This is
September 2008 copy of our
email newsletter. To have your newsletter sent to another email
address, to have the newsletter sent to a friend or submit some information or
an article for consideration simply send us an email with the details to sales@alltrac4wd.com.au
or post to 305 South Rd Mile End SA 5031
Alltrac
4WD
305 South Rd Mile End SA 5031
Hi and
welcome to Alltrac 4WD’s September 2008 email
newsletter.
Regards Peter Young.
Land Cruiser
200 Series GVM [ Gross Vehicle Mass ] upgrade
Reason for the Upgrade.
Ridepro Suspension has assessed that a fully rigged Toyota 200 Series which
includes a bar, winch long range tank, storage system and spare wheel carrier
can be close to or over the manufacturer’s GVM of 3300kg without any people in
the vehicle.
The Fix.
Ridepro have an upgrade suspension kit including new springs and shocks and
Engineer ‘s certification plate increasing the legal GVM to 3580kg. The kit can
only be fitted by an authorised installer such as Alltrac 4WD.
Ridepro Toyota 200 Series GVM upgrade kit includes: Front
and rear shocks and springs, installation, 4 wheel wheel alignment,
certification and compliance plate. $1936.00.
Super special for Alltrac Email newsletter
recipients.
September and October 200 Series Suspension and GVM upgrade $1839.00
Cooper
Trip 1st to 6th September.
Initial outlook for the trip was not good as we left town on
Saturday for our rendezvous at Farina to start the trip Sunday morning.
Constant rain all the way to Hawker but then it cleared well before we had to
hit any dirt roads.
8 vehicles and crew assembled after breakfast at the Farina camp ground about
20k north of Lyndhurst, 3 Toyota 100 series diesels, 1 Factory Turbo, 1 Aftermarket
Turbo and one naturally aspirated, a Hilux 2.8 dual cab, 2 Prado’s a 95
series and 120 series, a Troopy with pop top camper conversion and a new Toyota
V8 tray top.
After a fuel top up at Marree we headed up the Birdsville Track intending to head
west from Ettadunna Station to the old Mission at Kilalpaninna but due to the
recent rain were unable to use the tracks. Instead we headed north and then
west along a boundary fence track to the ruins of Murrapitirinna Well station
originally established in the 1890’s. The day soon disappeared and we retired
to a pleasant campsite between the dunes.
Back through Mulka Station [ apparently the driest inhabited place on earth
according to Guinness Book of Records ] . Checked the rain gauge for them and found
that they had over 15mm in the last few days. After crossing the Birdsville
track and now heading west to wards Lake Hope we had our first recovery
exercise crossing Red Lake as 3 vehicles bogged down well and truly. We spent a
bit of timing confirming the supposed location of Lake Hope Station and
revisited one of the camps marked with a blazed tree by explorer John
McKinlay in 1861 on his relief expedition to find Burke and Wills.
The next couple of days we followed the Cooper Creek system north and east
camping at Parrachirinna Water Hole. From here we travelled past old Kanowna
Station to the Walkers crossing road and on into Innaminka to resupply
before heading out to Coongie Lake for a very pleasant camp on a peninsular on
the southern side of the Lake.
The next day some participants did a fairly arduous walk out further east to
the channel joining Coongie with Lake Marroocoolcannie. The others headed back
toward Innaminka stopping at Kudriemitchie Outstation to repair a gutter. [
Kudrumichi is maintained by the Toyota Landcruiser Club of which some
participants are members].
As tonight was Wendy’s Birthday [ somewhere beyond 21yrs] we had a celebratory
meal in the new 120 seat 4 star restaurant at the pub.
From Innaminka it was time to head towards home via some interesting side
tracks out to the site of another old homestead [ Carraweena ] a
bit of a late camp at Monte-Collinna bore as the leader become hopelessly
bogged in quicksand for an hour or two due to a navigation error. [ I
didn’t read the ground ]. Then we headed on the home run down to Yunta and
finally Adelaide.
During the trip we had 3 mechanical repairs one on a participants vehicle [
loose wheel bearing ] .
In this instance the driver noticed that the brake pedal was very low after
driving for a while but came good after pumping the pedal a couple of times.
This was caused by a very loose front wheel bearing that by movement was
actually pushing the brake pads back into the caliper, we jacked it up and had
a wheel bearing adjustment lesson on the side of the road.
On the Walkers Crossing road we came across a Jackaroo that had died in the
middle of the track and after trying to use his HF radio it also died. While
some of the participants diagnosed a crook fuse on the radio I found a blow
master fuse on the vehicle [ 80 amp ]. Of course nobody had a spare but we
cobbled together two 40 amp fuses and some wiring and got him going.
The last was different for me as it was a BMW motor bike in the
Innaminka car park. After dismantling half the bike we found an alternator
fault and unfortunately could not help him further, it probably ended up on a
truck.
In summary a very pleasant trip with excellent companions
over 2700km in 7 days.
You
have to have the right tools to do the Job
In the trip report above we mention a wheel bearing problem
that was sever enough to require immediate repairs. If the problem had not been
rectified on the side of the road it is likely that the wheel bearings would
have failed completely and if not detected seized and finally snapped the sub
axle and lost the wheel and steering.
In this instance the wheel bearings had only been repacked prior to the trip.
The procedure to adjust wheel bearings after repacking is to tighten the
bearing adjuster nut until it locks, this forces out any grease trapped behind
the bearing allowing it to seat fully home. Then the adjuster nut is backed off
until loose and re-tightened to the correct tension [ virtually zero]. In this
instance the repairer who did the job did not have access to the correct 55mm
socket spanner and had tightened the wheel bearing nuts by turning them with a
hammer and centre punch. He was unable to place enough tension on the nut to
ensure that the bearing was fully seated and also unable to feel the correct
final tension.
In summary whilst the technician doing this job may well be well qualified and
experienced, with out the correct tools he is unable to do the job to the
required trade standard. We at Alltrac 4WD have invested heavily in tools
and training to ensure that you vehicle is repaired to the best standard and
quality and does not end up on a jack on the side of the road.
Tyredog
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System
Tyres are dammed expensive, low tyre pressures cause
accidents. The Tyredog in cab tyre pressure monitoring system [ TPMS ], saves
dollars and lives.
There are a few TPMS systems on the market now. I have used the Tyredogs for
about twelve months now and believe they have several advantages over some
other brands.
Firstly Tyredog’s are fitted externally in place of the valve cap, easily
fitted, easily swapped to spare wheels or even to anther vehicle and not prone
to damage by tyre fitters as can happen with TPMS mounted within the tyre.
Secondly Tyredog’s do not need to be hard wired into the vehicle, the two AAA
batteries in the dash unit will last at least 12 months.
On our last trip the Tyredog system alerted me to one tyre with a slow leak
which we easily topped up every couple of days. As we were running low pressures
on sand and dirt roads it is most likely that I would have run it flat and
destroyed the tyre.
I probably saved $300 worth of tyre on this trip alone at a cost of $399,
not a bad investment, better return than the share market. And of course from a
safety point of view the undetected low pressure particularly at speed
could have contribute to a major accident.
Super
special for Alltrac Email newsletter recipients.
Tyredog 4 Tyre monitoring system $349.00 and Tyredog 6 Tyre monitoring
system $449.00 purchased with any service during the months of September and
October 2008. And we will fit them for free.
Alltrac
4WD - Professional 4WD Service, Repairs, Modifications, Wheel Alignment, Suspension Systems,
Diesel/Gas Conversions.
