Std trailer Plenty Hwy
Submitted: Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 at 20:00
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Greg
Gidday all,
Your opinion please.
I need to go across to
Charleville via the Plenty Hwy from Alice to pick some stuff up to take south into NSW.
The plan was that I would be able to put all the stuff in the back off the the Hilux. On talking to # 1 daughter she said can you take this as
well meaning that all will not fit in the back of the ute. (women!)
I have a medium duty 6x4 trailer with the A frame strengthened, std tyres, std springs. There will be no load (or just enough to stop the bouce) in it going across the Plenty.
Your opinion is sought as to whether taking a std trailer is feasible or not.
I will driving according to conditions with tyres aired down.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers
Greg
Reply By: Hairy - Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 at 20:43
Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 at 20:43
Gday,
As long as you do like you said and drive to the conditions you shouldnt have a trouble mate.
Cheers
AnswerID:
248675
Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 at 20:45
Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 at 20:45
Greg,
You seem to have a handle on the problems with standard trailers. Biggest issue is broken leaf springs and broken axles from corrugations, but if you keep the speed down as
well as the pressures, you most likely will be OK.
AnswerID:
248676
Reply By: Member - Duncs - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 00:19
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 00:19
Greg,
I have serious misgivings about what you are proposing.
I have a photo in my collection of a really nice trailer that a guy thought would be OK for a trip to Lake Eyre. He left
Melbourne and stayed on sealed roads until he got to
Lyndhurst. From there to
William Creek on the
Oodnadatta Track. I'll admit that the Oodna was pretty rough at the time but it is not a great distance from
Marree to
William Creek, which was the rough part. From there the guy went out on the track to the Lake and the trailer lost springs and axle about 50 km from
William Creek.
This was a
well built trailer in good condition but it broke. I don't think it was heavily laden but it broke and cost the guy a fortune to recover. It also attracted a good bit of bad press for those of us who tow trailers in the bush.
I have two trailers one goes bush, it's built for it and does it very
well, has done for many years now. The other one is great for taking rubbish to
the tip and picking up sand from the building yard but it don't go bush.
I would only do it if I had no choice, and as others have suggested keep both speed and tyre pressures down. Remember the trailer will do it harder than you will in the car.
Duncs
AnswerID:
248705
Follow Up By: feral - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 08:41
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 08:41
Duncs,
What would you consider to be a reasonable speed? We are planning the
Oodnadatta track in late September towing all leaf sprung camper trailers.
The plan at this stage is to do the Strezlecki Track as
well from
Marree to Innaminka.
I am seriously concerned with the plan but the others in the group are not.
Any thoughts?
Cheers.
FollowupID:
509597
Follow Up By: Member - Duncs - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 22:06
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 22:06
Feral,
If you think I will put a number on this think again. What is a reasonable speed the day after the grader goes through could be suicidal jsut after heavy rain.
I drive to the conditions not the speedo. I often find I don't know what speed I am doing particularly on dirt. When we travelled west on the Oodna we were doing 70 to 80 km/h and it was not fun. I dropped the tyre pressures a little and the 70 - 80 felt much better. When we travelled west to east I was doing more like 80 - 90 and it felt OK.
Then again I have travelled the Silver City Highway at 60km/h and it was way too fast. A bit of rain and it was really ugly. I have travelled on the same section of the Silver City Highway at 110km/h and it was cruisy. The same can be said for sealed roads. The
speed limit sign is a maximum not a minimum.
Drive to the conditions, slower is better than faster usually. Don't ever drive at 10 10ths, that is for a racetrack not a road.
So what is a reasonable speed, something that is
well within both your vehicles limit and yours and the roads. That will vary from day to day even minute to minute
Duncs
FollowupID:
509765
Reply By: Footloose - Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 07:54
Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 at 07:54
I am in total agreement with Duncs.
I once took a standard trailer between
Cairns and
Cooktown through Bloomfield.
I would never do it again.
Even if you are lucky enough to get through, and experience with the Plenty suggests thats problematical, you won't have much of a trailer left at the other end.
There's a very good reason why people buy offroad trailers.
AnswerID:
248719
Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 09:51
Monday, Jun 25, 2007 at 09:51
Check post 47043
Fred's just travelled the Plenty and said it was in excellent condition.
AnswerID:
248889
Reply By: kiwicol - Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 at 11:52
Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 at 11:52
I have travelled the plenty with 6 camper trailers,
mine is a coil sprung true off road camper and i had no problems. The other 5 all had spring problems, 2 where new and where sold as off road but couldnt handle the corrugations. If you do decide to take the trailer every couple of hours check and tighten the u bolts on
the springs this will help. Col
AnswerID:
249237