Terrano 1 for Canning Stock Route

Carrying enough fuel for 1300 kms could be a problem unless you leave the beer in Halls Creek. I think it is not a good idea to try the trip in such a car. Most people use a diesel real 4 x 4 for good reasons. If you need convincing call the police at Wiluna or Halls Creek and ask them but keep the phone away from your ear a bit.
Hope you make the right decision.

Mike

North South Canning is harder than south north. Go to my website below to read about a Canning trek.

Fuel is avaible at Kunawarritji, Well 23 Fuel Drop or 180km return detour to Cotton Creek Community from Georgia Bore.

The CSR is about 2000km long withg 1000 dunes and 50 billion corrugations.

To carry enough fuel and water(can't always rely on the wells) will take some extreme planning. You must also consider how your Terrano will stand up to the rigors of the CSR

If you can work out what you normal fuel consumption is for bush tracks and then double it, you should find a maxim for the CSR.

Good luck

Cheers

Mike,

Just to clarify the engine in your vehicle is a turbo diesel I gather.

Mike, completed the CSR a few months ago. Without getting into the "real" 4WD debate it is true that the Canning is a heavy duty undertaking and the Terrano is a light/medium duty 4WD. Anything is possible but by golly you would want to be really, really well sorted & planned to the zenith as the load & general punishment of the track will test the unit severly. We took stuff we thought we'd seriously not need and used all of it by the end.

Talk to lots of people & get lots of quality advice - then make the call.

Mike.

Mike

I'd question the ability of a Terrican to carry a full load down the Canning.

Depending on conditions it will take you around eighteen days to complete the trip from Billiluna to Wiluna

From memory the Terrican has a 70L fuel tank. If this is so, you'll need to carry up to seven Jerry cans. This is on top of the food and water.

You might get through (with a bit of luck) but the weight will have a severe impact on the car.

Regards

Kim

We did the trip Aug 2005 with 2.8 ltr diesel Pajero 1997 model with 200,000 kms on clock
Put new Alternator and Water Pump on and new clutch, New Shocks and full suspension ,underbody check before the trip.Used around 130 litres diesel from Bililuna to Fuel at the Aboriginal Settlement. The trip south was in my opinion better than going North as all the Tag along tours go very hard and dig up the dunes on the South faces.It is also so nice to get to Durba Springs and spend a couple of days resting before the relatively short run to Wiluna. Stay at Wiluna Grape just outside town to the East.
Main thing is to travel as light as possible as the corrigations are severe on suspension.Carry a spare set of shock absorbers bolted to your chassis rails and tie wired in plastic bags wrapped in tape under the car.Run pressures at around 22 psi and travel with at least 1 or 2 more vehicles. Hire a Sat Phone and have all the contact numbers from the Web Site-see trip reports section
Have a good trip

Mike

I have a terrano (92) and agree that it's a very capable vehicle I wonder if the vehcile has enough storage space for such a trip. Are you planning to tow a trailer perhaps?

Also - I saw on some forum that a standard patrol fuel tank fits perfectly in the terrano which will increase your fuel capacity slightly.

Mike

Do your planning, then do it again. Carry spares and emergency gear (fuel and water adds alot of weight, carry plenty of both). Know your 4wd back to front and in between. Take out things you dont need and let the big men with their big 4x4 beat their chests. All vehicles may break, you cannot do anytrhing but be prepared to repair if required.

Only thing I would say, if it is overheating now, hot days and sundunes are only going to multiply this.

Ads

......"in spite of power limitation and overheating tendancy...!

From all accounts, carrying axtra fuel, water, food, general supplies and recovery gear = a HEAVY VEHICLE. Canning presents with lots of sand crossings, slow/low gear going = ENGINE OVERHEATING.

If your vehicle has an overheating problem now just imagine the problems you could encounter on 'the track' ?

Perhaps you might need to sort your vehicle before proceeding too far with your planning.

Can't comment on the Terrano's ability but have seen plenty of other vehicles out there besides the larger vehicles (Cruiser, Patrol and Disco). From memory have seen Hilux, Navara, triton, ford explorer, Jackaroo, pathfinder. You need to be pretty sure of your vehicle and your skills.

In my opinion north to south is the easier route.

We carried a lot of spares and didn't use any but others we know have wreaked a full set of new shocks. This seems to be a very common problem. To take enough gear (spares, fuel, water) your vehicle is quite heavily loaded. It can also be very hot even in winter so your overheating tendency could be a cause for concern. We were there last August and there were several days over 40.

You do tend to spend a lot of time in low range. We averaged a little over 100km/day.

We had a relatively new vehicle and did several practice runs down the border track until we had all the issues sorted. The sand is very different but it gives you some idea. If you load your vehicle up as for the Canning and have issues on the Border track you would need to think seriously if the CSR was a good idea.

My advice to anyone doing the CSR is to be very well prepared. You can not be over prepared. If possible travel with someone. Having said that we did most of it by ourselves and others do. It just adds to the risk. Drive conservatively. Someone (more than one if possible) should have some long range comms (HF or Sat phone). UHF is essential equipment even if you are by yourself. There is a sign on the southern end asking everyone to use ch40. You still need to scan as a lot of groups either ignore this advice or think it does not apply to them. We tend to transmit location info every 10 km or so and avoided several possible head ons this way.

The other option is to only do part of the CSR.

In reality you are weighing up a bunch of risks and trying to decide if it is worth it. Recovery from the CSR will cost a lot of money. There are plenty of burnt out vehicles along the CSR to remind you of what can happen.

Hope this helps you decide.

Steve

Mike,

I would love to know how you go when its all done...

Power limitations....i was gonna buy one a few years back..insurance stoppped me ($2800/yr!!)...i thought the power in them is pretty good...its a 3lt yeah??

With the cooling have you thought of changing the radiator??

Storage is only a design and brains away so you'll be right....have heard that there is now fuel available from the community at well 33.......if you can get a hold of Vivian from Vic she'll be able to tell ya...she was there this year in sept...she also had fuel flown in at a certain spot too....

with fuel consumption Id go off what you may use in the bush then doube it and it'll give you some room to move....havent done the canning but on our trip we used anywhere from 19lt - 28lt / 100km on petrol (80 series landy ) - in snad, dirt, the usual track stuff...

Good luck...and dont worry about those who call it a pretend 4wd....its a pathfinder with a different badge basically.......just like with a 4runner v surf.....same thing!!!

Laura

Mike, I know everyone has their story but just for the record, when we did the CSR last year I became bogged trying to recover our second vehicle from some flooded low lands around Lake Gregory (VKS 737 members may have read the article in the newsletter) wet electronics killed our motors & the HF radios soon drained 3 of our 4 batteries. The "back-up" sat-phone was the hero of the day for communication & I'd never rely on just the HF radio if I repeated the trip. Just some food for thought 'cause there is no doubt that "Murphy" frequents the fabulous CSR regularly. Have fun planning.

Mike.

Mike

Your best option would be to contact oskar (he visits this site only occasionally). He has done some modifications on his terrano and travelled extensivelly in it.

You can find his email address on post 20883.

Btw with the overheating - add some extra silicone fluid (about $12 from toyota) into the fan hub and that seems to decrease the temerature.

Good luck

R.