Sharon’s Version:

Most days we take it in turn to do the blogs so today is my turn but after the shenanigans that went on today Col had to have a go as well, in short Baz (my name for our truck) BROKE!! He not only broke but he did it in the middle of no where on the Tanami Rd on a very warm day. The long range fuel tank kinda fell down due to a broken bolt (read below for the technical blokey details) but initially we thought it was a flat tyre, got out to have a look…no flat tyre, drive off again same horrible noise, Col suspects wheel bearing, this would have been catastrophic and require a tow truck out to Halls Creek some 400 odd kms away and how we would have organised that, I have no idea.

Anyway after checking things out it wasn’t a wheel bearing…thank god!! Col said he could rig something up to hold it but after 2 hours the cavalry arrived in the form of a convoy of 4 cars who helped a bit but then Ross and the Pom arrived from the mines and took over and sorted it (see below for how). I of course felt useless and just got things as Col asked for them and stayed quiet!! The people from Tassie that we camped with rocked up as well. It was quite funny because in the end there was about 7 vehicles all stopped on the side of the road helping in some way, I felt quite overwhelmed and so thankful!! Ross said when they were finished that there would be a tax due meaning beer which we didn’t have but we did have 2 cold Pear Ciders which disappeared in one mouthful and the empty chucked in the bush!! (not game to say anything) I gave them the other 2 warm ones as well, straight into their Weaco, they are in a dry community for the next 5 weeks and appreciated them very much!!

Part of the Tamani car park

So we are now camped at Wolfe Creek Crater and remembered we have to put our clocks back 90 mins because we are in WA, totally confused and it’s dark. Crater will wait till morning. Oh well looks like an unplanned stop at Halls Creek but what can you do?? It could have been worse!!

Col’s version:

After a long chat with the Tasmanians from Ross we eventually venture on our way up the Tanami again. All was going smoothly until we hit a really bad series of corrugations (again). We had the car on a banked turn high up to get out of some of it when we heard a bang and then an awful grinding noise. I instantly though we had done the drivers side rear wheel bearing. I coasted to a stop as gently as I could and got out for a look. Nothing obvious so I moved up the road just a bit to a more safer location to get the jack out.

Click here to see where we broke down on Google Maps

After removing the contents of the back of the truck to get to the jack I had it up on that side but it was not a wheel bearing or the diff as the sound was further forward but still in the drive train as it was in sync with me turning the wheel. I got under the centre of the car and all looked OK on the tail-shaft, prop shaft and center bearing. I got Sharon to turn the jacked up wheel and it was obvious straight away that the front of the long range fuel tank was sitting on the tail-shaft, not where it is supposed to be! I was some what relieved as it can be fixed easier than something in the drive train can be in the middle of nowhere.

We dropped the wheel back down and I jacked the fuel tank back into position after inspecting the bracket. My analysis of the failure is that ARB Launceston did a shit job installing it, so much for getting professionals to do stuff for you. The bolt that sheared turned out to be the only bolt holding the front of the tank to the chassis and it wasn’t even a high tensile bolt. The second bolt that come down as a pin through the bracket had been sheered off before or during install and not replaced. I know this bolt was like it from install as I have photo’s of it after it was done. It always looked odd to me as to how it was all held up, now I know why!

11:15AM in the morning, nothing in sight but corrugated road and dessert. I got out everything I had for repairs and started to hatch a plan. Nothing was going too well and all the wire coat hangers I bought along are cheap crappy steel that breaks as soon as you try to twitch them. I had some U-clamps and saddles that I put in at the last minute. I managed to get two of these to bolt in front of the tank to hold it up but not enough strength for these roads. After about an hour a mine worker came past. He had heaps of stuff that was completely useless on his truck but said his mate was down the road and he had fencing wire.

Another hour goes by and I am slowly getting another saddle sort of in place but the bolt was to big for the hole in the saddle. Then they started to arrive a group of 3 cars who had an assortment of bolts and a big hammer, just what I needed to flatten the saddle to get the bolt through. Great two saddles pushing up on the front of the bracket. Now to rope or wire it as well. Then a flat tray truck arrived but he was no help and left. Soon after two more mine trucks arrived with a diesel mechanic / welder and a guy who owns and operates a crane for the mine down the road (Ross and a pommy guy). They were great and had a look what I had done and got a ratchet strap off their truck to put around the front bracket as well. In the end they got a 2 tone ratchet and put it right around the chassis and tank from front to back, job done. You could drive to china with that huge strap around the tank!

Chatted with Ross for quite a while getting advice and hearing plenty of stories similar to mine although the most common thing they do is weld axles of camper trailers up, about 2 a week on average. Ross gave us the name of his mate mechanic in Halls Creek who won’t rip us off and he is an expert in fixing these things apparently, does them all the time. We were so indebt to them for helping us. Back on the road very nervously after 3 hours on the side of it hearing every little tinkle and rattle all the way to Wolfe Creek another few hours down the road. We made it to Wolfe Creek Crater although just up the road we stopped to help 3 women from Halls Creek who had snapped all the wheel studs on the rear drivers wheel. They had help coming so we chatted for a few minutes and can you believe it one was from Hobart, is there anybody left in Tassie? Halls Creek tomorrow to see what can be done with the tank. Just hope it holds up on the way out of Wolfe Creek Crater as it was the worst piece of road we have experienced so far!!

Some of my ‘MacGiver’ handy work

Some more of my ‘MacGiver’ handy work

Mine guys handy work, 2T strap right around it

These roads really are car breakers and until you drive on them you don’t truly appreciate how much stress your vehicle is being subjected to (and you). 100’s of KM after 100’s of KM of constant vibration and punishing holes and drifts. You are traveling at 80Kmh or less so the time to drive 1075Km is long, the road just goes on for ever. The last section of the Tanami has recently been graded and it’s terrific to drive on except for the occasional bad section. The Tanami has been an experience we will not repeat any time soon, we have done it once now, apparently it is in good to excellent condition at the moment!

By the way we crossed the border into WA and now both of us have visited every state in mainland AUS. Here we also found the 3 vehicles who helped us earlier today stopped with a broken back window after a stone bounced off his camper trailer into his back window, a very common occurrence up here and he should have really done his research on that one as everybody talks about that happening. Easy fix is stick some cardboard on your back window, plenty of more expensive fixes as well available. They are doing the same trip as us up to the Kimberly / Broome.

Border – Welcome to WA?

Border – Welcome to NT, bit of difference.