Overland Journal: G-Wagen
- Thread starter Scott Brady
- Start date
Yeah but it was an example of the trip organisers failing, not a fundamental problem with the G. Plenty of other vehicles have destroyed shock absorbers on that route and most would carry spares. Shock absorbers are considered a regular replacement item, like tyres, especially under those conditions. The trip leaders grossly under estimated that track and simultaneously sought to use it as a promotional opportunity by invititing journalists along, who then quite righly reported the failures to Joe Public. A very embarrassing event which was widely reported in the motoring press here in Australia.
Sorry, you can tell it still upsets me as G fan. It was avoidable and a wasted opportunity.
Sorry, you can tell it still upsets me as G fan. It was avoidable and a wasted opportunity.
Scott Brady
Founder
zimm
Expedition Leader
one could say that.
if one wanted to make excuses.
they drove them and loaded them with the intent of showing people how theses trucks could be driven from the factory. they wanted to show that the rig, a 463, while clearly set up for smooth pavement, maintained the offroad durability of the 461.
guess what? it didnt.
to the neutral consumer, it doesnt matter if its the marketing guys or the design guys botched the outcome. all the neutral buyer needs to know, is his stock 463 suspension does not do what MB itself thought it could. and that is, live in both worlds.
why make excuses for a brand?
if one wanted to make excuses.
they drove them and loaded them with the intent of showing people how theses trucks could be driven from the factory. they wanted to show that the rig, a 463, while clearly set up for smooth pavement, maintained the offroad durability of the 461.
guess what? it didnt.
to the neutral consumer, it doesnt matter if its the marketing guys or the design guys botched the outcome. all the neutral buyer needs to know, is his stock 463 suspension does not do what MB itself thought it could. and that is, live in both worlds.
why make excuses for a brand?
AFSOC
Explorer
He asks rhetorically, acknowledging this is Expedition Portal.
RMP&O
Expedition Leader
Finally a great post from Zimm! I knew you were capable of them once in a while!
I have my brands I am a fan of, the G-wagon is one of them even though I have never owned one. But I am no blind brand follower, I know they all have their downfalls. Not being a total loyalists also allows me to enjoy multiple brands, some Toyota guys ya' know won't touch anything else. I am also not a pursuist with my trucks which is why I would have went the swapped in v8 route.
Cheers
4Rescue
Expedition Leader
Funny you should mention that... have to dig out the pics of what happened to a few of our Group (2 Later model Patrols "prepped" by the same guy
) when we ran the Canning... surprise surprise the shocks failed. I had zero unexpected issue in my HJ75 with full OME kit although the rear shocks did get replaced on the turn-around and we took the time to do them prep right. The Route side repairs were a BIT dusty to say the least aye and when members of a group go down, it turns into the whole groups problem. I kinda chuckle when they call that "Australia's most challenging Off-Road test" though... In my experience that's really not the case. Trucks looking great Scott. Sorry to hear about the engine failure... I gotta say it though: {whispers in ear in a sinister mannor} go diesel... I can the line of logic that says to stay with the Gasser, but come-on, you're Scott frickin Brady, you have a fleet of extremely cool trucks and a Diesel Glandewagen belongs in that fleet aye
As always YMMV, I'd just love to see another oil-burner build in progress. Either way I wish you best of luck getting this beauty of a truck back on the road aye. I'm with RMP&O on this one, I have litteraly never heard of a Glandewagen dropping the engine. I'm sure it HAS happened, but it's the first I've personally heard of aye. Sorry it was yours.
Cheers
Dave
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Dan Grec
Expedition Leader
I kinda chuckle when they call that "Australia's most challenging Off-Road test" though... In my experience that's really not the case.
Dave
More accurately, I think it's Australia's most remote off-road test. It's challenging because you're so far from anywhere, not because the actual 4x4ing is tough.
Scott Brady said:
I've always wondered how people smoke shocks.
I've always thought it's a function of driving too fast?
(and being overloaded with exacerbate that problem)
-Dan
Scott Brady
Founder
It is extremely rare. These inline gas motors are known to run 500,000+ miles. I went to the shop today, and they are convinced it was human assembly error with the cap screw.
I decided to keep the gas powerplant. Boring, I know, but it will be the best outcome for my intended use of the vehicle. My goal is to continue to restore the truck to as stock as possible. We are going to go through every system and even the interior to get it back in spotless condition.
Scott Brady
Founder
The Canning Stock Route was surprisingly challenging. The worst stuck I have ever encountered was on that route. Over four hours to get two TLCs out. There were numerous instances where lockers were required. It is a difficult road for a typical overland truck, but certainly not extreme or overtly technical.
You are right about the shocks. Too fast and/or too heavy. Those stock shocks are also pretty weak, and have really low fluid volume for the size of the vehicle.
4Rescue
Expedition Leader
Kinda what I thought/know of in regards to the motor aye, I just never hear of them dying like this. Bummer you got a rare bad assembly. And I totally understand why you're staying Gasser, I just have to always throw in my .02 for better or worse
Best of luck on the go-through, that's no small feat.yeah i can see remote and certainly had a few stucks. Although sometimes "remote" in Australia can be comforting... On the Birdsville and later on the way to Alice, we came across some people that looked like they were straight out of Mad Max and between the road trains and the distance that was pretty taxing route. I was based in Queensland so we had a lot of jungle (including Kroombit Tops that used to be part of the Station i worked on and had "special" 4wd Tour access to). Technical, gnarly 4wd work, to me, is different then long taxing routes and remoteness but both take their toll in their own ways and when the goal is to get from point A to B they can both skunk you just the same aye. So "hardest" is kind of a relative term. I didn't mean to imply that I thought the Canning was "easy" by any stretch of the term. All I know is I want to move back for GOOD next time cause I miss Australia like no other place I've ever been.
Cheers
Dave
As for shocks, whether you;re talking about MX bikes, DH Mtn. Bikes, Overland trucks or a Baja 1000 truck, it's usually heat and fluid boil that kills them. Whether it's from foaming and loss of viscosity that leads to bent shafts when they smash down on compression or building up pressure and actually blowing the shock body/seals/piston head (and of course there's always good old rock-strikes). That's why you see remote res. shocks on racing trucks, it's to get a higher level of fluid and make cooling that fluid off between strokes that keeps them working. most shocks use Nitrogen to sometimes separate fluids and to help reduce the foaming that causes the loss in viscosity of the fluid. And yeah, load just exacerbates that problem, exactly right.
IMO it's actually a pretty big testament to how the Glandewagen is built that the loss of the shocks didn't cause more failures down the chain. Often the loss of dampening from the shocks will lead to spring failure, and other damage as the vibration and impacts are transmitted straight through to the chassis/load. Not to mention that by the time you find the shock actually "broken" it's probably been malfunctioning for a fair bit of time and not doing it's job meaning it's hard to "catch" the window for damage to occur and stop it.
Cheers
Dave
otiswesty
Regular guy
Graphic engine pics! Glad my son was not nearby, it may have given him nightmares for a week.:Wow1:
Too bad about the oil pan damage, maybe a good used one can be found. We have a used 300 GE pan here but that is for the m103 motor. Maybe Guido at offroad-world in Germany or another European G supplier would have one.
Too bad about the oil pan damage, maybe a good used one can be found. We have a used 300 GE pan here but that is for the m103 motor. Maybe Guido at offroad-world in Germany or another European G supplier would have one.
Scott Brady
Founder
The long block is being shipped and we decided to perform a few other services, including a transmission reseal. DeYoung European here in Prescott is doing all of the work. I was a little concerned about a smaller town shop performing the repair, but these guys are squared away, and all ASE certified technicians with several being Mercedes master technicians.
Should be back on the road by the 28th. Excited to have it back in service!
Should be back on the road by the 28th. Excited to have it back in service!
JSQ
Adventurer
I have some exclusive footage of Scott getting shots of the new iteration of the Gwagen.
(My man is very loyal to Canon hardware as you know)
He said he just wants to get back to the roots of what the Gelandewagen represents across the globe.