HARD GRAFT

FORGET THE PARTS BIN SPECIAL. THIS ONE-OF-A-KIND TROOPY IS PIECED TOGETHER WITH BUSTED KNUCKLES AND LONG NIGHTS

- DAN EVERETT

THE 4x4 world is obsessed with the latest and greatest. We have to have the newest gear, the brightest lights, the most elaborate awning you could conceive. We’re desperate for an extra 5hp at the rear wheels, no matter how much power we had originally anyway. People line up out the door when a manufacturer releases a new model, the upgraded cupholders too tempting to ignore.

It’s been a slow change, one few people have noticed, but while 4x4s used to be built late at night in the garage with mates, they’re now built online one Afterpay order at a time.

But deep in the backcountry, far beyond the reaches of 4x4 fast fashion, hard graft is still piecing together some of the coolest builds on the tracks. Ryan Kestle’s unbelievable 75 Series Troopy is one of them.

Rolling off the production line way back in 1989, Ryan’s HJ75 Troopy has been sculpted from the ground up into his perfect adventure machine. Starting from the chassis up, the Troopy’s front and rear diffs have been relegated to the scrap heap, a matching set from a 60 Series Cruiser now live in their place. The near-identical units bumping the Troopy’s track width out around three inches front and back. Both axles are sporting Harrop ELockers for maximum traction, and they’re wrapped around 4.3:1 Nitro ring and pinion sets front and back.

SUSPENSION TWEAKS