Post by cruisindoug on Apr 30, 2014 19:33:43 GMT 10
Hope you all are having a great trip wherever you are - Broken Hill or the Alps!
As you might know, some of us did another little run after going to the Millmerran Hot Rod run:
Millmeran to Casino Tour – AKA as “Doug’s Disasters”
Well another trip done and dusted, great trip once again with an unreal bunch of trippers. Grab a cuppa and take a ride down memory lane for some, the garden path for others!
Got under way mid morning on Good Friday and decided to take the scenic route to Millmerran via Esk and Hampton. Stopped in at Esk for some fuel and nearly drove off without paying … seems the girl at the checkout thought I lined up to pay for a packet of mints on my credit card and didn’t buy any fuel! Quickly sorted out and on we went, the drive via Esk is a much nicer and quieter drive than the highway, stopped in at Ravensbourne National Park lookout for some lunch. The place has some magnificent views and never seems to be very busy, a great formula for a relaxing lunch on the trip.
So after a chill session taking in the view we continued on our way to Millmerran, just out of Hampton we were startled by a very loud pop from the back of the car, so loud that I quickly pulled over to check the tyres. All still inflated so all good, or so I thought more on that later! Figured must have run over something or the noise came from the car we had just overtaken in the overtaking lanes …
Arrived to Millmerran mid afternoon and scored a really nice spot down by the dam, set up camp and caught up with everybody that was already there. Good to be on the road again, but the car troubles had already started for some; Stan and Debbie had done the front universal on the EJ and John and Di had some fuel venting issues in the Chev. Nothing that wasn’t fixable though.
Saturday is show and shine day at Millmerran so washed the car in the morning, hmm not so popular with the park owner apparently no car washing is allowed in the park!! I did notice I was far from being on my Pat Malone in the car washing stakes but its all good, got the car looking respectable and headed on down to the main street to park up. Very good turn out of cars on display and we were entertained by a live band as well, great wether just made it a great morning.
Back to the park for some lunch and then headed down for some fun in the Grasskana events, good fun had by all with plenty of dust flying all about the place. All the cars turned a nice shade of brown so it was time to give the car another wash down – no I didn’t run the gauntlet in the park, I found an accommodating panel shop owner to lend me a hose, all good!
Back to the park for some cruising and then a cook up, some great food on offer and even better company!
Sunday was poker run day and during my morning checks I noticed a small leak coming from the radiator top tank where the top hose neck joins it; particularly annoying as I had this same leak fixed a few weeks prior … oh well, I figured I’d stick in a can of stop leak and fix it again when I got home. So the car was sitting there idling and Andrew (smut57) came over for a bit of a yarn, then suddenly the car starts burping and belching through the radiator, then the dreaded outpouring of coolant through the overflow bottle, temperature still 80 degrees and lots of pressure on the top hose .. not a good prognosis. Cooled it down, got the cap off, filled it up again and started it back up with the cap off, idled for a couple of minutes, temp still right, but bubbles in the coolant, then the pressure just went crazy and it started pumping coolant everywhere out of the filler neck. Yep, blown head gasket …
So the options were to get it home on a tilt tray and bring down the Commodore, or see if we couldn’t replace the head gasket … found a new head gasket and got hold of a torque wrench for loan, so we decided to have a go. If there were bigger problems then the head had to come off anyway so there wasn’t a lot to lose. Thanks to Pete, Rod, Paul and Andrew for running around and loaning tools and to John and others for giving a hand to change the gasket over, and the car was cruising that night! Problem 1 resolved, but with things to come the tilt tray might have been a netter option!
Monday it was time to hitch up and hit the road for the slow cruise down to Texas, a lazy 123km drive via Inglewood. First stop though was for some fuel in Millmerran, where Pete noticed that I had a low tyre on the van … as part of my routine when hitching up I always check the tyres look good, so I knew that the tyre was definitely deflating as it looked good before leaving the park. Out with the gear and the tyre was changed in record time, and then we got to see what the “pop” was coming out of Hampton!
I couldn’t believe that such a failure didn’t blow the tyre out instantly, lesson learnt for me was when stopping to check tyres after hearing something like that, check the inside tyre wall as well! Very lucky the tyre held together for the 80km from Hampton to Millmerran. Problem 2 sorted … no biggie!
Stopped for a while in Inglewood for some shopping and to check out the town, then headed to Lake Coolmunda for a lunch stop. Lovely spot, biggest problem was getting motivated to keep moving....
But back on the road we went and headed south to Texas, about 30km out of town I noticed some awful scraping noises coming from the rear of the car, and I thought the worst … bearings again! Kept it moving in to Texas and when we stopped I checked the hubcaps – red hot! Oh golly gee whiz I said, or something like that anyway. Nothing for it but to set up camp and pop out the axles both sides, but the bearings looked fine… so the only thing left to do was pull out the centre – tomorrow!
Tuesday we pulled out the diff centre, and the spider gears were flopping all about the place; so at least we knew what we had to do!
So the hunt was on for a decent centre, nothing seemed to be in Texas but a few phone calls got us a few leads in Stanthorpe. So we decided to head over to check them out, just as we were leaving one of the other park residents flagged us down, he had found us a centre in Texas! So we went to check it out but it was a bit sad, with one chipped tooth and the spider gears were a little sloppy too – though not as bad as mine. We figured it would be a good back up if the Stanthorpe ones didn’t pan out; so on we went to check them out. It was very nice of the guy to ask around for us though. The first diff we looked at in Stanthorpe at the wreckers was also a bit sad, but John did pick up a fuel regulator for the Chev to see if that would fix the venting issues he was having. So we went to look at the third one at Pete’s Rod Shop, and it was spot on. Not only that, but we got to check out his cool shed – I didn’t have my phone with me so hopefully John will put up some pics. Some really nice projects on the go, and the shed envy was running rampant! Stopped by Stanthorpe for a gasket and oil, then it was back to camp. Got the ute back together in time for the film night, so settled in to watch American Graffiti on the big (fence) screen. Very cool way to wind down. So I didn’t get much of a chance to see Texas, but it does look to be a nice little town. John had some issues with split “O” rings putting the regulator in but that was to be an easy fix in the morning.
Wednesday was time to hitch up and head to Tenterfield, after a quick test drive in the ute all seemed good, and John had the ute running again as soon as the local shops were opened, so with a massive 116km drive ahead, we hit the road. Stopped about 30km down the road for a hub check, all nice and cool and John and Di’s Chev seemed to be behaving itself as well, yeeharr! Problem 3 sorted...
Rolled in to Tenterfield around lunch time and it was nice to be able to set up camp instead of breaking out the tools as we had an uneventful day. Did some sight seeing, the cork tree is truly massive!
Rugged up around the fire and chilled out to some tunes and conversation, great dinner once again capped off by Paul and Di’s first attempt at an upside down pineapple cake done in the camp oven, yum!
Thursday we spent in and around Tenterfield checking out Mt McKenzie and a few other bits and pieces, a very relaxing day.
Had a visit from Frank and Jill with their little Castle van, they were travelling through town on their way to Brisbane, they spent some time checking out the vans and chatting which was good.
More of the same into the evening, chilling, eating, and relaxing – what a life!
Friday was ANZAC day so up early for the dawn service and Guns breakfast, a good turnout too with lots of young participants from the Navy cadets; the Catafalque party was very enthusiastic. Then it was time to pack up, and have an impromptu line up and photo shoot!
Uneventful trip to Casino thankfully just a lazy 127km, with a nice stop for morning tea and ANZAC biscuits along the way – how good is this!
Arrived in to Casino to catch up with Rod and Nettie, John and Annie, and Kev and Jean, with OB and Lyn arriving later on for dinner on their way back from the Hot Rod nationals in Tassie – with a leaking diff seal! Not a big problem thankfully if not a little messy. Joined in the parks happy hour with live music, then settled in for another great meal – the meals we did up (I use the term “we” loosely!) were simply stunning, not a dud among them. Then we had a “traditional” game of two up although the betting chips (chocolates) were more often eaten than wagered!
Saturday was bright and clear once again – we had not had a drop of rain the whole trip so far – and with the hot air balloons taking off from the adjoining airfield there was a bit of entertainment happening.
Checked out Casino, which still has quite a few of its historic buildings about the place:
Back to camp and chilled for the afternoon, Paul and Yoko arrived with their lovely Caravan Park then some of the girls got dressed up for dinner at the local Golf Club.
Great evening afterwards even if some clown in the adjacent site thought we were too loud (we weren’t) and joey managed to finish off her new hat in record time!
Sunday arrived and with most heading home we packed up and headed to Grafton to visit Peter my brother (oldholdensarebest) after saying our farewells to most (Rod and Jeanette, and John and Annie were travelling the same way so we convoyed it to Grafton). After a cuppa and a chat we headed back up to Lawrence via the town of Grafton to look around, it is a lovely old town to.
But we were to be disappointed when we arrived in Lawrence …
The free camp has been shut down! So off we go to the pub, and they let us stay for $10 including power and facilities so no complaints there. Then when I asked about a meal at the pub (which was our intention so we didn’t have food) I was told we don’t do meals Sunday nights!! But the publican came to the rescue and fixed us up with a couple of great steaks and even set up the pub BBQ for us, now that’s country hospitality!
Got the first rain of the trip during the day with some drizzle, but it bucketed down during the night, then Monday was still raining on and off. Homeward bound but we still had some time to go check out McLean, an nice little river port town with lots of charm.
But inevitably the time comes to head home so off we went, cruising up the highway fully chilled out with nothing wrong in the world …. Until
It happened just after getting on to the Gateway, at about 100km/h – very scary indeed. Luckily everyone got out of the way and there was an emergency stopping bay right where I needed it, the car was getting pushed around but I managed to keep it fairly straight although at one point the barrier looked pretty close at the entirely wrong angle! Once the backing plate hit the road it actually helped to keep it straight.
This is the last time the van will be on the back of the ute with the HR diff; it’s the second time its happened and after the first I ensured that there was sufficient (i.e. in specs) interference fit on the bearing retaining collar – not sure what’s going on whether its poor quality material in the bearing or simply beyond the capacity of the design, but I’m done with it.
It certainly put a damper on an otherwise great trip, and the ute has been put in the naughty corner until I can feel some love for it again. To be brutally honest, just now I am definitely over it.
Problem number 4 – not solved!
Anyway, I still had a ball on the trip despite the problems, and look forward to the next outing even if its not in the ute!
Cheers
Doug
As you might know, some of us did another little run after going to the Millmerran Hot Rod run:
Millmeran to Casino Tour – AKA as “Doug’s Disasters”
Well another trip done and dusted, great trip once again with an unreal bunch of trippers. Grab a cuppa and take a ride down memory lane for some, the garden path for others!
Got under way mid morning on Good Friday and decided to take the scenic route to Millmerran via Esk and Hampton. Stopped in at Esk for some fuel and nearly drove off without paying … seems the girl at the checkout thought I lined up to pay for a packet of mints on my credit card and didn’t buy any fuel! Quickly sorted out and on we went, the drive via Esk is a much nicer and quieter drive than the highway, stopped in at Ravensbourne National Park lookout for some lunch. The place has some magnificent views and never seems to be very busy, a great formula for a relaxing lunch on the trip.
So after a chill session taking in the view we continued on our way to Millmerran, just out of Hampton we were startled by a very loud pop from the back of the car, so loud that I quickly pulled over to check the tyres. All still inflated so all good, or so I thought more on that later! Figured must have run over something or the noise came from the car we had just overtaken in the overtaking lanes …
Arrived to Millmerran mid afternoon and scored a really nice spot down by the dam, set up camp and caught up with everybody that was already there. Good to be on the road again, but the car troubles had already started for some; Stan and Debbie had done the front universal on the EJ and John and Di had some fuel venting issues in the Chev. Nothing that wasn’t fixable though.
Saturday is show and shine day at Millmerran so washed the car in the morning, hmm not so popular with the park owner apparently no car washing is allowed in the park!! I did notice I was far from being on my Pat Malone in the car washing stakes but its all good, got the car looking respectable and headed on down to the main street to park up. Very good turn out of cars on display and we were entertained by a live band as well, great wether just made it a great morning.
Back to the park for some lunch and then headed down for some fun in the Grasskana events, good fun had by all with plenty of dust flying all about the place. All the cars turned a nice shade of brown so it was time to give the car another wash down – no I didn’t run the gauntlet in the park, I found an accommodating panel shop owner to lend me a hose, all good!
Back to the park for some cruising and then a cook up, some great food on offer and even better company!
Sunday was poker run day and during my morning checks I noticed a small leak coming from the radiator top tank where the top hose neck joins it; particularly annoying as I had this same leak fixed a few weeks prior … oh well, I figured I’d stick in a can of stop leak and fix it again when I got home. So the car was sitting there idling and Andrew (smut57) came over for a bit of a yarn, then suddenly the car starts burping and belching through the radiator, then the dreaded outpouring of coolant through the overflow bottle, temperature still 80 degrees and lots of pressure on the top hose .. not a good prognosis. Cooled it down, got the cap off, filled it up again and started it back up with the cap off, idled for a couple of minutes, temp still right, but bubbles in the coolant, then the pressure just went crazy and it started pumping coolant everywhere out of the filler neck. Yep, blown head gasket …
So the options were to get it home on a tilt tray and bring down the Commodore, or see if we couldn’t replace the head gasket … found a new head gasket and got hold of a torque wrench for loan, so we decided to have a go. If there were bigger problems then the head had to come off anyway so there wasn’t a lot to lose. Thanks to Pete, Rod, Paul and Andrew for running around and loaning tools and to John and others for giving a hand to change the gasket over, and the car was cruising that night! Problem 1 resolved, but with things to come the tilt tray might have been a netter option!
Monday it was time to hitch up and hit the road for the slow cruise down to Texas, a lazy 123km drive via Inglewood. First stop though was for some fuel in Millmerran, where Pete noticed that I had a low tyre on the van … as part of my routine when hitching up I always check the tyres look good, so I knew that the tyre was definitely deflating as it looked good before leaving the park. Out with the gear and the tyre was changed in record time, and then we got to see what the “pop” was coming out of Hampton!
I couldn’t believe that such a failure didn’t blow the tyre out instantly, lesson learnt for me was when stopping to check tyres after hearing something like that, check the inside tyre wall as well! Very lucky the tyre held together for the 80km from Hampton to Millmerran. Problem 2 sorted … no biggie!
Stopped for a while in Inglewood for some shopping and to check out the town, then headed to Lake Coolmunda for a lunch stop. Lovely spot, biggest problem was getting motivated to keep moving....
But back on the road we went and headed south to Texas, about 30km out of town I noticed some awful scraping noises coming from the rear of the car, and I thought the worst … bearings again! Kept it moving in to Texas and when we stopped I checked the hubcaps – red hot! Oh golly gee whiz I said, or something like that anyway. Nothing for it but to set up camp and pop out the axles both sides, but the bearings looked fine… so the only thing left to do was pull out the centre – tomorrow!
Tuesday we pulled out the diff centre, and the spider gears were flopping all about the place; so at least we knew what we had to do!
So the hunt was on for a decent centre, nothing seemed to be in Texas but a few phone calls got us a few leads in Stanthorpe. So we decided to head over to check them out, just as we were leaving one of the other park residents flagged us down, he had found us a centre in Texas! So we went to check it out but it was a bit sad, with one chipped tooth and the spider gears were a little sloppy too – though not as bad as mine. We figured it would be a good back up if the Stanthorpe ones didn’t pan out; so on we went to check them out. It was very nice of the guy to ask around for us though. The first diff we looked at in Stanthorpe at the wreckers was also a bit sad, but John did pick up a fuel regulator for the Chev to see if that would fix the venting issues he was having. So we went to look at the third one at Pete’s Rod Shop, and it was spot on. Not only that, but we got to check out his cool shed – I didn’t have my phone with me so hopefully John will put up some pics. Some really nice projects on the go, and the shed envy was running rampant! Stopped by Stanthorpe for a gasket and oil, then it was back to camp. Got the ute back together in time for the film night, so settled in to watch American Graffiti on the big (fence) screen. Very cool way to wind down. So I didn’t get much of a chance to see Texas, but it does look to be a nice little town. John had some issues with split “O” rings putting the regulator in but that was to be an easy fix in the morning.
Wednesday was time to hitch up and head to Tenterfield, after a quick test drive in the ute all seemed good, and John had the ute running again as soon as the local shops were opened, so with a massive 116km drive ahead, we hit the road. Stopped about 30km down the road for a hub check, all nice and cool and John and Di’s Chev seemed to be behaving itself as well, yeeharr! Problem 3 sorted...
Rolled in to Tenterfield around lunch time and it was nice to be able to set up camp instead of breaking out the tools as we had an uneventful day. Did some sight seeing, the cork tree is truly massive!
Rugged up around the fire and chilled out to some tunes and conversation, great dinner once again capped off by Paul and Di’s first attempt at an upside down pineapple cake done in the camp oven, yum!
Thursday we spent in and around Tenterfield checking out Mt McKenzie and a few other bits and pieces, a very relaxing day.
Had a visit from Frank and Jill with their little Castle van, they were travelling through town on their way to Brisbane, they spent some time checking out the vans and chatting which was good.
More of the same into the evening, chilling, eating, and relaxing – what a life!
Friday was ANZAC day so up early for the dawn service and Guns breakfast, a good turnout too with lots of young participants from the Navy cadets; the Catafalque party was very enthusiastic. Then it was time to pack up, and have an impromptu line up and photo shoot!
Uneventful trip to Casino thankfully just a lazy 127km, with a nice stop for morning tea and ANZAC biscuits along the way – how good is this!
Arrived in to Casino to catch up with Rod and Nettie, John and Annie, and Kev and Jean, with OB and Lyn arriving later on for dinner on their way back from the Hot Rod nationals in Tassie – with a leaking diff seal! Not a big problem thankfully if not a little messy. Joined in the parks happy hour with live music, then settled in for another great meal – the meals we did up (I use the term “we” loosely!) were simply stunning, not a dud among them. Then we had a “traditional” game of two up although the betting chips (chocolates) were more often eaten than wagered!
Saturday was bright and clear once again – we had not had a drop of rain the whole trip so far – and with the hot air balloons taking off from the adjoining airfield there was a bit of entertainment happening.
Checked out Casino, which still has quite a few of its historic buildings about the place:
Back to camp and chilled for the afternoon, Paul and Yoko arrived with their lovely Caravan Park then some of the girls got dressed up for dinner at the local Golf Club.
Great evening afterwards even if some clown in the adjacent site thought we were too loud (we weren’t) and joey managed to finish off her new hat in record time!
Sunday arrived and with most heading home we packed up and headed to Grafton to visit Peter my brother (oldholdensarebest) after saying our farewells to most (Rod and Jeanette, and John and Annie were travelling the same way so we convoyed it to Grafton). After a cuppa and a chat we headed back up to Lawrence via the town of Grafton to look around, it is a lovely old town to.
But we were to be disappointed when we arrived in Lawrence …
The free camp has been shut down! So off we go to the pub, and they let us stay for $10 including power and facilities so no complaints there. Then when I asked about a meal at the pub (which was our intention so we didn’t have food) I was told we don’t do meals Sunday nights!! But the publican came to the rescue and fixed us up with a couple of great steaks and even set up the pub BBQ for us, now that’s country hospitality!
Got the first rain of the trip during the day with some drizzle, but it bucketed down during the night, then Monday was still raining on and off. Homeward bound but we still had some time to go check out McLean, an nice little river port town with lots of charm.
But inevitably the time comes to head home so off we went, cruising up the highway fully chilled out with nothing wrong in the world …. Until
It happened just after getting on to the Gateway, at about 100km/h – very scary indeed. Luckily everyone got out of the way and there was an emergency stopping bay right where I needed it, the car was getting pushed around but I managed to keep it fairly straight although at one point the barrier looked pretty close at the entirely wrong angle! Once the backing plate hit the road it actually helped to keep it straight.
This is the last time the van will be on the back of the ute with the HR diff; it’s the second time its happened and after the first I ensured that there was sufficient (i.e. in specs) interference fit on the bearing retaining collar – not sure what’s going on whether its poor quality material in the bearing or simply beyond the capacity of the design, but I’m done with it.
It certainly put a damper on an otherwise great trip, and the ute has been put in the naughty corner until I can feel some love for it again. To be brutally honest, just now I am definitely over it.
Problem number 4 – not solved!
Anyway, I still had a ball on the trip despite the problems, and look forward to the next outing even if its not in the ute!
Cheers
Doug
