Crossing the Simpson

Before all the nay sayers jump in I will , It's Not illegal , It is doable , It is not however recommended , and if utterly determined to do so at least know your vehicle's limitations and practice your combination reversing skills on sand down hill [dunes] because you will be doing a lot of it.

at the moment it is rough with corrugations,around 20 to 30 Kph, are you a good backer of your jayco? think you will need to back down sand dunes that you don't make first time (and around corners as well) just got back from there.
Kevin

Mike,

Count me in as one of the "Naysayers".

By all means take your Jayco's across the Simpson, but take into consideration that it will be difficult regardless of the time of year as well as the fact that the DEWNR "Strongly recommend that you don't take trailers across the Simpson Desert", no it's not illegal, yet!

They are looking closely at this subject with an eye to banning trailers altogether.

You will get stuck on multiple dunes, you will probably break something on either the trailer or the tow vehicle.

If you do have a serious breakdown, not only will it be very expensive to get the broken vehicles out of the desert, but imagine the strain on all of the parties involved.

Yes, a well built "Serious" off road trailer with a good tow vehicle & an experienced driver will be able to be towed across the Simpson with few problems, I do not consider any of the "Jayco" type trailers as "Serious off road".

Personally, I would leave the trailers at either Birdsville, or Mt Dare & do the crossing with the 4wds only, you can leave them here at no cost!

My 2cents worth!

G`day Mike,
I hope you are not serious, however if you are thin about ... What if ....
If I remember correctly the charge for Tilt Tray rescue from the Simpson back toBirdsville starts at $4000.00 and goes up to $12000.00 depending where you need to be rescued from. These were the 2010 prices so probably a tad more these days.
I respectfully suggest that you do as Jeff from Mt Dare says and leave your vans either end of the desert.

Hi Mike, talk about history repeating itself. LOL. Go back to Thread 61427 which is when I posed the same question as you in 2008. Read all the replies then make an informed judgement as to whether to tow the Jayco's. Best of luck. Try Goog's Track from the northern end and see if you can get over the first big dune. Big balloon tyres, low pressures and hope that the sand is wet. Or get out the shovel and fill in the scallops in the tracks over the dunes. If you start at the eastern end with Big Red it will only get easier as the dunes get lower going west. Should be a grand adventure....W

G'day Mike

In mid Sept 2007 we crossed on the French/QAA lines, west to east. It was hot and dry and the tracks were well used by the time we got there, much as you'd expect they are now. (Perhaps we're all jumping the gun here - you haven't said when you propose to do the trip.)

We were three vehicles, a 100 Series Cruiser and two 120 Series diesel Prados. The middle vehicle (Prado) was towing a lightly loaded Trak Trailer. That trailer is a real off-road item and with the same wheel track as the tug. (Unlike your proposed wide Jaycos.) His trailer wheels were in compressed wheel tracks. Yours will be in looser sand, increasing drag and the load on the tug.

He had 12 or 15 recoveries, both forward and rearward, and multiple second and third attempts at multiple dunes with much reversing.

His Trak Trailer made it ok, but his Prado had a stuffed clutch (for obvious reasons) and cracked inner guards because he had to make excessively fast run-ups through the dug-up tracks to have any chance of getting over most of the dunes.

We agreed after the trip that we'd not take a trailer again, and that we'd discourage anyone who asked. We don't care what you do to your tugs and trailers, but trailers cause too much damaging to the track, simply spoiling it for other people, not to mention the environment.

If you need a recovery from outside the Simpson have a bank account with 5 figures in it - to the left of the decimal point.

Cheers

Watched too many digging holes as they put the foot down to struggle the trailer over the top. Most thought they weren't causing any damage...they just couldn't see behind them.

Yeh you can do it..but its difficult, and there are dangers, and it stuffs up the dunes for everyone else.

From the opening post:

"looking forward to what some may say"

I think we have all been suckered. The post is a troll and Mike S2 "n his mate" are sitting back having a good laugh.

I have travelled the Simpson numerous times, usually without a trailer. In 2010 I towed a mates offroader camper, as his rear diff had busted (separate issue from towing). Both vehicles were diff locked 105 Landcruisers. His vehicle traversed in front wheel drive only, with a few tugs from me on a few dunes. His trailer was fine behind mine. Regardless of the vehicle type and running specs, smart application of tyre pressures are key to preserving the track and vehicle.

The key is to have a good vehicle, traction control or diff locked. The 2nd is to have a well constructed and independently sprung trailer/camper. Outside of this your going to be busting ass running up dunes, digging, reversing and possibly repairing....and bleep off the few that are apparently out there to set time records between Birdsville and Mt Dare.

The Jayco campers are not in my opinion a well configured/constructed van/camper to be lugging across the Simpson. In a 2009 trip, I saw a 3 litre Patrol skull dragging a Jayco Eagle across the Simpson. It wasn't playing pretty.

I have a Tvan camper, and with a traction controlled or diff locked 4wd, I would take it across.

If you have not travelled the Simpson previously, I would not recommend to do the maiden trip towing. Seriously think about the Jayco capability.

i did west to east in early july, prior to the trip was thinking of taking the trailer, like people say it can be done, we decided as first time would leave it at home.
having done the trip i would not take a trailer across in the future, thats my personal opinion of course.
one sight which was funny was as we came over the last dune before big red there were two dualcabs towing just at the bottom of the dune as we came over the crest, took them a few goes to reverse out the way and that was only their first dune!, would have been a fun trip.

I for one will be glad when camper trailers are banned on the Simpson as the damage over the dunes is getting worse. At the moment only tour operators are not allowed to take trailers but after doing the trip it should be the privateers.

M

PS swag and comfy camp chairs are the best way to see and experience the desert.

Recently my friend and I went to SA with Googs track on our agenda. He has an outback Swan and considerable sand experience without a trailer, and I have a Tvan and have towed across the Simpson and a few other sand tracks.

Googs track would be about half as difficult and half as long as the Simpson. We decided to do a small test trip for about 50km in the Victorian Big Desert to test out if the Swan would be suitable.

For him it was too heavy and a lot of work up the dunes, he got stuck up a lot, many times without enough grunt to get it up the dunes after a tight corner.

It was pretty obvious that it was a lot of work, and simply not suitable so we had a plan b for the trip.

Based on that experience I would definitely not recommend it. Trailer arguments aside, you will have a terrible trip at best and an expensive trip at worst.

The upside was that the Big Desert was a great experience and I will definitely be back there.

This is the sort of thing that can happen to trailers in The Simpson.




But don't worry, this will rescue you......... at a price!!

No mention of your towing vehicle. If its a dual cab then forget it - ask the Birdsville roadhouse how many bent chassis they see on dual cabs from towing trailers over dunes.

I own a Tvan. I tow it behind a turbo diesel Landcruiser - previous vehicle was a factory turbo 79series, this vehicle a 200series. We travel the Simpson regularly - have done for the past 25 years. Would I tow the Tvan over the Simpson - simple answer - NO WAY!

Too much stress on the driver - I like to go out there and enjoy.
Too much stress on the tow vehicle - that's at least an extra ton your vehicle is expected to pull over the dunes.
And finally I respect the opinion of the SA National Parks people who have their heart in the right place and want to keep these tracks open in the face of increasing numbers of tourists.