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Post Info TOPIC: Proud to be Australian!
roadtourer


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Proud to be Australian!
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Well Sunday 1pm taught dad and myself a lot about the harsh country we live in but also the proudness of what it means to be 'Australian'!

Stuart Hwy decided to chew our tyre up and after the massive explosion of our back tyre I am honoured that my daddios driving skills are professional and experienced. We were skidding across the road and it could of been worse, but with dad behind the wheel of this big machine he managed to keep us upright and safely got us to a stop by the side of the highway without tipping over and ending up in the ditch. 

It was 37 degree heat and we want to take the time to thank ALL the wonderful travellers who stopped in the dead zone to assist us, with no phone service and 185ks from Coober Pedy, in the middle of no mans land and pretty much no life form apart from the occasional travellers and trucks that drive by, we are safe and owe it to every person who tried to help and took the time to help!

Our spare wheel wouldn't drop due to some faulty part so we were pretty much stranded to 2 days, thank you to Andrew Beer a tour guide from the NT who stopped and took dad into Coober pedy, thank you to Brett a coober pedy local who drove dad back and took the time out of his day just for us!

Thank you also to a wonderful miner Rick Hanson who did all he could to try to drop our spare wheel and even offer on his day off to take dad into town to help but that was for Wednesday. 

Once we got a new wheel on having the hazards on for 2 days drained our batteries and now stranded again!

Thank you the young shirtless chap who stopped at an emergency phone to call for help and to the QLD travellers who heard his call and came to assist us, with jumper leads.

I am proud even more to be called Australian! This is what makes our country its ppl like you.

On top of our bad luck we assisted a gentleman today who also was stranded and had a flat battery!

There is no harm in helping ppl

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Hugs from the Road Tourers
Frank, Liz, Maxx & Steve

Our Fur kids (Pippa, Sash & of course Lara)

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends.... The mind can never break off from the journey". - Pat Conroy
roadtourer


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We are now sadly stranded again with our other back tyre gone flat
Stuart hwy is not loving us much atm, lucky we have reception and 22ks from Pimba
We were warned by the locals of Coober Pedy about the Port Augusta/Coober Pedy Bermuda Triangle and living it this moment.
Certainly is an experience

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Hugs from the Road Tourers
Frank, Liz, Maxx & Steve

Our Fur kids (Pippa, Sash & of course Lara)

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends.... The mind can never break off from the journey". - Pat Conroy
dragonfly1


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are you running your tyres with the recommended 80 psi on your fiat there was a recall on those spare wheel carriers they replaced ours and make sure you don't over tighten when right up in position

Dragonfly1



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Felicia


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This is a trip you will remember for ever. Good on you for looking at the bright side of life.

Lynda

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in transit


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How nice it is to read of someone acknowledging the help they have received when things were not going well.

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BJC

"A year from now you'll wish you had started today."
roadtourer


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Dragonfly we are running them on 60 but we will be defiantly contacting fiat when we get back to Melbourne
Felicia I always look at the bright side and always try to look for the good in every bad. Life is too short not to :)
In transit always my friend always it makes me very proud to be Australian for this reason even more so!

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Hugs from the Road Tourers
Frank, Liz, Maxx & Steve

Our Fur kids (Pippa, Sash & of course Lara)

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends.... The mind can never break off from the journey". - Pat Conroy
jules47


The Happy Helper

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Always look at the bright side - what a good attitude! Good on you, I'm proud to be an Aussie too!

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jules
"Love is good for the human being!!"
(Ben, aged 10)
Aus-Kiwi


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I got two flats on the back of my old bus / motorhome .. There's nothing like the feeling of hopelessness when there's no phone signal .. In my case my phat body couldn't fit under body to put jack under axles .. Again feeling absolutely hopeless and I usually do these things myself.. I finally got a phone signal dialling 1300 Bridgestone number .. First they asked for post code ? Living in Penrith who knows the post code west of Mudgee ? Again hopeless .. I finally got a guy on the phone as so far it was auto, machine.. Was a guy from Orange .. Said he couldn't help!! I asked him to ring a tyre guy in Mudgee.. Waited and waited.. Yes nice people pulled up.. Love country people .. 2 hours wait and the tyre fitter arrived ! I was so pleased to see him! Then to find the bus has 18" wheels and there's NO tyres available in Aust ... Sheesh again hopeless .. I was about to really lose it by then.. He chucked a second hand 19.5 tube in the best tyre and fitted the spare .. Needless to say I have a floor type jack, 19.5 wheels, a 50 to 1 ratio torque multiplier tool to undo wheel nuts on the road and small / big compressor with tyre kit .. I will NEVER. Be caught like that again ..
The reason tyres blew was over 20 year old tyres .. When we left the tread was 3/4 .. We went to Adelaide then back up around Hunter valley . In that time the hard tread just broke away . So ....
Lesson two.. Check tyres age .. Don't rely on tread ...

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dorian


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AFAICT, the recall for the spare wheel problem was for a bracket fitted to caravans, not motorhomes.

http://www.recalls.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1072230

BTW, check the list of recalls for the major manufacturers:

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=site:recalls.gov.au+jayco (About 155 results)

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=site:recalls.gov.au+avida+OR+winnebago (4 results)

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=site:recalls.gov.au+sunliner (Your search ... did not match any documents.)



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dragonfly1


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Dorian

If you had bought a new fiat you would have got a letter regarding the replacement of the spare wheel carrier ours is 2008 model and fiat replaced it

Dragonfly1



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dorian


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dragonfly1 wrote:

If you had bought a new fiat you would have got a letter regarding the replacement of the spare wheel carrier ours is 2008 model and fiat replaced it.

I found this:

https://www.recalls.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1006611

Product description
Ducato X2/50 vehicles

What are the defects?
In some cases, the spare wheel support device might break due to incorrect operation.

What are the hazards?
The spare wheel may become detached.

 



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"No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full."

Lucius Cornelius Sulla - died 78 BC 

 
jules47


The Happy Helper

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We have a Jayco Conquest on aa Fiat Ducato - early in 2012 we had a service, and they told us about the recall, and said they would do it, t no cost to us of course.
All was well until last year, when we hit a concrete slab in a caravan park, taking a chunk out of one of our tyres. We booked in to have the tyre replaced, and the spare put on the motorhome. They could not get the spare wheel carrier down, no matter what they tried. So we limped back to Brisbane hoping for no tyre problems. Went to the Fiat (Chrysler) dealer who on investigating under the vehicle, said the change over of the wheel carrier had never been done..They checked on the computer, and sure enough the mob who said they did it had claimed it.

Long story short, even though we were out of warranty, the spare wheel carrier was replaced, with no charge to us. And some of these dealer/service centres wonder why we don't go back to them when we are out of warranty.

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jules
"Love is good for the human being!!"
(Ben, aged 10)
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