still cruisin round oz... couple of breakdowns later!!

[westy12]

Gday guys hows it? well this is the first chance ive had to sit down for a while and get back on the net so id thought id tell yous a bit how our trips going. (its a bit of a long story so if ur short on time u may want to skip!)

well we spent about 3 months in broome working and saving enough so we didnt have to work again back to melbs, i was glad to leave in the end! (broome is nice for about a week i reckon!)
had a bit of a dodgy dizzy there making noises and carrying on so got that changed and and was set to go.
so we cruised it thru into the NT and around kakadu etc it was all pretty nice but a bit dry so i guess we went thru at the wrong time at the end of the dry, still cool to see it all. we spent a few days hanging out in darwin, the night markets there were really cool with the sunset on the beach. Litchfield N.P. was really cool also. so then we hightailed it down to see "the rock" which was pretty amazing i must admit the first time you see it. we drove around it, climbed up it, saw it with the sunset etc. then it was a case of 'been there done that!' next morning we checked out the olgas which looked cool from far away but up close not as good, so then we left for the drive back to alice and on to mt isa.

and thats when all the trouble started! about 1/2 hr out of uluru we drove into the biggest dust storm ive ever seen.. (the only dust storm ive ever seen!) no joke it went on for about 150kms! sometimes we couldnt even see infront of our faces! bit dodgy when we come up behind some w@#ker who doesnt think he needs his lights on! so u might think we shouldve pulled over and sat it out but its a bit far between towns out there and we didnt know how long it was gonna hang around for and we kept thinking 'it cant go on much longer!' but it went on and on and on! not good for the van i know i just hoped the air filter was doing its job! but dust got in and covered everything!  so anyway we drove out of it in the end and made back it to alice springs. phew!
next morning i cleaned out the air filter with a ton of dust around it!  and Jules cleaned the inside. he he! then i went to start it and no go! now it always fires straight up so i knew something was up, i tried everything i could think of, wiring, the points and button under the dizzy cap, the spark plugs, the spark, hello, no spark! so that was about the extent of my knowledge so we got roadside assist out in the hope he could fix something! 88 bucks later, he reckoned the coil was stuffed, so he dropped me off at supercheap with repco around the corner to go grab a new coil and guess what, none of them had my coil! oh no i thought, stuck in the alice! it was a sunday and they said a couple of days to get one sent, or i was looking at getting the van towed to a mechanic somewhere the next day. so i had to get back to the van park so i asked a guy in the car park if he could drive me back for a fiver he said 'no worries'. he saw the coil in my hand and asked me whats up so i told him the story and he smiled at me and said 'its your lucky day!' he just happened to be a mechanic and had a coil at his house! well u could imagine my relief what a stroke of luck! so we swung past his house and back to the van park. first thing he did was take the dizzy cap off and crank it. something i didnt think of and neither did the idiot recovery dude. $88 well spent! so the drive gear in the dizzy had stripped, all the dust got into it and seized it. apparently its pretty common.. (i didnt know, did you pick it?) so anyway it just so happened he knew the local auto elec who had a spare one sitting there so $100 to him and $100 to the mech. and we were away! 3rd dizzy lucky!
next day we cruised out of alice with big smiles on our faces but we werent out of the woods yet!
about 280kms out of mt isa i felt a grabbing at the wheel and a sudden loud grinding noise... o no! pulled over to check it out and found the drivers front wheel bearing had basically dissintergrated! took off the nut and the little rollers fell out on the ground! now ive been having trouble with my wheel bearings not keeping their grease so ive been regreasing them often, and i thought i would hear them sqweaking before they died so i could fix them but it just died! so luckily what i havent told u so far is that my mum lives in mt isa and she had met us in tennant creek to come down to the rock so she was following us back to the isa, so we chucked everything valuable into her car and left our poor little beddy on the side of the highway.( i expected it would get broken into). it was sad times indeed!
so next morning found hq bearings in autopro and hammered with jules back to the van (those new suzuki swifts cruise well at 160!). the van was still in one peice(phew!) so i started to change the dead bearing and guess what... u guessed it, wrong bearings! now i can do some pretty stupid things sometimes but assuming my hq front end ran hq bearings and not taking what was left of the old bearing to match the numbers takes the cake! u can imagine how i felt at this time! so back to the isa we go, next day back at autopro it turns out i run ford bearings!! now im a holden man thru and  thru so even having ford bearings kills me! (im even not happy that our beloved beddies have ford in their name!!!) anyone else run ford bearings with hq disks?
anyway back to the van we go, greased and changed the bearing no dramas, and cruised back.
we hung out with mum for a few days, i went the whole hog and changed all the front bearings and found out that the bearings i had in, didnt even match! the cups were different to the rollers! so they didnt mesh! some idiot when i put new hq disks, only changed the cups, and thought they were hq too, or changed the lot and didnt notice they didnt match. anyway that explained why they always lost their grease and never tightened properly.
so the only drama now is that after burning a bearing, it must have warped the disk where the cup sits, because the cup on that side didnt press in hard, it basically fell in! and now i can tighten the nut as hard as i can on that side, and the wheel still moves freely and is a bit loose, ie wobbles. so i guess i need a new disk. can anyone confirm this? it also doesnt hold the grease aswell ive had to regrease it again since then.

so thats about the end of the dramas so far! hopefully the end period. on a lighter note we have now spent a few days in cape tribulation which is absolutely amazing! and such a change from the red deserts weve seen for so long.. and weve even seen rain after about a 5 month drought!! so good! and tomorrow were booked in for scuba diving on the great barrier reef which we cant wait for!
so thats about it from us sorry if ive bored most of u but i thought id share some of our eventful beddy journey with fellow beddy nuts!
take it easy folks you know we are!!
luke and jules (back on the east coast!!)

[Sundownernz]

Hi Luke,

Great read mate. Cool trip your having. Keep us posted on progress.

You're probably right about the disk. I did a front wheel bearing a couple of years back and you got off lucky. When mine went it stuffed the front axel and the outer end of the hub. The outer bearing did all the damage. It gouged the hell out of the axel and the outer race flared the end of the hub out like a mushroom. You'll probably find it's done something similar to the outer end of your disk so where the outer race and where the dust cap sits are probably bigger dia than they should be.

Cheers,
Garry.

[eddy]

hey westy ... you lucky devil, while I'm still sitting in the office thinking about it your out there doing it ... good onya, and remember a bad day on the road in a beddie is far better than a good day at work  . how bout more hollie travel pics?

[John Abbott]

Hi Westy and Jules......Boy you have had some adventures! Good to see that you havn't lost your sense of humour. Cant wait to see some pics ..Happy travelling...cheers...John Abbott.

[ben]

argggggg just lost my essay of a post. bummer!!!!!!!


anyway the long and short of it..

sweet stories man.. flippen grous!!

regarding the ford bearings.

the GREAT Marty speaks of "the smaller diameter also earlyer model beddy stub axels use the same inner bedford bearing and fit a xa - xe standard bearing with no machineing needed to fit hq disc."

i have been to the wreckers.. i know the bedford one fits.. just never got to checking the ford bearing..

but i do think its right..

because

julian also said in a post if you machine your later also larger diameter stub axel down 1/8th of an inch then you will have the conversion i have just described.
all he is doing there is machining it down to the size of the earlier stub.. which is fine also, but easier if you can get your hands on a earlier stub axel ay.

hope this helps..

and flippen love those stories man!!

ben

[westy12]

Gday guys thanks for the replies, were in airlie beach now, going on a boat cruise in the next couple of days. should be good. we had a cool scuba dive up in port douglas, i had been about 10 years ago, and when we were snorkelling on the nigaloo reef in W.A. i kept saying that 'the great barrier reef is way better than this' to Jules. but im saddened to report that the GBR was nothing like i remember it, and i reckon about 10 times worse! global warming or overuse take your pick but its not in a good shape! our guide kept saying 'this is the most pristine part of the barrier reef"! and i kept thinking, yeah right mate you shouldve been here 10 years ago!
anyway, this is nothing we can change. on a lighter note we also did a tandem skydive each from 14000ft with a 60 second freefall and all i can say is wooooooo   hooooooo!!!
 what a wicked rush! im very impressed with Jules doing it too as i know she was absolutely packing darkies but i suppose she didnt have a choice since she was strapped to the instructor!
thanks for the info on the van, i think your right Gary i did get off lightly and i thing a new disk should fix it, i think theyre only about 150 or so.. petty cash compared to the 10 grand already invested eh?!
and yeah ben not sure if my stub axles have been machined or not but ive got the numbers of the bearings i run written down now so all should be sweet. i just have to put it out of my mind that theyre ford!
 and on the issue of losing your post, i feel your pain mate!  that epic story i wrote (im the worlds slowest typer!) i lost aswell first up. i wrote it and then when i went to post it it said i needed to be logged in, which i already was, but it wouldnt take me back to the post!!! I WAS DEVASTATED! it took me the better part of 2 hours! and 10 bucks at the internet! but being the stubborn person i am, i went back the next day and wrote it again... maybe this is a little glitch in the site that can be fixed? anyway, now i know to copy it before i send just to be sure!

ill post some photos soon too.
take it easy all.
luke

[Marishka]

wow westy,
sounds like a great holiday, apart from the mechanical misshaps,
i carry every conceivable spair when i travel,
wheel bearings, greese, oil, spare dissy(points 1) carby, alternater, starter, uni joints, belts, welch plugs, u name it if its small enough i carry it, apart from gearbox, motor, diff.  etc lol,  iver been blessed, on many a trip, havent needed to do much. a thing u should chjeck is your balljoints ,tie rod ends and tailshaft uni joints. these can be a major drama if they fail.
(check my picture gallery) i dropped a lower balljoint 1 km from my home, after doin 2 trips to byron bay, murwillumbah, nimbin, mullumbimby.
all i can say is i was surly blessed as some of the mountains and speeds i was doin were big.
if the balljoint failed i would have been in the third dimention by now for certain.

as for the bearings, ive been saying about the ford Xb bearings fitting for years( no one would listen).
u may need spacer washers outside the retaining washer, the bearings may be narrower. 

anyway here,s hopin u have safe trip from now on. no more breakdowns, but get those balljoints and uni joints checked
marty
 
 

[Marishka]

p.s. my SWB van is mechanically perfect as a beddy can be now, renewed  uni joints, all balljoints, tierod ends, complete clutch, gearbox, brakes, starter motor dissy, alternator, tyres (new not recaps),
it will be for sale shortly, who ever buys it shall get a sound beddy,   

[westy12]

hey marty cheers for the info mate,  i did what you said about the second washer, i thought maybe the nut was at the end of its thread but that wasnt it.. yeah i wish i could carry all those spares too but as u can imagine were a bit strapped for space! ive got a spare belt and hoses but if i do a ball joint or something im stuffed! i was gonna change the whole front end before i left but after getting a quote for 2500 from pedders to change the lot, i soon changed my mind! my mechanic said my ball joints and tie rods werent too bad so im just wingin it! but i know they will need replacing when i get home, i had a new tailshaft fitted when i changed my diff so the unis should be good.  your beddy sounds like a goer if i had the money i would be interested.. hows it for rust? mines not far off perfect mechanically once i get the front end done back home but its got some serious rust in places (especially the gutter!) that would cost a fortune to get cut out. its also been smashed on the drivers side before i bought it and the front guard is full of bog and needs repacing. also the lines on the doors are a shocker! id love to get a beddy with no rust and straight but is that possible these days??  better just stick with what ive got considering the money ive spent!, and study busys website"the magician!" and learn to weld and fabricate myself. id soo love to be able to do this!
ah maybe one day!
anyway, im tryin now to download some photos so well see how it goes...   luke

[Marishka]

thats cool Luke.
            just thought id try save u any more greiff, sounds like ur havin a great holiday.
there,s nothing like traveling hey?, i love it, i cant wait till i can go for a wander again,  id like to do the top end next, watch out for Crocks though.
all the best, have a safe enjoyable trip
marty