Laverton to Uluru

pipes · Senior Member

Laverton to Uluru

PeterD · Guru

Do you mean The Great Central Road? That is a road that is continually being upgraded. Why do you think mining would affect it?

villatranquilla · Guru

if there are mining activities then the roads are often pretty good and well graded in the mine area

Traway · Veteran Member

Dont Do it with a caravan! We did it last October and did thousands of dollars (Hubby says about eleven) of damage to van. Fridge door hinges snapped and doors fell off, shower screen brackets snapped on doors fell off, oven door bracket snapped and door fell off, brackets on pole carrier snapped and it fell off, air conditioner never worked again, no water as various parts snapped and that is just the big ticket items. People seemed to be doing all right with camper trailers but we did not meet anybody with a caravan that came away unscathed.

-- Edited by Traway on Friday 15th of February 2019 11:46:31 PM

roker · Veteran Member

hi Traway,sorry about your trip ,hope you get things back to 100p/c soon.Hope to do that trip one day have cavalier off road soft floor trailer/Nissan g/u patrol.

I think off road trailers only way to go ,take care ,best wishes roker blankstare

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

If you are not aware of what constitutes a safe speed on a particular piece of road is for your vehicle, stay off it.
If you are aware of what that safe speed is but don't have the patience to stay below it, stay off it.

At 100kph, many vehicles will sustain damage on that road..
At 10kph, any vehicle can negotiate that road without damage. The only difference is how long it will take.
Somewhere inbetween is the maximum speed for your vehicle. Many people don't have the patience and get lulled into a false sense of security and drive too fast and the result is easily predictable.
Many caravans and conventional vehicles drive that road without damage on a regular basis.
Most of it is generally better than most other gravel roads in the country. The eastern end (the NT section) is the worst part and deserves extra patience and care.
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Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Sunday 17th of February 2019 07:37:44 PM

Traway · Veteran Member

Thanks for the well wishes Roker. We are slowly getting back to enjoying our travels. Peter we went nowhere near 100kph. A lot of our time was spent at 10kph. From what we can tell they are concentrating on the sections of road that they are getting ready to bitumise to the detriment of the rest of the road. The smoothest part of the road was a bypass around where they were working.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Clearly your speed was too high for the conditions and probably your tyre pressures were too high as well.
You can not blame the road.
Cheers,
Peter

StewG · Senior Member

Corrugated roads can do a lot of damage, even to off-road caravans and 4WD tugs. As peter says, speed and high tyre pressures can exacerbate the damage. Our off-road van copped some minor damage on our first trip on the big lap, but one learns and gets wiser. We also have made small but important modifications to the van to improve its resilience, such as fasteners on the folding table top and stovetop cover. Wine cask bladders filled with air also make good cushions in the fridge, other storage containers and cupboards to prevent items bouncing around. A good reason for drinking wine...

roker · Veteran Member

blankstare hi Peter and Margret .How true 100 p/c .On my 4wd have off road shockies plus Coopers ATR tyres .I drive to the road condtions on unsealed roads ,too much vibration

drop the tyre pressures .I have a good compressor dual batt system on Patrol no problems with air.Some of the excess roads to the stations graded by the shires

GREAT like a pool table biggrin The Great northern highway from Perth is being upgraded CHECK WEBSITE MAINROADS W.A. NORTHLINK.

Parts of the highway before BINDOON bad road service,getting fixed up slowly.All the mining gear heading North .

I think travelling Central road best 2.3 vehicles if possible .Even all the bells and whistles things can happen.Best wishes Take care on the road cheers Roker