Jan 08 Parking Brake Failure Saga |
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01 Start of Xmas 07 trip across the Australian Nullabor242 viewsThis is the preferred method of travelling 2500km of Nullabor desert when time is short (the Indian Pacific train). Next stop is Adelaide.
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02 Last Photo before the little wheel problem saga221 viewsThis is my D3 with trailer on the banks of the Darling River, literally "back of Bourke" (the regional definition of the start of the Australian Outback). We were the first vehicle in a week to try and drive this route from Bourke to Wilcannia on the account of floods (first water in 7 years). Little did we know that 3 hours later there\'d be a bit of a wheel and tyre problem appearing...
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03 First bit of tyre/wheel trouble243 viewsIn the outback a tyre suddenly blew. "No worries" we thought, as we had 3 spares (+ two more if we abandoned the trailer), 150l of water, 3 days of food, and an EPIRB if things got really bad. At the time I didn\'t fully appreciate the fact that my index got a blister from the burning heat of one of the wheel nuts. It was 45 deg C at the time, so everything was hot.
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04 Damaged Tyre300 viewsYes, there\'s no doubt that this was a flat tyre. The ultra hot wheel nuts, look of the flat (note in a later photo that the back of the tyre appeared okay) and increased fuel consumption should have been a clue, but it was 45 deg C, and we had been doing about 105 km/hr on a dirt road for hours, so we just assumed it was a flat = WRONGO!
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05 No doubt the tyre is flat273 viewsThis is the view of the flat tyre. Again, didn\'t think it anything more than a "normal" explosive blowout, as the tyre was about 90% worn, we were heavily loaded, it was 45 deg C, and driving 105 km/ho on a rough dirt road in the outback.
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06 Spare tyre on and still suffering from hot wheel nuts296 viewsManaged to get ultra hot wheel nuts back on the spare (using the original 19" D3 wheel, vs the 19" RRS wider wheel which blew - shown in left of photo). Pity we didn\'t note that the disk brake was EXTREMELY hot at this time.
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07 Back side of failed tyre340 viewsThis is the back of the blown tyre. It looks like any other worn tyre which has run a bit while flat. Note that we were running on wider 19" RRS wheels (have 4 19" MTRs + 1 old A/T on the original 5 wheels). Also have a rear-mount spare tyre holder which is really convenient with the wider rim and the fact that the tyre was still hot (it had some melted rubber on the other side!!)
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08 D3 stranded with a seized smoking wheel314 viewsAbout 1 hr after replacing the blown tyre, strange noises emanated from the stability control system and speed dropped off. Then I looked in the rear view mirror, and noted a cloud of dust along with a whiff of black smoke. This led to a very quick stop (no traffic on this route for over a week, so no worries about having to signal exiting the road). Took a look and WOW. The right rear wheel was glowing a dull red colour, and burning rubber smoke was wafting from the red glow over the fuel lines.
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09 Starting to remove the seized brake assembly295 viewsBy this time we\'d poured about 8l of water on the dull-red glowing and burning wheel assembly (too close to 140l of 98 octane petrol). Sudden cooling cracked the disk brake which showed mangled park brake parts. How to remove a brake disk without the right star fitting? First remove the caliper then get a sledge hammer?!!
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10 Cracked smoking parking brake drum337 viewsNote the crack in the face of the brake. This showed mangled parking brake springs and other bits. Also a bit of melted rubber was drooling out of the crack. Started to remove the brake caliper and enjoying the flies in 45 deg C heat. Ah, the wonderful Aussie climate in January.
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11 Lesson in removing a jammed brake assembly in the Outback378 viewsSpent the next 4 hours doing this to my D3. Gave the photos to Land Rover dealer and they did not think this constituted abuse of the vehicle. I thought that was charitable, but if we hadn\'t done this, the tow back to civilisation would have been even longer.
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12 Half way through removing a jammed disk brake in the Outback296 viewsThis was just before breaking the sledge hammer. Note we luckily carried a spare hammer. Ended up using (or breaking) every tool we had on this little repair job. Bed sheets are a good way of gathering the bits to show for the inevitable warranty claim.
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13 How to care for tools302 viewsWhat happened to the sledge hammer after 2 hours of beating my seized and cracked disk/park brake assembly to bits. Now down to 1 hammer remaining. At least by this time it was getting cooler (down to 40 deg C)
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14 "Are we having fun yet?"348 viewsSWMBO is pondering why attempting to drive 3,900 kms across the outback on dirt roads is more fun than, say, spending New Years in Paris......
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15 First sign of bits of parking brake failure335 viewsNote the complete lack of pad from the parking brake. Not only was there no composite brake material left, but the drum was somewhat twisted and connecting bits all smashed. Also a small drip of melted rubber from wheel bearing parts....
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16 All the remains of a D3\'s parking brake371 viewsAfter 4 hours of hammering, finally removed the disk/park brake drum, and nearly all the parking brake bits fell to the ground. Cut rhe remaining brake cable loose as it was wrapped around the hub and a bit melted. Also having 2 jacks + 2 jack stands will support 4 hrs of hammering on the side of my D3.
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18 Brake "repairs" finished at sunset293 viewsWe just finished the repair at sunset and were driving slowly with 3 brakes. Oddly the D3 didn\'t behave any differently at 50 km/hr than it did normally. We had 4 instances of hitting the (3) skids for kangaroos before arriving in Wilcannia 3 hrs later. The brake light warning was making very distinctive noises and flashing randomly, though.
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