jackaroos

Go and get yourself a 97 or 98 turbo diesel 80 series.
Most of these have only been to shuttle the kids around and you can usually pick up a low km one.
Best 4x4 ever made. Oh but I am biased.
No seriously even the 100 series diesel with after market turbo are good trucks. Stick with the llive axle front.

If Crew Cabs are a considerationI have had a New Mazda Bravo SD-X for the last wo months and it's a great package!!!

I went for the turbo diesel which goes very well and tows well too.

Best of luck,

Foxy

wouldnt go past an 80 Seriess turbo diesel 95 to early 98 model, or 100 series turbo diesel....
NUTS!

Do you want to pay an extra $10-15000 or more for a 2,25 tonne tank or save & buy an easy to drive & park smaller vehicle for all round city/country work?
There seems to be issues with m,any of them & a live axle Tojo/Nissan solves any f/end problems particularly if U go Nissan. Fuel differance would add up over big kms too & maybe insurance.

Petza.. I have a 2001 Jack, Auto, Petrol and couldn't be happier. I reckon you could not go past one of these as long as the K's are right. I tow a Campomatic CT and I hardly know it's there(I realise that it is lighter than your Van) so you shouldn't have any worries. To ask this kind of question you obviously get (which you have got) the old "Forget the rest and buy a Toy/Nissan argument".

Petza,

Here's my bit for what it's worth, I own a 1999 3.0L turbo diesel Jack (manual) and tow a 17'6" tandem caravan which weighs around 1800kg when loaded.

The Jack does an excellent job of towing, comfortable to ride in, good fuel economy, on a recent trip to Walpole (WA) over Christmas averaged 13.5 L/100 towing and touring (20.9 mpg) touring without van 11.1 L/100.

If you get one, make sure you use the right grade of oil as this effects the performance of the injectors and early morning starting.
I use Penrite HPR Diesel 5.
Like you, I will be heading off around Oz this year, not working though, nobody wants old blokes anymore.

Regards KevinT

Go the 98 onwards TD 3.0 auto jackaroo, if you want easy towing, they are an animal when you stick a load on them , they love it. A lot of guys tow tandems with big loads with them and they never miss a beat, a lot more go than the earlier 3.1 td . The 3.5 v6 is also great to tow with but the fuel cost will hit you a bit, still well short of a cruiser/patrol consumption. They are also a bloody nice car to drive around town etc.
If you get a 3.0 td then the best (and only correct) oil to use at the moment is
Mobil Delvac1, full syn 5W 30 CH-4, its the right viscosity and rating for this motor, Because if you put the wrong oil in them you will have all sorts of trouble.

Great value for money too.

I have a 99 Petrol manual Jackaroo and tow a 17' pop top millard, Jackie has never missed a beat, its got heaps of guts, towing it will still accelerate up hill if you need to overtake some slow trucks for instance, very stable on the road , good handling, got the Hayman Reese load distribution hitch which is great, the van is sooo stable on the road and we have been out in rain, hail , wind , lightning , dirt top , etc .
I'm happy.

Cant add much except that my sister and brother in law recently traded their td jack in(approx 2000 vintage) on a new petrol prado it had done a few decent trips and they were members of a fwd club so it saw some action in between the mums taxi thing. I pumped her for info to share on this website and there was no dirt to be had, very good and capable vehicle by all accounts it just had to make way for something shinier with petrol stonk for their new camper trailor

To balance things up with the TD Jackaroos, see posts 18844 and 19607. Sorry but just being honest. They are good value for what you get but unfortunately can be very expensive and mine has been downright unreliable.

Speedo - $600
Window Winding mechanism $400
Sand/Water in Clutch - $2000
Sand in alternator - $800 (aftermarket, genuine $1600)
Diff seal not working and rear bearing gone $700
Injector harness snapped $230

All in 12 months.

But apart from that it has been a really good vehicle!

Hi petza,
I use to have a petrol jackaroo equip. Went hard towed great but was VERY heavy on the fuel. It was a auto, but around town with a empty car I was getting 17-19L/100Km and towing a 750kg trailer it went to over 22l/100Km avg from melbourne to Brisbane. And that was with the car unloaded. I ended up selling the Jack and getting a 80series TD. The saving on fuel was huge and if you are traveling this would add up heaps. Also, there are a few aboriginal land areas where you need permits to enter and they will ony let diesel vehicals in. I have heard a few reasons for this from too hard to get both diesel and unleaded into the area to the locals putting screwdrivers into petrol tanks so they can steal the petrol and sniff it. Which ever truck you end up getting IMO a diesel stands above petrol anyday for the uses you have described.