Camper trailer Rescue

[Tank]

Just got a distress call from a Triton owner that had to leave his trailer on the Dampier mt. FT out of Bendethra, on the way down to recover it now and take it onto Cooma, gonna be a long night, let you know how it goes, regards Frank.

[Ean Austral]

Hope it all goes well Tank , stay safe.


Cheers Ean

[Road Stone]

That's very good of you.


What sort of mileage involved in doing that?


Cheers, Jerry

[vnx205]

Presumably the Triton owner hadn't read this.

Applies from Wed 24 Sep 2014, 10.00am. Last reviewed: Wed 7 Oct 2015, 3.04pm.

Safety alerts:
Some fire trails not suitable for trailer access
Within Deua National Park some trails are not suitable for trailer access. National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has had advisory signs in place for some time to encourage people towing 4WD trailers to avoid some of the steeper, harder-to-maintain trails in Deua National Park. However, due to ongoing damage to trails as a result of continued inappropriate use of 4WDs towing trailers on these signposted trails, NPWS is now prohibiting the use of trailers on the following trails in Deua National Park:
Dampier Mountain trail
Oulla Creek trail
Minuma Range trail
Merricumbene trail
Mongamula trail
Dry Creek trail
It is now an offence to tow trailers on these trails. The penalty for towing trailers on these trails is a $300 penalty infringement notice, or higher if the matter is taken to court. By keeping trailers away from these identified trails, you reduce the safety risk to yourself and others, reduce damage to the park environment and your assets and reduce park maintenance costs, a benefit to everyone. Trailer access to Bendethera is still available from Moruya via Little Sugarloaf Road and Bendethera trail. From Braidwood, this increases travel time by about 30 minutes to 1 hour. For more information, please contact NPWS Narooma on (02) 4476 0800.

Deua National Park | Local alerts | NSW National Parks (http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/Deua-National-Park/Local-alerts)

[Redback]

That's very good of you.


What sort of mileage involved in doing that?


Cheers, Jerry

Not so much how far it is, more how long it takes due to the steep terrain, so it's slow going.

If you know what you're doing, Dampier Trig is not that hard, add rain though and it can be quite slippery.

I'm supprised it was open if they have had all the rain they say they have, anyway he shouldn't have been on the track with a trailer in the first place.

[Tank]

That's very good of you.


What sort of mileage involved in doing that?


Cheers, Jerry
I have with my Son a Recovery and Towing business, I get paid for our work, don't want to give the impression that I'm a good soul rescuing trapped/bogged 4wd'ers, just letting those that know Bendethra and Dampier Mt. FT of our latest adventure, Regards Frank.

[Tank]

Not so much how far it is, more how long it takes due to the steep terrain, so it's slow going.

If you know what you're doing, Dampier Trig is not that hard, add rain though and it can be quite slippery.

I'm supprised it was open if they have had all the rain they say they have, anyway he shouldn't have been on the track with a trailer in the first place.
Baz and Allan, that was the hardest I've ever worked to earn a Quid in my life, got a call yesterday evening, from a nice bloke who had to park his Jayco Swan Outback part the way up Dampier Mt. FT (DMFT) leading out of Bendethra camping area.
Another couple of campers nearby told him he shouldn't have any problems pulling his Van up this trail, one even supposedly drove 8k's up the trail and came back and said he shouldn't have a problem (nice bastard) Baz it was dry as a bone, but the first river crossing (from Moruya side) was up level with the bonnet, hard to read the depth at night.. He has a late model Triton 3.2 ute with a lift and some reasonable tyres. I was told this Jayco only weighs 1500kgs., I believe it was 5.3M. long and it was at least 600 to 700mm wider than the Disco, when we got to the van I had to drive over the edge of the drain to get in front, it was about a kilometre from the first switchback on the steepest loose gravel section.
We were told that the Jayco electrical pin was compatible with our adaptor, it wasn't and it was too hard to match them up on that slope that we decided to do it later on flat ground, there's nothing worse than trying to work in the dark on a steep slope like this.
So after having fun trying to get the hitch onto the Disco we were finally ready for the big pull.
My Son Myles stood on the drawbar to operate the brakes manually, I was worried about getting dragged backwards by this Van, which I swear weighs well over 2 tonne.
Locked in both diffs, Low Range and the Auto in 1, at just above idle I was able to get to the next eco drain, but couldn't get the Van up and over.
Hooked up 2 9m. chains and with one layer of wire left on the winch, dragged and drove up to the next Eco drain (best thing since sliced bread).
There was only one more drain to get over before the reasonably level ground before the first switchback.
The plan was to wire up the brakes from the Van to the Disco and turn around at the switchback and drive back out the way that we had come in.
But had confidence I could get to the top, boiled the engine in the next section to Minuma FT. Used up all the spare water in the Disco and drained the Van water tank as well.
Once out of Duea nat, park onto Snowball to Cooma, that road must be 20 miles long, straight up, boiled up 3 or 4 more times, had to scrounge some water from a creek in pitch black, funny how batteries go flat just when you need them, Son had to use the light from his phone to clamber down to a trickle of water.
We were using this same phone light to illuminate the temp gauge needle which for some reason wasn't lighting up.
Well after hours of waiting for the engine to cool, thank christ I fitted a MLS type gasket instead of a Composite head gasket, we finally got to Cooma, got paid and went and had brekky at Macca's, the trip from Cooma to Queanbeyan took forever, we could only drive 10 minutes or so before we had to stop because of dozing off at the wheel, finally got home (Moruya) around 11am.
I know this bloke shouldn't have taken that size van up that FT, but he was given **** advice by someone who was supposedly familiar with the terrain and I couldn't find any sign of signs warning not to take C/T's on this FT, some dick may have knocked the signs down, common practise, so I made some money and the Jayco and it's family are back on the road again, I would hate to have to tow it all the way back to Qld., Regards Frank.

[p38arover]

Jeez, Frank, did you have to show the Triton up with a crappy Land Rover? :D

I hope the boiling hasn't harmed anything.

[digger]

So whats your company motto?

You flog it and bog it and we'll slog it out

Got yourself stuck? You need a tank in a truck!

My old footy club use dads nickname to name the kids
So Spanner (the mechanic) has socket as his kids nickname
Im Digger so my son is trench

On that theory..is your son called halftrack or apc or what? :)

Hope the car is ok.

[justinc]

Well done Frank. Great job to have that makes you think and is adventurous at times too!!!

Jc

[350RRC]

So whats your company motto?

You flog it and bog it and we'll slog it out................



'Mug......you,

slug you'

just kidding DL. Tank is great.

[Tank]

Jeez, Frank, did you have to show the Triton up with a crappy Land Rover? :D

I hope the boiling hasn't harmed anything.
Thanks Ron and the others, the engine has made it through all right, it was a worry, previous to fitting a MLS type head gasket it only took one boil up to blow the gasket.
I think I need to wind the fuel back down a touch, driving up Snowball (I can't believe that this road is so long without a level or downhill section) watching the EGT gauge and the temp gauge, driving in 3rd. gear EGT temp was around 520 to 550, change into OD. and the EGT would jump 50 and more degrees instantly, change back into 3rd. and almost instantly back down 50 degrees. Trouble was not enough road speed to keep the air flow up enough to help cool, so whenever the needle hit "H" I would pull over and let the engine cool a bit and the Ambient temp. was still pretty warm.
The old disco felt like a sports car once we had dropped the Van at Cooma, have to give it a treat, like a new trans filter and oil change, it certainly earned it.
Also learnt that just very lightly applying throttle and keeping it under or at 1000rpm is the ideal (for my Disco anyway) to pull a load off the mark uphill, only got wheel spin if I let the revs go over, suprising how much grunt down low, I have 4.11 diff gears, so that helps.
That was our second recovery in this area, had a few calls from distances far enough away to make it not viable like up North of Sydney, much safer to stick to areas that we know, we also have a 20" tray truck that we can load the disco on and get as close to the recovery (for vehicles that have broken something and can't be driven) as possible.
So I hope our Triton and Jayco owner, his Missus and kids enjoy the rest of their holidays, so if you are contemplating taking a Van the size of a Jayco off road, check with the local NPWS office or State Forests, don't rely on some dick who thinks he'll have some fun at your expense, thanks to all the replies, Stay safe, Regards Frank.

[Tank]

Thanks Ron and the others, the engine has made it through all right, it was a worry, previous to fitting a MLS type head gasket it only took one boil up to blow the gasket.
I think I need to wind the fuel back down a touch, driving up Snowball (I can't believe that this road is so long without a level or downhill section) watching the EGT gauge and the temp gauge, driving in 3rd. gear EGT temp was around 520 to 550, change into OD. and the EGT would jump 50 and more degrees instantly, change back into 3rd. and almost instantly back down 50 degrees. Trouble was not enough road speed to keep the air flow up enough to help cool, so whenever the needle hit "H" I would pull over and let the engine cool a bit and the Ambient temp. was still pretty warm.
The old disco felt like a sports car once we had dropped the Van at Cooma, have to give it a treat, like a new trans filter and oil change, it certainly earned it.
Also learnt that just very lightly applying throttle and keeping it under or at 1000rpm is the ideal (for my Disco anyway) to pull a load off the mark uphill, only got wheel spin if I let the revs go over, suprising how much grunt down low, I have 4.11 diff gears, so that helps.
That was our second recovery in this area, had a few calls from distances far enough away to make it not viable like up North of Sydney, much safer to stick to areas that we know, we also have a 20" tray truck that we can load the disco on and get as close to the recovery (for vehicles that have broken something and can't be driven) as possible.
So I hope our Triton and Jayco owner, his Missus and kids enjoy the rest of their holidays, so if you are contemplating taking a Van the size of a Jayco off road, check with the local NPWS office or State Forests, don't rely on some dick who thinks he'll have some fun at your expense, thanks to all the replies, Stay safe, Regards Frank.
For some reason, I left a section out of this quote from above post and as the "Edit" bit was gone I will explain in this post.
Quote: "Trouble was not enough road speed to keep the air flow up enough to help cool, so whenever the needle hit "H" I would pull over and let the engine cool a bit and the Ambient temp. was still pretty warm."
What I needed to add was that the major cause of the heat was the fact that I was allowing the engine to "Labour" with too much throttle, even when labouring the temp. would drop just by backing off a touch on the throttle.
The solution was to drop back a gear and adjust the throttle so that the engine was in it's sweet spot and not over revving or labouring.
Trouble with this was that as I said above in prev. post ambient temp was up around 20 degrees and the vehicle wasn't moving fAst enough to take advantage of the airflow, hope that explains it a bit better, Regards Frank.

[350RRC]

The situation you describe Frank, re: road speed and airflow, becomes totally irrelevant with thermofans.

cheers, DL

[Blknight.aus]

I reckon theres more at play here than the faux requirement of thermo fans...

somethings wrong with his cooling system, his driver technique or his engine is having breathing/bad fuelling issues.


all the clues are in his post...

[V8Ian]

I reckon theres more at play here than the faux requirement of thermo fans...

somethings wrong with his cooling system, his driver technique or his engine is having breathing/bad fuelling issues.


all the clues are in his post...

Make sure the muffler's not partially blocked.

[Tank]

I reckon theres more at play here than the faux requirement of thermo fans...

somethings wrong with his cooling system, his driver technique or his engine is having breathing/bad fuelling issues.


all the clues are in his post...
Dave did find that the air filter had partially collapsed, so wouldn't have helped, also the boost compensator needs tuning back down a touch, also Dave the fact that the road that i boiled up on was a constant climb for many kilometres (over 20+) with out a level or downhill section and the van weighed well over 2 tonnes and was like towing a parachute, even when I got to a downhill section, also after the first boil up on DMFT I was using straight water to top up the radiator and engine, no coolant left after first incident, the Disco was working hard, if there was a problem with the cooling system it would never had made it to Cooma.
Ian I don't have a muffler, straight thru with a 3" resonator on the very end (not blocked), Regards Frank.