Murphy's Law, catastrophic failure in a very bad place

**GregMilner** · 23rd June 2014, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by harlie

Bummer - that is a sorry sight.

According to my old man, who in retirement has travelled all over the outback during the past 15 years.

The biggest killer is speed. So with a previous thread in mind, am I allowed to ask?

Being a retired couple with heaps of time they are never in a hurry and the 300tdi Disco was recently retired to “Fraser Island duty only” with 385000km showing and in desperate need of new suspension components. I’d say 16” tyres with 28psi also helps.

His simple rules, when the black stuff runs out, the tyres go to 28 on the car, 24 on the camper, the speed < 80. Rarely gets punctures since he introduced those 2 rules, only other issue he’s had is the tensioner pulley (half way down the Gibb River road), a hose (near Innamincka) and a thermostat housing gasket.

Everyone blasts past him (with rocks flying); most are changing tyres (or more) later in the day when he potters through. They all end up in the same camp ground around the same time….

At least it is the rear and not the front which is a strut carrying the air spring...

Oh, believe me, I was VERY conscious of speed and tyre pressures, particularly given I was on 20 inch Coopers. We weren't even doing 80kmh - mostly 60, perhaps 70 in some places, and on the Mitchell Falls track itself, 25-30. And the shock still gave out.
On the Kalumburu Rd with corrugations 600mm apart - I measured them - people were blasting past us in both directions doing 80 or 90, and we'd come across some of them further up the road, stopped with broken springs and shocks.

Crazy thing is, it was that very behaviour that causes the breakdown in the road surface in the first place, speed and tyres too hard. I was running 32 on the front and 34 on the back, the lowest I could go given the profile of the tyres. And even that was higher pressure than I would have liked. My mate Glenn, travelling with us in his HiLux dual cab and towing his camper, was running 26 all round. I envied him the luxury.

**cjc_td5** · 23rd June 2014, 08:37 AM

Mate, not what I wanted to hear seems I'll be there in a week and a half!

How's the Gibb River Road at the moment? Has it corrugated since its last grade a month ago? Sounds like the Kalumburu and Mitchell roads are nice and rough...

Hope you can salvage something of your holiday in Broome, there are worse places for an enforced stay!

Todays job will be to get my set of old shocks from the shed and put them in the trailer to take with us as spares!

Have fun,

**GregMilner** · 23rd June 2014, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by cjc_td5

Mate, not what I wanted to hear seems I'll be there in a week and a half!

How's the Gibb River Road at the moment? Has it corrugated since its last grade a month ago? Sounds like the Kalumburu and Mitchell roads are nice and rough...

Hope you can salvage something of your holiday in Broome, there are worse places for an enforced stay!

Todays job will be to get my set of old shocks from the shed and put them in the trailer to take with us as spares!

Have fun,

Chris the bits of the Gibb we travelled on - only from El Questro where the blacktop runs out to the Kalumburu Rd turnoff to Drysdale - were pretty good. Compared with the Kalumburu Rd in fact it was a doodle.

But last night my mate Glenn rang me from Mornington Camp and said the section of the Gibb near Mt Barnett was an absolute shocker, he saw numerous cars and campers by the road with broken springs and shocks. Again though, it would have been too much speed and tyres too hard. He got through it no problems, but very slowly.

**PhilipA** · 23rd June 2014, 09:42 AM

I did the Gibb 2 weeks ago south to north.
Road crews are rebuilding the road in the southern ranges so good and OK there.
Mornington rd was fine except for one bull dust trap for young players.
To mt barnettwas fine then the road deteriorated in the middle to large corrugations in the red scoria type surface, perticularly around the Kulumburu turnoff.
It came good again for a couple of hundred is where a grey rock surface has been laid, then mediocre north of Ellenbrae.

I had no suspension trouble with my D2 or camp'o'matic both on 16inch wheels withBFG AT on the car at 20PSI front and 28 rear and trailer at 20 PSI.

As I posted my high pressure fuel line wore through at el Questro , but this was the culmination of years of wear, although my vehicle history showed no programs outstanding.

To the OP, if the RAC WA is the recoverer check everything on the vehicle for damage .
Regards Philip A

**CSBrisie** · 23rd June 2014, 11:07 AM

Very sorry to hear that news Greg...and damn....looks like I might need to rethink the whole "20's" thing too before I attack anything similar.....ofcourse stuff all options for wheels on the 4.4TDV8 (noting the 18's sold by GEO dont fit)

cheers

Chris

**CSBrisie** · 23rd June 2014, 11:23 AM

Greg, I'm trying to find something optimistic to say

- so....no punctures on the Coooper LTZ's?

cheers

**scarry** · 23rd June 2014, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by bacicat

Bad luck mate hope you are back on the road soon.

It's not just LR tat keep low stock levels of shocks.h

Geez,hope everything gets sorted,and you are on your way...

Had to get a diff for one of our late model yota work vans,only two in the country and none on order.....

**GregMilner** · 23rd June 2014, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by CSBrisie

Very sorry to hear that news Greg...and damn....looks like I might need to rethink the whole "20's" thing too before I attack anything similar.....ofcourse stuff all options for wheels on the 4.4TDV8 (noting the 18's sold by GEO dont fit)

cheers

Chris

Hi Chris, no, no punctures on the LTZs. Having said that, I'll never again go north with second-hand 'one-trip' tyres, no matter how good they look. I'd bought a couple of LTZs, but couldn't get any more, so settled for a couple of Cooper semi off-road tyres for the back (plus a couple of spares), one of which threw a tread north of Carnarvon. So I order a couple of new LTZs while in phone range near Karratha, I'm promised they'll be in Broome within 5 days, only to find out the day before we head up the Gibb that the freight company had 'forgotten' to put them on the truck. So eventually we got them to Kununurra and had them fitted there. Just a lazy $500 each.
I still think the L322 is a brilliant car. But with 20inch wheels - the smallest you can fit, I believe - it's more suited to English country lanes than the Australian outback.
Anyway, there is SOME good news. Just had the car up on the hoist at Shinju Motors here in Broome. No other damage apparent except the one right rear shock. Which, if course, is in Melbourne, hopefully on its way here.

(And worth noting: the mechanic told me that no make of shock absorber other than a Land Rover one will fit the vehicle. Even the left and right side are different part numbers)

Meanwhile, life's not too bad. It's 32 degrees here. Sitting by the pool. With a green bottle of goodness so chilled you could chew it:-)

**rar110** · 23rd June 2014, 01:22 PM

Id be pushing to replace both rear shocks at least.

**CSBrisie** · 23rd June 2014, 01:30 PM

Excellent, glad there is some good news - and I guess when you look at what other travellers have suffered (that you mention earlier) one stuffed shockie isnt too bad in the scheme of things.

If you arent already having the Broome guys doing this - get all 4 wheels off and double check for any cracking; I know another forum member ended up with 2 x cracked rims crossing the Plenty in his l322 on 20's. they were not serious rim failures and he only noticed on arriving in Alice - but eventually resulted in deflating tyres.

I think your last point shouldnt be understated - lying by a pool in Broome in 32 degree heat with a coldie in hand is a far better place to be than many others in this world (me included, right now lol!!!)

Cheers and enjoy the 'avo mate - sounds like you deserve every minute of the break!

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