Brave, Desperate or Stupid..

Submitted: Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 15:49

ThreadID: 41430 Views:3032 Replies:3 FollowUps:7

This Thread has been Archived

Member - Josef S (NSW)

!MPG:12!
Hi there

last July I had the opportunity to travel the outback for a few weeks. My dear neighbor let me use his beloved Patrol! Towing a hired off road camper trailer the Nissan's Diesel engine went up in smoke just outside Nyngan!!?
Everything on the tow truck back to Sydney. What to do now??

I really needed this outback holiday to 'recharge'...so, desperate or stupid; I hooked the trailer on the back of my 12 year old falcon with 200,000km on the clock and left Sydney again with my 2 teenage kids, minus wife; it was to much for her.
We did Sydney - White Cliffs in 14 hours (left 2am) then Broken Hill, Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, Kings Canyon, Ayers Rock, back to Coober Pedy, then across to William Creek and down to Marree on the Oodnadatta Track, which had to be the absolute high lite for me as I just adore the loneness and emptiness of the outback and have great respect for those people who life out there.

Then down to Adelaide and back to Sydney!

8000km in 3 weeks.
I had the time of my life, the kids did well and we got back without topping up oil or water in the Ford engine!

So, was that irresponsible to go out there with such and old car?
I don't think so, even though some people disagree with me. But being July there was a lot of traffic on the Oodnadatta Track (every 30min a vehicle)
I did the entire Birdsville Track in the late 80's in a brand new Commodore without any preparation and almost got stuck in Birdsville due to the rain season.
That was irresponsible!!

By the way..we still good friends my neighbor.

Please all of you..do respect the outback and DO NOT leave any rubbish out there!! It makes me sick to see all that junk out there in the wild.

Josef

Back Expand Un-Read 0 Moderator Share

Reply By: Member - Axle - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:02

Reply By: GaryInOz (Vic) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:17

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:17

Try towing a 2 tonne 12 x 6 x 7 furniture trailer behind a 2 litre Kia Sportage from Melbourne to Townsville in 35+ degree heat into a 20 knot Northerly wind.....20 litres/100km ROTFLMAO

At times was down to 60 km/h reving the rings off it at 5000 rpm in second gear, and STILL slowing down (through "hot and high" areas of NSW, Dubbo, etc). One phrase summarises the idea..."Wide open throttle" all the way.

Whole trip took 2 and a half days for 2600 km door to door

AnswerID: 216663

Follow Up By: GaryInOz (Vic) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:18

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:18

yeah, that's about 13.5-14 MPG

FollowupID: 477071

Follow Up By: Member - Stephen M (NSW) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:25

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:25

Baggs NOT buying your kia when time to sell LOL. My cousin has one of those and loves it. Nippy little thing and quit capable off road. Only thing that lest it down is the ground clearance but otherwise topl little car. 2 tonne geeeeze poor thing would have been having heart failure, dont think you will strech the rings any further than you have LOL. Would have just about had the front wheels doing a wheel stand wouldnt you?? Regards Steve M

FollowupID: 477073

Follow Up By: GaryInOz (Vic) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:54

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:54

Despite the utter thrashing it got, it never even looked like overheating. Temp guage got to where it normally gets to and stayed there. Absolutely no problems mechanically.

Only issue as I alluded to was "density altitude" (aircraft terminology) problems of not being able to get enough cool air into the intake to provide enough power.

FollowupID: 477079

Follow Up By: GaryInOz (Vic) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:58

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:58

"Would have just about had the front wheels doing a wheel stand wouldnt you??"

Tandem trailer, and it actually towed very well. Right towball height, right weight/balance CofG kept low in the trailer.

Did actually get it up to 100-110km/h in cooler areas closer to the coast, took a while to get there (40-60 seconds or so)

FollowupID: 477081

Reply By: Member - Stephen M (NSW) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:20

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:20

Hi there Josef, dont see a thing wrong with what you have done, hope that you still had some form of radio eg uhf just in case and the usual water for drinking but other than that good on you and the kids. If it had been raining or anything like that than I would imagine that you would have used your common sense and so forth. I'm a toyota/holden man, but got to admitt I think ford have always been a better tow vehicle good low down grunt for pulling. Cant see why with a well service falcon you wont get another 200k out of it. The only thing they really ever had trouble with was the head on the el/ef falcons other than that no problems.They really need to be kept flushed and run the proper ford coolant and change the thermostat every 12 months or round about as that is also know to shut itself and decide not to open againg resulting in a cracked head. Glad to see your back home again safely and with out incident. Hope your neighbour has forgiven you for the nissan going bang, maybe he new LOL Regards Steve M

AnswerID: 216664

Follow Up By: Member - Josef S (NSW) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:28

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 16:28

Just to let you know that I am selling the Ford as one of my friend is going back to Switzerland and selling his 99 Prado with 80,000km for a reasonable price.
I am really looking forward to many new adventures in a proper 4WD.
Josef

FollowupID: 477074

Follow Up By: Member - Glenn D (NSW) - Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 20:37

Saturday, Jan 20, 2007 at 20:37

Hows it going Steve,

Uhf is really only good for 'line of site' ops

If you want to be safe and have contact no matter what , you relly need hf or a sat phone.

Not trying to be a smart ass , just dont want to see any one here caught out .

Glenn.

FollowupID: 477116