Gotta love my boys

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . are you in PNG Bala?

Cheers.

[Bala]

are you in PNG Bala?

Yes but only for a few more months, heading back to FNQ.

On a brighter note, the swamp driving PC200 had 2 short term problems from its adventure, overheating, but thats from blocked radiator and oil cooler so thats easy, the other is error code CA428, basically problem in fuel water sensor wiring, thought this may be an epic, was up to stage 2 on the list of checks, found the engine controller, thought that its in a crap spot, then noticed a 2 pin plug that did not look right, pushed it in and errror fixed,

all to easy! sometimes

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . I did a couple of years based out of Kiapit pushing a road towards Madang. Turn off was just on the Lae side of the Leron.

The boys could be a worry But I wouldn't have missed it for quids. My brother was headstockman on Leron Downs when Placer owned the place.

Cheers.

[D6 Merv]

Ahhh PNG
The K factor. Dispela im kiwi himthink dempelas wantoks bilong you. You telim just liklik pipe. Bigpela em pipe nogot, Im bugarup.
Well something like that, worked for ok tedi mining back in the late 80s doing same as you ! Somethings you just never forget.

[Nige]

For those reading this thread who have never been to PNG you may find these photos of interest ......

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . good one Nige . . . note the tilly's got some helper coils to cope with all the weight of the orli. LOL.

Cheers.

[JDOFMEMI]

Must be a Toyota with a 20R in it. Those things just won't die.

Nige, Bala, and the others who have to deal with the kind of "help" pictured here, I feel your pain. At least here, if someone screws up much, you can fire him and get better help. There, what you have is what you get, and it won't get any better.

[D6 Merv]

Never forget once. Boss tells the boys load all that rubbish and wood on the ute, take it down to the dump and set fire to it. Off go the bros; alot later they walk back to camp, boss asks why you walking wheres the ute ? Yes you can guess. Boss forgot to tell them to unload the ute before setting fire to the rubbish !
Flip side of the coin; We had a native boy there a white man had taught to weld his name was francis. Saw him doing some welds on big heavy plate with our miller 400 diesel welder. downhand with low hydrogen rods in the handpiece. But in his other hand was another rod; and he had the amps cranked up and was dipping the other rod in the weld puddle; just like gas welding; and welding with 2 rods. ! !
He welded a broken boom on a pc300 back together once. We set everything up, but he did the welding. !

[Bala]

Got a message while I was on break recently,

D68 has water in the transmission,
I ask: how is this so, it was changed recently,
answer: it sucked it in the seals, when they went through water
I ask: how? Unless the breathers are blocked it will not suck in the seals, and the breathers are new
Answer: the water was 2 to 3 meters deep,

[D6 Merv]

Nothing suprises me over there. I saw a D355A going through a river, water was over top of brake pedals, bro had his feet on the dash. Still don,t know why the fan never went through the radiator. Heard another guy hopped out of a 992c to race to hop into meal truck. In his haste never dropped bucket or put on brakes. machine sat there idling away until gravity just got it rolling. away it went down the hill. And as luck would have it behold another 992 parked at the bottom of the hill. T boned it fair in the centre. Fckd both. Not sure if both were written off or 1 made out of 2. That bro got sacked over safety breach could have killed someone. Just as well it was a gold mine !

[CM1995]

For those reading this thread who have never been to PNG you may find these photos of interest ......

I haven't been to PNG but those pictures remind of my short stint in Kenya back in the '90's. I road in a few 'yota's and other wore out vehicles, but nothing that bad.

Isn't PNG where the head hunters are?

[Nige]

I was in Central Africa for a few years and I never saw anything that bad. Close maybe, but not that bad ...........

[CM1995]

I was in Central Africa for a few years and I never saw anything that bad. Close maybe, but not that bad ...........

I didn't see anything quite that bad either - or rode in it when I was there. Although when your only option is walking, a man gets a little less selective...

I saw some crazy things living in Central America for a few years, like a 24.5 tire with a metal plate and screws to repair a sidewall tear and an old Snyder cabover truck that had been previously wrecked hauling ass down the PanAmerican HWY. This truck didn't have a windshield, due to the rollover incident it probably had in the States and the top of the cab was hanging over the front tires by a foot or so. The driver was squinting and holding on to the steering wheel with dear life, as he barreled down the road with a 40' sea can in tow...

Don't get me started on trying to get a sewer system up and running with pump tanks and local help. Electricity, water (sewage), the total lack of craftsmanship, inferior equipment or the lack there of and understanding that electricity and water don't jive....

I feel your pain Bala, although I probably had more qualified help.

[Bala]

This could go on for ever,

In the Torres strait Islands, I have seen a hilux diesel engine run low on oil and spun a big end, was knocking it head off, you could here if for miles,they then drove it like that until it threw the rod,
Toyota coaster bus, rear shackle bush was worn out then they drove until the shackle pin totally destroyed the bush housing on the chassis
Small truck tailshaft Universal worn but kept driving until it went through the Yoke and the tailshaft fell off

Rule is if it will go you drive it!, reactive maintenance is the only kind! Prevent is not a word that is really used!

Its all good, how boring would life be if you never got remote experience like this,

[JDOFMEMI]

The 992 story from D6Merv reminds me of a scraper story.
I showed up one morning while the mechanic was firing up scrapers. There was a fleet of TS-24B's onsite, and I counted 12 in the ready line. I mentioned to the foreman it looked like he was going to run 12 that day. He looked at me and said no, there are 13. I told him that was funny, I had only seen 12, and he swore there were 13. From where we had the conversation, they were not all visible, but we could see the repair yard, so I counted backward from the number he and I agreed were onsite. I said how many we could see in the repair area, plus the one dead one that apparently got left in the fill area at the bottom of the hill below the parking area, and that left 12 in line. He looked at me funny and told me they did NOT leave any in the fill last night. I said that was wrong, as there was one down there.

I took him and showed him the one left halfhazzardly in the fill, and he again swore they hadn't left any there. We went to investigate, and figured out that it was the lead unit from the line up. The can was down, but when the mechanic started it and the ride system came up, it was not down hard anymore, and it rolled off down the hill on its own. We were very lucky there was no people, cars, or other equipment parked there. Also, the mechanic was very lucky it did not roll off until after he was done climbing up and down the rear tire to check and start the rear engine.

We had a meeting with everyone about not parking on hills, and making sure it is securely parked, not just resting on the ground.