diesel service

[Mickldo]

Do you (being 'locals' )think this time of the year to be the best for travelling routes like CSR - grunbarrel etc.
How about NT?

In the Outback the temps are pretty extreme. Boiling hot during Summer and cold during Winter especially at night. Like Rosco said those times are the best. The height of Summer is best avoided and the dead of Winter isn't the best either. Spring (Sept-Oct) would be the best time as the temps aren't to extreme and the Summer rains if any haven't left the tracks closed late into the season.

 

[Ron R]

Thanks for the info Mickldo.
Tho one can find a lot on the internet, it's always good to hear this from people first hand...

 

[Mickldo]

Exploroz is where you meet all the long distance inland travellers. The site is also wealth of info for traveling all parts of oz.
http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Default.asp

Im still in the planning stages(I have 3 weeks) but each day it looks more likely.

Lots of links on google to CSR and Gunbarrel

Thanks for the info Mickldo.
Tho one can find a lot on the internet, it's always good to hear this from people first hand...

As Rosco linked in the quote above the ExplorOz site is invaluable for planning a trip outback. I was born and raised out at Broken Hill and have done a fair bit of 4wding and touring out there but I still use this site for up to the minute information.

 

[roscoFJ73]

I had the valve adjustment done today. I got it done at An engine reconditioner as he had a full set of shims on hand.
I also asked him to diagnose an annoying rattle at 2200 rpms.
Well the rattle went away after the adjustment. It seems they havent been done for a while and some of them were too tight.
As the valve wears it recedes higher into the cyl head.
The mechanic managed to get the clearance to midway between max + and -
Overall the engine is so much quieter and smoother almost like new.

 

[Ron R]

I had the valve adjustment done today. I got it done at An engine reconditioner as he had a full set of shims on hand.
I also asked him to diagnose an annoying rattle at 2200 rpms.
Well the rattle went away after the adjustment. It seems they havent been done for a while and some of them were too tight.
As the valve wears it recedes higher into the cyl head.
The mechanic managed to get the clearance to midway between max + and -
Overall the engine is so much quieter and smoother almost like new.

You have to be a lazy dude !!!!

Going to a mechanic for replacing a clutch and valve adjustment.

Good the sound went after the adjustment.
But you said the sound was from valves being too tight??
I would say too much play or....???
First and last time I had to do some adjusting was at 160.000km. Now I've 220.000km. Checked in regular intervals (20.000), but no adjusting necessary.

Mickldo
As Rosco linked in the quote above the ExplorOz site is invaluable for planning a trip outback. I was born and raised out at Broken Hill and have done a fair bit of 4wding and touring out there but I still use this site for up to the minute information.

Thanks for the info. I know that site and every now and then go there to look for info. But it's good to know how you think about the quality of the site.

 

[roscoFJ73]

You have to be a lazy dude !!!!

Going to a mechanic for replacing a clutch and valve adjustment.

Ive done all these things on other vehicles but with the valves I wanted it done right for a long trip
Its also been 35 - 40 C the last week or so and my garage is too low for the cruisers.

Good the sound went after the adjustment.
But you said the sound was from valves being too tight??
I would say too much play or....???
First and last time I had to do some adjusting was at 160.000km. Now I've 220.000km. Checked in regular intervals (20.000), but no adjusting necessary.

I didnt say the sound was from them being too tight I guess some were loose too.
He was too busy to test drive it so I rang him back to tell him the noise had gone. He sounded a little surprised but glad,he had been hypothesising about a chipped piston
He said once theyve been done they dont usually need to be done again although the FSM says every 40k I think

Thanks for the info. I know that site and every now and then go there to look for info. But it's good to know how you think about the quality of the site.

I go there once a week but dont get too involved on the forum. There is too many alzhemic old farts locked into yesteryear that have too much time on their hands.
But the trip notes on fuel usage and things to see are worth it. They have maps for nearly every trail in oz

There is also some very knowledgeable landcruiser owners on there.

 

[tmarx]

Sounds like a nice trip Ross.

I have not had the good fortune to visit Aus for overlanding ,yet, so excuse the ignorance but is 7000 kms in 14 days not a bit much or do you plan on making long dashes at the beginning and end part of the trip with less distance per day inbetween?

BTW, you were correct about that 40

 

[roscoFJ73]

Sounds like a nice trip Ross.

I have not had the good fortune to visit Aus for overlanding ,yet, so excuse the ignorance but is 7000 kms in 14 days not a bit much or do you plan on making long dashes at the beginning and end part of the trip with less distance per day inbetween?

BTW, you were correct about that 40

Im cautiously hopefull it will be less than 7000klms by the inland route.
Also my 17 yo is has had some experience driving the cruiser on dirt.
I was looking at 4-5 days each way and I think I can stretch it to 17 days overall.
A friend just informed me he has a friend who is currently grading the road so at least it will be smooth

Do you mean the rust in that 40? Is there a link on LCCSA?

 

[tmarx]

Im cautiously hopefull it will be less than 7000klms by the inland route.
Also my 17 yo is has had some experience driving the cruiser on dirt.
I was looking at 4-5 days each way and I think I can stretch it to 17 days overall.
A friend just informed me he has a friend who is currently grading the road so at least it will be smooth

Do you mean the rust in that 40? Is there a link on LCCSA?

We did 6500 kms to Pomene(Moz) and back in Dec and I find the anklebiters can only take about 2-3 days of full driving at a time and no more so we usually try to plan the trips along those lines with enough stops inbetween.In July we are doing Southern Nam and Kalahari for 14 days culminating in the Nossob trail in Kgaglagadi

Yeah, it was that one with the "understated rust".No link on LCCSA, got the info from a friend of a friend of an aquaintance who looked at it

 

[brownbear]

brownbear, where are you from?! Paved everywhere? Speak for yourself! Maybe in the civilized south and rich BC they are... Go north a bit from Montreal and west a bit from Ottawa and off the tourist trails and our 'paved' roads quickly turn into gravel!

As for roads not having been paved for many years... I wouln't say since the 50s, but we certainly have our share of potholed roads that weren't paved since the 60s and early 70s, as I am a witness to that! The last 3km or road to my house is worse than many trails in the carribbean islands... And people ask me where I 'wheel'... How many people have broken their suspensions, their exhausts and even lost complete wheels on that road!!! Then we get a little red flag byb the side of the road for a few months, until it turns into compost... then they come agin put a new flag in... That's their idea of 'road maintenance'!!!

A few years ago I had visitors from Europe that I brought to a nearby stream with a nice swimming hole, just a few km away... Of course, the road was gravelled like many around where I live (BTW those roads are in better shape than the asphalted ones for the simple reason that they get graded once a year), I never even thought anything about it, they told me how astonished they were by the 'third world conditions'...

Canada, apart from the belt near the US border, is pretty much like Rosco's Australia, except for the temperature, and sands (we have bogs and black flies in the bush)...

I live 80km north west from Montreal and to this day, just a few km away from where I live you can get seriously lost in the bush with (what do you expect) NO cell phone service to help you out (I need a Yagi antenna on my roof and an amplifier to get a cell phone signal in where I live).

You read I was referring to the transcanada right? And it should be all paved.

I am in Northern BC. And the Yellowhead is paved to the coast, but all the other roads are gravel too.

And remote. With no cell service.

Yah lots of Canadian roads are gravel. LOTS

That wasn't my point. The longest highway in the world though is paved.

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-678/politics_economy/trans_canada/


All 7,821 kilometers of it!!

 

[83bj60]

You read I was referring to the transcanada right? And it should be all paved.

No I wasn't... Just referring to many of our highways here, not municipal roads (which are basically asphalt covered former bush trails)

I am in Northern BC. And the Yellowhead is paved to the coast, but all the other roads are gravel too.

And remote. With no cell service.

Yah lots of Canadian roads are gravel. LOTS

That wasn't my point. The longest highway in the world though is paved.

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-678/politics_economy/trans_canada/


All 7,821 kilometers of it!!

Did I touch a proud Canadian nerve here by any chance?

Sorry buddy, but in a country where 85% of the road taxes go back into general funding instead of the roads, we have nothing to be remotely proud of. At least not in our beloved province. When I think that it wants to call itself a country... Don't get me started, the election is still 3weeks away, but I'm mad as hell that no one has said anything about our appaling road conditions.

You should come and visit here and just feel the difference as soon as you cross into Québec. Invariably the kids would wake up every time we would get back into 'la belle province' from the drumming on the suspension... Yeah, 'je me souviens' how nice it was back in the 60s, and how dilapidated our roads have become since then. Luckily, I have a Land Cruiser to survive it. And to think that Transport Canada wants to take my right to import one away