107 replies to this topic

[El_Freddo]

Another trip last weekend - a top one too

I'm still yet to update pics from the September trip...

New sig pic now

From this:



To this:




Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

September 2017 trip:

During the 3rd term school holidays I met up with Venom and we headed off to the Murray Sunset NP, entering from the west through Hattah. The plan was to hit up Pheeny's track and camp in what looked like the most remote camp of any in Vic...

So to start off, we had a little detour to the Mt Kooyoora State Park which gave us the first photo pic of the two vehicles:



Venom's running in a mildly lifted Gen4 H6 outback with all the trimming. I think the rims are Method rims from the states. Very nice and apparently light too.

Once we'd commuted a few more hours north westish we collected some firewood in the form of old railway sleepers - the little broken bits:



We then needed to enter the NP via someone's private property following signs like this one - about a 15km drive across their small patch:





Entering the park we started out on Last Hope Track:



This section of track was a little dull, much like most of the property commute. Last time we were in this area we came from the park back to the highway and this section really felt like a wasteland where no living creature should be. It's a very salty landscape and at the time barely had a blade of grass. This time there was quite a good lot of pasture grass, and water in the salt lakes.

On our way to the first camp of the trip at Mopoke Hut we buzzed up a dune that was the tallest thing in the area for a look around and for something fun to really kick the trip off:





Both the Outback and the L lapped it up easy

Shortly after this and some sand touring we arrived at Mopoke Hut. Here's the twilight after dinner:



The silence between the light breeze through the sheoak trees is amazing, something that needs to be experienced to understand!

The next morning we packed up after a lazy breakfast, with Mopoke Hut built in the 60's for grazing purposes in the background:



Our aim was Pheeny's Track for the day to end up at Pheeny Track camp for the night - get in early and kick back for a few hours before sunset. First off we visited Rocket Lake - still dry with plenty of shrubs on the lake bed, just not a cold as last time. This place get get up a wickedly cold westerly breeze that saps the heat out of you if you're not prepared properly!

We enjoyed some fun twisty sand 4wd'n between short flat clay pans in this area that really built up our excitement and expectations for what was to come...

Once we made it to Pheeny's track it became pretty obvious that this was a desert highway as such. You could drive a commodore along here easy - we passed two trucks dropping beehives out here for their honey production!!



Average speed was about 40kmph and we covered plenty of terrain quickly. We passed two north/south tracks with signs indicating that they were 4wd only. This has peaked my interest to do a future trip involving these two tracks...

We stopped for lunch at a survey marker that was on a high point in the area - lucky if it was 30m above the track we were following:





A little further down the track we came across Pheeny's camp. It was about 2pm at this point and the camp didn't have much of a remote feel to it due to the easy track nor was it very aesthetically pleasing as such after looking at so many Mallee trees all day.

So we continued East, found this little fella on the side of the road before crossing the boarder into SA:



^ Shingleback

We headed to Pinaroo, fueled up then headed back into Vic aiming near the middle of the Big Desert State Park, which we made just before sunset:



Twilight after dinner, again similar atmosphere to Mopoke Hut, but with Emus in the area:



We went for a night drive in the Outback to do some dune climbing and play around with some of the functions of the auto, working out what setting gives the best traction etc. After a few attempts on a particular climb we literally burnt 1/6th of a tank of fuel! That 6 can be thirsty!!

The next day it was pretty cold in the morning before the sun came up, a good night's rest in the swag was had followed by bacon and egg muffins for breakfast

First stop was a dune we like to visit, I was surprised that Ruby Scoo made it up the top. Venom coming up the peak of this complex:





One of the best things about visiting this area in the spring is a- the awesome pocket of warm weather we typically "run into" on these trips before that last cold snap mid October; and b- there are many flowers that pop out at this time adding some colour to the area:















I have no idea about their names etc, but I know the last one is some sort of bush pea.

Other, smaller dunes were climbed, some more challenging than others through a combination of soft sand and deep ruts with no side option/room to move out of them:



We cruised around some old haunts and came across this mess:



^^ This sort of treatment of the bush is criminal. How hard is it to take out what your bring in, really... not difficult at all! This boils my blood and next trip I'm aiming to clean up this sort mess when I come across it - just need to work out how it's going to happen/fit on the vehicle.

On a better note, Ruby Scoo looking fine:



^ Spot the sign post in that pic!

Venom's Outback and Ruby Scoo same location before heading back west to the big dune:



I don't know what happened to pics of this area at the big dune. Venom had a couple of goes at it but it was too flogged out up the top to make a successful ascent. He was a bit wary of his fuel useage too as we were in the middle of the park and still had another day's drive planned before our next fuel stop. All fuel cans were still full though so that was comforting.

From here we headed off to Pigeon Springs and camped the night. The evening cloud cover was extraordinary with several cloud layers separated by a great deal of altitude that added to the effect. Unfortunately it didn't eventuate into a speccy sunset but it was still speccy in its own right:



The next day was our last on the sand for this trip. We hit up Milmed Rock track, visiting Milmed Rock. Someone's stolen the guest book so no message left or chance to look for Sven's latest addition to the pages, I've heard he's traveling further up north now anyway:



^ On this track it was like carving up first tracks on a fresh drop of powder. We saw one vehicle that was solo, we kept leap frogging each other until we ended up losing them before Round Swamp. On our way out we saw a few interesting vehicles headed the other way - a lifted 4wd toyota commuter van decked out as a camper was an interesting one, as was an F150. It was the most traffic we'd seen since Pinaroo.

We aired up on the dirt track - and found out I had a flat. I thought I had sand between the bead but I later found out that I pierced the side wall, so there's a perfectly dead tyre with plenty of tread left. Not happy Jan!



From here we commuted on the black top together for a little bit before we split and turned our sights on SA. We were already halfway there and had our zoo membership in hand to use interstate - also to visit family (didn't happen) and some friends (happened!).

We filled up in Nhill and arrived in Radelaide after nightfall. We had a bit of trouble getting a hotel due to some festival or big celebration in town that weekend.

From here we visited the Adelaide Zoo. It's worse than what the Melbourne Zoo was in the early '90s... and is falling apart under a major landing approach path. It wasn't a pleasant experience. But we did find out that our Vic Zoo membership allowed us into the Monarto Open plain zoo.

We met up with some mates, and another old mate from our Hotham days - it felt like yesterday since we'd all seen eachother. We ended up crashing with our Hotham friend in the southern suburbs. The next day we visited one of the SA parts yards, picked up some electric windows as a future project for the brumby. It would've been great to grab the two PS kits for the MYs to clean up and sell on back at home.



After this we tracked down some new front brake pads, had to head back into Adelaide for this. We then took off for Monarto Zoo and spent the arvo up there. Top place and has one over Werribee Open Plain Zoo, I'd definitely recommend this place - we plan to visit again and do a few more things we missed out on.



Returning to the southern suburbs we cut through the hills, avoiding the main freeway. Another spectacular drive:



Once in the hills they were tight and twisty, still enjoyable in the lifted L. The snorkel roar at 4000+ rpm WOT didn't get old on this trip! We made a quick stop over to visit another forum member (Silverbullet on ausubi) who's doing a ground up rebuild on his family's one family owned MY wagon. I collected a few more bits from him then headed to our friend's for dinner. From here we did a night drive down the Fluerieu Peninsula to a cheap campsite at Rapid Bay. The drive through the hills was fun while babying the brakes... and moving through a dark campground with a noisy exhaust on grandfinal weekend finished off the night's fun activities...

Had a good night sleep and awoke to some pretty awesome views of the hills meeting the sea. After breakfast this task was taken on:



Bedding in brakes while mainly travelling up hill isn't a fun experience - but I needed them ready for the down hill descent that ended with a stop sign...

We headed into Yankalilla for their local agricultural show. It was a classic wholesome small town show that had most of the town in attendance, very enjoyable. There were SES and RFS (rural fire service) displays cutting up rolled cars, classic cars and tractors, horse competitions, the usual CWA creative contests and small number of carnival rides. Here we managed to catch up with another forum mate, Phizinza (offroadingsubarus.com). Had a good, long overdue catch up.

The plan from this point was to leg it home, arriving late in the night. We took the scenic route through Victor Harbour and managed to stalk their steam train all the way to Goolwa. There's a wood fired pizza store in the main street that's worth a visit if you're ever in town

Crossing the Murray River downstream from Tailem Bend at Wellington is always a fun experience:



We had a snag in bread at Tintanara in a community park using their bbq while watching some of the big trucks passing through town. Then it was back on the road again aiming for another favourite camp site off the main highway near Dimboola - I felt that at this point there was no logic to push for home when it was already lateish and I knew I couldn't do that huge drive after the town's show activites. We arrived here at about 2am - had a pretty clean run other than all the traffic from the Crows fans returning home disappointed!

Camp in the morning, top spot right on the Wimmera River:



And that's basically it for this trip. We had a good run home and began the unpacking.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to get it all written up but it's all done now! I hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers

Bennie

[Bumpty]

September 2017 trip:

During the 3rd term school holidays I met up with Venom and we headed off to the Murray Sunset NP, entering from the west through Hattah. The plan was to hit up Pheeny's track and camp in what looked like the most remote camp of any in Vic...

So to start off, we had a little detour to the Mt Kooyoora State Park which gave us the first photo pic of the two vehicles:



Venom's running in a mildly lifted Gen4 H6 outback with all the trimming. I think the rims are Method rims from the states. Very nice and apparently light too.

Once we'd commuted a few more hours north westish we collected some firewood in the form of old railway sleepers - the little broken bits:



We then needed to enter the NP via someone's private property following signs like this one - about a 15km drive across their small patch:





Entering the park we started out on Last Hope Track:



This section of track was a little dull, much like most of the property commute. Last time we were in this area we came from the park back to the highway and this section really felt like a wasteland where no living creature should be. It's a very salty landscape and at the time barely had a blade of grass. This time there was quite a good lot of pasture grass, and water in the salt lakes.

On our way to the first camp of the trip at Mopoke Hut we buzzed up a dune that was the tallest thing in the area for a look around and for something fun to really kick the trip off:





Both the Outback and the L lapped it up easy

Shortly after this and some sand touring we arrived at Mopoke Hut. Here's the twilight after dinner:



The silence between the light breeze through the sheoak trees is amazing, something that needs to be experienced to understand!

The next morning we packed up after a lazy breakfast, with Mopoke Hut built in the 60's for grazing purposes in the background:



Our aim was Pheeny's Track for the day to end up at Pheeny Track camp for the night - get in early and kick back for a few hours before sunset. First off we visited Rocket Lake - still dry with plenty of shrubs on the lake bed, just not a cold as last time. This place get get up a wickedly cold westerly breeze that saps the heat out of you if you're not prepared properly!

We enjoyed some fun twisty sand 4wd'n between short flat clay pans in this area that really built up our excitement and expectations for what was to come...

Once we made it to Pheeny's track it became pretty obvious that this was a desert highway as such. You could drive a commodore along here easy - we passed two trucks dropping beehives out here for their honey production!!



Average speed was about 40kmph and we covered plenty of terrain quickly. We passed two north/south tracks with signs indicating that they were 4wd only. This has peaked my interest to do a future trip involving these two tracks...

We stopped for lunch at a survey marker that was on a high point in the area - lucky if it was 30m above the track we were following:





A little further down the track we came across Pheeny's camp. It was about 2pm at this point and the camp didn't have much of a remote feel to it due to the easy track nor was it very aesthetically pleasing as such after looking at so many Mallee trees all day.

So we continued East, found this little fella on the side of the road before crossing the boarder into SA:



^ Shingleback

We headed to Pinaroo, fueled up then headed back into Vic aiming near the middle of the Big Desert State Park, which we made just before sunset:



Twilight after dinner, again similar atmosphere to Mopoke Hut, but with Emus in the area:



We went for a night drive in the Outback to do some dune climbing and play around with some of the functions of the auto, working out what setting gives the best traction etc. After a few attempts on a particular climb we literally burnt 1/6th of a tank of fuel! That 6 can be thirsty!!

The next day it was pretty cold in the morning before the sun came up, a good night's rest in the swag was had followed by bacon and egg muffins for breakfast

First stop was a dune we like to visit, I was surprised that Ruby Scoo made it up the top. Venom coming up the peak of this complex:





One of the best things about visiting this area in the spring is a- the awesome pocket of warm weather we typically "run into" on these trips before that last cold snap mid October; and b- there are many flowers that pop out at this time adding some colour to the area:















I have no idea about their names etc, but I know the last one is some sort of bush pea.

Other, smaller dunes were climbed, some more challenging than others through a combination of soft sand and deep ruts with no side option/room to move out of them:



We cruised around some old haunts and came across this mess:



^^ This sort of treatment of the bush is criminal. How hard is it to take out what your bring in, really... not difficult at all! This boils my blood and next trip I'm aiming to clean up this sort mess when I come across it - just need to work out how it's going to happen/fit on the vehicle.

On a better note, Ruby Scoo looking fine:



^ Spot the sign post in that pic!

Venom's Outback and Ruby Scoo same location before heading back west to the big dune:



I don't know what happened to pics of this area at the big dune. Venom had a couple of goes at it but it was too flogged out up the top to make a successful ascent. He was a bit wary of his fuel useage too as we were in the middle of the park and still had another day's drive planned before our next fuel stop. All fuel cans were still full though so that was comforting.

From here we headed off to Pigeon Springs and camped the night. The evening cloud cover was extraordinary with several cloud layers separated by a great deal of altitude that added to the effect. Unfortunately it didn't eventuate into a speccy sunset but it was still speccy in its own right:



The next day was our last on the sand for this trip. We hit up Milmed Rock track, visiting Milmed Rock. Someone's stolen the guest book so no message left or chance to look for Sven's latest addition to the pages, I've heard he's traveling further up north now anyway:



^ On this track it was like carving up first tracks on a fresh drop of powder. We saw one vehicle that was solo, we kept leap frogging each other until we ended up losing them before Round Swamp. On our way out we saw a few interesting vehicles headed the other way - a lifted 4wd toyota commuter van decked out as a camper was an interesting one, as was an F150. It was the most traffic we'd seen since Pinaroo.

We aired up on the dirt track - and found out I had a flat. I thought I had sand between the bead but I later found out that I pierced the side wall, so there's a perfectly dead tyre with plenty of tread left. Not happy Jan!



From here we commuted on the black top together for a little bit before we split and turned our sights on SA. We were already halfway there and had our zoo membership in hand to use interstate - also to visit family (didn't happen) and some friends (happened!).

We filled up in Nhill and arrived in Radelaide after nightfall. We had a bit of trouble getting a hotel due to some festival or big celebration in town that weekend.

From here we visited the Adelaide Zoo. It's worse than what the Melbourne Zoo was in the early '90s... and is falling apart under a major landing approach path. It wasn't a pleasant experience. But we did find out that our Vic Zoo membership allowed us into the Monarto Open plain zoo.

We met up with some mates, and another old mate from our Hotham days - it felt like yesterday since we'd all seen eachother. We ended up crashing with our Hotham friend in the southern suburbs. The next day we visited one of the SA parts yards, picked up some electric windows as a future project for the brumby. It would've been great to grab the two PS kits for the MYs to clean up and sell on back at home.



After this we tracked down some new front brake pads, had to head back into Adelaide for this. We then took off for Monarto Zoo and spent the arvo up there. Top place and has one over Werribee Open Plain Zoo, I'd definitely recommend this place - we plan to visit again and do a few more things we missed out on.



Returning to the southern suburbs we cut through the hills, avoiding the main freeway. Another spectacular drive:



Once in the hills they were tight and twisty, still enjoyable in the lifted L. The snorkel roar at 4000+ rpm WOT didn't get old on this trip! We made a quick stop over to visit another forum member (Silverbullet on ausubi) who's doing a ground up rebuild on his family's one family owned MY wagon. I collected a few more bits from him then headed to our friend's for dinner. From here we did a night drive down the Fluerieu Peninsula to a cheap campsite at Rapid Bay. The drive through the hills was fun while babying the brakes... and moving through a dark campground with a noisy exhaust on grandfinal weekend finished off the night's fun activities...

Had a good night sleep and awoke to some pretty awesome views of the hills meeting the sea. After breakfast this task was taken on:



Bedding in brakes while mainly travelling up hill isn't a fun experience - but I needed them ready for the down hill descent that ended with a stop sign...

We headed into Yankalilla for their local agricultural show. It was a classic wholesome small town show that had most of the town in attendance, very enjoyable. There were SES and RFS (rural fire service) displays cutting up rolled cars, classic cars and tractors, horse competitions, the usual CWA creative contests and small number of carnival rides. Here we managed to catch up with another forum mate, Phizinza (offroadingsubarus.com). Had a good, long overdue catch up.

The plan from this point was to leg it home, arriving late in the night. We took the scenic route through Victor Harbour and managed to stalk their steam train all the way to Goolwa. There's a wood fired pizza store in the main street that's worth a visit if you're ever in town

Crossing the Murray River downstream from Tailem Bend at Wellington is always a fun experience:



We had a snag in bread at Tintanara in a community park using their bbq while watching some of the big trucks passing through town. Then it was back on the road again aiming for another favourite camp site off the main highway near Dimboola - I felt that at this point there was no logic to push for home when it was already lateish and I knew I couldn't do that huge drive after the town's show activites. We arrived here at about 2am - had a pretty clean run other than all the traffic from the Crows fans returning home disappointed!

Camp in the morning, top spot right on the Wimmera River:



And that's basically it for this trip. We had a good run home and began the unpacking.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to get it all written up but it's all done now! I hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers

Bennie

Sensational!

[Barbbachello]

Looks like a hell of a trip. 

[duncanm]

awesome trip report.

 

That H6 looks pretty monster-truck aggro with those wheels and tyres.

[El_Freddo]

Thanks for the positive feedback already!

Hey Bumpty, probably a little less "quotage" needed for a one word reply man! You're maxing out my limited data for the month!

Looking back on it, that trip was probably a bit epic on the what we got up to department, but nothing that was too stressful on the vehicle like our last trip (report coming soon, less pics etc as I was too busy driving!) that was only a two night, two day affair.

Duncan, the H6 was quite a unit. Some choice trim pieces were plasti-dipped to see if it'd look any good before committing to a proper spray up. Looked very urban assault with the dark grey and black colour combo going on!

Dunno if you know this, but Venom has moved on to a very well kitted out Forester. I'm keen to see it out in the wild that's for sure!

I'm really wanting to get out and about more often if possible... ah, dreams...

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Ok so now Im two trip reports behind...

Last sept holidays desert trip:



Ruby Scoo did very well considering we dealt with some pretty big holes on the sand tracks... more on that later, sometime!

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Dunno if you know this, but Venom has moved on to a very well kitted out Forester. I'm keen to see it out in the wild that's for sure!

So I got to see this beast last year. I cant remeber which month but what I do remember was we were at m&ds for a parts exhange sesh. Venom was in his kitted out Foz, I was in Ruby Scoo... so naturally we headed bush into the Cobaw State Forest for a quick trip. Then once home I couldnt find my phone. Long story short I went out again and found it on a track where I got out tomo e a tree branch - then one of us ran it over... And now I realise I have zero pics of that event ;(

What I do have is the Sept/Oct trip report, FINALLY! Theres 49 or so pics... youve been warned

Other than that, Ruby Scoo made a new friend in benders after another forum member moved into town. Hoping to hit some tracks again soon. Ive still got to finish off the rear cargo storage frame work too. Two bits of security screen door framework needs to be installed, then a set of drawer runners for the kitchen cabinet to live and operate on/from.

This is basically that setup at the current level of completion. Worked a bloody treat, as described in the trip report:





Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Two trip reports behind, so here they are!
 
Pyrenees Ranges, April-ish 2018: (before the linked trip above)
 
We headed out for a weekend, leaving Friday night for the Pyrenees Ranges near Avoca.  We came in from the western side along some old logging tracks as this area was unknown to us.  The plan was to camp at Cameron's Camp ground but it was full of Tonka Trucks and some undesirable cowboy behaviour.  So we headed into the bush and managed to find this little spot to camp in for the night:
 

 
It was about 1am when we pulled up and setup here!
 
So we went fishing for some good tracks to climb and tour through.  Our first attempt found us on the northern side of the ranges in a dead end wood collection area on a loop.  Then we attempted a track that seemed to head back up to the ridge line - but gave up on a section that was dicy at best with a solo loaded vehicle with the family on board, so we turned around and went back the way we came and had an awesome climb.
 
Bored of what we didn't find we headed into the Mt Cole complex a short distance south.  Here we found a couple of our old tracks that were challenging... had be bulldozed into a "forest highway", so no technicality to it, just some climbing and enjoying the drive stuff on easy street.  We went and visited Ben Nervis first up.  Then a couple of outcrops for the views.  We did this gnarly steep and rocky track:
 


Of course, images just didn't do it justice.  I was surprised how well Ruby Scoo did loaded up and on road tyres at full pressure, not a great deal of slippage but still challenging enough - and technical 
 
That track led us here:
 

 
^ Looking north to Ben Nevis.
 
We camped out at Mugwump's Hut - and was in-undated with mice.  Bloody things!  I remember we didn't sleep well that night.  Very frustrating!
 

 
The next day we cruised around a bit and aimed for one of our favourite climbs up to the TV tower station.  This track had changed heaps!  After walking it I decided we could do it.  It was a great drive and the most challenging track we did all weekend, and the most this track has ever put up for us.  It'll be interesting to see what it's like the next time we visit it.  Here we are at the top:
 

 
Tip when near places like this were there's a lot of radio activity:  If you have an immobiliser in your car, park well away from places like these before turning the engine off.  We've had several cars in this location not start because the key transponder can't talk with the vehicle due to interference.  Roll it down the hill away from the TV tower station and hey presto, car starts no problem!
 
An awesome little trip away for the weekend.  We also got to catch up with some rellies that we hadn't seen for some time so that was a bonus too.
 
I'll leave off here with the pic of the weekend, it's very similar to my current sig pic and is in the exact same spot, just from a different angle.  Looking forward to the next time we're out in these areas!
 

 
 
One down, One to go:
 

Lerderderg State Park day trip - 24FEB19
 
Attendees: Nachaluva Matt - 2.2 equipped SF foz on 27 inch KL71s; "L series" Matt in his SH foz with 28 inch KO2 tyres; 1WD_Foz Nick - 2.2 equipped SF foz on roadies; El Freddo Bennie - 2.2 equipped L series with custom box and roadies (Ruby Scoo).
 
We met up at the start of O'Brian's Rd at about 8am:
 

 
We cruised in, dropped on to an offroad track, got out of the way of an arrogant single vehicle charging up the track then I backed Ruby Scoo into a tree and cracked the rear right tail light.  Nothing too serious, just frustrated at myself.
 
We did a couple of good long climbs that were a good warm up, then hit a number of "commuter" tracks: Nachaluva:
 

 
...until we hit digger's track.  There were a number of holes with water in them, one in particular that Nachaluva had a crack at - and only cracked his exhaust in the mid pipe in the damage department:
 

video courtesy of 1WD_Foz
 
At another point on this track we dropped over this little rock step.  It gave me a good opportunity to get some snaps of the foresters:
 
"L series" Matt:

 
1WD_Foz Nick:

 
"Forester action":

 
Nachaluva Matt:

 
Just before we crossed the river/creek at the bottom of the valley, we turned around to do a rocky climb on the track we had just come down.  It was interesting how different it felt on the way up compared to the bouncy feeling experienced on the way down.
 
We hit the main road again then shortly up the track veered off to the blue gum track link shortcut, where I snapped a pic of this sign, as it is one of the good ones:
 

 
The annoying ones were the road closed to all vehicles other than management vehicles.  The okay ones were the rare conservation zone road closed signs.
 
 Then we had lunch on the shortcut track:
 

 
Then we were off to one of our old favourite set of tracks, or a track off ratcliffe to be precise - Number Two firebreak track.  Near the start of the firebreak track:
 

 
Properly dropping into the valley.  Someone had carved up that track in the wet, leaving some deep ruts to negotiate on the way down, worst section is up around the corner the vehicles just came down:
 

 

 
From the river it looks like this:
 

 
^ Just after it disappears into the tree canopy, it does a slightly greater than 90* right hand turn, maintaining the same steep gradient you see here, and it has a rocky outcrop with some small steps in it for good measure
 
I went first in Ruby Scoo - I assumed that we were going up it without too much thought, even after walking the track.  I was still on road pressures as I'm tired of spiking/cutting side walls on roadies.  They went well and didn't wheel spin much which I was happy with.
 

 

 

 
Those images are pretty rare to me - I'm usually driving and not taking pictures like these (Thanks "L series" Matt!).
 
And here's "L series" Matt in his SH - backing down to have another go at his approach to the corner:
 

 
I don't have any further pics of this event due to videoing others doing the climb that still needs editing, but here's a few videos from 1WD_Foz:
 
My climb: https://youtu.be/RJdsk_M3bmw 
 
"L series" Matt's go, and second attempt before he stalled out on the rocky outcrop.
https://youtu.be/sn080jymEXw
https://youtu.be/ussd1y81m-M
 
Ruby Scoo towed/snatched Matt's SH up the track where his factory low range could do everything as it should.  I don't have any pics of this, but it'll be in the video once I've got it sorted.
 
1WD_Foz Matt's go: https://youtu.be/HWeYC38w7UY 
 
And this standing start off from the rock outcrop:

 
Nachaluva Matt's run - piece of cake: https://youtu.be/EyCxrtnuEeg 
 
This was an awesome climb and definitely the highlight and most challenging stuff we did on the day.  
 
From here we cruised around sort of aimlessly.  I was navigator but didn't have a paper map with me so was relying on maps on an app with a phone that had patchy reception.  And there was a no through road sign and the challenge was accepted.  Which "allowed" us to end up on Lloyd track - a seasonally closed track with a track around the gate.  This got us into an area that seemed to be comp truck spec in the mud.  I rode the ruts, then was forced to drop into them, glad that they were smaller in this section as I made it through but I did damage the exhaust.
 
"L series" Matt followed and ended up like this: 
 

 
In the mean time the forester "twins" made their way around a large bog hole that allowed them to access a track that avoided the rubbish that I put Ruby Scoo through.
 

 
Then Matt's SH followed after getting out of the rut and managing to turn around:
 

 
And the last image of the day: Nachaluva Matt cruising up the last of the rutted stuff for this section.  
 

 
We ended up popping out just southish of Woodend.  Airing up occurred, some reminiscing and stories were shared and we all left with a half smile - half not due to leaving the tracks, the other half for hitting the tracks!
 
A good day had.  Thanks for those that made it.  Condolences to Venom who planned/organised us all for the trip then fell ill the day before.  
 
Oh, and "L series" Matt was dubbed this due to his SH being a kind of blue like my L series, even though it's way taller!
 
I hope you all enjoyed the read/pics - first time I've put three trip reports all in one space like this.
 
All sorted, no outstanding trip reports currently
 
Cheers
 
Bennie

[Sven Smergberd]

Awesome stuff Bennie, love that SH Foz, makes me wish I kept mine.

[El_Freddo]

Awesome stuff Bennie, love that SH Foz, makes me wish I kept mine.

Thanks Niko! Next trip will be the Pyrenees Ranges in a couple of weeks over a weekend.

And if you’re pining over your old SH, why not pick up another one? There are plenty around for sale and a few cheap ones that would probably do what you want

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Follow up on the last trip, I finally got my video sorted, using some of the material from mates:



Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Making new friends a few weeks ago on a club Sunday run: 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Bennie

[RX25SE]

There are two epic journeys in this thread, one with the Suby and the other about the Suby.
 

 

Absolutely awesome Bennie!!

[El_Freddo]

There are two epic journeys in this thread, one with the Suby and the other about the Suby.
 
 
Absolutely awesome Bennie!!

Thanks mate. I love the L and just can’t let it go. It’s one of my downfalls.

More plans for it, coming slowly as I work on other things. Currently it’s with m&d having a “holiday” with them. So far dad has only needed to repair the exhaust that rusted out and the cruise control where a wire came loose. Otherwise they’re clocking up the km in her! They’ve just got a new car of their own so I dare say Ruby Scoo is relaxing again.

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Well its certainly been a while! Ruby Scoo was returned via a Subi car swap - M&D met me between ours and their place in Ruby Scoo, I was in my sisters Liberty Basil after finishing all the work on him. We swapped, drove home where Ruby Scoo quickly fell apart. Main issue was a steering problem. Turned out the castlated nut holding the hub together stripped out and was only held on by the split pin!

This stripped nut was an issue - on the L series this nut holds tension on the bearing and the hub on the drive shafts axle end (same setup for the brumby. The EJ setup is so much better!). With that nut not doing anything there was LOADS of play in the steering, to the point that the car would lane change with a bump in the road. Very scary stuff!! And lucky I was close to home.

She was parked up for several weeks before I sussed out the issue and thankfully the thread on the drive shaft was not shagged out. Then I found a new issue - front foot wells full of water! Ah, never ending!! She was then moved into the driveway and the interior forward of the rear seat back removed to dry out the sound deadening up against the firewall, that took some time. No new water entered the cab with the move, so I think it was coming in via the doors overflowing due to blocked drain holes. This allowed the water past the door seals.

Fast forward another six months and I finally managed some time working on her. Steering rack swapped on Friday night. One tie rod end hooked up and the PS lines fitted before I called it quits for the night. Saturday stuff happened (family shopping etc, then kids interrupting), I managed to hook up the other tie rod end and I looked at the factory almost EL Y pipe and wasnt happy with the thought of Ruby Scoo sounding like a Honda again. So this happened/is currently happening - from this start point:



To this:



^ very rough layout with the general idea of what Im trying to do.

On Sunday I managed to mess around with the RH side thats part one of two complicated sections, it doesnt look like much, but its a big step forward, yet to be welded though:



The other difficult part is the collector where the two pipes become one. Need to organise whether I rebuke it completely or modify whats there already... Ill see what I can get to work with in terms of materials. The aim is to build something like this:



Im aiming to tuck mine up a bit higher and have started this by cutting about an inch out of the RHS piece in the pic above. Hopefully the bit to come across the front of the engine will be high enough to clear the bash plate. Thats my main concern other than blowing holes in the exhaust pipe joints when welding them.

Ill keep you posted over the next months as this progresses slower than melting glaciers

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Finally more progess, with crappy welding to boot. Should do the job though.





I rebuilt the collector section where both runners meet. Thats half done atm and I need to grab some die grinder bits to clean up the internal welding for better flow characteristics before welding up the next section.

Still a lot to do and that collector at the rear of this exhaust piece will be a PITA since space will be limited and my jack is holding the rest of the exhaust in the place where it needs to be so I know where the joint sits properly.

Hopefully itll sound wicked, and that my sump guard will fit, otherwise Ill just have to make a better one... (fingers crosses!)

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

Not much happened with Ruby Scoo until about a week ago. I got the interior back in - and found where the leak is. I say is because its still leaking, just not as much. But Ive worked out that the water is getting in via a crack in the rubber of the side mirror triangle pieces. The crack in the rubber runs along the window when its fully wound up.

This crack allows water to pass behind the rubber door seal and into the car where it drips onto bits lower down, then runs down the inside of the door and onto the floor. Now to work out how to fix this bit of the rubber seal. A temporary fix to try out is a bit of black tape. The current solution is to park Ruby Scoo under a tarp...

Exhaust mods... back to the almost equal length factory Ypipe that I dont want - just to get her going again. Time will tell on what happens here. I do want that UEL effect for the unique Subi beat!

Lastly, in other news this is in progress. It started back in 2016 when I got a set of rear hubs from Dfyol:



What I need now is a set of front struts (need to collect from M&Ds), ream out the front ball joint mount to 10 degrees for the EJ ball joint and work out what driveshaft I need for the job. Subarino (from Subarino Auto Electrical - if you need any Subi work in WA hes your go to guy!) and I have thrown around some idea and think we have what we need. But further investigation is needed. Once this is sorted it can all go on Ruby Scoo

Thats all for now.

Cheers

Bennie

[allpaw4]

Can you get new seals for this thing anymore? Or at least an aftermarket one?

Looks like it's coming along!

[Barbbachello]

What am i looking at here with the hub setup?