Oka owners group newsletter
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What a fantastic weekend and I am sure everybody who attended enjoyed it. I have lost count of the amount of “thankyous” I received from everybody for organising the trip. Jurgen described the weekend as “I can’t believe it, ACE mate ACE, thanks so much”. I think Jurgen described the weekend spot on! A big thank you to everybody who came along, and to Greg, Paul & Ian for leading the troops and showing us the way. We didn’t manage to get lost. John Smithard rang me the following day at work to also thank and tell me they had a wonderful time during the weekend and after leaving Mt Stirling. They headed across to Sheepyard Flat then cross-country to Jamieson, Woodspoint, Aberfeldy and home. We will have to organise another similar trip sometime in the near future as it was absolutely sensational. REPORT on the “SYDNEY REGION” - GET TOGETHER Sunday 8.02.2004. Written by Michael Hession (Ph 02.9679.1463) Held at the home of Michael and Virginia Hession, NELSON NSW Owners in attendance ! Alan and Noreen Brakespear – Multi Cab ! Wayne and Denise Chadwick - Motorhome ! Jim and Julie Curtin – Dual Cab Camper ! Bob and Sue Etherington – Station wagon ! Bob, Kathy and Ian Hancock – Multi Cab Camper ! John and Maree Hendriks- Motorhome ! Michael and Virginia Hession – Multi Cab Camper ! Owen and Sue Jones - Dual Cab Motorhome ! Warwick and Beryl Oliver – Bus Motorhome ! Lloyd and Marj Parsons – Single Cab, Slide-on-Camper ! Ron and Lyn Quigley – Dual Cab, Slide-on-Camper ! Vidas and Rita Ridikas – Single Cab Motorhome ! Gary Ross and Terry Cox – Bus Motorhome ! Tony and Lisa Wallace – Single Cab Tipper come Camper ! Markus and Patrica Wermelinger – Motorhome. Apologies – Arthur and Janice Hosking, Jack and Viv Frost, John and Laura Szkoruda. This was the third time we had held a Sydney get together. It was a perfect “summer’s” afternoon, even if a little hot. It was great to have 15 OKA’s all in the one place at the one time. As each vehicle arrived everyone 4 introduced themselves to each other and were soon into “OKA Conversation”. All vehicles were put on display with pop-tops up, tents erected, chairs out, chat, “Show me yours”, “How does it work”, “where have you been”, How do you find...”, etc. The cameras were out recording the activities and vehicles. Everyone was very enthusiastic. Over a sumptuous afternoon tea, supplied by everyone, we held a small meeting. A few of the points discussed: -The website. Interesting to see that this idea was floated at this same time last year and is now a reality thanks to John Hendriks. John answered a number of questions about the site. -I mentioned that I had obtained Insurance at substantial savings through the “Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia”. Contact details: www.cmca.com.au or Phone 02.4978.8788. The club has a number of benefits in addition to the insurance that may interest you. - Bob Etherington mentioned that he had put together List of Some Oka Parts and General Information. He had copies that were handed out. You will find this elsewhere in this newsletter. Bob is to be congratulated for taking the time to do this, as the information contained within is what I believe most members are looking for. I would like it to be the basis to which other members can add their knowledge and experience. - Lloyd bought up the idea of a National Rally. This was discussed and as Rowena Paterson had already expressed the idea of a trip to Innaminka in July, it was decided to try and make this a “National”. It was felt that as we are a National Group we need at least an annual rally to give everyone, who wants to, a chance to get together and meet each other. See elsewhere for details. - TRIPS. A general discussion on trips was held with one day, weekend and extended trips all being popular. It was decided to try and run 3/4 trips this year. If you have any ideas or would like to run a trip PLEASE Let Me Know. The trips can be held anywhere and we would like to see all members being able to get together some time not just NSW and VIC, as has happened so far. - The idea of another weekend at “Coonamble” in October was floated but no conclusion was reached The one thing that impressed me was how enthusiastic everyone was and the willingness to share their experiences and knowledge. It was a great afternoon, evidenced by the fact that the last to leave left a little after 8pm.. Thank you to everyone for coming and making the afternoon so enjoyable. Michael Hession ********************************************************************* TRIPS
At our Sydney Get Together everyone seem to be enthusiastic about trips - one day, weekends and longer. I am mindful that we are a National Group, and so we should try to include as many members as possible. Thus, the reason for having a National Rally, which hopefully, we will be able to hold annually in different parts of Australia. This will allow everyone the opportunity to come along and to meet other members and share ideas and information. You will read elsewhere about Innaminka, put the date in your diary and plan to be there. OTHER TRIPS. If trips are going to happen someone has to organise them. Because we have members in every State and Territory we need people who would like to lead a trip to put their hand up. This need not be too daunting or complicated or too formal. My idea with the Group is that if you are organising a trip for yourself somewhere and you would like some company, PUBLICISE IT in the Newsletter. You are running the trip, you set itinerary, dates, if there is a limit on vehicles numbers, etc. your “guests” tag along. It doesn’t have to be exclusively OKA’s if it is your trip you may care to invite other friends along in other vehicles. IF YOU HAVE A TRIP YOU WANT TO RUN PLEASE CONTACT MARJ AND LLOYD (02.6822.8323) AND LET THEM KNOW To get the Ball Rolling - SUGGESTED CALENDER for 2004 APRIL 9th – 12th Easter Weekend. This could be extended to the 18th. Does anyone have a favourite place? OR, A place you have never been but would like to go? 5 ***APRIL 24th -26th, Anzac Weekend. “BENDETHRA” Near Moruya on the south coast of NSW. Deua National Park - No Pets/Firearms. Great camping, caves for the fit, relaxing beside the river. Contact Michael Hession 9679.1463. MAY 22nd – 23rd Capertee, Sofala, Hill End. ***JULY – “National Rally” at Innaminka, see elsewhere. As details are finalised there will be various rallying trips before and after. We will make a two week trip out of it AUGUST 21st -22nd – “Mt Coricudgy” near Rylstone. OCTOBER Long Weekend 1st to 10th - Coonamble. We have a had a great time the last two years and have taken a week to extend the trip. OR Do you want to Follow the Darling River? CHRISTMAS 2004 Victorian High Country 27th December to 9th January. This year was great. We could make it a longer trip next year. Mt Stirling, Howitt Plains, Wonnangatta Station, Tom Groggin, The Pinnacles, Eaglevale The Blue Rag Trail (“the most scenic 4wd track in Australia”), etc,etc. There are many great areas to see. The two trips marked *** are definitely on. The other trips and any other suggested trips will happen if you contact me. PLEASE CONTACT. with your ideas/trips and if you would like to come on any of the above trips, Michael Hession 02.9679.1463(Hm), 02.9809.5754(Bus) ********************************************************************* OKA OWNER’S GROUP WEBSITE: Q: How do I become a member of the OKA Owners Group? A: 1. Visit the OKA website (http://oka.carsbyweb.com.au). All changes from now on will be on the new website and the old one will be still active until month end. 2. Go to the Login box (top right-hand corner) and click on register 3.Enter: a. A username that you like (Please use whole name only, NO spaces or & etc) b. The OKA Owners Group passcode. If you don't know this code, please contact oka@carsbyweb.com.au (This is not a password) c. A password word that you like (I try to get people to use the last 4 digits of the phone number) d. Verify the correct password e. Anemailaddresstosendyourregistrationformto f. Then click on register g. Anemailwillbesenttovalidateyourregistration h. Whenyoureceiveareply,clickonthelinkintheemailonceandyouwillbe automatically logged into the Website. i. When you wish to log on next time, you must use your username and password that you selected on registration. j. If you forgot your password, simply go to the Login Box and click on I forgot my password and an email will be sent immediately telling you the password. k. MakesurethatthesecurityinyourbrowserissettoMedium/High,oryouwill not be able to log in. For those members that do not know how to do this, I can register them, using my master password and set the homepage up for them, members simply send me an email requesting to be part of the portal and I will do it as soon as possible. 6 The information I will be looking for in their individual homepages, is a picture of their OKA, full details of what they have done to the unit and if possible stories of adventures and mishaps, so that we can learn from each other. Simply email me this information and I will place it in their homepages. I am also asking for ideas and I will be setting up a wishlist. This list is simply a comment section on the bottom in which anyone can comment or place any concerns. This comment idea is already in each and every homepage and to see what one OKA member has done visit Terry & Debbie Morris and The Trip North...you scroll down to the bottom of the page and on the right you will see 4 comments in red. Click on this and it opens up to all messages with the last one being blank for your comments or ideas. One can even vote 1 to 5 on the idea. This comments section is very powerful and I hope will be used by all members that have a homepage, so we can actually communicate with each and share our ideas. I will also do a similar thing for our For Sale section...use the comment box in this section and place items for sale. TYRE PRESSURES? What pressures are you running? Is one of the most common questions asked when OKA owners get together. Back in April 2001, I contacted Michelin Australia about the correct pressures for the new 255/100 R 16 XZL TL. This tyre is the current replacement for the 9.00 R 16 XZL TL, which is no longer manufactured. I was faxed the following information: Load per axle – Kg. ROAD- pressures kPa. TRACK (65kph) – pressures kPa. SAND (20kph) – pressures kPa. 2000
160 (23psi) 80 (12psi) 2200 260 (38psi) 180 (26psi) 100 (15psi) 2400 300 (44psi) 2800 360 (52psi) 230 (34psi) 140 (20psi) 3000 390 (57psi) 250 (36psi) 150 (22psi) 3400 450 (65psi) 290 (42psi) 170 (25psi) ROAD: means that the vehicle travels on good road surfaces and is therefore able to reach its maximum speed. TRACK: means that the vehicle travels on poorly-surfaced or unmade tracks or trails, or on sand, at a maximum speed of 65kph. SAND: means that the vehicle travels in short stages over difficult terrain. To reduce risk of tyre damage to the tyre, speed must be restricted to 20kph. Other points of interest in relation to these tyres – - They have a load/speed rating of 126K, which designates a maximum load of 1700kg per tyre (3400 kg per axle) and maximum speed of 110kph. - They have a static laden radius of 426mm and a rolling circumference of 2798mm. Thus the tyre will rotate 357.4 times per kilometre. - In comparison to the old 900R16 it had static laden radius of 433mm, thus the new 255/100 R 16 tyre is 7mm smaller, thus reducing your under axle clearance by this amount. By way of interest my vehicle is a Multicab, which unloaded weighs 2.35 tonne on the front axle and 1.75 tonne on the rear. Which from the above information means I should have 44psi in the front tyres and 36psi in the rear. When loaded for camping, with food, water, tent, etc., plus two passengers, we weigh 2.48 tonne and 2.39 tonne. I currently run 46psi (cold) front and 44psi rear, when loaded. I had the vehicle weighed at a public weighbridge, which weighed both axles individually. In relation to tyre pressures, all of the above pressures are for cold tyres. I have noticed that the tyre pressure can vary by up to 10 psi when hot. P.B. Be aware as printed by OKA the GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) for the front axle is 2.4 tonne and 3.1 tonne for the rear axle. Email From Walter & Elly Hes: G'day OKA Fraternity, 7 We are Walter and Elly Hes, belonging to the OKA family for about the last half a year while travelling through Northern NSW and Queensland and what a great family to belong to. We have received the warmest welcomes and hospitality one can wish and the best OKA-technical help possible. We have been told that other Oka owners are really upset when you pass closeby (they don't look at a couple of hundred km) and you do not come by and say hello. Having experienced this this close knit family band I have an idea. What if four or five OKA's got together and found substantial sponsorships to put our vehicles in containers, ship them over to say Singapore and drive via several countries through China over the Himalyas, Nepal, India and all the way to Europe?????? Someone said we can always drive back via Africa? It would of course need meticulous preparation. It would put the Australian OKA on the map would it not? I think Marg and Lloyd would not mind to publish any thought about this into our newsletter (later on under Foreign Correspondent). I am convinced there is a lot of knowledge and guts under the OKA owners, so lets start to talk about it! Greetings Walter Email from John & Maree Hendriks: Hi Folks... First....seasons greetings from John & Maree Hendriks and thank you for the great Newsletters....keep up the good work. It is interesting to read how others got started. As!we are!members of this great OKA club...we would like to share our experience, on how we became OKA lovers... Earlier this year, Maree and I suffered a huge loss with the sudden death of our eldest daughter, so we both decided to start!a new life!and enjoy this great country of ours. As I am working as a contract Finance Business Manager in a small used car dealership in Penrith, our mechanic introduced me to his Toyota motor home that he was selling. He and his wife are John & Laura, who are also members of this club, and both work at this same dealership. John was always talking about an OKA, as his Toyota bus was very restricted!on some of the trips he and Laura did last year, hence the sale of his Toyota coaster motor home. He did such a great job on me that I became very keen to get an OKA also, so when John and Laura decided not to buy the OKA motor home in Perth, I decided to try and negotiate a price that would be in my budget. On the 31/07/03 I flew to Perth and was picked up at the airport!by the dealer selling the OKA, and when I first saw it, instictively knew I had to have it...so I bought it. We organised to have it freighted back to Sydney on a truck and for $1500.00 it was worth it. The unit arrived 10 days later, as I had to wait for a truck to become available. I picked it up just outside Penrith and we used a small roadside dirt heap to unload it. I was very nervous driving it and it was very dirty coming across from Perth, so the first thing was a good clean. Next was getting it home, so as I live in the Blue Mountains had to drive it home the back way, as in NSW one needs to have a light rigid licence to drive this vehicle, which I didn't have at the time. When I got it home, Maree was suitably impressed and wanted to know when we could go for a trip. I explained to her that first things first, I must get the proper licence and also bring the machine up to speed so to speak. I mean I had to blue slip it and give it a NSW registration and of course it had to be mechanically sound. As I was a diesel mechanic for an earth moving company in the middle seventies, I had a fair working knowledge of machines. After the blue slip inspection, I had a few major items to repair, mainly uni joints both drive shafts and some minor oil leaks. I also discovered that most of the instruments panel switches didn't work properly, so they were replaced. The air conditioner condensor unit in the dashboard was the next item to be replaced, for I discovered that the OKA had a broken screen in last few years and bits of glass fell in the dash, causing the glass to rupture the condensor unit. Upon checking with OKA and giving them my vin number, I was informed that my OKA was a table top truck for Hammersley mines in WA and only in 1998 the unit was sold to a buyer that decided to have Osborne Motor bodies build the motor home on the back. This conversion was done very well and is in great condition, exactly what we were after. The pop-up roof is made of fiberglass and needed looking at, as when I replaced some interior lights, discovered minor leaks. It was leaking under the Solar 8 panels and running into the timber mounting brackets of the Pop-Up. I repaired this using fibreglass and then used the brilliant!"Therma Shield" from Australian Paints. I gave it 6 coats and sealed it with 2 more coats of sealer. It makes the motor home heaps cooler and is 10 years guaranteed...well worth it. My next project was to replace all rubber seals and all exterior body bolts in!marine stainless, as the gal bolts were rusted and looked ugly. It didn't stop there as my stainless water tank had a leak on the seems, so this was stripped back to bare metal and then encased in reinforced fibreglass...it will not leak anymore and is safe to store drinking water in. As you can see, I have been busy.! Over the next few months, I had gone over much of the truck and we decided to give the OKA a small test run on the 24/11/03, heading south along the coast and spend 10 days just relaxing. The day we departed it was pouring with rain and as we headed south, wondered if it was going to ease at all. We arrived a Bendalong point ( a place we used to go to 20 years ago) and decided it was not the same place anymore, so moved on towards Manyana and turned of towards Currawong Point. We spotted a caravan park across the lake (Lake Conjola) and decided to try and get there before nightfall and rest. Well it rained cats and dogs....we eventually got to the park and found that a powered site was $23 @ night, along with a key for hot showers and use of the toilet. It continued to pour all night, but we came prepared...my trustie laptop plays DVD movies so our first night was a relaxing movie night. Interesting the OKA had no leaks...as my preparations paid off. The next day was sort of over cast, but when we got up! there were wallabies and birds everywhere and the water looked so inviting. We were so taken by the place that we decide to stay another 5 days with an option to stay longer and guess what...we stayed the whole 10 days there. I fished and collected fresh oysters every day at low tide and had a feast every day...we met some lovely friendly caravanners and just got on so well. We have decided to come back again towards the end of Feb 2004 and hope to catch some more sunshine along with fish, as I will be taking a tinnie and push bike next time. You can visit a picture story on my website http:// www.carsbyweb.com.au/Oka/Nov2003.htm When you click on this link, you will be informed to download! a reader, so please be patient. Once this reader has been added, it will read all future books I can send you. On the 4th December we decided to go back home as we had to resume work....on the way back (approx 4 hours) we experienced problems. This engine was stalling all the time under laod going up hills, so when we came to Mount Ousley, had select 1st gear and crawled up. Driving on flat open roads, the Oka performed great. When I finally got home..I decided to investigate the problem and discovered hidden 2 small inline fuel filters, which upon removal were ful of rubbish and it made sense to me then, that under laod the unit was starving for fuel. I replaced these and the main fuel filter again, as well as draining the 2 tanks and then discovered a new OKA...heaps of power and ticking over like a clock. Presently, just received my external sunvisor from OKA in WA and will be installing this after the fitting of a new front screen early in the new year, as it has heaps of wiper scratches in it as well as the rubber seal is badly perished and had to patched up with window sealer. Well as you can see, we are being taken over of the OKA bug and our dream is slowly becoming a reality. We will be attending Michael Hession's meeting in Feb 2004 at his home in Nelson...(still need to tell him) and hope to finally meet some of you. I also would like to find out more about a cable gear change, as my gear change when the truck is cold, is sheer hell and hard to find 2nd gear. I would like to find out how difficult it is to make this conversion and what the cost can be expected to be. I also would like to fix the suspension to an air bag system and believe someone in WA has done it and is very happy with it. Again I would like to get some idea on costs and what is involved and wether it can be done here in Sydney. Thank you for reading our story.... John & Maree Hendriks CHANGING A WHEEL: 9 Marj Parsons Have you ever had the Oka fall off the jack when changing a wheel? It happened to us, the first time we changed a wheel on the road. The road was level but pebbly, the park brake was on, the truck in gear, and the truck was LOADED! Fortunately no damage was done, but we include this piece from OKA’s Service Manual, in case you missed it. 1. Park the vehicle on level solid ground and apply the park brake. 2. Apply the handbrake. 3. Engage the first gear in the gear box. 4. Engage low speed 4 W.D. gear box. 5. Remove the jack and the wheel nut wrench from their stowage location. 6. Remove the spare wheel from it’s stowage location (at the rear of the vehicle under the chassis) 7. Using the wheel nut wrench, slacken the nuts on the wheel to be removed, before jacking up the vehicle. 8. Chock the wheels of the vehicle. 9. Position the jack at the correct jack points as shown, and jack up the vehicle, until the wheel to be removed is clear of the ground. WARNINGS: a) As the handbrake acts on the transmission not the rear wheels it may not hold the vehicle when it is being jacked. Therefore the wheels must be chocked at all times during the jacking procedures. b) Do not allow any person to remain in the vehicle when it is being jacked. c) DonotgounderthevehiclewhenitisonlysupportedbythejackAlwaysuse stands or other suitable supports to provide adequate safety. CLUTCH Michael Hession, Feb 2004. While we were away in Victoria, just after Christmas, we had to have our clutch replaced. The reason being, the Thrust Bearing failed and damaged the fingers of the clutch pressure plate. The bearing failed due to incorrect free- play adjustment. The clutch face was in good repair, but the pressure plate was unserviceable due to the damaged fingers. Two points that came out of this exercise were: 1.Clutch Type and 2.Thrust Bearing Free-Play Adjustment. 1.Clutch Type Yüklə 2,02 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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