Couchmans Fridge

Hi this is the Fridge...

Being white and square I couldn't think of a better name.
It is the new family wagon so we can all get out an enjoy the outdoors.
Have put it to good use since we have had it, and have had three enjoyable weekends out since getting it on the road.

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Picture taken somewhere in the Connondale range

Still is in need of a paint / front grill but it's good enough for now.
So far mods discussed after our last adventure are:

Bash plate for the sump
Minor lift
 
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Gday ozzycouch
Give the steering a bit of time to come good cause its probably air in the system from when you changed the pump. Had the same when i changed the pump in the daughters outback.
Greensuby
 
Yeah that's what I'm hopeing for, but after 700km it's not looking good.
 
Got a few more kms in the car before the holidays ended. But are now in need of new rear shocks, had to soak the struts in teflon spray just to get rid of the binding noise before I find some more. Any go to brands for replacement? Was thinking kyb's.

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Not much of an update, but had a look at the KYB's, far to expensive and have gone for a cheaper alternate.

Steering has not come good, but have ordered another belt as the current one is squealing when the steering is rough.

Also because I couldn't find any struts with a longer than standard travel, gave up on the idea of lifted springs. I want to keep the all the down travel I have now, so am leaning towards a strut lift from the supplier on here.
 
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Well the beaches were too crowded for Aussie day so we went for a drive to the Noosa hinterland and found a few new spots to go looking for tracks.
Found a random track saying 4wd only, had a look on the back of the car, AWD, close enough ;)

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Found a swimming hole, but it was filthy so went for a short walk instead. Glad it started raining as it was hot.

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We followed the 4wd only track further in the rain and were greeted by the some nice bush. We then drove up into the clouds which made for such a nice drive.

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Ended our off road adventure with a late lunch at a nice park over looking Mt Pomona? Shot back through Tewantin for a coffee before making a bee line for home.

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In other news, a new belt fixed the power steering :ebiggrin:
New springs and shocks in the rear have transformed the handling, on and off road it is far nice to drive.
One of the struts that came out had no damping for the majority of it travel, bit scary.
 
Nice shots of your drive, OC.

Glad that the repairs made such a good difference to your fridge ... :biggrin:.

We had a new thermostat put in our 37 y.o. (kitchen) fridge on Monday. It works a lot better too ... :rotfl:.
 
Another Sunday drive in the fridge to get out of the heat :cool:

Stopped off at a water fall I thought might be flowing after all the rain, but not to be.

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Someone had been having some fun... :raspberry:

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All the water was in the dam at the top of the hill, hadn't even reached the over flow at the dam wall.

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So made tracks for another water fall which was flowing well.

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Before heading home again... in the air con :cool:
 
Had a nice little drive through Mt Mee on the weekend.

Drove in on Laceys Creek Road through to Rasmussen Road at the northern end

Finally got to the point where the centre lsd could not put enough power down to the rear wheels to drive us up a hill.:sadbanana:
So, had to get a friend to kindly lend some weight to get the front wheels back onto the ground half way up A Break. :rotfl:

Saw a cool little python sunning himself and had a nice lunch at the gantry.

Only bottomed out once, but was in serious need of lower gearing heading up the steep stuff.

Really rough tracks offset by such nice scenic driving out that way


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Love that "nice little python"…! Looks quite long in fact !
 
Yeah, he was about 2m long.
Have seen one disappearing into the bush on both sides of the track, no idea how long that one was, as we only saw the tail end leaving the track . :eek:
 
Well here's the next part to the story...

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After continually battling with bits falling off the fridge we decided on taking a punt on a another slightly less abused one for 3.9k with a blown head gasket, 240000k. It looks to paying off, so much better in every way having a car that hasn't been thrashed and the Xs rather than the x model is rather nice.

So a quick look through utube and a Saturday we have a non leaking car.

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The cam belt needs to be done as well, but the local shop didn't have one so it can wait for another day.

The air-con while cold, didn't seem to have much flow.
The filter speaks for itself :raspberry:

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No, the other one is still there, I can see it being used by our friends who don't have 4x4 until the rego runs out.
Not sure if it's worth hanging on to after that, so might take the new parts back out of it and scrap it unless some wants to give me $1800 for it complete as a project car?
 
Saturday was the day for a random drive so started at Ewen Maddock Dam to have a look at the facilities. Found a nice place to swim, shelters, BBQ areas and riding/walking trails. Added that to the list of places to stop when needing a relaxing time close to home.

From there we headed up through Mooloola along my favorite road on the coast, to get to the top of the range. Was a bit undecided where to go to next, but the road took us to Maleny. Spotted a Motorbike swap meet in progress, but fat head was asleep in the back seat. So not wanting to wake a sleeping baby, we continued along Manley-Stanley river road to the turn off at Booroobin. I can't remember what the road is called but, it's almost single lane that leads through open paddocks, massive gums then close above, turning into gravel with roof high grass on each side before finally opening up in the Bellthorpe forest. Hooked a right turn and headed out to the old remains of the timber yard for lunch. The butcher birds came in for their lunch, but got the message it wasn't for them after copping a thong around the beak.

Lunch was called after exploring around what was left of the rusty mill remains and we set off for the swimming hole at stony creek. Not far along a side track was spotted... Didn't really plan on adventuring with a little one in the back, but we had a relaxing drive through the tall palm trees in the gullies and views over farmers paddocks along the ridges. All good thing must come to an end and we stopped where the track became just too steep and rutted to tempt a return trip if the track lead to nowhere. The return Journey was just as nice with a few sections keeping the AWD scrambling on the rocks as we headed back up to the main road. The detour will be visited again, with a vehicle more suitable.

Back on track and down to the bottom of the range, we jumped in the cold running water from recent rain at stony creek. Great way to feel refreshed after a couple of hours in the car. We quickly snuck up to the bottom of the range again for a posing photo before heading back through the glasshouse mountains and on to the Bruce to get home again.

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Nice part of the world up there, OC. Nice write up.

Very nearly bought a block of land up somewhere off Main Ridge Road (?) near Mapleton a few years back ... like 50 ... :lol:.
 
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