To Snorkel or Not

[mepvic Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mepvic]

Greetings all.

Trying to decide on whether to fit a snorkel or not.

Have done a lot of trips towing a camper trailer over some dusty and remote tracks in outback WA, SA and the NT. Have always dusted out the air filter every few days if required. No big deal. Filter does get a bit of dust in it but is quite efficient at stopping the dust getting into the engine.

This year we will be heading north to the Cape and will be probably be doing a few river crossings but plan to bypass the worst of them. Will have the front of the Prado sheeted up if required. Have no intention of tackling deep water crossings. Past that.

How deep is too deep for a Prado without a snorkel? At $400 plus fitting, (I would do that myself) it is still a bit of money to fork out for something I may not need.

[ntp Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close ntp]

Mate, you haven't said what type of Prado you have? It would also help if you added your location to your profile.

IMHO, if you are risking any type water crossing you might want to get a snorkel. Cheap insurance.

Also, have a squiz at the following threads too. You are not the first to wonder or ask similar questions:

Snorkels - Are they worth it?
Any benefits fitting snorkel for mainly bitumen road travel
How to explain the benefits of a snorkel to the wife???
good reason to fit snorkel
Snorkel advice
Snorkel? - any advantage with petrol

[Dueler120 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dueler120]

Mate,
if you even think of a river crossing then imo you have to have a snorkel. It would be to much of a risk to send your rig into a crossing even if you think its not that deep. There are a few quality options on the market and honestly is cheap insurance. think of it this way, $400 for a snorkel or the alternative money required for an engine rebuild?

While your at it you should look at extending your diffs, tranny and transfer breathers up higher into the engine bay fire wall. Its a cheap DIY project you can do at home and again cheap insurance for your drive train. Also look at carrying a tarp. I have a canvas type used for a tent/ camping floor laydown but also doubles as a blanket across the front end if it ever looks like a water crossing will get over the spotties.

I run a snorkel sock over the ram head when driving through dust, heavy rain and dense bug conditons and it helps keep out the build up of debri in the snorkel tube and most importantly keeping it away from the engine air filter.

Good luck with your planned trip, hope it goes well.

Cheers,

[mepvic Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mepvic]

Thanks ntp. From Vic with a 2008 D4D VX. Will also update my profile.
The threads you have listed make good reading. I had done a search for snorkels but came up with so many hits I would be reading till next year. Need to ty and filter a bit better.

[Heath74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heath74]

Snorkels have always been my first mod.

You can plan what ever you want for a river crossing, but once you enter the water you want a snorkel.

Plus the intake rush sounds cool!

Just my view.

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Greetings all.

Trying to decide on whether to fit a snorkel or not.

Have done a lot of trips towing a camper trailer over some dusty and remote tracks in outback WA, SA and the NT. Have always dusted out the air filter every few days if required. No big deal. Filter does get a bit of dust in it but is quite efficient at stopping the dust getting into the engine.

This year we will be heading north to the Cape and will be probably be doing a few river crossings but plan to bypass the worst of them. Will have the front of the Prado sheeted up if required. Have no intention of tackling deep water crossings. Past that.

How deep is too deep for a Prado without a snorkel? At $400 plus fitting, (I would do that myself) it is still a bit of money to fork out for something I may not need.

Fit a snorkel, $600 vs writing off a 60k car, i have seen a car drown not good. it is a no brainer for me.

[butane8 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close butane8]

if ya like me ya gotta spend money/time/effort to get a prado in shape from stock......... to cross any river ...
i maybe waisting my time , but maintence of your rig , is paramount before the start of any big trip....

if your happy that a snorkel will get you back after all those kays? and thats all your rig needs , buy it shag..

cheers butane

[wes Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wes]

I had done a search for snorkels but came up with so many hits I would be reading till next year. Need to ty and filter a bit better.

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...ome-other-tips
ntp posted this a while ago in the campfire area as a help subject.Glad to hear you at least tried the search function rather than just starting a new topic/thread.
As the others have said $400 is cheap insurance and well used in the cape for most of the river crossings i did last year and also take into consideration the factory intake point for the prado and water would be the last thing i would want to be sucked into any motor.

As butane also said above vehicle prep for that trip would also be paramount..

Wes

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

You mention sheeting the front of the Prado up, if its deep enough to do that then you need a snorkel. If you are going to the cape you are going to drive through water, if you haven't done water crossigs before its nerve wracking enough with a snorkel let alone without.

If you go without and you get scared about crossings and start bypassing them all then you are going to miss the best of the cape.

Cheers Andrew

[D4Dforme Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4Dforme]

Some good advice thrown at you here mate......listen to it!

Everyone say's"you should walk the crossing first"...................Yeah well when there is a real possibility in the tropics of there being a 4+ meter crocodile just waiting for his next feed i get a bit toey about getting damp or bitten in half.

if you plan on doing some water crossings "up the cape" i'd be putting a snorkel on and having a good look from the bank........fast water will bring you unstuck far more quickly than deep water will aswell.

stick one on........you'll look cool you may even gain a little power or economy and you hopefullywon't have to stare a snapping handbag in the face! or worse.

You know you want one.......think of it this way..............it may save your life.....(use this on the missus to justify the snorkel)

Dan

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Some good advice thrown at you here mate......listen to it!

Everyone say's"you should walk the crossing first"...................Yeah well when there is a real possibility in the tropics of there being a 4+ meter crocodile just waiting for his next feed i get a bit toey about getting damp or bitten in half.

The crocs up the cape, particularly on the tele track are not a big issue. You need to walk all the crossings, if you don't walk them before chances are you will be walking out of them after you get stuck. There ae a couple that you could easily loose your vehicle in if you dont walk them to find the right line.

Most people walk most of the crossings up there, when was the last time you heard of a croc taking someone walking a crossing on the cape?

I haven't been around the Darwin area but seems to be a bigger croc issue in that neck of the woods.

Cheers Andrew

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Like the rest of the advice here - just do it. I learned the hard way, almost. Several 4wds ago I wasn't going to fit a snorkel to it because I wasn't going to do any deep crossings and it was only being kept for about 18 months. On a trip near home we drove into a creek (walked first obviously) and the water was about 300mm deep. It rained while we we further up the track and when we came back the crossing was about 500mm deep. No big deal. I then had to take a slightly and I mean slightly different line to avoid a Suzuki Sierra that was washing the sand off the undercarriage and water came up the windscreen. I was lucky no water in the airbox from the brief dunking but it taught me a lesson. If you are not going to do any water crossings ever then no need for a snorkel but in reality we all do and it is cheap insurance. Unlikely to see any gains in power or economy but it is easily worth $600 for peace of mind. Every 4wd of mine since gets a snorkel even the grubby old ex work utes.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Get the Nissan Patrol or Land Rover driver to walk the crossing first, failing that then get the most culturally diverse person or any member of the Greens party you can find to do it. Having been caught out a few times by cyclonic rainfall where the dirt roads around the desert suddenly become long, skinny rivers I say definately get a snorkel.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Thinking about this a bit more in relations to the cape, even if you try and avoid a deep crossing you may not have any choice. If you go into somewhere like Chilli Beach you have to cross a couple of decent rivers, the Pascoe and the Wenlock; and loads of small ones. They may be shallow on the way in, but that doesn't mean they will be shallow when you need to leave! Oh and what if there is a Truck bogged in the middle of the river when you try and leave, you might not be able to go through the shallow part, don't laugh, it happens.




That is the Pascoe river coming out from Chilli Beach, where the truck is; is quite shallow. The other side of the tree is snorkel country.

Definately get a snorkel.

Cheers Andrew

[mepvic Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mepvic]

Thanks for all the good advice girls and boys. Looks like I have a few jobs to do in the next few months. Snorkel, diff and transfer case breathers.