Just another day at work in the Pilbara... (bush mechanics)
Submitted: Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 14:41
ThreadID:
82465
Views:
4975
Replies:
9
FollowUps:
6
This Thread has been Archived
Diesel 'n Dust
The wheel bearing was shot so the boss came up with the idea of chaining the axle so I could a least limp the trailer 40km back to
camp. Lucky the Nanutarra/ Munjina Rd is in good condition.
Lucky for us that the 'Safety Guru' people couldn't witness this. I think I would have got a bollocking.
Image Could Not Be Found
This trailer has had a hard life around 3 years a mixture of dirt and bitumen roads. All in the beaut
Pilbara!! No other way!
But it sucks driving trailers on dirt roads with no load on them!!
So want do you think??
cheers
Matthew
Reply By: Member - MUZBRY(Vic) - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 15:02
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 15:02
Gday Matthew
I remember back in the seventies , one of our road trains had run out of spare wheels and returned back to base at the end of the trip with both second steer wheels chained up .
Murray
AnswerID:
435866
Reply By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 15:12
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 15:12
actually a common "stop gap" for trucks/trailers, some
suspension systems are set up to lift the rear set clear of the ground when empty .....
So what do you do up there Matt, i worked for the Ashburton shire for a while and loved it out there, even better in the cooler months but still a nice place eh ........ take a metal dector with you, still a lot of gold around out there and kills time in the late arvos, if ya can put up with the flies that is.
Cheers
Joe
AnswerID:
435868
Follow Up By: Diesel 'n Dust - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 15:31
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 15:31
Allo Joe n Mel
I work for FMG in the Land Access Dept. My boss and I deal with the Stations and we inform them of our mining activities. That is any station that is within FMG tenements.
Meaning that we are there before any exploration/mining programs start.
THE BEST JOB IN THE MINING INDUSTRY!!
We just installed some bores for a station. Great but hard work and it's great too look at what we have accomplished. We are mainly by ourselves and never have safety on our backs. JOY!! In a way I like doing it tough as the previous generations once did.
At times we even muster cattle (they love eating the grass at the
Camp - I don't blame them!!) out of the
camp for transport out of mining activities.
I loved my time living in the
Pilbara but now live in
Perth - I don't like Fly In Fly Out!!!
The flies?? A loosing battle
FollowupID:
707086
Follow Up By: Cheeky1 - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 21:41
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 21:41
Hey Matthew,
The only one who benefits from safety is you!!!!
I wouldn't keep knocking it.
Cheeky
FollowupID:
707099
Follow Up By: Member - Serendipity(WA) - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 22:48
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 22:48
Hi Cheeky
Not good to be anonymous.
While I agree with you that safety is for the worker's good more often in today's world safety has become an albatross around
the neck of workers. Then OH&S is not working.
Regards
David
FollowupID:
707104
Follow Up By: Member - George (WA) - Sunday, Nov 14, 2010 at 12:04
Sunday, Nov 14, 2010 at 12:04
You are responsible for your own actions. Something that seems to be forgotten about in the world of litigation. Cheers
FollowupID:
707137
Follow Up By: Diesel 'n Dust - Sunday, Nov 14, 2010 at 14:33
Sunday, Nov 14, 2010 at 14:33
On all accounts I agree with what you all say.
But what I should have said in my post was that, you will do anything possible too be able to get
home safe & sound if situations arise like this.
But I must say this... people who sit in an office all day (safety people) really do miss out on the joys of working remotely and experiencing the country that I see all day at work.
cheers
matthew
FollowupID:
707146
Follow Up By: Cheeky1 - Tuesday, Nov 16, 2010 at 22:49
Tuesday, Nov 16, 2010 at 22:49
I do sit in an office - more than I would like to be - that's true.
Litigation has forced companies to make cumbersome safety rules - that's also true.
But I do believe that most safety people and rules are doing their best to make sure that workers get to go
home in the same condition that they went to work.
I do get to see remote areas and who says that I'm being anonymous???
Cheeky
FollowupID:
707380
Reply By: Axle - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 19:24
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 19:24
Would have been more fun if it had been a single axle!!!.....LOL'
cheers,
AnswerID:
435883
Reply By: Dion - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 19:33
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 19:33
Whilst the boss may have come up with the idea of doing this, sure bet he's probably seen this on semi trailers, so not his original idea. Wheel bearings do fail on semi trailers too and this is how you keep the show on the road.
I've had to do this twice, fortunately both times in a tri group.
Cheers,
Dion.
AnswerID:
435885
Reply By: Ol' Bunky - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 20:32
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 20:32
Yeah, did a similar thing with an old lazy axle ACCO. Driving through loose sand on the
Jigalong road. As the rear wheel sank, the lazy was taking load off the drive causing it to skip on
the spot, going nowhere, chained the lazy axle up with wheels removed so the drive would work.
AnswerID:
435888
Reply By: Happy Frank - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 21:50
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 21:50
This is fairly common repair, I recently saw it on the Sturt Hwy after a local semi ran a wheel bearing.
AnswerID:
435891
Reply By: Rangiephil - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 22:35
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 22:35
A few weeks ago I was waiting for the ferry across the Zambezi to
Livingstone in Zambia.
A semi came across the ferry with one of the axles chained up on the LH side on the prime mover, which was a full size truck. It had all the studs broken off.
I took quite a while to get on and off the ferry as the truck was catching on the ramp . The driver was pretty good as he reversed off over some sleeper type wood placed in
the gap.
I am still wondering about how the Falcon XF ? Outback ute got to be abandoned in the customs area. maybe a Niigerian letter or Debbi working offshore bought it on ebay.
Regards Philip A
AnswerID:
435894
Reply By: Member - Barry (NT) - Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 23:34
Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 at 23:34
Cruisemaster suspensions as set up on our caravan will run on one wheel if you take one of the tandem wheels off.
Independand axles each side for this van,,, but the secret is the rocker on the axle with the tyre/wheel on, the spring rests on the chassis rail.
You could achieve the same by jamming a piece of hardwood or steel in the rocker in your picture above.
As you say its happenned before and it'll happen again.
AnswerID:
435898
Reply By: Who was that again? (Vic) - Sunday, Nov 14, 2010 at 08:16
Sunday, Nov 14, 2010 at 08:16
Matthew, workarounds are important innovative procedures at times. Care needs to be taken however.
We had a wagon here for feeding cattle about 10 years ago. Really troublesome as it had a load sharing rocker with dual axles. Turning with it broke up wheels around the rim so the centres let the air out in a big way. That meant the rocker let the flat onto the ground until there was a lump of red gum under the chassis.
We have a Deutz tractor here that has been used with some pressure over the front tyres or puncturing with a stick. As it was a 2wd with smaller fronts and I drove it
home more than once with the flat side chained up or the other side blocked down with a lump of wood. Pretty dicky on three wheels as the opposite rear wheel would bounce off the ground in some rough ground but getting to the workshop was important.
Mind you, when we had a "professional" guy turn up to trailer our 4by out a few years ago and he knew the road in was rough. I was very bleep ed off when he arrived with broken springs in his trailer. He had no workaround but get a truck from another direction. That delayed collection another day from an EO National Gathering.
AnswerID:
435908