Carnage of the Cape MkII

[jclures]

Mick do they have a reason for it braking, duggie has not looked at his yet, so he does not know what has broken.
By the way welcome to myswag.

John

[jk]

Great news little buddy  , that's what you call old fashion service. It's good to see a company backing their product all the way to the bank, it doesn't happen too often these days.

[Offroad 4x4 Accessories]

That is great to hear Mick. Glad they came through for you

[McGirr]

Mick, fantastic to hear and welcome mate. I promise I wont do any short jokes 

Mark

[spargo]

Hi Wogs did you do the OTL?

Pretty sure he didn't.

[WogsRus]

We went and had a look but did not attempt anything with the trailer being on our own. We did fruit bat fall and twin falls, along with. But no not really the OTL, we were on our own and did our trip only after 2 days of the road being open.

I was more talking about the trailer, how did so much damage occur, what failed. I guess the road corrugations must have been way worse then we went through.

[ovr55]

They could not give me a reason but it has been sent away for an ortopsy. What no short jokes Migir. I'm still waiting to here one I've not herd before.

[yogi]

They could not give me a reason but it has been sent away for an ortopsy. What no short jokes Migir. I'm still waiting to here one I've not herd before.

Come on Mick don't tempt us Glad it's all sorted and your not left short of any funds

yogi

[disco1]

   Well I guess that I should add my bit to the list

    lost 2 screws from the dash

    windscreen cracked with central hole around 40mm at start of dirt road from Laura drove the
    next 36oo km until 100km from Brisbane it cracked from top to bottom, replaced at Brissie.

    Mauri.

[Symon]

I was more talking about the trailer, how did so much damage occur, what failed. I guess the road corrugations must have been way worse then we went through.

The U-bolts broke - http://myswag.org/forum/index.php?topic=23545.msg366009#msg366009

Tim's trailer did the OTL, it was on the way from the OTL to Seisia when the bolts broke.  Who knows when they started to fatigue, it could have been on the blacktop up, it could have been half way on the OTL, it could have been on the Jardine Ferry - who knows really.

   Well I guess that I should add my bit to the list

    lost 2 screws from the dash

    windscreen cracked with central hole around 40mm at start of dirt road from Laura drove the
    next 36oo km until 100km from Brisbane it cracked from top to bottom, replaced at Brissie.

    Mauri.

I also heard you lost half a loaf of bread at Seisia....

[Jenko67]

makes me not want to ever go with all the damage that may happen....

[Burnsy]

Just to let everyone know about my u bolts. They were less then 12 months old and they were the most heavy duty I could find bought from a reputable trailer parts supplier. Me being a mechanic I did check them at least once a day along with all my other checks. The nuts did not come lose it broke up the top of the u bolt. These sort of things you can't prepare for or check(unless you could xray)except to have good insurance. Just bad luck

U bolts are a weak link because of the way they are bent.  I would be tempted to replace with four high tensile bolts and two pieces of 10mm plate if I had them.  Has anyone done this or know of camper manufacturers who do it? Any reasons why it could not be done this way?

[Symon]

I would have thought plate would flex, even thick plate.

[Burnsy]

I would have thought plate would flex, even thick plate.

Maybe some heavy bar then, say 20x50??  Either way I reckon some flat plate flexing would be less likely to fatigue to the point of failure than 12mm rod bent using a press like the u bolts usually are.

[becboo]

Would love to weigh in here


But not goin ta

[gclan]

Where do I start?

The 4WD:
Had to replace exhaust gasket in Cairns before starting(not to mention the steering pump connector,split turbo hose & breather hose on radiator in the week before leaving)
Lost a driver's side mirror(taped a replacement on in Laura)
Engine Management Light came on(dust clogged filter)
Bonnet wouldn't close
Air con died at Nolans(spent a month with the windows down breathing in the lovely Cape dust )
UHF died at Nolans but we got it working again later
Mud flap came off
Lost power to dash, including lights, heading into Weipa at night
Lost bolts for sway bars
Found a hole in a DIP which locked the hazards on. The air con did work for 5mins afterwards though, so bonus
Lost dash accessories: radio/stereo and fan, which meant we couldn't use air con(turned out to be the ignition barrel was faulty)
Had to manually hold light switch on(replaced headlight switch stalk with one from a commodore...poor Monty)
A stick took out the brake line
Lost ABS and Traction Control(we had Christmas in July on the dash)
Diff seal leaking
Water in car at every crossing, so we left the carpet mats out(need to plug the drain holes)
Exhaust gasket on the way out, again
Monty had only been offroad once before this trip, so is now also sporting the latest Cape fashion pin striping too
I'm sure there's probably more. We'll find out soon as it's going in to our mechanic next week. Fingers crossed.

The CAMPERTRAILER:
Bearings collapsed? wheel came off, brakes destroyed and the axle dug into the ground(new axle made and flown up)
Jockey wheel destroyed skull dragging camper onto flatbed(they made us a new, better one)
Lost brakes LHS
After an altercation with a tree on a 50 point turn at Maytown, the lock on the door/steps jammed
Jockey wheel handle snapped off somewhere on Old Coach Rd
One tyre had a deep crack through the tread running half way around the tyre, and both tyres were completely stripped on the inside only. Anyone got ideas why this would happen only on the inside?

Back in Cairns, after washing under the 4WD so it would be clean to go in for a check over, hubby found a handful of odd bolts, nuts, screws and washers laying in the mud(haven't found a home for them yet).
The repair bill, including labour, came to $9,900. Over half of that is just for the ABS module replacement part
As luck would have it, the Defender was out of warranty a week into our trip.
Add to that the $3000+ repair for the camper + accomms for a week. Hopefully our wonderful, gracious insurance company will help  

We had a very expensive, but absolutely fantastic trip, and would still do it all again in a heartbeat!!!
We did, however, manage to carry a carton of eggs about 8000km from home, across millions of corrugations through Cape York, along the Old Telegraph Track, across the Old Coach Road and all the way home without breaking a single one.
Maybe we need a car made of egg shells and cardboard

Cheers
Karen

[bert56]

Hope I can get the satisfaction from TJM in Rocky with my sagging springs as you did Mick.


Bert

[Symon]

One tyre had a deep crack through the tread running half way around the tyre, and both tyres were completely stripped on the inside only. Anyone got ideas why this would happen only on the inside?

Bent axle?

Sorry to see you have so much trouble Karen, but also pleased to see you being so upbeat about it!

[singo-26]

Where do I start?

The 4WD:
Had to replace exhaust gasket in Cairns before starting(not to mention the steering pump connector,split turbo hose & breather hose on radiator in the week before leaving)
Lost a driver's side mirror(taped a replacement on in Laura)
Engine Management Light came on(dust clogged filter)
Bonnet wouldn't close
Air con died at Nolans(spent a month with the windows down breathing in the lovely Cape dust )
UHF died at Nolans but we got it working again later
Mud flap came off
Lost power to dash, including lights, heading into Weipa at night
Lost bolts for sway bars
Found a hole in a DIP which locked the hazards on. The air con did work for 5mins afterwards though, so bonus
Lost dash accessories: radio/stereo and fan, which meant we couldn't use air con(turned out to be the ignition barrel was faulty)
Had to manually hold light switch on(replaced headlight switch stalk with one from a commodore...poor Monty)
A stick took out the brake line
Lost ABS and Traction Control(we had Christmas in July on the dash)
Diff seal leaking
Water in car at every crossing, so we left the carpet mats out(need to plug the drain holes)
Exhaust gasket on the way out, again
Monty had only been offroad once before this trip, so is now also sporting the latest Cape fashion pin striping too
I'm sure there's probably more. We'll find out soon as it's going in to our mechanic next week. Fingers crossed.

The CAMPERTRAILER:
Bearings collapsed? wheel came off, brakes destroyed and the axle dug into the ground(new axle made and flown up)
Jockey wheel destroyed skull dragging camper onto flatbed(they made us a new, better one)
Lost brakes LHS
After an altercation with a tree on a 50 point turn at Maytown, the lock on the door/steps jammed
Jockey wheel handle snapped off somewhere on Old Coach Rd
One tyre had a deep crack through the tread running half way around the tyre, and both tyres were completely stripped on the inside only. Anyone got ideas why this would happen only on the inside?

Back in Cairns, after washing under the 4WD so it would be clean to go in for a check over, hubby found a handful of odd bolts, nuts, screws and washers laying in the mud(haven't found a home for them yet).
The repair bill, including labour, came to $9,900. Over half of that is just for the ABS module replacement part
As luck would have it, the Defender was out of warranty a week into our trip.
Add to that the $3000+ repair for the camper + accomms for a week. Hopefully our wonderful, gracious insurance company will help  

We had a very expensive, but absolutely fantastic trip, and would still do it all again in a heartbeat!!!
We did, however, manage to carry a carton of eggs about 8000km from home, across millions of corrugations through Cape York, along the Old Telegraph Track, across the Old Coach Road and all the way home without breaking a single one.
Maybe we need a car made of egg shells and cardboard

Cheers
Karen

What a fantastic attitude.   
Sorry to hear of your troubles, but you had an adventure and it cost a few $.

[PETE03GU]

After the trip we ended up with the following - bent draglink
                                                                        - broken driving light cover
                                                                        - 3 missing bolts from roof rack
                                                                        - bush pinstripping +++
                                                                        - minor rear diff pinion seal leak

                                             

[duggie]

Hi All,
I finally got around to having a look at the old girl yesterday, first chance since the cape trip. All in all the old girl done well on the trip, apart from no air-con and everything was covered in red dust including myself and brother john, jclures.

Lets see what the trip did to the old girl.


Broken cv joint sub axle.

This was one of the problems I had when I came into Nolans, the right hand front leg was broken. Only three wheel drive, causing me and the old girl to become a submarine and getting stuck in mid stream.

At this point I would like to thank all of those who were camped at Nolan's for the rescue/recovery of me and the old girl.

While sitting deep in the water the gear box filled with water, the rubber boot on the gear shift is buggered and allowed water to run in. The oil was drained and replaced with fresh oil. We lost one of our fridges, one inverter, solar regulator, several ac/dc adaptors, one phone, one camera and the cd player will never go again.

Would I do it again ? My oath I would.

[BigJules]

Atta boy Duggie, man after my own heart.

[ovr55]

Gday Dougie, when did you think you broke the axel? Since being home I have fixed the auto step (bad navi fault) $200, new windscreen $250. I would do it all again! Don't drive them if you don't want to break them! stay home and cuddle the cat.

[Malcur]

We did, however, manage to carry a carton of eggs about 8000km from home, across millions of corrugations through Cape York, along the Old Telegraph Track, across the Old Coach Road and all the way home without breaking a single one.

Karen,

You didn't have bacon and eggs even ONCE on the whole trip 

Mal

[Malcur]

Right hand slider ( Lh also bent, but it was bent bore we started), aircon light doesn't work ( but aircon seems ok), battery charger on CT died (picked up a replacement from Jetcrew on the track). I am sure there are a few more bits and pieces but I am still on the road (Weipa) so haven't taken stock yet

Well, we are home now so I have taken stock (sort of).

• As noted above both side steps are now bent (got quoted $600 EACH to replace, I guess I will live with them for a while).
  
• 
  Broke a GME UHF antenna - snapped near the base. I guess a few too many corrugations.
  
• 
  Aircon light has worked fine for the past 3-4 weeks. I guess it was protesting about the dust.
  
• 
  The right-hand end-cap from the sovereign bullbar fell off somewhere along the way. I have bought a replacement from Toyota ($53) , now I just have to fit it.
  
• 
  The zip from the CT cover broke after the 2nd week, so I drove about 2000 kms in the dust with no zipper for the cover. The red colour on the canvas I guess is just about permanent.
  
• 
  I popped a bead on one of the trailer tyres on the OTL. Fixed at Seisia ($20). No other tyres issues at all - go those BFG's.
  
• 
  I have now fitted the new battery charger. It works well.
  

Setup and cleaned the camper this week, currently airing the mattress. Haven't found anything else at this stage. I guess that is a "well-done" for Prados and Clarkes Country Campers.

Mal