Friday, Sep 10, 2010 at 07:50
i used to drive overland safari trucks thru east and central africa about 15 years ago
we were in the western corridor of the serengeti n.p in tanzania,its the remote part that tourists dont normally use,but we had just crossed
lake victoria from uganda and its like coming in the back door but about 2 days drive from even the smallest of village,anyway here we were,20 backpackers from all over the world in the back and the engine siezed, [no racq in africa]we carried loads of spares because we had to be totally self sufficient,so set about looking into it,pulled the head off to find that we had dropped no"4 inlet valve and it had destroyed the piston,
bore and the head,we were totally on our own, hadnt seen anyone except for the normal serengeti animals,zebra,wildabeast,lions hyenas etc etc
i decided to take out the piston all together ,and i cut up a tin can into a long strip
and along with some rubber to help seal, i wrapped it around and around the journal on the crackshaft,then put as many hose clamps as i could on it,it doesnt have to completly seal just stop the oil pressure from dumping,we put the sump head and all other bits back on,ran the injector line for that cylinder into a drink bottle,we crossed our fingers,and by now the batteries were flat,so my backpackers set about push starting my now 5 cylinder 11 ton bedford 4wd truck,and bugger me but she started and ran, didnt idle to
well but with revs up you could hardly notice,we had to stop every so often to empty the catch bottle,we then continued on our way and it stayed like that till we got back to mombasa kenya,about 3000 kms.
the whole process took about 2 days and we didnt see another person,
man that was an experience,not just the fix but being out there with all those animals,we had crews of
rock gatherers and throwers to keep the hyenas away they would circle us,and just stare making the odd sounding laugh that there known for,,,,,,,,,SORRY FOR BEING SUCH A LONG STORY,there is so much more to it,,,maybe we should have a section for camping stories,
hope you like
dave
AnswerID:
429831