Mods to our Landcruiser

[Dot]

Hopefully we won't embarass ourselves!

Naughty naughty naughty, do not think like that, everyone makes mistakes and there is nothing wrong with making a cock up here and there.. I do it all the time

[BruceS]

Main thing is don't be pushed into going beyond your experience.
Take it easy for a start and learn as you go. Don't be scared of being called a chicken because you didn't go through the 6ft deep raging torrent etc etc.
T1 will help with tips better than me with outback driving... I bet!
Have you had raised breathers installed on diffs etc?
What an experience!!! I hope you keep us posted on progress once you get underway?

[Swisslulu]

We will have our blog. I think I have put it in our signature so you can see the small amount we have done so far. We are not slow in raising our hands if we feel out of our depth. And we will have Macca (Kay and Bruce) along for the leg west from Alice Springs. They are a fount of information.

Raised breathers Please explain.

[BruceS]

Depends if you're going out 'exploring' or not but this'll give you an idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaufZUbmo9Y

[T1 Terry]

The engine, gearbox, transfer case and both diffs have breathers to allow for air to move in and out with heating and cooling etc to stop blowing out the seals or sucking in dirt through the seal and causing further damage. When the hot gearbox/diff hits the cold water the sudden cooling sucks air in through the breathers, if they are under water then it sucks in a heap of water instead, often muddy water.
The fix is to add fittings and hoses in place of the breathers and extend the hose end up to the top of the snorkel, usually inside so it doesn't look so ugly. A tip, spend the money and get proper swagged fittings on the hoses at the diff/gearbox ends as a simple push on hose also doubles as a simple pull off hose when travelling through a bit of undergrowth and they sweat oil around the fitting, this ends up as an ugly lump of oily dirt right at the fitting after a very short time.
There are many lines of thought on the breather thing, some use an alloy catch tank that all the hoses go into, then a larger diameter hose with an oiled cloth type filter on the end of that up inside the snorkel. The catch tank has a removable lid or what ever so it can be cleaned every so often.. I have also seen the breather fed into a reed valve in the exhaust with a fresh air hose run from the snorkel, the idea is to create a slight low pressure in the catch tank to help vent the gearbox/diff/engine to remove any moisture build up from the oil.... a lot of thought goes into this stuff

[Swisslulu]

Wow, thanks for that. And I thought a new set of water wings would do the trick.

Seriously though, we have taken the suggestion on board.

[Dot]

Have you got some new water wings Lesley or Erich? I have a big pair of floaters are they the same thing

[Chuck]

Looking good Lesley. Familiar with that type of spare wheel fitting & the need for it, getting it up & down - a new challenge. Ladder, snorkel, bar & antennas all good... I see two antennas - white, which I assume is the UHF & black... is that one for the phone? A photo of the UHF location would be good if you can manage it.

Was the suspension altered, done previously or left standard?

Know what you mean about the car colour... silver was not our choice but the deal was too good to miss.

Knowing what I do now I wish I'd kept the 100 series T/D Landcruiser we had prior to the Winnie. When we changed to the MH the 100 series was 3 years old & only had 85K kays on it - barely run in... & we had put all the fruit on it. Buggar!! Never mind, the experience was all good.

See you at Whitfield & we'll compare our toys!

[Macca]

Aw gee Lesley you are embarrasing us about information. We do not have a ladder like that, just one Bruce carries in the boot & we manage to get the spares down from the top- had to on Oodnadatta track as friends were in front. While we changed 2 bloody Coopers on the back of Nissan at same time they collected fire wood further on for our fire that night. LC looking very spiffy that is for sure and as you say pity about the black- maybe when we get to Laverton you could organise a "car wash".
As Bruce as nominated himself as "Fire warden' I want to try to find a toy helmet somewhere which is not easy.
Have signed up for a Wordpress.com blog but that is as far as I have gone.

[Swisslulu]

As Bruce as nominated himself as "Fire warden' I want to try to find a toy helmet somewhere which is not easy.

How about something like this? I think I've told you about the incident that caused this honour to be bestowed on Erich at the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival.