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Thread: Rescuer, rescuee and other strange happenings on the road.

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    Rescuer, rescuee and other strange happenings on the road.

    Not wanting to hijack Bulletman's thread, here is a place to regale tall tales and true, of misadventures on the highways and byways of this strange land.
    If you don't like trucks, stop buying stuff.
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    Relatives of ours were changing a tyre somewhere in the NT.
    They had the GU jacked up and a large wild pig came over for a look,and wouldnt go away.

    So they got back in the car and waited until it wandered off.
    Once they thought it was gone,they continued on with the wheel change,and it reappeared and came very close again.
    So they got back in the car.

    This happened 4 times before they eventually had the wheel changed and were on their way.
    Paul

    D2,D2,D2a,D4,'09 Defender 110(sons), all moved on.

    '56 S1,been in the family since...'56
    Comes out of hibernation every few months for a run

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    Good topic Ian, When I work out the difference in “tall tales and true” , I will join in .

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    1 of my very first 4wd experiences was a friend had a Suzuki ( I think ) something or another and we were mad surfers in those days, being teenagers and it being the early / mid 80s , we were chasing waves somewhere around Margaret river in WA and had consumed to much alcohol and managed to get bogged on this track.

    We spent the day recovering and then tried to get out only to find ourselves unable to move, we eventually came to the conclusion to push the Suzuki onto its side , build up the road and then push it back on its wheels.

    After doing that and getting back in the Suzuki sober we realised someone had put the transfer into neutral .

    There is a lesson somewhere in there .... maybe don’t buy a Suzuki

    Bulletman

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    True tale.

    It was about 0200 hours, 70~80 kilometres south of Wycliffe Well. I had loaded three trailers with
    Opal petrol, at Birkenhead, for delivery and storage in the Queensland Gulf.
    I noticed flashing, amber lights in the distance and prepared to stop, not knowing what happening, roadworks, prang, hijack??
    As I approached the fiasco a saw a large Mercedes van with headlights and hazard lights ablaze and an old XD Falcon with caravan, in darkness.
    Once stopped, I was asked if I would swap batteries with the Falcon, as his was flat. Apart from the physical impossibility of that, my truck was mere months old, IT WASN'T GOING TO HAPPEN!
    Making enquiries I established that the young couple and toddler were German tourists, on the way to Adelaide airport, where they intended to abandon car and caravan, to fly back to Europe. The older fellow in the van had stopped to help the broken down family.
    I had jump leads and offered to jump start the Ford. Then it was revealed that the alternator had failed and the car driven until the battery died.
    I explained that even with a new battery, without an alternator they wouldn't make Adelaide and the best option would be for me to tow them to Wycliffe Well, where a second hand alternator would be easily sourced.
    The van man and I turned the Falcon and caravan around with the Benz and I tied it to the back of my last trailer. The German bloke seemed to be totally lacking in any practical skills.
    Doing a final check to make sure everything was as safe s possible, the German chap approached me,asking if his wife and daughter could ride in the cab with me, as he had just noticed the petrol placard on the trailer and was concerned that if he crashed into the trailer, it might explode with his car. I agreed without telling him that if he took out the back trailer, the other two, the prime mover and everything for a few hundred metres would be toast.
    I got him safely, to as close as possible to the workshop and had a short conversation with him, as I untied his car. He opened his wallet, revealing the biggest wad of cash I'd seen for quite some time and asked how much I wanted. Tempting as it was, I told him we didn't work like that in Australia. Just doing my bit for Australia's reputation and tourism industry.
    He also revealed that he was an electrical engineer!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hogarthde View Post
    Good topic Ian, When I work out the difference in “tall tales and true” , I will join in .
    Just wing it Dave, I'm sure you have a few good yarns in your repetoire.
    If you don't like trucks, stop buying stuff.
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    Another electrical engineer.

    Cairns airport was being upgraded and every company involved with the construction had a forty foot donga, from which to coordinate their part in the project. This hub was nested in a closed off section of the carpark.
    I was tasked with delivering the last donga required, hired locally, with a forty foot tilt trailer. I loaded in Portsmith and only had a fifteen minute drive to the airport. The hire company told me that every other hut had been craned in to place, due to space constraints and if it looked the slightest bit dodgy or awkward, to bring it back and they would insist on a crane unload.
    I arrived at the destination, incident free and located staff from the electrical company, hiring the unit.
    To unload a forty foot donga, over a hundred feet, in a straight line is needed, then space to manoeuvre out.
    I was shown where the wanted the shed, piece of cake. Fortunately it was in line with the entrance to that section of the carpark. All I needed to do was drive into the carpark opposite, backup, tip it off, drive back into the first carpark then blindside reverse onto the road and be gone. I had half a dozen sparkies and T/As to do traffic control making the job a doddle. Once out of the public's way, I walked to the back to fine tune the placement and establish a method with the foreman. He wanted it as close to the fence as possible and sat on Besser blocks. Looking at the units already in place, six inches from the fence, I explained that I wouldn't be able to get it as close ae the rest, but if I tipped it to a couple of inches from the ground, then backed up, he could let me know when I lightly touched the fence. I would then lower the tray enough (raising the overhang) to put the Besser blocks under, I would move forward and he was to stop me when he wanted his fellows to put anothe block under. Pretty simple and straightforward, we all knew or role and proceeded to unload. Halfway through, the job's going as smoothly as planned, the ginger beer comes racing out, arms flailing. He doesn't want it there, he wants it closer to the fence! All the explanations, demonstrations, gestations and animations from the practical blokes doing the job, could not convey the concept that tipping creates a triangle between the wall and fence. He kept arguing that as the other buildings were six inches from the fence, I should be able to follow suit. He only backed down when I suggested that I'd take it back and have it redelivered and craned off at his expense. I and the blue collar fellows were left shaking our heads and laughing at his utter lack of practicality.
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    So many stories like these with Engineers of old.
    Luckily, for some reason in the last 10-15 years they seem to have stopped stripping them of their humour and personality whilst studying, and there are many more sensible and likeable Engineers out there now.

    Just have to keep them practical, not theoretical Rescuer, rescuee and other strange happenings on the road.

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    While we're on the subject of engineers............

    An ex-engineer by the name of Johann bought a high end boutique hotel, in a coastal town, previously run by a family with generations of experience in hospitality.

    One of the first things he did was renovate the gents.

    He proudly told me that he'd designed it all himself and had them custom made for about 15k. No idea what installation cost.

    cheers, DL

    QH mens.jpg

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    It was in the Simpson Desert, in 1966, I think, possibly the previous year. We had sent a truck (a 6x6 Zeligson water truck, but with a load bed on top of the tank) into Alice for supplies. Remember this was before ubiquitous communications. Our camp had SSB HF radio to our Alice Springs office, but the truck had no communications.

    About a week after they went to town, we called Alice to ask when they were returning - and were somewhat surprised by the response "They left four days ago; oops! Did we forget to tell you?"

    A search party was quickly mustered and sent on its way. They found the missing truck in the middle of the road about a hundred miles from camp. The driver and his assistant were remarkably cheerful - they had plenty of supplies, after all, the truck was carrying several weeks supply of food for 25. Including a dozen cartons of stubbies. At least it did include......

    They were "stretching out their supply of drinking water".

    The truck had been disabled when the neck of the LH swivel ball had broken, followed by the half-axle. The mechanic, who was obviously part of the rescue party, welded the break, and reinforced the job by making a buttress of 1/2" plate top and bottom between the ball and the mounting flange. He later did this mod to the other side.

    We had several of these Zeligsons. They were Korean War vintage Diamond T 4 ton truck, remanufactured to new standard by Zeligson in Tucson Oklahoma, uprated to 12 tons and fitted with 20x20 single sand tyres. The engine was the largest six cylinder IH petrol engine, 504 cui if I remember correctly. They had power steering and air brakes. And gave endless trouble, I suspect mostly due to the poorly thought out increase in GVM. My final experience with them was when returning to Brisbane - coming down Minden range it distributed a number of key bits of its engine over the road, including a sumpful of oil. Knowing the engine was well worn after two years in the desert, the governor had been screwed down to 1800rpm. It may have been over-revved using engine braking.
    John

    JDNSW
    1986 110 County 3.9 diesel
    1970 2a 109 2.25 petrol

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