5 4WDs FLOODED IN CAPE YORK - 1 gets towed home! Frenchmans - the WETTEST we've ever seen it!

[Music] oh yeah cape york this is a frenchman's track this is as wet as i've ever seen it one of our most insane episodes yet that's probably the deepest i've ever had inside the cabin of a four-wheel drive join us as we tackle one of australia's most infamous tracks the frenchman's and get pushed to our absolute limits under some of the wildest conditions we've ever faced this is going to give this thing a full-on workout probably one of the best things i've ever seen look at this then it goes next level as we take on neck high river crossings endless black soil country and bush mechanics like you just won't believe we've seen some pretty crazy things but the luck every four wheel drive gets flooded i've got water 2yc and one of them doesn't make it something's not working he's gonna have a hell of a tripping from [Music] the next part of our cape adventure continues at bramwell station where the boys have a bit of time to make some last minute repairs and dry out the rigs from what was a very wet trip on the old telly before we tackle the frenchman's a bit attacker and some late night entertainment is in order and let's just say i won't be quitting my day job any day soon he's got nothing he's got the hat and that's about it [Music] with the knights entertainment behind us we take the pdr south from bramwell and make aim for the beginning of the frenchman's track if the telly was anything to go by i've got a feeling that it's going to be one wild ride on this trip [Music] wait it's a lovely sight and a couple of old reads on the frenchman's yes mate it's almost written in history and it's like stepping back in time why have you been in the cape for a little bit now you're a little bit wounded the old lady bit buggered my unis are on their last legs but something tells me mate a couple of old rigs like us and the trucks as well we should get to the truth or something just i reckon i i don't know ordinarily if you had a brand new car modern vehicle you'd say no way to the frenchman's with a stuffed alternator but there's something about this truck all it's got to do is run the fuel pump and get started i suppose but we can work on that as we get going i reckon she'll do the frenchman's no problems at all it really doesn't take long on this track before you hit the black soil and the mighty farm truck is up first you're going to do something look at this track mate it looks like an apparent moisture still around mate yeah that looks pretty gnarly my pretty gnarly that is [Music] see you later yeah i wasn't expecting that much she's going straight down the farm truck has almost made it through but the rods are just a bit too deep for the old girl and she's bogged down to the chassis i might need a few more horsepower to get out of this one get in there boys [Music] three two one i thought we had that then one two three oh so close do you have any shovel handy yeah i do actually oh yeah we dug this wheel out always gary a little shovel my voice what are you loving that stuff about the saw your shovel boys are you better off with a toothpick while sean spends the next four hours digging that hole rubens used his noggin and chucked in on max tracks to try and help the farm truck out turn your lockers on oh no i could have done that oh that is so close one more and you might get it [Music] on this side and see if i can avoid that big gloopy bit that sure went in yeah and just like that the mighty g60 cruises through no problems well mike this is the first kilometer and it's like this i know this is a bit of a sign a bit of a telltale sign that we could be in a bit of strife here today this sort of clay once you go down and it can be really hard to get out launch through d-max ate it up still give it a little bit of lounge just pulled her out of that one that's one way to do it yep it goes to show you though when things go a little bit pear shaped just hold on tight yep hold on throttle out that's exactly it oh and with that the convoy is through the first part of what is a long stretch of mud that is the start of the frenchman's but not far up the road is a small crossing that can catch out even the biggest of rigs i remember this it's looking pretty wet mate yeah there's water that's for sure what concerns me is it's like a little river it's just flowing it's actually flowing this year yeah i'm pretty can you give it a go farm truck is built for stuff like this however when the ruts get too deep same then yeah let them out reuben come get me good luck son he didn't work off we go i'm getting wet i shouldn't i didn't close any plant all right we're all waiting for you mate you saw how the farm truck did it just cool and car mate look i've done it years before yeah that thing is a reliable little beastie it makes things look easy and that always makes me nervous i'm so stoked with how far this thing has taken on this trip and is yet to disappoint crawling its way through pretty deep see if we can motivate our way through jesse's willed the d-max like a true expert an unusual jesse fashion he's through with no drama oh good getting a good job it's creepy definitely found the accelerator the big trucks cruise through that part with ease but up ahead there's some tricky bog holes to navigate and sean is not holding back [Laughter] give it all seven horsepower i thought that was all over for a second then uh there's an easy one around to the right but everyone reckons the further left you go the more of a man you are so let's see how the d-max goes i love that love that oh yeah yay three keepers creepers absolutely loves it now this is the sort of mud that's so hard to read once a couple of four-wheel drives are stirred it up it can really catch you out if you're not careful yeah no you're going down and it's done just that with a big patrol rubens got caught up on the underbody and even with those big 37-inch tyres these ruts are just too massive to get any traction going forward i don't know how that's going to pan out but give him a thumbs up go balls she's bogged straight down with the trailer on the back it looks like bailey's going nowhere to hurry so it's out with a winch [Music] with the weight behind the 80 we've opted straight for a double line pull which will help to reduce the load on the winch and rope it does seem good doesn't it that's a big winch once the trailer is out we can clearly see that one of the tyres has picked up a leak which would have been causing the full drive to really bog down but with a bit of air in the back it seems good to continue on for now well that's the end of this sort of clay mud for now the wet lock's only a couple hundred meters away something tells me we're gonna have our work cut out because this time of year it's always touch and go whether you can get through the frenchman's or not with that in mind we'd better go down and check it out and see what's in store for us the win lock is the first of two major crossings on the frenchman's it twists and turns over 300 kilometers across the cape peninsula and besides from the freshies that live along its banks it can be a tricky river to navigate especially after a wet like the cape has seen this year actually pretty high the route across isn't straightforward either with a sharp right at entry which puts you at odds with the current and it looks like it's flowing pretty hard this year yeah yeah mate normally an island through there there is she's deep a lot of water fast we've walked it we've got a bit of an idea where we want to cross i think there's a way to do it but it is quite soft it's very very soft and these creeks as well you leave it even sometimes overnight they can come down come down 100 mil or something can also go back up what's the time past four well you could but as soon as you get over there there's not a lot in the way of camping there's nothing what are you thinking maybe well i reckon one of the the best camp on the entire frenchman's is up here i know where you're getting that all right can we get a big fire again you're excited for me to cook tonight you just want to make sure we can get in that quicker than normal all right boys get in your trucks we're driving with the sun getting lower it's as good a time as any to throw out the swags pull out the fridges and set up camp for the night now i know i said this when we're on the telly but sean and i well we run a pretty minimal setup in the old trucks it's good because it keeps our vehicles nice and light but it also means we don't have much in the way of luxuries but someone who does is our mate bailey and this weapon of our camper you read my mind i'm digging this set up bales you've got big old open area here you can close that off so you don't get mozzies and bugs in there the awning was up in 10 minutes always the longest part of any camper trailer what happens though if you had you're out and you're taking out your first weekend you got a bit excited on handover you didn't sort of watch what was going on and you forgot now to put the awning up what do you do if you've got an online you've got a manual so we have an owner's manual on our website we have a youtube channel that shows you how to do it all or our 24 7 live chat we actually talk to a real person no you're setting this up at 3am in the morning because you got in late yeah yeah we've got a three minute counter so one of our team that works for us it's a real person not an ai at 3am in the morning we'll tell you how to put the awning exactly right that is what you call customer service underlined right 100 wow i'm going to let you finish up here i'm going to have a beer i love this awning it's sick with camp set up in the fire roaring it's gotten to my favorite time of the day which is to sit back with a couple of mates and drink a couple of cold ones after a tough day on the tracks and well i think we're gonna need them after you see what's coming up well we're here at the wetlock and you know i love the frenchman's more than you do probably i should because i i've been down there a few times there's been times where it's absolutely kicked our butts and we have to turn around to skip their butts every time we've done it speaking of which what is going on here this is the thing this is the thing the camera crew have been you know so kind to get us a little present now the thing is i'm a little bit stuck on there's two things actually right firstly they haven't been this nice they don't do that they usually don't do that so i was sort of see what this is now okay how do you pronounce that graeme cerse sir stromber strommings what is it is it some type of uh swedish fish i believe it's like a herring like a pilchard like i i guess it's like a sardine i'm not sure i want it out of this we're gonna try it and best of all we're gonna get everyone else to try this is just a little entree all right i'll just pop those there so [Applause] [Laughter] oh it's disgusting oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] what is that you can't eat that well you jump back in it's still going boys [Laughter] so bad [Laughter] i've got to do this there you go i changed shirts i had to because i got a spray from the bottom end right up the face up to the top if there's any swedes out there that can answer this question what what for the love of god is that and why why the big question why and i guess the bigger question if you've got something else for us to try no sure enough no no no i'm keen because that's about as worse as i can you can't cannot get worse than that for now let's get into the main course oh yeah because i'm so hungry tonight's main course i'm making pizzas so oh good big old cherry you can always have a pizza but you know i'm gonna do i'm gonna do a different type of pizza what are you doing right it's gonna be a sausage pizza in fact i love a good sausage we've got a whole different types of variety of sausage right yep so we've got the whole color spectrum we do a unesco meeting in there so what we're going to do it still stinks with that stuff eh it's it's not great but you're gonna have to put up with it mate because hopefully what do you got here so i've got a couple of skewers so what i'm doing tonight is i'm basically making a pizza on a base of sausages so say that again for the folks at home i'm making a pizza on a base of sausage has that been done before you just want to go through the middle of all those if you can be quite skillful yeah get through that i see what you're doing you're making a bed that's what we're after just a good old table yeah like a like a plate of sausage grab these we're gonna put them straight on the fire all right bring those in i've never seen sausages on sausages on sausages like that that's the plan here mate so basically this makes our pizza bases that's not a pizza basically sausages or skewers because this is a gluten-free pizza at the end of the day good that's healthy then now the first things first we're going to put a bit of pizza base sauce oh that's got that's a noise like reuben first thing in the morning that is just give it some of them yeah look at that yeah that's a that's a damn pizza base so i'm going to make one that's like a a pretty wild chilli one okay i won't lie to you this one here is the crust it's chilly yep just what oh that's a lot that's crushed chili bro olives that's you me i'm all over that um sun-dried tomatoes okay these ones here are little anchovies do you like anchovies no i thought we just had tonight not anymore smell no no just no seriously do me a favor definitely isn't it get them right to the edges mate spread them out they're quite salty little dudes just put two with pineapple there you go oh some yellow capsicum awesome for the color okay it's looking pretty good i must admit i think we can go a step further this is the buffalo wing hot sauce okay you sometimes go through the squirt lid but i like to go straight from the top hell not me big fan of the squirt lid oh my lord that's the pepperoni cilantro yep really cover it not really yeah yeah now's a bit we don't muck around you can't finish a pizza off without a little bit of cheese oh cheddar i think stop it a little bit of parmesan i'll need two heart pills tomorrow so just like that look at that that is bro awesome i had my doubts all right mate let's get this on the fire you know what i'm stoked about what's that well not that kind of fish to start with that was horrible we've sprayed it everywhere but thank goodness about something we can cook on that's what i like about this especially i think you realize that when you're driving on trucks like where you are in the middle of the cape just the smallest amount of luxury which this is usually trying to go out at the back of my trailer have a go this though this is fantastic we've got pantry space we've got cookers we've got a sink to wash ourselves i'm covered in spaghetti sauce one of the two i don't know what that is i don't know how that happened but anyway we've made a bit of a messy tonight get the um hot plate ready yeah we're good we'll put these straight on we'll get these cooked up [Music] that'll do us that'll do us right about five minutes holy balls man that is so good i've never seen such a thing another advice i'm actually really excited about this one i reckon call the boys in mate where are these hot ones you've been raving about mate try that you reckon i can draw that one all right that looks better thank you oh man that looks good boys you reckon it's like sausage pizza we're right you're not getting it we're on it tastes like a pizza you've got a sausage base yeah there's a fever sauce you hit in your mouth no doubt about that and you're not you're not new to that when you get over that though you've got the flavors of the you got the cheese you've got the pizza base you got the olive jalapenos whatever you put on it that spicy one you might be thinking that was a little bit of a trick really wasn't because that is my favorite i'm going to say something though of all time after you've eaten sir strongberg anything anything anything tastes like will taste good but i've always already been around the fire one more gold one and um i won't even make a second batch mate well guys hope you're enjoying our cape york adventure gotta say one of the most fun trips i think i've ever done now if you're wondering by this stage of the show you probably already understand that reuben is a bit of a crazy bugger but it gets even better because what i'm about to tell you will blow your mind because you currently got a competition going whereby if you win you get a choice out of his fully built 79 series the fully built 200 series or 150 000 cash that's an insane competition now for your chance to win it really is quite easy go to the website dmw.com.u and purchase a gift card as simple as that and you could be in the draw for one of those amazing prizes [Music] it's another stunning day in the cape and before we tackle one of the toughest challenges on the frenchman's the mighty wenlock coffee and a hot bricky are in order and the boys are quick to jump on the maverick kitchen [Music] the morning light always tells a different story and you can clearly see the remnants of what was an eventful first day on the track [Music] pretty much since the start of the teletrack i've been experiencing alternative troubles in this old girl it's held on for this long but it's really on its last legs luckily i've got a bit of a plan well i'm just trying a bit of a bush hack here as you know the alternator's not working and we've still got a fair way to go and one of the boys just grabbed their solar panel and threw it at me and said hey see if you can make that work so what i'm going to do wire it into the battery permanently try and mount the regulator somewhere in here and then i'm just going to spread the solar panel out on the back of the ute and as i drive it'll get sun thus putting charge into my battery now of course it won't be anywhere near what my alternator could put in but it will keep me going you should have an electric vehicle it's not going to be driving a prius around here with the convoy packed up some minor track side repairs done and our stomach's full it's time to nose the vehicles down and see if we can cross this river it looks as though it's dropped a little but even so with these old trucks and the soft sand beneath this is gonna be a real challenge well it does look pretty deep when you're sitting there with a vehicle right on the banks of the wet lock but we're going to be quite prepared the winch is going to be ready in free spool tree truck protector also winch extension plus a couple of shackles just on the ready to go now the boys i'm going to be a bit of a guinea pig they're going to be first in the water and basically watching me going down so if i go down the middle they're going to run out so they've assured me nods boys yep yeah they've assured me yeah yeah we'll see how we're feeling halfway through a cup of tea we might just finish that first we'll see how we go that's the plan anyway i'll get a lot of water up but the vehicle get out words can go wrong in a situation like this is when you're not prepared you get stuck and you're trying to find shackles and extension straps and stuff and by the stage your vehicle's floating down the wind lock all right let's give it a go i've also got jesse in the passenger seat with me in case things go pear shaped ready to jump on the winch i've got most of the important stuff in the glove box if the glove box goes under we're in stride the glove box goes under you've taken a wild line i reckon off you go mate here we go how deep do you reckon this could be iron's going to go over the bonnet because we're going upstream oh it's loving it yeah it's it's a tractor mate the water's coming in it's definitely coming in oh we've got water everything's fighting now it might be a little bit hard to tell from where you're sitting but this sand is just so soft and as soon as those tires start to dig in well it's game over and that's exactly what's happened here there we go thank goodness for winches eh but just like that the rumba has pulled the old farm truck yet with no issues and it's one down five to go let some of that out it's actually gone a lot better than expected i mean that scene in the middle was just so soft and the bonus is i've got a nice little interior clean out which i was probably well overdue with graham's alternator on the fritz it means that his winch is out of action so i'm going to turn the old girl around well tom truck now becomes a recovery vehicle growing gets stuck easier in a straight line and the farm truck will do the job perfectly well a couple of things going on in there that current it doesn't look it but when you get into this main channel here it's ripping through the current through there is incredibly strong combined with that river sand i think i was sinking down sort of like this when i was walking across it so i'm going to try a slightly different tactic i'm going to go up this side here then i'm just going to hug hard left but try and stay into the current and then sort of come down with it for the exit i don't know put everything up higher let's give it a go this is sick look at the big g60 one animal okay then here we go [Music] he sunk that sand is so soft it's just crazy ready when you are mate and like a well oiled machine the winch is on and graham is on his way out it always pays to be prepared in a situation like this the less time you can spend in the water the better even if it's only a 50 year old patrol oh great soft as a super soft wow and you can see the watermark there and just how deep it can be once you sink down and the current hits you wow all right the old trucks are through let's see what the d-max can do went like crossing in the d-max soft bottom so i've got second low controversial rear diff lock on let's see here we go water up over the bonnet it's moving us a little bit come on mike come on jesse come on come on jesse he's done this oh come on oh so close so close that was the best one yet i thought i had it quite a good effort from the d-max i'd say [Music] oh look at that got it [Music] all right we're three down three to go we've got three of the biggest trucks to come through now there's a lot more weight bigger tyres the whole lot i still reckon they have to win but we'll see how we go now brendan is an expert wheeler as he's shown us so far and he's opted for a slightly different line a bit further left come on can you get boys so close but the big 79's weight is just too much and like the cars before him brendan's gone down just short of the exit good effort though mate really good holy heck that's how you clean your carpets mate so far it isn't looking that good four cars through four cars stuck so big nissan's next got 37s and a stack of power so if there's a vehicle to drive it it's probably this one right here i don't even reckon this is going to drive it and i mean if i do i'm going to be ecstatic i can tell you big boy get up at robot get up it yeah [Laughter] someone's thongs went flying well he's up next in the big 80 series lots of power up but he is towing a camper trailer got 35 i don't know i think he might have half a chance but he'll want to jump on that right pedal push it down to the floor pan and hold on come on mate get on it barley starts off strong and he's looking promising but the 80 quickly becomes bogged down in that soft sand there you go boys it's out with the winch water's in already every lights on the dash drive and steer you're gonna you're gonna pop the beat off that you're gonna have to steer left bro my car's overheating don't know why it's overheated so quick that's weird as bailey winches out it's clear that some gremlins are emerging under the bonnet our first priority is to get him out as quick as possible then we can have a look at what's going on pretty sure that has actually thrown the serpentine belt um off the vehicle in fact not pretty sure it actually spat it and came out the bottom of the vehicle completely unscathed as well so that's a good sign that didn't break which is amazing i suppose the fact he's got no fan at the front just thermos which means that had nothing to really interfere with came out perfectly so we'll put this back in because chances are he probably needs that give her a kick in the guts bars we'll see how she goes mate yep running sweet as a nut it just needs a washer behind it yeah perfect thing with this is now we're on this side of the river with another massive river that way we're caught in the middle only one way and that's forward and with that the mighty wenlock is behind us and we point our noses towards the pasco hey graeme how's the uh moisture levels in the old g60 i reckon i could almost grow mushrooms in here especially in these seats i've been in a dry bun for a while but it's actually quite nice because it keeps me cool i'm just hoping that there's not too much clay up ahead because that sort of stuff will really slow us down we've done it before it's in pretty challenging conditions with more modern vehicles mate and i'll tell you what in these older ones could be a challenge but one thing i know for sure they will get to the end it's clear as we venture forward that the tracks are really wet with parts that are usually dry riddle with wet clay and wash outs like this one well i was just plodding along following old shameless whale here he's popped up and gone left and cooked it it looks like this here like hard as a rock but you got half a meter that way and it's just bottomless soil so i think we're in for a bit of a challenge here i've tried to steer the vehicle around this one but as soon as you put a tyre off the track the ground turns into endless black soil country oh beautiful and that is how it's done the rest of the convoy has seen the right line to take and all crows through but bailey's 80 looks like it's running to some more troubles jesus and this time well it's looking a little bit more sinister not ideal not where we are anyway stress levels are high a little bit of a drama at the moment because the track is starting to get a lot harder we haven't even got to the hard bits yet and uh as you can see things aren't going well for the big 80 series here quite a few gremlins and that's not the place to be in two wheel drive and having overheating issues so that's what we're facing at the moment um i think our only really option is to try and get the trailer off the back of the 80 so we can preserve this vehicle um maybe the big 79 will tow the trail up and ruben to go in front of the 80 series so if it does need towing um we've got the biggest and most powerful vehicle to do that for the moment let's try our best to get through because if this track ends up being a big clay pit which i think it might be we might be here a week or more but one of the issues is sorted so that's a big win um one of the thermo fans wasn't working it just turns out that because one of the relays wasn't working of course the thermo wasn't working it took us a little while just to get our heads around how it's all set up so at least now he shouldn't overheat which is a great thing the only thing i wish we could fix it it's a bit of a drama on these things is the transfer case is not allowing us to get into the center diff lock there's a way to fix that but it requires dropping the transfer and that's going to take a little bit of time so what we might try and do is get it in the camp and then have a bit of a look around on some flat dry ground with bailey officially in two-wheel drive we've decided to hook the camper trailer onto the big 79 until we can get into camp and see if we can really diagnose bailey's gremlins but before we can do that there's another big crossing ahead which looks pretty deep let's see how we go wow this is gonna be nice and deep i can tell you that oh he's gone for a second he's on the move yeah he's done it he's gonna drive out look at this now sean's giving that a red hot crack with all the horsepower the farm truck has but that bow wave has caused him to come to a complete stop and the farm truck is filling up quick smart the seat's under that was deep holy heck that's probably the deepest i've ever had inside the cabin of a four-wheel drive i'm gonna set it might be a winch extension up from that other one yeah go to the i'm farming get some of this water out what a drive right drive didn't even get too wet really when the water rushed out and then just came back i was like i'm rushing back i was like i can hardly surf this wave is coming over about a six footer i just got pitted man would you look at that the poor old farm truck has taken a mud bath inside and out all right well it's now or never go the g60 alrighty it's a doozy of a crossing see how we go with it they came in me under [Laughter] i'm gonna try and turn it back yeah on to these old trucks i just keep going right that was awesome and she started underwater [Music] old trucks rules fine and simple and just like the farm truck the g60 has taken half the mud with it but that's the beauty of these old trucks no matter what you throw at them they just keep on running right that was probably one of the best things i've ever seen off right i know i keep saying that but we had water coming in windows through vents up to the seat you're wet from the waist down that doesn't really happen when you're sitting in the car what do you reckon about the rest of them mate oh well barley's got a few issues he's out i would never tow a trailer through that suicide i reckon those two should probably go around and the day max well that's up to you i have got silt in my glove box yeah he's not taking the demonstration you're right that's ridiculous no no reuben's a big boy with big tires he's got 37s and he's a bit unhinged robert you're going to do it what do you reckon yep you're gonna have to we're gonna get some recovery gear out so what's your plan of attack mate take us through it i reckon i'm gonna take it a little bit slower and uh then i'm just gonna give it everything this y62's got right at the end we're all excited mate come true when you're ready so far ruben's really shown what these dmw builds are capable of let's see how he approaches this one it's going to happen any moment it's the build up not a lot of room it's not a lot i think the farm truck got a bit further there mate oh now plan b raven reuben [Music] that's it that's it okay [Music] i was getting ready for the winch and no need for that so no need for that oh [Laughter] well hats off mate that was an awesome drive it's amazing what a set of 37s and a lot of power can do folks i just want you to check this out because this trundle drawer was completely underwater and the first thing i said reuben said open it up yeah you can see the water it was up over here first thing i said to him open up honestly if there's any water inside so absolutely that's dry as that's remarkable that's because of this seal it's just really well designed it's got a nice little lip on here that seals up nice and tight so you just don't get watering exactly yeah get dusting yeah and even if you drive mad dog lawns you're still fine yeah good mate why yeah can we camp up here tonight i've got a favorite of drawing out today me me see me butthole everything's got to dry out i need to put a new toy you need to put a new tire off that if that's the guy someone get some plywood and oh we're going to get the board going yeah good yeah good take your weapon at its best mate [Music] with a couple of good mates in a place like this anywhere your pitcher swag is home to me with camp set up underway rubens jumped in the dmw kitchen to cook up a well-deserved feed well i gotta say mate i've i've done a lot of things but i haven't been so wet ever before in my life it's one of the the most exciting and fun cape trips i've probably ever seen old trucks mate we're not out of the woods just yet because we've got potentially a bit of black saw country coming up yeah no not potentially it'll definitely be black soil it's just how many cars been over it luckily i think we're one of the very first through this year so hopefully we're going to skate across the top yep then the pasco the pasco always big always scares me you know i'm actually excited for the pass go because he's going to watch the cars exactly right you won't hear me say this too often but i'll be stoked if it goes over the seats again because i'm going to stop and i can just rub my seats down and get all the still top i want to get the boys to open each door just flood it out i'm going to have another one tonight because i reckon tomorrow is going to be a doozy today [Music] how you going guys hope you're enjoying today's episode i just wanted to show you something real quick this is the brand new drop from snatch clothing with some new gear that's just in time for spring winter is gone thank goodness about that have a look what we got we've got some board shorts here snatch camo board shorts they're quick dry as well perfect for getting wet in i've got some bucket hats in a range of different colors as well as some fishing shirts this one here is a short sleeve i'm obviously wearing a long sleeve one and something tells me if everything goes really good this year i'll be wearing an absolute heck out of this one so do yourself a favor get kitted out for spring and summer by jumping on a full drive 247.com [Music] mornings like these in places like this never get old and with the rigs looking a bit worse for wear the boys are prepping for a big day ahead [Music] all right want some out of the tires are we yeah mate look i've got um bailey's trailer behind me so look i think i do need to address the pressures i'm not going to go up too much just just enough that you know with the extra weight there i'm going to make sure i'm not going to roll a tire off the bed yeah it's a good idea mate thinking ahead thinking ahead i just love the fact that having having a really decent air compressor on board it means you can obviously change your tire pressures like you're doing it you know so easy that's it i mean these things are super fast too you know 170 litres a minute you know even with these big 35s um she's able to pump them up nice and fast yeah all right well we've got a fair bit to do today we're going to go through the pasco hopefully yeah yeah we'll be right back soil as well yeah you're certainly going to have your work cut out telling a big trailer but that's it i've seen you drive this in mate you'll have no dramas whatsoever we've got a huge day ahead of us including a possible show stopper at the pasco river but in between there and us lies a fair few kilometers of pretty treacherous black soil country which can cause massive problems if you go down only a few metres out of camp have already hit some pretty wet clay and if that's a sign of things to come well we've got some massive challenges up ahead i have to give it a baby to get through that there's just water everywhere on this track it sort of concerns me a little bit because once you go down in this stuff can be a bit of a punish as we drive further into the scrub it's becoming pretty clear by these big washouts that there's been a fair bit of water through very recently it means the track will be getting tougher and tighter which is not exactly when you want things to go wrong [Music] well just like yesterday this 80 series is a spat serpentine belt just one of the little pulleys is probably not spaced out enough so the belt sitting on the edge of it and so it pops off every now and again so popped off the water pumps not spinning therefore the motors got quite hot but just when we thought this was the same problem we fixed earlier in the trip jesse discovers something much worse and a lot harder to fix like it doesn't have many rollers left in it so uh well these belts come off again and this if we found the culprit the idler pulley is seized up and all the roller bearings have fallen out so it's flopping around on angles and the belts just jumped off again not good because you don't have a spare well we thought it was as innocent as just the belt coming off we just put it back on but we got when to put it back on we found out that the idler bearing is gone that pulley is absolutely stuffed now which means we can't get a belt back on this motor which means we can't turn it on because the water pump is not going to spin and it's going to just boil itself and then obviously you'll do the heads you'll do mass amount of damage to the vehicle i think towing might be our own option i'm just worried that when we get through some of the heavy stuff you'll need and be able to tow a big land cruiser i don't know with no spare idle or pulley on hand the only option is to back the big y62 up hook up bayley and ruben has a massive task ahead of him [Music] the big y62 it's a beast but having a full-size vehicle behind it heading up with some real nasty black soil section i'm not looking forward to this to be honest this is going to give this thing a full-on workout oh here we go let's do this the 80 in tow we continue along the track but as we push further east the track ahead has turned to mud now we're no strangers to this section of the frenchman's and last time we were here it took us hours to get through this short section of black soil it's time to send it through boys there we go this is starting to look a little bit softer down here i just pick up the old rpm a bit of a drive oh yeah it's out of nowhere just gets all wet and soggy oh did you see how squishy that was the old notorious black soil shallow yeah mate i was just sort of driving two-wheel drive jumping forward drive but it was too late mate the damage had been done i am down better i've been nursing a uni joint that's on its last legs and to preserve what's left i've been running in two-wheel drive and only going into four-wheel drive when need be but this time i've just left it a little bit late to change into low and ended up getting bogged the combination of a good winch and the farm truck being a light vehicle has meant that i've been able to get out with relative ease but some of the big rigs will definitely have their work cut out for him through here oh yeah it turns into like a water balloon that's the stuff you don't want to go in ground is a trampoline well last time we came through here we had to retreat because the pasco was too high this next couple of k section took us eight hours of winching the entire time and it was a lot drier back then too so i'm just gonna send it i think you ran out of my thoughts sorry mate here we go i'm going to take a little bit of a different line from the other boys that's how you do it that's how you do that said here's the ticket button that was pulling like a freight train even with the camera behind me hold on bud [Music] that's us and just like that with a bit of right foot the boys have cruised through with no dramas [Music] cape york is known for its stunning landscapes and epic water crossings and while everyone flocks to the teletrack the frenchman's offers some absolute stunning scenery itself including this crossing right here [Music] how beautiful is this little part of the world i wish every water crossing in australia could be like this just stunning big rig she loves it reuben and bailly have put in almighty effort to get the 80 this far on tow but this run down to the pasco is riddled with tight turns and fallen trees making it extremely tricky to navigate the 80 with no power steering but the boys are pushing on okay this is pretty full on mate i feel like a rainforest challenge truck right now coming through here yeah there's this it's never been this washed out before it's quite interesting tonight there's no tire tracks in front of me mate not one we might be the very first people this season to even attempt this pretty wild stuff really finally we've made it to the pasco river arguably the toughest challenge on the frenchman's and this year it looks like it's flowing something fierce [Music] well mate the mighty pasco the mighty pascagous short crossing is what 50 meters maximum but flowing really really fast and obviously holes big deep holes there's rocks no one's driven it this year there's no tire tracks out there tree down trees down and stuff palm truck first one down then the g60 i know some of the most capable trucks in all's no doubt no doubt let's have a walk reuben's already pretty deep you've got to be careful about crocodiles as well so not much you can do about them though you've just got to hope they don't come and get you no way charlie that's over my rooftop that current is something else i don't know what to say you've come all this way yeah first people we've made a conscious effort for you to get down early it's just crazy because this time of year normally you can bother it almost shouldn't be getting up near the chassis race it's one of those things right there it's actually up to my neck and that's the current and it's going so hard i can't stand up it used to be a bit of an old adage when i first got the fuel drive if you can't walk it you couldn't you shouldn't drive it and um i can swim it just but i end up down on those rocks so you get four and a half ton of vehicle side on that current well the bump truck i believe water wouldn't just be hitting against the door open through the window and i'll just pick it up and flow down i think it'll be over your dash yeah so it's just nice i'm gutted to say it but it's beating this again we've got one heck of a journey to get out of here let's take this a couple days to get this oh all right well let's turn around well it's one thing to get some mud in the old trucks but with a river that deep and flowing that hard it's just not worth the risk of losing vehicles and just like that the mighty pasco has bested us again we've got a mammoth task ahead to get out of this track but it's not all bad news and sean spotted something that might just be the thing we're looking for i reckon that mate that might it's really the chances pretty close i mean it's a little idler pull you found on this mavaro obviously it's been just left here um to roll away that quite far out in a pinch you know what that could get very close worth having to try the only thing i would say about it though mate putting this apart on a land cruiser could make it even more in a while oh my goodness is it going to get out of here quick quick quick all right let's put in your pocket or we can give that to bailly let's see how we go here now we've got to um get bailey back up to the top [Music] that is brutal strong arm steering needed for this one with the rest of the convoy up the climb the boys jump on the tools to see if we can get this pulley fixed it's a long shot but with a couple of gun missing drivers on it we might just be able to figure this out it's very the same and like even that offset like if you look at it like that they also back in so you could try and put that bearing in there or we just try to just pull it up moment of truth will it fit look at that like i bought one [Music] all right it's the moment of truth come on you good thing yeah go ahead live action once it comes to bush mechanic pictures but the luck to find and the otter fully was actually taken off that navarro as well i just saw it sitting on top of the engine i thought it's about the right size there's no chance it'll fit but i'll just entertain the boys with that idea [Music] i've never felt so happier than right now wow steering feels so nice i bet mate look i'm a little bit bummed we didn't get to drive across the pasco but after seeing everyone bend together to fix that car of yours mate that's a really cool thing and jessie well played mike oh mate you just apply the parts outfitted a bit yeah how could that work yeah that'll make our trip back a bit quicker with him under jones team we've put a nissan part on that holden motor in the toyota so it's more of a frankenstein but missing parts i'll tell you what it's probably gonna be a lot more reliable [Music] with bayley now running on his own steam but still in two will drive we set out the long journey back and with the light fading we decided to push on into the noid to get some case under our belt turning back through already driven tracks is usually okay because you know what to expect but when it comes to black soil well it's the opposite once that top layer breaks through the mud can become endless a bit of that mud up ahead oh no but again and almost in the same spot nursing that uni has caught shawn out in the mud mate what have you done i've just gone and cooked it to be honest there's no other way to say it i've come through i thought i'd warm the window up that's a great idea as i did that i knocked it in a neutral and it happened to be right here it might take off and you're almost out too i didn't even like drive it i just like came to a rolling stop here it's probably a good thing because last time we were here we were up to our wasting mud so hopefully we can avoid that this time well i reckon i'm not going to hear the end of this one try your best and let the winch do the rest i need all the help i can get tonight in the second with the worst of the black soil behind us we point our noses west and push back out through what is an unusually wet frenchman's track [Music] any spots a good spot to pull up for the night after a big day and the boys waste no time in getting camp set up and some tucker on the go it's an early night to bed for us because tomorrow we have to cross back over the wenlock and if last time is anything to go by it's going to be no easy feat [Applause] after a couple of days on the track the wind lock looks like it's come down a bit and you can see the tracks of when we first crossed the river the advantage we have this time is that we know what line to take through and we'll be going with the current which should help push us through the went like crossing now hopefully this time we can drive it something tells me though fair bit of water's gonna come in thought i'd park up here and wash her out like there you go there you go give it a scrub just give it a bit of a wash if you don't mind oh look at that that's water in there easy done well it's a little bit unorthodox but i thought it's some beautiful clean water maze will give her a nice little wash on the inside because it was pretty feral in here it's good to go now you can never go past a free car wash but i think the farm truck will still need a good scrub back in the shed the rest of the boys are through with no dramas including the big y62 which cruises through with bailey in tow like it's nothing but while a wentlock might be behind us the exit out of the riverbed is a steep and slippery climb and it might just be the thing that catches us out well just when you think it's all over you drive the wind lock you get across the other side you're a hero and then you see this in the old farm truck i reckon you just idle up this one of the sketchy things is both of us don't have a whole heap of breaks so if we don't make it it's back down at a great rate or not so you can jam it back in gear and just idle until you get rescued we'll see how he goes yeah cameraman luke has got the camera car stuck on this and if i could drive the farm truck up this one the beers are on him tonight you're on mate two forex bitters um just nice and cold if you could look yeah yes up she goes comp truck i know graeme you'll want to drive this yeah not to be outdone by the farm truck i think more so there's another stop on the hill because there's not much brakes there he goes doing this in nearly 50 year old trucks is one thing but with no brakes as well it really adds an element of suspense hang on hang on i just realized something it's no farm truck you're nearly at it yeah no i don't give it back either all right yeah just jump start it backwards i've got zero brakes right you have no idea all right sneaky boy you're a snake yep the g60 has almost made it to the top and with no brakes and no alternator it means no winch so i've opted for a snatch up with the time truck how's that gonna work what do you mean well i can't start my car or take it out of gear he'll take up the tension you'll take it out of gear and hopefully oh you just put your foot in the clutch when there's tension [Music] but it's not gone to plan and things go absolutely pear-shaped i've got my brakes whoa [Music] i'll just put more this is not a situation you want to be in both the brakes on these old trucks are not working well we've opted for a winch this time to stop the farm truck from rolling back so far it seems to be working and the rumber is pulling out both vehicles with one final sneak the g60 is up and on level ground and out of trouble bit of excitement that's pretty epic that's a couple of scary moments i thought you're going to be coming yeah i've never seen so many neck veins come out but oh yeah we got there we got there in the end [Music] look at it look at it go oh it makes it easy [Music] that's it we're done with the rest of the convoy up that marks what is the end of our adventure on the frenchman's in an absolutely epic couple of weeks reeling a couple of classic old rigs on some of australia's most iconic tracks it's been a great old time and it just goes to show that no matter what you will the best thing you can do is just get out there and have some fun as long as you've got some good mates with you you'll have a blast no matter what frenchman's old rigs old mates it doesn't get much better than that the holy trinity reality is it really is we had one of the toughest conditions i've ever seen in the frenchman's tracks i've seen the fragments and what all the rigs are here out yep tell the tale mate sickest trip i've done in a very long time and it's been awesome for me to jump in the old g60 we bought it at the southernmost pub in australia and punted it almost as far north as you can go that's how cool is that it's so good and it's still going and the best bit is we're gonna drive out in their own well someone's gonna drive out their own stave anyway anyway but i guess it really like at the start of this trip i was thinking this is a real nissan burst toyota yeah but debate and the more i think about it the more i think toyota's absolutely creamed no i'm not going to go there i want to put it out to you guys what do you think nissan versus toyota or does that not matter so long as you've got a wet backside from the start of the day to the end you know where you're going it really doesn't matter boys what do you say aren't you river burgers i reckon so right right you lead i'll be 70 k's an hour [Music] what is that 30 feet 40 feet but 40 feet yeah across america 50 meters oh i haven't clapped in a long time that felt good 50 meters all day here we go folks is that 50 meters or 40 feet put it in the comments below i'm scared and i feel flustered we're sharing a mic be professional the mighty pasco mate it is 50 meters wide but a heck of a river i'll tell you what's going on [Laughter] oh my gosh these pretzels are making me thirsty i am not a wizard these pretzels they're making me thirsty these pretzels they are making me thirsty it doesn't matter if you spill a bit because the end of these i'll do it again because no words came yet if i find a good bit of dead grass yeah i collect things i just put them in here i've got a couple i found a couple of good ones so much fun you can have an old car there you go mate oh here we go oh come here i think i might have to uh hit bales up but i think maybe uh tonight we'll swap he can have the swag and um i'll sleep in the camper after what we think bales can do it in there you're a brave man sure a piece of camera is here yeah right in close oh it's a big old buttony face that is what's up there i swear what's happening right oh just hanging out in the bush [Music] that's with me make him dizzy absolutely rig's on rigs boys good on your legs quick one of those one of those right [Laughter] i'm good it doesn't sound like it [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: 4WD 24-7

Views: 1,372,928

Keywords: 4wd, action, 4x4, offroad, outdoors, travel, overlanding, toyota, nissan, hilux, patrol, landcruiser, adventure, camping, fishing, diesel, petrol, surf, shaun whale, graham cahill, australia, dirty 30, shorty, gq, gu, 80 series, 40 series, 60 series, 79 series, troopy, 4wd action, 4wd 247, 4wd 24/7, cape york, g60 patrol, farm truck, hj47, frenchmans track, driving cape york, cape york camping, old telegraph track, old tele track, offroading, 4x4ing

Id: emTBOfVqX_o

Length: 70min 46sec (4246 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 07 2022