Trip to Tasmania

[PauSum]

Well, finally made it our way to Tasmania on 16th Dec 15 after months of preparations (Camper trailer, installations of ancillary battery charging systems including from the car and AC, LED light bar and nudge bar) with lots of help from this forum.

The whole trip lasted for 35 days with 2 weeks in several areas of Tasmania, with just over 10000 km travelled.

Here's the stopping points of of the trip:
Home (WA) -> Norseman (WA) ->Mundrabilla (WA) -> Ceduna (SA) -> Port Augusta (SA) -> Adelaide (SA) -> Port Campbell (SA) -> Melbourne Port (Vic) -> Devenport (Tas) -> Stanley (Tas) -> Cradle Mountain (Tas) -> Strahan (Tas) -> Hobart (Tas) -> St Helens (Tas) -> Launceston (Tas) -> Devenport (Tas) -> Melbourne (Vic) -> Mt Gamblier (SA) -> Hahndorft (SA) -> Whyalla (SA) -> Ceduna (SA) -> Cocklebiddy (WA) -> Norseman (WA) -> Home (WA).

There were lots of hot days and long drives; including all the winding roads in Tasmania . There were storms in WA on our way home and thus we had to cut short the trip by one day :lol:.

The Outback behaved very well for the whole trip and I am surprised with the CVT - I used auto the whole trip including towing the 1400kg trailer up and down the Tasmanian roads and didn't have any issue.

I've booked a service of the car for tomorrow but I am told there is no need to change the CVT fluid as the fluid is a "life long" and costs about $400 to change. I'll see if there is any issue from the trip after the service tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

 

[PauSum]

More pictures. That's all I can upload although I intend to create a video to upload to Youtube but this will cost me forever to create. :lol:

Cheers

 

[jf1sf5]

Wow, beautiful scenery !

Good to hear you had no issues with your Outback but I'd be cautious with the cooling because of the front bar/led.

 

[ateday]

Easy to spend time in Tassie.
I had no problem with two months there back in 2005/6.
So many things to see and do. Still remember a rafting trip down the Franklin. Permanently cold and wet for about 10 days but wonderful........

 

[PauSum]

Wow, beautiful scenery !

For sure! :iconwink:

Good to hear you had no issues with your Outback but I'd be cautious with the cooling because of the front bar/led.

I was worrying about overheating as well particular with the factory transmission cooler (which is right behind the LED light bar) but it was 47C when we were heading to Port Campbell and the car seemed alright (still) - but surely this is one thing needs to be cautious.

Easy to spend time in Tassie.
I had no problem with two months there back in 2005/6.
So many things to see and do. Still remember a rafting trip down the Franklin. Permanently cold and wet for about 10 days but wonderful........

Exactly, I wanted to stay there longer :lol: I reckon the scenery will be different in every seasons.

 

[Ratbag]

Good to hear that all went very well, PS.

Did your light bar perform well?

 

[PauSum]

Good to hear that all went very well, PS.

Did your light bar perform well?

Thanks Ratbag. Love the light bar dearly. It showed me the roads in the bush clearly the first time I used it as we had to do some evening/night drive unexpectadly - only thing was I aimed it a little bit higher but this has since rectified.

 

[PauSum]

I installed the (3.5 ton) Machitch as well and this made hitching basically a one-person job. The only thing was I discovered the nut that holds the tow tongue had detached (broken) when I was at WA border. Got SA RAC contractor to weld it back on WA-SA border (although it was a little bit rough job but it was 47°C and the guy didn't have jack/hoist. The nut detached again not long after.

Finally got it cleaned and welded properly again in Launceston then decided to change back to the factory hitch on our way back but the tongue is still a bit loose after travelling some distances. The trailer has been properly towed all the way so I think this might be the (tow) system is a bit weak for the towing weight? Not sure still

 

[lefty]

Epic trip. How was the fuel economy?

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday PS

I assume that you are talking about the car side of the tow bar, where the tongue is attached to the tow bar. Have I got this right?

If the tongue is the removable type, the bolt towards the front of the car should be held in place with a clip (i.e. it is slightly loose because of its design). By its nature, this kind of connection is not particularly secure. I prefer the older type with the tow ball/hitch tongue bolted on with two dirty great bolts done up to around 70-100 ft. lbs. torque ...

With the newer type, it is very important to ensure that the adjustment bolt towards the rear of the tongue receiver is done up tight, with the lock nut also securely nipped up. Otherwise the tongue will flog in the receiver.

Since my tow tongue and ball/hitch is never removed from either vehicle, I would probably be better off having another bolt hole drilled through both receiver and tongue and putting another 10-12 mm HT bolt/nut through it. Replace the clipped bolt towards the front of the car with another similar HT bolt and nut.

As for the light bar, that was my experience using it on the relatively tight, hilly and windy roads in west Gippsland at night. How did you find it on long flat straight roads?

 

[NachaLuva]

Awesome trip! Tassie is a great place, when I went to Cradle Mntn, I was very fortunate to get it dead calm with a mirror smooth lake, even though it was winter. I've been told that's pretty rare. Did you go to the east coast? Some awesome beaches there...

Great the CVT did such a good job, shame about the hitch though. I can't quite work out which bolt is welded though

 

[PauSum]

Ratbag and NachaLuva, attached please find the "nut" that was broken and finally got welded back on our trip.

Since my tow tongue and ball/hitch is never removed from either vehicle, I would probably be better off having another bolt hole drilled through both receiver and tongue and putting another 10-12 mm HT bolt/nut through it.

Yes, during the trip I saw a CX5 having two such nuts in the tow receiver and I was wondering whether this can be done to mine without hurting the tow systems?

Epic trip. How was the fuel economy?

This is one thing I still haven't got a concrete idea as yet. On our way to Tas, we were rushing (as we had left WA later then planned) so the car computer showed between 13-15L/100Km and similar figures (from memory) when climbing the Tas roads. On the returned trip, I drove much relaxed and I actively monitored the engine revs trying to save some fuels, the computer showed around 10.

One thing for sure is - driving between 80-90Km/Hr (or up to 96 on my trip) when towing as mentions in the Subaru manual is definitely good on fuel economy with this diesel car.

As for the light bar, that was my experience using it on the relatively tight, hilly and windy roads in west Gippsland at night. How did you find it on long flat straight roads?

I have limited experience on long flat straight road as I had only used it once and it was aimed a bit higher. I find it was ok (considering what I had paid for) but I have to say I wish the central beam be stronger/brighter when I tested it close to where I live.

What do you think about it?

Awesome trip! Tassie is a great place, when I went to Cradle Mntn, I was very fortunate to get it dead calm with a mirror smooth lake, even though it was winter. I've been told that's pretty rare. Did you go to the east coast? Some awesome beaches there...

Cradle Mntn and Strahan are the two spots we loved most we had travelled. We were only able to briefly go to the east coast such as the Binalong bay (one of the pictures was Binalong Bay) due to our "short" trip.

 

[NachaLuva]

That looks like the locking bolt that stops the removable hitch from moving around.

Yeah, with a trailer on, dropping a few kms & esp not trying to maintain speed on hills does wonders for economy. I'd imagine without the heavy, load you could comfortably sit on 110kmh without the fuel usage jumping much.

From what I understand, with the diesel you still need to give it a bit of a rev every now and again to get the DPF working properly

 

[kiwifoz]

Sounds like a pretty good trip all up, I need to jump the ditch and go touring one day!
I've never seen one of those bolts fail before. My father's pathfinder doesn't even have one though, so the removable tongue is forever rattling - there's a noticeable thump between braking and accelerating with a trailer on in that car as the hitch slides back and forth several mm!

 

[PauSum]

Yeah, with a trailer on, dropping a few kms & esp not trying to maintain speed on hills does wonders for economy. I'd imagine without the heavy, load you could comfortably sit on 110kmh without the fuel usage jumping much.

From what I understand, with the diesel you still need to give it a bit of a rev every now and again to get the DPF working properly

Without the load and about roughly 90% freeway run I was able to achieve an average consumption of 5.6 L/Km before the dealer decided the change the brand of the oil. The latest average has been around 7 since but this could also due to the change of (AT) tires as well.

The ECU does all the jobs and auto-gen (rev up the engine while maintaining the speed) when it finds the PDF needs to be cleaned.

 

[PauSum]

My father's pathfinder doesn't even have one though, so the removable tongue is forever rattling - there's a noticeable thump between braking and accelerating with a trailer on in that car as the hitch slides back and forth several mm!

I guess there is no harm to tow with the tongue rattling then? I have been told that this bolt is not "critical" on towing :iconwink:

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday PS

I have limited experience on long flat straight road as I had only used it once and it was aimed a bit higher. I find it was ok (considering what I had paid for) but I have to say I wish the central beam be stronger/brighter when I tested it close to where I live.

What do you think about it?

For long straights where I could use it safely, I got huge glare from highway signs. Normally I would not use it on a road as busy as the South Gippsland highway though.

Other than that, it was very hard to judge. Certainly illuminated the countryside out to at least 500m like a small bomb or flare!

At 110 kmh, or even above, more than enough clear, bright visible roadway to enable safe stopping to a dead halt, even with my trailer on behind.

I suspect, but do not know, that on a long, flat, straight stretch of road with minimal large reflective signs, the centre spots would show a lot further out than 500m (18x 15°).

The wide angle LEDs certainly throw a huge amount of light (12x 30° each side). These provide illumination whether approaching a hill, descending a hill, or just on the flat. Ditto with approaching corners, whether they are uphill, downhill or flat.

The adjustment of the light bar is a bit critical as to side to side adjustment, but not at all critical for vertical adjustment.

Conventional lights are very sensitive to both adjustments, and can be all but useless for cornering and hill approach/descent, dependent on adjustment. To achieve similar coverage that my light bar achieves easily, I would need a minimum of 4 driving lights, 2x spot and 2x wide beam, with the wide beam lights angled outwards at around 15-20°.

Of course, having 4 driving lights of even 60W each is stretching one's friendship with one's alternator - 20A draw vs the 10A drawn by the light bars that we have (thanks again for putting me onto this bar, BTW). 4x 100W is pushing things far too close to the limits all round. That's 33A at 12V ...

Individual good quality driving light sets are also much more expensive than our light bars were ...

 

[Ratbag]

Further to the above about light bars, some comments on the towbar locking nut.

This is a bolt with a nut hard up against the O/S of the tongue receiver - correct?

That nut is not supposed to be welded. It's a lock nut! It works by tightening up the bolt so that the tongue doesn't move in the receiver, and this bolt is then locked in place using the nut. The tongue receiver is supposed to have a thread tapped into it ...

If said thread is stripped, drill the tongue receiver hole out to the next larger size and tap a new thread into it.

Then buy a longer HT bolt and two nuts. Thread the two nuts onto the new bolt. Screw the bolt in until it locks the tongue into the receiver. Tighten the first lock nut up against the receiver to around 20-30 ft.lbs. While holding the first lock nut with an open end spanner, tighten the second lock nut up against the first to around 20-30 ft.lbs.

This is called 'double nutting', and I have used it on my trailer axle to spring U-bolts since forever, and in quite a few other places too. Never had one come loose in over 40 years ...

 

[PauSum]

Thanks Ratbag for the info regarding the locking nut. The setup in my Outback is slightly different. There are two nuts but the first (top) one has been (factory) welded to the receiver and there is no thread (or the thread might have completely gone) as the bolt can go through the hole on the receiver easily when I first realised the weld was broken. There is also no hole in the tongue - the bolt is just locked by the middle nut when it is tightened.

Tapping a new thread with the next larger size and using two lock nuts is definitely a good idea when the welded nut do become detached again.

 

[PauSum]

I suspect, but do not know, that on a long, flat, straight stretch of road with minimal large reflective signs, the centre spots would show a lot further out than 500m (18x 15°).

This is for sure Ratbag from my one and only one experience.