What Gary does when he's not with Computers ? This page is dedicated to |
What Gary does when he's not with Computers ? This page is dedicated to |
 You've got to wonder why I gave up this
lovely Benz on 21/1/88 to buy the 'TRUCK'. Well I must
admit, the first few years of motoring were great fun. We
met up with a new bunch of crazy camping friends who
introduced us to the finer skills of FOUR WHEEL DRIVING.
Betty calls this activity something which is unmentionable
on the web, and can't understand why it takes 7 hours to
get only 7km from camp using a short cut when there is a
perfectly good bitumen road that takes 10 minutes. "But
you'd miss the car wash!", I'd say. |
|
 Mind you, it's not always plain sailing. My
mate Rod, has taught me many new skills - getting out of
bogs; rescuing new Toyota's from creek beds; using
high-rise jacks to salvage the remains of your car (and
differential) from deep ruts ....... the list goes on! (Oh, I
should mention the time Rod's caravan wheels fell off. It just
goes to show, that problems mainly occur on the bitumen -
not when you're FWD'ing) |
|
| And then of course, there's the thrills of the open road! The TRUCK has taken our family on many fine trips - The Great Ocean Rd, The Otways, Cathedral Ranges, Jamieson, Port Maquarie ... just a few of our favourites. |
|
| May 1995 - trouble finally came! The gearbox was starting
to make a few noises at 250,000 kms - not bad considering
NB Pajeros usually loose their 5th gear nut by only 60K!
"Do the right thing", I said, "Fix it properly - and we might
as well recondition the engine at the same time - we'll get
another 5 years out of the TRUCK yet!". "Besides, I've promised Adam that it's all his when it gets to 1,000,000kms" ... He'll be 28 by then - hope there's still petrol in 2014! |
|
| The gearbox came out - Problem #1 - there's not many
changeover units around - The old one had to be
reconditioned. So, in with the changeover motor, and we
wait for the gearbox. A few days later the gearbox goes in and we're back on the road ...... for a week. BANG! The 5th gear nut falls off - They forgot to tighten it up during reconditioning!. So, its out with the box again. So much for theory of preventative maintenace! We should have just waited for the silly nut to fall off in the first place! |
|
| FEB 1996 - I've just finished 72hrs straight working on a
computer problem in Morwell and on the way home down
the Prince's Highway near the Drouin turnoff - BANG!
Sounds like someone dropped a 2 gallon bucket of bolts
into the rocker cover! Turns out the engine reco mob didn't replace the balancing shaft bearings correctly, and the bearing decided to explode at 100km/hr at midnight in Drouin. Nobody in town except a drunk wandering past who offered me a bed for the night - Thanks mate! Next morning the ROD GRAY Motors (a DROUIN FWD
centre fortunately over the raod from where the TRUCK
came to rest) swung into gear. The engine was freighted to
Dandenong to reweld the bearing bed, and all the cranks,
pistons and mains needed replacement due to the shrapnel
thrown about from the crashed bearing. A week later, my
baby is ready for pickup. They did a really TOP JOB! | JULY 1996. Now it may seem a bit late in the piece, deciding to convert the TRUCK to gas after 9 years of motoring, but why not! After much worry about whether the 2.6lt 4cyl should be converted, we decided to go ahead and to convert. Well, the new tank went in okay, and the replacement petrol tank was slung under the middle. The only problem was that the petrol seemed to flow all over the engine compartment rather than into the carburetta!. Back to the shop again! They had put the return lines in backwards, so everytime you swung over to gas, the petrol came too! |
| May 1997 - After almost a year on GAS, we still had a
number of problems - so back to the shop for a service.
"Gee that timing chain's rattling like a bastard!" says the
mechanic. (I think that's technical talk for - 'it need's a quick fix!') So, rather than a simple GAS service, we discovered the timing chain had been lashing against the cover and had nearly worn through the casing ! - Evidently still the original - not bad really, for 320,000kms, I suppose, but now another black mark against the engine reco mob who did the first job. (name's and addresses withheld for litigation purposes) "The carburetta needs a rebuild, and that distributor shaft is wobbly" - says the mechanic just to round off the bill a few more $$$. So' we're off the road another week while the engine gets another unscheduled overhaul. Finally, they fix the GAS problems that I took it in for in the first place. | AUGUST 1997 - Oh NO! The damn gearbox is making a funny noise again. What better to do on a fine Sunday afternoon, me thinks, - Let's whip 'er out again - I'm getting the hang of this now. I wonder if I should put some velcro on the gearbox. It might make it easier for the next time! Well Murphy was listening. We took the box out, got the cluster gears replaced (again) and had the box back next day. Just to add insult to injury, Neil (Betty's Dad) notices the water pump has a small leak - "Thanks for the observation, mate!" Too bad we have to wait for one to be shipped out from Campellfield! |
| NEXT DAY.... Well the gearbox guys thought they did me a favour; saving time by putting an L300 cluster in the box so I could get it back quicker. Trouble is, they are .002" different pitch - and make a really great sound when you first fire up the car after re-installation. ... BANG! | This time, the gearbox people can
have a turn of pulling it out. A Flat-tray tow-truck arrives to take my baby away! It's a sad sight seeing the old TRUCK being carried away like that - She's never been anywhere before under somebody else's power. ...... (sob, sob) |
| They found my original cluster, machined it and re-installed
it next day - Back on the road again! .. 325,000km and going
strong. The mechanic said -
|
|
 I think I better stick to Wood-Turning - I get into less trouble that way! | I wonder why they want me to buy a plain, new, FORD Automatic, bench seat, white, station wagon? ..........(yuk eh?) |
| Well, on 9th October 1997, the decision came.
Enter the Subaru Outback | 
Above: 1998 4WD show - Subaru Stand |
