SHED: 2001 NISSAN PATROL

IT’S FAR FROM PLAIN-SAILING FOR RON’S PATROL OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS.

WE’VE HAD a few hard months in the ol’ Patrol. First we headed for Central Australia and explored the East Macdonnell Ranges, before wandering along the Plenty Highway and then down the Hay River Track into the Simpson and on to Birdsville. With hardly time to catch my breath, or for the Patrol to have a rest, we turned around and followed my son and his Moon Tours trip across the Madigan Line back to Alice Springs. Without any further ado we then headed to Cairns and up to Cape York, running all the hard tracks including Frenchman’s, the OTL and the Old Coach Road to Maytown.

Before setting out we fitted a new set of Cooper AT3 XLT tyres, but the tyre-fitting place replaced some of the wheel nuts with the wrong ones, which kinda buggered the threads on the studs. Luckily the crew at Outback 4WD picked up on the fault while the rig was being serviced and undertaking a pre-trip inspection, otherwise I’m sure I would have lost a wheel or more.

Anyway, the AT3S are performing beautifully and we’ve punished them in all sorts of terrain over the last 12,000km or so, from desert sand to Cape York mud to rocky trails. They are quiet, responsive and steer well on both blacktop and dirt, while the fuel economy has improved over the more aggressive ST Maxx tyres we had been running for some time. Well, you’d hope that’s the case when you go to a less aggressive tyre.

However, we’ve had our fair share of issues while on the road. In the Eastern Macs I had a ‘knock’ coming from the front wheel which turned out to be a castor bush flogging out. A quick phone call to the ARB Alice Springs crew and a trip into town and we were soon on our merry way.

North of the Plenty Highway, where we went wandering and exploring, the Patrol developed a coolant leak from the bottom hose on the radiator. It turned out to be just a faulty hose clamp but it again highlighted the importance of regularly checking the vehicle when on an outback trip.

Then, while wandering over the floodplain of the Diamantina south of Birdsville, I noticed a couple of missing bolts on one of my free-wheeling hubs, with the hub very loose. That seems to have left the hub damaged and noisy at times, but it got us home.

The next thing, during the course of the two crossings of the Simpson Desert, I noticed the front-end was bouncing more than normal. With no time, we waited until we got to Cairns and had the rig serviced by Wayne Boylett Mechanical (wayneboylett.com. au), where he picked up on the two (!) busted front springs. No wonder we were bouncing. Another rushed call, this time to ARB Cairns, for a couple of OME springs and we were soon on our way.

The Cape York trip was pretty uneventful for the Patrol; although, a few other vehicles in our group had issues which kept us on our toes and working into the night to keep them going, but that is another story. Suffice to say, the Patrol is now back at Outback 4WD (outback4wd.com.au) in Bayswater, getting a good going over and a major revamp.