Old dog, no new tricks.

My yard at Willawong was bad news when it got wet .......had trucks bogged to the chassis there many times ......used to have one of the old WW2 6x6 Macks there to pull out with the winch......couple of times nearly pulled the winch off the chassis ..........The hydraulic winch I got on the Leyland is a good puller too.....pulled out lots of bogged trucks ....I ws always worried about busting the tilt tray arms ,as they arent very thick ......but that never happened ......None of it matters now.

Inter-Action wrote:

Stuck! Been stuck lots of times over the earlier years when working in the outback. This one was a bit of a test. Me and Rusty in the passengers seat. She stayed in the cab and kept an eye on things. This was inland from where there was a roadhouse called
Barradale? Some 100kms off the highway taking fuel out to one of our camps. Those drums are all full(24). Winch saved the day
and into the next day. Uprooted a few trees. Ground was so soft i just kept collecting firewood, which came in handy , camping
close to the truck. I didn't won't anyone to steal it did i ? Fun times. I would do it all again tomorrow , except for the worn out body.

Nice old inter, well maybe not so old then, they were pretty impressive in their day, you see them now and they are just little old trucks, great photo thanks.

Lang I am fishing for a bit of a bite, the forum is a bit quite of late, but what I wrote is true. thanks for all the stuff you post.

Got a dozer bogged once ,we were digging it out ,and an old timer came to see what we were doing .....He says ,cut lots of brushwood with lots of leaves and twigs ,and put it under the tracks ...that will get you out.....We did that ,and did get the dozer out.

77louie400 wrote:

It would a safe bet that the truck was a automatic in both cases.

. . .


. . . there are just no words to describe the ignorant stupidity of this comment ...

I have been stuck in snow many times, but never mud. With a shovel, tire chains, and some careful driving I almost always got out..

New Guinea Adventures
I wrote a story about 5 years ago about some New Guinea stuff but had no photos. A mate just sent me these.

Firstly a trip up the Martkham Valley to recover a Vultee Vengeance dive bomber. I "borrowed" the Inter 6x6 Hiab from the workshop and a few of the boys came along. My wife brought the kids in our International Scout and another mates wife drove his Landcruiser. Anyhow one thing led to another and by the end of the day the 6x6, the Landcruiser and the cocky's huge 4x4 tractor were bogged to the axles. Fortunately Bev kept the kids back and the Scout was able to fight clear and ferry everyone to the homestead.

I had to go away on a flying job the next day so drove the 150km back to Lae. The engineering officer tearing his hair out about f...g pilots took an Inter 4x4 and a crew up to try to get his Hiab out. He finished bogged the worst. To cap it all the boss flew up in a Sioux helicopter and had a tail rotor strike on a small tree adding a helicopter sitting in the long Kunai grass to the gay gathering of stuck vehicles.

Oblivious to all the mayhem I had caused I arrived home 4 days later from Bougainville to see the last of the trucks driving in. It was accompanied by mud caked engineering officer. When he saw me all he said was "F...g Pilots!"

The blokes in the photo are helicopter pilot Lt Terry Hayes DFC, Obscured Sgt Blue Morrisey - the best engine mechanic in the Army and Capt Alan Pike - Lae Area Adjutant (and my old high school mate)

Found another photo of my supply truck , taken at the end of the season. (Nov). Some of the empties going back to Carnarvon.
Roads were all dried up and got back to the bitumen covered in dust. The truck was built by Custom Carriers in Perth. Yes the cab looks like an old Inter. Not sure of model or year. I was sure glad i insisted on having a big powerful winch fitted. Pretty sure the winch was hydraulicly driven so i was able to run winch and wheels together. I am willing to be corrected. It's been a while.
One of the first trucks to have a 4 stroke GM. Bloody gutless engine or badly matched to an Alison auto. Diffs and transmission
were hand me downs American, i think ? The van was 30ft long. Laundry , mess in the middle and showers up front.

Eddy wrote:

77louie400 wrote:

It would a safe bet that the truck was a automatic in both cases.

. . .


. . . there are just no words to describe the ignorant stupidity of this comment ...

I get around mine sites and construction sites a lot. Prove me wrong.

Truth of the matter in my case . In the picture "Bogged with drums of fuel. The main reason i got bogged was that i should not have
been there!! But you "Roll the dice and take your chances". There's no right or wrong truck for "Not getting stuck". It happens.
Most times it is driver error , sometimes just bad luck. Two things about that truck i had. It was an absolute snail on the hwy. But
take it off road , where there very few roads, just tracks at best, the auto was fantastic. Low range, 4wd , steady, steady and it would
just about climb a wall. So between Bob McColloch and myself, we came up with that truck that did a great job and i had lots of fun.
Could anyone have a guess at the motor. Small GM 4 stroke. Would have been mid 70's ish? Lets not get our nickers in a twist. Auto? Manual.
BLA,BLA.

Excellent stories fellas, thank you...
Bogged, yeah, I been bogged... dammit. This episode took a whole day- jacked and planked, made a long plank runway, then pulled it with tractor and 4wd- then the whole lot fell through the salt, drive, steer, and trailer too....
There's probably two types of people- those that heave been bogged, and those that haven't been bogged- yet.
Cheers
Rich