Old Ghan Track
Submitted: Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 17:36
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mepvic
Just back from a trip that took us down the old Ghan track from Alice to
Oodnadatta via Mt Dare, Dalhousie and Finke.
Had no punctures even though there is still a lot of spikes on the Ghan track. Track from Mt Dare to Dalhousie was awful with most of the time spent travelling very slowly. Corrugations were wicked. One of the group did two shockers and limped home early.
Finally made it to Maree and just as we came into town, had a flat in the rear left tyre. Had it repaired at Maree and was interested in a pamphlet on tyres, dirt roads and tyre pressures given to us at the
Pink Roadhouse.
One of the comments on the pamphlet was that the most likely over inflated tyre to fail is the left rear.
Anyone know the technicalities of this or is it just coincidence.
Reply By: stretchlizard - Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 18:02
Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 18:02
MEPVIC
As a cyclist, the answer is the same for your truck on that track dodging obstacles as it is on city roads dodging glass. The front tyre is steered away from the
hazard at the last second but as the rear tyre does not steer it still hits the obstruction regularly and causes more rear wheel punctures than front wheel punctures.
As for why more left rear than right rear, I would guess that it is because
the hazards on the right side are much more obvious in the driver's sight and more easily avoided.
When driving on single lane bitumen roads with rough edges (like the
Barkly Highway East of
Camooweal before it was replaced) the left front tyre departs the bitumen at a more acute angle than the rear when leaving the bitumen strip and similarly on returning to the bitumen strip. This causes the front to suffer more tread damage and the rear to suffer more sidewall damage, especially on the inside.
Cheers Stretchlizard
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Reply By: lindsay - Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 18:38
Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 18:38
You will also find that the front tyre can dislodge stones, some sharp, and then be flicked up and then be struck by the rear tyre as it follows. If it has a sharp point and the rear tyre can strike it and be staked.
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Reply By: ChrisVal7 - Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 20:53
Monday, Oct 26, 2009 at 20:53
We travelled over the same route (
well, from Hamiltons Downs into Dalhousie and then out to Finke through Mt Dare) back in mid August. We travelled with a 200 series LC and a three tonne Kedron offroad van. Tyres on the car are Dunlop and the van has Goodyear wranglers - all interchangeable. We had lowered tyre pressures on both van and car, and had no flats at all. A previous trip with a similar rig a few years ago resulted in about 5 flat tyres... This time we had tyre pressure and temperature sensors just in case.
You're right, the road was badly corrugated.
Chris
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Reply By: Fab72 - Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 09:51
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 09:51
Interestingly I recently watched a DVD that Jack Absalom did on one of his trips down the
Birdsville Track in his Sigma wagon. Circa 1984.
He did a speil on tyre blowouts and recommended people to run their tyres 3-4 psi higher than the recommended maximum to prevent star fractures on the sidewalls.
Thoughts??????
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Follow Up By: Member - Howard (ACT) - Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 11:47
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 11:47
the spiel he gave would have been correct advice for a passenger car type tyre with crap sidewalls
pumping them up the couple of extra lbs prevents them bagging and reduces exposure to sidewall damage
as someone who did a lot of car rallying in the 70's and early 80's I know we ran our tyres on old cortinas and datsuns at around the 45 psi range to avoid punctures.it seemed to work
well.
cheers
Howard
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Follow Up By: Fab72 - Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 12:44
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 12:44
Thanks Howard. To be honest, I never knew that. I assumed deflating tyres was the standard practice across the board for all types.
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Follow Up By: Road Warrior - Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 13:55
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 13:55
Howard, a query if I may. On driving on corrugated roads in a passenger car (like a Falcon for example) would it be better (or worse) to deflate the tyres a bit so the corrugations don't shake the car apart, or do I have no idea?
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