Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi Gents,

Just booked for this trip for July next year. Want to get out of the country and away from the football masses.

The reason for this post is to find out if anybody has done this trip,what experianced they had and any suggestions or tips they would share. We will be going with the LA Sport Centurion owner and we have been discussing what my Troll needs.

Tyres - they state that they recommend fat takkies. I have 265/75/16 BG's- will these be OK for the majoe dunes. My concern is the weight of the GQ troll.

Power - I have a Safari Turbo and Intercooler so power for the dunes should not be a problem.

Fuel - We will be covering around 750 km in sand so I have estimed the following.
Current fuel consumption is between 7.5 k/lt to 8.2 km/lt.
Estimated fuel should be around 5 to 5.5 km/lt at worst ???? This would equate to around 150 lt. I have seen some posts where GQ have been fitted
with extra fuel tanks. Does anybody no of a local manufacturer for this?

Any other tips would be appreciated.


Regards

Grant

Grant, Dennis (Mayhem) has done this trip with his TD Shorty GQ. He'll be able to give you fuel consumption figures. I reckon you need to be a bit more conservative than what you guess at the moment. I did it in a LC 4.5 and we used 220l, the diesels used a bit less but not much. Between 180 and 200l. Power is a problem, those dunes are big and long. But you will definitely be better off than any other TD or smaller petrol. It is an awesome trip, take warm clothes, it is bloody cold, even in the middle of the day

I have done the trip last year September in my 4.8GRX. Great experiance. You need to bargain on about 3km/l in the dunes especialy if you are carrying a heavy load. Try to take as little as possible. I was running on 285/75/16 tyres. Your tyre pressure in the dunes is about .7 to .4 bar. Long range tank is available for your car. Excel is making them localy. (145 litres). I took 280 lites of fuel with and had to borrow another 20 liters to make it to Walvis baai. My car was very heavy with extra luggage and persons that I took on board from a LC that broke in the dunes. We left the LC at Conception bay in the dunes. This brought my fuel consumption down to 2km/l.

Hi Grant,

I also have a 4.8, similar to Wheels, so not that relavent to a diesel. On our Kaoko trip we did about 300 km of river bed driving. My normal 4x4 consumption is between 4 and 4.4 km/l, BUT there I averaged 2.3 km/l = 50% below the norm - keep that in mind.

Hi Gents,

Much appreciated. I will keep all informed with developments. Once again, thanks for the advice.


Regards

Grant

Grant

I've done the 4 day trip to Saddlehill with my brother in his standard Prado 4.0L V6. What a trip!! The vehicle was too low and the suspension didn't exist. We got 3km/L at best. The driving is very tricky, and you need to let go of your fear to "storm 'n duin". The guide will tell you to "PLANT HOM!!" Which translates to trap die kak uit die ding uit. We realized that the V6 performed best at 5500 rpm. And you drive like that dune after dune after dune. It is really hard on the engines, so make sure yours is properly serviced and that your fluid levels are in order.

Take some diesel engine oil with, because they work hard. We had 2 Tritons in the group, and they did well, but suffered from sand clogging the air filter. Take a set of fan belts with. And fuel. There is really nothing there. really. The Patrols do well in the sand, because they got power. They do not allow non turbo'd diesels and X5's BMW. Our guide had a grisly experience with a Disco 3 V8. One of those that they left behind to get out later. if you don't have a suspension upgrade, get one. It is the single most important upgrade you can do to a vehicle..

This is what it looks like to "storm 'n duin". Okkie in the Triton making landfall in his Triton. Note the deceleration on the CB antenna... .

Water for you, diesel for the Troll. Our guide, Wittes, owns a GQ Patrol, and loves it to bits!!!

Agree wtih other comments posted, we do lots of dunedriving in the Namib and the only thing i would suggest is to go for bigger tyres , yours is a bit small. Also budget for about 30% more fuel comsumption than your figures stated. On average (sorry but my experience are mostly with cruisers) petrol's is giving between 2.5 and 3.5 in extreme playing and the diesels 3.5 to 4.5. This is a good trip and you'll enjoy it !