Bunyip SP, 11th Jan

[Ratbag]

Gidday Folks

This little outing proved that one can get into a very sticky (and slippery) situation right in your own neighbourhood ... Less than 80 kms from where I live in Melbourne.

The weather forecast was for rain, wind and hail. It did them all ...
About 9°C most of the day with a top of around 12°C according to my car's outside thermometer.

Some fairly rough humps, which I learned to approach with great circumspection; pause at the top, and down the other side with even greater circumspection (read - very slow!).

All went pretty smoothly, with us all deciding that one track looked too steep to even attempt.

About 1400H we came around a corner with an immediate slope that we all got down with a bit of drama. We then realised that we couldn't go back ...

And the track down was pretty bad, and not sensible to proceed. We didn't have a lot of choice at this point.

At least nobody died ...

My car got its first scratch ... :sad:.

The "useless" polycarbonate engine protector is a heck of a lot tougher than it looks ...
Cheese slicer, anyone? There were thinly sliced clumps of "track" still adhering to the top of it where it had given the "track" a nice close shave ... It isn't damaged in any way, but I will be looking for a steel one very soon. Cast alloy doesn't appeal to me, or sound very satisfactory. I could possibly be tempted by a rolled alloy plate about 5mm thick; with a bolted on access cover for the oil filter/drain.

Nothing seems to be damaged underneath when I went grovelling today ...

This topographical map shows the idiocy of where we went (accidentally). I would not have taken my old Landcruiser down (or up ... ) a track of this average gradient (approx. 1 in 3) with the nasty bits at about 45° by my estimate!! A total of around 400m over about 2kms; but about 300m in only about 1km.

It took us around 3+ hours to get to the bottom of this (1/3rd km/h, anyone?); only to be confronted with huge wheel/run-off ruts at the "bottom" of the horror stretch. Try as we might, all of us ended up in these, skating across some 10-15m on our undersides. Phiz can tell whether NL's or my wheels even touched the bottom of the ruts ...

Lots of lessons learned yesterday.
I will start a thread about it when I have got my thoughts and wits back together!

Many thanks to Phiz and NL for taking such good care of me, and their concern that I didn't damage my vehicle.

I hope the damage to Phiz's OB wasn't too bad.

I'm sure that Phiz and NL will add further to the tale of our experiences.

The moral is: ALWAYS take much more care than you think you should!
We very nearly had to spend the night in the "roadside motel". And I didn't have my medications with me ...

 

[mr turbo]

Wow, it sounds like you guys had quite an adventurous trip

That hill sounds like it was a doozy, thats for sure.

Ratbag, I'm sorry to hear about Roo2 getting scratched
Hopefully it's not too deep & can be polished out

Phizinza, I hope your Subi is ok too mate.

It'll be great to see some pics too, when you guys get the chance

The moral is: ALWAYS take much more care than you think you should!
We very nearly had to spend the night in the "roadside motel". And I didn't have my medications with me ...

That is one thing I learnt very quickly when offroading.
Always be prepared for the unexpected

Great to hear that you all made it back safely.

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[carljwnc]

Certainly sounds like an adventure. Glad everyone is OK and only minimal damage to any of the vehicles.

 

[Ratbag]

G'day again Mr T

Wow, it sounds like you guys had quite an adventurous trip

That hill sounds like it was a doozy, thats for sure.

Ratbag, I'm sorry to hear about Roo2 getting scratched
Hopefully it's not too deep & can be polished out

It was, ah, well, ... let's just say it scared the crap out of me at least!

And thanks mate. It was the air scoop part of the front bumper that took a couple of hits. I don't think the polycarbonate substrate will polish up much ... The stupid trailer lighting connection (OEM ... ) took a hit or two as well, and needs a quick kick to align it again.

OTOH, I don't appear to have any panel damage at all. Thank God. SWMBO would have had my guts for garters if I had damaged the new toy after paying out all those Shekels for it!

Phizinza, I hope your Subi is ok too mate.

It'll be great to see some pics too, when you guys get the chance

Any chance of increasing the photo size restraints on the site, Mr T?
On my own site I have unlimited storage (hundreds of GB ... ) and unlimited traffic allowance. Most of my own images are 1024x768 pixels, and around 500-900 KB. By the time they have been reduced to 600x450 and 98 KB, they have so little resolution and detail that they aren't really worth posting ... .

That is one thing I learnt very quickly when offroading.
Always be prepared for the unexpected

Great to hear that you all made it back safely.

Regards
Mr Turbo

I will never go on a day trip again without taking at least two days supply of my medications with me. Missing just one night's dose of Warfarin is pretty bad; two nights is living very dangerously; 3 would possibly lead to a catastrophic clot ...

 

[NachaLuva]

Thanks Phizinza & Ratbag for a nice day trip.

Sure it was cold, it hailed on us several times, & despite my assertion to Ratbag we werent going to do anything too dramatic, it was exactly a dramatic situation I found myself in as I watched Ratbag ahead of me sliding off to the side of a steep, uber-slippery section of clay track, only to gain control at the last second. I was on this same section & had no way of stopping. As I started slipping, I came off the brakes & waited for the fronts to grip again so I could steer around the corner.

It didn't happen!

The car slid smoothly off the side into a nice big clay bog. I tried reversing but not a chance. With advice from Phizinza I aired down to 15PSI & followed his directions. With the other 2 pushing & me revving like crazy I reversed back up the track enough & with a frantic burst of power in 1st low steered around the corner.

Thanks Phizinza for helping me get out with your wise advice

We went down a little further where the convoy came to a stop.

We walked down a few sections (the track was divided into sections from 30m to 60m long by humps used to divert water off the track but which also served to arrest our barely controlled slides, lol) to find Phizinza had slid into a tree

Fortunately damage wasn't too bad, mostly just the number plate bent.



At this point we knew we were in trouble! The track was VERY steep, smooth clay with not even enough grip to stand on!

There was no way we could drive back up, yet to continue seemed risky. I knew we had only one choice...down

We met some dirt bikers, one said turn around, the other continue!

We continued.

After some discussion, various methods were aired till we decided on uber slow, with the clutch in, hard on the brakes & creep, slide, slip down until just before the hump gun it in 1st low to pull back onto the track. As we went further it got slightly better with small stones in the clay, but then we hit some ruts. A little massage on the belly later & we were down...phew! :ebiggrin:

The day had started easily enough, one long climb up the ridge track. Poor athsmatic Oswina decided she needed to be in 1st low for most of it. But nothing too hard, just take it easy over the drainage humps.

Lunch at the top (700m+), more hail reminded us it was time to go. Then the ill-fated 3 sisters track

Ratbag & Phizinza both had some damage (I was actually more worried bout Ratbags ticker than car!) but considering the conditions not too bad. It certainly wasnt something we had planned. Just a combination of a very steep track, solid clay & rain.

Once again I was on a very steep learning curve. We now have some more memories (& I have some new skills). I'm grateful we all made it down ok.

Ratbag I promise next time no clay...lol

 

[NachaLuva]

Ratbag making his way down:

At the top of one section. 3 other sections were much steeper & way more slippery than this one:

Straddling some ruts:


In some ruts:

 

[NachaLuva]

On the way home, I had a worrying moment. Above 80kms I was getting a shocking shimmy in the steering!

Oh no..I've bent something

Pulled over for a look & noticed the front right wheel was full of mud from where I had slid off...hopefully its just unbalanced...

Then this morning I gave her wheels a quick wash...ahhh, all better! Bloody mud! lol :biggrin:

 

[taza]

Great pics Matt, they really explain much more than words. Good to know the damage wasn't too bad to the other two cars.

Good thing there was a few of you'se and 3 cars, always better than being in a sticky situation by yourself.

Nachaluva your lift and tyres would of helped heaps with the wet muddy conditions.. Done that with the wheels and mud, I freaked out at first. Then It happpened again and I had actually bent a rim

 

[dirtyRU]

Those are some great pics! Pretty crazy what a little mud can do inside your wheels. The Forester is the only vehicle i've had that's actually done that when mud gets inside them. Maybe something to do with AWD?

 

[mr turbo]

Any chance of increasing the photo size restraints on the site, Mr T?
On my own site I have unlimited storage (hundreds of GB ... ) and unlimited traffic allowance. Most of my own images are 1024x768 pixels, and around 500-900 KB. By the time they have been reduced to 600x450 and 98 KB, they have so little resolution and detail that they aren't really worth posting ... .

I'm not sure mate. Thats something I'll have to discuss with the other mods & admin
What I do (with big hi res pics) is load them up to a photo hosting site (I use webshots & it's free) then just add a link to them in my posts.

At the top of one section. 3 other sections were much steeper & way more slippery than this one:

In some ruts:

Yes, clay can sure get slipper alright. Even with only minute amounts of rain

These two pics remind me of Abercrombie, with one trip in particular. I'm sure Rally know's & remembers the trip I'm talking about

I'm just glad you guys made it back safely, with only minimal damage to your cars & nothing too serious

It looks & sounds like you were all very lucky indeed, judging from what I've seen & read

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[sjm]

Snow chains can be quite useful on wet clay. I've probably used mine just as much on slippery mud as I have on snow.

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday NL

Thanks Phizinza & Ratbag for a nice day trip.

Yeah. It was a terrific day. Beautiful scenery, lovely area. Thanks to you both for the company, and helpful advice.

Sure it was cold, it hailed on us several times, & despite my assertion to Ratbag we werent going to do anything too dramatic, it was exactly a dramatic situation I found myself in as I watched Ratbag ahead of me sliding off to the side of a steep, uber-slippery section of clay track, only to gain control at the last second. I was on this same section & had no way of stopping. As I started slipping, I came off the brakes & waited for the fronts to grip again so I could steer around the corner.

It didn't happen!

LOTS of what we planned to do on that bit of track didn't happen ROTFLMHO ...

I found that my rear LSD was useful in controlling the car in most situations.

The ABS brakes were worse than useless!!
I found that "feathering" my brake pedal rapidly stopped them releasing them coming on hard - with complete lack of any semblance of directional stability thereafter! I need a disabling switch ...

The car slid smoothly off the side into a nice big clay bog. I tried reversing but not a chance. With advice from Phizinza I aired down to 15PSI & followed his directions. With the other 2 pushing & me revving like crazy I reversed back up the track enough & with a frantic burst of power in 1st low steered around the corner.

Thanks Phizinza for helping me get out with your wise advice

Yeah. Letting the tyres down was the only thing that helped at all. NL's Yokohama ATs were every bit as useless as my super highway Pirelli P7s ...

Next items on my list are a decent pressure gauge and a compressor ...

That was pretty dangerous, looking back on it. Considering how slippery it was, both Phiz & I were downhill from NL's vehicle ... I went flat on my face when NL shot back a few feet. Luckily for me, he could just hold it there while I scrambled out of the way. Phiz is quite a bit younger, fitter, stronger and more agile than I am ... Just a bit, LOL!

We went down a little further where the convoy came to a stop.

We walked down a few sections (the track was divided into sections from 30m to 60m long by humps used to divert water off the track but which also served to arrest our barely controlled slides, lol) to find Phizinza had slid into a tree

Just as well that he did, really. If it weren't for the "speed bumps", none of us would have been able to stop from careering out of control down the whole slope like a skier on a fast downhill run. If any of us had not been able to stop at any one of those humps, there would have been no way we could have stopped at the next, or the next, or the next ... The "secret" was keeping our speed as slow as possible so that we didn't go over the next hump involuntarily ...

Fortunately damage wasn't too bad, mostly just the number plate bent.



At this point we knew we were in trouble! The track was VERY steep, smooth clay with not even enough grip to stand on!

There was no way we could drive back up, yet to continue seemed risky. I knew we had only one choice...down

We met some dirt bikers, one said turn around, the other continue!

We continued.

After some discussion, various methods were aired till we decided on uber slow, with the clutch in, hard on the brakes & creep, slide, slip down until just before the hump gun it in 1st low to pull back onto the track.

Personally, I think this is what saved us from catastrophe! Better to get a bit bogged than to keep on going over the hump ...

As we went further it got slightly better with small stones in the clay, but then we hit some ruts. A little massage on the belly later & we were down...phew! :ebiggrin:

The day had started easily enough, one long climb up the ridge track. Poor athsmatic Oswina decided she needed to be in 1st low for most of it. But nothing too hard, just take it easy over the drainage humps.

I was just amazed at how responsive and tractable Roo2 was. Most of the time I was in 3rd or 4th low. A combination of the greater torque (anyone know what the torque curve of the N/A 2.5L donk looks like?).

Lunch at the top (700m+), more hail reminded us it was time to go. Then the ill-fated 3 sisters track

Ratbag & Phizinza both had some damage (I was actually more worried bout Ratbags ticker than car!) but considering the conditions not too bad. It certainly wasnt something we had planned. Just a combination of a very steep track, solid clay & rain.

Thanks NL. I was very aware and appreciative of how protective and considerate you both were towards me.
The main problem I have with my heart is that the artificial valve only has about 70% of the flow rate of a natural valve. This leads to shortness of breath and very elevated pulse rate very quickly.
The other problem was having room in my mouth for both my heart and my stomach at the same time ... :ebiggrin:.

Once again I was on a very steep learning curve. We now have some more memories (& I have some new skills). I'm grateful we all made it down ok.

Ratbag I promise next time no clay...lol

Thanks, mate. No one's fault. It just shows how easily we can all get into strife, even while being very careful in our own backyard.

One doesn't have to go to the Birdsville Track to get into seriously dangerous situations ...

Very nice pics, BTW.

Here a couple of mine taken with my crappy phone camera after I had got myself out of the way ... This is at the very first 'bog hole'
The camera frame is almost perfectly horizontal, folks ...

 

[Ratbag]

G'day again NL

Ratbag making his way down:

At the top of one section. 3 other sections were much steeper & way more slippery than this one:

Straddling some ruts:


In some ruts:

Terrific shots, mate.

Love the front wheel directions in the 3rd & 4th shots ... :rotfl:.

No relationship whatsoever to the direction of my vehicle ... .

That was the order of the day for that bit. Downright ugly!

I am staggered and amazed that our cars could successfully negotiate such conditions, albeit with quite a decent serving of sheer good luck, I suspect.

"Don't try this at home" people. This was worse than anything I ever want to do again in Roo2!!

BTW, what do people think about this air compressor?
https://www.princess-trade.com.au/c...ngle-cyclinder-heavy-duty-air-compressor.html#

I also need a decent tyre pressure gauge. Will call at Autobahn on my way to the servo.

I wouldn't say that the Bunyip SP trip gave me the best fuel economy I have had to date :lol:. I have now done about 450 kms on this tank, with around 10L left (fuel warning light just came on). About 100+ kms of this was in low range. About 180 kms from Gembrook to Gembrook via the SP. Probably a total of about 550 kms from the full tank.

Good to get a feel for the fuel use under appalling conditions. Knowing this could save one's life one day ... :iconwink:.

 

[Ratbag]

G'day again NL

On the way home, I had a worrying moment. Above 80kms I was getting a shocking shimmy in the steering!

Oh no..I've bent something

Pulled over for a look & noticed the front right wheel was full of mud from where I had slid off...hopefully its just unbalanced...

Then this morning I gave her wheels a quick wash...ahhh, all better! Bloody mud! lol :biggrin:

Now that's interesting.

Both my front DS wheels have a lot more mud on them than the PS wheels, but the alloys seem to have shed most of it on the trip home. Maybe because the inner part of the rim is "^" shaped pointing towards the centre of the wheel? Following your lead, I have taken some piccies of mine to show what I mean.

I also noticed yesterday that the leading edge of the OEM PC engine protector had found its way from neatly tucked under the trailing edge of the bottom of the front bumper to being below it. Insufficient overlap (underlap?). Maybe I can fix this with some SS rivets and something to extend the protector a bit further forward.

A bit of upward pressure at the join in the middle of the car allowed the two bits to rearrange themselves into the correct position.

 

[mr turbo]

I also need a decent tyre pressure gauge. Will call at Autobahn on my way to the servo.

You might want to try Dick Smith for one. I bought my one (which is a yellowish colour) from them & its fantastic.
The best part was it only cost me about $14

Its digital & shows the pressure in all 3 codes :iconwink:
IE: PSI + BAR + KPA.

It also has a small light on the end which makes finding the valve easy if its dark :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[NachaLuva]

Great pics Matt, they really explain much more than words. Good to know the damage wasn't too bad to the other two cars.

Good thing there was a few of you'se and 3 cars, always better than being in a sticky situation by yourself.

I wanted to find a 4WDin' spot I could go by myself...I think I'll keep looking lol

Nachaluva your lift and tyres would of helped heaps with the wet muddy conditions.. Done that with the wheels and mud, I freaked out at first. Then It happpened again and I had actually bent a rim

Yep I was the only one on AT tyres...I'm sure it helped heaps as I had by far the least experience.

How did you bend the rim?

I'm not sure mate. Thats something I'll have to discuss with the other mods & admin
What I do (with big hi res pics) is load them up to a photo hosting site (I use webshots & it's free) then just add a link to them in my posts.

I use ImageShack. Just upload them then copy & paste the "forum" link.

I'm just glad you guys made it back safely, with only minimal damage to your cars & nothing too serious

It looks & sounds like you were all very lucky indeed, judging from what I've seen & read

I'm glad too lol
yes I think we had some luck. Perhaps a guiding hand from above? :biggrin:

Those are some great pics! Pretty crazy what a little mud can do inside your wheels. The Forester is the only vehicle i've had that's actually done that when mud gets inside them. Maybe something to do with AWD?

The Foz steel wheels have a deep groove inside the rim which is a mud magnet. Don't think its the AWD as it seems it happens worst with these rims.

Snow chains can be quite useful on wet clay. I've probably used mine just as much on slippery mud as I have on snow.

Yeah I wondered bout that as I was slip-sliding away

 

[Ratbag]

G'day again mate

You might want to try Dick Smith for one. I bought my one (which is a yellowish colour) from them & its fantastic.
The best part was it only cost me about $14

Its digital & shows the pressure in all 3 codes :iconwink:
IE: PSI + BAR + KPA.

It also has a small light on the end which makes finding the valve easy if its dark :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo

Thanks for that. There is a Dickies just right next door to the Autobahn, so I will check it out as well.

I have just dropped my Palm Tungsten E-2 in the swimming pool, and it doesn't seem to want to talk to me anymore .

I have pulled it apart and got rid of all the water/moisture I could, but I'm not hopeful.

I have shot off an email to my insurer ...
Looks as if I may have to buy a Blackberry Torch to get the database facilities that I use and rely on so much. Palm no longer make anything vaguely similar .

 

[NachaLuva]

I found that my rear LSD was useful in controlling the car in most situations.

I'd love to have one of them...or a locker lol :biggrin:

Yeah. Letting the tyres down was the only thing that helped at all. NL's Yokohama ATs were every bit as useless as my super highway Pirelli P7s ...

I reckon they did pretty well on a very slick surface. Mind you as Phizinza said NOTHING was gonna grip on it, not even full muddies

Next items on my list are a decent pressure gauge and a compressor ...

IMO digital gauge is the only way to go. I got my compressor from SCA, pretty cheap, reasonable airflow.

The one you've found looks good too. Why dont you do a thread on it in the "products" section?

Just as well that he did, really. If it weren't for the "speed bumps", none of us would have been able to stop from careering out of control down the whole slope like a skier on a fast downhill run. If any of us had not been able to stop at any one of those humps, there would have been no way we could have stopped at the next, or the next, or the next ... The "secret" was keeping our speed as slow as possible so that we didn't go over the next hump involuntarily ...

Yep those speed humps certainly did the trick! :biggrin:

I was just amazed at how responsive and tractable Roo2 was. Most of the time I was in 3rd or 4th low. A combination of the greater torque (anyone know what the torque curve of the N/A 2.5L donk looks like?).

I want an EJ25!!!

Thanks NL. I was very aware and appreciative of how protective and considerate you both were towards me.
The main problem I have with my heart is that the artificial valve only has about 70% of the flow rate of a natural valve. This leads to shortness of breath and very elevated pulse rate very quickly.
The other problem was having room in my mouth for both my heart and my stomach at the same time ... :ebiggrin:.

I did feel a little responsible lol. We didnt want any more excitement than the track was providing in the way of an airlift! :lol:

This is at the very first 'bog hole'
The camera frame is almost perfectly horizontal, folks ...

yep that show the gradient very well...it really was that steep!

It also has a small light on the end which makes finding the valve easy if its dark :ebiggrin:

Sold! :lol:

I also think it needs to have a deflator nub on it. Mine doesnt so I have a stick from "Robe" in my gauge case :lol:

Ratbag, another thing to look at is some tyre deflators. Here is what I've just bought:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/220879431742?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Same design as Staun. You adjust each one for a set pressure, ie, 15PSI, 20PSI, 25PSI, 30PSI. Then you just put on the desired deflator & it airs down to the set pressure. Repeat on all tyres & you're done! :biggrin:

 

[mr turbo]

The ABS brakes were worse than useless!!
I found that "feathering" my brake pedal rapidly stopped them releasing them coming on hard - with complete lack of any semblance of directional stability thereafter! I need a disabling switch ...

You're not the only one on here to say that
Having a disabling switch would be nice, but I'm not sure your insurance company would though

What you can do is just pull the ABS fuse out instead :iconwink: & bingo, no more ABS Thats what a few of us on here have done before & it works a treat
You just have to remember to put it back in at the end of the trip

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[Ratbag]

G'day again mate

Originally Posted by Ratbag
The ABS brakes were worse than useless!!
I found that "feathering" my brake pedal rapidly stopped them releasing them coming on hard - with complete lack of any semblance of directional stability thereafter! I need a disabling switch ...

You're not the only one on here to say that
Having a disabling switch would be nice, but I'm not sure your insurance company would though

What you can do is just pull the ABS fuse out instead :iconwink: & bingo, no more ABS Thats what a few of us on here have done before & it works a treat
You just have to remember to put it back in at the end of the trip

Regards
Mr Turbo

Yeah. Hadn't really thought about the Insurance company ... I would not want to put a blemish on a record that is unblemished for well over 30 years ...

Maybe have a spare "blown" fuse to replace the proper one with for the interim ... . Then put the working fuse somewhere like the dash storage in a ziplock bag where one would see it and remember to replace it ...
How could the driver possibly know about a blown fuse for something that doesn't work at all in normal circumstances?

Thanks for the tip.

[EDIT] I just discovered that the ABS fuse in the engine compartment fuse box doesn't exist, and eventually found where Subaru have hidden the inside fuse box behind the coin pocket to the right of the steering column (in RH drive cars). I also discovered that these fuses are a different size from the seemingly endless supplies of blade fuses that I have on hand ... Back to the auto shop, yet again ... [end edit]

BTW, I couldn't find a decent digital tyre pressure gauge anywhere.
Anyone got a suggestion?