4x4 Hire

Hi Louie!
I did think about buying one, but as is said somewhere else on this site it can get a bit complicated buying one. I probably would do that if I were staying out there for longer, say 6 months or a year. I don't really want the hassle. I'd prefer to have a reliable vehicle that doesn't belong to me, and if it goes "Pop" I can just change it for another. I know that there are companies that sell such vehicles with a contract to buy it back at a later date. That might be an option....
I'm more interested in having a reliable ride and backup should things go wrong.
I've seen quite a few abandoned vehicles just off the roads and tracks, so I understand that a reliable vehicle is essential.
Mind you $3.500 is a hellava lot less than the hire companies are demanding.

Hi again DB. Reliable being the operative word. Lake Eyre ? People have died out there. Birdsville Track ? They've died there also.
And yet probably 100. 000 people have been to both places and didn't die there.
How's your luck ? :))

It can happen real quick as well. We got stuck for hours out near lake torrens when we stopped for a radio sked. trouble was we stopped in the middle of a dry creek bed. When we went to take off, the driver's lack of experience had the hilux bogged to the floor pan in an instant. we waited over 4 hours for another crew to come and pull us out.

Louie, bet you haven't stopped in a dry creek bed since then :)

Hi Footloose, good to see you again :o)
I'm an accident waiting to happen, and the Outback is alien to me.
Probably not a good combination.
The M25 ring road around London is a doddle compared with off track driving, though we are very very used to driving in heavy rain :o)
For example, it never occurred to me not to drive on the salt on Lake Eyre South. We had a driver, and did none ourselves, but he never mentioned the danger, he didn't need to of course, but had I been by myself I might well have driven onto the salt pan, with dire consequences. Just one danger I'm now aware of, and there must be lots more.
Dry creek beds is another that I've just found out about thanks to Louie :o)

Hiya Dickyboy,
Having had the experience of driving around the M25 myself, driving any where else would be a doddle.
William

Hi DB. Great advice below. Worth every cent. Also if going off road, consider taking communications so that you can yell "help..I screwed up!". Or at the very least, an EPIRB.
I love o/s tourists and backpackers...as long as they stay out of the bush. So many just won't take any advice.
Forget the scary movies, the biggest danger you'll face in the bush will probably be yourself ! Corrugated remote dirt tracks can be disastrous if you put the pedal to the metal, or break down without water.
A 4wding trip in Oz is very different when you're driving and not being a passenger, as you'd know. But it need not be a disaster if you just use common sense, and drive slowly and to the conditions.
Personally despite the danger of snakes , spiders, Fritz in a Britz and wild amorous camels, I'd prefer driving in the bush to driving in the UK.

Footy, although I had spent quite a bit of time in the country, stopping in a dry creek bed is one mistake I will never make again for sure. Not only did I, as the senior person, have to coordinate a 'rescue', but I also had to deal with the fact that it was probably 48 degrees in the shade and my offsider informs me that the water container is empty because he used it to put the campfire out that morning. So we had no drinking water (only warm beers). Then he started freaking out... What a nightmare. I nearly punched him out but thought better of it. LOL

I always follow wheel tracks through creek beds these days if I can. Imagine if it was miles from nowhere, inexperienced and no water of comms. Disaster waiting to happen.

Hiya William B
How many 4x4s did you see on the M25? Hundreds I expect, all highly polished, not a scratch on the bull bars, and either just one up, or taking the kids to school. God forbid if they got them wet or muddy :o)) We call them "Chelsea Tractors" Chelsea being a very classy area of London, where everyone really does need a 4x4 to get from Harrods to the Savoy Hotel :o))

Footloose,
Yeah, I know that Comms are essential, getting the right combination might be tricky though. I'm assuming that a hired vehicle would have at least the bare essentials. CB, VHF/UHF and so on.
Sat nav is handy as is a sat phone, but what is really essential?

Hi Barnsey
Yeah, I do plan to do a proper driving course, either over here or over there.
I have read, and saved to my computer, the coroners report on the Grossemuller? girl who died. One of the reasons I want to do things the right way. As I recall in the report, there was another problem with the 4x4 as well as getting bogged. The Axles, or was it the diffs? were locked or something, so without the proper knowledge they couldn't get the wheels to turn. All the same, it did only take ten minutes or so for the Copper to get it out. By coincidence, when the policeman involved was driving back from the scene, he found another tourist who was in trouble, and has to bail him out as well.
The official report makes for very sombre reading. I have heeded it!

>>The Axles, or was it the diffs? were locked or something, so without the proper knowledge they couldn't get the wheels to turn.

The only problem was that the tourists didn't know anything about basic mechanical funtioning of car differentials. Not a problem with the car. ALL car differentials will provide most drive to the wheel with less grip, it's the way the engineers make them to counter the different distances the left and right wheels have to travel when turning a corner. When a 4wd wheel is in the air then drive automatically goes to that wheel.

Barnesy

Hi Barnsey!
I know roughly why a diff works, but I wouldn't know what the inside of one looks like, or the mechanics behind it.
When I worked on a small car ferry, years ago, there was a turntable at one end of the car deck. As the ferry wasn't ro ro, the cars had to be turned on the turntable to face the opposite direction to disembark.To do this we used to place the car with three wheels on the deck and one drive wheel on the turntable. The one on the turntable would rotate and turn the car and the turntable in the direction required. A neat trick which meant that we didn't have to turn the turntable by hand.
I've also seen where machinery is run from the back axel of a lorry using a belt. A buzz saw for example.
So what would be the answer to the problem of being bogged like that? Dig sand from under the drive wheels that turning? Or put solid items under the wheel that was turning?
I can imagine that some people might not be aware that some really hard physical work might be involved to get out of such a scrape, and perhaps give up too easily. Most drivers, over here at least, would, in the event of a problem, just wait for help, and then complain that it took forty minutes for the AA to turn up :o))

Hi Mr Pointyhead (Nice Handle! :o) )
Yes, I can imagine they would do that, and charge a priemum for track/off road driving no doubt. Who needs a 4x4 if they are going to stay on sealed roads anyway?
Might be an option for me to hire a regular camper van for Hard Top, and only hire a 4x4 for shorter periods when I do the tracks. That might keep the insurance down, but also increase the rental charges, as I would be hireing vehicles for shorter periods, instead of just one vehicle to use througout the trip. If you see what I mean?

Hi Bob
I did a trip in a Troopy Toyota Land Cruiser. Ten of us in it and a trailer behind. It was great fun, but too many people for it really, and sitting facing each other meant that I couldn't see much of the wonderful scenery. I wanted to see the vastness of the place, the others wanted to play cards. I came off the trip on the 4th day due to ill health, chest infection that I bought with me from the UK. I found it imposeable to keep up with 20 year olds who went trudging oer hill and dale. (I'm 61) I had a nice 2 day stay in Coober Pedy, then caught the Greyhound up to Alice Springs.
I'm wondering if there are smaller 4x4s than a V8 that would suit me better, and do the job just as well. There will only be lil ole me. The hole in the ozone layer is beginning to close, I wouldn't want to open it up again :o))
I think that a two vehicle arrangement might be better, one for hard top driving, which will be about 80% and a would suit, and then swap to a 4x4 for a couple of weeks or so in the middle of my trip, say in Alice, for the tracks.
Noted about the Sat phone and UHF radio.
I was on the Oodnadatta Track in March this year, and the heat didn't really bother me too much, I took in plenty of fluids, kept my head covered, and did all that I was told to do regarding keeping healthy. I didn't exert myself too much either, not that I could with a chest infection. I felt worse in Adelaide when they had their heatwave. De hydrated myself there in under an hour, and soon learned to carry water with me wherever I went. Adelaide was like a furnace 41c and a very high wind.
Cheers!
Dick