What spares should I carry?

OK I don't want to get caught out again

What spare parts do people carry with them incase they have a roadside breakdown?

Bel's a '58 36hp, 6 volt

I'll get the fuel pump.
Have a fan belt
" set of metric and imperial spanners
" pliers
" jumper lead and know to earth for 6 volt
Carry oil
Will put screw driver/s into tool box, noticed that it was needed for removing fuel pump
Most commonly used sockets?
Should carry one of my manuals in Bel and hope I can follow instructions😀

Fuel filter and lines seem to be handy things to carry?

Not always going to be near Col's place and need to be able to cope with simple repairs. Suggestions will be most appreciated.

Cheers
Jen

I would carry a few little sealable plastic baggies for nuts, bolts and screws. Take a few 10 and 13 mm spares. You can get these from any bank for free.

Definitely take something to clean your hands with - the little sachets of windscreen lemon detergent make great on the road hand cleaners.

As you have a 6V, I'd take a few fuses, and a few spare globes as well.

Torch
Duct tape
Scissors
Automotive electrical wire
Vice Grips
Coat hanger wire & bail tie down wire
Rubber Bands
Brake Fluid
Degreaser
WD-40
Breaker bar/flex handle
All your sockets
Ratchet
Feeler Gauges
Timing Light
Ruler/measuring tape
All your manuals
Grease
Hammer/mallot
Knife
Glue
Spare globes for all important lights
Multimeter
Various screwdrivers
Mirror (i use an old rear view mirror)


Um thats mostly what i carry as well as the stuff already mentioned

it took me bout 30 secs to make this little gadget, its a hubcap remover after some bastard at bridgestone scrached my hubcaps while doing a tyre change i was very pissed off so i made a little remover all u do is get a bit of wire twist it a few time and bend the ends so that they slide straight into the 2 little hubcab holes works everytime 🙂

TOILET ROLL incase you get caught short
in the middle of no where 🙁 :o







I also use it to check my oil and clean up with:thumb

[Edited on 8-10-2002 by Mr Bubble Head]

Hey thanks for the feedback

I have a few things to collect

Forgot that I have a hammer in my tool-box, and fuses and globes in glove box

Yep toilet paper does come in handy for lots of things

OK some socket sets are massive and expensive. Is there a size/set that covers your average needs?

Does anyone carry a spare carbie or do you blow it out if a jet is blocked? Don't know if I'm game to try it one my own.

A couple of spark plugs, even used ones. They don't take up much room and you'll be glad you did, one day............🙂

Did anyone say mobile phone and RACV membership? 🙂


Jay

Queen of Chat

Have both.

Mobile phone ran out of power and RACV offered a tow the day of Drouin.

Must remember to keep phone charged. :thumb

Everything they said plus...

Zipties of various lengths
Insulation tape
Duct tape
Poncho/s for the wet weather
A beach towel.

I have a beach towel I put over my windscreen during hot hot days and it is heaps useful for everything. I have a $80 socket set which is small but very very useful. Imperial and metric and an old sock that has selected open & ring spanners with a test light thrown in. I also have a small tackle box with 3 types of pliers, nicknacks like screws, bolts and electrical things. I keep extra brake fluid and 10W30 oil, tow straps and 4 litres of water. I don't pump it but love to drink when pissed off!

Cheers
The Bronze.

Stockton beach extracting a tierod arm.
Did you know it's $300 just to get someone to come and have a look and not even tow you yet. Thanks to Stewart we managed to salvage this weekend!
I owe you one mate.

A mobile would be handy but don't count on it. Evertime I've really needed one I've either been out of range or who I'm calling is out of range.

Stewart also had this excellent exhaust inflated jack. I doub't any normal dubber would need one but this thing was just the best piece of kit I've ever seen.

The Bronze.

Yep, them air bag thingies are the bee knees for an off-roader - but for a more normal VDubber: add a "bottle jack" (hydraulic - pick 'em up at K-mart😉 10, 12&13mm deep sockets; plugs, points and a cap (condenser😉 torch (often forgotten😉 a tube of "gasket maker;" and some electrical tape. I can't remember the size of the gen pulley nut at the moment; but carry that socket too - when stuck in the middle of nowhere, you'll probably find you can't undo it with a ring spanner. I also carry a can of "aero-start;" an aerosol can of starter containing ether - so I can start the most cantankerous engine (considering the cars some aboringinals will consider driving, this is very practical around here...) It's also great for starting any engine for the first time.

Hey, what goes? This board is picking up my punctuation and putting in smilies! I'll leave it that way, but: most people appreciate smilies more than correct grammar...

Hey Bronze

Thanks for the tips 🙂

Looks like that inflatable jack is just what you need on sand, can't imagine how any other kind could ever work in those conditions.

Know what you mean about mobiles. We did a run over the Murray a few weeks ago and we were out of range

I hardly use mine so keep forgetting to recharge it. My daughter is disgusted in me, well she's 19 and communication is important. 😀

Think I'm getting a picture of the sockets I need, really helped watching someone do things like Col

Poncho will really be handy here in Vic 😀

Those zipties are good I have some to keep cable neat and out of the way but don't have spares

Always have oil, seems to be the number one rule

Think I'm getting a good list here, getting my head around it

Cheers

Jen

If you're driving in outback NT, WA, SA, QLD or NSW, I'd suggest an EPIRB (about $200), a CB radio / scanner (cheap ones are very cheap but have limited range and good ones are expensive - but MW radios work REALLY well at night) and a GPS unit ($350 on up). Victoria, Tassie and metro areas you don't need these things. But if you're taking additional water and extra fuel just in case, an EPIRB is that last bit of the "just in case".

And as Herbie proved, a bottle of kero is invaluable for firing up the engine if you have carbie / fuel pump issues.

Andrew

[Edited on 8-10-2002 by vanderaj]

70AutoStik wrote:so I can start the most cantankerous engine (considering the cars some aboringinals will consider driving, this is very practical around here...) It's also great for starting any engine for the first time.

hey careful about you say, racist remarks aren't very nice.


anyway a socket set ranging from 8mm to 20mm should cover 90% of the fasteners, as well as a 36mm for the axle nuts and gland nuts, and maybe a 30mm for the pulley bolt .

Thanks for the socket sizes, I've gone and looked so many times now and end up walking away confused or deciding I can't afford it that day because I know I need a couple of the larger sizes as mentioned. I pick up the smaller set and get the two larger ones seperate.

I have the spanner set with a ring end (elcheapo metric and imperial set from Bunnings)

Got a large hydraulic jack for when we were working here on Bel, I'll get the smaller one to keep on her (has her original in her more for show than usefullness🙂)

Andrew what is EPIRB, I'm not up on the jargon yet. Learnt to sing to myself in Bel, she's 6 volt but hey the Type 3 I'm picking up tomorrow has a cassette/radio to keep me awake on long drives 😀 Just bought myself some great Cuban music I can put on tape 😎 (damn Che or Castro would be a great name for him but it may get confusing on the forum if I start talking about either 😉 )

I can just see me buying all this gear and Bel never breaking down on me again😉

Going out today to start collecting :thumb

Cheers
Jen

Bel now has a massive tool box under her bonnet - only just fits-almost needs two people to lift 😀

Figure my lane drifting days are over - hehehehe (lots of laughter)

Going to refer to my manuals to figure what electrical wiring bits I need, also nuts and bolts etc. Got to the auto shops and became confused :o

Jen,

http://www.australianoutbacksupplies.com.au/category48_1.htm



You know those two sailors that were rescued the week before last? They had an EPIRB on, and it's only reason they're still here.

Andrew

Hey Andrew

This EPIRB would come in handy when I do venture off of a Victorian freeway or road

Are you reading my mind or something?

I am certainly attracted to an adventure into remote areas and in a VW. I've read in info on the South African rally that you can have the beetle for another two weeks after the rally - I'd love to do Namibia.

Ethiopia is another attraction, lots of old VW's and not far from Egypt (more VW's). Then there is South America in a VW. These are my dreams. Just need Uncle George to pay out sometime, or get a good enough to sell a story line to a travel mag. and have them pay something upfront. I'd love to do it, but at the moment it's 'in my dreams'.

After buying the bits today I think I'll walk to the nearest farm house or send smoke signals for the time being 😉

The EPIRM would be a handy tool to have when I do venture bush. Flares would also be handy then

Not venturing too far from civalization until I know what I'm doing. Lot's of learning to do. Must get involved in roadside repairs on cruises etc and take pics of the action

Honestly the guys in the shops today must have thought I was going bush by the stuff I was buying 😉 Felt like I was preparing for Amageddan, lol

To stop any more worries I have done a martial art and self defense just never used them. Have seen my life flash before me once in a remote area when travelling solo, somehow talked the person around:o

Cheers

Jen

I wasn't trying to be racist - said "some." The bushy types can have a real "she'll be right attitude" and sometimes the way they get a car going would amaze you (Bush Mechanics wasn't that far from the truth.) I helped out some neighbours the other day, it turned out the clamp nut was loose on the dizzy - so I turned it to approximately the right place then gave 'em a jump to prove it. I then said "hang on, I'll go grab a timing light and a spanner to tighten the nut," but they just hopped in and headed off! Mind you - guys like that aren't afraid of getting stuck in the outback either...

It is amazing what bush mechanics can do then when they can't do no more they move on to the next car. It's a very different thing when you haven't got bits available up the road and around the corner

Developing countries (third world) are the same. In India they all fix their cars on the side of the road, mechanics included. Trying to get to the airport in Bombay and taxi got caught up in the middle of a festival and it also broke down. Oh it was jolly fun :o

Hey got there OK I just didn't have the patience left to be polite with the triple duplicate paper work that you go through in India, people were jumping out of my way 😠 I'd lost my tolerance🙁

I truly love India, you just have to know when it's time to leave (when you darker side starts emerging) 🙂

Hi Jen,

Dont forget the 'Magical Kero' in a bottle. Good for cleaning and starting engines!

Peter

From the amount of tools you are all talking about you'd need a trailer to fit them all in or a single cab kombi.

Jen are you talking about a trip around oz or just down to the shops, this would have a major bearing on what you take.

No-one has mentioned a disposable camera for the on the road repair shots or prangs. Maybe a picnic basket to celebrate once you've fixed the problem and a drop sheet to lay on when you are under the car.

Make sure you park well off the road if possible as you wouldn't want anyone side swiping you, a very common occurrence on busy roads.

My main problem would be working out what's wrong with the car before the fixing starts.

What about a first aid kit? I'd have a fair chance of injuring myself whilst trying to fix something!!

I got my VAG warning triangle for like $50 from the local VW dealer. It has Audi logos on it, but no biggie. After its first use at the roadside fuel pump / fuel line saga of the Barooga run, I eventually figured out how to collapse it - it just needed some convincing.

The VW first aid kit is okay value at I think $40, but I think when the topical anti-bacterials expire in a year or so, I'll replace it with a St John's kit. Nice thing about the VW first aid kit is that it has nice soft sides and will fit anywhere.

Andrew

lol

Yep funny how some things respond to force, just you usually don't want to break anything. Perhaps they should have something in the instructions i.e. Brute Force is Required to Collapse Triangle

Thought I'd try another function here 😉 Colour red



[Edited on 9-10-2002 by jenz58]

Well Jen, You would need a larger engine to pull all of those tools up hills.... I just carry...the 8-10-12-13mm sockets and open end spanners...plus sockets for the generator nut and rear axle nuts,a couple of spark plugs,New fan belt, new condenser & points, a few spare screws and bolts,a long spark plug lead,rotor button,pVC & Race tape, Hammer, pliers,points file, screwdrivers, plus odd tools needed for special jobs. like changing the fan belt ..a large shifting spanner..a piece of fuel hose,a few pieces of scrap wire [1m long] spare bulbs, an ashtray full of 16 amp fuses ,disposible gloves- cotton & latex and at least 30 McDonalds Napkins & 2.5L of engine oil. I used to carry an electric fuel pump,New distributor Cap & a New coil... but I try to keep the weight down and even use a plastic tool box. While ever You carry these items... chances are You will never need them.... Just go around the car with different screwdrivers & spanners etc to find useable items. Don't carry a full set of sockets and NO Imperial tools at all.:o
Best Wishes Jen...🙂
If You keep an eye on Your tie rod ends, Ball Joints and rear axle boots, You shouldn't have to replace any of these on the road..:thumb

[Edited on 10-10-2002 by 68AutoBug]

Who are all these dodgy people with 12mm nuts on their cars?????

I dont carry any tools. For years I never even carried a spare tyre or jack. When I had porsche wheels i didnt even OWN a spare.

Last time I had a breakdown (extremely rare thankfully) was the fitting came out of the carby. I fixed it with a rock and a pair of nail clippers.

Got a spare fuel pump today and some fuel hose while I was out looking for a badge for the sqback I just got (got the badge)

I carry a lot of tools. Mainly because I'm not that familiar with what I really need yet and the Dog-O-War has a lot of hybrid stuff on it at the moment. I like to keep the socket set together cause its new and carry heaps of extras because I like to go off road.

Day before yesterday I bought two more tool cases. Both plastic. They tend to break around the clamps though, but they look good, and are lite and compact. So all up I have three which pack together easily and divide up all the crap.
(1) - Electrial (A major issue with the Dog),
(2) - Spanners, drill, mulitmeter, testlight and tape.
(3) - Socket set still in box with nothing missing, yet.
(3) - Nuts, bolts, screws, switches and bits that didn't have anywhere to go.

Even though you ride dosen't use water you do. Carry at least 4 litres at all times. Without food but with water you'll last in the bush during summer about 25 days.
Without food and without water you won't last 4 days.

I have a Gps. I use it to Geocache.
This is a cool past time. Geocaching is like treasuring hunting using a Gps reciever. You go to [/link]www.geocaching.com[/link] and plug in you Latitude and Longitude and it will search a 100mile (160km) radius for hidden caches. From my place here near Newcastle I have 170 to choose from, 10 of which I hid. When you arrive at a cache, which is half the fun then you need to find it which is usually not that hard as it will be within 2-30 meters. Their will be a little log book and some goodies to choose from. The general rule is put two things in take one thing out. I have two kids so I take three things from a $2 shop and they can then choose a couple of things for themselves. When you get home you can then log onto the net and log you cache find, leaving a little note of how you went, how hard it was, attach a couple of pics of the day (under 100k) and clock up you tally of how many you've found/hidden.
Personally I have found 5 and hidden 10. I don't get a lot of time but thats changing soon. Great fun and an excellent excuse to get the Baja out into the bush.

How big is Geocaching?
"As of today, there are 31126 active caches in 149 countries.
In the last 7 days, there have been 16018 new logs written by 4783 account holders."
Extract from the www.Geocaching.com website.

The Bronze.

[Edited on 11-10-2002 by The_Bronze.]

This is my eldest boy Chandler B (4 years) hiding a cache up on Mt Vincent near Mt Sugarloaf 20 mins west of Newcastle. It's been there 2 months and no ones found this one yet because of the road in I think!

My youngest boy, Jaxon (3 years) didn't want to go 'cause the woads two ruff dad".

Baja bugs rule and 4wd's die in their dust.

The Bronze.

That's a great family pastime Bronze, I'm sure my eldest daughter would get right into it. Dare I ask though how much for a GPS unit?

Bronze;

"(3) - Socket set still in box with nothing missing, yet."

HA! How long will that last?! I should bet money that your boys will be losing those sockets soon! Just wait till they start being "mechanics"😉

No, I don't have kids -I'm only 17. BUT, Dad is always blaming ME for losing all his tools! -and I must admit....😉

Nah, I think its him getting on in life! 🙂

Also, those caching things sound sensational! They would be the Duck's bits for young tackers! When I get my Baja, I'll get a GPS just so I can take my little cousins out doing that -it would be a hoot!

Thanks for telling me!!!:thumb

Good searching
Jamie

[Edited on 11-10-2002 by Jamox]

By the way, that is a great pic -real memory stuff!!:thumb

Does sound a great activity, kids would love it (big and little)

Nice pic

I will take the imperial spanners out of tool box (a cheap set so no loss) now that I have the socket set :thumb

I'm usually travelling solo and so I guess the weigh is no more than passengers. She is more solid on the road for sure

I'll throw in a reply: GPS units can now be picked up for under $400 - try 4WD, camping and mountaineering stores. If you don't know where to find them, try electonics stores such as Jaycar or Dick Smith.

lol im 19, and whenever my dad cant find a tool he always says i lost it 🙂

We went caching today. Had an absolute ball. Four of us in the Baja screaming along the dirt tracks. Took the sister in law, Sarah, both the boys and myself.

GPS unit can now be purchased as low as $80 from Ebay but good second hand ones range from $150-400. For $400 you can get a bloody good new one actually which will connect to the computer, draw maps, talk and even swim without dying.

Mines a magellan and is a bit off at the moment. Was bought for $150 but only goes to two decimal places which means it can be up to 100 meters out. All of todays will get you at a worst case scenario within 6 meters easily. My next one will be a $300 unit that has military specs cause I tend to drop things a lot.

Yeah, If my boys are anything like I was when I was helping Dad, the sockets are on a limited life span.

Did some Action shots and got a little carried away throwing the front wheel alignment out from coming down hard on a stormwater embankment. Lucky their were no trees growing out of it.

Went to check on that Cache in the photo but found it had been stolen. Must have been stumbled upon I guess. Anyhow we replace it just when SteelRat and A-6 arrived in the bottom carpark. Followed them around until they found it, eventually! here are some pics of the day.

Crap that's a big photo. I'll try to make these ones smaller. Usually there less that 100k when I take photos on e-mail setting.

This is us finding the cache and talking about how accurate different models of GPS have become. Newer models have a averaging systems which will get them within a meter of the actual site.

Steel Rat behind me with A-6 up on the rock. The cache and two GPS' lying in front of us. Nice chat but couldn't wait to make some more dust.

Now you're teasing, promised another photo and it's not there, or is it just me looking in the wrong place?

Nah it's just too big. I can't work it out. Most e-mail setting photos I take are under 100k easily but for some reason the last batch are 120-156k. Go figure!

Was going to attach a pic of my tool boxes open but it's 127k. Have to find a better way to reduce byte size of images.

Sorry jen.

The Bronze.

Email me the pic (and more in future if you want to) and I will reduce file size using Photoshop if you haven't tried that already and I'll send'em on back 🙂

You could put all of the above in your beetle and hve to go up Burke Rd in second or first gear.... Why not put some flashing orange lights on the roof for roadside safety. No wait a minute; you could do it all for the price of RACV membership. Then the man in the little yellow van will cop the fuel bill.
Next I would put in the toilet roll. Nature might call while you are waiting for the van to front up!
Then with all the money you haven't spent on tools and petrol you might be able to afford a mobile....to keep you mobile.