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Page 2
Arrival of Petit Trot
After visiting several old Land Rovers, I've decided that the one parked at Rob Leimer were in the best condition. The Landy had the following problems:
- Although there were 3 fuel tanks with the total of 200 liters, the 2 front ones were hardly used and Rob originally bought it without fuel caps, so the possibility of dirt and rust inside the tanks were high. Rob offer two options: he will flush the tanks for free or take them off and send it away for proper flush at a price. We accepted that he must flush it. He did as I inspected the drain plugs prior and after the flush.
- The rear right blade spring was not in its proper position, Rob fixed it.
- The front bonnet was terribly rusted and Rob replaced the bonnet and provided spare wheel mountings for the bonnet.
- The tyres were a bit sad and he arranged to replace them with new ones at our cost.
- He also arranged to put the vehicle through the road worthy test and to supply all the paper work for registration.
- The deal was signed and a few days later the French took delivery.
The registration process was without hiccups except that Henri was a foreigner and could not register the vehicle onto his name with his passport or French identification. A temporally South African identification was provided by the vehicle registration department the same day. It was a wonderful day, the queue to register was very short and 90 minutes later we bought the two registration number plates.Early preparations
We bought the necessary metal square tubing to form the bed and two sheets of ply wood for the base. While I was busy welding, the French went shopping for the necessary mattress, plastic containers, cutlery, highlift jack, tools, et.Due to the high cost of a 12v compressor fridge, they've decided to buy a Coleman Termo Cooler box instead. I provided them with a 65 liter water tank, 12volt compressor and manual air pump for the tyres, and some recovery gear as these were very expensive.
Additional power points with higher amp ratings were installed into the Land Rover for the cooler box and air pump. A 2nd battery was needed and due to the high cost of this, I provided them with one and made a quick alteration to the wiring to charge the 2nd battery.
The Landy was ready for its first test drive and Severine and Henri left for Pilansberg National Park and for Kruger National Park. The arrangement was that they check the vehicle, come back to me, we will rectify any problems and service the vehicle before their trip to Namibia.
Close to 2 and a half weeks later I've received a very distress phone call from Severine. They had problems with the gear box, can not change gears. While I was busy making arrangements to fetch them, a passing mechanic discovered that the new slave unit for the clutch needed some attention, he fixed it and the French were on their way back to me.
Very few problems were fixed. The indicator switch was not health and was replaced with a new one. The vehicle was serviced and they were on their way to Kalahari Gemsbok Nat. Park as their first stop before Namibia.
A phone call from Kalahari brought the message that the French were stuck at Nossob camp, the starter motor was faulty. They were towed to Upington and a new armature was bought. They also discovered dirt and water in the fuel line, rust from the front tanks came loose due to the corrugated roads of the Kalahari. The Kalahari had very good rain and the water came into their storage tanks and then into the Landy. My advice were to drain the tanks. The leaking radiator was also fixed at Upington. At Augrabies another phone call, the engine didn't want to switch off, a timing problem. So they crossed the border to Namibia.
In Namibia the rear right spring gave problems which was fixed close to Keetmanshoop. From there onwards no great problems other than a dead point in the acceleration around 73km/h. Severine only complained about the high temperature at the passenger side - the exhaust pipe goes underneath the passenger side. Due to the high cost of proper insulation material prior to their Namibia departure, we did not do any insulation and my advice were to put newspapers underneath the floor mat for some protection. It worked. At Swakopmund the starter motor gave problems again and this time the whole unit was replaced with a reconditioned unit and half the price they paid at Upington.
Trouble again in Windhoek on their way to Botswana. They could not find enough Botswana currency, only P150 at any of the Windhoek banks and decided to return to my base. Severine was also not comfortable with the Landy and was to nervous to go into Botswana with little recovery help if they had any serious problems with the Landy.
So their long dream holiday came to an end without seeing Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. They will return and then Petit Trot will be ready for them.