Mike Harding wrote:

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SUCCESS!

The rain gods have been a bit slack recently and, of course, temperatures have been around 13C so relative humidity is high, nevertheless the wind has managed to dry the track to some extent. At first light I took the 4WD, no caravan, along the track and decided a full escape attempt was possible and as a little more rain is forecast for Wednesday that would probably put the tracks back by one week and who knows what the weather will do over that time.

I loaded everything I could find into the rear of the caravan in an attempt to minimise towball weight and thus give the front wheels of the 4WD as much traction as possible - no 10% here Yobarr! :)

With 2.8T on the back I decided low range for the high torque (still not sure about that) but once you commit in these situations that's it (a bit like marriage?). I picked my way carefully and slowly along the track avoiding the soft areas when possible. On two occasions everything began to slide a bit but a heavy right foot and 512Nm of torque did the trick and I eventually reached the solid ground.

Harding = 1 --- Black Mud = 0

I shall return to this beautiful location but I'll probably give the beginning of winter a miss in future although my notes indicate I spent 24th May to 5th August 2019 there and I had no issues, I think this event was mainly due to very heavy unforecast rain.

Now located west of Mildura on the bank of the Murray (again!) 10m from the water but this location is safe from poor weather... he said confidently :)

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Well done Mike, and because you're off-road it was good thinking to put more weight onto the front wheels of the car without increasing the weight of the van! At the speed you would have been travelling there would have been little need to worry about the effects of yaw! Your analogy "a bit like marriage" was good, although I think that the costs of your rescue, should you have become unstuck, would have been  a lot lower than the costs of getting out of a marriage? Cheers.

msg wrote:

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Are you sure? Word has it that the SA Murray is going to flood. At least further south at Mannum. But it comes down the river from Mildura.

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 I  cannot find anything to that effect on the BOM website however... your caution has encouraged me to design, create and employ a river delta height measurement device - non technical people sometimes call this "a stick", so we'll see what the next 24 hours brings as I am only about 1m above river level. Thanks.

rgren2 wrote:

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landy wrote:

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Mike, I think I might be trying to teach Granny how to suck eggs a bit here, but have you aired your tyer's down a bit for some extra traction on your runs to town.
Landy

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 On another thread I was informed when I suggested reducing tyre pressure, that you dont do that for mud. 

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Hi rgren. never underestimate the advantage you get from letting air out of your tires when a track gets slippery. Although it may be debatable how much advantage you actually get in deep mud it certainly will not do any harm and has got us out of several situations where Landy had lost all forward motion on road pressures.
A lot of people do not realize that the idea of deflating your tires is not so much about bloating out the side walls but more about lengthening the the flat on the bottom of the tire and increasing amount of tread that is in contact with the road ( or muddy track ).
Landy

rgren2 wrote:

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landy wrote:

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rgren2 wrote:

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landy wrote:

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Mike, I think I might be trying to teach Granny how to suck eggs a bit here, but have you aired your tyer's down a bit for some extra traction on your runs to town.
Landy

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 On another thread I was informed when I suggested reducing tyre pressure, that you dont do that for mud. 

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Hi rgren. never underestimate the advantage you get from letting air out of your tires when a track gets slippery. Although it may be debatable how much advantage you actually get in deep mud it certainly will not do any harm and has got us out of several situations where Landy had lost all forward motion on road pressures.
A lot of people do not realize that the idea of deflating your tires is not so much about bloating out the side walls but more about lengthening the the flat on the bottom of the tire and increasing amount of tread that is in contact with the road ( or muddy track ).
Landy

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My tongue was very firmly planted in my cheek. ;) I do have a little experience in 4x4 driving. In fact I was driving them before I had a licence and have been actively involved in the game ever since. :))) 

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Sorry rgren I should have taken more notice of the smiley faces. Took your post as doubting my comment. Landy

-- Edited by landy on Wednesday 15th of June 2022 07:48:09 PM

The next door neighbours dog stole it

msg wrote:

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Mr Harding, Any results from your river delta height measurement device?

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There has not been any change in river level, I'm pleased to say.