Hi mate try a guy called Matt on 0458077555 ex hire from construction sites up north Axis Hire pretty late models at wholesale prices 

 Cheers bud, I guess its a lucky dip if they been hammered though or not?

 dmax or early colorados for the win, isuzu motors 

 I do alot of panel and paint for them but if you want one untouched just cleaned you might be surprised. Forgot to mention i  in bunbury to . 

 I’d buy an ex miner, places like Rio have good maintenance schedules for their vehicles and almost all the roads on the mine sites are black top these days, so it’s only parts of the mine driving on gravel and that’s graded a lot anyway. Obviously it’s buyer beware, but with a bit of homework, I reckon you could find a decent vehicle, unsure about hiluxs though since Rio stopped buying them 3 or 4 years ago due them not being 5 star mine spec.

 with the qualifier that there are still some that get a real flogging. The maintenance certainly gets done, but if they've been run in the pit, particularly by Development, they are getting far harder use than you can ever give them in private use. They replaced Hiluxes with Rangers some years ago (starting 2014?), due to the 5 star safety issue called for by their standards. What a disaster, Rangers just couldn't handle what had been dished out to Hiluxes, although, to be fair, some of those Rangers were also replacing Landcruisers. The chassis breaking issue is well known, but there was a high percentage of ECM failures, among other things. I trust that was all remedied in the current series.

Anyway, this is about Hiluxes. You are probably more likely to find ex-hire than ex-mining if you are looking for a Hilux nowadays, IMO. Although Rio are still disposing of 2012 Hiluxes, ours went at the start of this year, 150K on it, mostly bitumen use. And there are still quite a few of that vintage around TP, so they'll be going soon, too.

 Cheers fellas,

I was hoping there might be some middle aged fella that wants to upgrade his pride an joy even though he's serviced it reguarly and spent a shit load on all the extras...

 ON the ex miners are they ran in 4wd full time?

I know the ones at FMG are

 I had an ex thrifty hire one that was perfect condition and looked like it had never been off road. Just got to look at a fair few before you find a decent one.

 I’ve brought 3 ex-miner hilux’s dual cabs and one ex-miner landcruiser through auctions and all have turned out ok. I brought one private owner cruiser from the auctions and it was a lemon. The lemon is now the car I drive as I have put to much mone6 in it. 

 You were supposed to engage it when on unsealed roads. Was comprehensively ignored, unless it was genuinely slippery, because you know how the steering gets when your front and rear axles can't synchronise, for want of a better word, on hard unsealed surfaces, and as well, people knew what it did to transfer cases. 

 Yep indeed, I've only worked in exploration mining where i guess the country is rough n rugged.

Once the mine has been developed i guess those roads would be better than most else where in the state.

 Just be wary of anything that's been on Sunrise dam gold mine. The place is a salt pit.

Personally, I would never buy an ex mine site car - I've just seen too much punishment dished out over quite a few years.

But on the bright side, I'm sure there are some that have had a good life :-)

I can only speak for Rio cars, maybe other companies get better treatment.

Having worked in the underground Mining industry for many many years (too many) I can say that the greater majority of vehicles are driven like they have been stolen, personally I wouldn't touch one after knowing what happens to them.

Especially underground vehicles which never get out of 4 wheel drive, are speed limited and sometimes have the transmission locked so that you can only get three gears, the engines are generally thrashed.

Agree with Andy about Sunrise Dam, same goes for Granny Smith and Red October, the water is 7 times more salty then the ocean.

 Th open cut, and i'd venture that iron ore is totally diiferent to gold and nickel open cut, as well. As mentioned above, lots of salt in some of those desert operations. 

Anyway, young Tim, are you looking for the older 3L lD4D's or a later one. The later 2.8's  just shit all over the older ones, in every respect. Have driven both a lot, just no comparison. Never liked the older ones, no ground clearance, overgeared, horrible dash. New ones a totally different kettle of fish, I'd own one. With the disclaimer that I really haven't driven either really hard in 4WD.

 Pm d ya mate 

Pickles holds a government vehicles auction, which is different from the mining vehicles.  There are some good well maintained Hilux's that go through that one.

Bought mine from there a few of years ago.  3 years old, 80k on the clock for $22,500 ex GST (probably $30k at a dealer for a similar thing).  Been a great car and hasn't missed a beat, or cost any extra cash.

As with all auctions, there is a risk.  I looked at them on line for about 6 weeks (you can register and watch the actual auction on your computer) to determine price point, and went and looked at some of the cars before auction too (check actual condition and log books).  The mining ones were always in worse condition than the government cars.

We selected the one we wanted carefully, registered to bid and the whole process was fairly painless.  You just have to be aware of the auction beginners that will just keep bidding - know your maximum price and don't go over it as there will always be another one.

Good luck with it all.   

 The trouble with auctions i'm 3 hours outa Perth!

Ranmar, right now i need a ute to escape the winter!!

Basically got 2.5 weeks and counting before my leave date North, that puts a squeeze on things...

I actually dont even mind buying something and having it for 6 months until something better pops up but my last dual cab was the 07 ( kun 26R ) and it was an absolute ripper...

Although i'd like a nice newish car the reality is if i get one of them i still need a bush bashing/salt shaker for down south here...

Doesnt have to be a lux really either, I will be pulling my ally canopy of my old one and throwing it on what ever i buy, like i said i just have to make all this happen and get packed and leave home by the 6th