What If Questions for Overlanders
Common ‘What If' Questions of Overlanding
I am a ‘What If?’ type of person. Whenever I am planning for a trip I'm always tasked with What Ifs? By that I mean, as I equip my vehicle and pack my kit, I turn around in my mind questions like, what if you get a flat? This question will result in me packing the jack and then asking another question:
What happens if the ground is soft and how easy is it going to be for me if I am alone to replace this wheel.? So I will pack the two jacks that I commonly take in my Land Cruiser and now my HiAce. One of them is the standard Toyota Jack with its two metal rods, knowing how hard it is to jack up a heavy truck using it. So I also take a second, easier to use hydraulic jack as a backup. The backup is far easier to use than the Toyota jack. But the trouble with the hydraulic backup that it’s too tall. Once a tyre is flat, the axle under which the jack is placed is too close to the ground for it to fit. This means digging, and if the ground is hard, while being a preferable surface to jack on, the digging adds to the hard work. Trouble is, I cannot find a hydraulic jack that is short enough to fit under a Land Cruiser axle with a flat tire, and that will jack high enough to replace the wheel. So my choices are a short screw jack that’s hard to use, or a bottle jack that’s also difficult to use, but for different reasons. Enter the battery operated impact driver used on the Toyota screw jack using an adapter allowing me to spin the jack rod with comparative ease. The trouble is, using an impact driver could easily break the jack. So the backup cannot be left at home. Here is how the ‘What Ifs?’ play in my head.
(Recommended jack for Toyota 70-series.)
You need one that is not more than 190mm high. And must be able to lift about 150 mm.
Most bottle jacks are around 200mm high. The standard Toyota jack is 180mm high. But starts jacking at around 190-200.
Many ‘What If?’ questions have no easy solution. For example, what if the crank case cracks? What if the alternator fails? What if the starter motor fails? What if I lose a wheel bearing or shock absorber? While all of these things are possible, only a few are likely. If my engine is well maintained and not terribly old there is a very high likelihood that I will complete my entire trip with no engine issues at all. But when a vehicle gets old and especially with vehicles that are bought pre-owned, there is no way of knowing how well they were maintained or if they were abused. Then the ‘What If?’ factor becomes more important.
There is little we can do about the idea that we will lose our cylinder head, starter motor, gearbox if we are caught short in the wilderness. Are these acceptable risks.
How do we best mitigate these risks? Travelling with a group and carry some basic spares is the start. In the early days in my Range Rover, I carried two spare shocks a complete alternator, eight ignition cables, a coil, belts, condenser, points and a box full of nuts, bolts, screws, and other repair paraphernalia. For eight years and on all of the trips I did, there was only one that I did not need to open my spares box. But I had two things going against me: The vehicle was old and it was a Land Rover product. These two collaborated to teach me how the car worked. And it also taught me to be self-sufficient and to ask the right questions, whether while preparing for a trip, building my Rangie, or on the track itself. My theory was proven in 1988 when in a semi head-on with a Land Cruiser, I had to rebuild the entire front end of my Strange Rover in the remote bush in Botswana - a well documented saga. I made it functional and drove 1400 kms home sans a front end.
Right now, I am planning another solo trip. Experiences like this I try and do once a year, but like everyone, life gets in its way. But solo expedition travel is enormously rewarding. And not just for the trip itself but for the preparation process too. It creates a level of excitement inside me. That reminds me why I do this. Solo travel is demanding on the body, intellect and in a spiritual sense, enormously rewarding. I am currently putting together a course on the Overland workshop about solo expeditions. This will be my seventh big one. As part of it, I’ve made The Overland workshop now also available to all ASPW Experience members. And I am excited to share this piece of my experience on that platform.
Time I think to talk about ‘What Ifs?’ when it comes to electrics. Being able to diagnose problems in the bush is of course a massive advantage. Understanding how the installation has been done is equally valuable. And by doing the installation oneself adds to that massively. From the outset, this mindset has been integral part of the design of the Egon family of DC-Hubs. Do it yourself, easily, and not only understand the system in your rig, but be able to handle any What Ifs that come your way.
Our best until next month.
Andrew and Heiner
Check out ASPWexperience.com for Andrew’s community, now including Overland-Workshop.
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