Some questions about the Gibb River Road

You will find answers to most of your questions in the Trek notes for the GRR in this site. On any dirt road you should drive to the conditions and yes drop tyre pressure to 25 to 30psi.

Cheers

Peter

If you considered the start of the Bungle track as too difficult for your current
experience then I doubt you will be too exited by the GRR, but you have to start somewhere if you really want to do this stuff. If your car is in good condition & everything secured you should have no worries. Travel slowly, sure
things will shake around on corrugations, thats normal, you will not be alone
at this time of year. You are there, so have a go, I'm sure you will be fine,
get at it & enjoy a fabulous trip.........oldbaz.

A tad over 600km- at night- in a 2wd car-in 1979- in 6 hours !!

We spent three and a half weeks last year just visiting the main sights (check my blogs), including Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu. Glorious. Favourite camp was on the King Edward River just after the corssing on the Mitchell Plateau Road. We left the van there to visit Mitchell Falls on a day trip which was adequate time. We spent a further few weeks at Kununurra, and did a camping trip to Purnululu from there.

Motherhen

Surfer, We did GRR in 10 days which included visiting every gorge (incl. El Questro & Mornington & Mitchell Plateau). We found the road to be just like any gravel road and didn't think it was particularly rough or hard to drive. If there are rough parts, just slow down (on parts of the road to Cape Leveque, we were lucky to get above 30km/h because of the corrugations!) just pick a speed you're comfortable with, and let others pass if they want to go faster.

When on dirt, let the tyres down to around 20-25 PSI (depending on load - I think we had around 20 in the front, 24-25 in the back) and reduce your speed to compensate (ie. when not running highway pressures, don't drive at highway speeds!).

I suggest you check thread 70005 and Road conditions - Gibb River Road for current info on road conditions. I suggest you also read Treak Notes - Gibb River Road if you haven't already.

As for river crossings, there are a few on the Gibb River Rd and your choice of L4 or H4 will depend on the vehicle and the river. Choose a gear which you can maintain a steady speed you are comfortable with (often dictated by the base that you are driving over ie. rocks or sand or mud) that keeps the engine working in its 'pulling' rev range (ie. if just idling through, you may stall if you come across a submerged obstacle). Walk the crossing first (unless there are crocs in the river) to check for depth, holes/rocks etc. or watch someone else drive the crossing first and note where they go and how deep it is on their vehicle. If the river is deep, you may need to fit a blind and/or snorkel. Always check your oils for water contamination after driving through water - even if you have raised diff breathers.

downundersurfer
u can pick up some tips on, www.kimberleyaustralia.com.
cheers Tom

I came down the Gibb River Road last week from Kununurra and the road was good. I dropped my pressures down to 20F/26R and didn't get above 80Km/h (mostly 65Km/h). The river crossings were pretty easy. The Pentecost worried me before I left but I did it in L4 2nd and while a bit exciting, was pretty easy. A lot of the other creek crossings had almost no water in them. Drive slow through them because they can be a bit bumpy. The Gibb river was ok as was the Drysdale. The king Edward was about middle tyre height and you need to keep to the left going in because there is a rock on the right that some people got hung up on. The road in to the Mitchell Plateau was horrific for me. Worth the drive but I won't be in a hurry to do it again.

I am just about to drive up to Cape Leveque and I am hoping people are wrong about it being very rough.

Regards,
Bob