charlieaarons
Explorer
We were in the vicinity about 13-14 years ago. Can’t remember if we went up that dune.
Backing down is usually the right move.
Backing down is usually the right move.
Unimogadventures - Our build and travel thread
- Thread starter Iain_U1250
- Start date
Iain_U1250
Explorer
It was on the way to Nor 6 memorial and the blowholes at Zuytdorp cliffs
Iain_U1250
Explorer
Some of the realities of driving a large truck on tracks created by much smaller vehicles.
I would not to have even tried these tracks without the extensive bar work we have,and our truck is smaller than most Unimogs. The angled roof helped a lot, without it, we would have had to do a lot more branch cutting, and would probably have sustained a fair bit more damage than a couple of clearance light, and aerial and a broken window.
And after 300km of very rough tracks, with tight turns, and sharp rocks everywhere, and didn't have any problems, but we were driving down a pretty flat beach at about 60kph when we hit something buried in the sand.
I would not to have even tried these tracks without the extensive bar work we have,and our truck is smaller than most Unimogs. The angled roof helped a lot, without it, we would have had to do a lot more branch cutting, and would probably have sustained a fair bit more damage than a couple of clearance light, and aerial and a broken window.
And after 300km of very rough tracks, with tight turns, and sharp rocks everywhere, and didn't have any problems, but we were driving down a pretty flat beach at about 60kph when we hit something buried in the sand.
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Iain_U1250
Explorer
Thanks, not much to repair. Most of the scatches will polish out, as I used an industrial machinery paint not a car paint. Will do some hand polishing with a heavy cutting compound today. Our camper has a 2mm thick aluminium skin, not fridge box material so is pretty tough, we have a few dents, but no real damage.
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Iain_U1250
Explorer
A half day cutting any polishing and it has made a big difference. I'll wait until I get back to do it properly with the polishing machine.
Just can't reach up here.
Just can't reach up here.
Iain_U1250
Explorer
Just downloaded all of our track files from out various trips around Australia, still got a few more places to visit
Iain_U1250
Explorer
and the matching fuel consumption 
ITTOG
Well-known member
Interesting increase in the middle. What do you attribute that to?
Iain_U1250
Explorer
Not really sure, but could have been when we were doing a lot of long highway trips at high speed. The first lower consumption would be when we were running the new engine in, and had turned the boost down. Since we fitted the new transmission around 60,000km things seems to be pretty steady.
Because we have two fuel tanks, the graph is a rolling average as otherwise the data is all over the place, we try not to fill up both tanks at the same service station when we are in the Outback, so might just drive another 2km to the next one in town to fill up the other tank. We have a 160L tank and a 190L tank. Realistically we have range of around 1350km in mixed off-road and road driving. The big tank doesn't have baffles, and so that leaves around 35L in the tank before it starts to suck air in at the fuel pickup. We can then transfer that across via a transfer pump system and get all the fuel out, but that means stopping on level ground and running the little pump for 15min or so This gives a range of around 1500km which can be very usefull in the Outback when fuel can cost over $4.00/L, whislt in town is is around $1.70/L . We have some fuel pricing apps that let us find the cheaper fuel so can skip the really expensive ones mostly.
The most we have gotten is 1800km between refueling, on the Gibb River road between Kunnunara and Derby, when we had another 90L of fuel in jerry cans as well, we still had about 40lts left, but the truck will stop when we get to 20-30lt left in the smaller tank when we are going up a hill, so that was cutting it fine. We always a 20Lt of "emergency fuel" jerry can with a fuel pickup, which as a last restort, we can plumb into the system and then drain the fuel out the smaller tank to get every last drop of fuel used, that would theoretically give us another 150km. That means that in theory, we can get just over 2000km with all the fuel we can carry.
Because we have two fuel tanks, the graph is a rolling average as otherwise the data is all over the place, we try not to fill up both tanks at the same service station when we are in the Outback, so might just drive another 2km to the next one in town to fill up the other tank. We have a 160L tank and a 190L tank. Realistically we have range of around 1350km in mixed off-road and road driving. The big tank doesn't have baffles, and so that leaves around 35L in the tank before it starts to suck air in at the fuel pickup. We can then transfer that across via a transfer pump system and get all the fuel out, but that means stopping on level ground and running the little pump for 15min or so This gives a range of around 1500km which can be very usefull in the Outback when fuel can cost over $4.00/L, whislt in town is is around $1.70/L . We have some fuel pricing apps that let us find the cheaper fuel so can skip the really expensive ones mostly.
The most we have gotten is 1800km between refueling, on the Gibb River road between Kunnunara and Derby, when we had another 90L of fuel in jerry cans as well, we still had about 40lts left, but the truck will stop when we get to 20-30lt left in the smaller tank when we are going up a hill, so that was cutting it fine. We always a 20Lt of "emergency fuel" jerry can with a fuel pickup, which as a last restort, we can plumb into the system and then drain the fuel out the smaller tank to get every last drop of fuel used, that would theoretically give us another 150km. That means that in theory, we can get just over 2000km with all the fuel we can carry.
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Iain_U1250
Explorer
I did some more data manipulation of the records. Because we don't fill up the tanks when they reach any particular level, and sometimes don't fill them completely if the price is high and we know it is cheaper in the next town, the records of each tank give pretty strange results. With the price of fuel a lot higher now than it was 9 years ago, our refueling strategy has changed a lot, and we look at ways of saving money by planning our refuels. If the price is high, we don't fill up the tank, just enough to safely get us to the next cheaper fuel.
I think an average over 5 refuels seems to give a more realistic version, the high fuel consumption correlates to the serious off-road/desert driving and the lower consumption the dirt road driving where we are doing about 80kph for long distances.
I think an average over 5 refuels seems to give a more realistic version, the high fuel consumption correlates to the serious off-road/desert driving and the lower consumption the dirt road driving where we are doing about 80kph for long distances.
Iain_U1250
Explorer
Two $28 seals let go and and you have to take the whole back axle apart
