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Going for a little jaunt

Chris

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I simply could not put this into trips and reports. I would be stoned to death by those who have been 'out there'. Me and the Missus and the kiddiewinks are going South for a few days to try out the 80. It's not what I would call prepared exactly, OK it has power, roof tent, fridge and whatnot, but it's hardly ready for Mongolia. We are going to visit Kent and look at some castles. So if you are round and about in that are keep a look out for a large white camping ice cream van!! There won't be pictures, nor a travel blog. Not unless I can photoshop some pyramids into the background.

Missus wants to have a try at this camping lark, and I really want to give the vehicle a decent drive in a 'safe' environment where any problems can't really be disasters. When I get back, I shall be doing the BEBs. On 104k now and don't want to go any more.

New radiator seems to be cooling very well.

Give us a wave if you see us.

Chris
 
have fun and don't eat too many ice-creams, but enjoy some of the fine kentish ales! :thumbup:

We are off to Norway for a week... but flyinging to Bergen and hiring a horrible little hatchback.... so no fun for the landcruiser - oh why did DFDS axe that Newcastle-Norway ferry route....
taking tent, but will hopefully hire out Hyttes (cabins) in campsites to get out of the rain!
 
Chris said:
I simply could not put this into trips and reports. I would be stoned to death by those who have been 'out there'. Me and the Missus and the kiddiewinks are going South for a few days to try out the 80. It's not what I would call prepared exactly, OK it has power, roof tent, fridge and whatnot, but it's hardly ready for Mongolia. We are going to visit Kent and look at some castles. So if you are round and about in that are keep a look out for a large white camping ice cream van!! There won't be pictures, nor a travel blog. Not unless I can photoshop some pyramids into the background.

Missus wants to have a try at this camping lark, and I really want to give the vehicle a decent drive in a 'safe' environment where any problems can't really be disasters. When I get back, I shall be doing the BEBs. On 104k now and don't want to go any more.

New radiator seems to be cooling very well.

Give us a wave if you see us.



Chris

Have you got a passport to come down this way. :D :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Well a distinct lack of 80s to be seen on that trip, but to say that all we did was go for a little jaunt to Kent, enough happened to put me off leaving the drive again!

Weather was dreadful, but the Terrain tent kept it all out. Really nice. Someone lit a compost heap in a field next to us and when we returned the tent and all our kit reeked of burning rubbish even though it had been pouring down, the fire hadn't gone out.
I got into trouble with the owner as he though I had been washing up under the drinking water tap. For the record, I hadn't.
We got to the only chippy for miles only to read a sign saying that they were doing an order for 100 people and there might be a delay!!
Mrs dropped the fridge lid on my head as I was getting a beer. Look, don't even think that you know something funny to say there. I am warning you.
Then the next morning as we were going to Bodiam Castle on a stretch of dual carriageway, there was an enormous bang. I mean a really big bang and the sound of grinding metal. Nearly lost control of the car into the barriers. I honestly though that we had lost a wheel boys. But it was this:

Tyrefailure.jpg


The bead and the sidewall seem to have parted company. As you can imagine, the wheel took a good scuffing and now looks quite sorry in terms of the nice new powder coating. Ahh well. I mailed Sinton Tyres with the pic and some others. I go an immediate response. They sent the pics to Cooper whose initial comment was that they believed that it had been damaged during fitting. They said that the fitter would be completely unaware of this, but it is the most plausible explanation in their view. They want the tyre back for examination. In the meantime they are replacing the tyre FOC. Regardless of what the cause is, Sinton are sending one out today and Cooper will pick up the bill. Incidentally, come Jan 2011, this tyre will no longer be available in the UK due to some EU nonsense. Unless, Cooper find a solution in the meantime. I may buy another one before then.
Service from Ian at Sinton - first rate. I had to change it there, it couldn't be driven on. I got my hi lift jack, proudly off the roof, put it in the tube and...... Buggger. I was so close to the Armco that I could get the Pitman to engage. After several ideas, I got the OE jack out. Useless bloody things.

Weather still awful. Went to Dover Castle for the day, got back into truck and at the first roundabout there was a terrible crash as the end of one of the ratchet straps on the roof, tried to come through the rear window. This strap was holding a ladder on top. With a rack including tent etc, I found that a loft ladder with some mods is a really useful piece of kit that just makes life easier. It had gone. No, it didn't fall off. Someone had made off with me ladder! There is no way that the strap came undone. It was not hanging off the car when we returned, but we didn't look on the roof at that point. As the strap went through the ladder it would have taken some sort of phenomenon for it to come off and leave the strap on. The ratchet strap had been replaced and shortened to hook (badly) onto the rack. We all remarked later how we'd looked off the battlements, seen the car and remember (subliminally) that the ladder was not on the top. Well, at least they left the rest of the gear. It's a new one on me - a ladder fetish.

For some reason the fridge decided that it didn't want to work on gas halfway through. Will have to look into that one. Maybe low pressure. Then the leisure batter powering the inverter dropped to the point where the battery protection system cut in. Of course I didn't need to protect the battery as it's not a starter. I haven't wired in the charging system yet. So I had to keep using jump leads to top the battery up to a level that the inverter stayed on.

Well that's my traveling done. Anyone want to buy a Land Cruiser?




Hah, not a chance. I haven't even got going yet. Got to get the drawers in and the power and lighting and I shall be back.

C
 
Chris said:
Mrs dropped the fridge lid on my head as I was getting a beer. Look, don't even think that you know something funny to say there. I am warning you.
Is it too early to laugh about this one or not quite yet? :|


Sounds like an interesting trip. Glad the blowout did not cause any real damage!
 
I warned you.... :naughty:

Leave it! There is no humour to be gained here. Never get between me and my beer.

Mr Grumpy
 
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Chris said:
I warned you.... :naughty:

Leave it! There is no humour to be gained here. Never get between me and my beer.

Mr Grumpy

You know what the problem there was don't you Chris...... The Mrs should have been getting the beer! :twisted:

Sorry to hear about the tyre, could have been bad, but seems like a blown tyre is no match for a man of you skills :lol:
 
That tyre failure sounds a bit bad and lucky you're all ok. We took the tin tent to the sea side for the weekend but didn't have any of the extra excitement of your trip although it was a bit windy and ended very wet this morning. Can't believe someone would nick your loft ladder!
 
Sorry to read that your trip/jaunt was not all up to your expectations :cry:

In time you will recount the highlights of it with a rye smile I'm sure :) Maybe even some laughter :lol:

Very close call with the tyre :shock: Think what could have been if you had not managed to keep control :( I think you've done pretty well there m8 :thumbup:

My m8 had his ladders nicked from off of his Sprinter a couple of months back while parked on his drive (they just cut the straps & were off) but before they nicked it they stabbed two of the tyres on his Sprinter & his LR90 so he could not give chase if they were seen :shock:

There's a lot of thieving going on these days :evil: 30 sheds on the local allotments were broke into & emptied last week just down the road from me as well :?

Not all is lost as I'm sure all of what has happened will have made you a wiser man :)

At least all of you are OK :thumbup: :)
 
Got to say that I haven't had a puncture for years as I use OKO sealant in all of my car, trailer and quad tyres. This would not have prevented this event though. It really was a hell of a bang. Missus says that she doesn't think that she'd have held on to it. A rear tyre might have been a lesser event, but this was the left nearside with one of those deep vee rain channels at the edge. Middle lane M25 with cars behind would have been a real trouser filler. I don't scare easily and as soon as I came to a halt, I was in robot mode. All out, behind the barrier, triangle out assess situation. But in terms of basic mechanics, as we are talking about on another thread, changing an 80 wheel under fire might well phase some people. I still like the idea of that Jamie Jack device that you simply reverse onto to get your wheel off the ground. Time is a crucial factor here and being hit by something massive is not a prospect that I find inviting. I must have spent 10 mis faffing around with a stupid bloomin High Lift. Ten seconds with a JJ might have been a really good balance between the different options. It was precious time lost. Kids hadn't a clue - all part of the funfair. Missus pretty shaken (yes she was quiet for a while). Really glad when I got the reply from Cooper that this didn't look like a common failure due to X, Y or Z which meant that it was likely that any of the other tyres would go.

Oh, by the way. I know this is another whole debate, but did a lot of UK miles, all very similar but went down with Snork facing forward and home with it facing back. By far the best economy was with it facing back. Something stupid like 173 mile to the half tank forward and 241 not quite to the halfway facing back. I used nearly 2 tanks in all across various styles but the simple motorway up and down was a straight comparison. No question on economy. 60 mph all the way mostly on cruise.

Chris
 
I put puncture sealant (the stuff Difflock sell) in my Toyo's but it caused wheel balance problems and is a PITA to then remove it again.
 
Jon Wildsmith said:
I put puncture sealant (the stuff Difflock sell) in my Toyo's but it caused wheel balance problems and is a PITA to then remove it again.
I had that sealant stuff in my previous set of Cooper STT's and had balance problems. My local tyre place couldn't get them balanced even after trying three different machines :o , I didn't realise at the time but it was probably the sealant causing the problem, I bought some more for my second set of tyres but never got round to putting it in, after reading this I don't think I'll bother now.
Chas
 
Been using it for years. Heard all the old wives tales. I fit the tyres, get them balanced, run them for a while to make sure they are all in line and THEN put 500 ml in each. Have treated dozens of tyres with no problems at all. It does not throw a tyre out of balance unless the tyre isn't balanced to start with. When I have changed the tyre at the end of its life, I have have found nails and screws and all sorts stuck in thee. Tyre fitters don't like it because it does them out of repairing punctures. I swapped some ATs onto another vehicle, my local guys just washed the tyres out with a hose pipe. No issues at all.

You can just carry a bottle with you and if you get a really inconvenient flat, just run half a liter in then and re inflate at the road side to get you going. Why are people always down on this product? It's an essential in my view. If not in my tyres, then at least in my emergency kit.

Chris
 
Toyo's were balanced and running fine for ages before I put the sealant in as a just in case before going to France. Caused a slight imbalance but not too bad just irritating until I did a tyre rotation after I got back and it was a serious shake that didn't go away even after I persisted with them like that for a few hundred miles thinking it would redistribute itself. I put a bottle (700ml / 26 units) in each tyre which according to the application chart & instructions is about right although it doesn't list my size.

This was the second time I'd used it. The first time was when I had OEM size tyres and I used a lot less (can't remember the amount now but went off the application chart) and had no balance problems. When the tyres were later stripped off most of the sealant was stuck to the wheel not the tyre though and there was only a very thin smear on the inside of the tyre.

I'm not 'down' on the product or making up old wives tales, just stating my experience of it so far.
 
Shi'ite, Chris - that's a hairy story! Glad it all ended ok. I did a 1500 mile round trip to France last week and didn't have any such excitement.

Looks like my fellow Southerners are giving the rest of us a bad reputation for light fingers... Bad luck with the ladder! :evil:

Chris said:
Oh, by the way. I know this is another whole debate, but did a lot of UK miles, all very similar but went down with Snork facing forward and home with it facing back. By far the best economy was with it facing back. Something stupid like 173 mile to the half tank forward and 241 not quite to the halfway facing back. I used nearly 2 tanks in all across various styles but the simple motorway up and down was a straight comparison. No question on economy. 60 mph all the way mostly on cruise.
Cruiser excited to be heading home perhaps? Or maybe it was the reduced weight without the ladder and beer :idea: In all seriousness I wonder whether the wind direction might have had an impact - an 80 with RTT etc is not the sleekest of vehicles...
 
Sorry, Jon, not suggesting that you were, old chap. But I have had great success with this and it does seem that whenever I mention it, the detractors appear. I would agree that if there is a slight imbalance, this would make it worse and it might be that a tyre feels fine but isn't actually perfectly in balance to start with. I think that it's unlikely that it will throw out a tyre that is spot on. After a couple of revs, it should be spread like a centrifuge inside the tyre. It has sealed leaking rims for me too. I still think that if people don't fancy it, carrying a bottle on an overland trip might be a real lifesaver in a tight spot. You'd be on your way quicker than you could get the jack off the roof.

700ml does sound like quite a lot. Even if that is in 'spec'. It's almost a kilo going around in your tyre. Now if you have huge tyres it could be difficult to actually spread the liquid evenly around the inside. I have only used it on conventional sized rubber plus quads and trailers. I can certainly see how it might not work. But so far for me it has.

I will post the Cooper report on the tyre failure when I get it.

Chris
 
Chris said:
Well a distinct lack of 80s to be seen on that trip, but to say that all we did was go for a little jaunt to Kent, enough happened to put me off leaving the drive again!
C

Chris

Mongolia is a lot more civilised though so I wouldn't worry about leaving the drive - wait till you come down to the South West, makes Kazakhstan look modern - only kidding :lol:
 
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