This really is 1/2 a
test of the gears and 1/2 a
test of ones judgement.
In a recent post I lamented just how hopeless my new 4800 GU petrol Patrol
was on downhill descents, compared to my manual petrol Patrol.
It wasn't just lacking it was bordering on unsafe and a serious concern as most of our driving is in
Vic high country.
We take a dim view of fundamental issues with cars so no point stuffing around and moved quickly to get 43% reduction Marks adaptor gears fitted friday just in time for the severe weather to descend on
Melbourne.
We headed off early saturday in heavy rain with both Patrols to our 4wding property 100km north of
Melbourne to relatively dry conditions.
Marks has 3 different ratio gear sets you could choose for the transfer case and I choose the middle range which gave the car an overall ratio the same as my manual so the low range reduction goes from about 2:1 to about 2.8 to 1.
This means the car still does 85kmh redlined in low but more importantly only does around 2000 rpm when loping thru the dunes at 35kmh.
The gears are straight cut and hence a little noiser and hopefully more efficent than stock.
So the testing began with a 25 degree downslope and the car held at 2500rpm in 1st on this slope which is adequate for now.
We then proceeded to a wet grass
hill sloping down 15 degrees and accelerated to 30 and slammed on the brakes whereapon the cars ABS obviously came into play but the whole system stopped in a reasonable
enough distance and in a straight line.
In both the above tests we were then able to do something I have found hard to accomplish in the past.
That is to reverse smoothly up both hills with no sudden jerks breaking traction.
We began to set up for more difficult tests when the phone call came "Dad where's the winch extension strap we are stuck".
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The kids had recently stuck the Prado badly and were showing off with the Patrol which could go anywhere and promptly got it stuck in exactly the same place in the same stinking mud-ooze swamp that they had bogged the Prado in.
The kids know everything and so just banged in both lockers and proceeded to move precisely 6 inches.
But the 6 inches was all straight down !
It would be embrassing to call dad up from the next paddock so they then dragged out the winch rope, tied it to another car and tried to pull the Patrol out.
After this the winch wouldn't free spool any more.
I informed them that the extension rope was under the
seat they were sitting on then hung up and set off to assist.
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Well the winch still pulled and soon the car was free and a mess, but it wasn't the kids fault as I was quickly informed, it was
mine because knowing they were to drive the car I removed the muddies and fitted all terrains for the wet weather.
We had to leave then and went back to load up my RTI ramp to take back to
Melbourne for
suspension tests.
As I grabbed the side of the ramp I felt a sharp sting, dropped it and the kids had a good look
and found 15 redback spiders living on the underside.
This day was deteriorating, my
first aid qualification had just expired so I sat down without guilt and had a Barcardi and coke.
Apart from feeling a little wosey, everything seemed okay so we headed back to town.
The rest of the tests will have to wait for another day, but my conclusion so far is that the reduction gears were the right choice and a useful and significant improvement to the cars downhill ability, turning it from unacceptable to just poor.
However this change will give breathing space while we work on the torque converter and perhaps more
driver training and also hunt down Redback spiders.
We then left for Melbounre even trailing a little dust, but soon crossed the divide and it was raining again as we came to a winding wet bitumen road near Dixons creek on dusk.
We saw someone with a
slow down sign putting flares on the road and 500m later came across at least a dozen emergency vehicles.
As we shuffled past the scene I could see rescue people struggling with stretchers near a crumpled wreck in a deep gully.
You often wonder what might have been, but I figured I could live with the blame for the bogging and with repairing a stuffed winch.
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