Touring in a JK

[Drafty]

If you are on schedule and following the plan you laughingly call your itinerary - you will be either at Perlube beach or around Streaky Bay and you have nearly 3 weeks before your booking on the Spirit of Tasmania to get you and the truck and trailer over to the Island -So you two should end up looking like sea food.

Jeepchick - its old news now but when redgp had all the strife with the dealer refusing warranty his jeep was only four months old and all the mods - a lot less it has than now- had been installed by the dealer - its also old news that the major fault was found to be a factory production line error and they refused to fix or pay. I dont know if he has told you but they have now admitted liability and paid up in the end - all steve has for the time and effort is more grey hairs.

Hey Steve and Carol have a great time - bricng back some nuggets for me - just a few grams will do at the current prices.

Thomas.

[davidd]

Originally Posted by redgp

So davidd, what do you think? once we got that trouble maker banned, this is a nice place to be again!

.... and I have come back, at least whilst I am on the road, its just so relaxing out here and quiet!!!

"She who must obeyed" has gone for a walk at least two kilometers up the beach ... out of site and out of range of the walky talky and there is no one else for miles around.


Ah the serenity!!!!

hi steve, i only got 2 pm,s from him which was more than enough, he is a nice piece of work. my truck goes in again monday. after maddington were made to replace the gearbox after their destructive efforts, the brake and clutch master cylinders both went 2 weeks later. took it to melville to have it repaired. but it also has the low power problem, abs brake problem, esp problem, just developed a faulty fuel gauge, a noise from the engine bay under acceleration, and the clutch/flywheel doesn't seem right. all of which seem to have appeared right after visits to jeep dealers. now van baalen has gone i contacted customer relations again. they agree it seems strange a vehicle can have developed so many problems, especially when i have never had it off road yet (although you wouldn't believe it looking at the black dirt through the engine bay and round the front and rear axles) . they have promised to see the problems fixed, so i'll see how it goes this time. there is definitely a problem in the engine management sytem, that no-one so far wants to admit. works fine under light acceleration but actually shuts down power when the foot is planted. been to two independant people who both say there is a problem ,but there is no dash light or codes thrown to trace it. interesting. so it still goes on. anyway have a good time. enough of my problems pinching your thread. this is a happy thread about good times. may your never ending holiday continue to be happy and never ending. keep in touch, it's good to hear from someone having anawesomely good time in a jeep. wish we could all join you and carol. cheers...dave.

[redgp]

This thread is called Touring in a JK

Its not about warranty, or lack of it. Please stay on topic.


On winching with the JK. One of my problems is all the bloody vehicles that have presented themselves to be rescued by our JK by winch have been far bigger (read heavier) than us.

It is a funny sight the JK connected to a stuck LC200 on the beach winching itself towards the LC with all wheels stationary, it did bring some smiles to the faces of the people gathered around untill I said if you laugh youll get yourselves out and the LC owner soon told everyone to shut up and push on the front of the JK.

We actually did one recovery of a sunken boat trailer the other night from 50mtrs away in a carpark with the winch rope over the beach sand and dissapearing into the water. we had a tow strap shackelled to the rear bar of my JK and around a nearby tree (with a tree protector) Now that one stretched the bolts holding the winch on the front (or at least it sounded like the bolts were stretching, they were creaking and groaning).

The other good thing about the change from wire rope to dynamica rope is it takes less room on the spool and therefore lets more air into the grill for cooling, and I am sure the less weight has allowed my front suspension to lift another 1/2 inch or so. You can also feel the difference in the steering, it feels like there is another 5lbs in the tyres.

[redgp]

Davidd, your continuing trouble with your truck and the Perth dealers just remind me of past troubled times. I have to say we are over all that for the sake of our sanity and I wish you the very best result in your continuing battle.

Suffice to say, most people who stop and comment on our rig, tend to admire the modifications and how well it performes in getting us wherever we might be at the time, off course I say its all to do with how well its driven but Carol just smiles and shakes her head and they then know its more to do with how able the truck is. I thinks its a bit of both but who the hell am I to know?.

If people really are serious in asking about the suitability of a Jeep to tour like we do we tell them the battle it has been with the factory and its dealers. But ultimatly it is doable as can be seen by where we have got to.

Back on topic..... The on board air is a worthwhile investment. Lots of people get stuck on beaches because they are reluctant to air down enough, we find because our compressor will reinflate each 285/75/16 from 12lbs/inch to 40lbs/inch in 55seconds, we go all the way down to 15lbs to start with and rarely need to go the extra few lbs.
When you ask the guy that just asked for your help to get out of a situation, what pressures are in his tyres he invariably says he ran 20 or 25 along the beach untill he got stuck and now he is down to 18 but still cant get out. its too bloody late to go down after your down on your pumpkins mate! some have the biggest tyres i have seen with the smallest Kmart compressor that takes five minutes with a cup of tea rest between to inflate each tyre up from 20 to 35 so no wonder they are reluctant to air down.
So the other mod that has proved usefull is the compressor that is built into the wincw (it uses the winch motor to run the compressor) A Warn Powerplant is what its called.

Steve M

[davidd]

my apologies steve, was not trying to pinch your thread or divert it to something else. after all your problems i understand your desire to put it behind you and get on with more enjoyable things. was just giving you a quick update this end. didn't think of the repercussions it might have from others. but please keep in touch. what you are doing is what many of us (including me) bought our jk for and even if we can't for whatever reason be out there doing it ,it is great to hear from someone who is. we can get enjoyment from hearing about your trip. good luck to you both. dave

[redgp]

Just to make all you people more jelous, Ive just come back up from a smim, Carol is back from a long walk on the beach collecting shells and is reading a book under the camper awning, I am sitting under the shade of a magnificient tree tapping away on the laptop and all we can hear is the surf and the sea birds. We havn't seen another soul for almost three days. Carol says she is thinking about what sea food she is going to put her order in for tonights dinner and I am thinking about when I might stroll down and get it for her.

Such is life.

[JEEPCHIK]

I think you should rename the thread "touring in a JK and rescueing idiots" coz apart from fishing and eating those fishies, you seem to be recovering alot of idiots who abviously should still be back in the Maccas carpark

Which is great coz you are showing people just how great your JK really is

My only suggestion is to remember that your JK is not as heavy duty as the Warn powerplant winch you have hanging off the front.Most of the strain does g to the winch but there still wiil be some significant vehicular strain, especially when recovering such large vehicles like LC200's.

Was there a reason the LC200 driver was not driving his vehicle towards your winch It probably would have helped.

4 batteries How many electric fridges do you take with you Have you considered using the sun to help with power