This note is about lessons learned trying to unbog someone over a mobile phone.
The swamp was evil and stank,
water had been covering the rotting vegetation for weeks.
As the Patrol pushed into it, I realized the windows were down and the
wheels churned up the sinking mud - marsh gas seemed to fill the air.
The revs were now below 1000 but there was only a few meters to go, and
just as engine started to ping the front
wheels came out and we slithered
out of the mud.
The kids and friends were coming up to play at our bush property with various borrowed 4wds and I thought this should just the place for some harmless fun and maybe a lesson or two may even be learnt.
I have found it an interesting situation as to how to keep a bunch of
young
adults (average age now 20) having fun without getting into to much trouble.
The way that I find seems to work is to be part of the gang and limit the excesses without coming on strong.
The "No tolerance approach" which seems to be favoured by some law enforcement agencies these days has in my opinion simply generated cleverer ways of avoidance.
Back to the cars, and we played follow the leader, around some 4wd obstackles.
The 3lt 2003 Prado did not come as it had already gone off on its own, leaned to far on an off camber track and put scrathces in mum's taxi's upper bodywork.
However I was having trouble shaking off a 2.5lt diesel D22 Navara, it was no good saying - "Where supposed to drive slow and steady here to test traction", all that happened was they would drop a gear and thrash it to stay stuck hard on my tail.
A small dam sorted out the problem out though - with the Patrol chattering its front
wheels for a seemingly endless 3 seconds as it sought traction grabbed/let go and grabbed again.
But we got out of the
water and up onto the
embankment and no one was keen to follow so I headed off to
Melbourne while I was in front.
Their was also an FJ40 whose diesel engine (yep diesel) had been converted to 100% gas, something I have never heard of before.
It went quite
well particularly through the swamp, and encouraged by this the Prado joined in and tried hard to follow but didn't quite make it thru on its standard HT tyres.
At first everyone thought this was fun (see photo) - but then they tried to get it out and it wouldn't budge - and the phones calls to dad began !
Image Could Not Be Found
They insisted they had tried everything, had a 100ft of tow rope, but nowhere could the FJ40 couldn't get traction to exert any useful force.
You could probably guess that my first suggestion was drop tyre pressures.
They had - to a whole 24psi.
After some reluctance and several calls they finally got them down to about 12psi but no go.
Wheelspin, with high pressures had already dug the car in.
Got em to knock the Prado into drive and just sitting there all 4
wheels were spining.
It was now clearly sitting square on its belly, and much effort was put into trying to get some traction under the
wheels but basically it was stuck hard.
Our tractor requires jumper leads to start , but none had them .
I had two devices in a nearby shed that could have been used to help, a hand winch and an Airbag jack but was reluctant to suggest these with untrained people.
I figured it would be possible to
park the FJ sideways and handwinch off it
but great force would be needed.
With the high lift airbag I could see it being potentially unstable on the slick surface and hard to use with the exhaust bubbling in the swamp.
But it was getting late and already one phone battery was flat, and the car may
have to be abandoned, "mum would not be happy" .
Mud can really stick a car - and I didn't think that my winch would not do the job unless the car was jacked up in the ooze wheel by wheel and my new Maxtrax copies laid down.
I would have to go back and help and it would be messy.
We reluctantly began preparing for the long drive, but decided to call a neighbouring property owner - Yippee ! he was there and had a really big 4 wheel drive tractor.
30 mins later - the
big tractor was in place and carefully extracted the stuck 4wd.
The mud suction was strong but slow and steady and out she came to the
relief of a genuinely grateful bunch of
young adults.
They had engendered good will over time by keeping their motocross bikes quiet when the neighbours were riding horses nearby and this is apparently why the farmer was happy to go out of his way to help.
Its hard to think of a more practical way to learn a lesson of consideration for others!
2 hrs later in the car wash and with a detail and mum should never know.