Unimogadventures - Our build and travel thread

[Iain_U1250]

We are now in the more remote part of our trip - we only get an intenet connection when we are parked next to the offices of the camp ground, and it is now 37 Deg C outside, only 30 Deg C inside thanks to the insulation, but it will get hotter



So far the only problems have been loose wires, the first being the main feed wire from the 2nd alternator - turns out the liquid insulation I used to prevent possible shorts had seeped behind the nut, and whilst it seemed tight, there was no electrical connection. Cleaning it and tightening the nut solved the problems I was having with that alternator - now we get over 100A going into the house batteries when the engine is over 2000rpm.

first was a wire on the Auber Instrument temperature gauge I use for controlling the main electric fan - it was reading around 16 Deg C when we were climbing up a very steep hill in 40 Deg C weather - the MB gauge had it at over 100 Deg C. Since this controls the fan, I had to use the over-ride switch to get the fan to run. When we were visiting Dave, I fixed the loose wire, and the Auber gauges has behaved itself ever since, but now wanting to risk it again, we stopped off at an autoparts store and bought a mechanical thermo switch, and wired it in parallel with the Auber gauge. This gives me redundancy for the main fan, and I also changed the sensor input for the second Auber gauge on the dash to a temperature sensor on the radiator itself, I can see how hot the radiator is, and that shows me when the fans are running as well. I'm going to wire the a/c condenser fan in parallel to that when we get home, so it will allow me to switch both fans on if I ever need maximum cooling but so far despite my external temperature gauge reading in the high 40's Deg C, we have had to problems with cooling. We are heading off to Birdsville tomorrow, and the weather forecast is showing 44 Deg C, so we will find out if there are any problems on that leg of the trip.

The other problem we have had is the main earth wire for most of the equipment under the bonnet came loose - this mean no fans, lights etc as all the relays use this earth. I replaced the nut, not before burning my arm on the hot radiator getting the old nut off. After cleaning all the terminals, and putting on a new serrated nut, and tightening it as tight as I dare, there have been no problems since. When I get home, I will add some conductive past to the earth to protect it and give it better conductivity, and use a Nylock nut to it as well.



We have added quite a few scratches to the paint and windows the other day, doing a pretty tight track called the Echo Camp Back-track. Initially the people here at Arkaroola were not so sure about letting us go on the drive, they have never had something as big as our on the track. It was pretty steep in places - I had to use the low range/working gears for the first time. It as so steep in places, Trish got out an walked!



We had the GoPros on most of the time, and got some great footage which I will edit into a short video, I was really impressed with how easily the truck handled the terrain, just chugging up the steepest hill at around 1500rpm no problem at all. Going down using the gears was also fairly simple, but a bit more more scary as the rocks were pretty loose and we wallow around a lot, but all in all it was great and the truck did everything we wanted it to.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

This is a really good shake down trip. ...can't wait for the video

 

[steve4wdaus]

Enjoy the Flinders Ranger and keep the photos coming.
Cheers steve

 

[Iain_U1250]

We had a great time at Arkaroola, great camping down next to the river and very quiet. With the weather starting to get hot we headed up to the most isolated part of our trip. The Birdsville Track through the desert gets a fair amount of traffic in the winter months, it is around 500km of dirt road with basically a pub/roadhouse in the middle, and pretty much nothing in-between. Since it was summer, there was not much traffic - we saw one other vehicle the whole trip. It was one of the hottest days I have ever experienced. We stopped at the Mungeranie Pub around midday, and it the owner of the pub showed us that the floor under the verandah was 44 Deg C in the shade. Outside in the sun, the ground was 55 Deg C.




We met a guy cycling around Australia, he had been riding since before sunrise, and made it to Maree at the start of the Birdsville track, he made it before it got too hot. I don't think it is something I could do, I prefer a bit of luxury. He was going to Coober Pedy along the Oodnadatta track, but was staying in Maree until it cooled down




Our external temperature gauge on the truck which is in the shade, was measuring 55 Deg C air temp whilst we drove up the track. We had a very strong headwind all the way - EGT would sit around 650 Deg C on even the slightest uphill if I tried to keep at 90kph on the smooth parts, so I slowed down to 80kph and backed off up the hills and changed down if the EGT alarm went off- set at 680 DegC as it makes a racket. Fuel consumption was pretty high - around 30lt/100km, worst we have every gotten but not that bad considering the lower tyre pressure, strong headwind us being around 7.5 tons being full of fuel, water and food.

Despite the incredible hot temps, the engine stayed around 100-105 Deg C. I put in the 72 Deg C thermostat before we left, and down in Melbourne engine temps seldom got above 75 Deg C when it was less than 25c outside. Our a/c struggled to keep pace until my wife put on of our sunshade on the side window where the sun was coming in, our laser gun measured the glass at 48 Deg C and I remembered to switch off the OEM fan sucking in the outside air. When we stopped for a break around 2:00pm, I did a quick check around the truck with the laser gun. Thermostat housing confirmed as 100 Deg C, the transmission was around 99-105 Deg C, front portals, 60C, front diff housing - 65C, rear portals, 80C, rear diff housing, 70C, and Claas overdrive was 105 C. The diesel tank on the sunny side was 60C. I let it idle to keep the a/c going for the wife, and the electric fan was able to drop the coolant temp below 88C - enough for it to cycle out - then the a/c fan came on and that stayed on all the time, but it was enough to keep the engine around 88-90C. There were so many flies that within a minute or so, I had to retreat back inside the truck to get my fly net on my hat. Never seen it so bad before and we have been to some pretty bad places. We drove until the sun went down, then turned off the track and up over a sand dune to camp for the night.



It was a pretty uncomfortable night, it was still 39 Deg C at 11:30pm, and the moon was so bright, we were out taking photos at 10:00pm and even the flies did not go to sleep it was so bright. It was still 34 C when the sun came up. I'll post some photos when we get a better internet connection, we are now on our way home, it was a real test for the truck, and it passed with flying colours, seems MB know how to design a proper cooling system after all and my electric fan set-up is adequate for the truck.

We arrived at Birdsville around 8:30am the next morning, to find basically everything was closed until Easter weekend. I decided to get a move on to escape the heat once we were back on the tar roads. We did the 1600km in two days averaging 89kph. Not bad for a 32 year old off-road truck. Tyres seem to have taken a bit of extra wear at that speed especially with the tar being over 60 Deg C surface temp.



Back home now and going to do all the improvements we think will make it better. First off is the rear winch plate and gas bottle storage. Going to weld it to the back plate which has been heavily reinforced for the train hitch. I'll add the two tow point underneath, and some reinforcing on the sides.

This mog used to tow some railway carriages around, it had a plate on the dash saying "Engage Low Range when pulling more than five carriages" so the rear plate is pretty substantial compared to other mogs, so I might as well make use of it.

I will add some lighter brackets and a protection bar to hold our gas bottles, better to have them outside than in one of the storage pods. Trish will make a canvas cover for the winch to keep the dust out, and maybe one for the gas bottles as well.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

The outside temperature being that hot is that normal or is it just getting out of hand

 

[piratexpress1369a]

Just watched the video on YouTube that was awesome. . How did it feel in the cab.any pucker moments lol

 

[DzlToy]

Good to see you out enjoying your Mog, but at those temps, I think I might be inclined to stay in a well insulated air-conditioned house or choose a destination with more reasonable temps. That is miserable; at least you don't have humidity to go along with it.

 

[Iain_U1250]

Just watched the video on YouTube that was awesome. . How did it feel in the cab.any pucker moments lol

Only time it ws a bit scary was going down hill and the back started to move out, I just floored the accelerator and it straightened up, apart from that it was surprisingly easy, just chugging along in low range 4 or 5th.

Good to see you out enjoying your Mog, but at those temps, I think I might be inclined to stay in a well insulated air-conditioned house or choose a destination with more reasonable temps. That is miserable; at least you don't have humidity to go along with it.

It was not pleasant outside, but bearable inside the truck even without the a/c on as long as you had plenty to drink.

 

[Fugly]

Iain,
Good to see you folk are getting good use of the truck ....
Great footage and pic's....
Thanks for sharing .....

Cheers
Fugly

 

[Vegard_S]

Great summary afrom the trip and inspiring movie

A bit jealous about the temprature though.

This is my weather forecast for the next couple of day's:Wow1::

 

[Iain_U1250]

That looks pretty miserable, cold, wet and overcast, reminds me of Melbourne.

 

[nick disjunkt]

I'm no expert on the Australian climate, but I'm not sure Melbourne ever gets to -12!

 

[Iain_U1250]

Just a few quick updates on some modifications we have added to the truck.

I've finished the rear winch plate, installed the winch and wired it all up to the dash controls. I've also made some gas bottle holders to take the two 2kg gas bottles we use for outside cooking



Alosn with some covers for the valves of the gas bottles to protect them from mud and dust.



My wife has made the big canvas rear storage bag for the rear luggage rack. It holds all the light but bulky things that fill up the storage compartments. It has a full length zip and a cover so we hope most of the dust stays out.





We have a few more modifications and additions, including a second 2000W inverter, an extra 240V outlet for the main inverter, fit the Sat Phone docking station and aerials we had on the Land Rover, and fit some better locks to the food drawer, the old ones were not strong enough to keep the drawer closed on rough roads. We have a few more weeks to finish the modifications on the truck and clean out the shed before we head off for another 15 week trip across Australia.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

Covers look great. ..what does it cost you to run sat phone

 

[Iain_U1250]

We use a pre-paid one with Inmarsat. Cost about $1 per minute, or text message. It can receive emails for free. We have our docking station set up to send our position after we turn off the ignition for longer than an hour ( we can overide it if we want to) . It sends a message to a gmail account which then forwards the message on to all our kids so they see where we are. It works as long as the aerial on the roof can see the satellite. We buy $100 vouchers, and so far never run our of credit before the time limit expires, which is a bit of a waste, but cheaper than a monthly fee unless we were on the road full time.