The Great African Balloon Adventure - Diff disintegrated!!
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We've wrecked the rear diff on our trusty Iveco. The noise was terrifying - and it was a fascinating exercise in progressively identifying sounds and symptoms. Put the clutch in - rear wheels lock up. Is that graunching sound coming from the gearbox? the transfer box? or travelling along the propshaft from the rear differential?
Once we'd agreed it was the last we turned back to the nearest town (UIS) and got here by engaging front wheel drive which worked well provided we ignored the painful grinding of teeth in the back axle.
The palava getting beds in one place, dinner in another in UIS would have been comical were it not for difficulty in keeping our eyes open.
Yesterday morning Adam detached the propshaft - thus isolating the offending axle and she behaved beautifully all the way to ..... wherever we are now.
So we are now safely at our final destination and jolly luxurious it is too!! The owner has just taken us on a recce of the area for our final balloon flights and it is a lovely mix of grass, mountains, sharp branches, rocks, giraffe, oryx,zebra, impala, warthog, elephant, cheetah and lion. The plane was a 1964 Cessna with a beautiful patina on the ancient dashboard.
We've wrecked the rear diff on our trusty Iveco. The noise was terrifying - and it was a fascinating exercise in progressively identifying sounds and symptoms. Put the clutch in - rear wheels lock up. Is that graunching sound coming from the gearbox? the transfer box? or travelling along the propshaft from the rear differential?
Once we'd agreed it was the last we turned back to the nearest town (UIS) and got here by engaging front wheel drive which worked well provided we ignored the painful grinding of teeth in the back axle.
The palava getting beds in one place, dinner in another in UIS would have been comical were it not for difficulty in keeping our eyes open.
Yesterday morning Adam detached the propshaft - thus isolating the offending axle and she behaved beautifully all the way to ..... wherever we are now.
So we are now safely at our final destination and jolly luxurious it is too!! The owner has just taken us on a recce of the area for our final balloon flights and it is a lovely mix of grass, mountains, sharp branches, rocks, giraffe, oryx,zebra, impala, warthog, elephant, cheetah and lion. The plane was a 1964 Cessna with a beautiful patina on the ancient dashboard.
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Take care and bon voyage, xx