Mechanical survival

Hi Bonz, yes we have the sat phone & vehicle manual but find instructions these days for my old overworked grey matter hard to follow and would like the manual knowledge before starting out. (it makes the vehicle manuals easier to follow).

As far as the sat phone is concerned, definately great to have but a long wait for help and I would be so frustrated just waiting if I could have prepared myself in the first place.

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Cheers

Deanna

Yep I know what u mean. I have learned lots leaning over Toyotas watching them being repaired and asking questions. That reminds me an EO Rockcrawler was gonna arrange a winch maintenance exercise must get onto that.

Hi Gob & Denny, good idea with the net, will check it out. I had thought about TAFE.

Thanks for your input.

Cheers

Deanna

goodday dawesy
yes your right the gregorys manual are very good right down to basics of a quick service on the roadside

steve

Thanks Dawesy, a Gregory's manual is definitely on the list

Cheers

Deanna

That's a fair point. I must admit working on the car has been the best teacher. Doing the electrics, doing a service, replacing belts, fan, slave cylinder, water pump... Generally while you're in there doing one thing, you figure out another, and if it goes wrong you know how it works!

Hi Mike, thank you for your reply, I agree that mechanical skills takes a long time, I had 21 years of "training" with my Dad on the farm but as I have said that was so long ago and things have changed so much since then and the vehicles were not Diesel, this is my concern. Because of previous experience I wouldn't have thought that it would take me too long to work out what I want to learn in case of an emergency. One problem out there, you wouldn't even find any "cockies friend" used regularly on the farm ha ha ha.
We do have a sat phone and will be getting a Gregory's Manual as well and cross the fingers and hope for the best.

Cheers

Deanna

Hahahaha be careful Max :))))

My suggestion would be to join a 4wd club and get to know some of the more savvy members who do their own maintenance. It's not going to happen overnight, but if you endear yourselves to a bloke who knows his way around his garage/workshop, you may be able to impose on him to visit his place when he has some jobs to do on his truck. You may be invited to assist. A carton of the bloke's favourite brew would be greatly appreciated.
As somebody else has already said, these skills cannot be learnt in a quicky course etc. Many of the skills are learnt the hard way; by fault finding.
I have a philosophy of spending what my wife considers to be an inordinate amount of time underneath my 4x4 (especially after I just purchase one), familiarising myself with every nut and bolt......that way, if something goes awry, at least I can crawl underneath and have half a chance of working out what's missing/broken etc. Then it's a case of trying to fix with whatever is available, or with satphone in hand, you may be able to summon help and at least be able to tell the rescuer/s what is missing/broken.....rather than just saying "car won't go"....etc etc.
I'm a bankie, but like to do my own vehicle servicing. I've never had any training and started by doing simple oil changes etc. With a diesel, there really isn't oo much you have to do anyway. If you have a major breakdown (like a holed piston etc), it wouldn't matter how good you were on the spanners, you'd need to be recovered.
The things I've had go wrong have all related to things like loose bolts etc. It pays to take a plastic box with all manner of bolts, hose clamps, fan belts, radiator hoses, cable ties, 100 mile-an-hour tape etc etc, not to mention a range of spanners, socket set, pliers, etc etc
I'd be happy to offer my services to anybody in your position in the capacity I mentioned at the beginning of this follow-up. I don't profess to be an expert of any sort, but quite often some basic experience and common sense is more important.

Cheers

Roachie

Hi Roachie, thanks for your advice, a lot of it I know as I put in my origanal post that we did all our own maintenance on the farm when I was much younger, but they were old vehicles, tractors and trucks (real ones) plus farm machinery so I do know how to use a spanner, it's the diesel motor and the computer and other stuff that concerns me. In an emergency I would have a go but it would be nice to have a bit of first hand knowledge before we started out. I just thought that there may have been some sort of pre -apprenticeship course or something out there that I don't know about.

I'm not sure that I would like to impose on anyones private time as private time these days seems to be pretty scarce at the best of times.
Thanks for your help Roachie, I have taken it on board.

Cheers

Deanna

Hi Richard, yes I contacted Ray Harris of 4WD training & Campfire Escapes and Denise did suggest to contact Rob but I didn't know that he actually did the courses so will definately check that one out. Tried the RAC and a couple other places before posting.

Thanks for that

Cheers

Deanna

So......can Hobbits live on Bundy and Coopers?

Duncs,

Hobbits can indeed live on Coopers and Bundy. This one's been doing it for the last 40 years, so true it must be, Master Duncs.

J.R. Tolkien even ensured that Hobbit's of The Shire did partake of the occasional ale. I've merely followed on from where Tolkien left off,,,,,,,,,,,

Bilbo - "Hence the expression - bleep as a hobbit!"