Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I've always been a fan of the Perentie and have been chasing one for a long time. Because the army only sold off a few (usually damaged) in the early days they are scarce in private hands.

Anyway, I came accross one for sale yesterday. Its a genuine Perentie which was sold by the army less the drive train and axles, but with all other parts complete. The chassis has never been bent (from what I can see - all the galvanising is intact, which would indicate no repairs)

Its since been fitted with a 3.9 Isuzu from a civvy county and a Santana five speed in place of the LT95. Its running 4.77 centers with a rangy rear axle housing in stead of the Salisbury. The rear axle has a Mcnamara 4 pinion center and fine spline axles. Its also got the civvy power steering (army had manual steering). Everything else is original Perentie. The compliance plate is missing (auctioned without it) but it is currently QLD regisered. Sellers says this is OK.

The seller wants $22,000 for it which is a lot of money for a 15 year old Landrover. Am I crazy to be even considering this vehicle?

The only other Parentie I have seen in civilian hands also had early Rangey diffs front and rear. It turned out that the truck had been used extensively in a salty environment and the chassis firewall has almost completely disintegrated in the 3 odd years it has laid in my LandRover graveyard.
Galvanising apparently causes steel to become brittle. I have seen a few low mileage civilian Landy 6x6's with numerous small cracks in the chassiswork. If you intend to use the vehicle mostly in damp, muddy conditions, galvanising may be a worthwhile feature, but if you want to use it for regular long outback travel over rough corrugated roads, I think the normal painted chassis would last longer.
Bill.

I know of 4 civillian owned perenties in QLD.

One was sold complete but with extensive damage to the front corner (and was repaired). Another one was a very early evaluation vehicle (a bit different from later ones) with unknown history. One I saw briefly in a parking lot. The 4th one was sold to the current owner after many years of beach work (in civillian hands) and everything but the chassis was quite rusty. This one was sold for $9000 unregd and needing a complete rebuild to remove the rust.

IMHO I think $22000 is a bit steep, unless it is in absolutely perfect condition Since all the mechanical components are civillian - you effectively have a 110 county without a galvanised chassis. And you could buy a really good one of them for $15000 or so.

Bill, I know that galvanising can make steel more brittle, but it would depend on the length of the heating and cooling times. From personal experience, the galvanised chassis on the IIA 88" I built for my father is showing no ill effects, many years and lots of offroad work later.

Ben, did you organise the chassis galvanising yourself or did you buy one from the UK ? I once took 2 lwb chassis to a galvanising works to get some information. One chassis was a series 2A of the original 4 plate constuction, the other was a series 3 of the later pressed channel construction.
The guy told me that the series 2 would probably come out straight and true, but almost guaranteed that the series 3 would twist and warp. I wonder how the Poms staighten their chassis after galvanising?
Bill.

the only way they can be galdis in a frame there is /was someone in Melbourne that had on when i was looking into it about 8 years ago the gal peaple in newcastle had done several without a frame and all were twisted .

Bill, we bought the landie (and lots more) in bits from a neighbour who bought about 4 landies and tried to build one out of them. He had done most of the galvanising himself (including the chassis - and even the pedals and housings!!!). It is a suffix D IIA 88" chassis - I think it was done by industrial galvanisers in Brisbane (that is where I get all my galvanising done and no problems so far). The chassis is straight, there is some warping of the vertical sections in the rear just after "step up" but that is all and it hasn't affected straightness.

AFAIK all the bush rangies have a galvanised cut down rangie chassis. I have galvanised lots of LR parts over the years and never had any problems. I have heard that SIII firewalls can warp too much when galvanised, but have seen straight galvanised ones firsthand. I have personally galvanised firewalls, grill/radiator panels, and lots of other thin steel bits without problems.

There are many structural steel constructions that are galvanised, and they have a service life as long or longer than equivalend painted steel constructions.

If anyone has some details etc of any other Perentie's that might be for sale can you PM me? The info is for a mate of mine.

Cheers,

Damo.

http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/DesktopD ... carpointau


there u go, this thing has been for sale for ages, im guessing because of the cost of it

Pup wrote:http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/DesktopDefault.aspx?UsedCarID=416640&TabID=3328&Alias=carpointau


there u go, this thing has been for sale for ages, im guessing because of the cost of it

No guarantee it is a perentie 6x6 - there were civillan versions too. Look here:

http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/DesktopD ... carpointau

Weakness in Galvanised parts normally only happens where a part is bent and under load. ie. towbar tongue (thats why you dont normally see galvanised ones)

Bazzle