You guys in the UK and elsewhere might be interested to read our experiences attempting to make one of the most difficult road journeys in the far north of Western Australia's Kimberley region.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/l322-range-rover...place.html

We got stranded with a blown rear shock absorber on my 2012 TDV8 on the Mitchell Falls track, in 35 celsius heat, and Land Rover mounted a 3,500km recovery mission to get our car and camper trailer out. We had to charter a Cessna to fly my wife and I out of Drysdale River Station to Broome, 700km away on the WA coast. It's been quite an experience. But top marks to Land Rover for pulling out all stops, picking up the horrendous costs (I'm guessing north of $15,000 for the truck rescue alone). They've even arranged to fly us down to Perth and put the Rangie on a car carrier to the dealer down there for repairs.
[/img] 2012 L322 TDV8 Luxury
2013 VW Polo GTI
Gone: 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, 2007 Audi TT 3.2V6 Roadster

Cool story, not so nice it happened and the monetary side of it. Great story for the forums and grandkids though.

Have heard of shocks going but didn't realize it was so bad out there. I'm wondering there are suppliers like Old Man Emu that do a better shock for these type of conditions !!!!

Also surprised the front didn't go first as you would expect since it has less cooling surface !! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Old Man Emu probably do provide replacement shocks, I don't know. But even if they do, I suspect that fitting after-market shocks might have a negative effect on warranty claims. For that reason, I left the car stock standard, apart from the tyres.

I too would have thought the front shocks would have gone first. But the rears were carrying a heavy load. 2012 L322 TDV8 Luxury
2013 VW Polo GTI
Gone: 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, 2007 Audi TT 3.2V6 Roadster

 All my spelling errorz are belong to me!

2023 FFRR L460
2021 AM new Vantage

That could have turned out to be a real nightmare. The distances involved are incredible. I take it the other broken vehicles you passed will be there forever?! Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

No they all get pulled out eventually. Too valuable to leave lying by the side of the road. But a very expensive exercise. It's incredibly hard on vehicles up that way. And so remote. There is absolutely no mobile coverage for hundreds of miles. Was very tough for the pioneers in the days before helicopters, sat phones etc. At Drysdale River cattle station there are pictures of the owner and friends who got stuck with a busted diff in a Landcruiser about 20 years ago. They cut down trees, winched the logs under the car, and took three days to drag the car back to the homestead, about 80km. The logs kept wearing out, so they kept cutting down trees.
One of the logs now forms a seat outside the homestead's bar and restaurant. 2012 L322 TDV8 Luxury
2013 VW Polo GTI
Gone: 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, 2007 Audi TT 3.2V6 Roadster

The sad sight of my Rangie being loaded onto the tilt-tray truck to be taken to Broome (700km down the atrocious Gibb River Rd) and then 2,500km to Perth for repairs. LRA are footing the bills. Kudos to them. All because an $800 shockie failed. End of holiday. Still, Broome is a pretty nice place to be stranded, it's 31 degrees celsius here every day. A beer by the pool is pretty good compensation:-)

Here it is before everything went pear-shaped. We took the Rangie down a very sandy, rocky track alongside the Pentecost River, at Home Valley Station, to see if we could pick up a barramundi or two on lures. Can't get too close to the bank though, it's full of very large crocodiles:-)



To get to Home Valley Station you have to cross the Pentecost River. Sometimes it's quite deep, depending on the tide. But you don't ever, ever, try to walk across to check the depth:-)

Reminded of this.

Did you consider 19" wheels (e.g. Style 15s)? Assume you could then run slightly lower pressures.

Oh, I would have killed for 19s. But they won't fit over the brakes on a 2012 Rangie. 2012 L322 TDV8 Luxury
2013 VW Polo GTI
Gone: 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, 2007 Audi TT 3.2V6 Roadster

nice pics - thanks for sharing !  All my spelling errorz are belong to me!

2023 FFRR L460
2021 AM new Vantage

Style 15s were the OEM 2011MY 19"s in Europe so obviously fit over the 380mm Brembos. Cheap to buy used over here as everyone seems to want bling.

Edit - as so:



L405 has the same size brakes and the newer 19" Style 1 fits over those too.

Last edited by Philip on 25th Jun 2014 10:06am. Edited 1 time in total

Well I wish I'd known that before we headed north. I was told several times by my local dealer that 20s were the smallest you could fit. Could have made all the difference. I aired down as much as I dared on the 20s, drove sloooowww over the corrugations, still had a shock fail. I'm told that shocks have a 'speed of death', 25-35kmh over rough ground...fast enough to cause overheating, not fast enough to get air flow over them. 2012 L322 TDV8 Luxury
2013 VW Polo GTI
Gone: 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, 2007 Audi TT 3.2V6 Roadster

Never mind, bit of an adventure!

Yep. Nobody got hurt:-) 2012 L322 TDV8 Luxury
2013 VW Polo GTI
Gone: 2010 RRS 3.0 TDV6, 2007 Audi TT 3.2V6 Roadster