Oka owners group newsletter

Further weight was saved by scrapping the spare wheel ladder system, locating the wheel instead by a light tubular rack that doubles as a firewood carrier. (Once in position the wheel is held by a big J bolt), replacing the air-operated steps, replacing the steel chains that hold the mudflaps by heavy terylene cord (saving about 15 kg!) and an innumerable other small weighs.

The whole interior is built so that nothing comes higher than 100 mm above the bottom of the windows. There's a door cut into the near side to allow access to kitchen drawers from both inside and out - ditto dual water taps.

We initially used a Glind heat exchanger using a system that stored the heated water in an insulated 30 lite tank - but are changing over now to a conventional gas system.

The original twin fuel tanks were replaced by twin rectangular tanks, each holding 190 litres. I also had made up a stainless steel 110 litre water tank similar to that supplied by OKA, and a second 120 litre tank that fits snugly at the rear between the wheel carrier and the underneath spare wheel.

There's a 12000 lb winch at the front.

All up, with full equipment on board, including 230 litres of water, 380 litres of diesel, four batteries, all tools plus

everything we need for months on the road, the all-up weight is only 5.2 tonnes.

I fitted a 140 amp Bosch alternator with the original regulator replaced by the now out of production TWC smart

regulator. The system is set up so that the house batteries are not switched into the charging circuit until the starter battery exceeds 13.4 volts. (Full details are in my book 'Motorhome Electrics'.

Two 80-watt solar panels and Plasmatronics regulator amply power the 70-litre Autofridge, satellite telephone (and

active dome antenna), plus innumerable inside halogen lights. We never run out of power.

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The original roof was cut out and replaced by a fibreglass pop top (Jack Frost and I shared the cost of making the mold). This works well enough except that the hold down arrangements are not strong enough up here in Broome's cyclone season!

The rear diff was replaced by a Detroit Locker, and the front by an ARB Air Locker. I initially had problems with the Detroit Locker - horrendous bangs whilst cornering and occassional almost violent lurches. Eventually the truck broke a drive- shaft (on Xmas Eve) in the middle of Sydney, resulting in my running on front-wheel drive for the next 1000 km. I had the diff refitted and it's been fine ever since - except that the truck is almost impossible to deflect from a straight line whilst reversing in anything soft - even with the front diff locked.

After a lot of research I replaced the shock absorbers with the very large diameter Ralph units - Whilst valved for LandCruisers, they work very well as is, giving a soft but well-damped ride with zero lurching.

As with most OKAs the starter motor failed and was replaced by a Nippodenso geared unit.

We first used Michelin XYL but became increasingly unhappy about their noise, roughness, temperature rise, heel and toe wear etc. Finally replaced them with Michelin XYs - which were a total revelation - it was like driving a different vehicle. They

are however very sensitive to tyre pressure - I run them at 50 in the front and 55 at the rear. I believe the 16 inch wheel size is hugely better than the 19.5s in sand (because its longitudinal footprint is much greater) and that's also the experience of tour operators up here. Whilst many have moved to 19.5 they say it only works because they've got 13 people to push when they get stuck. I would however far prefer a conventional section 20 inch wheel/tyre as OKA is apparently doing now.

The truck has now done about 85,000 km in our hands of which at least 50,000 km is off-road. It's been to the tip of Cape York, across the Simpson, and most of the major inland tracks - across the Tanami four times. Its home territory is the Kimberley, so almost anything trip from home is on dirt (Gibb RIver Rd, Cape Leveque Rd etc).

The biggest improvement we made was to remake the air intake so that the air entry is from the rear - the reduction in interior noise is extraordinary. The second biggest was to rehinge the wheel carrier from the right to allow direct access to the boot - rather than walking around the whole carrier - and to bolt a ball-race to assist the assembly run up the locating skid.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has fitted the cable gear change to the XT.

Finally, may I sound a word of caution to people looking at building oversize bodies on OKAs. Our own very extensive experience with the OKA off-road, is that the original size and width is the very largest that feasible if you seek to travel seriously off-road. Time and again we find places where ours only just squeezes through.

Collyn Rivers

My email address is [e-mail]. Website is www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com Excerpt from a Letter from Rex Ellis:

I have been in the Safari Business since 1965, have had a variety of 4WD’s and the OKA (1995 LT Multicab) is by far the best. However, there are “Okaraisms”, and this is where a group such as you envisage is a very good idea. Mine has a lot of heavy, often cross-country, work with maximum loading. Maintenance costs are high, but I accept this. I have had very little trouble over and above what you would normally expect from such as situation.

I would say that very few ‘Tour’ operators work their OKA’s (weight wise) to the extent that I do, my biggest problem being that I am an endangered species around weigh bridges. Much of the time I detour around my local S.A. weigh bridges. You people may be able to help me out with that one. Oka are not prepared to OK a new rating, and nor is any private engineer, which I think is ridiculous as the vehicle can more than handle it.

All the best with the project.

Regards, Rex Ellis

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Hi there!

OKA OWNERS GROUP (PUTTING PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT FIRST)

NEWSLETTER February 2003

Well we’ve battled our way through ’02 and now its time to see what sort of a hash we can make of 2003. At the turn of the century a local friend said to me “Man has really goofed and stuffed up during the last 100 years, and he’ll stuff up the next 100 years even more”. I asked what made him think that, and his reply was, “Well, we are better educated now!”

Anyway, we hope you all had a great Christmas and that the New Year will be kind to you.

On the subject of Group rules: there is really only one, which is that you must own an OKA. Following that, we would appreciate it if you could let us know if you dispose of it, and it would be helpful if you could give us a name and address of the new owners, or give them ours.

We would point out that we should all put people and the environment first. We want to avoid any situation where the OKAs get a bad name because someone did something wrong . We would hate to ruin things for everyone.

We are waiting for some more replies to Michael’s survey. Could you please take the time to fill them in and return them to Michael as soon as possible. On the subject of surveys, we have another for you. Gordon Rollinson has compiled one about axles, loading, tyres etc. If you could complete this and send it back as well, Gordon might have some of the answers to why axles might break on our OKAs, (if there is any reason apart from overloading). This is of particular interest to us as we are at the moment looking for new tyres to fit on our new one-piece rims (made for us by Mullins Wheels and much lighter than the OKA split rims).

As well we are still looking for ideas about a National gathering somewhere, so that we can fit a few names and faces together and have a fun time. We are members of the Cessna 180/185 Club and have had a National Fly-in for the past 20 years with people attending from all over Australia. We still have smaller gatherings that are also a success, but have learned that a big effort by us all to get to the Nationals is what keeps us together. As a result we are one big happy family, having watched the kids grow up etc. We would like to think that the OKA Owners Group have something similar.

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I had an acquaintance drop in from Toowoomba, Qld the other day. He asked where my OKA was, as he hadn’t seen it when he was visiting a couple of months ago. To keep it simple I just said that it was in town, and that I had spun a bearing on a shaft and was waiting for parts. He immediately told me that I had best get used to it, as he had a mate who had two OKAs and they broke him; too much down-time waiting for parts. I must admit that out of all the trucks, tractors and machinery I’ve owned, none of them have held me up like the OKA, but maybe I’ve been unlucky. Fortunately I’m not relying on it to make a living and to be honest, the OKA was pretty sad when I bought it. If you have a story to tell, good or bad, let us have it so we can all learn.

Lloyd & Marj

For all who enjoy Windows as much as I do, this is such a good analogy, it's scary...

It was decided at Microsoft, during a brilliant brainstorming session,that military service would improve the skills and discipline of theirfinest technician. So off to boot camp he went.

At the rifle range he was given some instruction, a rifle, and bullets .He fired several shots at the target. The report came from the target area that all attempts had completely missed the target.

The Microsoft tech looked at his rifle and then at the target again.

"Hmmm," he thought, "I'll get to the bottom of this in no time." He looked at the rifle again, and then at the target again. He pointed his still loaded rifle at the ground in front of him and fired.

A cloud of dust kicked up, and a little dimple was left there in the dust.

"Yep, it's working," he concluded.

The technician yelled out to the others at the target end, "The rifle is in working order, and the bullet seems to be leaving this end just fine. The trouble must be at your end!" (from Michael Hession)

ATTENTION – A SHORT NOTICE GET TOGETHER

My wife and I will be coming to Brisbane for a few days in early March and, if possible, we would like to have a get together with any interested members [who could possibly arrange it on such short notice, somewhere around the Warwick area on Monday 10^th March and Tuesday 11^th March 2003. A site has not been arranged as yet. If you are interested in coming please contact us ASAP.

Gordon & Laurel Rollinson 44 Petrie Street

Mackay Q 4740

Ph 07 49511631

E-mail – [e-mail]

“SYDNEY REGION” - GET TOGETHER

WHO ............ WHEN .......... WHERE ........

WHY ............

All Owners or Anyone interested in OKAs. If you can make it, come along. SUNDAY, 2ND OF MARCH, 1.30PM

Michael and Virginia Hession

36 Nelson Road NELSON

Let us Get together to meet other owners.

Exchange Information.

Discuss what we might like to do eg Trips, Field Days, Technical Days, How Often

Should we meet, Should we meet regularly, Where should we meet, etc, etc.

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COME ALONG WITH YOUR IDEAS.

Bring a small plate for afternoon tea.

CONTACT .... RSVP by the 31.02.03 so we have an idea of who to expect. If for some reason you would like to come along but can’t make it on the 2ND, let me know also.

RING Michael on Ph: 02.9679.1373 (Hm) or 02.9809.5754 (Bus)

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.

1 Axle broken

2 Type of Diff

3 Tyres

Left hand Right hand Both

Open Limited slip

Lockable

Make Model Size

Approx distance between events And which one broke first

5 disc

3 disc Lock Right Detroit Other

4 Terrain in which event occurred

e.g. my first one [left hand] occurred on a service station driveway

5 Terrain travelled prior to breakage

e.g. I had just travelled the Anne Beadell H/way

6 Had you travelled on much corrugations prior to event [Approx distance and severity]

7 Body configuration Single Dual

Multi Bus Camper

8 Approx GVM at the time

9 Approx tyre pressure at the time

10 Gear in use at the time

11 Oil used

12 Oil changes done to schedule

2WD

4WD High

Low

Brand

Grade

Any additives [e.g. Moreys / Lucas] Yes

No

More often

13 Were Crown wheel bolts tightened to correct torque at service intervals?

14 Are you now aware of any axle damage prior to your purchase of the vehicle?

15 Any other information that maybe of relevance

16 Any comments

Please send replies to Gordon Rollinson Ph. 07 49511631

44 Petrie Street E-mail [e-mail]

MACKAY QLD 4740

VICTORIA HIGH PLAINS DRIFTING

[ OR... How to Get Lost and Really Enjoy Yourself]

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Michael and Virginia Hession - January 1 – 14, 2003

We left Sydney 4PM New Years Day and travelled to Queanbeyan, staying overnight in a Motel. The next day we travelled through Nimmitabel, Bombala, via the Monaro Highway. This was a pretty road to travel. We had lunch at Cann River. Then onto Morwell via the Princes Highway, then via back roads to Thorpdale, where we were to stay with friends, who own a seed potato farm.

During our stay in Thorpdale we travelled many of the local roads and one day travelled down to Wilson’s Promontory. This only confirmed our earlier impressions, on previous trips, that this is one of the most picturesque areas in Australia. We had a lovely 6 days.

On Tuesday the 7^th we packed up and set off for Walhalla, which is an historic gold mining area. We camped at Coopers Creek, about 6km before Walhalla, this was on the Thomson River, with good swimming. This is a large area and could become very popular; it is bush camping with the only facilities being a pit toilet. Only 0.5km away, Coopers Creek Hotel has only recently started operating on weekends, even though it is “out in the bush”. On the afternoon we arrived, we were given a display of acrobatics by 3 guys, in their Piranha “Trick” Canoes. They had come down to the river to practice.

We spent the next day in Walhalla having a look around. The town has been built in a very narrow valley with some of the buildings built over the river, and has a rich history embedded in the gold rushes of the late 19^th Century. Many of the buildings and homes have been restored, with museums, hotel, shops, B&Bs, picnic/ camping areas, the train line has been restored and now operates regularly, for tourists. We had a tour of “The Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine”. Some of the statistics are staggering. It took them two years to tunnel into the gold seam, they followed it down for nearly a kilometre with 33 levels of diggings and it was the richest mine in Victoria taking out some 34 ton of gold. We visited Branston’s Bridge, a steel trestle bridge used by horses and coaches last century, now abandoned in the bush and accessed by 4WD. It is certainly a town worth visiting.

The next day we decided to head for Licola following “Bush Huts between Jamieson and Walhalla” put out by Rooftop Maps. This covered 11 huts and many mining relics and traversed 2WD and 4WD roads/tracks. At one junction the signposts and the map were confusing, so choosing the track we thought we should be on, we proceeded for some 5km before we worked out that we had taken the wrong track and were on the Army Track and not the Fullerton Creek Track. The Army Track was steep!!!, with a loose powdery surface cut up by other 4WDs spinning wheels and slipping. We had travelled down the track in first low and due to the steepness had to feather the brakes to keep the vehicle from running away. I decided to turn around on a switchback in the track, this left us with about 1.2M clearance in which to manoeuvre. Virginia wasn’t too impressed, but after about a six-point turn we had turned around and were on our way back. This was straight up in first low at 2000rpm for about 15 minutes. As I have mentioned the track was loose, steep, not a lot of room and in places next to a large drop off to the side, but the OKA handled it without any problems and we were soon at the top again and on our way. The track was steep and eroded in places with several water crossings, we saw several huts, from the simple to the elaborate, and some beautiful campsites.

Due to our little excursion we were now running late to make Licola. What happens when you rush? Well once again the map and the road did not seem to correspond (and as we were to learn later this was the one area that had not been checked by the publisher of Rooftop Maps) and we chose what we thought was the correct route, to only realise some 20 minutes later that we were travelling south, and not north-east. As we had come so far, we decided to continue on, travelling by secondary roads towards Licola.

On the Licola Road in the middle of nowhere, Virginia spotted a sign for a Caravan Park, but it took her another 5kms to convince me that there really was a caravan park, so we turned around and headed back. “Montana Caravan and Camping Park” was 5km in, off the road, along a dirt road located on the Macalister River. We had a lovely campsite and a lovely hot shower. With a good campfire, garlic chicken and salad for dinner, we had a great night.

Next morning we headed into Licola, passing Cheynes Bridge, which has a very good campsite on the Macalister River. We bought lunch and some maps in Licola and headed off this time using a Hema Map. Unknown to me at the time, the position of Licola on this map is wrong. We travelled for 20km on a logging road in 2^nd and 3^rd gear as we were climbing the mountain all the time. I started to think we could be on the wrong road, so I consulted the just newly purchased maps, which had more detail, and of course we were on the wrong road. But then, as I explained to Virginia, if we hadn’t taken the wrong road, we would not have seen this part of the country. “Every Cloud has a Silver Lining”.

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After retracing our steps we were now on the right road to The Alpine National Park and The Snowy Plain. Along the way we passed 14 large camp sites situated along the Macalister River, these seemed to be mainly used by bush walkers or families and are accessed by a tar sealed road. A lot of people camp here before setting off to walk to Lake Tali Karng, the only natural lake in the whole of the alpine region. We continued climbing up into the high country. Travelling on a dirt road, we passed a number of lookouts and walking tracks, saw “The Snowy Range Airfield”, the highest operating airfield in Australia. The east/west runway actually crosses the road. We had lunch at Dimmick Lookout and continued across Howitt Plains and onto the end of the road, where it becomes a 4WD track leading to either Wonnangatta Station or to the King Billy Track heading towards Mt Buller/Mt Stirling. As we were heading towards Dargo we retraced our tracks and decided to camp the night at Howitt’s Hut.

We had set up camp by 4pm, with no one else around it was very peaceful. It was very pretty with yellow, white, purple and even orange wild flowers, the open grassy plains bordered by the gnarly twisted snow gums with hot pink and grey foliage. We got a fire going and decided to cook our roast lamb and baked vegetables, to be had with a nice glass of wine. It was idyllic.

But alas, by 6pm we had two vehicles arrive with 6 young guys, they decided to camp about 30m away nearer the hut, then a third vehicle joined them. Half an hour later two other vehicles arrived and they decided to camp the other side of the hut out of sight. At 7pm a Toyota Hilux drove in and parked about 20M from us, I noticed a sign on the tailgate “Rooftop Maps”. This was the publisher of some maps we had bought in Walhalla. Robin bounded over and introduced himself and asked if he was too close. We told him that he was fine and would he like to join us for coffee. What a night! We talked or I might say more correctly that Robin talked until after 11pm by which time it was freezing. If was a most interesting night, Robin is one of your “original characters”.

He related how his business is publishing maps, which he has been doing full time for three years. He has checked all the roads, tracks, trails (walking, horse, vehicular) and features in the whole of the High Country Region between the Hume Highway and the Princes Highway. No other cartographer goes to that length to ensure the accuracy of their maps. Mostly he has used a Subaru Liberty Outback (last year 19 punctures, 2 holed fuel tanks, to name only two). Where the Liberty would not go he used a pushbike or ran, carrying his GPS to plot the trail, and then downloading to a Laptop Computer back in the car. He has completed some tracks at 4am!! His mechanic took pity on him towards the end of last year and sold him the 1984 Hilux for $2,000.00. But he still carries his bike in the rear for the really steep sections or where the Hilux can’t go. He camps in the tray area under a tarpaulin, eats mostly tin food, doesn’t have a fridge. He brings frozen bottles from home for cooling and as water supply, very simple and basic. He does this seven days a week. In winter he skies some trails. When back home he parcels up map orders and sends them off.

Some of the stories he related:

He has won the Empire State Building race, running up the stairs,

He has ridden across The Simpson Desert unassisted. He carried 25 litres of water plus all his food and other needs on his pushbike. 125km into the desert he broke a derailer and pushed the bike back to Birdsville, waited a week for the part to arrive and set off again. It took him 5 days to complete following the French Line.

First person to ride the length of the Canning Stock Route (over 1800kms). He paid a tour operator $250.00 to drop off 3 caches of food and every 30kms to bury, beside the track, a 2 litre bottle of water and a can of coke. With no other support he completed the trip in 26 days.

He has ridden or carried (pulled apart and stored in his backpack) a pushbike to the highest peak in each state of Australia. In Qld he had to climb for three days with his bike on his back through rain forest. A friend travelling with him got 2 leeches on one eye, as it was too risky to remove them, they let them engorge themselves and then fall off. “A bit uncomfortable and he had blurry vision for a few days”.

In answer to Virginia’s question “Do you use a professional photographer for the photos appearing on your maps?”. He replied that he “...uses a disposable camera...”

With his ex-girlfriend he had completed a Peak to Peak Trip through Victoria, NSW and Qld. They rode their bikes to the top of a mountain, looked for the next highest peak, and then rode to it and rode to the top and so on.

He discussed some of the history of the high plains and some of his favourite areas and places and things to see.

A most interesting night punctuated at one time by Robin’s tin of food, he had placed in our campfire, EXPLODING! It blew the top clean off the can and half the contents with it. He apologised profusely, and that it had never happened before. The night was very cold, and by the time we went to bed my feet were frozen.

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The next morning I awoke looked at my watch, 8.05am. Got dressed and went outside it was still very cold. There seemed to be a small amount of frost in the shadows on the edge of the grassy plain. I wondered why none of the other campers were up. When I looked at my watch it was 7.10am not 8am. So we had an early morning start. After packing, we travelled back using a map, Robin gave us, and we were able to find Guys Hut, a solid hut of Log Construction. We took Kellys Lane (4WD) to Kelly’s Hut, with a still warm fireplace, from having been used the night before. We stopped for lunch at McMichael’s Hut. This was of corrugated iron construction with a timber floor, brick fireplace, sink and shelving, fridge (non operative), almost modern. We travelled onto Thomastown, a beautiful campsite. Back onto the Moroka Road and onto the Mt Wellington Track.