First adventure in Effii after the rebuild.

Stats:

29 days.
3333 kms.
523 lts diesel.
250 mils oil.
600 mils coolant.

Approximately 2700 kgs with full fuel, water, food, etc and both of us on board.

Average fuel consumption 15.7 lts/100km

Best fuel consumption 14.5 lts/100km, mostly flat, 90-100kph cruising in 5th gear. Innisfail to Townsville with numerous side diversions to beachs, waterfalls, etc.

Worst fuel comsumption 17.3 lts/100km, hilly, predominately 3rd and 4th gear 4wd dirt roads, anywhere between 40 and 90kph. Proserpine to Ravenshoe. May also be a case of getting used to the vehicle as this was the first three days.

Started and ended at Proserpine.

Overnight stops.

Burdekin Falls Dam
Douglas River
Innot Hot Springs x2
Tarzali Lakes
Malanda x2
Lake Tinaroo
Lake Eacham x2
Granite Gorge
Wonga Beach x2
Lions Den Hotel
Tyrconnell Gold Mine x2
Chillagoe x2
Herberton
Mareeba
Lake Placid
Cairns
Bramston Beach
Tully Heads
Mission Beach
Forrest Beach x2
Black River

The intent was not to get too remote but still try out the truck in various conditions. Only thing we did not do was 4wd low range work, maybe next time. We were going to go up the CREB track from Daintree to Bloomfield but it was closed, at the time there were trees down across it. Went up the Bloomfield Track instead, but although classified as 4wd only it really is only the creek/river crossings that you need 4wd for mainly for the ground clearance.

Issues:

Overheating. Only on the first day, long (about 5km) climb, second or third gear for the whole climb, electric fans did not turn on automatically and by the time we got to about 100m from the top gauge is approaching maximum and the overheat light turns on. Remainder of the trip I manually turned the fans on when gauge got to 1/4, never got above 3/4 remainder of trip.
I'm going to change the setup so that one fan runs whenever the engine is running and the other turns on when the gauge is at 1/2 gauge. I'll have to get it heated up and see what temperature I need the fan to turn on at. Current switch is on at 100deg and mounted in the upper radiator hose. Unfortunately I did not take the thermometer with me so could not check it at the time.

Radiator Overflow Tank. Not quite big enough, I was losing about 100mil every 500-600kms. I'll just have to source or make a larger one.

Clutch slave cylinder. Last day, 160kms from home, just coming to a stop at the roadworks on the Burdekin River bridge near Home Hill and clutch pedal goes to the floor as I'm changing down to second. Managed to stop it with brakes and then turn off the engine. Started in 1st gear and idled across the bridge and off the side of the road to check. Slave cylinder has a split in it and sprays fluid out when clutch pedal pushed. So worked out I can start it in second and change up easily, also change down from 4th to 3rd without problems. Don't really need below 3rd for the rest of the way home as there is only one place I need to make a full stop and no major hills. So we head home in 4th at 90 kph most of the way, longest time it's ever taken me to get from Home Hill to Proserpine. So what am I going to do about it. I'm changing the master cylinder to the original one for the diesel which removes the vacuum booster on the clutch but it's not really necessary. I'm also going to use the super duty slave cylinder which although plastic on the outside has a metal liner.

Places we'd go back to:

Tyrconnel Gold Mine
Lake Eacham
Innot Hot Springs
Chillagoe
Forrest Beach
Wonga Beach
Lions Den Hotel

Places we're not going back to:

Mission Beach Hideaway Holiday Village
Granite Gorge
Lake Placid Tourist Park

General Impressions.

Very happy with the diesel and rebuild. Fuel consuption is much better than expected. I would be happy with anything under 20lts/100km, compared with the 30-35lts/100km with the cleveland engine. I'll work on 18lts/100km for trip planning purposes this gives us 1200km range.

Truck sits better on the road with the shortened tray and repositioning of the camper body to over the rear axle.

Steering is good but still about 20deg of steering wheel movement before the front wheels start to move. This is all play in the steering box and there does not seem to be anyway to tighten it up. I'll investigate a RTC damper in place of the current one.



Pictures to follow.

 

Overlooking Burdekin Falls Dam from Glendon Road




Douglas River Campsite





Start of the CREB Track





Bloomfield Track Emmagen Creek Crossing





Bloomfield Track Wongabilla River new bridge construction





At the Lions Den Hotel

More to come

 

Ross,
Sounds like a successful test run as well as an enjoyable get away.

Glad you only had relatively minor teething problems although
the clutch failure could have been more of a drama if it had
happened in a more remote location.

 

Had a slave cylinder fail when we in Tasmania when it still had the cleveland engine.

Just after leaving Trial Harbour, west coast of Tas, here, after climbing up the first 100m of track and go to change into second and it goes straight to the floor. Fortunately on a flat part of the track and can start it in second. It's 23km of climb up from the coast to the Western Explorer then 10kms into Zehan all in second gear. Could not get it to start in third and could never manage to get the T18 to change gears up or down without a clutch took about 2 hours.

Arrive in Zeehan at 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon and manage to get the mechanic to order a new slave cylinder but it's not going to be delivered until Monday. So thanks to RACQ ultra care stay at the hotel/motel for the weekend. People there were great, lent us there beatup old hilux for the weekend, so got to see the sights of Zeehan.

So in future I'll be carrying a spare slave cylinder, I've got two of the super duty ones already.

 

Thanks for the report/pics Ross. I've always wanted to do the Creb track, but know its often closed, but good to hear about all the other neat places you were able to check out.

In regards to the "return to centre" steering damper. I don't like them, mostly because the standard pump is pretty stretched as it is (I forgot whether you did hydroboost or vacuum for your brakes?), and pushing against a spring with wide tyres just adds to the load. I also think they are usually fitted to mask an existing problem (either worn front end parts, or a ****ty lift kit that induces bump steer). I'd personally look at rebuilding your steering box first.
YMMV

 

Good post 4x4falcon, you sound like it is a great test run , I'm in Tassie so if you have any problems you need to address be sure and PM me, i maybe able to help you.

 

Day after we get home receive an email to say that it's open. Anyway it's only about 8 hours from here to Daintree so could be done as a short getaway. Friends of ours in Cairns want to do it so might organise a time with them. Although it's getting a bit warm up that way now.

Steering box was rebuilt about 3 years ago, so twelve months before I started the rebuild of the truck. Was leaking lots. I think the main problem is there is no adjustment in the steering box, unlike the falcons from the same years which had an adjustment screw on the top which would take up the slack in the box itself.

 

Thanks.

It was 4 years ago when we were down there and did not know about this forum at the time. We were there for 4 months January to April.

One day we'll go back and visit the areas we did not get to that time. That trip was the instigator for the rebuild.

 

Yeah sorry the brain was reading and at the same time not taking any thing in .ha ha
You can adjust the steering box same as the early falcons , but just do it at 1/4 of a turn at a time then test drive , i have just gone through this and finished up fitting a re-built steering box now all is good, the adjuster is only a part time fix.

 

So I found this adjuster. It's behind the chassis rail and there is no way to get a tool in there to adjust it without unbolting the steering box.

I don't think it was ever adjusted correctly in the first place.

I'm not getting any bump steer or wandering it just takes 20degrees of steering wheel movement before the pitman arm starts to move.

So just need to tighten up the slack in the input shaft movement.

 

Yeah that's what mine was like and i tried the adjustment but didn't make any noticeable difference so i had mine rebuilt , IIRC the steering box on you model was prone to crack around the chassis rail , they (Ford ) brought out a reinforcement panel to weld on the chassis rail, with the motor you have now i would think the adjustment would be a PITA to get to.

 

The ones that cracked were the three bolt mount steering boxes, without the reinforcing plate.

This is a 4 bolt with the reinforcing plate.

The engine is not an issue with getting at the adjuster. The adjuster is on the side of the steering box nearest the chassis so to adjust it I'd have to loosen all the bolts, then move the box to the left, then adjust it, then bolt it back up and see if that works.

I'll leave it for now, as i'm working on the clutch issue.

 

Okay i thought your model was the same, my wrong.
The adjustment procedure doesn't sound like fun , surely there must be another way ,sounds more like hit and miss.

Good luck with the clutch job.

 

So I've fixed the clutch.

Changed the master cylinder to the superduty version and put the superduty slave cylinder on. Made an adapter to connect the master to the nissan vacuum booster, so still have power assisted clutch. To me this is a better cylinder setup as the master is cast alloy and the slave is metal sleeved with plastic housing.

All fixed.


Electric fans. I've moved the sensor to the top of the water pump and changed it to on at 95C and off at 90C. Seem to work. While I was doing this I installed a proper digital temperature gauge. Haven't seen it above 95C yet but I'll go and do a hill run to see how it goes. At idle with 33C day did not get above 88C and manually turning the fans on dropped it to 80C. Being a diesel I know it should be running about 100C but I'm happy that I can leave it idling and not overheat.