Day 2 wasn’t an exciting day but it was eventful. TTB was even able to help fix an ABS sensor! More on that later. He woke early (he’s still on USA time) and went for a bit of a self guided tour. He took my phone along and the smart little bugger worked out how to use the timer function on the camera! I’ve never used it myself. Anyway when he returned he showed me the pictures which I’m now publishing on his behalf. He then expressed interest in going further off road but was unable to venture very far on his road tyres. I was able to cheer him up a little by telling him I’ll take him around in the 4x4 after work. For now here’s some of his shots.
One of the views across the next door neighbours vineyard.
TTB seemed to enjoy the wide open areas and serenity. Claims he heard a sparrow fart over 400 mtrs away, I don’t believe him but it is quiet here.
Another vineyard in the distance on another neighbours property. Clearer shot below.
He found the bush basher. Sadly I still haven’t repaired the head gasket so it’s non opporational at the moment.
Yeah it has lots of natural ‘speed holes’ for added lightness.
Some of the bush that TTB wants to explore further.
Another selfie.
Hopefully TTB has had his tetanus shot. Also is rust easily transmitted between metal objects? ;)
This is a disused vineyard on our property. It hasn’t been looked after for a long time before we got here and will be removed one day. The vines are actually holding the poles up! On a windy day the rows sway in a kind of hypnotic way, especially if there’s other work to do...
There’s trees growing in it!
More rust. TTB found the old ‘50s Austin truck and had a rest on the bonnet for a few moments.
Before they rusted shut those windscreens could pop out at the base for 1950's budget A/C.
A little tree climbing was next. TTB seems to be stumped as to how he could get up the top.
It’s a long way to the top so thankfully he gave up and found a pile of dirt for some ORAT action.
Although stock bugs are pretty good off road they really need more ground clearance and better rubber. Luckily I live way to far away from any businesses capable of making TTB a better off-roader so he will have to be happy riding shotgun in the 4x4.
Since waking up this morning there was a very strong smell of bushfire smoke in the air. There was a thunderstorm here during the night so most likely a lightning strike started a fire fairly close by. It wasn’t a windy day so we weren’t worried about it. In the center of the picture above you can see a spotter plane. It has been flying over all day which is not a normal daily thing. Cloud cover was low for most of the day so I’d say they had trouble locating the fire.
Has TTB found the gates of Hell? Not exactly, it’s a Wombat burrow. There is a lot of these over the property and the wombats tend to use a few burrows or they are shared. This one hasn’t been used recently judging by the leaves in the entrance.
TTB getting curious. He was all set to go on in until I explained that it’s dark in there and his head lights don’t actually work. Also the fact that if there was a wombat down there and it senses an intruder it would flatten itself out as much as possible in the tunnel and wait until the intruder climbs over it, then it pushes itself up towards the roof and crushes the life out of said intruder. Many dogs have been lost this way. TTB decided to remain outside.
He’s doing ok off road!
He still wanted to see more of the bush so it was time to get the 4x4 UTE! fired up!
*Needle scratch sound effect*
Then I remembered that the UTE!! has an issue with the ABS that for some bizarre reason stops it from going into 4WD! It happened a few days ago and I hadn’t looked at it yet as it was ok in normal use. Yes the ABS, VDC and TC were nonfunctional but as I live in a rural area and have a long twisty gravel road it was way more fun to drive. No pesky computer dropping the engines power during an epic power slide even when I’d turned off the TC button!
So that’s why the lights are not going off on the instrument panel! Busted wire to the ABS sensor!!! Damn, that’s a problem. The local auto part shop will ask me to spell ABS if I call them for the part. The closest NISSAN dealer is a long way away and they will need to order the part in from Mars or Neptune, which ever has the slowest shipping. I was going to give up on the 4x4 plans.
Then I looked at TTB and remembered that he has been in a few workshops and around a lot of cars in his time, he is a car FFS! He may be able to help fix the issue!! He agreed and out came the tools.
That was easy, TTB was able to correctly identify the socket size first time! It’s a metric thing I guess. He then explained the ‘Lefty loosey, Righty tighty” method of determining the best direction to turn the bolt in order to get it out. Thanks TTB, couldn’t have done it without you.
While under the vehicle TTB wanted to look at the tail shaft, he still thinks it’s a strange concept to have such a thing spinning around under a vehicle.
Here he looks out smugly, thinking to himself how effecient his design is not needing tail shafts and chassis rails. Anyway it’s time to have a close look at the sensor issue and try and find a solution.
So it seems pretty straight forward. Just reattach those little copper hoses that the electricity flows through. Hopefully I can fix it so there’s no leaks in the system. Hate to come out in the morning and find my battery has drained all over the concrete. That stuff is shockingly difficult to remove. I have heard that if you place an iPad or iPhone on it it will suck up all that power in no time but I’ve not had a need to try it out.
Ok in order to get to the copper pipes I’ll need some better access. TTB was a great help during this attempted repair.
So I carefully cut into the plastic housing hoping to expose more of these pipes.
So far so good. I didn’t chop them off!
I used solder to glue them back together. At first it wouldn’t stick at all but then I grabbed the soldering iron and plugged it in, once it was hot the solder surrendered.
One down.
Two down!! Awesome! TTB tells me I should find a way to stop the pipes from touching or they could explode and let a lot of magic smoke out. Apparently when the magic smoke leaves the system it will no longer function. Not ideal.
Following his advice I very carefully wrapped them individually then wrapped about 10 mtrs of tape around the pair, I don’t think it’ll leak.
Well installation was just like he said it would be! Exactly the same process as removal but in reverse! TTB could be an awesome shop manager. I guess it’s time to see if the fix worked.
Well what do you know! The mission was a success! Thanks TTB, I’ll get you a 1:32 scale pint of your favourite fine machine oil.
Thanks for looking.