No way would I let a mate pay $11k for a towie. If one of the boys goes into catastrophic failure, the adventure trip turns into a recovery mission 100%. Each to their own I guess.
I was thinking that. Tow him out or go get parts? Front suspension is usually about a 2-hour job. Becomes part of the journey. If the professional tow-out was the cheapest option I might consider it. It would have made a great story for the tube as well.
2016 almost same thing happened to my MN Triton after hitting a huge bull dust hole on the Plenty Hwy heading to Alice, I was traveling on my own, stranded for 16 days, truckie stopped on day one to help me out, he drove on to Alice ordered the parts, two weeks later he was on his return run dropped the parts off and a couple of young blokes helped me for 3 days doing the work, all I can say is, it's easy to make suggestions but a lot harder to physically and mentally work through it, it cost me ovr $5k and endless sleepless nights worying myself sick camped in my camper on the side of the track, amazing how many great people are out there like my truckie friend and the two young guys who helped me do the work, kidds and all, by the same token had many drive past me at full speed and one actually gave me the finger, another yelled out "should have bought a Hilux" so yeh a good variety out there and I can definitely relate to the heart ache and worry.
That truckie was an absolute champion! I can imagine how stressful that would have been. We were faced with similar options. With both control arms torn off and 160kms/600 sand dunes to the nearest road. Our options were a 2000km round trip to Mt Isa or Alice Springs for parts to try repair on the side of the track. If they had parts we’d be looking at probably 5or so day round trip. Or a tow out the next day at great expense. Both shit options really!
It is obvious he has installed extended length upper control ball joints which is the cause of the failure/fatigue of the OEM upper control arm which was not designed/engineered for this aftermarket mod. He should have installed much stronger designed aftermarket upper control arms with his suspension lift as no doubt the larger diameter/heavier tyres adding extra stress in a fully loaded 4WD all added up to failure.
We had something very similar happen, they snapped their lower control arm. We cut off a section of the brush bar, drilled a hole through it and ran a bolt to the chassis and wedged the other end up into the inside of the bullbar at an angle. We ran a snatch strap under the chassis and then between two cars, was enough to keep it from completely skull dragging. It was very slow-going, and we had to re-position a few times, but it worked.
I've done this trip about 15 times including on a postie bike which only took 3 days and two nights. The A-Arms on a Triton are a known area of weakness and in our club the popular mod is to weld a length of rebar around the whole arm to double its strength. If you have a D Max, its the rear axle housing around the shock mounting points. The housing is made from only1.5mm steel sheet and there are many instances where its snapped if the vehicle is loaded heavily. You will also break the axle shaft. Its a whole new diff assembly at $6000. My mate installed a full 1970s Ford 9" diff and housing in the back of his DMax. Good to go at $800. The solution to the original is weld reinforcing straps along the top and bottom of the full width of the housing. In crossing the Simpson, weight is your enemy. I would not have a full kitched rig in the back. Its only 2-3 nights, so a few MREs or cans of stew to heat in the fire is all you need.
So many negative comments and keyboard experts! I read all of them. What went wrong is Gubbys business. This is Cams channel. I am no mechanic but have always worked on my cars myself. Shit happens and it sounds like things worked out. Betcha Gubby has no regrets. Sure beats sitting behind a keyboard commenting!
I’m shocked how rude some people have been on this actually. I don’t mind a differing opinion, but I’ve had to delete some really nasty comments. It’s a shame.
@@WildTouring don't let them get you down. Delete them with a smile on your face. 🤙🍻 Your adventures, your videos, and your mates are awesome. Keep up the good work.
6 weeks old? I would 100% be talking to whoever supplied that part. That is absolutely shite. Apart from what happened to Gubbies 4wd, that was another great episode Cam.
Just done French line east to west on the way back to Perth (3rd4th September 35 deg days). The big ruts more than likely by people not engine breaking and idling down the dunes. Fj Cruiser used 85 litres 17.2 per hundred. Solo traveller. Used 2x spring washers on my sand flag. For water 6x 10litre sea to summit packs keep water fresh for weeks.
from what i understand the UCA gap is only a few mm when they are at standard height but will hit when lifted so he needs aftermarket UCA's to clear when lifted or if thicker shocks are used.
Yeah how heart wrenching for Gubby that would have been. Some people just wouldn't have access to that kind of money. Hope he's okay and back on the road again soon. Great video Cam.
I've done this exact trip in 21' Pajero Sport pretty stock apart from shocks and tyres. We had 2 200 series and a Wrangler, they hammered me about my Paj but I also used the least amount of fuel and absolutely creamed the track.
Fuel consumption is always a hot topic. An old boss of mine (diesel mechanic) always said "horsepower equals fuel consumption".... 300 series has the highest horsepower/torque & has the highest fuel consumption, makes sense to me!
Yep that’s true. Also the heaviest car with a pretty small motor. Takes energy to get it moving! With the tall gearing it does well at highway speeds though.
its cubes really and the amount of pots my d4 has 600nm and 256 hp it sips fuel compared to a V8 Cruiser downside is she is 2650 kg tare but has a high load capacity hindsite is great I do not seek out testing my car, I had enough high difficult terrain on my farm in NZ
The small engines always have thr better economy but once the weight comes in they fall off a cliff pretty quick, the big engines tend to be the same requadless If they're loaded or not, They can get as much ho out of the 2lts as the 4.5s these days but the 2lts really suck it down if you load them up properly
Never seen that with stock arms. Some aftermarket stuff is good and better than stock. But unless stock arms are interfering with aftermarket struts i would prefer to keep stock arms.Cheers
Don't know if u r with RACWA but friend just got fully paid tow from Alice Springs to Perth . It's currently 10k to get a tow off the Gibb. Great episode Cam n sotty govi
I was so proud when I saw the triton keeping up.. this has devasted me.. ;).. I'm surprised you didn't do the Hay River track, since you can only travel it west to east.. either way, it's a great trip, loved watching.
20 years ago I broke down in a similar place with my Land Rover, it cost $1,800 recovery, I had to stay in the Birdsville hotel for 2 weeks while a part was sent up from Melbourne. My insurance co. Covered the total bill. Including thr accommodation. How times have changed
You know the thing that surprises me most about that. Is that it still takes 2 weeks to get parts to Birdsville 🤦♂️ I really wanted to take Gubby to Fraser with me, and come back to get his car from Birdsville on the way home. Save a flight or freight. But he wanted to get home.
@@WildTouringSurely of all circumstances for insurance to save someone, this is the one. I can’t think of a more desperate scenario other then being trapped in the middle of the ocean
Boys chattin about the wombat holes and condition of the track nekminit the footage showed that Jeep charging up dunes throwing rooster tails of sand, jumping all over the joint several times. Jeebus! We forked out the $495 for our first crossing this year - solo vehicle via Rig Road. 100 litres flat in a 20 month old VDJ76. ps. IFS vs solid axle example right there, corrugations certainly take their toll eh. good video Cam.
I would have had parts expedited to Birdsville via air from Mount Isa or (most likely) Brisbane. Set up camp with the vehicle. Part of the team goes and gets the parts from Birdsville, and then go back out to the camp, and replace the broken bits. New UCA, LCA, ball joints, CV Shaft, and Rack end. 5 or 6 days tops. 3k tops vs 13-15k.
@@WildTouring Thats dead right mate no one wants that sort of thing to happen...but it did...and you guys stuck together and worked your way through it. Lessons will be learnt and you move on to the next adventure more the wiser. Still a great channel mate always learn something cheers
Not good for the triton, I would be taking it back to the workshop that replaced the control arm, not because of bad workmanship but all new parts have a warranty and that definately looked faulty. There could be a bad batch and they are unaware of the fault. Another top video, thanks 👍
That's a real bummer! Unfortunatly he has fitted the incorrect parts. The arm broke because of the extended ball joints, these should never have been supplied with extended ball joints! Please let him know this, so he can learn from his mistake. 👍
@@WildTouring Bugger, well it least it adds to the memories and as time goes on, a fair bit of stirring in the shed about tritons etc. But to be fair I had a triton for many years and lots of good times with it. Cheers🍻
Wow! It's a very expensive enough trip without Gubby breaking down. All the best with his repairs etc and looking forward to seeing your catch-up with Alec and Erin.
Having been out there quite a few times, I reckon the real setup for the failure would have occurred on the corros getting to the desert. They're brutal on everything and the desert is usually just the final straw. Unfortunately, the final straw occurs where it's the most inconvenient. The lesson I've learned is beware of all the outback dirt track "highways"....they're car killers.
Fantastic episode as usual, Gubby's catastrophic failure looked to dampen the mood a little. Reading all the comments there are some ill-informed ones. Looks like the trip was well worth it regardless of the issue's faced and overcome. Keep up the awesome work Cam
I was shopping in Broome, wearing your Wild Touring T Shirt and a bloke behind me asked if I has seen your latest video, we just sat outside and watched it, seriously bad news , we all dread this happening. I've just completed the Gibb and had my fair share of dramas too so i feel for Gubby. Another Great Video Cam, looking forward to the next. Hope Gubby gets it all sorted and gets back out there again. Roll On !
Haha that’s cool about the T-shirt! Sorry to hear you had dramas along the Gibb, hope you got it all sorted. Enjoy Broome, bloody beautiful up there! 😎
With hindsight, maybe those arms werent the best choice. I switched my Mitsi's top arms to H/duty tubulars with camber adjustment. Glad I did after seeing this.
At $1500 , Club 4x4 insurance is looking cheap. Really bad luck that one is though. I dropped a timing chain east of Marble Bar once. After getting ridiculous quotes we decided to tow it home … 1300 kms, took 3 days. 😀
Yeah i dunno about that. When I had Club 4x4 with 15k recovery cover, the higher premiums in comparison to RAC meant I’d need to be recovered from the middle of the Simpson Desert every 7 years to break even 🤣 But it was my experiencing making claims that pushed me to drop them..
@@WildTouring I’ve never had them because of the premiums. I’ve been told but I don’t know , you can insure for say 6 weeks to cover a trip, but the premium is higher. When I had the timing chain issue RAC didn’t want to know about it because it was so remote.
Awesome trip what an adventure and with mates nothing much better than that! a real bummer about the triton that’s some cost wow! As you say no one was hurt that’s the main thing! great video cam enjoyed that what a trip 👍🏻 from nick 😂 NEIL 🤗
If all you guys backed your mate, got creative and got that car back to Birdsville it would have felt even better than completing the planned trip. Never leave a man behind. If in the military you guys would have been kicked out for this. If it was my mate, I would have left Perth to come an get him.
Oh dam that sucks, I can see the expense when you consider the truck, fuel and wages it’s just rough how much it amounts to. Don’t let it get ya down and keep having fun
Read the book "birdsville" by Evan Mchugh. My copy was published in 2009... The writer went out on a couple of rescue missions with the mechanic of the time, an Irish backpacker and the local copper... I can see why it would cost so much. Also agree with a guy who posted about a go fund... I would contribute to the $... Shame no one told you about the insurance prior... But, hugs to gubby
Great trip other than the breakdown, sickening consider it was only a 6 week old part. Someone needs to take some responsibility and cover some of those horrendous cost of recovery. Great you were all able to keep the spirits up for the remainder of the trip. What an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing guys, cheers 🍻
Cheers mate! Yeah pretty concerning that a new part from a reputable parts supplier failed so spectacularly! Between insurance and support from his mates, Gubbs has done alright out of it all 👍🏼
$11k? Id be making sure that thing was driving out on its own steam. Tek screws, tie wire, bolts, cable ties, steel cut from the bullbar to wrap/reinforce/bolt together, join a couple of crank batteries together to weld... It wouldnt be pretty but id make it work to save $11k.
Yeah I’d have loved to get it out under its own steam. But like @thelukaszpg said, there was 160kms of desert and 600 sand dunes between us and civilisation. The nearest town with parts would be a 2000km round trip to Mt Isa or Alice Springs.
my front shock bent but didn't snap on my hilux 85km out of Birdsville i drove it out at 5kph took over 10 hours great fun my mate in his car was prepared to drive to Birdsville for parts You's should have done the same for ur mate
It took 2 weeks to get parts to Birdsville to fix it. Closest parts were just under 2000kms round trip away. We explored this and many other options for our mate. We also chipped in and with support of his family and mates raised a heap of money for him to help cover the cost.
Sorry to hear about the breakdown. Surely there is a secondhand front end in QLD or NSW somewhere? We have one of the highest rainfalls in recorded history and it’s gone on for 3-4 years. All the roads in western NSW were closed over most of winter.
Yeah definitely lots of options like that. We discussed getting parts and repairing ourselves. There was other factors at play and Gubbs made the call on what he wanted to do.
Well Cam we all make assumptions based on what you tell us. It may of helped things if you said he made the call. If that’s the case I take it back!! As for doing the repairs himself! Sorry to say he’s learned a very expensive lesson. Thanks for the reply!
Jez chinesium quality at its best lucky it didn’t let go at 110 at worse it should bend not fracture, thinking twice buying anything from Repco. great vid enjoyed it 👍
@@WildTouring the Ultimate cover will cover 300ks anywhere in Australia. Even accomodation and all sorts of other stuff. I have friends that do remote travel and I have known fully recovered vehicles from Kalgoorlie to Melbourne including accomodation and flights home. Other good stories as well. You guys should look into it.
He’d be too proud for that! But between insurance and support from his mates he has done alright. If he’s comfortable with it, I may discuss how it all panned out in a recap vid.
@@WildTouring well I was actually thinking along those lines, I know when one of us got in strife like that, everyone was willing to dig deep… I guess it’s what you do.. yeah an update would be good 👌🤙
Another great video Cam. Sorry about Gubbies car. 4x4 insurance is another great option, you can increase your cover when you do big trips so that if anything like this happens you know it’s all covered, then you can reduce it back to the previous amount when you return home. Look forward to your catch up with Alex And Erin
Um, let me get this straight. There were 4 other cars in the group, and not one offered to go for a drive and get all the parts needed to fix the car on the side of the track. I guess it was easier to let a mate spend 11k. Im sure gubby would be happy to pay someone for fuel and time to go get parts.
No need to make assumptions, you can just ask the question. We did discuss this. And did offer to do so. The closest replacement parts from the middle of the Simpson Desert would be Alice Springs or Mt Isa. Which are both roughly 2000km/ 4 day return trips including over 300kms of desert tracks. That’s if you drive flat out, parts are in stock and there are no dramas along the way. This would mean someone staying with the car for 4+ days, or leaving the car on the side of the track for 4+ days. Gubby chose what he wanted to do with this option, and many others available that we offered. Which was to have his car recovered the next day, and drive home with his mates. It was actually much more than 11k in the end. Between insurance and support from his mates, he’s actually done alright. I might go into that in a recap vid in a few weeks, it’ll depend on whether he’s comfortable with me talking about specifics or not.
@@andrewbaker937 Um, I have a theory on this too. If you ever accompany myself on a trip and there's a failure, I will get you to where you can seek assistance, repairs, food shelter etc. I do not and will not delay anyone else accompanying me of their holiday. Sounds harsh, yes but one time going to K'gari had a gearbox fail in a Patrol accompanying us. I took a day out travelling to Newcastle to get replacement box, another day fitting it, that's two days out of people's leave taken up by one vehicle. The balance of the trip to K'gari was flog the shit outta the vehicles, bypassing accommodation, short stops, sleeps etc. just to catch up. Wouldn't you know it, the same vehicle blow the top tank off his radiator on K'gari, but this time I made him wait whilst I took others to site, set up camp and waited for tide to turn prior to recovering him. Had new radiator freighted over and fitted. After that, no, join me the balance of the groups holiday doesn't suffer due to vehicle failure, sorry. He was taken care of, nothing more could have been achieved in the time frame.
Sorry to come across as assuming, but you probably should have said in the video that all options were discussed and the truck was the only option. All good, and thanks for your time.
Fair cop because its a really shit situation. But from an outside perspective it's only 7 hours to mount isa from birdsville so with 2 drivers in one car that's a single day easy so i dont think it was impossible at all from what I see. But different people have different priorities so as long as he's happy thats all that matters @WildTouring
Enjoying the trip and looking forward to Graser next week as we are taking our new 300 there next year . Just a couple questions about your 300. What size wheels are you running and are you happy with your razorback seatcovers ?
I feel sorry for Gubby, I was surprised to see the L200 beat the L300 though. And I thought the jeep would of shit on the rest. But the mitsy got the BEST Fuel economy lol
Well I feel I have a different point of view from the other comments!! Who needs friends when all they want to do is continue on with their trip!!! Surely one of you could have taken him back, got the parts and fixed it? Even if it cost say 2 or 3 grand there and back!!! As for the preventative maintenance. As a mechanic that workshop should be covering the entire cost!
You’re off the mark and making assumptions without the facts Richard. We explored heaps of options including the 2000km return journey to Mt Isa or Alice Springs to get parts. There was other factors at play, and Gubby made the call. He fit the aftermarket UCA himself, so there is no workshop insurance. But between vehicle insurance and support from his mates, he’s done okay out of it. I may go into details in a recap later on. But I don’t know how comfortable Gubby is with me discussing some of it.
That some bad luck for gubby a set of decent aftermarket ones might stop this problem in future or maybe just sell triton... Does make the $500 insurance worth buying. Eyre creek looks well down from when we went through in July. Was over bonnet height on some vehicles. The whole salt pan in front of big red was full of water and made for gnarly crossings
Yeah hopefully we can source some beefier UCAs for him. In hindsight the recovery package is a very good option, especially for an older vehicle. Eyre creek had dried out heaps by the time we got there. But there was still a couple of hydrolocked cars in the recovery mobs yard from only a week or two prior. So it dries out fast!
No, this was not "bad luck". Unfortunatly the arm broke because they were fitted with extended upper ball joints, you can clearly see them in the video. Please let him know, so he can learn from his mistake. 👍
Not directly related to this video but It is amazing that some motorbike riders have done not just one crossing in 24 hours but a double crossing in 24 hours. They must be hooking along at a very fast pace.
Terrible experience in that remote place. Of all the vehicles to fail on that trip, I would have put my money on the Jeep. I guess even Club Insurance would not recover you from there.
Nice trip guys, shame about the Briton But it goes to memories of an awesome trip, you were fortunate with Big Red, many people say out easy it us and what is the big deal, BUT, do it in drought season no rain and become 4 x harder. High Country nex guys,
Hi Cam. I noted during this last episode that there were a few repairs made on some of the sand flags. Could you advise which was the most reliable brand? I also note that most had the white poles and one was black? Could advise what brand the black sand flag was and how reliable it was?
I believe we had a few issues with the Kings and Sabre flags. The black XTM one was the only one that didn’t have a single issue. Couldn’t tell you if there is anything in that, or just luck. They all looked to be similar quality. www.bcf.com.au/p/xtm-sand-flag/659841.html?srsltid=AfmBOopbKYOW_146ckWWT8HNmEpNQ348b4JP9wNueh3Tc5jo7-L15LY8
Question- After seeing this I'm curious if Traveling to Cameron's Corner from Charleville ok to do in a New Triton solo with two Teenagers. Has anyone done it from Charelville?
That was really silly for not getting a Simpson Desert recovery assurance for any of your 4x4. It only costs $495.00. Anyway, it's too late now, poor Triton owner. I guess you learn by making mistakes and sometimes they are very expensive.
unrepairable? er no it's definitely repairable to get it good enough to drive out under it's own steam. and that's why you replace bushes and don't buy cheap replacement control arm made from thinner sheet metal.
He was gutted. I reckon I’ll chat about the insurance in a recap vid. I’ve got to check that Gubby’s okay with me going into it. But I can say he did okay out of it in the end with insurance and support from his mates 👍🏼
@@WildTouring this makes me concerned I made the right choice upping my rac to rac ultimate plus. We couldn't afford these sorts of tow bills. I know extreme circumstances you guys were in the desert
@@WildTouringsorry to see about what happened to Gubbie’s. But would be a massive help to know about insurance and stuff for our future trip to the Simpson Desert.
Was that top ball joint binding up putting the load through the arm? Or bouncing too hard over too many bumps with a heavy wheel. I wonder if you had a small stick welder on board and if you could have welded something up, the bearings would have still turned.
For 11k I would have stripped it as much as I could, spread the stuff between all of the cars and set a match to it 😂 “excuse me insurance company my Ute has been stolen”
Great episode mate, really loving this series. That mechanical failure has got to just be a faulty part surely, considering its essentially new and old mate is apparently fairly mechanically sympathetic. Shit luck nonetheless.
Awesome series guys. Really sorry to see the triton like that though. Your production quality is top knotch Cam. My only suggestion, and this is purely a matter of taste, is whatever that style of music you used at big red turns me off quick. It seems to end up on lots of 4wd videos so maybe I'm just identifying as a boomer or something but the rest of your audio is rad. Keep up the good work!
