THE 79 Cruiser has had a hard time over the last eight months, crossing the Simpson three times along the acclaimed Madigan Line, doing two Coast to Coast trips from Ceduna in South Australia to Pardoo Station on the Indian Ocean, and then completing two Cape York trips that not only saw the OTL track each time, but also the Starke River track, Frenchman’s Track and the Old Coach Road from Laura to Maytown.
In-between those jaunts were the intervening kilometres along gravel roads linking start and finish points, and while they weren’t difficult they still add to the wear and tear the vehicle is subject to. There would be few vehicles in Australia doing as many hard four-wheel drive kilometres as this rig. As you’d expect, such distances and the wear and tear of these tough iconic tracks comes at a price.
Once we started looking, the mechanical carnage was more dramatic than what we had first envisaged. One of the diff breathers had let go somewhere along the line and had let a slurry of water and mud into the rear diff, destroying axle bearings and the housing, allowing the bearing to spin inside the axle housing. There was so much carnage to the diff, axles and axle housing that we decided to bite the bullet and replace the whole lot with a Multidrive Technology heavy-duty diff housing that corrects the anomaly between the track width between front and rear axles. This engineer-approved mod includes dedicated longer heavy-duty axles with a GVM upgrade, if fitted with the properly approved spring pack. We opted for a Terrain Tamer parabolic spring pack which took the GVM up to 3780kg, while other TT spring packs can take your GVM up to 3950kg.
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Esta historia es de la edición Summer 2022 de 4x4 Magazine Australia.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
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OUTBACK WATERING HOLES
SINCE OFF TRACK WINES WAS LAUNCHED, OWNERS ANNA AND BRETT FISHER HAVE DRIVEN MORE THAN 20,000KM UP, DOWN AND ACROSS AUSTRALIA SPRUIKING THEIR WINES-IN-A-CAN MADE FOR CAMPING. THEY DROPPED INTO PLENTY OF OUTBACK PUBS ALONG THE WAY AND THESE ARE THEIR SOUTH AUSTRALIAN FAVOURITES
BIG COUNTRY
THE PILBARA IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF BIG COUNTRY, AND THERE IS PLENTY TO SEE, DO AND ENJOY IN THIS ANCIENT LANDSCAPE IN WA'S RUGGED NORTHWEST
ISLAND PARADISE
NEAR THE TOP OF THE BUCKET LIST FOR EVERY AUSSIE FOUR-WHEEL DRIVER, K'GARI IS PACKED WITH STUNNING HIGHLIGHTS AND BOASTS SOME OF THE BEST BEACH DRIVING IN THE COUNTRY
WEIGHTLIFTING
INCREASING THE GVM OF YOUR 4X4 SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY, BUT BY THE SAME TOKEN SHOULD NOT BE AVOIDED IF YOU NEED IT. WE GO THROUGH THE PROCESS ON OUR FORD RANGER TO EXPLAIN HOW TO GET IT RIGHT
NOW HEAR THIS
THE CEL-FI GO MOBILE BOOSTER WILL KEEP EMAILS, MESSAGES AND CALLS COMING THROUGH TO YOUR DEVICES WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE IS HEARING CRICKETS
LOOKING BACK
A PAIR OF MSA 4X4 TOWING MIRRORS ENSURE WE ALWAYS KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON BEHIND US WHEN WE HAVE A TRAILER HITCHED TO OUR MITSUBISHI TRITON
TRUCKIN' LIFE
CAN FORD AUSTRALIA'S NEW F-150 BE AN ACCOMPLISHED OFF-ROAD TOURING 4X4?
WHAT LURKS BENEATH
IT MAY LOOK LIKE A FAIRLY STANDARD (IF CLEAN) 80 SERIES, BUT DIVE A LITTLE DEEPER AND YOU'LL FIND A MONSTER BELOW THE SURFACE
EYE OF THE HURRICANE
RAM HAS DUMPED ITS HEMI V8FOR A SIX-CYLINDER, AND IT'S COMING TO AUSTRALIA
GETTING TANKED
GWM EXPANDS IT TANK 4X4 RANGE WITH THE LUXURIOUS TANK 500 WAGON