Fender on the Ghan... height of vechicle <2m ?

[pommie]

Further to my earlier posting about shipping a Fender from Darwin to Adelaide.... well the best options looks like having a nice (but very expensive very special treat) trip on the Ghan from Adelaide from Darwin.

They will ship your vechicle (with it's contents no problem) for some extra $$$. But there are height restrictions:
http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/the-ghan/taking-your-car.php

"Maximum width 2.2m. Maximum height Sydney – Adelaide/ Melbourne – Adelaide 1.57m; Adelaide – Darwin 2.00m. Roof racks, wind deflectors, louvers etc must be removed before loading."

Now - according to all info I can find - a Fenders (of the 300tdi vintage), are 2037mm "overall height" The 2007 model is 2021mm.

So.......... that is 37mm too tall for the Ghan! Officially they tell me that the limit is 2000mm.

So my questions are ...
1. have any of you taken a "too tall" defender on the Ghan ?
2. Is there any degree of height flexibility when you check-in ?
3. Can tyres be let down to reduce overall height by the necessary 4cm ???

Thanks again, Pommie

[solmanic]

What if you fully deflate the tyres?

...oops, didn't read question number three.

[Dinty]

G'day All, I have seen pix of a Series 2A 109 Bloodbox (ambulance) on a rail flat car, it was the Ghan but i dont know where it was loaded at, and I can tell you they are a fair bit taller than any stock 110 cheers Dennis:wasntme:

[Outlaw]

or throw some smaller tyres on if you have any

[DEFENDERZOOK]

if your suspension is standard.......and you dont have roofracks.......
with the load in the car and the standard defender droop.....you should come in just under 2m.......get your tape measure out and check.......

i dont think they allow deflating of tyres......but if you were to have your pressures set to 25 psi.....i dont think they would notice.....

deflated tyres reduce the stability of the vehicle on the train.....and.....if there are tunnels.....which is probably the reason for
the height restrictions in the first place.......
a soft tyre will allow the rig to bounce more than normal.....and may just hit the top......

but im sure they allow some sort of safety margin when they say 2m.....

you should be ok.....if you have roofracks on.....then you have no chance.....unless you take the tyres off and drive on the rims......

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I don't think the problem is the Defender on a flat bed hitting tunnels, The Ghan is a passenger train with car capacity, and I think you will find the car carrying part of the Ghan is a double decker with only 2 m clearance.

Freight trains on the same railway carry shipping containers and they are either 8"6" or 9'6" well over your 2M.

Can you see if you can travel on the Ghan and have your Fender go on a freight train?

Diana

[justinc]

Friends took their 130 DC on the trip a couple of years ago. They JUST scraped through fully laden. When I say JUST, it was THAT close, but yes, they would've been fine with 20 or so psi in the tyres he reckons.

JC

[mcrover]

Our disco fit on the Ghan, and it is 2 level car carrier which it goes on and there was another 4wd on there which they had to pump up the tyres on after they took it off, Im not sure what it was but I heard them talking about it and was going to lend them my compressor to do it but they came up with a propper compressor from some where at the station.

My only other piece of advice is dont go cattle class, it is bloody awful, the seats are like benchs and dont recline more than a couple of degrees and it is like being in a vacuum at night when everyone is asleep (if anyone got some) as there is soo little O2 in there that I stayed up all night in the dining car talking to other passangers and then slept in the car when we got it back off the train.

If your going to go via the Ghan then get a cabin, it would be worth the extra cash espesially for the extra time you will spend on it going to Darwin.

May be possibly cheaper and better to fly up off peak (late at night) and put the fender on as freight.

[Slunnie]

You'll probably also find that the heights given are those with the suspension at their highest tolerance. I think you'll find them to be at their lowest spec. Interestingly, almost all Disco2's are at the bottom end of the acceptable suspension range and a 2" lift brings it just over the maximum spec. I'd assume the Defender would be similar.

What I'm saying is check it with a tape measure.

[pommie]

Now, I know that I'm answering my own question but hey - it's good to share.

I experimented with my Defender - and I found that:

- A Fender with a heavy fridge in the back, and a full tank of fuel... has a highest point (the rear of the roof) of around 2010mm. 10mm over the Ghan 2 metres limit.
- If I drop the pressures in my BFGoodrich A/Ts to 20PSI all around... the highest point drops to well below 1990 mm. At least it's very obviously less than 2m.

So.... we made the booking for October ! :D BTW if you buy the Gold Kanga class tickets - it's an extra $299 to take your car. It's $199 if you travel in March, and a lot lot more if you have tickets in other classes.

Ta Pommie

[p38arover]

I took the Disco on the Ghan last year. I checked the height by laying a piece of timber across the roof and measuring the distance to the ground.

Check your Defender yourself.

[pommie]

Ok - I will answer my own question once and for all!
When you check your car into the Ghan (in my case in Adelaide) - they have an inverted "L" shaped stick that they use to measure the height of your vehicle. Our Defender - fully loaded (with no roofrack) was a "biro's width" too tall. The guy let us drive away, and drop the tyres for a retest. We got under the limit by a "gnats".

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v361/75/74/612493148/n612493148_1059346_1940.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1059347&id=612493148)
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v361/75/74/612493148/n612493148_1059178_7975.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1059258&id=612493148)

[p38arover]

We wanted to book the Forester from Sydney to Perth for our trip in March. It is 10mm too tall (for the Syd-Adelaide leg) so they wouldn't accept it.

So we have to drive the SYD-ADL legs bothways.

[Barefoot Dave]

Gettin' twitchy counting down the day til our Gulf mud (or dust) covered Disco gets loaded at Darwin.
:)$100 with 2 Gold tickets
:( $450 for the trailer on the back
Luxury for a day, then ****** (January) hot for a week around Alice, then back to (/Yorkshire accent) Lookshrey.
Nice.
Dave.

[p38arover]

If it wasn't for the staff discount, I couldn't afford the Ghan nor Indian.

[Barefoot Dave]

P38arover, Same here. Got very lucky (skillful actually) and won 2+2 GK tickets :):):)

Skill was putting up a 3 pers tent faster than all comers.;) True!

[p38arover]

P38arover, Same here. Got very lucky (skillful actually) and won 2+2 GK tickets :):):)

Skill was putting up a 3 pers tent faster than all comers.;) True!

You ripper! Fantastic! (.......and you must spend too much time camping! :D )