Some 4x4 travel qs from a newbie
 

I feel like a complete *newbie* for asking this one, but I have to start somewhere so here goes. I hope to do some RTW-ish travels by 4x4, but my skills as a mechanic are close to zero (and that's probably generous). But I am very keen to start learning. Fortunately my uncle is a mechanic but he's not the most approachable fella (!) and it would be good if I could come to him with some idea of what I want to know. :helpsmilie:

What are the essential maintenance and repair jobs I will need to be able to do in order to keep my vehicle on the road after thousands of miles; what tools/kit/spares are really handy to have on board; what is a cheap, economical, RELIABLE 4x4? :confused1:

Thank you so much for helping someone out who clearly doesn't have a clue!

Toyota power
 

Hi Buddy

Well this is my story 13 months 37000 kms katmandu and back a few punctures and no real breakdowns.

I think you need to learn how to prevent problems rather than how to cure them because you cant carry enough spare parts and tools with you, ie headgasket goes have you ggot the tools and knowledge...maybe not. A rear differential crown wheel turns for the last time what do you do then. So my approach was... learn how to check fluid levels everyday as this will point towards problems arrissing, ie if your water levels are low or oil levels it gives you an idea before the expensive brek down.

I did the trip in a 1994 Toyota 3ltr tdi Surf bought on the internet from Japan it cost 3800 pounds i gave it a good service before i left and it was fantastic...toyotas are found everywhere in the world, when i got home i could have sold the truck for 2000 pounds so that make cheap motoring.

If i can help anymore. tntgoeast@hotmail.com or goggle tntgoeast and read our blog. Later tim

Another thing
 

That's right, prevention is the main thing. Make sure you have a routine of doing certain checks every day without fail and sticking to the right service schedule.
Learn how to go through the car and check everything for being tight with a toffee hammer rather than having to use every size of spanner each time.
Look and look again around the car so you can tell if something is different to how it was before, like a bracket that has moved. When you see a bit that has been cleaned off, is it because something is loose, moved about and cleaned the dirt off?

Diagnostics are important, often more so than mechanical ability. If something is/sounds/looks/feels wrong, if you diagnose it right you might spend five minutes unblocking the breather hole in the fuel cap rather than five days re-building the engine when it is running rough or cuts out.

Get to know what it all does and what it can't do.
Be nice - if the car can cruise along at 100km/hr, only cruise at 80km/hr. If it can carry 600kg, only put 400kg in it.
And so on.

Fantastic answers, thank you so much :thumbup1:.

I was too complete newbie before my first trip. What I did was I aquired workshop manual for my car and also Haynes manual. Then I did all service points for my car before the trip, plus I also replaced all bushes, belts and rubber hoses with new ones, also put on new shocks etc. With this work I learned a lot about general mainenance and how stuff basically works.

Also a book that I can recommend is Auto Fundamentals (ISBN 1590703251). That is a big format automotive "bible" with a lot of illustrations about how (and why) different systems in a modern car work. The book is quite expensive but well worth it, IMO.

Another new starter
 

Hi There,

18 months ago I entered into this strange world also. At that point I had only driven an automatic corsa (aged 35!) and not even successfully put up some shelves, let alone looked under a bonnet. I wouldn't say I was an expert now, but I am more confident and can figure out what may be wrong with our landie.

As the guys have said concentrating on services is a good thing. Perhaps get your uncle to go through the haynes manual 6k, 12k services and more if he has time. We also went on a mechanics course, which was cheap and got us started. But it wasn't great, and the teachers seemed more interested in chatting up the girls than spending any time with people who wanted to learn. But it did get us started with oil changes and brakes.

We don't leave for another 18 months on our main trip, so we will have had 3 years lead in time, which is more than most people. we have already had shake down trips to Ireland and Portugal and probably one more at some point. These are a great help. So my advise is to buy the vehicle and start using it.

The debate about which vehicle is an endless one and comes down to toyota vs Land rover. We went for a defender and haven't regretted it. Things have gone wrong and will go wrong, but this will be part of the adventure. Maybe :)

Check out our website if you want, as we have been documenting this since just after we decided to go, before we had bought the landy. Might make interesting reading, as the blog goes right back to almost day one.

Good luck, and feel free to email if you wish

Wow I'm so glad I made this enquiry. These messages have been really encouraging and motivational - you've helped me visualise achieving my goal. I now have a much better picture of the steps I need to take. Money is the major hurdle for me right now. But with plenty of time needed to save, I will also have time to prepare, research and gain the necessary skills.

I'll spend some time checking your sites and I'll no doubt be in touch with some of you with further queries.

I can't thank you enough! :thumbup1: I'm delighted I found this site!

Math

Its sounds like you have started the right way already mate. Having your uncle around will be a big help.

But use a filter on him and everybody else who offers you advice.

What that means is, filter all advice given, who is it from, how much do you know about them, have they traveled in the desert, jungle or poorer countries in a vehicle before, are they selling you anything etc etc

Over time it will become more obvious what advice from whom seems to suit your travel ideas.

Many people buy a vehicle, give it a big service and drive off. If your on a 3 month 10,000km trip mostly on tarmac then this isn't a bad approach if it is something like a good condition Toyota.

If however you have plans to cross the Sahara, battle your way through the jungles of Central Africa and all of the rest for months on end, then it is well worth investing in the mechanical side of your vehicle.

In a nutshell, (and I hope you are cynically filtering already!!) try to get a grasp on what you want to do and how by reading others websites, then...

1. Buy a Toyota, they are best for non mechanical people (like me!)
2. Buy the Haynes manual of your vehicle and read it until you remember all of the parts and things even if you don't understand them. Try to follow the logic of it through. Fuel goes in here, sits in here, gets sucked along these by that pump, but goes through the filter etc etc
3. Buy Sahara Overland by Chris Scott and read about vehicle preparation (filtering: it's advice just for the Sahara...)
4. Also buy Chris's Desert Driving DVD as it will start to give you an appreciation of other important things you need to know such as driving techniques and what to do when your in the shit ;-)
5. Find a mechanical person who appreciates travel in a vehicle and bounce ideas off them rather than just relying on your uncle (you aren't paying him and he hasn't crossed Africa in a vehicle ;-)
6. Do a mechanical course at your local community college or something
7. Search and post here
8. Watch everything you can on people doing trips. The Africa Overland Network will provide good motivation and loads of info to filter
9. Do an offroad course and get used to making mistakes where people can help you.
10. Buy this dvd to fill in some of the blanks re Carnets and general travel advice:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/sto...wtortw-dvd.php

11, Overhaul your vehicle by thinking from the front tyres in along the axle and back towards fuel tank.
- Research and buy 6 high quality tyres. You need strong sidewalls.
- Tubed or tubeless? You need good quality tubes - michelin or the like.
- Are the rims you have the best ones for the route intended? Strong?
- Then strip down the end of the axles, do the wheel bearings and seals and generally poke around in there and replace things with genuine parts.
- After working along the axle (do the rear obviously) start on the engine.
- Replace the alternator, starter motor, water pump, fuel lift pump etc and take the old ones as spares
- Replace all of the hoses, check old ones, maybe take as spares, else get new ones.
- Radiator? Perfect condition?
- Anything leaking? Fix it!
- Milage of the gearbox?
- When was the timing belt changed? Documented evidence of this?
- The clutch? Have genuine parts been used? etc etc
- Wiring all good?
- Batteries? Best to start with new ones
- Replace bushes? Take spares for sure
- Upgrade the suspension, but lift kits not best way - look into airbags etc etc

and so forth. Then worry about the camping side of things and where you are going to plug your iplonker into ;-)

I hope that helps a little. I started 7 years ago knowing nothing, especially mechanical, and still know nothing, I'm just more experienced at it now.
:mchappy: :scooter: :D :clap:

What a bunch of crap Darrinn! Hehe, no, seriously thanks for such an informative post:thumbup1: (I really like this smiley). You are absolutely right about filtering advice: I like to think my analytical skills from studying history come into play here :).

I actually have no real desire to go off-road, but I hope to travel through the Middle East and Central Asia and beyond and recognise that some of these roads will only be roads in a looser sense of the term. My vehicle would be very much a means and not an end itself: although for some time I've wanted to understand more about cars and their mechanics simply because its an unknown for me and a useful skill. I wouldn't be averse to taking a car as oppose to a 4x4 if I felt it suited my purposes and pocket better. That's something I need to look into further and perhaps you have some thoughts on that.

In fact if I'm utterly honesty I'm not dead set on traveling by car/4x4. The main reason being the extra costs will set back my start date by some time (not necessarily a bad thing because it means more time for planning, research and prep). I also wonder whether traveling by your own vehicle (and sleeping in it; although that is of course not compulsory, but would be a useful not to mention convenient money saver) would somehow detach you from the places and the people you're there to see. I love the idea of being the complete master of your itinerary though: going where you want, when you want (to an extent at least). But there's no need to decide yet and knowledge is my friend here.


Thanks a bunch, I'm sure I'll have reason to refer to your post again in the future.

"no real desire to go off-road" & "taking a car as oppose to a 4x4"

I always go around rather than through the big puddle, but your options are usually drastically cut down if you need to stick to tarmac in many of the worlds interesting back waters. You could drive to Ghana pretty much all the way on tarmac, and it would be a worthwhile trip, but I can assure you (filter alert!) that it's much more of a trip when you can do pistes like Kiffa to Kayes and Kayes to Kita (in Mali).

If you buy a car, or van, get a brand like Mercedes that is everywhere etc

As you say, the costs are huge before you go, but if you go for a year and remain quite self sufficient then I think it will work out about the same if you travel in cheap places, or even cheaper with a vehicle when accommodation runs to $20-40US a night as in Central Asia. Depends on your style I guess - are you a 97 year old or 21 and young, dumb and....?

Your in charge of your sleeping and eating environments which keeps you healthier and provides some personal space which can recharge your batteries. You will meet and see much more of the country with your own vehicle, but you can also drive around with aircon on and just look at the pretty scenery ignoring the locals as much as possible if you want too as well ;-)

On the downside you must look after your vehicle as main priority. But nobody I know has gone from traveling in vehicle to wanting to go back to backpacking.

What about a motorbike?
:scooter: :mchappy: :scooter:

Good punchline
 

[quote=roamingyak.org;157030
What about a motorbike?
:scooter: :mchappy: :scooter:[/quote]

Darrin,

Excellent point and very well made!!

(you have nearly convinced me to get a 4x4, but I need to be a bit older!)

23 and willing to do things ultra budget: if I didn't I would have to forget it altogether! So yes young, dumb and naive :rofl:!

You make some good points.

Budgeting is a difficult one: its hard to assess how much more it would cost to travel by vehicle (if indeed it would cost less). Re. traveling by vehicle, the most difficult thing to work out is how much one is likely to spend on fuel... But I do hope to have a figure in my head sooner rather than later, so that I have a rough idea of how long it will be until I can set off.

Motorbike: I've considered it briefly. After all I intend to travel alone. Perhaps you can enlighten me on this one: Is that likely to work out cheaper? Wouldn't it limit your off road capabilities even more than a car? Obviously you couldn't sleep in it, but I presume its easier to carry a tent on a bike than on your back.

Apart from razzing round a field on a motocross or something the idea of traveling on two wheels has never really appealed (mm, I do like cycling though, that's hypocritical :P), especially if it started raining >.<.

Hi Mathew, I live just over the hill in cowgill, I'm a bit busy for the next week or so but after that you're welcome to come over and talk vehicles, preparation and travel if you fancy. I've done a few saharan trips in a merc G wagen so you are welcome to try out your filtering skills on me.
Cheers
Chris

off the shelfs info
 

Mat,

for some advise on vehicle preps, paperwork, health and budget have a look at my list of tips and tricks, based on 60.000 km experience in Africa. Maybe it can be of some use!

exploreafrica.web-log.nl: 30-Tips & Tricks (in English)

Cheers,

Noel
exploreafrica.web-log.nl

Noel, thanks for the link, but it makes me wonder how I can make the money: 10k euros in total for a car and modifications is possible however. It would take some time and effort, but its possible!

And with this eight post I will be able to PM Chris and take him up on his offer =).