Oka owners group newsletter

the country & they now only have the 285/70 19.5 profiles. Toyo say that yes you can fit the 285 wide tyres to the 7.5" wheels & I was wondering again if anyone had any thoughts on this slightly wider tyre on the standard

7.5" wheels - anything for & against?? I notice that OKA are fitting 285 on the new NT but on 8.25" wheels. One of my reasons for looking towards the Toyo tyres is that they have a speed rating of 130km/hr whereas the

Bridgestones that I run at present are only rated to 100km/hr & likewise the Hankook tyres only have a 100km/hr rating - Not very good when you live in a state with 110km speed limit. One presumes they rate them for a reason!

Any thoughts/Comments on the subject would be welcome.

Regards Roger Thurecht Carnarvon

OKA 152

Hi Lloyd & Marj...How are you.....we just came back from a major trip to SA to visit a brother I had not seen for 8 years and catch up with OKA owners at David Hallandal's place on the 5th March....view the website for details, or if you wish I will email you info for the news letter.

The reason for my email is that on our trip I experienced tyre problems....2 flats and one where I wrecked the casing of the spare. In trying to get a new tyre for my spare was told, no tyre available until end of April....well this is just not good enough....just imagin having this in the outback....how does one get around?So I remember you running Hankook truck tyres on your 16" rims...could you please tell me the size of the tyres and also the tubes used, as I will change all mine to suit. It would also be better on the road and the Michelin are very noisy.

I appreciate your response and look forward to it...

Regards, John & Maree Hendriks [e-mail] fax: [phone] mob: [phone]

Hi John,

I am still looking at tyres myself. It seems everyone has different ideas. I ran on Hankook 825 R15. LT Radial z59 and they wore really well but I blew a few. So I went to Yokohama 8.25 R16 14PR LT and they were hopeless; chipped badly and heel and toed something terrible. So I put a couple of my old Hankooks back on and have had no trouble since. But I used to run at 55 lbs, until I was told that is why they I was blowing them - they got too hot! Except for sand, I now run at 75lbs. No more trouble and I don't notice any difference in the ride. It might pay to ring Coke Haywood - he uses his OKA for a spray rig and has some idea of what tyre to use. I have found that we don't need luggy tyres - just road tyres do the job. It would be great to have something to put in the newsletter. If I can help further, let me know.

Lloyd

Hi Lloyd & Marj...

Thank you for your reply.....It looks like!I need to do some more research into this tyre problem.....when I get some answers will certainly pass them on to you to publish in the news letter. It amazes me that no one else has complained about this problem before....David Hallandal in SA has gone to 19.5" rims running

Michelin XDE2 305/70r and is very happy with them....The costs of the rims and tubeless tyres is almost $800 each....and we don't have that sort of cash laying around...then there is the other problem...if a tyre is wrecked...supply is a major headache...Michelin!! Again...thank you....will speak to a few tyre manufacturers and keep you posted....

Regards, John & Maree Hendriks [e-mail]

Hi Lloyd...

Recently spoke to Peter Wright in SA as well as David Hallandal on this issue and the following could be

interesting...

I thought that the 16s were a bit skinny (in sand) for the 3.1 tonn rear axle load, notwithstanding

their ability to bag out, but I did not want the vehicle damage of hard, high pressure 265 or 285 19.5s

which would not bag out enough anyhow. So what to do?

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My choice was to go to a larger section 19.5. I have just fitted a set of 305/70R19.5 Michelin XDE2. This has necessitated 8.25 inch wide rims (instead of the usual 7.5 inch 19.5s).

These were designed by Michelin as a highway DRIVE tyre and they are directional, however they have been used so successfully in off road applications that Michelin actually quote tyre pressure / load information at constant 65kph (for tracks) and 20kph (for sand) in addition to highway information. Because their section is larger, pressures (for a particular load) are lower, reducing the jarring of the narrower 19.5s.

Like the 9.00x16s, they have only one steel ply in the sidewalls which means they still bag out reasonably when pressures are lowered and they have 5 steel plys in the tread (a pretty tough tread). One significant downside is that they weigh in at 50kg each, increasing unsuspended weight. They have almost exactly the same rolling diameter as the 9.00x16 (which is larger than the 265 or 285 x 19.5s).

I think they are the best compromise currently available. Time alone will tell if I'm correct. Cheers

Peter.

I checked the prices out...the custom rims from Mullins unpainted are $420.20 each + $25 shipping to depot in Sydney. Tyres I’m still shopping around for.

Regards, John Hendriks

Hi Lloyd & Marj, finally putting fingers to keyboard.

We have OKA 152 – This was originally a single cab used by Hamersley Iron . They abused it & OKA

eventually bought it back from them & did it up again. When we bought it we got OKA to cut the tray down & add a new duel cab module. We originally had it as a farm vehicle & for the last 5 years its taken the rubbish trailer to the tip every 2-3 weeks ( We currently own a Caravan Park).

After owning it for 7 years we are still only up to 80,000km on the clock ( it had about 15,000 on it when we bought it.)

We mainly use it now as our family Holiday vehicle – heaps of room for the kids & all the toys!! Our last Holiday over Dec/Jan was 10 weeks away & about 16,000km all up towing our camper trailer with boat on top– almost all on the blacktop. Covered from Carnarvon to Kalgoolie (Had a wheel alignment done by Robin Wade – nice guy) then on to SA , short stop in Adelaide then to southeast Vic – lovely week at Lakes Entrance. Then hit the Dec east coast rain!! Lots of Oka leaks – mainly from the windscreen (the seals must all be had it) – nothing the sikaflex gun couldn’t fix. Up the mountains to Canberra then back to the coast . Up to my Parents place in Brunswick heads for Xmas & a couple of weeks having fun. (Dreamworld, Seaworld, Fishing , Surfing etc)

The trip back West was Oka-eventful . We blew a lower radiator hose 150km east of Broken Hill (in 45 degrees) – I’d been closely watching the temp for ages but hadn’t clicked on the telltale signs of air in the line (Temp gauge going down then back up). So pulled over – engine was steaming. Replaced the burst hose & refilled the radiator, then noticed the top hose was quite deformed (obviously from the heat.) So replaced that as well & refilled again. Then headed for Broken Hill – All OK until 5km out of town when you have to stop to drop off fruit – Hissing gurgling sound again. It was the Small hose between the water pump & the block that had split. (No spares for that!!) Made a jury repair out of a piece of the old Radiator hose & clamped over the top with a bit of bog. Got us into Broken Hill. Had it repaired the next day by an engineering mob, (You have to take the water pump off to get this small hose on. It’s a Perkins Part Not an OKA part)

Well we got back to WA OK & did the Balladonia to Esperance Road , then on to Denmark. It was here the OKA decided to die. The earlier overheating finally surfaced & the Head Gasket blew. Got towed over to Albany by the RAC (The guy has a landcruiser –how embarrassing!) Had the Head gasket replaced, & head machined by “Southern Fuel Injection Services” Thoroughly recommend the guy if anyone needs engine work in the Albany region!! Worked all weekend to get us back on the road.

Had one other continuing problem on our trip & that was we broke 4x A/C compressor adjusting/tightening bolt assemblies, (the “T” piece adjusting bolt that tensions the belt.) The whole compressor sits at an angle of about 5-10degrees away from the angle of the engine. Has anyone else had this problem ? ? Eventually I gave up & just jammed the rest of the bolt onto the broken gusset on the T piece & screwed it up. That lasted fine for the last 6000km’s

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I’ve yet to pull the compressor off to find the cause – will be doing that shortly – but I suspect the back mounting hole in the compressor is flogged out & may need drilling out & having a bush put in – time will tell if this is the case.

Have just ordered some new tyres after much discussion with other owners & manufacturers. Going with Toyo 608z tyres 285/70 19.5 on my 7.5” x 19.5” rims – Will let you know what they are like in due course.

I’ll end off here as that’s enough for anyone to read in one hit. I’ll make a list of all the Modifications, Replacements & Problems I’ve had at a later date. (no worse than owning a Landrover)

RegardsRogerThurecht. OKA152.

A VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY AND WEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU PERSONALLY BUT OUR

BIGGEST WISH FOR US ALL: MAY THE PEOPLE THAT CAME TOGETHER FOR THE TSUNAMI RELIEF IN SMALL AND BIG WAYS KEEP WORKING TOWARDS A BETTER WORLD FOR ALL ITS INHABITANTS.

Dear friends, new friends, long-time friends, fellow traveller friends (OKA owners and others) and friends and family in The Netherlands (sorry, didn’t write a Dutch version).

The New Year has begun. We haven’t written any Christmas cards, but received several. Thank you! We wanted to do this letter before Christmas of course. Walter actually made a big effort, wrote quite a long letter, which I still had to finish and then...our computer crashed. We’ve given up on the wretched laptop, it will not be resurrected again! So, I am typing away on the computer in the house we’re housesitting at the moment in Footscray, Melbourne. They kindly let us use the computer, wonderful!

Back to the beginning of 2004. Mid January we started travelling again after a great Christmas time in Shortland with Natacha and Justin, Dominique and Tim, very much coloured by Natacha’s wonderful news that a grandchild was on the way. We also visited Gresford and several friends to catch up on all the news. Mid January we left travelling as fast as we could for Melbourne, as the OKA was chock-a-block with boxes for Dominique that had been stored at Natacha’s. We stayed with Dominique and Tim for several weeks and had a 10-day trip through Gippsland. We loved the countryside and the lovely small towns we came through and we camped at beautiful places like the Tarra Valley National Park and on several places along the beach. We visited Kent and Cecilia in Rosebud. Great catching up after many years. Our friendship goes back all the way to South Africa. Without them we wouldn’t be in Australia, which would be our loss.

On Friday, 13 February we boarded the Spirit on Tasmania for a long island stay. It wasn’t full, maybe caused by the date? We loved everything, the spectacular scenery, the beautiful lakes, the mountains, the endless beaches and certainly the forests. The people are great and very welcoming; many of the small towns are quaint, interesting and full of history. We made many new friends with whom we had lovely dinners, unforgettable birthdays, ‘happy hours’, interesting chats, fishing experiences, new card games.

We enjoyed meeting many other CMCA members at the Quercus Park Rally where about 1200 motorhomes camped together for 9 days. What an organisation! We had our own shopping centre, restaurants, coffee shops, exhibition centre. Every night there was entertainment of great calibre and many informative talks during the day. In between all the organised stuff we swapped experiences with many people, peeked into lots of other motorhomes, met some old and made some new friends. We were the only OKA owners, but on the open day two Tasmanian OKA owners came to check us out. They became friends, as OKA owners usually do, and two of the ‘must visit’ addresses after the rally.

It would take too long to tell you about all the wonderful things we saw and did in Tasmania. We spent 3.5 months but will need many more months on a next trip to explore all the parts we didn’t get to. However we vowed not to come back till they change their Forestry policy. We’ve seen the countless log trucks; we’ve stumbled on to the clear felling of old forests. It shouldn’t be possible in this time and age!

The last month we spent housesitting for Betty and Gary, a lovely couple on the North West Coast. Were we glad to be in a house as the weather turned nasty on many days. We had a great time though and loved looking after their adorable pets. We also had some nice days for fishing, a visit from Dominique and Tim and it was great to be able to invite people that had been so hospitable to us.

Back to Melbourne for another week with Dominique and Tim and then a week’s trip to Newcastle, visiting friends in Geelong and Sydney on the way, camping in the Dargyle State Forest, on the Murray at Tocumwal, in Young and Bathurst.

We were so lucky to find a great housesitting place in Port Stephens for more than two months, which meant that we would be close at hand for the birth of our grandchild. We seem to be really blessed in finding great people, like Brenda and Laurie, that want us to look after their house and pets. It was a big double story house right on the Bay, chooks and a cat to look after, a forest to make long walks in, it was ideal and we loved it.

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The most wonderful, complete, healthy baby boy was born to Natacha and Justin on the 4^th of August and they called it Alexander Charles, to be called Xander. All through pregnancy Natacha had a hard time and the birth was drawn out and difficult, but the result...! It is a great feeling to hold that precious little bundle in your arms and realise that there’s a little bit of you in there. A little bit of continuation. It will be even more so for Justin’s grandfather George as Justin is his only grandkid and now there is a great grandson! After Port Stephens we looked after the splendid house of friends in Gresford, which also gave us the chance to catch up with everybody while staying close to Natacha, Justin and Xander.

At the end of September we left for our big trip to the middle of Australia, the Red Centre. The original plan was to do this in July/August with a number of other OKAs, but little Xander threw a spanner in the wheel. We went via Thunderbolts Way to Walcha visiting Garth and Paula who ran our shop for 3 years when we were in Sydney. They got a beautiful farm but it’s not easy to keep optimistic through the droughts of the last years. But like most farmers, they wouldn’t want to do anything else. We learned a lot from them and from Lloyd and Marj in Coonamble (our next stop) about a farmer’s life, the ups and downs and the misunderstandings between them and the greenies. We are greenies at heart, so it was very healthy to hear about the other side from people you respect. Five OKAs came together on the always hospitable station of Marj and Lloyd during the October long weekend and it was great. A highlight for me was the flight in Lloyd’s single engine airplane over Coonamble, although Lloyd scared me nearly to death by pretending something wasn’t working when landing. We left with good memories and heaps of advice and practical help for our trip.

We drove to Innamincka in three days, via Bourke and Tibooburra, endless red or white sand roads, flat flat country with mainly scrub, a detour of close to 150km and a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere, in the blazing sun, surrounded by flies and bindies. What a day that was! But we also saw whole fields of small white wildflowers and wild horses (brumbies) quite close to us. Innamincka was great, we had a memorable night around an open fire barbecue at the guesthouse, owned by OKA owners, sitting under the stars with them, their guests and the local cruise boat owners. We heard many stories of living in an isolated place like this with the extreme temperatures and floods and droughts. They love it, but it wouldn’t be my cup of tea. We loved camping on the beaches of Cooper’s Creek and the cruise on it and standing on the place where John King (of Burke and Wills) was found. We hated the day it was 42 degrees in the shade with dust storms all day!

From Innamincka in one day 480km to Farina camping area as we didn’t want to camp at the Montecollina Bore in between sand dunes where you were very exposed to the hot, windy weather. Farina, a dead town, was started by new farmers dreaming big dreams till in the 1880’s a sequence of droughts drove them away. After that it was used by the camel drivers and other workers on the Ghan train. Interesting and a bit sad to wander around the ruins, like the post office and a nearly undamaged underground bakery.

Via Marree to Mulloorina Station, a huge station which nearly went bankrupt before they found access to underground water. Now they have so much water that it spills over in a large lake, long like a river, creating a beautiful oasis with an abundance of birdlife and fish. The owners built a toilet block and opened it up for campers, asking them to donate a gold coin to the Flying Doctors. From there we took a trip to Lake Eyre and stood in awe before that endless whiteness. We really were in the desert: no water, just sand and salt, lots of salt, I tasted it. We would love to see it again when it’s flooded.

It was still unbelievably hot, so we decided to skip the dusty Oodnadatta Track for the Stuart Highway and went via Roxby Downs and Coober Pedy (where we slept underground, went on a mine tour and bought some opals from a lovely Chinese man who was busy painting pictures on the walls of his new underground shop and home) to Uluru and Kings Canyon. Very impressed with the Cultural Centre at Uluru, but shocked by the prices of everything, stayed 2 nights instead of three. Uluru and the Olgas were very impressive but we liked Kings Canyon and its environment better, we stayed an extra night to celebrate Walter’s birthday with a barbecue under the stars. Here and on the way we met again some special and interesting people, but then it was off again to Alice Springs, via the Mereenie Loop (Aboriginal land) and the West Mac Donalds, where we camped at Ellery Creek Big Hole, a beautiful waterhole with a real beach between magnificent mountains. We swam in very cold, deep water, lovely on this very hot day.

We loved Alice Springs and met a great couple: Sandra and Leigh. They’re of course OKA owners and do 4x4 tours to Chamber’s Pillar, Rainbow Valley and the East Mac Donalds. We camped in their backyard, the weather was a bit kinder, and joined them on their tours, helped them shift house and generally had a great time. Even more so because Natacha, Justin and Xander joined us for three days, because we were all going to be featured in a brochure as an average Aussie family (how’s that!?). Dominique and Tim couldn’t join us as they were overseas at the time. This all came about through a friend of Dominique who heard that we were in the Centre with our motorhome. It was great fun, but don’t laugh when you hear what the brochure is about: prepaid funerals!! We visited exhibitions at the Cultural Centre and Panorama Guth, a very impressive gallery of the work of painter Henk Guth, a talented artist and a fellow Dutchie!

And then it was time to go again with lasting impressions of wonderful sunsets, unbelievable colours, wild camels, goannas, lots of small lizards and the funny ones without a tail, rock wallabies, the huge dry river Todd and wonderful people.

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I’ll make the rest really short. We returned to the Oodnadatta Track, through Oodnadatta (desolate) and Williams Creek (great pub!). Saw and stopped at many Ghan railway ruins, but thought that it would be better to preserve and protect a number of them, than to let everything just lie there. Stopped at Marree to have a better look at the open air museum, including original Ghan locomotives. Camped at Farina again where you had to make a fire to heat up water for a shower. On the way to the Flinders Ranges a visit to Talc Alf in Lyndhurst who does amazing carvings in talc stone. He plays around with symbols and the origin of letters and loves to talk of the meaning of words. Great character to visit and would you believe it: another born Dutchie! We didn’t know and didn’t expect to find them in Central Australia.

We really enjoyed the Flinders Ranges. We visited an Aboriginal settlement and bought our first Aboriginal painting, camped at Arcaroola (amazing place with all the different rocks, but chased away by mosquitos), Blinman (interesting old tin mine town) and in the National Park at Dingley Dell among the kangaroos and emus. We took the Geological Track out of the park through creek crossings and deep valleys, admiring mountains and rocks out of different geological time periods. Australia is indeed a very old country!

Port Augusta, lovely town where Walter could fish in the Spencer Gulf while I did some shopping in town. We spend several hours in the Wadlata Outback Centre, absolutely marvellous. You walk through a patch of rainforest like it was 15 million years ago in the middle of Australia and learn how the landscape became the dry, red sandy place it is now. You learn about Aboriginal history starting 40.000 years ago, about the animals and the early settlers and explorers, all presented in an original, very interesting way.

Walter wanted more fishing, so we decided to visit the historic jetties of the Yorke Peninsula. We stopped at five and camped at the jetty or found a place close by. The most amazing jetty was 1.5km long! The reason was the big difference in low and high tides. We definitely got our walking exercise there. Some huge fishes were nearly caught and that’s really all we can report, but it wasn’t because of lack of trying. However we enjoyed the relaxation, the water, the beautiful weather and again: the sunsets!

Then it was time for Adelaide and catching up with Sandra and Alan, good friends we hadn’t seen for years. Their house was too small, we couldn’t park and camp nearby, so they shouted us 3 days guesthouse right opposite their place. Three days in airconditioned luxury during the hottest days we had for a while! And lovely dinners together, walks and lots of catching up. We also spent three days in a house on Hindmarsh Island, owned by our new friends in Alice Springs. They just told us where the keys were, no problem. Again we’re so impressed by Australian people, the simple trust, the expectation that you will do the right thing and we’re grateful that we ended up here. We had a lovely few days and escaped some very hot days in Adelaide.

Adelaide motorhomers we met in Tasmania, Ross and Bill, invited us to join them at the Christmas rally of their chapter of the CMCA. Their friends, Ross and Brian, who taught us to play 500, would also be there. The rally was in the park of the lovely town Lobethal and a great gathering it was. We had a good time, a lot of laughs, met many nice people and had some late nights with some of them.

Time to head for Melbourne for Christmas and for a month housesitting. We planned to take a week and do the Great Ocean Road at our leisure, but fate had otherwise decided. The day we left, the OKA only started after a few tries. Also one tyre had lost some air. On the way South we stopped in a small town and Walter decided it was better to have the tyre fixed. Next door was an auto electrician, so he had the starter motor checked out as well. Verdict: the tyre should be alright now but the starter motor would maybe start another fifty times, no more. We decided to take only 2 days to Melbourne where Walter had an appointment with our OKA mechanic, Ian, anyway. We stopped for lunch in Keith and that was it: no more starter motor. Called road service. He couldn’t get it started either, but luckily he could tow us till the motor started. Only problem was, we couldn’t turn the motor off till stopping at the mechanics place. All this costed plenty of time. Called Ian that we would arrive at about 11pm, no problem. Stopped at MacDonalds for dinner in the cab with the motor running. It was now pitch dark, starting to rain and then pour. Just past Arrarat Walter said: I don’t trust the tyre, I’ll have a look, and pulled off the highway with 2 wheels still on the tarmac, 2 in the mud. Tyre totally flat!! Change of tyre in the pouring rain, motor running, trucks passing constantly splashing showers of water over us. It was no fun. Changing a tyre on an OKA is hard work in the best of circumstances. Walter managed but will not easily forget. Past midnight we called Ian. He’d go to bed and leave the shed open for us, we’d just pull in and go to sleep. We still had to change clothes, have a coffee and something to eat. It was 3.30am when we arrived. What an end to a trip! But another story to tell.