I’m currently in the process of planning a trip across the Simpson Desert, will be doing it in the company of Tagalong Tours of Australia, figured safety in numbers for such an epic trip would be good..! Leaving Darwin 7Jul18, return home 27Jul18. Any tips for a novice?
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Simpson Desert Crossing 2018 🐪
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Did the Simpson in 2015 in my auto 2004 V6. No problems at all. Used exactly 100 litres from Mt Dare to Birdsville doing the French Line. 18psi all round was good for us.. Lowered to 14 psi to do Big Red. Enjoy!!
Cheers
Jim2004,GXL V6 Auto. ARB bullbar,IPF 900 spotlights, Milford cargo barrier, GME TX3400UHF, Coupler Tec, Cooper AT3's, Safari Snorkel, Dual batteries, King Springs and Bilsteins.
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High range 1st gear is locked in - it can't change up until I change it up after the top of the dune ie. it is not hunting up and down. NO transmission overheating on CSR, Simpson and Googs Track. No sign of overheating when the transmission oil was later changed. Low 2nd means you rev the crap out of the engine, spin wheels and dig up the dunes. If your tyres are at 18 psi or less this formula works fine for the V6 auto. By the end of May I will know if it still applies to a 2.8 diesel auto but that will certainly be my starting point.
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I'm also an advocate for L4.....you won't be going fast due to how bumpy it is.. I'm some cases the between dunes you can go fast....then I changed back to H4.
The reason is, in H first gear your torque converter will be unlocked, generating a lot of heat. I'm L4, which is slightly slower speed the engine will be ticking over around 2000 rpm, so more transmission fluid through the cooler, and less heat built-up in the torque converter (that's not slipping so much due to being able to change gears). When I first played with it I noticed a 20 deg reduction in transmission temp.
I used about 20-21 L/100 (mostly LPG).
In general, a stock vehicle will easily do the Simpson under most conditions...taking it easy and with care. If you have a reliable vehicle with suspension in good condition you will be fine.
Originally posted by Sefo View Post
Low range 2nd and 3rd.
You want to cook your gear tranny.
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Interesting to have the actual temperature differences outlined. I went the 1st gear high range as it worked well and was advised by a person who had done the CSR 6 times as a tour leader to try it. In effect the idea was to drive the auto like a manual in the sand.. The point to note is that it was only ever in 1st gear high going UP a dune. As soon as I crested it was changed manually to 2nd or 3rd or even to drive to let it do its thing until the next dune so transmission fluid was certainly constantly moving through the cooler. It didn't spend long locked in first gear! As I said it has worked well on 3 big desert trips with no burnt fluid when it was changed BUT this was with the torque and power characteristics of the 120 V6. The 2.8 and D4D engines with different torque characteristics may well be different. I will have a play in the Simpson in May to see. Too bad that I can't read the transmission temps to add to the pool of knowledge. Remember this thread started off with a question about the V6 in the desert.
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On a related matter my 120 was a VX so had traction and stability control. The latter went off when the centre dif was locked but the former could not be turned off. Now with a 2.8 150 traction control can be turned off as well. Is this worth doing in the dunes? I never found it to be a problem always being on in the 120.In fact it meant no wheel spin on the chopped up dunes where the wheel spinning high tyre pressure brigade had stuffed the approaches and scalloped them out.
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Oh, I also believe the auto needs to be driven like a manual offroad.... And I do that in L range. How I was taught to drive the FJs Auto was to keep lower gear and higher rpm in sand.....to keep the tv locked....As in sand wheel spin is a fact of life..depending and the sand and try pressures..and needing immediate access to the ponies if loosing momentum. On rocks etc...kind of the other way....A gear or two higher, but lower rpm, and use the tc unlocked as a buffer for drive train shock, and because you don't generally want wheel spin.
I have a FJ and the first thing we do is turn off traction and stability control.... It does have atrac which is for 4x4.... But I've not used it.
One thing I don't think I made clear enough.... The Trans fluid pump is driven by engine rpm. So actually more fluid flows at the higher rpm (even in neutral).
I highly recommend getting a scan guage or a $5-10 eBay odb dongle to read transmission temps, and aim to keep it under 90c. The transmission light comes on way too late (I think it's 150 c for the fj)
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