Thread: Coffs 2012

Cheeky has been looking forward to her Coffs trip for ages now, she keeps rabiting on about how she is fine, the ignition module failure could happen to anyone and the tyre was not her fault, the mongrel Jeep stole her BFG’s.
I must admit I was a bit anxious about her reliability which was not helped by some of my friends running a book on how far she would get, the longest bet was Grafton, I thought “the end of the driveway” was a bit unkind.
Not leaving things to the last minute at all, I was at AustTyre at 1pm fitting Cheeky’s new Mickey Thompson MTZ when Greg asked me when I was leaving for Coffs, so I told him “How long does it take to fit 4 tyres”, turns out the answer is 40 minutes, back home, wheels on, Cheeky was feeling quite good about herself.


Henry home from school and off we set
We arrived, just after George so we set up camp and waited for the others to arrive, I may have delayed Dave and the crew, with a side trip into my place to pick up the vital GPS which I left at home.
Thank Dave et al

The camp fire went on for a little while that night


The next morning there were a few strange sights


Not sure what was happening to Fluffy


And who is this, am sure I remember them but it has been such a while


So on time at 8:30 the convoy set off


We soon arrived at Perseverance Hill, Cheeky did the first bit well, but on the tricky steep bit, she run out of puff, I rolled her back a bit ready to bump her back wheel over the step. I wound her up and let the clutch out, she jumped forward and something in the back went BANG

So if you had “First Hill on the first day” congratulations you won the pool.

The consciences opinion was that the rear diff centre had failed
Never mind the show has to go on, so everybody pitched in and soon enough the Tail Shaft and an axle was out, so Cheeky was capable of moving, all be it front wheel drive.

All the other trucks made it up the hill,



Philippe volunteered to drive back down to pick up Henry and I, so we could continue to Navigate at least.
We parked Cheeky back at the bottom of the hill, Philippe re-arranged the children to fit Henry and I in, and off we went to catch up to the others.
We decided that we would go and have a chop at Jeep Hill, on the way we came across “Widowmaker”
Tim showed the way,

Several of out trucks followed.


Jeep Trail was fun,



Ed drove his Fender hard, well driven Ed.


Some winching required here or there, but the traction control in the new fender took it many places which amazed us.


We took the scenic trip down the creek on the way to Commando.

The crew took on Commando and won, Fluffy even did it by remote control, video up shortly

On the way back to Camp, Tim run into a bit of strife.


We retrieved Cheeky, the crew traveled to camp, but I had another mission. During the day I phoned a friend and had been given a tip where I may be able to obtain a diff centre from an old Rangie.
With the prospect of towing my trailer home front wheel drive, I thought it was worth a look.
The rolling chassis in question was located in a paddock on Lowey’s place, the only problem was that it was up a hill, which I was assured I would not be able to do front wheel drive.

Never mind, Cheeky was keen to get wheeling again, so she limped her way up and up, until she made it to the old shed which had fallen over.
In under the lantana, was a Rangie chassis, I tried to turn the wheels but the break disks were rusted, I was loosing heart, rain was coming, but I decided to remove the axles, I put a screwdriver in the uni and managed to turn the centre, so seeing that it was not raining, I decided to drop the centre out.
After a protracted struggle a Rover centre emerged and hope was beginning to flicker.
I meet up with the crew at the Glenreigh pub.

Next morning Grimace pitched in and helped me swap out the broken Maxi centre to a fully sick 10 spline open centre.
When I say fully sick, I mean that the pinion seal cover was rusted to the housing, some of Pete’s WD40, some scratching and she was all good.

So a new book was up and running, “The front gate” was one option so Cheeky quickly ran there and back for a test drive. All good so the convoy left on time at 8:30!
Big thanks Grimace and all that helped...

We did Morbid Trail, half way Cheeky’s motor made some very strange noises, and stopped.
I thought it had turned into an octopus, but it turned out that the plug had come off the distributor module, and she was fine, but it did allow the pool winner to be found, Cheeky broke down on the first hill.

After that the day went well, except for Grimace and Pete both having worries about diff noises, but we managed to do Dump, Creek Step up, Jacko’s hill & Army before lunch, back to camp and home.


All without another Rover exploding.
I will let Grimace tell you about the pizza.

Thanks to all who made this a great trip.

Ps 10 spline Diffs Rule, especially those found in paddocks

Hey Ed,

Do you have a link to the gallery? i cant seem to find them?

cheers!
Pete