Thread: how often do you / would you repair your car?!

Reads like he was flogging it a bit with the leaf spring tally and rolling it, not good with electrics (or had shares in champion ign components) and was a firm believer in crisis maintenance.

DL

sounds like a D2....

Since I have always had reasonably new 4wd vehicles (or ones maintained by someone else) I'll document my experience with my 1968 ute which I'm happy enough to jump into and drive 500KM tomorrow. Starting with an unknown vehicle there is a period of trial and error where you are effectively testing the vehicle to tell what is starting to fail and replacing it. This requires an amount of mechanical sympathy and the ability to return home to do repairs without inconvenience. As you build a level of comfort with the vehicle you begin to have a bit more faith that it will perform without fault. Once you have achieved this level of trust then the vehicle should be as reliable as any other within the design constraints of its intended purpose.

We are about to embark on this journey with SWMBO's CJ10 jeep which was retrieved from a farm near Wangaratta and is nearing its roadworthy. It is amazing how many things can need replacing on a vehicle that has not been maintained over a number of years. This one was a pretty complete and drivable farm vehicle when we got it but we have found many things that are worn out, broken or probably worse, have been repaired with the only bits available at the time. When we have finished we should be able to use it within its design spec but you can't ignore the technological improvements that have gone into vehicle engineering in the last 40 years or so.

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by prelude

I was scouring the internet for travel stories and vehicle inspirations when I came across this bloke; Christopher Many. Christopher Many im Interview - gooutbecrazyTurns out the guy has been around on a bike, with a car, a bike and now a van. I particularly liked the story about his series landrover. I have translated the relevant part from german to english:



From what I can gather he did 200.000K's in eight years time. Scroll down to question 11 in that article. He also broke the chassis and replaced it with another he found 1000k's further along his travels, using 2 trees as a splint to get there. I guess that is where I would draw the line

In any case, this is of course an exception to the rule. He bought a derelict series III that had been standing around in a field in Scotland so it was bound to have been a bit needy on maintenance Having said that, where would you draw the line in terms of repairs?

Cheers
-P

Having said that, where would you draw the line in terms of repairs?

Probably from about your use of the word "From" .

@tote I fully agree mate I am currently in the progress of rebuilding a TJ wrangler for a mate of mine. We took it apart, ordered some 60 new parts (bushing, shockies, well the lot) and had the chassis sand blasted. There were some rotten parts of course but them yanks are so fond of their 4bees that you can buy prefabricated chassis parts for the bloody thing at less cost then me fumbling around. The car should be up and running before the end of the year. In any case, years of just doing the needed does really show up!

@4bee Let's see how far you make it this post

I have seem more of these sorts of stories. I guess that's where some of the perceived reliability issues come from. People who think: lets travel the globe, they buy a random car and start of. A neglected 30 year old land rover with enough K's on it to reach the moon is bound to give you some strife along the way (any car for that matter). I just thought it was a funny story. The guy simply stuck to it and kept going. His low budget and inexperience no doubt caused at least half of the repairs he had to make if not more (bush found spares pulled from wrecks tend to last about as long as dry weather in my country :P)

Cheers,
-P

Originally Posted by 350RRC

Reads like he was flogging it a bit with the leaf spring tally and rolling it, not good with electrics (or had shares in champion ign components) and was a firm believer in crisis maintenance.

DL

What '350RRC' said and....

3 gearboxes? also..."and I fell over several times in Africa" ?? Surely you would adjust your 'driving style' to suit the conditions?

Not too sure I would lend this guy my D2 to go down to the 7-11 to buy me a packet of smokes....

Originally Posted by mylesaway

What '350RRC' said and....

3 gearboxes? also..."and I fell over several times in Africa" ?? Surely you would adjust your 'driving style' to suit the conditions?

Not too sure I would lend this guy my D2 to go down to the 7-11 to buy me a packet of smokes....

So long as you didn't light up in his car he may not give a ****.

Originally Posted by 4bee

So long as you didn't light up in his car he may not give a ****.

Honestly don't think I'd be lighting up in his Landy anyhow...

Sitting on top of 160l of petrol and with another 120l above your head, I don't think I'd bother...

At least we know he wasn't scared to use his brakes.. 10 complete brake shoe changes in 200,000Kms proves that..