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Headed off with both Land Cruisers almost on time, Todd and Felicia in the Patrol dropping in to follow us to departure location. One stop to fuel up and onward bound down the Mitchell and Kwinana freeways. We weren't the last to arrive and nor was Bullet, though both Bullet and Rocky took the turn before entering the car park, hmmm! Maybe a direction issue?! MacGyver took line honours for coming in last this time ;-) First up a drivers meeting to introduce everyone and a chance to orientate everyone to what was going on in terms of direction to Bremer and schedules. Paraphernalia on Bremer and a WA map was also handed out to all participants. GPS systems in at least three vehicles all running fine and off we went at about 0900 heading south on Albany Hwy. We arrived at Williams just before 1100 for a late morning tea. Williams was the last chance for LPG, some of the others including me fuelled up on ULP. Probably the last chance of cheap fuel at $1.16c a litre. Katanning was the next pit stop for lunch and to pick up any last supplies. We took MacGyver's 2003 shortcut via Robinson Rd to Katanning picking up directions on GPS and cross referencing between the three vehicles as the convoy was pretty much spread out due to sluggish traffic on Albany Hwy. Once we left Katanning with Pluto now in front and me holding a position just in front of MacGyver whom took the tail end position, we all kept a really good formation most of the way. About 10km short of the Esperance - Albany Hwy on the Borden - Bremer Bay Rd and just as a bit of fatigue was setting in the mighty Cruiser lurched to the left violently for no particular reason. MacGyver behind me thinking I was attempting to shake of a bit of fatigue but that was not the case. I was really struggling to keep the vehicle on the road, what I think had happened, felt like a wheel had come off like some of its nuts had loosened off. At the time of the incident I was travelling at approx. 100kph, well under the given speed limit. I threw the vehicle the best I could into the gravel hoping to use the gravel as slippage just in case a wheel would have lock up, a huge plume of gravel dust left in my wake... I managed to pulled the a Cruiser pretty much fully laden with holiday gear next to the windrow. I radioed through to Pluto up front to standby as there was something seriously going on with the 60'. MacGyver pulled up with me and Jonsey came back to help out too. Rest of the convoy kept going, so everything did go to plan with respect to everyone's safety on the roadside, Pluto kept the convoy moving.
On further investigating with MacGyver's help, we had established that the passenger front wheel was indeed locking up whilst driven on the gravel. We went about taking the wheel off to see how extensive the damage was and what was actually causing the wheel to lock up. Once the wheel was off, its was apparently obvious that the inner wheel on the passenger side front had indeed collapsed, we were not going anywhere fast. We broke down 76km short of Bremer Bay. We got onto the RAC of which we had cover and luckily there was an RAC registered mechanic (named Darren) in Bremer whom was absolutely fantastic in responding to our current predicament. Within an hour and a half Darren had rocked up with a flat back Toyota Dyna, put the Cruiser on the back and hauled here into Bremer Bay, 76km to be precise. On arriving at the Bremer BP service station whom did we bump into? Bruno, Gloria and Aaron, Bruno also breaking down. One Toyota and one Nissan already down and we hadn't even got off road yet. At least Bruno got into Bremer before breaking down, apparently he'd drained all the oil out of the sump via the oil switch. The Nissan waiting to be repaired as well in the morning. RAC cover also allows for a few nights accommodation in town, so both groups booked into the Bremer Bay resort for the evening. It certainly pays to be a member of the RAC and have the country coverage, that's for sure ;-) Oh and for those that might be thinking as to why the bearings failed... yes the 60' was thoroughly checked before we left as I always do before any 4WD trip. Both rear bearings we replaced and the front bearings were actually checked and re-tensioned by my chosen mechanic, I was right there next to my mechanic when he did it. Why did the passenger front bearing fail? that's yet to be determined. At the minute, I'm putting it down to just bad luck.
Went down to have a look at the Wellstead estuary mouth that evening at the same time picking up some chip and dim-sims and other stuff. No way were we going to make a crossing at the mouth, far too deep. Went back to the resort and spent the evening with Bruno, Gloria and company for a few laughs, great evening with great friends and was a pretty good substitute for a campsite I guess, staying at the Bremer Bay Resort ;-) Click on the images for a larger more detailed view. |
