trip to cape york modifications
Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 01, 2012 at 20:23
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stanners
hello all I have a GU Nissan patrol. we want to go to
cape York in June, July this year and I am interested in your opinion as to whether I need to install diff locks and a
snorkel to navigate the many river crossings on the old telegraph track? Some of the mods so far are a 2" lift, high quality springs and shocks and I'm about to do the diff and gearbox breather extensions.cheers Stanners
Reply By: Member - peter f (VIC) - Wednesday, Feb 01, 2012 at 20:36
Wednesday, Feb 01, 2012 at 20:36
gooday ,
don,t worry about the diff locks the other mods are ok ,its not the big adventure
it used to be ,
mechpete
AnswerID:
476612
Follow Up By: stanners - Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 10:51
Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 10:51
thanks mechpete, i did forget to mention that i will be pulling an offroad trailer (not a camper). do you think that would make the trip any more difficult?
cheers stanners.
FollowupID:
752105
Reply By: eighty matey - Wednesday, Feb 01, 2012 at 21:02
Wednesday, Feb 01, 2012 at 21:02
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.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: stanners - Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:01
Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:01
thanks for your reply eighty matey, yeah if they get the rain up there that they got last year it may change our plans. i did forget to mention that i will be pulling an off road trailer (not a camper) do you have any thoughts on that?
cheers stanners
FollowupID:
752107
Follow Up By: eighty matey - Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 23:03
Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 23:03
We had three mates tow off road campers through the Old Telegraph Track woithout problems. They had a Jackaroo with Ultimate, 100 series Landcruiser with Ultimate and Hi Lux pulling some other camper trailer.
They did
Cape Melville, OTL and
Frenchmans Track with care.
Make sure your vehicle and trailer are in good nick, take some basic spares and try not to hurry.
It's a great part of the country and I enjoyed every minute of our time there. Every
creek crossing is different. One will be rocky, next red dirt, next white sticky clay. It's a lot of fun.
Just avoid the school holidays if you can. It gets busy then and most of them are in a hurry. If you can't, have a cup of tea.
Hoo roo,
eighty matey
FollowupID:
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Reply By: stevo - Thursday, Feb 02, 2012 at 09:26
Thursday, Feb 02, 2012 at 09:26
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.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: stanners - Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:04
Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:04
thanks stevo, we will be stopping at
port douglas free loading and picking up our dog from the outlaws by the school holidays.
cheers stanners
FollowupID:
752109
Reply By: vk1dx - Thursday, Feb 02, 2012 at 09:54
Thursday, Feb 02, 2012 at 09:54
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
AnswerID:
476650
Follow Up By: stanners - Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:12
Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:12
g'day phil, great advice thanks. i will put the starcky trk to our fellow travelers at our next planning day. i did forget to mention that i would be towing an off road trailer (not a camper) do you think that would make any difference to our mods. cheers stanners
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: vk1dx - Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 12:16
Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 12:16
Stanners
Didn't see that the first time.
Provided it is a proper off road trailer you should be fine.
The picture below is about the average for the track crossings and washouts. The road to
Cape melville from the Kalpower/Starkie
intersection is mainly soft sand. Tyres down and no worries. Gret camping spots up there and a fresh water spring to cooloff with. Provided no one is getting
drinking water downstream of you though!!
Our first night north of
Cooktown was at Eliom at Edys
camp ground.
Toilets could have been cleaner. Did not catch a fish. Then it took us all day to get just past the Kalpower
intersection. But you could do it if you started early and still do not need to rush.
Give me time to have lunch and I will see if I can upload a video to Youtube. I will send you the link.
Enjoy mate
Phil
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752129
Reply By: Robin Miller - Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 08:42
Friday, Feb 03, 2012 at 08:42
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.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: stanners - Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:24
Sunday, Feb 05, 2012 at 11:24
G'day robin, its a 2000 GU petrol.with 265/75 tyres.all your suggestions are great advice snow chains is one I hadn't thought of , I don't like using them on tracks in the
vic high country but I am sure they would be good insurance up north . I forgot to mention that I will be towing an off road trailer (not a camper) do you have any other suggestions that I should be aware of?
cheers Stanners
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752117
Reply By: Member - peter f (VIC) - Monday, Feb 06, 2012 at 20:02
Monday, Feb 06, 2012 at 20:02
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 !!
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: stanners - Tuesday, Feb 07, 2012 at 21:53
Tuesday, Feb 07, 2012 at 21:53
Hi peter,
this is stanners wife here. Are you really sure there's no crocs at the crossings? Just checking before i send the kids in...
Jo
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Reply By: robert s4 - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 17:10
Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 17:10
thats why u send the billy lids in first
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Pezza QLD - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 22:26
Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 22:26
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
AnswerID:
477897
Follow Up By: Pezza QLD - Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 22:28
Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 at 22:28
Are they ever gonna add an 'edit' button here ?
'good' not 'god' and no crocs on the freshwater xings on the OTL.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: stanners - Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 12:36
Thursday, Feb 16, 2012 at 12:36
thanks for your honest and to the point answer to my question Pezza. it would be awesome to do that trip on a bike.
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