Our Touring Past

Howdy.
I got up early Sunday morning 5.00am and shot up to Tuncurry in the panelvan with TD on behind for the Mid North Coast Motorfest.
The Vintage van fraternity had been invited by the organisers to display their vans.

I arrived shortly after 7.00am and set up next to the BBQs. Wasn't long after that when the fobbergross brigade arrived ... Cliff and Ingrid with the big 16ft Silver sunny ad two other tagging along behind.
Old mate and his wife that use to come to Munmorah arrived with their Gypsy bondy.. and the little Propert slotted in behind them..6 vans in total.

Here is a few happy snaps...












Lunchtime came around and I was just hooking up the Gas BBQ to boil up some water for a cup of noodles.. a pretty ordinary sorta lunch

Then I heard Ingrid calling out to me... done a u turn and headed over to the BBQs and visited .. "Ingrid and Cliffs Hot Dog stand"..


and indulged my self in a beaut Hotdog roll.... Thanks Ingrid !!!

The day was absolutely beautiful . A great venue right on the edge of the channel.
Presentation time and.... Here is a couple of smiley faces who one best vintage van...


Congrats guys.
Good to see Cliff doing so well with his health and enjoying the day out. Well done guys.

All over by around 2.00pm so I headed for home. Had a great run on the expressway .. sat on 110kph all the way back to Raymond terrace where you .. the car .. and the van get violently shaken by the rumble strips to remind you to slow down to 70KPH... Thinks to my self geez those strips sure give the van and coupling a rough time ( more on this later) .. then behaved from there to the roundabout at the top of the M1 motorway observing all the ups and down with the speed limits.,.. I made the decision to take the old main road home.. an 80kph road .. so just kicked back enjoying the drive.. Got to Minmi and slowed to the 50KPH zone.
all good....
Those of you that know .... Minmi has a steep little hill in front of the pub and I alweays go back a gear to get up it with the van on... there is a nasty little dip in the roqad right out front of the pub.. and I wacked it pretty hard..... heard a horrible noise from back behind me .. checked the rear view mirror and noticed that the TD was very much "Nose down "" Just cleared the crest of the hill when I heard a loud scrapping noise.. slowing... looking for somewhere to get off the road...
By now the TD was getting further back from the car than it usually sits and the noise was getting louder as the van ploughed up the tar.
Finally got off the road just in front of one of the mates from the bike clubs house.

Fortunately the whole show had stayed together and not broken off and headed back down the pub hill on its own.
It took me about 15 mins to get the van off the tow ball..
So.. what was the issue !!??



I thought I had snapped the drawbar.
What caused it... Not excessive tow ball weight.
Just metal fatigue at the weakest point off the towbar. right next to the flat bar that is designed to spread the load across the towbar.
The towbar has never been subject to any harsh blows. excessive loads or creased in anyway .. and had never shown any signs of cracking... the shaking it got back on hose rumble strips must have been just enough to crack the tubing after all these years and from there it got worse over the next 15 kilometres.
All I can say is I was a luckier person than anyone who one a trophy on the day.
I shudder to think what the outcome would have been if it decided to break on the highway at 110kph
Mate lent me his ute. I towed the TD home and went back and dropped the ute off and drove the van home.. all good.. Just gotta find another towbar for the EH now. .. or build one out of square section ... never been keen on tube type towbars??

Reddo

Gez Reddo another of those nine lives used there.

I should think all our old tow bars are round tube type, mine certainly is and I'll be giving it a thorough inspection.

It may have been cracked for a while by the look of the rusty part of the break compared to the new shiny bit.

Not a pleasant feeling when such things happen. I lost a hired tandem car trailer back in the 70s, the weld on the flat piece that the tongue attaches to broke and the bar was only a few years old and hardly used. The manufacturer didn't want to know about it when I contacted them which is something I probably should have pursued. The outcome wasn't pretty, it was dark and when I found the trailer it had clobbered the biggest link pole on the side of the road you could find. Help was soon at hand though as the impact dropped out two links and blacked out the local show!!! The tow ball, tongue and offending bit of plate were still in the coupling.

Good luck with the new bar.

George

Hi George
up.. I had a good look at the break . There is a section right next to the flat bar brace about 40mm long that is rusty. It appears that instead of building up a good weld around there it had been undercut and thinned the tube in that area.

Over a long period of accelerating and braking it has weakened the tube to a point where it has simply given up. !
Those rumble strips certainly shake the crap out of the coupling and drawbar when you hit them.
I always back off to less than the recommended speed when I see them things .. but by the time you get to the far end you are fair bouncing up and down as the strips get closer together. Not good for the old cars suspension either.

Will look into heavy wall square section like the Hayman Reece tow hitches next time.. but still with gooseneck and 2 bolts .
Here is a link to the Great Lakes Advocate Newspaper article with photos of the motorfest..
http://www.manningrivertimes.com.au/sto ... y/#slide=7

Regards
Reddo

Geez Reddo,you`re very lucky indeed.Hope you bought a lottery ticket. And glad to hear that you & the teardrop got out of a rather tricky situation.Could well have been much much worse. gordo

Hi Reddo, Looks like it was a great show that was well attended. I was meant to go, but I had a fall at work and injured myself and wasn't well enough to go. Wish I was there. Not good news about your tow bar, but lucky you found it out when you did and no damage was done to your TD. Monica

Hi Reddo
Looks as though it was a great day and the weather was kind.
Once again the Reddo luck has kicked in, well so to speak, lucky you didnt lose the teardrop that is.
Cheers.