1974 FJ40 through the Sahara and sand dunes! (1 Viewer)

[flx]

And we arrive to our 2nd camp.

As every evening, we are hanging around the fire with the 2 guides.

While the 2 cooks are at work.

And that's when I opened the hatch to install my camp that I discovered the first damage on the FJ40...

The tire carrier definitively bent, the upper silentbloc isn't touching anymore and the bottom one isn't tight.
Seems this old square carrier didn't appreciate the extra weight combined with all the shocks in the dunes :/
I don't have that much extra weight on the spare but for the rest of the trip I will remove the maxxtrax and the straps and put them inside (the bag will stay but with only the trash inside).

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

In the distance 2 German trucks, red one look stuck and is connected to the white one with a tensioned strap...
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No one seemed to be around when we drove nearby at the head of our convoy but end of convoy saw 1 person not wanting help.

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A little further we encountered a 3rd truck that was driving back toward them (no picture of it) and stopped to understand. They didn't have an official guide (even if it's mandatory), the red truck broke its front driveshaft... they wanted to pick it up with the 3rd truck and try to drive back to Douz to fix it and bring it back... Our guide offered to call a pickup to come solve the issue but they did not wanted to pay for that.

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Awesome reportage photo, thank you @flx !

PS. Cool encounter with these German trucks (impressive machines, anyway)!
Several decades ago it would end like this (see the video at my post #84)...

1974 FJ40 through the Sahara and sand dunes!

Nice encounter with the Cruisers of the Moroccan Military (the whole scenery reminds me Egypt and especially the Sinai peninsula...)! Several years ago you could even encounter these so rare LHD/conduite à gauche HJ47 of the Armée Royale... Safe travels mate! On the French forum there is a...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[MatthewMcD]

Awesome reportage photo, thank you @flx !

PS. Cool encounter with these German trucks (impressive machines, anyway)!
Several decades ago it would end like this (see the video at my post #84)...

1974 FJ40 through the Sahara and sand dunes!

Nice encounter with the Cruisers of the Moroccan Military (the whole scenery reminds me Egypt and especially the Sinai peninsula...)! Several years ago you could even encounter these so rare LHD/conduite à gauche HJ47 of the Armée Royale... Safe travels mate! On the French forum there is a...

forum.ih8mud.com

Not sure about the rest of you, but this is what I see.

 

[flx]

Awesome reportage photo, thank you @flx !

PS. Cool encounter with these German trucks (impressive machines, anyway)!
Several decades ago it would end like this (see the video at my post #84)...

1974 FJ40 through the Sahara and sand dunes!

Nice encounter with the Cruisers of the Moroccan Military (the whole scenery reminds me Egypt and especially the Sinai peninsula...)! Several years ago you could even encounter these so rare LHD/conduite à gauche HJ47 of the Armée Royale... Safe travels mate! On the French forum there is a...

forum.ih8mud.com

xD

Little spoiler of the end but back at the camping in Douz after the trip we saw the 3 trucks there also. So whatever chenanigan they were about it seems they made it out

For the rest of the story it will need to wait for a few days, I have a computer issue and I need to have it fixed before to be able to keep going...

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

xD

Little spoiler of the end but back at the camping in Douz after the trip we saw the 3 trucks there also. So whatever chenanigan they were about it seems they made it out
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For the rest of the story it will need to wait for a few days, I have a computer issue and I need to have it fixed before to be able to keep going...

Baden-Württemberg guys...

 

[bj70bc]

xD

Little spoiler of the end but back at the camping in Douz after the trip we saw the 3 trucks there also. So whatever chenanigan they were about it seems they made it out
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For the rest of the story it will need to wait for a few days, I have a computer issue and I need to have it fixed before to be able to keep going...

seems like they'd be too heavy for the sand....

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

...back at the camping in Douz after the trip we saw the 3 trucks there also. So whatever chenanigan they were about it seems they made it out
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Probably the Jerries got help from the locals, that way...
PS. Pic taken in Tunisia...

 

[MatthewMcD]

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For the rest of the story it will need to wait for a few days, I have a computer issue and I need to have it fixed before to be able to keep going...

The red one looks like a "Tundra Bus" for looking at Polar Bears.

 

[flx]

2 extra video from the 2nd day I just received. It was still the morning on the way to Lake Erreched, so the fact that we encounter other people and sand all mixed by traces.





You can see that I need to force quite a bit more than others to pass those kind of obstacle (as always looks nothing in video but in reality you feel like at the bottom of a well). Morning of day 2 my pressure were still quite high.
During the 3rd day I will end up on my final tire pressures, 0.7b (10PSI) front and 0.6b (8.5PSI) rear, hot pressures. With those pressures my tires will finally start to get malleable and work great in sand (at 0.8b / 11.5PSI they were still not moving), at those pressure the FJ40 will work great in sand and actually I will manage to do multiple days in a row without getting tanked and get up gigantic bowls!

Some said it's because the XZL were hard as rock, I think the issue is mostly the very low weight of the FJ40 and that 7.50R16 tires are made for vehicles up to 4T, as we will see later some other tires in the same size are even stiffer

 

[flx]

Photo finish

Maybe there is a reason the spare carrier was bent at the end of this day


First one too

Still less of a shock to land from those jumps on the front, with the full travel of the leaves, than the rear that bangs at every occasion.

 

[flx]

Ok it is time to start the 3rd day, we have a long day ahead!

Last evening I finished the day with cramps to both biceps in addition to my palm skin burning. Thankfully the only woman of our group is the saver here and lends me her hand cream which will really help.
In addition to the physical tiredness, those 2 first days were also very stressful and a bit anxious with all the permanent angles and instable terrain we are evolving on. But I'm more and more comfortable with the dune driving, I'm improving my driving and hopefully I will be more able to focus on the scenery and enjoy surfing at the top of the dunes.


This night was quite fresh, at 9am there is still some frost on the sand.

Very beautiful and a rare spectacle to see the dunes sparkling in the distance but I was hoping on warmer nights

We call that between us, to do the crow, perched on top of a dune with the 4 tires out of the ground.

Thanks to the SWB of the 40 that will be my only time getting tanked like that but for longer wheel base vehicle that is a lot more common (even for the guides).

Someone else tanked

Climbing toward the top...

 

[flx]

Surfing the dunes...

 

[flx]

Arriving at a nice spot we stop to admire the view and take some photos.
I promise I didn't park flexing on purpose

You may recognized from the pictures that is where I figured out the problem with the OME rear leaves touching the rear hangers instead of the bump stop...


This is also the first time the drone was out =D

 

[flx]

As we parked up there I signaled to my teammate that my engine is making an unusual sound. So we start looking for where it's coming from and what it could be and we quickly identify that it's an exhaust leak at the manifold to tube connection.
Not a big problem! But it quickly leads to look under the vehicle and for sure the silencer clamp (it's not the original one and it is slightly too large) is hanging loose on the tube... The whole exhaust must have moved when I did my little figure at the top of a dune the 4 wheels in the air... Original routing on a 1974 is going under the bash plate...
We just wait a bit (admiring the scenery) for the FJ40 to cool down to put back the clamp in place, and for the manifold I'll try to tighten the 2 nuts at the end of the lunch break.

And while lying under the truck to put back the clamp I notice the rear differential pinion seal is leaking... quite easy to spot when the whole truck is covered of sand... the only greasy spot.
The first thought of the group is that the diff breather must be blocked (and the diff probably got quite hot in a big dune ascent) so we try cleaning it with some pressurized air... and it will do the trick! No more oil will get out from the pinion seal of the trip!
Early detection probably saved the seal.

Nice spot to tinker, isn't-it?

 

[flx]

Let's go again!

 

[flx]

Finally time to get down in the gassi for the lunch break!

 

[MatthewMcD]

Arriving at a nice spot we stop to admire the view and take some photos.
I promise I didn't park flexing on purpose
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You may recognized from the pictures that is where I figured out the problem with the OME rear leaves touching the rear hangers instead of the bump stop...


This is also the first time the drone was out =D
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Epic shot!

 

[MatthewMcD]

Let's go again!


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Are you in 4L most of the time?

 

[flx]

Are you in 4L most of the time?

On the 3 first days I played around the gear to try to find the best gear but from the 4th day I will be in 1st high most of the time.
I used low gear for any maneuver at the bottom of a bowl, when stuck, or backing-up from big ascent attempt... I think I never switched between high and low that much than during that trip!

Staying in low gear has the advantage of not needing to switch between lo and high all the time but in the end 3rd low was too long, not enough torque in very steep ascent and a minimum speed too fast for moment I need to go slow (to turn sharply, to pass very steep bump without destroying my suspension, etc.). During day 2 and 3 I used 2nd low quite a lot and it worked quite good 80% of the time but, it's a bit short to get enough inertia in big ascents and for most of the driving it means I stay quite high in revs so more fuel consumption. 2nd low was mostly a way to have more control when I was still a beginner in the dunes and not completely in control.

In the end 1st high (of an H41) was the perfect ratio of control, torque and max speed/inertia. It would probably be different with a H42.

 

[bj70bc]

Thank you for showing us all this, its a great mini fake vacation for all of us i think, we get to dream a bit of somewhere else doing what we all love to do.

I know you have guides but how in the hell are you not getting lost out there, or do the guides just not tell you when they dont know where they are