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Author Topic: The OKA and the Red Track  (Read 8150 times)

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Offline Hal Harvey

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The OKA and the Red Track
« on: July 19, 2011, 01:55:29 PM »
Gday all,

At the encouragement of Burnsy, I'm introducing myself now, even though I've been a member since 2009 - sorry Chris J, I'm about to bump you from being the first Oka owner here!

I joined back then when I was researching what I wanted to do with what subsequently became Red Track (Camper Trailers WA) #002 - a hard floor very custom trailer as per the pic below. It's dragged around by OKA #260 (Chris J's is #166), which we've owned for 13 of its 16 years. As the kids were getting bigger and tents were getting more tiresome, we upgraded to a duplex - the kids get the OKA and the adults get the Red Track.

But when you're right into OKAs nothing standard is adequate, so the Red Track design was modified a lot for #002 to satisfy my desire to be different... apart from a reasonable increase in width, it also got full airbag suspension on the Gaffa arms, Bilstein remote reservoir gas shock absorbers, Light Racing jounce shocks (hydraulic bump stops), 16x10 wheels, 355/80 tyres (38.5" x 14.5"), a 4000lb remote control Superwinch, an Efoy fuel cell, two Bushman 52-litre fridge/freezers, 195 litres of water capacity, and a McHitch. And no doubt a few other things.

I'll probably put a build thread up here after I figure out if any magazines want it first. It's been on the road for a few months and has done two trips into Steep Point amongst other places, and will soon be trundling off to Ayers Rock via the Gunbarrel.



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Offline Bird

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2011, 02:04:14 PM »
Welcome.... :)

Those 38inch tyres should cause little drag and be easy to get in remote locations.

We had an Oka in our RFS station in Sydney, was the only one in the state as a "test" unit at the time. We had lots of sand in our area, which worked well but we only had the single shock per corner :( It was like a boat in 40ft seas going offroad or round corners. Wasn't bad to drive apart from that and being 100kg under max weight limit.. was a dual cab, but had to be selective of what crew went on it for weight  >:( very little thinking went into it!

Gee, Scruby would love ya bullbar, front shelf/box trailer thingy!
« Last Edit: July 19, 2011, 02:37:29 PM by Lost »
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Offline Silvo

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2011, 02:05:36 PM »
great looking setup, can't wait for more pics..
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Offline Hal Harvey

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2011, 02:12:07 PM »
Quote
we only had the single shock per corner


This one was originally owned by Oka's MD so I guess it got the best of everything, including two shocks each corner; and they were fine, but I upgraded them to Bilstein 7100s anyway...

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Offline GGV8Cruza

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2011, 02:12:54 PM »
Welcome to the forum, a great looking setup that will get you anywhere by the looks

GG
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Offline austastar

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2011, 02:18:11 PM »
Hi,
   a very nice setup. Looks like it would go to any where you needed it to with absolute ease.

cheers
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Offline BigJules

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2011, 02:26:29 PM »
G'day & Welcome.

More! More! Great to see something so different, thanks for FINALLY sharing.  ;D
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Offline dno

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2011, 03:10:30 PM »
Welcome to the forum Hal Harvey. Look forward to seeing where this great looking gigger has taken you, there a good bit of Aussie gear. Had one for sale up the road awhile ago and i had a good look at it. Was thinking to myself, if only this thing could talk.
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Offline gibbo301

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2011, 06:00:36 PM »
Hi Hal Harvey Welcome to My Swag great looking setup :cheers:
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Offline Heiny

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2011, 07:12:30 PM »
Hi Hal Harvey and welcome to My Swag, what a fantastic looking set up :cup:
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Offline seqfisho

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2011, 07:34:28 PM »
Welcome Hal,

Very impressive rig, bit of a pity the OKA's aren't in production anymore.

Two quick questions though, hows the fishing been of late and how are you finding the ProComps?
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Offline Burnsy

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2011, 07:47:29 PM »

Good to see you made the jump, I too can't wait to see more ;D

Quote from: seqfisho on July 19, 2011, 07:34:28 PM
Very impressive rig, bit of a pity the OKA's aren't in production anymore.

I believe that are in production again, search and you will find their site.  They now have round headlights and can be optioned to a duramax with allison gearbox :cup:
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Offline squirell

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #12 on: July 19, 2011, 08:58:39 PM »
Hi and welcome, now that's how to travel, enjoy your stay.

     Squirell/Graeme
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Offline Hal Harvey

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2011, 09:14:16 PM »
Quote
bit of a pity the OKAs aren't in production anymore


That would be true if it was true - but it's not! They're still producing fantastic vehicles out of the same factory in Bibra Lake. See www.oka.com.au for the new stuff and www.oka4wd.com for the owners' site.

Quote
hows the fishing been of late


Absolutely fantastic in WA - I do an article in every issue of Western Angler magazine, and the next one is a rave about how this past summer/autumn is the best I have ever seen the fishing in a lifetime of studying it around Perth.

Quote
how are you finding the ProComps?

They're the Xtreme A/T version, and have been without fault as far as I'm concerned. I've had them for four years and would buy them again tomorrow, except they've still got a couple of years' life in them. Way better than the truck tyres they replaced.
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Offline seqfisho

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2011, 02:25:26 PM »
Excellent to hear the OKA's are still in production, I would be keen on one of the doublecabs when the time comes to upsize from the Rodeo when we are itinerant.

I have no complaints from my ProComps either but have only covered 20K so far.

Good to hear the fishing is going well over the west, we intend to spend some considerable time over there wetting a line when we hit the road. :cup:
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Offline ralphedward

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #15 on: July 23, 2011, 09:37:07 PM »

Good to see an OKA user,

Yes they are still in production, my wife has done some design work for them in the past (she's a mechanical engineer - not too bright but she can lift heavy things - hope she doesn't read this) and we (our company) supply them with various mounts.

You've never been scared whilst 4WDriving 'til you've pushed an OKA to it's limits, or a Bushmaster - buts thats a different thing!!!!!

Regards

Mark
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Offline Prado BB

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #16 on: July 23, 2011, 09:56:42 PM »
wow, I'm impressed and you should've heard my son ;D
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Offline Hal Harvey

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #17 on: July 24, 2011, 11:19:59 AM »
I'm spending some time here for the first time in a couple of years, and evidently "my desire to be different" has been working; I see the two stickys "What 4WD do you own" and its counterpart "What make of camper trailer" have both been running over three years - and at the time of writing neither my 4WD nor the camper trailer are listed there!
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Offline kranky al

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #18 on: July 24, 2011, 11:55:13 AM »
i second the fishing thing - amazing fishing atm



nice rig - we want one for our next victory lap of aus
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Offline Gunna Do

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #19 on: July 24, 2011, 12:01:53 PM »
Looks like a fantastic setup. 

One question though!  Is there an easy way to get the spare on and off the top of the OKA?
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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #20 on: July 24, 2011, 12:06:02 PM »
Quote from: Gunna Do on July 24, 2011, 12:01:53 PM
Is there an easy way to get the spare on and off the top of the OKA?

That's what the kids are for !!
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Offline Hal Harvey

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #21 on: July 24, 2011, 02:36:57 PM »
Settle down Manji, they're not big enough yet. I send my wife up to get it down, though she does struggle to get it back up there by herself.
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Manjimike

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #22 on: July 24, 2011, 02:39:04 PM »
Quote from: Hal Harvey on July 24, 2011, 02:36:57 PM
Settle down Manji, they're not big enough yet. I send my wife up to get it down, though she does struggle to get it back up there by herself.
She can train them while they're young !!
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Offline Hal Harvey

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #23 on: July 24, 2011, 02:44:07 PM »
But to give the true answer: this isn't the best pic, but in the left front corner of the rack itself, there is a short tubular upright. Stashed deep in the back of the OKA is a little aluminium derrick which drops in there and pivots in it; and it carries a little (boat trailer) winch with Dynamica rope and a big pulley at the tip. That setup gets used for lowering and raising as required.

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Offline Mel87

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Re: The OKA and the Red Track
« Reply #24 on: July 24, 2011, 03:28:14 PM »
Welcome! Awesome set up, would love to see some more pictures!
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