Thread: Meet my 90, and share the adventure.

Hi Mitch,
Great idea with the mudflaps,do you leave the locknuts on or depend on the loctite only?If you leave the nuts on,are they on the mudflap side?Thanks in advance.

Cheers Marty,
Loctite is spiteful stuff, I've still got the scars on my hand from where I punched the teeth of a flywheel ring gear trying to remove some flywheel bolts that were loctite'd in. I'm fairly confident the loctite will hold!

The lock nut arrangement was only used for installation. As it looks above, it's essentially just a M6 stud loctite'd into the existing riv-nuts which were installed at the factory. The lock nuts I used (ie 2 nuts on the stud screwed into each other) were mainly used by me to set the depth of the stud, and give me a hexagonal surface to wrench on.

If I'd had my time over, with a bit of messing about, it would not be too hard to sneak a M6 bolt thru the cross member from the inside... but the rear bar I have limits access in this way. Once the thread is in, you could easily use the 2 nut 'lock nut' trick to pull the bolt home from the other side (outside) of the cross member.

If I find that the wing nuts work loose over time, It would be easy for me to re-fit the standard fasteners by breaking the loc-tite loose, with a bit of heat, or simply replace the wing nuts with M6 nuts (nyloc or otherwise). Wing nuts have less thread surface than normal nuts, so working loose is a real possibility, hence why I put the R clip in, to prevent as much movement.

Hope that makes sense? Let me know if you need any more info!

Here I am back again to report some progress, albeit not as exciting as pervious posts... progress for the sake of progress, all a step in the right direction.


Since the quick release mudflap mod, I've revisited the old mudflaps I made out of 10mm scrap conveyor belt rubber while I was working out a 'better way' to deal with the inevitable demise of the new OEM set due to exhaust gas flow. I don't think I touched on their manufacture in this thread, but it was basically a 6 step process:
1) Acquire scrap rubber
2) Trace shape, cut out with knife
3) Bolt to existing bracket (bash back into shape with hammer if necessary)
4) Collect underpants
5) ???
6) Profit

They did the trick, but for the most part, I was rocking 1 mudflap because I was too lazy to fit the LHS one with the cut-out as it sat funny (curled up). The perils of second hand rubber...

Over the weekend I got cracking on a totally bodgy set of 'bush mudflaps' to go with my 'going out' mudflaps, which were on display in the post above.

The bush mudflaps are the same 10mm conveyor belt rubber, but I've added some aluminium flat bar (20mmx3mm flat) and some stainless hardware to bolt it together as a trim piece / stiffening brace.

Behold, in all its bodgy beauty.

Also added a few more kays to the old landy today:

https://goo.gl/maps/iwzKVPEvDwn



Found a nice free camping reserve on the cockburn river about 3km south of Limbri NSW. This is roughly 15 minute drive out of Tamworth, which has limited free camping facilities. Might even consider a sneaky weekend trip out there one time.

Today's adventure started out as a solid plan, which soon turned pear-shaped. In a good way.

This morning, Erin, El Burro and I set off for Nundle NSW, with the state forest squarely in our sights. The plan was to head south of Tamworth via Dungowan, then head into the forest via Duncan's creek road, which I've never taken before. From there, the forest is a network of graded roads, pine forest logging tracks, and has everything you could want from Axle deep bog holes, to rocky hill climbs, off-piste driving (if that's your thing), and everything else in between.

So we left sunny Tamworth, and as it turns out, Erin needed some lunch, So we stopped for a bite to eat. El Burro needed a tank of diesel, so it was done. And after all that, we were on the other side of town, so we took the New England Highway highway south of Tamworth, and turned off towards Nundle via Lilndsay's Gap Road, just for something different... Which meant we missed Duncan's creek road. Objective point 1 missed.

Once in Nundle, Erin wanted a drink at the pub (Peel Inn, Nundle), and Who was I to disagree? So it was done... Schooner of light for the driver and a Cider for the navigator.

It was then that we commenced the ascent up the hill towards the Nundle State Forest, but Alas! We spotted a sign saying 'Abandoned Antimony Mine'. I've never seen an antimony mine before, I thought, so we pulled over and had a wander towards the mine shaft excavated into the hill. Out comes the torch and a short foray into the darkness, and that was crossed off the bucket list. On the way out we were both bitten by an angry wasp. WTF I don't even...

So after the comedy of delays and changes to the plan, we ended up at the edge of the forest, at Devil's Elbow:



This is the same area where I have a photo of me in the snow last July. There is a bit of elevation up here, up to 1200m, and it gets nice and cool in winter. Snow is not uncommon, but even in summer, it's always shady and a good 5 degrees cooler than the low lying peel valley.

We aired down, and commenced the rocky ascent up the track, which is a loose surface of rocks up to about 100mm diameter. Traction control kicks in on occasion, and while 2nd Low is fine for speed, I've found the anti-stall and low 1 to be just as effective as long as you pick the line with the most apparent traction. Right on one of the most steepest parts, Erin noticed some blackberry bushes beside the track. When we were safe to stop, we wandered over and had a pick around.



From there, we met up with Cemetary road, and followed this back to the historic settlers cemetary.



We headed east along the Forest way, which heads towards Nowendoc, and was stopped shortly after by even more blackberry bushes calling Erin's name... All up we foraged about 3 Kg of blackberries. Sadly, my PPE wasn't up to par, and the thongs and shorts barely deflected the thorns, and I copped a few thorns to the shins and arms while picking. I found the best way was to use some pliers I had in the car to snap the twig off and pick the berries off the stem in a safer place. The only casulty was my favourite John Deere mesh hat which I used to carry the berries... the juice leaked all thru the hat and is now a pretty shade of pink I hope it's not terminal...

After getting back to the main road, I got talking to a group of 2 other 4wds who were heading into the forest to visit the abandoned mine. Never one to knock back an opportunity, I accepted their offer to tag along, and we spent a good hour walking along the hillside checking out out the mine shafts and remins of the gold rush that was in the area in the 1800's. Rumour has it that a old hermit by the name of 'Yankee' continued to live in the bush in the forest after the gold rush ended, and that he has a buried cache of gold sovereigns somewhere in the forest... Might go back to claim the riches another time


The old steam boiler that was used to driver the battery for crushing ore


The remains of one of the vent shafts, I'm shining the torch downn into this one... it was a sinkhole about 4m deep

After we finished, we headed back to tamworth with the spoils of an afternoon foraging, new mates, and a better understanding of the history of this little town, and the gold rush which has faded into the pine forest.



After dinner we made a few jars of blackberry preserve, so looking forward to trying it iver the coming days!

Definately looking forward to the next trip 'up the hill'. It goes to show that sometimes you just need to get out and amongst it to have an adventure. It doesn't always come knocking on the front door...


Booze Revooz: Bundy Red, Dry and lime. Would probably taste better while punching on at the local, because bundy drinker. But I'd like to think the dry and lime makes it a little more sophisticated, while not adding too much homosexuality to the equation.

TOOL REVIEW

Deutsch Crimp tool and connectors



Deutsch make some super high, OE quality connectors for a range of applications, but I'm mainly interested as a good way of creating my own weatherproof connections on and in the vehicle.

I've been after one of these for a while, and finally picked one up from an electrical wholesaler in town.
The crimp tool allows a 4-indent crimp on a copper barrel pin, of which there is male and female pins. These pins mate in the connector, and are an exceptionally robust join, and can even be specced to carry data with gold plated pins if need be.
Most automotive style connectors in the DT series connectors use the number 16 (16 gague) crimp tool, which in metric is up to about 2.52mm square CSA cable- ie your '15 amp' stuff from your favourite auto store. You can get tool that go from the small gauge up to the larger gauge pins, but they are prohibitively expensive- from 200-1500 bucks too rich for my blood...


For the consumables, the connectors are more expensive than the off the shelf 'narva' gear, but this can be weighed up against the range of connectors available to you. Due to the expensive nature of the connectors,
(anywhere from 10 bucks for the small 2-pin jobs, up to 200 bucks for the big 32 pin panel connectors), I've chosen to just buy as I need- they are readily available online or at larger auto stores.


My first project is to add a 3-pin connector to the rear work light to make it easily removed (I've got some ideas here )
Secondly, I'll be looking into some panel mount connectors. Because race-car.


Installation of the solid pins is a little fiddly, likewise setting up the connector, as there is lots of little bits to fit together to make it all waterproof and awesome. Nevertheless, it's a great system, and should provide years of service. The connectors are also fully rebuildable (can buy pins / housings, plugs, wedge lock etc, as needed).

For anyone interested, you can find the product guide >>here<<
There is also the option to run the connectors without the special tool and solid crimps, and use regular 'non insulated' style crimps instead.



Until next time,
"Be Excellent to each other"

Oh bugger... forgot tonight's Booze Rovooz!

A nice drop of Jack Daniels White label, with a dash 'o Diet dry ginger ale.
Oh so refreshing.

Originally Posted by Toxic_Avenger

[CENTER]

Deutsch make some super high, OE quality connectors for a range of applications, but I'm mainly interested as a good way of creating my own weatherproof connections on and in the vehicle.

I've been after one of these for a while, and finally picked one up from an electrical wholesaler in town.
The crimp tool allows a 4-indent crimp on a copper barrel pin, of which there is male and female pins. These pins mate in the connector, and are an exceptionally robust join, and can even be specced to carry data with gold plated pins if need be.
Most automotive style connectors in the DT series connectors use the number 16 (16 gague) crimp tool, which in metric is up to about 2.52mm square CSA cable- ie your '15 amp' stuff from your favourite auto store. You can get tool that go from the small gauge up to the larger gauge pins, but they are prohibitively expensive- from 200-1500 bucks too rich for my blood...

My first project is to add a 3-pin connector to the rear work light to make it easily removed (I've got some ideas here )
Secondly, I'll be looking into some panel mount connectors. Because race-car.


Installation of the solid pins is a little fiddly, likewise setting up the connector, as there is lots of little bits to fit together to make it all waterproof and awesome. Nevertheless, it's a great system, and should provide years of service. The connectors are also fully rebuildable (can buy pins / housings, plugs, wedge lock etc, as needed).

I've been using these on my series III project, they are super awesome! I got the 'racing' version although in hindsight should have gotten the higher amp ones... o well just have to be careful where I use them. I got a kit from fleebay from memory roughly $250-280, came with a few 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 12 pin plugs plus tools etc. I agree very expensive and a bit fiddly to get the pins into place, but seem to be the ducks nuts. I also love the reusability of them, I had put a 3 pin somewhere, then decided I needed an extra wire, so rather than adding another plug, just removed the plug from the pins, and used a bigger plug, added the wire, and no1 will ever know I did it plus the original 3 pin plug goes back in the kit to be used somewhere else.