Thread: D3 stuck!

Well, went up to Wilbinga (just north of Perth) to try out the new beast in the dunes - car perfomed flawlessly, shame about the driver

After trying out the dunes at the 'bowl', we headed a little further south, looking for a shortcut to the beach. Heading towards a narly-looking track running up the dune that slid off to the left, I thought I'd take the safer option and run up the 'chicken track'. Ha!!

8O
"The best laide plans of mice and men, gang affa ..."

See the pics in my gghaggis/D3/Wilbinga gallery - the track _looked_ simple enough - so much so that I didn't bother to take a walk and a look-see first. It ended so suddenly, that at the top, all I could see was empty air.

Brown trousers time
8O 8O

The car was hanging off a 20m drop with its front wheels dangling over the edge. Jammed the brakes on, and as the car teetered on the top (visions of nosediving $80 000 of car into the beach below), bashed it into reverse and planted the foot.

(added link:
http://www.aulro.com/modules.php'set_album...=view_photo.php
)

The back wheels did their best - diff-lock activated.
The suspension did its best - bumped up to emergency profile.
Bloody front wheels were just lazing around, hanging in the air.
It managed to pull itself back a few inches, enough to be stable.

Okay, so no amount of computational trickery was getting me out of this.

An hour with the spade didn't improve things either. Bloody heavy things, these Disco 3s ...

And 27deg feels a _lot_ hotter, digging on top of a sand dune, when compard to drinks around the pool ....

A helpful trio of gentlemen in a V8 Jeep finally came into view and tried to snatch us backwards - but my 2.5 tonne baby (did I mention that it was _heavy_??) was staying put.

Oh look - what's this thing on the front - ah, the _winch_ ops:

Hmmm - trees are far and few between on WA beaches. Ah yes, the old "burying the spare tyre as a winch point trick" springs to my somewhat shocked and feeble mind (must be the heat and lack of beer, er fluids ...)

We all figure that it might _just_ be drivable going down the slope. Well, the term "all" really only included those who did not own a shiny new stuck D3, however, I eventually concurr with the group wisdom, and with great gusto, two of the younger lads from the Jeep, along with my son, dig a hole at the bottom of the dune for me to attach the winch to.

By the way, did I mention how heavy a D3 is.....? :roll: The winch steadily pulls half a sand dune + my spare tyre up the slope towards my rather stubbornly half-buried D3.

I've noticed how, with the ARB bull bar, the car actually looks like it's grinning at you - maybe it's just the heat ...

Second go, the lads now determined to dig a minature version of the Grand Canyon. After hurling my tyre down this crevase (you know, where you count the seconds to the 'thud' to see how deep it is), they bury it and we try again.

Sucess :!: :!:

The car actually moves forward at the same rate as the (rather impressive) sand tide moves up the slope towards me. But its enough to give me drive . On the other hand, I'm still attached to the spare wheel, that is now buried under the continental shelf somewhere just in front of me

The boys start digging _yet again_ (I wonder if those dowser rods would find a buried Landrover wheel??) and only half an hour or so later, retrieve my once shiny-new spare wheel. All the while, I'm teetering _yet again_ on the edge, waiting to take the plunge down the dune.

Finally time to try and fly/plunge/drive down the dune face. And at the bottom, I'll need to give it a _real_ sharp left turn to avoid burying the front of the car in the dune opposite.

Why don't I keep a flask of Glenfiddich in the car? I mean, it doesn't take up that much space, and it doesn't go off or anything. Must rectify that ...

5 secs later it's all over. The Disco just eased itself down the sand face - no fuss, no lurching, no screaming (well, not from the car anyway).

So that's it. 2 1/2 hours of panic finally resolved. My thanks goes to Murray and his lads who provided most of the digging effort.

But _next_ time ............


Cheers,

Gordon

Originally posted by Phoenix
Impressive track, but that's a ***** of a dropoff 8O 8O

You can say that again.



Cheers
Simon