Pinzgauer Log (1)

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Preparations

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			Started feeling a mild vibration at higher speeds (or more vibration than normal) through seat and body. Knew it had a small oil leak from front right wheel, which I changed the inner seal on before we left, so decided to check it out at next major stop. Opened the oil level plug to top up the oil and it gushed out a mixture of oil and water. Checked the inner seal and noticed that the hex nuts were not fully tightened. So looks likely that the hub filled with water after I drove through a ford at home. Stripped the whole wheel, and cleaned it all and blew out axle with compressed air, checked diff oil no contamination, some small movement in the wheel bearing (might be tolerable, will check with Peter or Dale, some small metal shavings on sump (gulp!) Will do oil change on this wheel again and check sump to see if any more wearing going on.

	Running well but not sure if it isn’t missing a little, tried to remove the plugs but third one back seems tight and am not sure if it hasn’t been cross threaded or not. I decided that since were still motoring along I would leave it until I have the full parts to change over to civilian ignition before further tampering.

	Because of the weight on the back I am paranoid about the rear springs, they seem to be getting lower, subjectively (paranoid subjectivity). I am making contingency plans. 1. Move the bike to the front when we hit Morocco, and move the spotlights up higher. 2. Have a stiffer leaf spring made to replace the middle of the three. 3. Ignore the problem hope it never happens. 4. Sell many belongings to the Tourag in the Sahara when were stuck in the sand.

When the voltage of the batteries drops the inverter starts making a high pitch warning sound that goes on and on. I’m not sure it matters so much with the deep cycle batteries if they are discharged lower than normal but the alarm matters as the Inverter may get a bloody good kicking one night.

Some possibilities

1. At the moment there isn’t a remote switch to the inverter so all the 12v has to shut down to shut it up. May put one in.

2. Conserve power and if we are finding that in sunnier climates still running low, install a second solar panel.

3. May open the inverter up find the bit that whines and thrash it.

Spotted our first Pinz on the trip, a diesel. Karel was heading south to Morocco as we were heading north to the Alps. He was from Holland and had left his wife at home to go looking for fossils with his dog. We were struggling with translation most of the time but managed to swap details as his wife Irene could speak more English. We were all over his Pinz and got quite excited by his leaf spring modifications. Apparently the leaves were off a VW LT 50/55 and the U-bolts from a Mercedes.

	Need to drop the left fuel tank and replace the fuel line, it hasn't been running well and I think it may be sucking air or leaking fuel. Should have put all new on when put them on truck but didn’t (balls).

	Have noticed the hand break cable is badly frayed, would feel better having a spare on board. Will contact Dale and get him to send a new one.

	Don't know where its gone, but cannot see how slow we are going in the dark.

	Been having to pump the breaks twice to get full effect, was sure adjusted all round so couldn’t understand what was happening so did a full check all round. One disadvantage of the pinz is that you have to remove the wheel to adjust the breaks. So took ALL six off, pads looking fine, no evidence of oil leaking into the break housings and no break fluid leaking. Finally found that front left had not been adjusted at all and was cause of problem.

	Dipped the oil, and it was below the bottom mark, Have been checking every 500km or so and was fine(that’s a complete lie). We do have a slow drip escaping but now I’m just more than concerned that we have a more serious problem. Haven’t detected any loss of power, but with the slight possible missing problem, am imagining all sorts of scenarios.

	Examined the points, very burnt with small spike, which has closed the gap. Changed the points and re-set timing, running much better.

	Rechecked the points, new ones also burnt, spoke to Dale and says likely condenser, have ordered two new condensers.


			Were having exceptional problems with condensation, not in the original body but with the wood extension. Originally I thought that wood would be a good insulator, but apparently not. Our plan now is to staple a lining of carrymat to the inside of the back cupboards and bedding area to try and alleviate the problem.




	The lining of the back of the truck has helped some with the condensation but under the mattress above the water tank is positively swimming each morning. Have decided to place some insulation between the water tank and the truck body. We pulled in at a Bricolage on the way to the Alps, It seemed to be very busy and the office was crammed with builder types. When we walked in it was obvious that they were having a Christmas bash for the staff and clients. We joined in and had wine and mince pies. I managed to convey in French my predicament and the type of insulation we were looking for. It turned out to be really expensive but one guy nipped of to get us the end of a roll. We then pulled over at a lay-by and emptied the tank, removed it and inserted the insulation. Did it help, did it buggery.

			We spent the next afternoon in the company of Jean-Michel Aime and Maryse Kern a lovely couple and avid truck collectors. I thought ‘my uncle Martin would love this place’. Jean-Michel has been collecting trucks for 10 years and now owns 30 Swiss army 712 Pinzgauers along side a whole menagerie of other trucks. I told him we could get a small army together and start a little coup de tat. After looking over our truck, Jean had some grave concerns about our suspension, actually less grave and more humorous. An endless stream of jokes hammered home the reality to us that things were not all well with the truck. It was then that he recommended a good garage that we should use, in Switzerland, 500kms away!

			Güt Automobile was set up by Christoph Güt, and is a dedicated Pinzgauer garage. Not only was the engineering first class, the workshop was impeccably tidy and every tool was clean and in its designated place, but the hospitality we were afforded was beyond. We lived onsite for 3 days, Christoph made sure we had everything we needed and provided an electrical hook up for the truck (he even did our laundry for us). On the Monday we arrived, the garage was very busy so I was able to do a few repairs myself. One of the great things about the garage is the empathy shared with you as an overlander. Christoph has done over 200,000km in his diesel converted 712, and he has travelled with his wife and son and knows what it is like to be on a budget, and he loves Pinzgauers.


			On route to the garage noticed oil leaking from the inner wheel drive seal on the back left. I removed the whole unit and Christoph took me through the whole process of changing the seal. I have still been having trouble with the left side fuel tank not working so I decided to remove it and open the top to inspect. Using a long grabber I reached inside and removed some plastic netting, I have no idea where it had come from but hopefully sorted the problem.

	We replaced the wiper blades with some from Christoph, which were Spanish, not Steyr, so only a few Euros and screwed directly to the wiper arm. I was going to change over the condenser to try and sort the timing and points problem, but instead elected to change over to an electrical ignition system and so removed the distributor for Christoph to install it (which he did, but also fully stripped, cleaned and reconditioned the distributor).

	Jools and I spent one very cold day replacing the rear springs for a much upgraded 4 leaf set, and the next day Thomas Güt (brother) changed the front springs and cups for heavy duty diesel type, a notoriously dangerous job without the proper tools and knowledge. Whilst changing the front and back springs we noticed two split cuffs and so bought six replacements to change over in Morocco, wrapping them in Gaffer tape in the meantime. Even with the new suspension it is obvious we are still far to heavy in the rear and some serious alterations will be needed in Morocco.

			We bought three 30litre water carriers in Mekenes on the way to Fez as I knew that the water tank had to go. First I replaced the voltage regulator as when driving at night previously the lights had become unusually bright for a period and I wondered if there might be a problem with it. I then replaced the two major gaskets of the carburettors as Christoph had noticed some fuel seepage. Finally we set to redesigning the rear. It was very regrettable to loose the water tank and bike but after I realised that the rear chassis was not really supporting much else I thought it could go also. It was only when we lowered it to the floor that I remembered how heavy it actually was, likely over 100kg. We remounted the lights and registration plate and dismounted the winch. I cut the tank up and have hopes to refit a section of it after some alteration into the floor of the truck instead of the plastic barrels.




	Seems every few km the fuse number 10 keeps blowing and the truck cut out, traced a melted wire from the coil to the resistor with help of Moroccan mechanic, still happened so after we went to his brothers garage by putting a wire across the gap. When his brother checked over the truck he went strait to my wiring of the rear lights and found the short. He even fixed the wiper motor coil with a tiny slither of wire that had burnt out when driving to the garage.

	Left fore suspension is making a rubbing noise each time we dip on that side, spoke to Christoph at Gut, who said to swap the damper for a rear one to see if that was the source.

	Started puffing a little blue smoke when pumping the throttle, Dale said check the breather pipe to the rear rocker but this was clear. Stopped after a few days. Reckoning I had simply filled the engine oil levels too high.

	So the blue smoke came and went and we thought all was well, we have travelled 10,000km and the off piste has been great but we need to move on from Western Sahara now So before we head off we take advantage of the cheap fuel and fill the tanks.


			After 150km driving we stop for the night on a sand dune on the beach with Campbell, Linnéa, Leon and Claire. In the morning I uttered the immortal words ‘lets go get stuck in the sand’ and so the truck refuses to start. We check spark and timing and can see fuel entering from the carburettors but still no joy. We phone Pete Bootland for advice in the UK and then open the carburettors and fill them with a different fuel source and manage to get it started.

	We head down to Dahkla, another 200km and next morning, we decide to recondition both carbs completely, but now no joy on new fuel (when we lit the fuel in the tanks it burnt with a thick black smoke and left a black mess on the ground). All I can imagine now is that we have lost compression and that something serious was going on (always go for the worst case scenario). We started stripping the engine down but just before removing the heads, I spoke to Dale in Scotland and he suggested just checking the Tappet clearances. We both were at rock bottom at this point and the thoughts of


	trying and failing again was galling, and to rebolt everything back together just to try, but Dale's suggestion was echoed by one of the mechanics in the campsite who was on the Amsterdam Dakar rally. On checking the clearances all the exhaust gaps were closed, 0-0.05 instead of 0.2. We bolted the minimum together just to try and see and it started first time. We worked all afternoon to rebuild the engine,

and thankfully Jools was on hand to stop me bolloxing the whole thing (I left the four cloths plugging the inlets inside after bolting on the Inlet manifold on...see photo!). We lengthened the fuel pipe and used a fresh jerry can of Super. I think that the tappet clearances were the problem all along and the poor fuel just highlighted this.

We drove 300km to the Mauritanian border.

At the border of Mauritania the truck was becoming difficult to start again, and the temperature guage was being erratic, flicking up to 120-130 degrees. The last thing we wanted was to be stranded miles from nowhere and with the fear of not being able to start again and the prospect of cooler night air we drove 7 hours non-stop through the night to reach Nouakchott. At Nouakchott a mechanic checked it over, and by removing plug leads decided one plug was misfiring and adjusted the gap. It seemed to run better. We took the truck to his brother’s garage the next day, that unfortunately was just another sand pit, and I spent the whole day working on the truck. We re-did the gaskets to the oil cooler and fuel pump and refitted the oil filter to try to reduce some oil leakage. Removed and cleaned the starter motor, as there also seemed to be a leak from the crank seal. Removed and adjusted up all the break drums and replaced the pipe for the break servo with a piece of stiff fuel hose.

The truck performed admirably over the soft sand and dunes in the desert and surprised me somewhat as I thought we would sink. Sometimes the oil temperature guage would start acting irately, and power was reduced, but one of the idle cut off solenoids had come disconnected.


			The front right retaining strap for the suspension has snapped, as has the bolt connecting the middle right damper and retaining strap to the axle. The Speedometer and kilometre guage has also ceased to work. The exhaust is held on with jubilee clips and the temperature guage says we are running at 150 degrees. The starter is making a whining noise and the truck struggles to start when warm, and neither indicators work. We have a massive list of spares for Dale to send out to Bamako, Mali!

	After three nights of interrupted sleep we think we have finally thwarted the insatiable Mozzy. You wouldn’t think such a small being could wreak such havoc and we have even considered fleeing home (due to malaria risk for Julie). We have parked about 20m from the shore of the Niger and so are besieged by thousands of the little bastards but it is helping us to perfect the defences: a). more mozzie netting over the roof hatch, b). a door curtain (to keep mozzies to a minimum in the back cab), and c). more velcro to fasten existing mosquito netting over bed tight to the walls. So far, it’s working.


			After demounting the drive I was able to take it to various garages but none had the right pullers. I finally ended up in a big expensive-looking smart Citron garage, but even then the puller they had was too big, I convinced the chief to grind a few milimeters off the tool and we managed to get it to fit and pull off the drive cog. To then push out the shaft (sorry but I can just hear Tom’s (bro) sniggering and double entendres about pulling off the shaft) we used a couple of bolts and a broken shock plate off a lorry. At the end of three hours the job was done, and the remounting no problem. At a different garage we removed the broken studs and remounted the exhaust, and removed the broken bolts for the shock absorbers. I replaced the speedometer and fixed the flasher unit for the indicators that had shaken in half. Two garages to recommend in Bamako, the Citron garage (on Route de Koulikoro) and the Chrysler Jeep garage at the end of the Grand Pont Neuvou (Quartier Torokorobougou, en face du Pont Roi Fahd).


			We fitted a second hand speedometer which broke after 500km but still kept kilometer distance, so better than the old one. On the road from Timbuku another suspension bolt snapped (middle left) and the back left shock, burst. To make the best of the pieces we had, we moved the middle shock to the rear of the vehicle, and using the spare short bolts from the front suss, we just reconnected the check strap on the middle left. We picked up another couple of nails in the tires and so had two puncture repairs. A small amount of oil is leaking from middle left wheel drive but not contaminating the breaks.

	On checking all the oil levels the transfer box was dry.

	Found the oil from the transfer box in the centre tube and middle diff.

	As we were just about to cross into Burkina, I noticed some loose nuts on the steering arms and thought best to tighten them there and then. The two Spaniard backpackers we were giving a lift to were keen to get the hands dirty, so the job didn’t take too long. We removed the front right wheel and brake shoes to get at the bolt heads on the inside. I was a little hasty in replacing, and misaligned the shoes, so as we drove off there was a knocking sound. We pulled up 10 yards further and cast off the wheel again and saw the error. One of the shoes had been twisted at the end so I popped up the road to a local welder and straightened it on his anvil, and he popped a couple of welds to strengthen it.

As we passed down through Ghana the truck became more and more difficult to start, we finally reached Accra and Ian Webster's garage ‘Pit Stop’(4th Crescent and Assylum Down, Accra: N 05˚34.160’ W 000˚12.316’. Mobile: 00 233 (0) 244 277 722; email: pitstop2006@yahoo.co.uk). Famous amongst overlanders, and a much needed halfway tune up spot, Ian offers excellent mechanics and great hospitality.

We camped out on the forecourt whilst I worked with the guys to fix a few problems. We put four new B F Goodrich tyres on the rear and whilst the truck was up, adjusted the breaks up and checked the pads.

We replaced the front shocks for two pinz diesel type that shipped from UK, then Ian told us he could find similar here and produced four more. We took the old bushes out of the originals and the guys pressed them into the new ones and so now we had new shocks all round.

On the front, the pads were very worn and the damage in Burkina to the shoe had also damaged the adjustment screw, so we had the shoes relined and did a little ‘African’ job on the screw.

As for the starting problem, I checked the clearances and timing, removed the four plugs and one of the guys cleaned them, replaced the fuel filters and emptied the sediment bowl. Ian did a compression test on the front three cylinders and all three were in prime condition.

The starter motor wasn’t turning so well and the coil was getting hot when the truck refused to start, but eventually in the garage we managed to get it to start ok.

After a couple of days, pleased as punch we left, got around the corner to the filling station and after refuelling the truck wouldn’t start again. I went over the routine checks again and eventually worked out that the fuel pump wasn’t working. On dismounting, I noticed that one of the retaining bolts was loose which would have raised the pump off the cam and stopped it working, pleased as punch we were on the road again.

			We drove from the garage at Accra 200km, to join Linnéa and Campbell on the beach at Ada. The camp ground was 2km down the beach on soft sand but in Low 2nd, six wheel drive and rear diff lock we managed without dropping the tyre pressures. After a couple of days when we came to leave, the truck again refused to start. The starter was turning weakly even though we still had 24v in the batteries but we attached up a jump start from a 24v landcruiser to see if a bit more juice would help, but no joy. We then attempted to tow the truck off the beach by linking the landrover and landcruiser in series, but the Pinz didn’t even move an inch.

I checked through everything again. You could see fuel pumping from the carbs, there was spark at the plugs and the timing was on the mark at tdc. I was left with two possibilities, either the coil and protective resistor, or the starter motor. Campbell and I took the coil and started back to Accra to ‘Pit Stop’ and Ian sent one of his guys with the motor to recondition. The bushes had worn and the armature was shorting.

We couldn’t find a replacement coil but I measured the Primary and Secondary resistance and they seemed to be close to book value anyhow.

We returned to the beach. I measured the resistance of the protective resistor and it was ok also. When I went to mount the starter however, I noticed that when reconditioning, someone had cracked the solenoid housing, so we bush-welded it with some ‘Hard and Fast’.

On remounting the starter it span the engine much better but wouldn’t start. In desperation I bypassed the protective resistor with 24volts directly to the coil and now it started spitting flames and fuel back out of the carbs. Pete in the UK on the phone warned of cracked valves but offered one last alternative. Swap the electronic ignition back to manual points.

I couldn’t see how they could be faulty since they were only six months old and each time we checked, the timing was spot on. So finally in desperation, I swapped the dizzy cap, leads, plugs, and replaced the old points. The truck leapt to life, the joy was overwhelming, and from rock bottom we were now on an amazing high. I rang Pete to thank him and in his thick northern accent his next piece of advice was "tek’ that electronic ignition and chuck it in tha sea".

We left the truck running as we packed, our first priority to get off the beach.

As we retreated from the beach in good spirits, the truck made some huge clunking noises, which shook the whole drive train. The bottom fell out of my stomach. I thought it might be because the oil leaking into the clutch was making it slip and bite after three stationary days, so the next morning we dropped the gearbox out changed the clutch plate and went to Togo (not bad effort, changing your clutch plate and country in one day).

	Surprisingly we passed through a country without a problem, ok it was just Togo but also Benin went without much of a hitch, must be the powerful ‘ju-ju’. As we had a little time on our hands I decided to check the alignment of the front wheels as we had been pulling to the right a lot. Amazingly I found a garage with the necessary equipment but as they couldn’t free the track rod arms I didn’t want to start messing with the bushes so let sleeping dogs lie, if you catch my drift.

	Since we had so much time to spare in Abuja at the Sheraton (Nigeria) I finally resolved to sort some of the long-term problems that had been niggling the truck. I traced the oil leak that had been marking our route for so long to the oil filter and cooling housing. It had been done in Nouchchott (Mauritania) but not as done as I was. When I removed it once again I found that they had just left the old paper gasket and smeared some silicone on top. I fished a replacement gasket out of the kit and that sorted that problem. Oil and filter change at the same time. Adjusted tracking, the track rod ends responded to the pipe wrench this time. Re-checked the points and timing.


			O.K., so we’ve done the rocky-mountain crossing and sand-dune bashing, how else can we test the pinz? Best try and bash our way through some thick jungle. We managed to find a disused track through a National Park which had not been in use for several years. At most, the track was open to a motorbike but in some sections just thick scrub. We were travelling with Mark and Karina in their Landy but it soon became evident that the Pinz had some advantages in the lead. Mostly it was the fact that we left a huge hole to follow but otherwise it was that we had a better view (no bonnet).

	We did again pay the price for breaking trail, as the road collapsed under the back wheels and put us in a similar position to Morocco, not as dangerous but just as difficult. We strung the Tirfor from a tree to secure the truck before investigating further. The rear right two wheels were hanging in space as the river had undercut the road, the back extension was resting on the road and the front wheel was two foot in the air. In fact, a standard 712 would likely have rolled. After tensioning the roof rack to a tree we spent half an hour trying to decide which way to winch the truck with the Landy before I remembered that the pinz could do remarkable things and just drove out (with the tirfor preventing any further tipping).


			After two days in the jungle the vehicle lost its front and back covers for the awning, the cover to our external water taps and our ‘Ecosse’ sign. We broke one new shock absorber and another bolt and bent the fridge grill and indicator guard. I would say we also scratched the paintwork, but it was buggered long ago.

	Still, since we ditched the electronic ignition in Ghana the engine has been running great.

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