A first hand look at the infamous Canning Corrugations

G'day vk1dx

It's simple math. 10KPH = approx 12000 shock absorber compressions per hour, albiet long-stroke compressions. 90KPH =108,000 compressions per hour if travelling over the same road. Whose shockies will get the hottest? Ask any mechanic in the bush and they'll tell you that the 12,000 long-stroke shocky compressions will not heat the shockies anywhere near as much as the 108,000 short-stroke compressions.

Check out the rubbish tip at Drysdale River Station if you want to see a pile of knackered shockies formally belonging to the "skip over the top" brigade.

Me? I'll stick to my "whatever speed is appropriate, even 10 KPH if necessary" approach.

Cheers

Russ.

All I can say is that thy weren't hot. Strange that the ranger and the old bloke at Drysedale (the one in the hat) agreed with me. We also put our tyres down to 20KPI for those roads.

One bloke at the Bungles said his were down to 35??? Marvelous what you find out when you ask them first.

You aren't the Russ and Sue from RASIGS are you?

Phil

G'day Phil,

sorry, not guilty re: RASIGS. Don't even know what RASIG is, though I suspect it has something to do with radio comms.


I definitely agree with lowering tyre pressures, so long as speed is also lowered, otherwise you risk overheating the tyres instead.

Cheers

Russ.

Don't worry about the RASIGS. I was wondering if you were an old lost mate from Vietnam.

I agree. And slower. At 20-25 PSI tyre pressure the ABSOLUTE max we would do is 80KPH and only for a short distance. We would normally sit around 40 on heavy corrugations and higher on lesser/softer ones. Of course there are also many of reasons to go even slower at times. It's not set into the cruise control. It's just a "ballpark" figure.

As is our custom whenever we stop (fuel, photo, toilet or camp/cuppa) we check tyres, wheel nuts and shocks. Always have and its amazing how many do not. Even though they say they do. You watch them. At the gate on the highway to the Bungles we stopped to pump ours up to have a cuppa. We watched cars coming out after us. Only about a third pumped up their tyres. ONLY ONE leant down and felt the shocks. And that was a BAD road when we were there in June.

20 to 25 PSI was also a figure we used in the Army and more recently in the 4WD refresher course we both attended. 20PSI almost doubles the amount of tread on the road and it also allows the tyre to "balloon" and absorb a lot of the "bumps". Tyre wear is not an issue with us as they are the last link with the road. 35PSI is the recommended figure for bitumen from our tyre brochure and 26-32 for slow/rough gravel (and corrugations) .

This topic is about corrugations and I do not want to hijack the thread. My email is vk1dx@bigpond.net.au. Please feel free to contact me direct.

Phil

Hi Phil
2 Sig Reg- 1 LSF- OKR

VK2EZY

Hi David

Me STT: 1Sig, 104, 110, 127 and lotsa mobs (!!!!!) in 20 years.

Can't peg you though. Try: vk1dx@bigpond.net.au

Phil

Bought myself a new Sanyo digital before I went and the anti-shake in it is amazing. Even on full zoom it knocks a lot of the shakiness out of it.John and suzette who were travelling withn us were so impressed with it that they went out and bought one just a few weeks back. Mounted, the vibration actually caused the camera to shut down.

Cheers. Mick

Yes they were heart breakers as well Stephen. They're on a per but still under the ones between Georgia and the Talwana turnoff east of Well 24. Welcome home.

Cheers Mick

Kev,

On heavy corrugations I was at 15 - 18 kph. I found that any faster caused more issues than it was worth and heated the shockers up to billyo.

Mick

Whoops, instead of resuming caravan cleaning duties I got into your video clips and note that you have at least one C/T. So how did it go. PSSST - will a Jayco Outback make it?...... Glenn

Glen,

do yourself a real favour next time and cover the car with Auto-Skin or Scratchpro. They are a roll on PVA based duco protector that I've been using for three years npow. Just hit the car with a pressure washer when you get home and it sloughs away. Not a scratch to be seen. Great stuff.

Cheers Mick