. Not sure if they will let you do that.
Thanks Peter, thanks for clarifying the hub situation. I checked with current owner and he says it is the auto one.
I’m gonna try get down to do the test drive and get the check done this week and if all goes well be joining the Patrol owners club in a few days 🙏👍🏼
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by PatrolNewbie »

ricster wrote: 04 May 2020 13:02 "With the part time 4x4, is this a case of flipping a switch inside the car for it to change over or is it old school where you have to get out the car and fiddle with wheels?

Both the GQ Y60 and GU Y61 models are good old "old school" stick shift. Only the new Y62 I think is electronic. On the GQ Y60 the front hubs are manual, so you have to get out and physically lock them. The GU Y61 has auto hubs as standard, unless someone has changed them over. I like my auto hubs, but some prefer the manual ones... different strokes i guess.

That one in the pic looks standard with auto hubs.

Regarding the stepping out, I really doubt you will ever unwillingly get it to step out. They are heavy vehicles (close to 3t) to start with and even though the 4.8 has more than enough power, you will have to punch it to really experience that. A slight lessening of the throttle will step it back in line super quickly.
Hey Ricster thanks for the reply.
I’m definitely used to just automatically being able to get into 4WD mode so auto hubs are fine by me.
I’m glad the stepping out situation isn’t as serious as the review made it out to be. I did assume the sheer weighing the car would keep it from doing that in any case. I’m just wondering if the situation would change if I changed the tyres from the current road tyres to off-road bfg tyres. I just like the look and indestructible feel of having those on my car. Is it advisable to change the tyres from the standard road tyres or is the Patrol able to 4x4 in a standard set just as easily as it would on bfg all terrain?
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by Peter Connan »

Once again, that depends on the terrain.

In rocks and firm ground, road tires will probably give slightly better traction than BF's.
In mud and deep standing water they will be much worse (road tyres aquaplane more easily).
In sand, guys will argue until the cows come home. Road tires will not dig as quickly, thus you won't get stuck as quickly on level sand, but also they don't give as much traction when going up or down.

The big difference however has to do with how many tires you will be writing off due to sidewall damage...

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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by ricster »

I agree with Peter again, Its purely what you want.

What I have noticed on mine, was that emergency stopping a 3t beast quickly is not the easiest thing to achieve. I've had a few different brands of tyres on my Iron Maiden, and some are better than others. Some tyres have a harder compound, so might be less prone to chipping chunks of rubber off the treads and will give you many many km lifespan, and others are a little softer, and are more susceptible to damage. My personal opinion is that the damage taken on either compound tyre is minimal, but the softer compound helps greatly in that emergency stop time.

On mime I had a set of 285/75/16 Kumho KL71 muddies. Oh my goodness, those things stick like ____ to a blanket in wet and dry conditions, and gave me about 75 000 km, were very noisy, but if you wanted to stop.... you stopped.Also only one slow puncture from a nail. I also had a set of Maxi Bighorn muddies on. They were quieter, but a harder compound, and harder sidewall, and gave good mileage. I then had a set of 50% used Kumho A/T for a while, that I bought from a fellow forum member as the funds were quite tight at that stage. These were great on road, but off road they were not what a 3t vehicle needs. I did get a side wall puncture from a thorn, as well as various other punctures, but they served their purpose. I recently bought a set of Kuhmo MT51 muddies for a pretty good price compared to many other known brand names, and have had them on since "Black Friday" last year. I have done a trip down to Cape Town, first on the highway from Jhb to Bloemfontein, then on sand roads from Bloemfontein to Citrusdal and then highway to Stellenbosch, as well as a rather difficult trail with some serious rock grade 5 type obstacles, and they still look perfect. The roadholding is possibly the best I have ever felt, stopping in the wet is exactly how I want it to perform, and road noise is surprisingly quiet for a muddy. Yes I have only done 10 000km on them, but this is the tyre for me. When I bought my Patrol it had Dueller A/T's on.... I am not even going to waste my time typing about them...

These are my opinions and others will differ, as each person will have a tyre for what they want and need, but I have always said that I want safety first. If I don't get the 100 000 km mileage lifespan out of a tyre, then I want to know I will be able to stop .... quickly
Regards
Cedric
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Nissan SANI 3.0 V6 4x4 (SOLD)
Isuzu KB 280 DT 2x4 ('ol Smokey) - SOLD
Suzuki TL 1000R "V twin" (Growler) - SOLD
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by PatrolNewbie »

ricster wrote: 05 May 2020 08:38 I agree with Peter again, Its purely what you want.

What I have noticed on mine, was that emergency stopping a 3t beast quickly is not the easiest thing to achieve. I've had a few different brands of tyres on my Iron Maiden, and some are better than others. Some tyres have a harder compound, so might be less prone to chipping chunks of rubber off the treads and will give you many many km lifespan, and others are a little softer, and are more susceptible to damage. My personal opinion is that the damage taken on either compound tyre is minimal, but the softer compound helps greatly in that emergency stop time.

On mime I had a set of 285/75/16 Kumho KL71 muddies. Oh my goodness, those things stick like ____ to a blanket in wet and dry conditions, and gave me about 75 000 km, were very noisy, but if you wanted to stop.... you stopped.Also only one slow puncture from a nail. I also had a set of Maxi Bighorn muddies on. They were quieter, but a harder compound, and harder sidewall, and gave good mileage. I then had a set of 50% used Kumho A/T for a while, that I bought from a fellow forum member as the funds were quite tight at that stage. These were great on road, but off road they were not what a 3t vehicle needs. I did get a side wall puncture from a thorn, as well as various other punctures, but they served their purpose. I recently bought a set of Kuhmo MT51 muddies for a pretty good price compared to many other known brand names, and have had them on since "Black Friday" last year. I have done a trip down to Cape Town, first on the highway from Jhb to Bloemfontein, then on sand roads from Bloemfontein to Citrusdal and then highway to Stellenbosch, as well as a rather difficult trail with some serious rock grade 5 type obstacles, and they still look perfect. The roadholding is possibly the best I have ever felt, stopping in the wet is exactly how I want it to perform, and road noise is surprisingly quiet for a muddy. Yes I have only done 10 000km on them, but this is the tyre for me. When I bought my Patrol it had Dueller A/T's on.... I am not even going to waste my time typing about them...

These are my opinions and others will differ, as each person will have a tyre for what they want and need, but I have always said that I want safety first. If I don't get the 100 000 km mileage lifespan out of a tyre, then I want to know I will be able to stop .... quickly

Thanks Ricster, safety is 100% important to me as well, which is why I had concerns about the tyres sliding out in wet weather. Sounds like you’ve had some good results from your tyres on there - this Patrol has standard road tyres from what I can see but I’ll have a closer look tomorrow, am hoping to give it a test drive.
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ricster
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Re: New member looking for 1st patrol

Post by ricster »

cool man... keep us posted
Regards
Cedric
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