Haulin' 2013 - The way i saw it..

Haulin' 2013 - The way i saw it..

What its all about...........Haulin the Hume 2013...


Could this the Dubbo run revisited
Was the ol blue truck up to the task
Were there enough hours left in the week

Well, it was all i expected it to be...
A nice leisurely lead up, making all the necessary preparations to the vehicle etc., followed by some partially organised kaos a few days before the run..

You know, those couple of jobs that could have been done years ago...well now was the time to fix them...theres a week to go, plenty of time!
There was an annoying squeak in the left hand side of the cab that really needed attention..No, not the passenger..
As the investigative procedure continued, it was nothing that a good weekend on the grinder and welder couldn't fix..
Just a simple matter of rebuilding half the cabin rail and mount., Of course this would have been easier with the cab lifted a couple of feet above its normal position but that would be too easy!
Far better off spending hours on end being jambed up in there like a half shut pocket knife... :
With all that in order...it was time to continue with the easier chores, greasing, brake adjustments, washing etc..
The big day was fast approaching, an a little excitement was starting to build...
UNTIL......
Starting up the ol rocket, revealed a little ticking noise!
From down under there somewhere....
Even after a lifetime of hearing abuse...the ears are still in tune for 'those' noises..
No drama..its only Tuesday, we don't have to leave till Thursday! Plenty of time!
The Hume run was still well within reach!
Some express work on the sump bolts soon revealed a problem that was 'fixed' last year had not been correctly cured... :-[ .
Almost on cue..an ol mate from WA arrived..with enthusiam and the understanding of a rapidly ticking clock!
Further removal of bigger parts, proved the initial theory correct..
4pm Tuesday and the phone calls were flying between Interland and the parts suppliers.
It is times like this when you need the blokes who understand the need for speed!
The ol mate in Sydney was right onto it and things were starting to line up nicely!
He had the man in Brisbane right on the job, boxing up the parts and heading for the Kero Kite...
In the mean time, i was on the Grader making somewhere for him to land..
You can appreciate a 737 full of Cummins parts needs a special runway to land, particularly on 8 acres!

With the ol cummins in bits awaiting parts, full attention was turned to the radiator....
The symptoms were still pointing to a continuing circulation problem..
It was soon very apparent, that at some stage in its life this radiator had been assembled by a person with an abundance of a 'silastic' compound on hand...
The blockage was located and removed, along with several strips of surplus silastic and bits of old gaskets.
Sealing compound is good stuff....but in moderation!..

As the clock continued to tick.. we despatched the ol mate from WA..
He had chores of his own to do...but i had this distinct feeling...he would be back!..

To be continued...


chocs

Come on Chocs, keep typing. We are all waiting to see if you make it!

Come on mate wheres the pictures

Where's the piccies Choc's?

So did "the tranny" make it to Haulin the Hume????

Where was L.B. when you need him!

Cont...

The night continued on with a few more visitors to the big shed...
A few theories were thrown back and forth but largely, we were all in agreeance that we were on the right track..
Also reiterated, that it was a good decision made, to pull the gadget apart again..
After all..it was only going to cost a few gaskets and some time if my thoughts were wrong..
It was going to be a Tow Truck ride home along with the necessary repairs if the situation went unchecked..
I have always maintained that they are far better off breaking down in the shed..

A reasonably late night, cleaning up after the dismantelling process, along with the never ending supply of parts to be washed..
The following morning, straight onto the freight company to check the Kero Kites progress...
All looking good Chocs....except...we have lost one carton...
Oh....arr which one.....hmmm the light one...
No dramas...its only the gaskets...we will get them at the lollie shop if need be!

Several phone calls back and forth and it was revealed the pistons and liners had gone west!
Now this, was really going to strain matters!
Anyway after a few hours and several more calls...
The freight had arrived and was fit for collection..
Choc's Mum was deployed for a parts pickup mission..
To the four corners of Geelong she travelled to grab every conceivable piece of gear that may or may not be required to get this rocket back on the road...

At this point, the Ol Mate from WA appeared out of the woodwork..
Not quite well rested, but more than ready for a night on the spanners...

By late afternoon, the parts were in stock at Interland and the fun had begun..
Firstly the radiator....having been cleaned earlier in the day was ready for assembly..
A custom gasket, having been cut by one of our freshly trained, Transtar Radiator Tank Gasket Cutters...was ready to be fitted with the appropriate sealing compound this time.
New assembly hardware is always the best choice when the rush is on..
No time or need to be playing around with secondhand nuts and bolts on jobs like this..
Six o'clock came and went and the engine assembly was finally underway...
This had all the makings of becoming a very long night...

At some stage, we threw some tea down and along with several hundred coffees, things were starting to take some shape once more..
With pistons and liners fitted, the heads were in place and ready for tensioning.
The Ol WA fella had made up his mind, that he wasn't leaving till the heads were in place and the manifold buttoned up..
It had gone 1am when he departed for home and headed for what was left of some bed time..

I continued on with the assembly, while shed dog Max, took my shift of sleep!



As dawn broke, i thought of and paid my respect to the Men and Women of the ANZAC.. 'Lest we Forget'



By a bit after 5, we were ready to let the smoke out..
Always a nervous time, cranking the engine and waiting for the initial fire up..
Oil pressure good...no leaks...
All good, time to bang the cab down and head off for a test run..
About a 15k round trip saw us back in over the concrete for another check over....Yup all looks good.....
Doesn't sound too bad either! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Time for breakfast and fire off a few phone calls and text messages..
The necessary info was received and a departure time of 11am at the BPs was set..
Plenty of time for a shower, throw in some gear and a quick ten hour break and it was all go!

Apparently the rest of the test run would be completed over a round trip to Sydney, taking in a Haulin the Hume expedition, just for good measure...

All set and as ready as it was ever goin to be, we set sail for the BPs at Little River.....
Let the journey begin..


to be continued

chocs

JUST GREAT

now we aint gonna get any sleep till we get the next instalment love it
keep it comin bro-ova

You'll have to wait and see Jon...
I did hear Lorry had headed of earlier in the week...
for the Huon run...

Ya better 'jar up' Melon...
Shes gunna be a long ride..lol


chocs

The Old Chocs, telephone calls earlier in the week had me concerned that Chocs was not happy with the lorry, apparent phone calls to Newto etc as to what could this noise be, most of us stating, she will be right chocs.
Imagine how the Chief Engineer from my workshop greeted the news, Chocs has dropped the sump on the Tranny for a bo peep. Who in their right mind would consider doing that 48 hrs before departure
A quick trip out to Interland after the days chores to see what page he was on, bloody hell, 2 heads of, 2 pistons sitting on the bench .
Chocs mentions, parts being organised Gilly, should be here tomorrow. Not many options here, so we departed Interland for home.
Phone calls on progress through the day revealed that problems with parts delivery, never mind he says, take it as it comes approach
Late in the afternoon, phone call from Chocs, parts have landed, we are back in contention, silent thought to myself, don't think it is gunna happen.
Up early Thurs morning to attend to my unfinished tasks on the old C, I send the man a text, any smoke out the chimney yet, short time later, a reply, YEP, was all I got.
I thought to myself, this man is a B----y genius, who would put a big banger back together o/night.
A little while later, Chocs rings, what time we going Gilly, just going to have a shower & get cleaned up.

Chocs, Timmy, Prodrive & myself met at Little river mid morning, travelled together as nothing had happened.

I tilt my hat to a bloke who just simply says,
We can do this Gilly, how good is that.

Choc's

Now put up the real picture of your shed floor, this ones to clean and paper on the tables.
um
That must be Baz's influence .

Lovin the journey

Trevor

Great read mate, the WA man actually left at 10pm cause he was still on Perth time lol