Build your own Fuso FG6 4x4 based camper/overlander!

Spanna 53

Member
Family Friendly 4x4 plenty of Euro regrested Expedition vehicles on the roads in Australia Mercedes , Ivecos ,MANs etc but you will need more like twelve months to do theAussie lap Ross
 
Family Friendly 4x4 plenty of Euro regrested Expedition vehicles on the roads in Australia Mercedes , Ivecos ,MANs etc but you will need more like twelve months to do theAussie lap Ross
Wow, I only have money for 6 months though LOL. May need some help planning the most worthwhile routes then....?
 

gait

Explorer
to maybe help put Aus in perspective. Last year a 6 month trip in Aus did about as many km as from Malaysia to UK. We crossed 5 deserts on the way to and from the north west (Pilbara and Kimberley) where we scratched the surface. Included a bit more than 1,000km at average 12 km/h on broken spring to meet spare at first reasonable town. We live in Brisbane, there's a signpost on the freeway near us that has Darwin 3434 km. We are about to leave for Cape York (north east tip) which will be at least 5600km round trip over 4 months. A bit more than Luanshya to Durban round trip but not as good roads. Every country is different, Aus is more than a bit different. Plan on contingency of a couple of weeks at each end of visit for shipping.
 
to maybe help put Aus in perspective. Last year a 6 month trip in Aus did about as many km as from Malaysia to UK. We crossed 5 deserts on the way to and from the north west (Pilbara and Kimberley) where we scratched the surface. Included a bit more than 1,000km at average 12 km/h on broken spring to meet spare at first reasonable town. We live in Brisbane, there's a signpost on the freeway near us that has Darwin 3434 km. We are about to leave for Cape York (north east tip) which will be at least 5600km round trip over 4 months. A bit more than Luanshya to Durban round trip but not as good roads. Every country is different, Aus is more than a bit different. Plan on contingency of a couple of weeks at each end of visit for shipping.

Thank you for the great picture painted, points of reference noted :)
 

DzlToy

Explorer
New York City to San Diego, California, literally one corner of the US to the other, is about 3900 km. A recent cross country trip from the East Coast of the USA to Arizona for the Overland Expo West totalled about 6700 km, round trip, about 30 hours each way on interstate highways at 130 kph, but only to get from A to B. I could not imagine taking four months to drive that or driving thousands of km's on dirt roads. Not sure how you guys do it.

Will check out the build. Have you any experience with IVECO trucks previously or is this your first go? We got them in the States in the 80s and 90s, but nothing since. They were neither reliable nor popular back then.
 
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luthj

Engineer In Residence
We managed a pretty extensive circumnavigation of Aus in 11 months. Its a lot of driving. I could maybe push that 8 months, but otherwise you will be driving a fantastic amount each day. Some of the writeup is here.

 
We managed a pretty extensive circumnavigation of Aus in 11 months. Its a lot of driving. I could maybe push that 8 months, but otherwise you will be driving a fantastic amount each day. Some of the writeup is here.


This is great, I will definately check it out thank you.

Our challenge is that Aus will only grant 6 months on the Carnet on our vehicle but I have since heard we might be able to renew it once.

At this stage I can also only travel 7 months in a year.

Otherwise we may have to look at working out a specific one way route as opposed to a circumnavigation.
 
New York City to San Diego, California, literally one corner of the US to the other, is about 3900 km. A recent cross country trip from the East Coast of the USA to Arizona for the Overland Expo West totalled about 6700 km, round trip, about 30 hours each way on interstate highways at 130 kph, but only to get from A to B. I could not imagine taking four months to drive that or driving thousands of km's on dirt roads. Not sure how you guys do it.

Will check out the build. Have you any experience with IVECO trucks previously or is this your first go? We got them in the States in the 80s and 90s, but nothing since. They were neither reliable nor popular back then.

No this is my first Iveco truck, but I do own 4x Fuso Trucks (2 of which are 4x4's).

Iveco vans have been around for ages like you say, but only really got popular in Europe 15 - 20 years ago and I remember the Daily van being rubbish. In fact around 1999/2000 the gearbox seized up on me behind the wheel of a brand new Daily van in the UK that had only 500 miles on the clock from new!! So yeah, I hear you.

But Iveco has become very popular over the last decade both in Europe and gaining confidence down here on the African continent too. Very good value for money units and the Tector engine in my 15 ton is a tried and tested machine.

Fingers crossed.
 

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