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..... of leaches and scars to winches and bull-bars ....
11th / 12th February 2006
Ulu Yam Dalam, Selangor.
The wait was well worth it. After quite a while of no outing activity, and with cancellations and postponements of planned activities, three of us (Romeo, Whiskey Mike and yours trully) made it out on this joint-activity with two Troopers from the Gombak 4X4 Team. Well, actually we tagged along with them on their fishing trip.
The story goes like this ---> The original plan was for a much awaited outing with all five cars as November Hotel (Fizi) is back from his Hajj. But as it turned out after few discussions, Zulu Yankee was not able to participate as his work demanded his presence up North till late Saturday afternoon, and November Hotel was still in jet-lagged situation and was not really ready to go on a four-by-four. So, the plan was postponed to the weekend of 18th Jan. However, when Whiskey Mike came with the suggestion to join and follow his mechanic on a fishing trip, Romeo and me agreed with the idea.
So, in a rather ad-hoc and rushing manner, the three of us found our way to the RV point at Greenwood. There, Zulu Yankee had also came to see us off. He just got back from Kedah and could not join this time around ~ too tired and missed his children....hmmmm... at least that was what he indicated..... Anyway, we waited for Nan (the mechanic from Gombak) for quite a while - since 4:00pm to be exact. And when he finally came in just one car intead of two as earlier indicated, we were wondering why. Anyway, we headed out of Greenwood at about 5:30pm, and drove through Taman Sri Gombak, and through our first time route that led to the Empangan Batu road. It was a short cut as opposed of going through the busy Selayang town. And in no time, we exited the main road a few miles after the Batu Dam picnic area. Our expectations from this trip was not very high as the trip was a fishing outing. According to Whiskey Mike, Nan said that there were a short stretch of off road with not-so-hardcore tracks of both downhill and uphill. The location is referred to as "Ulu Yam Dalam".
The track seemed like it has not been used for quite some time. Through the thick jungle, all that we saw on our sides were trees and lush greenery. It was a very soothing sight indeed. The track were gravel and quite dry with a few mild mud holes. The first obstacle was a small stream crossing which everybody negotiated with ease.
The second obstacle was in the form of two fallen trees that was in our way. It was quite big in diameter and Romeo's chainsaw took a while to slice through the trunk. It was either that the chainsaw was on the blunt side or the truk were hard ~ probably both!
And we did our share of the work, either machine-assisted, or "manually"...
And as we overcame the obstacles, it was getting dark.... but the convoy leader assured us the campsite was just nearby.
But it was not to be that simple. The last river crossing was not an easy task. The old bridge was in a bad condition thus the outing leader, ie. Nan decided that we go through the ravine which involved initianting a 90 degrees bend. How shall I describe that...hmmmm.... Lemme try... first we need to go down the river. At the base of the river - with not much room to maneuvre, the river bank is perallel to the car - thus we have to position the car to be as much as we could facing the river bank. The most that any car could achieve that night was a mere ten to twenty degrees slant from the car side to the bank. From there, the use of winch coupled with tire spinning bought the car up the banks. Sounds simple? Not as simple getting the car across!
Well, as Nan headed out and did it, he made it look easy. Of course for him it was easy with his vast experience. Then as Romeo took his turn, the second Trooper from the Gombak 4X4 team arrived. The driver, Kassim (Nan's brother I was told by Whiskey) was full of ideas and from his instructions to negotiate the hurdles, we could tell he has good off-road experience behind him!
Anyway, for all five vehicles to cross the river/ravine that night, it took us more than two hours with Whiskey Mike almost losing his bull bar! Apparently, the installation was not properly done! And me... well I was stuck for quite a while down in the river and with assistance from Whiskey (pulling from rear), I finally managed to steer off the ravine. I took the longest (time) !
Whiskey Mike initating the river bank... resulting in his bull bar damage!
We reached campsite rather late that evening - almost before midnite. But the experience was exasperating, and most valuable for all participants......
The campsite was a bit cramped, but the river was awesome! The normal tents - dome or open - was set up, but the killer was Whiskey's "just throw and voila... it's a tent" !!!!
Meanwhile we plan for the exit on the next day - whether to replace the timber bridge or to drive down the 45degrees slope using anchor.
Day 2 - after the morning rituals (solat, mandi sungai, sarapan etc), the group decided to work on the steep river bank as building a bridge would be more time consuming considering the chainsaw condition. It was digging time for us - more for some, more of "looking and watching" for others...hehehehehe...
Romeo was first to go down the slopy river bank. And he was a bit worried of toppling over, thus I anchored his Suzuki using my 'come up' winch for him to go down. Though the Suzuki got safely down the slope, it seemed to have damaged the front drive shaft from the struggle to go up the other side of the river bank. The wheels could not be turned leftward ~ it just stop at the straight position.
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Romeo practically stucked by the hillside as he could not negotiate left! |
Bravo (that's me!) safely making it up the slope. |
Whiskey Mike negotiting the "SS", steep slope down, and equally steep embankment up on the left. |
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Romeo looking on as Whiskey Mike trying to turn his Trooper leftward |
Despite being pre-occupied with his Suzuki's damaged front wheels, Romeo lent a helping hand. |
Whiskey Mike's Trooper stuck between the riverbank and a tree infront. |
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Another nice view of Whiskey's behind! |
Nan's (from Gombak 4X4) negotiation this challenging ravine. |
The Trooper is somewhat similar to Whiskey's - so, its the driver, not the car..... |
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Nan's brother in his 2.6 Trooper - an 'otai' and daredevil! |
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kudos to brother Kassim! He made the task looks easy and simple! |
This is the picture of the SS... L-turn
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The High-Lift Jack proven to be essential in any outing! |
As well as the mechanics that came along! |
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We had two mechanics that day ~ Nan who operated a 4X4 workshop in Gombak, and Wady who works in PJ. |
Between the two of them, the troubleshooting was done much faster. But Nan was the more expreinced sifu.. |
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Whiskey Mike learning trick of the trade |
And Romeo was just dazed and confused.... :) |
Well honestly, we thought the ordeal was over after we made good (well actually it was Nan & Wady) Romeo's Suzuki. As it turned out, his drive-shaft broke at the wheels and that the broken pieces inside the ball end prevented the wheel movements.
As if it was some sort of a curse, things happen whenever we brought along "new things" on an outing. My first outing with the group (Lepar trip), the new thing was my "elsie". My four wheel drive got damaged. The second outing, Janda Baik trip, the new thing was snatch block (Romeo's). Again my elsie was reovered from a ditch with the use of the snatch block. And this trip, two new things ~ well one of it was actually people ~ my high-lift jack, and the mechanic. So as you all know, some of the team members have been grumbling about the need of a mechanic on or team and that we have been lucky nothing major( mechanically) happened on our previous outing. And my brother (in-law), whom is mechanic by training have not been able to join any outing before due to his work commitment. But on this trip, I sort of forced him to join. And.... two cars needed the service of Wady (my brother) as well as the high lift jack.
The story with Kassim's Trooper: Well, he was the "roughest" driver on the trip, thrashing his Trooper at will. Well, I think the thrashing took its toll that day. On the last river crossing with a rather steep (but long) slope, the steering tie rod end broke. Although it was easier to open up (as opposed to Romeo's drive shaft), there were no parts to replace. So, one car (Nan) went out to get the parts while the rest of us waited (actually set up tent) in the drizzling afternoon. And while waiting, a Pajero (without the proper trekker tires) was having difficulty going up that slope. Romeo came to the rescue and winched the car up. Well done!
Second instance the jack being used ~~ "Camping" & waiting for parts ~~~Lending a helping hand to fellow 4x4
Wady trying his hand at driving ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~Whiskey the Director (need to dress up dude!)
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In summary, what we (the Gugujah team members) thought would be a simple straight forward no frills trip turned out to be exciting and challenging. We met and go to know new 4X4 enthusiasts. We learned quite a fair bit from them ~ from winching and negotiating slopes techniques, to emergency repair works.
We got out of the jungle around 7:00pm that day. Original plan was to arrive home before 10:00am.... as some of us have commitments that Sunday morning.... but we can never predict the 'adventure'......
Thank you all, and I guess all can't wait for the next outing.
by: bravo lima, 14th Feb 2006.
One of innovative ideas from Kassim --> water sprout so as we get clean water.
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