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Too Many Spares???

Just last week I was in Port Augusta delivering some training to SA Government. Leaving my accommodation on Friday morning I noted a 150 Prado parked alongside me and I had a quick look at its fitout. It struck me that it was unnecessarily burdened with too many spares (wheels).

Now being prepared is a good thing when you’re going bush. The last thing you’d want is to have some omission rear its ugly head and cause a hiccup in your schedule, for when you’re out there earning your keep, productivity is King. But the flipside of this is going out there with too much, and too much of the wrong stuff. If you have a look at the pic below you’ll see what I’m referring to, a vehicle that has three spares.

Now the agency running this vehicle has had no doubt a run of trouble with tyres running out of air in the most inconvenient of places, so they’re now working on the Best Survey Removerlaw of averages that if you take enough replacements with you, you’ll have all bases covered. But at what cost?

I did a quick calculation in my head on the dollar value of the questionable components seen on the vehicle. The twin-spare wheel carrier retails for around $3,800, the roof-rack around a $1,000, two additional spare alloy wheels and tyres add another $2,000. That totals $6,800. That’s a LOT of money but what has it achieved? Well its probably satisfied some safety audit, but an audit based on ill-informed presumptions. From our experience having all that mass sited behind the rear axle is likely to INCREASE the risk of a loss of control via an oversteer moment which can lead to a similarly INCREASED rollover potential enhanced courtesy of the roof rack. The other bogey is the same rubbish Dunlop Grandtreks (Passenger car construction tyres designed for bitumen rather than dirt) are seen on each wheel, so the puncture risk (the reason all this effort has occured) is exactly as bad as it was before.

It is possible to be puncture-proof. With the selection of appropriate Light-Truck tyres with a significant increase in Load Index (the true barometer of tyre strength) and a vigilant attention to detail on pressures, punctures can be a thing of the past. I’d much rather spend $1,500 when the vehicle was new and fit it out with five replacement Light-Truck A/T (all-terrain) tyres like Bridgestone’s D697 and armed with a decent compressor for another $350 and a decent gauge for $30, have a kit that was working on the premise that prevention is better than the cure, rather than what I witnessed, which was more like throwing cure after cure at the situation and never really fixing the problem.

With the right tyres all that matters is monitoring pressures. Starting with the placarded pressures on the vehicle (which on a Prado are as little as 210kPa = 30psi) and employing a 20% reduction in speed once you hit the dirt (170kPa = 24psi) and SLOWING down by the same margin (i.e. no faster than 80kph) the tyre will now have the flexibility to absorb the impact much better, provide a much more comfortable ride and pull up in shorter distances should you need to stop in a hurry. So there’s plenty of positives for running up and down any of the major SA outback tracks. When the conditions change and the requirement is for more serious off-highway travel the rules change some, with sand and/or mud likely requiring an up to 50% reduction to maintain mobility (accompanied by a now maximum speed of 40kph).

The intent with the fit-out of this vehicle was good, the safety of its operators is hugely important, but the result was overkill and problematic. It’s better to seek out simpler solutions that are less weighty and expensive! If you’re running a vehicle fleet and would like independent advice on vehicle fit-out give us a call, we’ve likely encountered your requirement and/or need in the past and can quickly offer a solution (plus we don’t sell accessories so we won’t be making recommendations based on what we think we can load your vehicle up with).

PS If the tyres were swapped out when the car was brand new there was likely a credit on offer for the original Japalops of around $500, making the move to the stronger A/Ts even more attractive.

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Meet The DTV Shredder!

DTV… that’s Dual-Track Vehicle.

Here’s a new take on personal mobility that’s part skateboard, part bobcat, part ATV and I reckon it’s awesome!

It’s the brainchild of a couple of young Canadian guys who came up with the concept of a high-mobility vehicle that would appeal to skaters and surfers. Using a 200cc 4 stroke engine coupled up to a power divider to drive the two tracks with a clever torque/load sensing differential, the rider leans and powers on to turn the vehicle. It’s a whole lot like using a Bobcat’s hand controls except the body lean does the pulling/pushing of the traditional lever functions. With a top speed of around 30mph or 50kph it’s pretty quick for a gadget that will transport a rider over all sorts of terrain. Here’s a link to a video that explains the concept  http://youtu.be/arTLBgQnQfY

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4WDing in Winter

Well we’re well and truly in the depths of Winter now having just passed the solstice. One thing that is obvious here in Adelaide at the moment and surrounding rural areas is there’s been a LOT of rain about which will give the cockys something to be thankful for (let’s hope that converts into a massive grain harvest this Summer). I heard this morning reported that so much rain had fallen over the weekend that around 17kms north of Jamestown the RM Williams Way had been closed due to flooding. That doesn’t happen very often, so it begs the question what to do when you see the wet stuff covering a road?

The answer is a little dependent on what the road base might be. For example the RMW Way is a bitumen road and provided the force of the water hasn’t been too great, it would be reasonable to expect that the bitumen will still be there without damage and still be navigable. Depth then becomes the issue and a quick consult with the roadside depth marker is in order. Anything over 250mm will be problematic for most passenger cars and some AWDs. Between 300 and 700mm might be problematic for some 4WDs and anything deeper is likely to be plain stupid and especially if it’s fast flowing.

The issue is where expensive and vital driveline and electronics components might lie. Differentials are the first thing to go under. You’d like to think there’s a breather tube going up to a higher point off the diff’s valve to prevent water ingress. As we go deeper there’s gearbox, transfer case, alternator, air intake, ECU and a whole lot more that get in the way. Even simple things like headlights, foglights, driving lights and indicators are going to get a dunking which 3-6months later might start playing up, so immersion isn’t usually a good thing.

If you’re tackling an Outback track that’s flooded and the water is sitting on the road, that’s likely to still be the best route to take (of course not if the road’s been officially closed). The temptation is to use the edge of the road that appears less sodden, but the reality is it’ll likely have no substance. Take a 4WD out there and it’ll sink faster than the fortunes of our current Labor Government(s). The reason the water is there is because the road base is compacted and firm and the moisture can’t percolate through that crust.

First, find your engine air intake and make sure it’s not going to swallow a big gob of mud. A poly tarp makes an effective blind when stretched over the bonnet. Next, dump a lot of tyre pressure. Fifteen minutes now might save you hours later. At 15psi/100kPa (if the track is real bad) your tyre will have a longer print and miraculous flotation. Go no faster than 20-40kph and preferably in LOW range (for best torque) in 2nd to 4th gears (dependent on vehicle). Smooth and steady wins the race with STRAIGHT steering. Slap bang in the middle is where you want to be, remember that’s where the ground is hardest and compact, the verge will likely be bottomless and you’ll bugger up the veg. If you run out of traction dump more air. The object is to maintain progress, so slow and steady wins this race, once the road is clear again, increase the pressures to match your speed. Then use HIGH range again and no faster than 80kph!

Above: Don’t be tempted to rush situations like this. Orange muddy water flying over a bonnet gets into places where the sun doesn’t shine and can cause damage!

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Bridgestone D697LT Desert Duelers Tick All My Boxes

Here at Adventure 4WD we clock up some serious kilometres in a year and often on some of the roughest roads going. Added to that are demands placed on a tyre delivering 4WD training sessions that absolutely rip the living daylights out of tread condition and life. Some of the most demanding of those sessions are seen on the Defensive 4WD programs we run. It’s on these courses where the tyre is subjected to huge and repeated stress delivering emergency crash stops at 60, 80 and 100 kph time and again in rapid succession on dirt and on bitumen. Couple that to swerve and recover steering illustrations, again hard under brakes, laterally tugging the tyre to the limits of its adhesion.

In the case of the crash stops it’s usually an exercise in destroying tyre life as the ABS chirps in with maximum deceleration. Despite the near lock-ups our D697s have proven durable. We’ve seen around 80,000kms with no drama which was our experience with Bridgestone’s previous effort the D694. You see we’re firmly of the opinion that Bridgestone have got their rubber chemistry right.

The off-road isn’t kind either and with Adventure 4WDs base in South Australia we see plenty of Outback and coast from the drivers seat of the Navaras. Just in recent months the D697s have had to endure a hike over and back to Fowlers Bay, to the Flinders Ranges on four occasions, the Coorong twice and numerous near-daily in-betweeners to our training property in the Barossa. Each time we’re asking a tyre to do a LOT. Where from our experience the likes of Cooper, Mickey Thompson and BFG have failed through tread block disintegration, our D697s have soldiered on with no punctures and with tread faces worn evenly and with NO chipping or tearing. There’s a big difference between running down a concrete highway in America, Instagram for PC Download
to covering a thousand kays a day on an Outback track and that’s where Bridgestone’s engineers got the rubber mix right. With a compliant rubber tread that yields to the environment it takes serial punishment in its stride!

Of course the nut behind the wheel has a lot to do with tyre durability and I have to tell you that after twenty years in this business we have learnt a thing or two. Tyres aren’t cheap and when we buy a set we want to know they are going to go the distance. Probably the biggest single issue is pressure when you’re talking durability and it’s surprising how many people get that wrong. Plenty would argue we under-inflate here at Adventure 4WD when they hear the pressures we run, but the proof’s in the pudding. No punctures and 80K sound like pretty economical tyre life to me!

Pressure relies entirely on load and speed and once you know the formula it’s possible to replicate our experience. A 20% reduction in pressure from placarded road settings fixes most made dirt roads, whilst a 50% reduction will usually cope with sand and mud and somewhere in between will cope with a lot of rock. In each case though being ready to go down even further will help the cause AND an accompanying reduction in speed. Add careful attention to wheel balance, alignment and rotation and you’ll max-out tyre life (I should mention too that that 80K was done using only the four road wheels – the spare is still tucked up under the tray unused – imagine if we’d used all five, I reckon 100K + would have been easily possible).

Bridgestone asked us to trial a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) in our cars. The “Orange” branded TPMS, is a basic system with four channel monitoring that keeps an eye on all four road wheels via a radio sender/receiver arrangement. The LED display in the car is bright and visible in all lights and will read both psi and kPa measurements. We all agree that it’s a great asset and makes our job really easy when we’re changing pressures to suit the terrain, or when keeping an eye on pressure creep and are of the opinion it should be part of every 4WDrivers kit of essential gear.

After twenty years in business we’ve used and roundly abused Bridgestone’s Light Truck 4WD range. from the original Desert Dueler the D604 and the legendary skinny the D661, to the D693, D694 and now the new hero D697, we’ve had a charmed run with a tyre brand that really is the right stuff for the tough stuff!

Pic: Bridgestone’s ace installers Andy and Chris are full of beans after seeing the A4WD Navara looking like new again… check out those shiny D697s!

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Scarred For Life

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