Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hey all, I am planning a cape york trip in the nearish future. I want to drown proof my 105. It is the standard live axle diesel. Obviously the obligatory snorkel, and I have extended the breathers for the diffs, xfer and gearbox up under the bonnet.

Is there anything else I should be moving/relocating/changing in case of drowning?
Is there a computer that should be moved?
Will said computer stop car from driving if it is damaged?

Cheers

Run an exhaust snorkel aswell, just incase you need to start it underwater.

Bigger tyres to lift it up a bit

One thing to worry about is the alternator. The dashboard will light up like christmas when you get anything on those brushes. It's reasonably easy to get to when you have to take the back off and give them a clean.

gabe wrote:Run an exhaust snorkel aswell, just incase you need to start it underwater.

Yes, I forgot that one thanks

98lux wrote:Bigger tyres to lift it up a bit

When money permits..

Toy80Diesel wrote:One thing to worry about is the alternator. The dashboard will light up like christmas when you get anything on those brushes. It's reasonably easy to get to when you have to take the back off and give them a clean.

Oh yeah Dad has had trouble with that one on his 80.. wonder if it could be shrouded or lifted higher or summit. or just religiously clean it out after each trip?

i had my hzj105 partially submerged for about 10 minutes (dont ask!) and kept engine running no probs. Has a snorkle.

Alternator was submerged for the duration, and 2 years later its still kicking. Have breathers on diffs and box, and didnt get a drop of water in any!

But when water started leaking into drivers side footwell that caused some small problems. I got a few short circuits in the J-box in drivers side kick panel. only caused minor problems, which were fixed easily. Engine never stopped.

Mike

when you fit the snorkel seal up the drains in the bottom of the air cleaner
and if you get stuck in water dont switch it off
easiest way to fix the alternator problem is to fit a bosch alt we used to fit these to the mine trucks as they can handle a bit more abuse

The best advice I can give:

Fit good tyres (ie, plenty of tread, good pattern with plenty of grip in sand or rocks, etc). That should help at least to keep you going forward.

A mate of mine stopped (not by choice) in Nolans Brook on the telegraph track recently, it got a bit wet inside. It's one in particular that has a sandy bottom, and was fairly deep. An extra couple of mm of tread would have helped, as would a front locker as the rears bogged down, and the only front spinning was the RH side, as it was up in the air (or off the bottom at least - it was still underwater)

If you can keep going forwards, and spend as little time as possible, the risks of water inside the car are minimal, provided all the bungs are in place and the door seals are OK.

BTW, it pays to have the strap attached to the recovery point (as we didn't) so that if it goes pear shaped, you can get hauled out quicker. We had to dick around a bit to attach the strap as I wasn't as familiar with his recovery points as I probably should have been. He was probably in the water for a few minutes until we had him hooked up, and that was time enough to take water in. The whole time the engine was running - it's a TD42 GQ, so not an issue.

The other thing is water through the fan. They tend to destroy themselves when they hit the water. If in doubt, they say you can remove the drive belt (too hard), or tarp up. Either way, don't hit the water full bore or at max revs and you should be OK. My lux made it through without dramas, but I had near new tyres, and F&R lockers, so traction wasn't an issue. I had no power steering for a while after Nolans though until the belts dried out.

And a couple of other things, make sure all the joins in the snorkel are water tight. On the join from the snorkel to the airbox, I wrapped a bit of duct tape around it just to be sure. I also sprayed all the connections with a product called "De-Oxit D5" which is made by Caig Laboratories. There's a few places that sell it, like Prime Electronics in Brisbane. It puts a protective coating on the connections to stop corrosion forming. It works a treat. You can also spray it in the starter motor solenoid, and on the brushes in the alternator. It probably wont help against sand. One of the blokes I was with was having dramas with his starter solenoid, and we sprayed it with De-Oxit, and it worked fine for a while. It's not miracle spray, but it should help. Lanotech is not bad either.

If you're planning a cape trip in the nearish future (that is before the wet), you shouldn't have too many dramas. I was up there only a couple of weeks back, Nolan's brook was probably the deepest (it was up over the bonnet on the Lux), the rest were probably about headlight height at the most. Just be prepared before you attempt it, and have a backup plan (that is have someone who is clued up to your recovery points and another vehicle to pull you out). There were quite a few people travelling up that way, both in groups and on their own. The ones on their own generally tended to wait until another vehicle arrived before crossing, just in case things went wrong. It pays just to ask other drivers if they'd mind being a spotter or helping, generally they won't mind.

The only other crossing that was hairy was Pascoe River on the Frenchmans track. It's pretty steep into it now due to the errosion, and there are some big rocks in the middle to damage sumps and undercarriage. The water was very clear at least, just have a look first and plan your line. A spotter is a good idea on this one.

Good luck with it all, and enjoy the trip. I wish I were going back up there. Bitumen's boring.

Cheers

I would say just make sure the snorkel is air tight, and put a little bit of tape over the bottom of the aircleaner box drain point. Don't seal it up permanently as it's a good way to get rid of dust and leaves and crap that the snorkel picks up. in fact i have found water in the bottom of mine after a heavy rainstorm and none on the filter, the cyclone effect in the airbox is that good. Just take the little canister off the bottom and make sure the seal on it is in good nick.

Run a tarp on the front. I only did that once when i went up there last, i bought a small tarp and left octopus staps on it permanently so i could quickly attach it. A lot of times i never bothered, as long as you don't go through super deep water, or hit it at full noise/speed it was ok.

I wouldn't worry about the electrics. If it's a pov pack 105 it should be fine. the alternator will get wet but just let it keep running on the other side of the crossing to let it and the belts dry out.

dry out your brakes on the other side before you need them to pull up in a hurry, and use a spotter wherever you can to avoid large holes and big rocks. Other than that it's really not a drama

And yes, have a snatch strap already attached and in the window. You really want to limit the time spent farking around in the water attaching straps with the crocs around.

I normally wrap my starter with a couple of plastic bags, some duct tape and cable ties, then give it a good spray with crc.
Just make sure the plastic wont catch fire.

we were drivin through a sandy creek and got stuck for over an hour before a mate turned up and had a laugh before we started to pull it out and we had it on the hole time and me mates crusier never had a problem since and that was 3 years ago

stock.as.arock wrote:we were drivin through a sandy creek and got stuck for over an hour before a mate turned up and had a laugh before we started to pull it out and we had it on the hole time and me mates crusier never had a problem since and that was 3 years ago

Three men in a situation, and not a stubby between the lot of yas!!
Thats gotta suck!

yer tell me bout it straight after that we got into it tho lol

One thing i would do is change the bearings in the starter motor. The standard bearings are fully open. We got out 105 stuck in some muddy water for quite a while. after a week the starter motor started to give a bad bearing sound and sure enough they had some grit in them. Very easy to chuck in some zz's.