CAPE YORK IN A ZOOK

[OVERKILL ENG]

Am thinking of doing a trip up to Cape Yok next year in the Zook anyone done the treck and would you do it in a Zook again.
SAM

[christover1]

Am thinking of doing a trip up to Cape Yok next year in the Zook anyone done the treck and would you do it in a Zook again.
SAM

I did it with the Vic Moke Club in 86, 6 Mokes in 6 weeks, so a zook should be a sinch. tracks are much more civilised these days, but in my opinion, suspension of good quality and good condition is most important. Travel as light as is safely possible. speeding over corrugations may feel smoother on the bum, but it still over works the entire suspension.
a couple of our vic zook club members made the trip a few years ago, and cracked the diff housings quite severely. river depths are unpredictable, as they are not entirely dependant on our weather conditions (something to do with underground water from new guinea or something odd like that)
there is a surprising amount of food/souvenier vendors set up in unusual places, but you still need self sufficiency..and don't forget to have fun christover

[christover1]

and yes I would do it again, but would take more time to enjoy the amazing scenery and would do it in a zook this time

[antt]

fit a snorkel!

thats about all i can say. i reckon it'd be an awesome adventure in a zuk

[mike]

there are a few guys up here who have done it. I'm keen to add my name to the list. From what I here corrugations are the most damaging hazard. I did here to Darwin via the gulf which has ;bout a thousand k of corrugations so don't think that's insurmountable. I also believe depending on the water status up here deep crossings could also be an issue. A coupla times crossing both the Daintree and the Barron I've had the car start to float downstream, fortunately neither ended up disastrous.

So in short Go For It!

[Toj0]

Would be keen to keep up with this one as there might be a few here from Brisvegas who might tag along.

[grimbo]

My brother tried to d it but got about 600kms out of Cairns and snapped the diff tube in half.

Moose however did make it without any major hassles in his Zuk. As Chris has said try and travel as light as possible, brace your diffs, don't rush it take your time

[OVERKILL ENG]

Am planning to build a little trailer to tow rather than jamming the zook full of shiat.
The coils are much smoother over the rough stuff so that should relieve some stress.
SAM

[christover1]

Am planning to build a little trailer to tow rather than jamming the zook full of shiat.
The coils are much smoother over the rough stuff so that should relieve some stress.
SAM

trailers are a good idea, when ya at a base camp, it can be left behind while exploring. It is also a good supply of emergency spares if you build with zook rims...on that subject, tyre damage was a problem back in 86, altho tyres these days are stronger, so keep tyre repair items handy...christipover

[Jase]

Sam,

Been there done that all in a Jimny! Even done gunshot creek the hard way :-)

Check pics out here http://www.zook.org/gallery/ZDCY2003

If you want more information on the logistics, timings and fuel, give me a PM.

Jase ;-)

[DeWsE]

Thats some great photo's jase!

Now you got me dreaming about the outside world, and what it would be like.

[Roctoy]

Sam,

Been there done that all in a Jimny! Even done gunshot creek the hard way :-)

Check pics out here http://www.zook.org/gallery/ZDCY2003

If you want more information on the logistics, timings and fuel, give me a PM.

Jase ;-)

Jase you are a crazy farker! Did you actually drive across the logs at Nolan's Brook? I wouldn't have even driven within 2m of the edge, it looked like the whole lot was going to cave in a few months ago.

As for Sam.


DO IT!

[*BESTY*]

Moose however did make it without any major hassles in his Zuk.

I'm led to believe that he split his diff housing and got it welded at a nearby station.

[grimbo]

actually you could be right, they did have an enforced stop at a station

[planb]

i saw a vit with a busted axle tube, generally due to overloading and those damn corregations, take some spare shocks, coz if your shocks flog out on the way up, it will be a dangerous trip on the way back, esp. with coils.

and what are you going to do about fuel ? is it just two in the sierra ?

[OVERKILL ENG]

Sam,

Been there done that all in a Jimny! Even done gunshot creek the hard way :-)

Check pics out here http://www.zook.org/gallery/ZDCY2003

If you want more information on the logistics, timings and fuel, give me a PM.

Jase ;-)

Thanks i will be in touch to get some ideas.
SAM

[OVERKILL ENG]

i saw a vit with a busted axle tube, generally due to overloading and those damn corregations, take some spare shocks, coz if your shocks flog out on the way up, it will be a dangerous trip on the way back, esp. with coils.

and what are you going to do about fuel ? is it just two in the sierra ?

At this stage it is just me and all my friends (no -one )
My cousin may come in his Zook as well.
If I take a trailer then fuel and shiat shouldn't be a problem the tank in mine now is 65 litres which helps
SAM

[moose]

Been there , done that !!!

& Besty was right !!
Grimbo,s brother made it 200k,s out of cooktown !!
snapped the long axle tube off at the centre !!
got a flatbed ( the next day) back to cooktown !!
I made it almost to Coen , & mine did the same thing !!
looked like a Datto 180B !!
got towed to the nearest Station & repaired it !
braced it & finished the trip !!
(that was back in {I think 94 or 95 ??})
& I only swapped diff housings last year !!!

as for fuel , only took 1 jerry , & standard tank !
never had availability probs !!

Somerset beach , up near the tip is awsome !!

But some of the river crossings are DEEP !!

HAVE FUN !!!!

[zuker1500]

Sam,

I know that i will be keen for a trip in the zook and i am sure that Mike from Cairns and a few of the other boys will be keen too.

We have been looking at doing a trip for sometime now.

Keep me posted.

[mud4b]

sam im keen to go..

was planning it next year as the zook was not ready this year..

when are you looking at going ?

[Drew]

Sounds like a good trip,shame i'm in wa now.

Have done Sydney to perth in a zook,just don't make the trailer too heavy mine was allmost 2ton & that was the cause of most of our problems except for a bad batch of fuel in outback SA.

One of those cleanable fuel filters as a pre filter to the efi pump was a godsend,It had to be cleaned every couple of hours until we got to a town to clean the tank before we refueled .

[deRanged Rover]

We did it with 3 vehicles in 2000 - a 1.3 zook, my LC and my RR.

We wind towed the zook by sitting at 130 kph and having the zook sit about 1 metre behind our camping trailer - we covered 100s of km that way during the night otherwise it would have taken days just to get to Cairns.

The only headache was crossing the Wenlock which was flowing at 1.4 metres deep with strong current. We used our 6.5td RR to tow many vehicles across, however many turned around and went home even Tasmania due to the water depth.

We simply floated the zook across whilst a rope was tied to it.

The Wenlock is now crossed by a concrete bridge so it's almost a highway.

Gunshot which apparently is so hard was a sinch and all the "hard spots" are nothing more than I have on my property.

As a 4wd trip it's a waste of time - as a trip to go somewhere it's also a waste of time - as a trip to have a good time meeting and helping city 4wdrivers do some simple 4wdriving it's fun!!!!

[OVERKILL ENG]

sam im keen to go..

was planning it next year as the zook was not ready this year..

when are you looking at going ?

The date has been set at the 6th of June next year.
SAM

[mud4b]

cool...

sounds great...should have our zook camper going by then...


do you mind if we tag along?

[ca18escort]

Mine will be ready at that stage and we can use T'ville as a good staging base.

Paul