Protrax Overland,22nd - 23rd April Wiltshire Safari

[Bert]

Is anybody from the club attending this event with Protrax Overland: 22nd - 23rd April WILTSHIRE SAFARI ..WEEKEND Green lane adventure weekend around Wiltshire, starting at Devizes, travelling around the Salisbury plain area and ending on near Marlborough.
I'm popping along to take my girl off road for the first decent time with her new tires and suspension. Would be nice to meet anyone from this forum if attending....

 

[Bert]

Well, I went along to this weekend with a friend from work. However, being the only Land Cruiser there, surrounded by Land Rovers, I decided to be 'The Jap at the Back' and shepherd the rest from behind. Besides, then I could see where everyone else was having trouble

One of my favourite pictures from the weekend is this one.....

Although this couple got stuck and flooded out a bit, we all had a really good time. The weather was pretty dam good, with plenty of sunshine, dust and a little mud. I highly recommend ProTrax, even though they appear to be Land Rover enthusiasts by the main, their guide for the weekend was very good and we had no trouble at all going around for a couple of days. I didn't suffer too much prejudice either....but then again, I do have air con as standard, deeper wading depth as standard, rubber seals ALL the way around the doors as standard, comfort as standard, bash plates as standard, oh you get the picture!

Happiness is a warm, dirty truck

...and a dirty engine bay......

It took me around three hours or so to jet wash half of Salisbury Plain out from underneath the chassis. I'm very much looking forward to my next trip this weekend.....

 

[stumog]

Hi Bert

Glad you had a great time.

I.love tye plains.

You didn't happen to track where you went did you?

Regards

 

[clivehorridge]

Looks like you guys and Bert had a good day getting muddy Simon

It's well worth a couple of hours jetting to be sure the rads and chassis/body corners are mud free.

I've got my own jet wash just for that, not to clean the car with, just to get the mud out of those awkward places.

 

[Bert]

Hi Bert. Glad you had a great time. You didn't happen to track where you went did you? Regards

Hello Stumog. We did try to track the way and some of it worked. Problem was, I was tracking with my mobile phone so where there wasn't any signal, there are gaps. Google maps has overcome the gaps by drawing a straight line between the spots. I can post these tomorrow, and it may be possible to work out the blank spots on a OS map if you have the inclination?

 

[Bert]

Looks like you guys and Bert had a good day getting muddy Simon It's well worth a couple of hours jetting to be sure the rads and chassis/body corners are mud free..... just to get the mud out of those awkward places.

Couldn't agree more with you. It also makes one take a close look at all the parts underneath too. The primary purpose of this trip was to jig the truck about a bit and see what broke. Fortunately nothing did. She's 20 years old and I think that this is the first time she's ever been axle deep in mud. I'm sure she was positively purring with delight.

 

[clivehorridge]

Couldn't agree more with you. It also makes one take a close look at all the parts underneath too. The primary purpose of this trip was to jig the truck about a bit and see what broke. Fortunately nothing did. She's 20 years old and I think that this is the first time she's ever been axle deep in mud. I'm sure she was positively purring with delight.

I always imagine my 80 to have a smile on its "face" when off-road and getting muddy.

Yep, washing the truck yourself forces you to look at everything underneath, you spot oil leaks early, or dodgy bits of rust before they develop too badly, bent components, or loose bolts, all these things that a cursory "inspection" might miss.

Be sure to jet out mud caked around brake calipers, the front swivels, the rear shock mounts and the like. It does take time when done right.

Like it

 

[Bert]

.....you spot oil leaks early.....Be sure to jet out mud caked around brake calipers, the front swivels, the rear shock mounts and the like. It does take time when done right......Like it

Hello Clive. Oil leaks, possibly. I did notice black around the ends of my prop shafts so will probably need to look at these. I'll consult the forum to see if this is a relatively straight forward job to tackle.
Spent plenty of time around the brakes, especially the dust covers as these seemed to be a stone magnet off road. Cleanliness is next to less rustiness!

 

[Bert]

....You didn't happen to track where you went did you?...Regards

Hello Stumog.

As you can see below, the phone tracking facility does not work well in areas of poor reception and simply traces a direct line between locations! However, these are our travels on day one.......

And on day two.....

I'll have a look at a later date on the satellite overlay to see if it is easier to trace the tracks.

 

[Bert]

Just thought, while cleaning the mud and everything off, I didn't open up the air filter and check it for any ingress.......will check tonight.

 

[Shayne]

I didn't suffer too much prejudice either....but then again, I do have air con as standard, deeper wading depth as standard, rubber seals ALL the way around the doors as standard, comfort as standard, bash plates as standard, oh you get the picture!

don't know how i missed your post but belatedly i have to applaud your humility

 

[Bert]

don't know how i missed your post but belatedly i have to applaud your humility

Ha, I couldn't help myself......Bar one other, I felt a little like the poor man of the group in my £1,300 Toyota.

 

[clivehorridge]

Ha, I couldn't help myself......Bar one other, I felt a little like the poor man of the group in my £1,300 Toyota.

Poor little rich man, more like, we're all privileged to own the marque Simon

 

[Shayne]

Ha, I couldn't help myself......Bar one other, I felt a little like the poor man of the group in my £1,300 Toyota.

Aye but you don't have a button that will fail to save you or a light to tell you that your stuck

And your dealer doesn't like you because he can't sell you a 27p circuit board and add a few zero's to the price