[Grant209]

This Build thread started out as EMFR Medic Patrol, but I've changed the heading since moving away from Event Medic Work thanks to COVID.

My 2013 Patrol Cab Chassis, was delivered on the 16th December 2019 with 147,000klm, a week before Christmas while I was on a road trip to Longreach with my Father on holidays, so My Son Ryan got first drive.

My Patrol was Originally an Essential Energy NSW Work Ute and already came fitted with the following:

• Fiberglas Trade Canopy
• Internal Shelves
• Heavy Duty 12v Power Supply to Canopy
• Ladder Rack
• 180Lt Water Tank & Pump
• 12v Water Pump
• Pest Control Spray System.
• PVC Tubes
• Dual Battery System
• UHF Radio
• GRN Radio Harness
• Mobile Phone Bluetooth
• 500w Inverter in Cabin
• Amber Beacon

Essential Energy Shelving Lay out.

Essential Energy Shelving Lay out.

Essential Energy Shelving Lay out.
So a good base to start of with.

What was on the Drawing Board and Wish List:
Added by me so far:

• Fridge Slide & Power "Done"
• Amateur Radio Units "Done"
• Up-Graded UHF Radio "Done"
• 8" tablet/Navigator "Done"
• Upgraded Mobile Phone Cradle "Done"
• Car Alarm/Central Locking Up-grade "Done"
• LED Warning Light Upgrade "Done"
• Auxbeam Electronic Switch Control System "Done"
• Roof OzTent/Cargo Cage "Done"
• Re-plumb Water Pump "Done"
• Bush Shower Outlet. "Done"
• Side/Rear Scene Lighting "Done"
• Cruise Control. "Done"
• Rear Steps. "Done"

Ladder Rack Reconfigured to take a Rescue Basket, and Rhino 2.2m Basket added for RV5 OzTent.

Original shelving layout - Work side . . . well suited for Paramedical Equipment
Stowage.

Original shelving layout - Again well suited for Camping, 4WD, Tools and Personal Equipment Stowage.

Original shelving layout - Again well suited for Camping, 4WD, Tools and Personal Equipment Stowage.

Original 12v Water Pump System, replumbed for camping needs, such as the ability to
use the 2 way valve to draw water from a jerry can for bush shower use.

Install a Micro Switch Control Unit for LED Strobe Lights, Side/Rear Scene lighting,
Internal Canopy lighting and Water Pump switching.

 

[Grant209]

The next project

Making this Step

Fit Under This

The little Red Half Moon Safety Step doesn't do the job . . .

 

[Grant209]

Well with COVID-19 over the past 18 forcing the stopping of Events, this has also seen majority of my Medic Work dry up and forcing Me out of the Event Medic Field, so the Patrol's setup has taken a bit of a change in it's set up to recreational more then work.

So this is were we are now in July 2021.

In January 2021 I fitted a Side Awning

In February 2021 the Rear Step Project started again, the idea is to reconfigure a
Ford Ranger Step into something usable on the Rear of the Patrol

.

Old Bar all cut up and stripped down and the start of the new mounting plates being
made up

Fitting test . . . One issue I found, the original Tow Bar as seen below, had received a
hard hit which had left a tennis ball size dint in it which had put it's alignment out,
making it near impossible to remount it.

Replacement Bar On, steps all painted and trial fitted up and all working in good.

All done and finished . . .and nice and strong platform to stand on.

 

[Grant209]

Well My fridge slide although working fine, with the height of the Canopy floor and the 50mm lip for the canopy panel doors, My fridge door is a little higher then my eye Level . . . so had been looking at a drop down or tilt fridge slide, but the prices put the price a little out of my reach.

Had tried to convert my Kings Fridge Slide, but found the tilting system a poor on the strength side and a little hazardous for any way ward fingers.

Lucky enough in March 2021 a 2nd Hand Dunn & Watson Fridge Tilt Slide came up at the right price. . . so I grabbed it.

 

[Grant209]

May 2021 fitted Under Tray Tool Boxes to the rear of the Patrol

The addition of the Boxes fill in what was the vacant void behind the rear wheels nicely.

 

[Grant209]

In Mid March 2021 I found I had a large crack in my Exhaust Dump Pipe and Ordered 3" System from Dandy Exhaust in Victoria. There was a 3 week waiting time on the Exhaust System as it had to be made up.

On 13th April 2021, My father who lives on the NSW / Qld Boarder up past Moree, fell and broke his hip. Dad was flown to Toowoomba Old for surgery. I left Sydney on the 14 April for Toowoomba and like usual My New Exhaust arrived on Monday 19th April . . . bugger. Over the next Month I had done around 3000klm in the Patrol, and as expected the crack in the Dump Pipe had got worse as one might expect.

The New Exhaust System has provided improvements in performance, I'm now getting about 630klm . . . an extra 100klm to a tank of fuel which is the one improvement I'm most happy with..

 

[Grant209]

June 2021 - As I had Rolled up my Medic Business, I thought a reconfiguration to a more Practicable Roof Rack System would be handy, so started searching around for a Used Roof Platform Systems that I would be able to fit to up to the AWL Canopy Bar System.

I Found a 2nd Hand ACAM Patrol 2.4m Alloy Roof Top Tent Rack . . .

And the fun began . . .

The removal of All this . . . back to the original AWL Canopy Bars

So back to basics. A New Front Bar made up, and 2x 2.3m Lengths of EzyStrut Bars added to the AWL Canopy Bar System to mount the ACAM Alloy Roof Top Tent Roof Rack too. The two EzyStrut Bars provide good ridged strength, allowing me (120kg) to walk on the ACMA Rack with no concern.

ACAM Alloy Rack Fitted. I reused the Ladder Rack Sides for Aerial Mounting, I installed a New Kings LED Light Bar, and re-fitted my Side Work LED Lights and Amber Warning LED Modules.

For my lighting and it's associated wiring, I added a Wiring Junction Box, connected to it is a Flat 7 Pin Trailer Plug to allow the removal of the Roof Rack with all the Light Units still in place.

New 100mm PVC Conduit Tubes added, one for fishing rods, the other for HF Aerials and Tent Poles storage. With the assistance of a heat gun to heat up and soften the PVC tubes ends, allowed the tubes to mould nicely between the ACAM Alloy Rack Bars and the Ladder Rack Sides.

Last to go on, was the replacement to my little 15watt Solar Panel, with a much bigger
Kings 160watt Semi Flexible Solar Panel . . . nice

Very happy with the end Result.

 

[Grant209]

July 2021 - Well into week 2 of Sydney COVID Lock Down. The lock down has provided down time for Me to do a little searching on the Net and YouTube to find a Fix to a Power Supply Problem that I've had with my Icom IC-706MK2G HF/VHF/UHF Amateur Radio that has been sitting in a cupboard for the past 3 years.

In a YouTube video, the author talks about a know circuit board issue where
the adhesive used on a rubber pad used to stick the Pad to the circuit board,
is know to corrodes through the circuit board trace, cutting power.

As shown in the photo above, you can see the small brake in the trace on the
circuit board. The idea is to solder a small length of wire from one side of the
brake to the other side forming a bridge. Sounds simple enough for a young
set of eyes.

Anyway success . . . after some fun trying to solder a 3mm length of copper
wire onto the circuit board, My 706 came to life again after 3 years sitting in
a cupboard.

Now for My next project

 

[Grant209]

July 2021 - Well with my Icom 706 HF Radio coming back to life, time to fit it into the Patrol Cab.

On the back wall of My Patrol Cab, I already had a Oricom UHF CB, a Icom VHF/UHF Amateur
Radio and a Fuse Box fitted, so with the addition of the Icom 706, which also uses a Auto
Antenna Tuner, a little rearrangement is needed.

So to do this, I decided to make up a Radio Board to fit on the Back Wall of the Patrol's
Cab.

Affixed to the board are Left to Right:

• 300watt Inverter
• Icom IC-208H VHF/UHF Amateur Radio.
• LDG IT-100 Auto Antenna Tuner
• Icom IC-706MK2G HF/VHF/UHF Amature Radio
• Oricom UHF CB
• 6 way High Current Power Distribution Box
• 6 way Low Current Power Distribution Box

All nicely fitted to the back wall

And the Dash and Dash Pod. Fitted to the Dash Pod are 2x VHF/UHF Amateur Radios,
on the Left is the IC-208H Radio Head and its Hand Mic, and Left is a Retevis RT73 DMR Radio and Strike Phone Cradle.

To the Left of the Radio/CD Player, is My Oricom UHF CB Mic, above the the Radio is My IC-706 Radio Head. Below the Radio/CD Player is My Uniden Digital Scanner.

All up, I have 7 Aerial Mounts: 1x IC-208H VHF/UHF Radio, 1x Retevis RT73 DMR Radio,
1x Digital Scanner, 1x UHF CB, 1x Mobile Phone, 2x IC-706 Radio. The IC-706 is special, in that it has 2x Aerial Plugs, One for it's HF Aerial and a separate VHF/UHF Aerial Plug.

Mounting wise, the HF Aerial is mounted on the Bull Bar by itself, and the other 6 Aerial Mounts are mounted 3x Aerial either side of the Roof Rack System.

 

[Foo]

That's a crazy amount of electronics on the dash and changes, well done. \

Foo

 

[Grant209]

That's a crazy amount of electronics on the dash and changes, well done. \

Foo

Foo,

Working towards getting back to Two (2) Radio's . . . My HF and a Single Dual Band DMR Radio . . . My current DMR has a lot of bugs, and Amateur DMR is still evolving and better Radio's come out every month.

Just waiting on more reviews of the Alinco DMR Radio before I make a purchase.

 

[Grant209]

A set of 5 GUIV 17/8 Alloy Rims went onto My GU Ute last week with 4x Black Bear All-terrain 2 Tyres.

I believe it now looks much better then it did with the White16.6 Steelies, the 17/8 Rims Tyres now look the right proportional size for the size and weight of the Patrol now

Although . . . 7 Days on from fitting, on Tuesday I lost one rims at low speed when the Bloody Wheel Nuts came loose . . . wish I had know about that issue when I fitted the Rims & Tyres . . . not happy, Rim Stuffed and 1 Snapped Wheel Stud . . . all fixed and back on the road in 1 day.

 

[mad possum]

yup lost a wheel on the navara years ago, not a fun experience at 80km/hr outside the district pol station.
my black bears are wearing in nicely, very grippy in the wet too!

 

[Grant209]

my black bears are wearing in nicely, very grippy in the wet too!

A few K's on the Blackbears Now in all conditions, liking them very Much . . . just a pity the price of fuel is near twice as much now as it was when I put the tyres on.