Chevy/brava fing V 3000tons of paper pulp...KING OF THE HILL

[gregster]

Took the Chevy/brava fing up my mate Matts farm earlier to test out the suspension....flexed out nicely.

Then we went for a rumble around the farm tracks scaring away the pigeons that fancy eating their wheat crop...

Watched the Marsh Harriers hunting for a while...they are massive close up, never seen them that near before...(glad I'm not a mouse!!)


Then matt mensioned that he got his disco stuck the other day in the huge heap of paper pulp/ash (by product of paper production) that they had recently had delivered and use as fertilizer of some kind of their field.

I enquired how big a heap....3000 ton he replied...


This was a challenge that could not be resisted...


First off this is the pulp pile from distance... it is huge...




Let me explain this stuff has the consistancy of fluffy sand...If you walk on it, you sink immediately up to you knees, and keep going unless you keep walking (wadin)
There is no bottom to it, and has got to be nearly 20 or so feet deep...!!

Ideal for driving on....NOT!!


Matt had previously managed to get his disco half way up the side of the stack before getting really stuck, and walking off to get a tractor to extract it!


This was my first attempt...front wheels made it nearly to the top...









Self extracted this time!


Second attempt...more throttle, better line...front wheels over the top but bellied out on the crest as it started sinking...






Check out the "foot prints" you can see how loose and deep this stuff is...












Got extracted this time by Matts disco and a long strop....


Third time....new statagy...hit the bottom of the slope quick in low3...back off as the front wheels go skywards at the top (improving the breakover angle of the truck as sort of airbourne!!) and try and land it softly so it didnt disappear completely!
Then keep it planted in low 2 across the top...

We had a plan...must admit was a bit worried about the top mind...It must be a good 50 car lengths from end to end...get stuck in the middle and we would have real issues getting it out, without matt getting one of their tractors and his old man finding out what we were doing to his fertiliser!!

The top was really uneven to...like a ww1 no mans land...where their giant 360 excavator had just dropped huge buckets of this stuff...

Momentum was going to be the key...enough to keep moving, but not so much as to flip the truck
(only painted the wing yesterday...dont want to roll it for at least another week!!)

The scene was set...turned my headlights on (always seems to help you get another 50ft or so!!) so I went for it...

Made it up over the top...
made it across the top...
hell it was rough though...
throwing pulp through the windows and into the sky (and back onto the truck) where my tyres stick out just a smidgy bit...

Got to within 6 ft of the end...
only to find a near verticle drop straight into a bank of the stuff and then a 10ft sheer drop onto the field below....

...this was the end they were using the pulp from,

and they had "tidied" it with the dozer earlier!!!!

Teach me not to walk the obstacle first eh!!

So the truck was stuck just a couple of feet from the finish line...gutted















Again was extracted my matts disco...


Needed to try again...
defeat was not an option...
this time with FULL BEAM on, not just dipped...
this would make all the difference...
plus the fact that we had now broken a track though the final bulldozed ditch and heap...

So mashed it again...low 3 quick, slapped into low 2 when semi airbourne...
then picking a new route across the top (as would get stuck in my old tracks for sure)...
finally aiming for the bit we had broken down a few minutes earlier...

MADE IT!!!

KING OF THE HILL


Full beam did the jobbie!!

...Me thinks I might have given it a few to many beans over the top though...

as the iffy looking centre prop uj (noticed when we did the SOA) is now making some noises,
not to bad, just clicking when you take up load...

but hell it was fun and worth it!

Time to rebuild the prop me thinks....still drives ok, but needs doing before next batch of abuse!


Then home to clean her up and get all the pulp stuff out of everywhere...only 2 minute drive...just as well really as it was hot today and the rad probably wasnt working too well!!









Bid farewell to the toyota surf tonight...ahh...more space for something else now, unless sal has her way (which she will)...you can see it parked in front of matts disco in the road outside the house in the pickie below..
Sals fronty and her saab convertible have swiped the drive...just space to get the truck on overnight...
bit tighter now with the wider tyres!!
Company astra is now covered with wet paper pulp...oh well never mind, its 3 months old now!!




Well thats that for todays fun...(and breakage)...

thanks to matt for his help, taunting, encouargment to do stupid things (like I need it!) and use of his farm.

In fairness to Matts disco, it didnt stand a chance doing the run over the pulp pile, its heavier than the chevy, has a bit narrower tyres (albiet mickey thompson mtz's 265/85/16's on disco alloys if I remember rightly)...and he cares... as needs his car for work the next day!
His car is a demon tow vehicle with a tuned 300tdi and really does well offroad, and the MTZ's are the nuts in mud.

The kuhmo m/t's on the chevy seem to have the right balance of floation on the 10j rims and traction for these sort of thing, without being too aggressive and digging too deep.

Hope this inspires someone else to try something silly...

with permission of course...

but remember to walk the obstacle first as you never know whats the other end...

...and use full beam to begin with if you want to make it first time!!


Laters

Gregster

[Sir-Doris]

SWEET PICS!

[Drift]

Pure madness in a very very good way

Oh check your airfilter, bet there is a ton of that stuff in there blocking it

[Frontycustoms]

Greg ya big kid when ya grow up ay......................












I'm on the way for a play now.............

[tez1963]

well done fella must've been the headlights that made the difference

[Road Hog]

Gregster,you are a loony keep up the good work

[gregster]

Pure madness in a very very good way

Oh check your airfilter, bet there is a ton of that stuff in there blocking it

Good finking dwifty...will do right away...

[gregster]

Greg ya big kid when ya grow up ay......................












I'm on the way for a play now.............

Grow up? N'ah.....that would be boring wouldn't it.....

[gregster]

well done fella must've been the headlights that made the difference

Without a doubt my friend...without a doubt

[gregster]

:shock: Gregster,you are a loony keep up the good work

Yes but only all the time....

Might have a go at the cliffs later, if the prob UJ stands up to it....that really is loony down there!!

[gregster]

Some pickies that matt took...

[Frenchfarmer]

Well done to get over it but...... As a farmer who produces FOOD that people eat I would never ever put toxic waste like that on my land. That is cancer for someones kids and if they had to get rid of it elsewhere it would have cost them a fortune. O.K. it does have potassium and stuff that is good for the land but it is all the other stuff that they don't mention that does the damage. I bet it was free or there was even a Government grant to put it on the land. Plus having you and your vehicle running over it ( but then you are a caring FOG member and made sure that you didn't have any fluid leaks before you tried it ) doesn't help the health issue.
Oh B°°°°°ks I' going to get a soap box aren't I.
Can we have a forum about ecological oils etc. we can get them over here as of last week but it is not eco to empty the old nasty oils until they need to be changed. see did it to myself.

[gregster]

I see where you are coming from Frenchfarmer...apparantly this stuff gets spread with fertilizer and stops it getting washed away straight down through the cracks in our clay like soil...but I dont know a lot about farming so I might have got that wrong...
As for leaks...off course it doesnt have too many ...besides we drive round the tramlines in the fields when shooting anyway...
A lot of their farming is for animal feed and bio diesel, but I will be offering a prize of a can of stella to anyone who finds a bit of my prop UJ in their loaf of Hovis!!

Laters

Gregster

[Sir-Doris]

OI GREG!

How long is that stuff likely to be there as Im not one to refuse a challenge And by challenge I mean its there and I want a go

[gregster]

OI GREG!

How long is that stuff likely to be there as Im not one to refuse a challenge And by challenge I mean its there and I want a go

We have a word with matt and find out...

You might need wider tyres though for more floatation, my chevy only just made it and it sank loads..probably not much in it weight wise between ya fronty and the fing...rememeber if you stand on this stuff you sink to your knees!!
I got a set of 33-12.50 15 bfg muds as well on 10J's which you could borrow if ya car would wear them without scrubbing out, or the 33-12.50's on 10's that were on the yella fronterror, they are wildcat a/t's so wont dig as much but not sure if they will give enough traction??...

Will see what matt says...be warned though the top is ROUGH and you have to keep it planted...so breakage or flopping onto its side is possible if not likely!

Laters

Gregster