bulletproof Chasm track re opened

[andrew007]

hi al,
wot club is going thu on queens b-day?which direction are they doing it?
cheers andy

[PigFmr]

It has just been mentioned on TV1 news that Waipuna was one area hit with heavy rainfall so I would hate to think what might have happened to the track.

Looks like a good trip coming up then on queens birthday with the club. Will let you know how we get on in a month.
Al

yep cant wait counting the days now

vince

[albundy]

wot club is going thu on queens b-day?which direction are they doing it?

Nth Canty, probably from the Grey end. But after all this rain it may even be rather difficult again. Might even discuss at the meeting about sticking our noses in at Waipuna see what the damage is. If Waipuna was hit hard it means subaru hill will be even worse now.
Al

[albundy]

Chasm track is still doable but be prepared for plenty of damage. Took us 10 hrs again. The gully immediately after you winch out of the chasm is pretty much undrivable. We put two trucks through, I had to winch most of it, Tim's truck is still intere. Bent a radius arm (U shaped now) and snapped a front shock. We sent the rest of the trucks up the new track around the bog. 4 hrs to get through actual Chasm. The trucks left in the actual river bed were directed to drive down the river bed and out through a farm. Nissan did well, no breakages but plenty of panel damage. I think the final tally was one truck, three winches stuffed, 8 beds popped. The track down through staircase has some pretty big washouts on it now, took some serious road building and I nearly put it on its side. Can't wait to go back in in 6 weeks with me mates from Aussie, are they in for a surprise.
Al

[albundy]

The rescue party of four trucks went in yesterday and got Tim's truck going and out. Final tally for chasm was 5 winches dead in the end. We started to get some snow coming over the range yesterday when we went in but didn't settle. Rest of group did the tracks around Reefton with more beads pooped, windows smashed and more panel damage.
Al

[MNC]

The rescue party of four trucks went in yesterday and got Tim's truck going and out. Final tally for chasm was 5 winches dead in the end. We started to get some snow coming over the range yesterday when we went in but didn't settle. Rest of group did the tracks around Reefton with more beads pooped, windows smashed and more panel damage.
Al

Where are the photo's You can't post comments like this and not share pics with us

[loppee]

Hey Al how did your new winch go? and are ya pleased with it?
Cheers Woody.

[Bulletproof]

A very long day for me. Up at 5am and decided to do a private run through the Chasm to see what damage the rain had done.

On my arrival at Reefton I ran into Tim Evans and Johnny Reay who with Jim Gardiner were running a trip for North Canterbury through the chasm .

I had a few things to do so told them I will follow them through later.

As I reached the Clark I heard them on the PRS saying the trip leader had sheared his winch pin on the Safari so caught them up real quick as they changed the pin.
Upon arriving at the Chasm they decided that Al and Tim should winch there way up and out first and they then starting winching through the bog.



John and Jim now winched out of the chasm and started winching the 2nd bank when all of a sudden the PTO self destructed and he ran backward.



In the meantime Tims winch got wiring problems and wouldn't turn off so Rik and Tim worked on that.
It was now decided to get Ned up front with his Safari to turn around and winch Johnny to up the 3rd bank. Half way up Neds winch burns out with the safari hanging on a tight wire.We now heard that Tim had solved his wiring but had now completely destroyed his Radius Rod and Shock absorber so we now have both tracks completely blocked.
Tim had also pushed a tire off the rim.







I then drove the Hilux up out of the Chasm and using a pulley block pulled Ned to the top .I then winched my own way up ,turned around and pulled Johnny up. I then hooked on to Tim and lifted his truck to remove the Radius rod .

I will do part 2 later.

Cheers Richard

[rokhound]

There had to be a decent sort of side-on impact to bend a cast radius arm like that!

[hosehustler]

Was a shame that happened as the truck was performing real well, damage was caused by a bead popping.....rim buried hard into an unseen tree root deep under mud......and winching hard with a wheel locked in where it was never going to move, basically winched the chassis off the suspension
Total damage was a shock and a radius arm, a simple fix in the end....the upside....all my welds held
went back next day with some bits and was mobile within an hour winched up onto the old road, turned around, back down into the chasm and out, drove home today.
Thanks to flag and nuts for the bits, and all the help given by those there, makes light work.

I see Richard got plenty of pics I only took a couple in the morning and then for some reason my hands got a bit dirty

[rokhound]

Wicked. You managed to winch your arm into that shape . That would be one of those "you couldn't do if you were trying too" numbers. Good to see your fab skills held up Tim, and there was obviously some good stress put on it

Looks like it was a good trip as well.

How did the Aussies EXW winch hold up?

[albundy]

Winch did well. A good nine hard pulls plus the usual log and tree removal. Only double lined once coming out of last part of chasm bog a caught up in tree roots, pulled out roots and all. Nearly pulled truck over sideways at one stage. More then happy thus far.
al

[hosehustler]

Have to say when I first noticed that I'd left the suspension behind I assumed the back mount had sheared off, wasn't till we'd done the shovel work that it became obvious

Has anyone else had one fail to this extent

[Chopper01]

shit tim thats a farken good going to bend it like that , so dose this mean you will keep one in your spare parts box now

[kruza wazza]

just wondering were the winchs elec or pto, ?

[Bulletproof]

Part 2
While Tim was removing the radius arm ,his father Rob and Rik with 40inch rock crawling tyres joined us for a thru trip to the Staircase while the rest went down the Chasm to the farm.

It is now 4pm with only 1.5 hrs of daylight for a trip that generally I do in 1hr.
We no sooner get going and Rob pushes a tyre off the rim. While fixing that the other side goes down so we have now cost 30mins.

No sooner is that fixed and Johnny jumps onto a stump with wheels in the air. His winch is broken so I now had to turn around to winch him off only to find he has stuffed his exhaust.

Night is coming on real quick and we have yet to drive around the 2-3 metre deep holes by the track. Just as we get going Robs tyre goes down again and it has now got dark.Tim had to walk in front of Rob because you can not see the holes over bonnet. Eventually we reach the Grey River and luckily it is real low and you could see the boulders in the headlights. In the meantime Robs tyre kept going flat and just when we thought it will be plain sailing to the snowy rd we find the Staircase Rd has been washed out.





It is now around 10pm. Johnny trys charging thru and breaks a CV. I then try snatching him but he ends up completely cast and at the same time his motor dies and the battery is flat. I turn around and with a pulley try winching but to no avail. We then hook Riks winch on as well only to burn Riks winch out.






We then hi-lift the nissan and start digging and then I manage to free him and jump start it.

I then winch Rik thru. Rob now tries to winch himself only to stuff his winch as well so I pull him thru as well.We now have stuffed 5 winches on the trip. On top of that the turfer also gave up the ghost.

It is now 11pm and just when we thought we were going home find that Rik has wrenched his steering box and he can't steer. The 40inch tires have taken their toll. Rik hands me his 160 piece socket set that I scattered all over the rd.

We eventually get home around 11.30pm which means the trip has taken over 12hrs.

We all had a good Day and by the time we had tea and talked a bit of bull shit it now 2am and I had been up 21hrs.

Richard

[worzel]

Hi Richard i would just like to thank you and everyone else who went for a great w/e

[Bulletproof]

Janet didn't go on the trip so this is the sum total of the Video I took.

Al getting towed out of Clarke

Tim running out of power out of Chasm

Rik driving down into Chasm

Johnny in Safari trying to get out of Chasm

Tim broken down in the shit



Thats every photo and vid now that I took

Cheers Richard

[MNC]

Janet didn't go on the trip so this is the sum total of the Video I took.

Al getting towed out of Clarke
Tim running out of power out of Chasm
Johnny in Safari trying to get out of Chasm
Tim broken down in the shit

Thats every photo and vid now that I took

Cheers Richard

Cheers.

[nuts]

nice pics richard so i gather the bits off the prado got tim going was good to see jim and tim over this side ( real westcoast)with john rae even if only for parts and a coffee

[albundy]

That same part were Johnny Rae went over caught me out three hours earlier and also in the dark. Took two hard` tricky winches to get the pig through. Then I had to tow Ned through in his nissan who had blown his electric winch earlier in the chasm. Thank god for lockers and Silvertones. I reckon Richard when anyone goes through next in that part look at the original track washout. At least that is a straight drop off. Maybe it can be rebuilt into a usable track. Bloody good weekend. Wife has made me promise to never take her back in there, yeah right. The kids are asking when they can go back.
Al

[PR]

Looks like you guys had alot of fun I got to get my shit together and get out wheeling

[fweddy]

Looks like a great weekend! I'm wanting to get back over the coast again some time soon. Instead we had a great test play for two trucks (my repaired Cruiser and a SASed Bighorn) down the Ashley

Looks like you guys had alot of fun I got to get my shit together and get out wheeling

I saw you on the motorway this morning PR - Are you living in Rangoon now?

[PR]

I saw you on the motorway this morning PR - Are you living in Rangoon now?

Yep I am turning more hillbilly every day

[Bulletproof]

I reckon Richard when anyone goes through next in that part look at the original track washout. At least that is a straight drop off. Maybe it can be rebuilt into a usable track. Bloody good weekend.
Al

I agree and thought about doing it the other night but at 11pm after being on the track for 12 hrs the thought of digging the bank down for half an hour didn't appeal but it would have been quicker in the long run.

The lesson from the day is that everyone needs top gear for the trip , otherwise be prepared to camp out.

Well set up trucks should still be able to go thru in under 2hrs. Jim and myself were back to Tims truck within half an hour of crossing the Clarke for the rescue.

Cheers Richard

[kruza wazza]

just wondering what winchs you broke, pto or elec, as am deciding which way to pull, so to speak!! cheers warwick

[albundy]

The PTO first blew a shear pin then shit itself bigtime, the rest where electric. They get really worked on this track. As Richard said, you need top gear. My electrics and therefore the winch shit itself in there last year.
Al

[Bulletproof]

just wondering what winchs you broke, pto or elec, as am deciding which way to pull, so to speak!! cheers warwick

There was a big variety of winches.

The first was a Nissan PTO. On the first bank a sheer pin sheered and then on the next bank blew the housing to pieces.

The next was a Chinese Electric winch which just went up in a cloud of smoke

There was a factory Toyota Electric winch off a VX I think that also burnt out the motor.

There was a Warn 8000 ? I think but it sounded a bit suspect to start with.

I dont know about the other one.

I have a Warn 9500ti with one single 1000CCA battery and it pulled everyone except Al even with the lights blazing and didn't hint a giving any trouble.

I would like to stress one thing. I cut 16 metres of wire off my winch so that it is only pulling on the first rolls of the drum because you loose 1000lbs pull every roll you come out and that only overloads the winch.


It pulled the 2 safari's and myself up the steep bank that blew the others without a break and then lift Tims truck in the Air so I believe you cant ask for more.

Cheers Richard

[hosehustler]

I can be a little sensitive at times, perhaps i'm reading too much, or maybe I just don't know what i'm talking about, but I didn't see any underprepared trucks, and most had gear and food on board to stay for several days.
Yes it's a testing track, hard on gear, can be done in a couple of hours in a small group if there isn't a breakage.
A bit of bad luck from several vehicles.....everyone has it from time to time.
Perhaps a cut a polish may be a better way to spend our weekends so we don't get our exploits digested Coronation street style

[wjw]

The most important thing of course is you all got out...