Oka owners group newsletter

I also was shown at Casino the new bush camping section, which looks fantastic and I will certainly visit it in the future. The main rally attracted over 500 motor homes of all sizes and description as well as heaps of caravans. The CMCA is certainly very political and I don't want to get to much involved in that.

I hope that maybe in the future the OKA group can have a rally there. Lloyd would even be able to fly in with his Cessna 180 as small planes still land there. We had a marvelous time and will certainly meet up with some new friends we made in our future travels.

The trip back home was longer than originally planned, because of a serious accident on the freeway and we became stuck in traffic for almost an additional 2 hours. I stopped at Kempsey as I needed fuel and filled one tank with bio-diesel, which was a $1.20 @ ltr and normal diesel was $1.39 @ ltr. The OKA performed fantastic on bio-fuel and I wish I could get it here, as I would run on it all the time. engine was heaps quieter, no loss of power and no black smoke under load.....this is certainly the way to go for trucks.

We arrived home just after 8.30 pm and as we left at 8am in the morning had a long day....we retired straight away.

To sum it all up, it was a fantastic experience and would certainly recommend it to all other OKA owners. The cost for the 5 days for a powered site was $10 @ night and it also included all the other features. We didn't feel like leaving our new found friends as at evenings we would sit around, have a glass or two of wine and just talked.

Well, that’s our adventure for a while....we don't plan anything until March next year....looks I have finely found some work as well, which I will know for sure about sometime next week...it is looking positive anyway.

Regards,

John Hendriks

OKA Owners Group webmaster http://oka.carsbyweb.com.au http://www.carsbyweb.com.au Email: [e-mail] Mob: [phone]

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Speedo Sender Unit:

Walter & Elly Hes recently contacted us to find out the part number for a speedo. sender unit. We purchased one for our OKA (No.116) from Howard Instruments, 110 Northern Road, Heidelberg West 3081: Phone [phone]. The part number was 340.008 and it is described as “inductive sender”. Cost then, 139.68 including freight. Thanks to Darren Visser for organising this for us. Our unit was smashed. Lloyd Parsons

Dear Lloyd and Marj,

Sending an update on our phone and email address plus vehicle number. phone no. 02 66564810

email address [e-mail]

vehicle no. 274

Any early history on 274 would be appreciated, as we have just broken a rear axle and haven't even left the driveway yet!

Thanks for all the information and keep up the good work as it is much appreciated.

Larry and Colleen Howse

You will find previous mention in Parts & Extras on the HiClone Air sytem, well I have installed them. The time it took was less than an hour to install 2, one directly behind the air filter which has an internal size of 74mm and one after the Turbo just before the inlet manifold which has an internal size of 42mm. These vane like stainless steel spring loaded bands and simply compressed and inserted.

This system delivers the air into the combustion chamber in a swirling motion, making it more fuel effective. It also will engage the turbo earlier by about 600 rpm, hence again increasing the power curve when you want it.

1. fuel savings of up to 20%

2. power increase of up to 15%

3. hydro carbon emission reductions of up to 30%

Note for Diesel Installation:

For 10 to 20% gain place a single Hiclone at the manifold end. For even better results place

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a second Hiclone at the air filter end.

For low down grunt, a Hiclone before the turbo will cut the turbo in up to 600 rpm earlier. This is because the Hiclone gets the air spinning before it reaches the turbo.** Hiclone must sit a minimum of 150mm (6 inches) away from the turbo.

Wouldn't you want this for your OKA? Well John Riley of HiClone is easy to talk too and very helpful. My background is a diesel mechanic many years ago and always being sceptical about claims to save you money, I was glad I talked to John Riley as his discussions made sense, so now I have the units installed as well as the supermax engine booster developed by Dr Robert E Kane Ph.D of the USA.

The SUPERMAX is in fact a Magnetic Frequency Resonator, that separates and aligns the molecules of the fuel passing between the two(2) magnetic parts, it is like atomisation at an atomic level. The SUPERMAX has a strength of 11,000 GAUSS and is recommended for vehicles with a faster fuel flow, like heavy trucks and equipment, boats and performance cars.

In the combustion process there is fuel, air and ignition. The fuelmax makes the fuel side of the equation more efficient whilst the Hiclone works on the air side of the equation. There-fore both devices together can multiply the benefits gained.

P.S .Dont forget, the products are covered by unconditional guarantees. HICLONE Tech Support Hotline

1800 683 466

AXLES

I AM JUST PUTTING TOGETHER COMMENTS MEMBERS HAVE MADE ABOUT AXLES OVER THE YEARS. People are still having problems with these, and there are various thoughts on how best to fix them. If you need more information, perhaps you should contact the people who wrote these. I have heard that Paul Nott in Vic. can make you a set of axles that are stronger than the ones that Oka supply – it may be worth giving him a ring.

1.Rear Axle. As an option OKA fitted a Lockrite rear diff and this and both rear axles failed in 2000. (standard Dana axles 32 spline – rear diff and short axle a common problem with tour operators). I now have 35 spline axles and an ARB difflock (approx 40% stronger). This modification by Sydney Competition Warehouse who specialise in axles and diffs for drag racing, etc. (Jack & Viv Frost. Aug 2002)

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2. HAVE YOU BROKEN ANY AXLES LATELY?

Has this ever happened to you or someone you know? I have put together this survey in order to get a better understanding of Why, When, and How this unwelcomed expense occurs and maybe arrive at some common event [or some totally non relevant rubbish]. The following questions refer to the Rear axle only but if anyone has broken a front please state if front or rear.

e.g. my first one [left hand] occurred on a service station driveway Terrain travelled prior to breakage - I had just travelled the Anne Beadell H/way

Gordon Rollinson Ph. 07 49511631 44 Petrie Street MACKAY QLD 4740 E-mail [e-mail]

3. Axles

Hello, Marj & Lloyd

John noted the axle story down last night. Now it's my turn to attempt to email it to you.

When we purchased the OKA, oil was leaking from the front axle.

We had been told that a major wheel alignment had been done. The seller showed how the corners of the tyres were badly worn due to severe negative camber. We took the vehicle to the large truck wheel alignment centre in a Brisbane Industrial area to find out what had been done. They reported that

they had just straightened the front axle until the camber was neutral. The fact that they had no machinery to determine that the drive shafts were still in the middle of the axle tubes was a cause for concern, as well as a hint as to why the oil seals couldn't work any more.

Being mindful that this would have to be corrected eventually, John took every opportunity to get suggestions & advice about the best way to correct this unfortunate situation. In the course of time, he found out that the weakness is not in the axle tubes, but the forged or cast yokes at the ends.

He was not feeling good now, realizing that the original fault was still there & now the axle housing had been bent also! To add to our woes, our Cairns mechanic informed us that he could source the only available axle – a brand new complete one from a mining company, for $16,000!

At this point John contacted OKA. Their first suggestion was to fit 2 of the axles made for the new model, for $20,000. We would gain another 500k GVM - whoopie! But then they said "plus new wheels"! The stud pattern is different. We'd just had 3 wheels rerolled! Too much! Next day they rang with a far more attractive offer. They had located a local (Perth) engineer who had devised a procedure to overcome this apparently not uncommon problem. The axle was duly stripped of its working parts to be shipped off to OKA.

Six weeks later we got the message that it was back in Cairns. We headed down there with great anticipation to see WHAT HAD THEY DONE TO IT? We knew that sometimes the axle tubes must be replaced, so we were relieved (& more than $1000 better off) that they were able to just straighten the whole thing. The angles & dimensions of the end yokes were "blueprinted"(drawings provided by OKA) then reinforced with 4 roughly 2" triangular webs of 3/8" or 1/2" plate welded inside the upper & lower arms of the king pin yoke. That is, 4 reinforcing webs on each end. It looks really well done. We're looking forward to having the truck back soon.

Another bit of info that came John's way recently related to the breaking of rear axles. Apparently the limited slip diff is too limited! Some people have had an axle snap when engaged in a tight manoeuvre on a non-slip surface (ie a roundabout & a servo driveway). The addition of "Limslip" from Penrite to the rear diff oil will overcome this risk.

John Williams & Louisa Crossley

4. REAR AXLES

Anthony Natoli Enterprises

Hoxton Park

9607 2092

Left & right hand standard 32 spline rear axles in stock for OKAs!!! Will make oversize axles 35 spline to suit OKAs with modified rear diffs. Makes them on the premises! Good bloke. Axles must be replaced in pairs after a breakage! (from Bob Etherington’s “Availability of Parts)

5.Re the note re weight/rims, etc.

My OKA is rated 6000 GVM.

It has 35 spline front stub axles and dual shocks, plus extra spring leaves.

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And after we broke both back axles we have 35 spline rear axles with ARB diff lock fitted by Sydney Competition Warehouse.

I think that John should address the basic problem of increasing his GVM - sure reducing weight where possible is desirable but I don't think it’s the complete answer.

Recommended place for a breakdown.

On Sunday the 15^th of May we (Walter & Elly Hes) were on our way from Horsham to Mildura on the Sunraysia Higway. Long boring stretches with in between small towns, dead as a dodo. I had to shift back to 80km/hr because of three houses and a grain silo, when I realised that I couldn’t. No clutch!!

The clutch-arm had broken off, as I discovered after stopping in front of one of the three houses. People came out to find out what an OKA was doing in front of their yard. When I told them they said: Oh the local mechanic is just here, I’ll call him!

What a blessing! What are the odds, I wonder, of having a break-down on a lonely country highway right in front of the man that will fix it for you. And he did, very thoroughly. Jeff J. Mott (or J.J. for short) cheerily spent about three hours welding and strengthening the connections and then (as it was dark now) invited us to stay the night in his backyard and join him for a glass of wine. This became a shared dinner and a very pleasant evening.

In short J.J. is a mechanic we want to recommend, very capable and a great person as well. We have tried to talk him into joining the ‘grey brigade’ (he’s our age) and he seemed very keen, so maybe he won’t be there anymore, but try anyway when you’re in that area with a mechanical problem. Even without a

problem, he’d be happy to have a chat. His address is: Sunraysia Highway

Turriff

Phone: [phone] Mobile: [phone].

J.J. Mott

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Engineering Design

055-00-01 : Truckgas The Diesel Gas Substitution System

2.2. Description

The Australian made Truckgas Diesel Gas Substitution System is a self cleaning, diesel fuel substitution system which incorporates a complex computer linked to, and interpreting the information provided by, the on board truck engine management computer and related systems. The unit has been designed to not only reduce the cost of running heavy transport but also of ensuring the opportunity to use an environmentally friendly source of alternative fuel. The introduction and use of such a unit will assist in the reduction of green house gases and the preservation of the environment along with much cheaper transport for the Australian public.

2.3. Principal function(s)

The main function of the system is to convert a diesel engine to operate as a dual fuel engine burning simultaneously, and in carefully managed proportionate amounts, diesel and propane gas.

The LPG is stored on the vehicle at pressure in an approved LPG cylinder fitted with fill gauge, excess flow value, automatic fill limiter and fill valve.

Liquefied gas at pressure is drawn from the cylinder through a service line to the first stage of the system. This is the LPG converter, the function of which is to convert the high pressure liquid propane to a low pressure useable gas. The gas then passes to the second stage of the system which is the Mass Flow Value. The Mass Flow Valve controls gas delivery to the engine. Control of gas flow is essential to prevent over fuelling with the resultant damage to the engine.

The Mass Flow valve is in turn controlled by the i-Sense Electronic Fuel Management System.

The Truckgas Engine Management System is the brain of the programme. The unit interacts

with the on board engine management system and takes readings from that unit such as

Tachometer, Oil Pressure and Temperature Sensing. It also gathers data on load sensing

(generator output) and load/throttle position sensing when the vehicle is operated in on road

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conditions. If the engine is not operating within a set of pre programmed parameters the Electronic Fuel Management System will operate a Master Lock Off Solenoid. This unit shuts down supply of gas to the engine until the pre programmed conditions come back into

© Copyright Standards Australia

Text from an actual letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. For those of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town west of Quilpie in the far south west of Queensland.

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are too.

Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin’ the farm – tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don’t hafta get out ta bed until 6am. Bit I like sleeping in now, cuz all you gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to stack – nothin’!! Blokes haz gotta shave though, but its not so bad, coz there’s lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing! At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there’s no kangaroo steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. We don’t get fed again until noon, and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we’ve been on a ‘route march’ – geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the back paddock!!

This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin’ – dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody possum’s bum and it don’t move and its not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target – it’s a piece of pi$s!! You don’t even load your own cartridges – they comes in little boxes and ya don’t have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when you reload!

Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy – its not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Boori and Steve and Muza all at once like we do at home after the muster. Turns out I’m not a bad boxer either and it looks like I’m the best the platoon’s got, and I’ve only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers – he’s 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pickhandles across the shoulders and as ya know I’m only 5 ft 7 and eight stone wringin’ wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.

I can’t complain about the Army – tell the boys to get in quick before word get around how bloody good it is.

Your loving daughter Jill xxxx

They breed them tough in the bush, don’t they?

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Hi Everyone,

OKA OWNERS GROUP (PUTTING PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT FIRST)

NEWSLETTER February 2006

2006 will see the Oka Owners Group move with the times. We have never had a formal committee, as the Group is widely separated and our membership contains a wide ranging kind of people – all adventurers it seems! For the purposes of holding a bank account, we will for the moment use the following format:

President – Michael Hession Secretary – Rowena Paterson Webmaster – John Hendriks Editor – Marj Parsons

You will see under this the reason for starting a bank account. The Group has grown and grown, and running the website is both time consuming and expensive, and putting out the newsletter also contains some costs. While we would like to see the Group kept as informal as possible, we need to address any problems that arise, and this is one way. We are now asking members to contribute $25.00 each year towards the costs. You will find an article below from Michael Hession explaining the details, and also a letter from John Hendriks. Many thanks must go to John for all the work he has put into setting up this website – and you can see how much it is being used.

The Group belongs to each and every one of us and can only be what we make it. So lets get together and make 2006 and the following years the best yet. Keep those tips and articles rolling in, as it is the contributions of our members that make the newsletter and the website possible.

Marj Parsons

MEMBERSHIP FEE

– The Cost of Running the Oka Owners Group

The OKA Owners’ Group was started by Lloyd and Marj Parsons back in 2002. The idea was to connect the Owners of OKA vehicles to share their knowledge and experiences with their vehicles. This was facilitated by collating member’s details for access by other members, sending out of a regular newsletter, meetings, trips, rallies and the establishment of an OKA Owers’ Group Website. It was always intended

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to be a fairly informal, low-key “group” and so initially a membership fee was not seen as something that was required.

Marj and Lloyd have always carried the cost of putting together, printing and posting of the newsletter.

For those who use the website you will know that just recently a notice was placed on the front page to the effect that “From the 31/12/2005 the website would be closed down”. This has caused a number of comments on the website and telephone calls and conversations between members.

The website was established by John Hendriks and it has and still is a labour of love, anyone who knows a little about building and maintaining a website will appreciate the many, many hours this would have entailed. John also has carried the cost, around $800.00 per annum, of running this site up until now. Due to a change in John’s circumstances, he has closed down a web based business that was subsidising some of the website costs, he would now like a contribution to the costs of running the website.

Thus it has been decided to introduce a membership fee of $25.00 per annum, due and payable on the 1^st January each year. This fee will be used strictly for the costs incurred in running the OKA Owners’ Group, if at any time there is considered to be an excess of money in the account or on the winding up of the group then this money could be donated to the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

The membership fee is not meant to exclude anyone from belonging to the Group and indeed one of the aims is to hopefully have all OKA Owners join the Group, so that we have a complete Register of all OKAs.

Rowena Paterson is to be the Membership Secretary and handle all membership enquires and payments.

We would like all members to fill out the form at the end of this newsletter and forward to Rowena or alternatively go to the Oka Owners Group Website and fill out the online form there.

Hi Marj...

Yes...my intention is to close down the website, as firstly it costs me roughly $60 @ month to keep it going and secondly the interest is only from a few members. We have almost 150 OKA owners registered, but only about 20 or so visit on a regular basis and about 6 or so distribute information on the website. I am extremely disappointed in the support and as my new job didn’t work out, I have to look at other ways to cut my costs and this is one expense I can’t justify.

I more than likely have put far too much into the website and it may now look as I want out, well this is not the case. If I had a regular income, I would be more than happy to keep it all going...believe me.

I am also closing down my other website Cars-By-Web, which is a small business I started in 1996 and it was good for 6 years, until major companies with big dollars started up and I cannot compete with them. In those early days, I was making a nice sideline income, which has since just about stopped, so I am shutting it down first. You may not know this, but I host my own server here and the reason is so that I am able to develop my own system in Linux, which most other hosting companies will not allow. Prior to this I used Web Central and it cost me just under $1000 @ year only to host Cars-By-Web, with many restrictions. So setting up my own server allowed me to

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run multiple sites, like the OKA website. Well the income stream of Cars-By-Web has stopped, so must do something. I wish it was that easy for someone to take it over.....it is quite a lot of work, believe me, as well as expense to get set up and get the equipment which must be on 24/7 all the time, along with maintenance backup.

We are also putting our large house on the market early next year and want to travel around OZ and see most of it, while we still enjoy good health.

I hope the above makes some sense to you as I just wanted to share some info with you as to my reasons why. I appreciate Lloyd not wanting to charge for membership, but in my mind many OKA members don’t appreciate it, as it is free and just don’t care. You and Rowena have put yourselves out on many occasions and it would be nice to have something returned as well, which is some genuine contributions to the group. To run a website costs money...other members should be made aware of this and as I have done it for 2 years at the end of this year can’t justify my expenses anymore.

Below is a graph for visitors last 150 days....it has grown a lot since the reciprocal linking with the HF club and the Casino village...

Marj...I hope all this makes sense to you, but today we had almost 2500 visitors on the website...so we are certainly spreading the word. I even had a request of someone in Germany, that claims he owns an OKA and wants to join and am waiting for details.

Give my best wishes to Lloyd....

Regards,

John & Maree Hendriks [e-mail]

VICTORIAN OKA RALLY

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When: 10^th - 13^th March (Labour day weekend)

Where: Lake William Hovell, north east Victoria south of Whitfield.

Directions: There are a number of camping areas just south of Lake William Hovell including: Sandy Flat or Top Crossing Hut camping areas on the King River 9 - 13km south-east of Lake William Hovell & Evans Creek Hut camping area 8km south of Lake William Hovell. 4WD vehicle access to camping areas from Lake William Hovell.