Wales Xmas Weekender 2021

[solarman216]

Hi all just getting the last bits ready before I leave for Wales for our last Laneing meet of the year, Rick

 

[elty001]

Have a good one:thumb2

 

[makeitfit]

One more sleep

 

[makeitfit]

Epic ☺

 

[solarman216]

Thanks for joining us on Sunday, Strata Florida was manic in the dark, after Zacs CB failed and he retrieved the one he lent me as his need was greatest, it freed up my socket so was able to use my sat nav, put in a new chip formatted it and set it running, took the chip out after strata so as not to over write it, got it on the lappy this evening and NOTHING I am so gutted.

so best I can do is a couple of stills, this one is Zac when he lost NSF wheel in very soft ground, problem was how to raise it up, now I have a sort of crane on my Patrol designed to pull out the ground anchor pins after use, have lifted a tree trunk or two with it before and was impressed with how it performed, so thought why not, it did well but stopped when I could see a deflection in the two uprights, was not bothered about bending those as have plenty more steel to make new, my concern was the weld on the bottom of the tubes they slid into, if that bottom weld gave out I could see my rad getting damaged, but we got it up enough to lay a board down with a trolley jack on top, plus a bit of digging managed to get the wheel back on

 

[solarman216]

And here we are on one of the lanes, all in all a great week end, Rick

 

[makeitfit]

Epic day out for sure
I've sent my pics to Zac, I just hate that imgbb

 

[Banshee]

Thanks for joining us on Sunday, Strata Florida was manic in the dark, after Zacs CB failed and he retrieved the one he lent me as his need was greatest, it freed up my socket so was able to use my sat nav, put in a new chip formatted it and set it running, took the chip out after strata so as not to over write it, got it on the lappy this evening and NOTHING I am so gutted.

so best I can do is a couple of stills, this one is Zac when he lost NSF wheel in very soft ground, problem was how to raise it up, now I have a sort of crane on my Patrol designed to pull out the ground anchor pins after use, have lifted a tree trunk or two with it before and was impressed with how it performed, so thought why not, it did well but stopped when I could see a deflection in the two uprights, was not bothered about bending those as have plenty more steel to make new, my concern was the weld on the bottom of the tubes they slid into, if that bottom weld gave out I could see my rad getting damaged, but we got it up enough to lay a board down with a trolley jack on top, plus a bit of digging managed to get the wheel back on

I nearly threw all those bleeding CB's out of the window!!! I'm adamant I've broken the coax on the two aerials that I had with me due to shutting them in the window. There's no way I could have had 3 dodgy CB's and Mic's with me!!! I'll get to fixing them over Xmas and report back what the issue was.

Thanks to you and Blocky for helping me get that wheel back on Rick :bow I'd have probably still been stuck in it now without your winch, cannot believe that lifted a T2!!!! :clap

 

[Banshee]

Epic day out for sure ��
I've sent my pics to Zac, I just hate that imgbb ��

Cheers Mukka

I'll sift through them and upload them after I've done mine

 

[Banshee]

A Thank You

Just wanted to take this post to extend a few thank you shout outs.

Firstly, a MASSIVE thanks to Elty for sharing the most spectacular routes with me, without those it would have probably been a weekend sat in the bothy :lol An awesome collection of lanes mate :bow

Next up, a massive thanks to Rick, Blocky and Ding Don Simon :guitarist: I enjoyed every minute of the weekend with you guys and some epic belly laughing had again as usual :roflol:

Another big thank you to Pete for turning up on Sunday and joining us and taking the lead on the Strata Florida, mainly to guide us through the water crossings :bow

Doing Strata Florida in the pitch black by full moon and clear sky with -1 temps and the water freezing in front of yours eyes was very very very special, I'll never ever forget that night, I've not been that excited in a while. Crazy to be in the wilderness to close to Xmas with such a cool gang

Pictures and Videos to come soon, stand by

 

[Banshee]

PICS

Better late than never!!! :doh A little thing called Xmas got in the way :lol

For larger, higher quality pics, please click on them

So after a later start than expected on Friday 17th, I finally made it to Rhayader and met up with Solarman, from there we had an hour drive to the bothy, we thought it better to convoy in together as I'd only been there once and phone signal is almost non-existent plus it was pitch black and I was relying on OS mapping to guide us right into the bothy



An hour later and we were pulled up and chopping wood for the fire



ANDDDD Relax :augie



After a most enjoyable night of conversation with Rick, daylight broke and we emerged from the bothy





Still plenty of timber left for the arrival of our new guests for the coming nights



Rick filling up with a bit of Diesel





Talking of guests, or first arrival appeared early on Saturday morn, Uncle Blocky and Molly :clap









After a little pack up and pleasantries exchanged we headed out



Disaster Struck :lol :lol :doh I was very embarrassed by this and also realised how lucky I was!!! The wheels I had fitted are from a late Patrol but I used standard Terrano wheel nuts and as a result the shoulders are different, as such, my wheel nuts worked loose over the rough ground and I lost my wheel



Thankfully after some help from Ricks winch and very very creative hoist setup, a set of maxtrax and Blockys trolley jack we were able to salvage the situation :thumb2











Rick wasn't being paranoid here checking his wheel nuts, I think he was locking his hubs :lol





























A beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day



Until we got back to the bothy to find Don Simon up to his axles :lol



Rick to the rescue again with the winch and a double line pull with Blocky as an anchor



Blocky's attempt at getting the fire going :nenau



AND Relaxxxxxxx :beer

 

[Banshee]

Day 2 and 5 trucks in the convoy :naughty

With Don Simon in tow and Makeitfit in the farm truck project, we made our way out once more





















Breakdown or no breakdown :nenau



































Frankengate

 

[Banshee]

I then decided as we had a resident local aboard for navigation, we'd do the Strat Florida by night

What a bloody night!!!! Full moon and a sky full of stars rolling through the fords and bog holes that were freezing over all around us, I won't forget that night ever and I'm sure they guys that were with me will be talking about it for years to come















Unfortunately, shortly after these shots, we were plagued with even more mechanical troubles. Don Simons suspension had collapsed on the passengers side, we had to limp the last part of the Strata and then another 6 miles back to the bothy doing about 15-20mph

That was a problem for the morning, until then we had another knees up but sadly makeitfit had to say his goodbyes early

 

[Banshee]

Day 3 - A cold, wet, dreary Monday



Rick said his goodbyes early with a long drive back to Bexhill on Sea, made sense to leave early so he could arrive back within the daylight.

Overalls on, it was time to have a look at Don Simons collapsed suspension. It appeared that the last mechanic that had been let near Simons torsion bars should have had his hands chopped off!!

It was evident from under the truck that the torsion bars were not home enough in the trunions in the lower arms :doh As such, the splines on the bars themselves were only JUST about biting onto the grooves inside the trunions. With all of the weight Simon had on board and a particularly bumpy ride along the Strata the night before, the trunion gave up and the bar spun the threads out

I loosened the torsion bar adjuster bolt and to my amazement the torsion bar just fell out by hand anyone that has ever tried to remove a torsion bar on a Terrano will know how much of a surprise that would have been.

We were luckily able to smash the torsion bar home further than it had been re-installed previously and by some miracle we were able to find some thread and luckily it held out!!!!

With that, Simon was on his way too, as fast as he dared.

Myself, Blocky & Molly then gave the bothy a clean up top to bottom taking all of our rubbish and giving the place a nice sweep up after some breakfast, then it was our turn to leave









A detour via Newport on the way home for me to grab some driveshafts and I stopped for a top up of Diesel as I was low on veg oil and not a Tesco in sight



Then home at last :surrender

 

[elty001]

Brilliant write up Banshee :thumb2
Glad you enjoyed the routes i sent over!!

 

[makeitfit]

Glad i was in the gang albeit just the Sunday, but defo my best day off for ages.
I have some LWB torsion bars if you want FOC just cover the postage.
Keep me posted for any future weekenders.
Cheers guys �� and Molly ��
Happy Christmas ��

 

[elty001]

Love the view from here up on water break its neck byway
At 545 metres above sea level I've heard this is the highest driveable byway in wales :thumb2

 

[lo_zarro]

very nice pics! i just gasped when i saw your wheel down

and eventually i gave a face to "solarman" nick!

 

[Banshee]

very nice pics! i just gasped when i saw your wheel down

and eventually i gave a face to "solarman" nick!

It's Rick but so close to Xmas I guess he did look a bit like St Nick :lol :lol

All I'm going to say is, I'm glad him and his truck were there