A new experience, a flat tyre.

Submitted: Thursday, Nov 26, 2009 at 07:52
ThreadID: 126221 Views:4134 Replies:5 FollowUps:5
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Murphy says they will always occur when you don’t need it or when you are unprepared.
Unprepared is an understatement. It’s been over 5 years since I have had a flat tyre on my TOJO. In over 140,000km 106,000km of which with the BT on the back, & almost every dirt road in the country, the tyre God has been kind to me!
I run Mickey Thompson, Dick Cepic FC2 tyres, which are getting down near the wear markers after about 65,000km
Heading out to Glen Davis & Hill End in central west NSW for a short run after 4 months in WA, much travelling gear was left behind, including common sense & the need to let tyres down on dirt roads. Hey! I’m close to civilisation & there’s not much dirt, so why worry.
There’s a bit of road reconstruction going on between Sofala & Hill End & a section of the road is being built up with crushed aggregate. So it was not really a surprise to see the rim of one of the back wheels sitting on the ground when we woke up next morning in the camping ground at Hill End.
No problem, like most Boggers we have three spares, so just jack it up & swap wheels.
Now as I have said, I haven’t had to jack TOJO up for 5 years, & having a ‘senior moment’ I neglected to chock the wheels. The handbrake is next to useless on the TOJO, so this wasn’t on either.
Being on a slight slope, as soon as the wheel came off, Mr Differential decided to let the other back wheel obey the laws of gravity & rotate downhill & off the jack, trapping the wheel in the wheel arch..
This resulted in the axle being about 3” off the ground. I always carry (except on this trip) a Bushranger 4-tonne exhaust jack, in case of being bogged or for soft sand needs, or in situations such as this. How to jack it up? There are no roadhouse facilities in Hill End, & the nearest civilisation is Mudgee, about 70km away, so borrowing a trolley jack is out of the question. (The camping ground at this time of morning is empty)
First of all I put chocks under all of the remaining wheels (a bit late now, but needed). I figured I needed a lever & fulcrum. No trees were available to cut down, & I was considering borrowing a plank off the picnic table, but figured it too short.

Then a Eureka moment! This may be of help to others in this predicament.

Use the jack in the bushtracker under the tow bar (could have also used the TOJO jack at a pinch). However the tow bar needs to go up a long way. Fortunately, I carry a pair of axle stands in the BT. So, jack it up high enough to get the axle stand under the tow bar. Get some blocks under the jack, up again, adjust the axle stand, & keep going until the TOJO jack will fit under the rear axle.
Once this was achieved, simply a matter of removing the flat & replacing it with a good one. After this, I was about to remove the chock from the other rear wheel & noticed a rather large nail head sitting proud of the tread, but the tyre was still holding normal 40psi pressure. With all of my now experience of changing wheels, this one was a breeze!
Back home again & time for some new rubber!

Neil
A Bushtracker (or BT) is a "Boys Toy"

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Reply By: Deleted User - Thursday, Nov 26, 2009 at 11:27

Thursday, Nov 26, 2009 at 11:27
Neil, how long between whoa to go and how many expletives deleted?????

It's amazing how the rust can set in on a usually simple procedure.

I need another set of wheel chocks...anyone know of a good lightweight set.?
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Follow Up By: Boystoy - Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 08:09

Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 08:09
I guess about an hour & it was too early in the day for brain food. This would maybe have eased the pain

Neil
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Reply By: Gone Bush - Thursday, Nov 26, 2009 at 18:12

Thursday, Nov 26, 2009 at 18:12
"the jack in the Bushtracker".....

I assume that was one that you provided??

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Follow Up By: Boystoy - Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 08:10

Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 08:10
Naturally

Neil
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Reply By: Tellem Bugrem - Thursday, Nov 26, 2009 at 19:01

Thursday, Nov 26, 2009 at 19:01
Hey Neil and Pat,

You'll see on a current thread, a link to the Ovesco Site. They have trucking chocks in various sizes but are a bit heavy. Usually there's plenty of timber or rocks hanging about, but as you say, these things can happen when there none of those things within easy reach.

By the way, did you venture along the Bridle Track, or Upper Turon?. And what about Duns Swamp and Ferntree Gully?

I presume the roadwaorks between Sofala and Hill End were in the vicinity of Monkey Hill, or Devil's Pinch near the Pyramul Road turnoff.

Cheers........Rob and Liz
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Follow Up By: Boystoy - Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 08:39

Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 08:39
Wheel chocks: mine were made from the end of a hardwood garden sleeper, cut out with the chainsaw, & finished up with a linisher & plane. They work well when I remember to use them.
Did the Bridle track (without the BT) quite an adventure too! Saw the spot where you had to juggle the BT around. Glad it was you not me. Did you notice the "not suitable for caravans" sign with emphisis? A totally wrecked caravan under a tree behind the sign!
Missed the Upper Turon because we came via Rylstone and Ilford to Sofala. Dunns Swamp was a no-no because of Charlie, our geriatric cat not allowed in a NP.
The bitumen now extends from Ilford to Bathurst & from Bathurst via Turondale to the Hill End road. There's only about 15km of dirt between Sofala & Hill End, & 7km dirt between Hill End & Mudgee.
Devils pinch has been realigned & is ready for the black stuff. The nasty bit is on the short section being realigned just out of Sofala. The original squiggely bit in the middle between Sofala & Hill End hasen't been touched as yet.

From Capertree to Glen Davis is now blacktop with exception of the last 9 km.
Great scenery for any who haven't been that way. There is now a tour of the old shale oil works at Glen Davis at 2PM on Saturdays, plus "Simmos" museum on the way in to Glen Davis. There's a free camping ground with free hot showers, flush toilet, good water & power at the amenities block (not available for connection to the van) There absolutely no facilities in the town, just a "boutique" Hotel which keeps the gate locked except for pre-booked guests. The community hall opens on weekends & has basic refreshments, & tourist info of the area.
Otherwise a great historic & scenic spot to visit.

Neil & Pat
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Reply By: Motherhen & Rooster - Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 05:50

Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 05:50
Hi Neil - and -

Murphy says that the day we put on clean and NEW clothes ready to visit a town, is the day we get a blow out along the way. Murphy says that it will happen when we have turned onto a bitumen road with trucks roaring through and in a spot with a drop off on either side of the road - so no way to stop there.

All in all we have had a very good run with tyres since having the Bushtracker, and even though we had to run on the rim for a couple of kilometres before being able to pull off the road, it was undamaged. But for a faint 'pop' sound, we would never have known to watch the tyres. Even looking in the mirror the problem was not at first visible. Knowing this is why we looked into tyre sensors, but we haven't got that organised as yet.

We travel with a decent sized bottle jack and a trolley jack and these have helped us out at times like when we have had dropped springs, and the broken tow bar on the Patrol, but more often helped someone else who's jack could not do the job in the circumstances. The day before our blow out, we were on the loop drive in Mungo NP. Someone with a motor home had blown a rear tyre, and was running on the rim. The spare was under the rear of the vehicle which was resting on the ground. The small jack they had could not lift the van enough to get at the spare.

Motherhen
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Reply By: Mobi Condo - Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 07:11

Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 07:11
Hm! No wonder we are the heavy side!
We have a 5t hydraulic bottle jack, a 1.8t hydraulic bottle jack (for when we are too slow to get to a tyre before it goes flat and we need to get under the Toyota axle!), an exhaust jack (for sandy terrain) AND a High Lift Jack (doubles as a 2nd winch & assists with de-bogging where we can use it under very low lift points). Have used all together on various times and last trip we got bogged twice in mud on the 1st and 3rd days! We also have a WARN 9000 Electric winch from which we used 30m cable + 30m extension strap + 7 metre drag chain for 3 hauls of the van (= 200m+ in total) through some slush near Neds Corner on the Renark to Mildura Mail run track.
Oh well - if you have the gear you generally can retireve yourself (if not others!)
Cheers - Ian & Sally
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Follow Up By: Noosa Fox - Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 21:06

Friday, Nov 27, 2009 at 21:06
I have mainly used my recovery gear to retrieve others and I would like to keep it that way.

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Follow Up By: Mobi Condo - Saturday, Nov 28, 2009 at 04:01

Saturday, Nov 28, 2009 at 04:01
Yeah, we do too, last trip was the 1st times we have used our gear in"anger" for ourselves!
Must be getting a bit old to have got caught when we did!

Mind you the mental notes have been re-adjusted to avoid what happened before!

In fact after the big pull we faced three more similar stretches from Neds Corner east and had no worries! Even went bush for a k or so to dodge a bog, 4 or 5 'ripped' rabbit warrens and some sand areas. We walked the chosen route and 'sounded' the firmness of the ground, then drove it!
The BT just followed us through it all. Was BETTER than the road it self!
Cheers - Ian & Sally
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