Anne Beadell / Gary Junction / Sandy Blight / Tamala Station video

Cheers Garry. I couldn't get the drone up at all on this last trip. The first 10 days of it were just too windy and dusty. And then I had trouble with the inverter not charging the batteries properly.

Because of the leaf sprung suspension on the trailer, I couldn't maintain a decent speed without it getting very untidy. Which meant having to slow down. But once you slow down, you have to slow right down to then avoid shaking the ute to pieces. Which then meant, 1st gear at just over idle. Still very uncomfortable and not what I want for a relaxing holiday...

I couldn't see the point in suffering that for five days or so just to get to the border and the much better road. I'd be happy to do that track without the trailer. Maybe next time.

Because of the leaf sprung suspension on the trailer, I couldn't maintain a decent speed without it getting very untidy. Which meant having to slow down.
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Did the trailer have shock absorbers? I discovered decades ago that car springs and the shocks that were designed to work with them make the world of difference in those conditions.

This bloke here seems to have had a good run with Jeep springs mounted the way they are always mounted in cars. That is part of the "role steer" feature of the suspension which is too complex to explain here.
TRAILER

I am half way through making a very light weight 1600 x 1200 x 450 trailer to carry things like camp ovens, gas bottles, a hand winch and many other things that would add too much weight and take up too much room in the camper body we have on a standard single cab ute. It uses light weight single leaf Holden Combo van springs and shocks. This will enable us to stay in the same camping spot for extended periods rather than move almost daily.

The shocks go up through the floor, not leaned over too far to be effective like you seen in many trailers and caravans.

Leaf sprung trailers without shocks are very good at breaking the ends off their axle. The recoiling spring rams the wheel back into the ground with tremendous force without a shock to control it.

You are going to find corrugations on just about every Outback road. I go very slowly over them and am prepared to take as long as it take. I never set a time limit on them.

A few years ago someone on this site asked about the time it takes to cross the Anne Beadell. One reply said their convoy took six days and some cars had a few mechanical problems. Another said they took twelve days and did not break anything. The biggest threat to any car out there is the driver.

The last time my wife and I drove over the Sandy Blight, we took four days and spent three nights on it. We were both going on 70. It was rough and sandy in places but about 1000% easier than many mountain tracks we have been on.

The climb to the top of Sir Fred was very rough but I walked up the three big hills and threw a few rocks into any hole that looked too deep. I then drove up easily.

Yes, the trailer has shockies but because of it's design, I could only fit fairly short caravan shockies. I'm certain they made a significant difference to it's handling though. Apart from the corrugations, I hit a few rough spots at speed. I'm pretty sure the trailer got a little bit airborne a few times but it always landed fine and tracked nicely.

Mainly, I just wasn't keen on five days of corrugations with a new, home built, untested trailer. I don't mind some, and I certainly had quite a few of them on the Gary Junction, Sandy Blight and Gt Central roads. Overall, I was pretty happy with the trailer. Not a single thing fell off or broke after 6800 kms, of which about 2000 was on dirt. Of that 2000, maybe 40% or so was corrugated, and about half of that, badly.

Seeing how well the trailer stood up, I'm already considering maybe another tilt at the Anne Beadell. But the Minister for No Fun is currently not considering any applications of that kind...

Apart from the corrugations, I hit a few rough spots at speed. I'm pretty sure the trailer got a little bit airborne a few times but it always landed fine and tracked nicely.
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Speed is the biggest killer in those conditions. It has not only damaged cars but many people as well. If you look into the type of car accidents all over the country, a roll over without any involvement from other cars is on the bottom of the list in cities but right at the top in the bush.

It is always a worry when you see people asking about ideal cruising speeds on unsealed roads. There isn't any. You must be driving at a speed that will enable you to stop if necessary and have a look whenever you approach things like washouts, big corrugations, deep holes, patches of sand of whatever. If you go into many of those obstacles at too high a speed, anything can happen.

About four years ago, Vic WidmanVIC wrote an article for On The Road magazine about the need for driver training for good unsealed roads. There is plenty of training available for very rough 4wd conditions but not for good ones. Many would ask why but the accident rate is far too high on them and they can't be treated like a sealed road even if they are flat and straight.

It would probably have been because he trailer was oversprung, as a lot are.

We used their bus(*) from the camping area. Limited the duration at the BB's, but saved crapping out our vehicle.

Their bus was less than three weeks old, but the suspension was already shot.

Speaking to many people like you do when on holidays and all spoke about how rough that Rd was and has been for years you would think that they might do something about it considering how popular it is

P.s I like others enjoyed watching you're video entertaining without all the hype and very loud unnecessary music that most people put on them .....couldn't help but notice that you had the same UHF aerial as the one I have ,it didn't appear to be shaking around like mine does we broke 3 an our 9000k trip of SA NT and WA a common site we noticed in the Kimberley's

Thanks Nick. Yes, I didn't want to go overboard with the video. I wanted it to be informative, not filled with fake crises and staged "oooh aaah" moments. You're never going to see me charging at mud holes or chopped out hills if there is a suitable chicken track right next to it! But I do need to try and make things flow better I think. I'll try a few different things next time.

Majority of Bungles is a pastoralist property so as to when it is or isn't garded upto the property owner, the rest is graded yearly just prior to peak season.

the tour trucks are biggest culprit to casuing the road condiotns accoridng to head rnager I was spaekign to back in 2014 - they have thier section almost perfect allowing the weekly or fortnightly semi fuel tanker to get in n out without too much damge to either trailer or prime mover

yet again case or speed a tyre pressures

Dean : privately owned , i guess that's why there doesn't appear to be any speed restrictions ..... people driving in/out quick look ..... there was even a dead roo
on road , don't know how you could drive that fast on the road to hit roo ??

we had our tyre down anyway & stop the few k's in to deflate even more , But wasn't helping on the road .

Not sure if its because it was late in the season or the fact there are so many people visiting the north these days but road were a lot worse that last time we were there .

Thanks Les. Yes I tried one of those short cuts just to see how the trailer would go. I crawled up in 2nd low at low revs and the Triton just walked up with no dramas.

And yes, it is a nice drive. I probably gave the wrong impression in the video. One problem I had was that I made the mistake of buying tyres that were too wide. Which meant after dropping pressures, the bulge was such that I was worried about pinching if I hit something too hard. When these wear out, I'm going back to taller skinnies so I can go lower on the pressures. I think that will improve things dramatically.

Yes very straight forward sand dune driving, nothing too troublesome.
Shame about your rear window, did you get a price from ARB for another yet ?
Will be costly I imagine, maybe you can check if second hand one may be universal fit, then again a wrecker may not separate from a canopy.
I bought a new canopy for the PK Ranger after I wanted to change the rh side window from slide to a tilt, as the $300 for whole canopy was cheaper than a new window !!

Rear window already fixed. $480 fitted. Ouch...

Ouch all right.
Good lesson towing though, worth investing in a set of stone stompers, an angled trailer screen, or just pad up the back window with thick cardboard before hitting those stony tracks.
Safe travels.