Wallers Rd - Reccy - Qld

[stewy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close stewy]

Had a great day out at Wallers Rd today with Richoson, Fozzy, LFaR adn CraigM.

On todays trip, there were a couple of hair raising moments, and was a great opportunity to test out the Recovery Gear.

It all started at Plainland Travel Centre for the crew to meet up.

As the crew walked into the Coffee Club they saw my latest mod to the FJ on the back window. lol



Our first bit of mud for the day,...some of us just can't help themselves and have to make a splash.




Matts effort here was more sedate



More on next post

[stewy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close stewy]

Post Cont.

The track was fine to drive and we were having fun until we came across a threeway intersection.

Matt and I jumped out of the cars and scouted the route.
It was obvious that if we went LEFT, that was easy, the RIGHT route looked easy-moderate, and the MIDDLE track looked like it could be challenge. So we went the Middle route.

Little did we know the next 200mtrs would take up 2hrs of our day !







After abit of guidance we managed to get Matts 150 through a very Rutted out challenging part.

Next up was me in the FJ. The FJ managed it well, but a bad line trying to straddle a large Rut which almost sore my undies turn brown. The onlookers gasped for breath as the FJ went into tripod mode and came close to leaning on her side.

It wasn't the best feeling to have your front wheels 1mtr or so in the air, and hoping the she doesn't fall on her side.

Never the less we were able to carfully correct the lean.

We then decided to try and move a fallen tree to clear the track to make the climb a little easier, so Matt volunteered the use of the winch, and he was keen to try the new warn out.

Part way through winching the log, the winch stalled,..."not real good as we had 15mtrs of cable unspooled".
Through alot of effort with a hammer, we determined part of the fault and the winch motor started to spool back.

After 2hrs of messing about, we reversed the Hill "which was hair raising in itself"

We returned to the bottom, had some lunch and took the easy to moderate way out.

It was getting late, so we aired up and said our goodbyes, but not b4 renaming Matts Winch appropriately. lol



cheers

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Didn't look that bad in the photo's?


Hutch- 2012 Prado 150, some TJM Kit.

[Fozzy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fozzy]

I've never seen a vehicle come THAT close to a rollover before - only the skill of the driver prevented some nasty panel work.
Cheers,

Dave

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Didn't look that bad in the photo's?

Photos never seem to show just how undulating and awkward this section was. With the 5 of us on the scene, we were all too busy to take time out to take more pictures of the events. And as Fozzy also said. today was the closest I've seen to a Prado ending up on it's lid. A very close call that would of measured in everyones books about a 9.9 on the sphincter scale!! Thanks for a great day boys. Can't wait to return to tackle that section at Wallers Rd! (only with more suitable boots)

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Sounds like a fun day out although winching a tree? Didn't anybody have a drag chain or a chainsaw?

[Fabes Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fabes]

Stewy,
I too came a bit unstuck last time round coming down that middle track...... It's a good bit of fun until you do one of those tripod moments.
http://postimage.org/image/nwuiggzht/

[stewy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close stewy]

Didn't look that bad in the photo's?

Hutch, this wasn't the money shot.



We unfortunately didn't get any pics of the 2 x incidents from Matt and Myself, as it all happened so quickly.

Just beyond the above pic,...say the next 10-15mtrs, was a rut and and steep bank you had to try and straddle.
My line was a little too LEFT, which dropped the drivers side back wheel into a hole which meant the left side was highside on the bank.
The end result was the front left wheel going skyward.
The shorter wheel base of the FJ doesn't help in these situations as the drivers side was leaning right over.

I don't even think I could have even opened the drivers door,... Thankfully Matt jumped on the passenger side sliders and tried to balance the car whilst I slowly and carefully reversed back down.

I parked it as seen in this pic for the next hour or so, while we tried to work out how we'd get other 3 x vehicles up here without incident.

We will have to revist and conquer this part of the track in the near future.

cheers

[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

Technically, it had some of the most challenging moments I've experienced. At one point, Richo was riding my sidestep like a pro yachtsman, helping to bring the inclinometer away from "change your undies". At other times, I wanted to take photos, but doing so might have left a vehicle at risk. No, there was just too much work to do; minds-eye imagery would have to do.

After my near-new winch failed, it meant others could not summit and I needed to find my way back down... Gulp!

Going down this monster was far more treacherous than the ascent. With all the weight over the nose, the pivot point at the front wheels was being tested. A nose-stand wih a quarter-twist might score points in the Olympics, here it would just go viral on YouTube. With some trepidation the descent began; carefully guided down by the team.

After dropping the front wheel into a hole, the car weight suddenly lurched over the passenger-side wheel. Not a good feeling. Against instincts, I kept my foot away from the brake. The only option was to let the Prado get its legs back under it, which meant ride the moguls to the flat spot.

Sheesh, the suspension soaked it up beautifully. It was a bucking bronco, but it kept the line and a moment later the wild ride was over. I breathed again.

Can't wait to try this again. Next time the winch ought to be working and we ought to summit. The winch failure is for ARB to resolve tomorrow. That will be the topic of another thread.

LFaR.

[berniebgf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close berniebgf]

Please let us know what the issue is with the Winch;

I've had my Warn 9000 for more than 7 years and besides changing 1 x solenoids (4) replaced, 1 x bushes replaced and 2 x services (one just before putting on the Prado) it has never missed a beat. And it has seen good usage and a fair few drownings...( on the 80 series).

Be interested to know what the issue was.....

Bernie

[Richoson Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Richoson]

As they have graded Mt Mee to a forest rd this will be the next fun place, the only thing is that it is only 26.5ks round trip and of that about 10 k's are 4WD required, the rest is a nice forest drive. That being said it still took us 4.5hours with the fun bit in the middle, add 20mm of rain and this would definately be a winch only track as the Wallers Rd end is steep and clay based.

I'll add some photos tonight, Richo.

[Hazza Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hazza]

Guys looks like you had a great time mixed in with 'OMG' and 'what am I doing'. Seems like a challenging place to explore and I would like to tackle it as soon as I get a free Sunday (kids sporting commitments Saturday and work every other).

I do believe I have located the spot on Google Maps but can you let me know the actual suburb so I can confirm.

Thanks
Hazza

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Heres a MotionX track record of the trip Hazza.