trip to cape york modifications

gooday ,
don,t worry about the diff locks the other mods are ok ,its not the big adventure
it used to be ,
mechpete

Hi stanners,

good tyres, good suspension, recovery gear and a snorkel.

It's a good drive and you have to keep your eyes open but it's not real hardcore 4wd. There could be a bit of water still running in June. Nolans Brook is the crossing that catches the most vehicles each year.

There are lots of great camp sites and it's still a pretty good adventure.

Have fun,

eighty matey.

G'day Stanners ----- Avoid school holidays if possible --- went last year then and was like the Hume H'way and some doing 100 plus kms.

The snorkel and breathers are a must. We did not have lockers and did not need them. We did not attempt Gunshot (don't need to). The only difficulty we had was on one of the creeks on the northern section has a quite slippery exit coming south. It was Cypress or Cannibal. It's a kind of white clay stuff. We had a few goes but got up okay. No lockers and a 100 series with a front torsion bar adjustment and rear upgrade with both diff breathers. And stuff inside but not relevant.

Not such a bad idea to bung a water bra/blind in the back also. We used it on a couple and with one and just breezed through about 1.3M of water. Having the fan close to the radiator meant it was advisable for us to use the water blind on some.

Sorry but I am now getting the crossings mixed up.

If you can find time, try to include a run up the Starcke Track between Cooktown (Hope Vale) and a loop through Cape Melville to Kalpowar at Lakefield NP and out to the main road at Musgrave Roadhouse. It's a good days drive just to Cape Melville turnoff at slow speeds. You could make Lakefield Camp at the crossing at. But I think that you would be stretching it.

Enjoy

Phil

What sort of GU Stanners.

I took my 4800 Petrol GU up there when it was 5 months old , the only mod it had was narrower tyres (235/85) and a uni-filter.

However I took some precautions.

1/ Always carry set of light snow chains - which in wet slippery grounds will get you further than a diff lock.

2/ Practised pulling off 1 end of black U shaped air inlet pipe and rotating it backwards - this puts the air intake lip at a height of 1.2m
(also have a tarp water blind)

I chicken out if water is over 1m

3/ I was able to clean the foam filter during the trip - it can be very dusty.

4/ Checked that suspension had more articulation - often the fitting of aftermarket 2 in lift actually reduces this due to stiffer springs etc.
And corrugations are made worse by stiffer shocks.

5/ Made sure I could and did adjust tyre air pressures as required easily.
(I mostly use spare tyre tank system)

6/ slowed down for oncoming traffic.


The biggest danger on a cape trip is car damage from stones thrown up by oncoming trailers.

hey stanners ,
the trailer will add an element of difficulty , when on the dirt lower your tyre
pressures ,that will help with the corrugations , the tyre pressures on the trailer
are just as important as the tow vehicle specially in the sand . forget Gunshot
just have a look , the creek crossings , walk them first an mark the bad spots
by getting ya kids or wife to stand by them an just take things slowly , no cause
for alarm with crocs at the crossings ,
cheers mechpete .
good trip though !!

thats why u send the billy lids in first

Why are so many people hung up on the "snorkel is a must" thing to go to the Cape ??
If the water xings are that deep that a snorkel is "a must" then how did I (any many others over the years) get up there and back on a bike ?
Yes I went the OTL.
God tyres and suspension is all you need, if you're gonna run stock shocks then take a couple spares and don't forget to let your tyre pressure down once you hit the dirt.

Cheers
Pezza