Outback cripples Mercedes-Benz's toughest off-roaders

[trippytaka]

Haha, we're all considering grabbing a LandCruiser and rescuing them.

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/u...805-1ie5s.html

Mercedes-Benz has launched a rescue mission to one of the most remote sites in Australia after six of its military-style wagons broke down.

Corrugations along one 70-kilometre stretch of the Canning Stock Route burst the shock absorbers on six of the seven vehicles attempting to make what the German car maker claims is the first full crossing of the 1900-kilometre route through outback Western Australia by a car manufacturer.

Five "normal" versions of the G-Class off-roader - and one military-specification ute - started to burst mainly rear shock absorbers while travelling along stretches of the stock route extending from Well 33 to Well 35.
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Fourteen people, including two Mercedes-Benz technicians and one Drive team member, are stranded at the remote site, part of an attempt to publicise the off-road credentials of the recently introduced, rugged off-road G-Class range.

The cars today limped into a campsite at Well 36, where Mercedes-Benz has temporarily halted the expedition while it waits for five new sets of shock absorbers - four in each set - to be flown in from Melbourne to a remote airstrip near Well 33, about 1000km north-east of Wiluna in central WA.

The car maker then hopes to complete the 14-day crossing, which still has about 800km to run - mainly across the dunes of the Great Sandy Desert - before reaching Halls Creek early next week.

Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific managing director Horst von Sanden admits the cars have been put through a lot of pain.

"When we undertook this journey we were well aware of the punishment that the vehicles would endure," he says. "We put in place a group of very experienced Outback operators who have the expertise and logistical knowledge to cover off any eventuality. This planning has more than paid off in ensuring that we reach our goal of Halls Creek on August 9, 2011.

"I have complete faith in the team out on the Canning and the thorough logistics and preparation the team have put in place," says von Sanden.

Mercedes-Benz Australia has arranged for the replacement shock absorbers to land in Perth today, before transferring to a light plane destined for a remote Aboriginal settlement close to Well 33, about 1000km from Wiluna, and at a cost of about $5000.

It will be met by the only vehicle in the expedition to not suffer a failure - a military-specification G-Wagen station wagon with a modified suspension similar to the 1800 vehicles currently being delivered to the Australian Defence Force.

Mercedes-Benz is currently assessing if it will bring the GProfessional, as the surviving vehicle is called, to Australia as part of the two-vehicle G-Class line-up, which currently only consists of the G350, powered by a 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6, and the G55 AMG, powered by a 5.5-litre V8.

Local spokesman David McCarthy says the broken shock absorbers - and three snapped spare wheel mounts - were expected.

"I think we don't make an omelette without breaking the eggs," he said.

"We knew it would be tough, but it is important to have the right (technical) people and the right infrastructure, and I think that's proven us right."

McCarthy says the corrugations on the road today were the worst the expedition had seen so far.

"The Canning Stock Route is in very bad condition in certain areas and has caused suspension damage to most vehicles disembarking north of Well 33 over the past 48 hours," he says. "We have reduced the pace we are travelling at to ensure the vehicles remain drivable, which all seven of them currently are."

Despite the damage, McCarthy remains confident that all seven vehicles will make it to Halls Creek.

"I'm not displeased with how it's gone so far, but what I am pleased with is how we've resolved it.

"The hardest decision for me was that I had to pay for a charter plane to get the replacement parts here quicker," McCarthy says.

"For me, it was not an option to take a vehicle out [of the crossing attempt]. This has been months and months in the planning."

The day was blighted by another incident when an after-market UHF radio shorted out, taking out a number of other fuses with it, and the failure of one car's air-conditioning system, a necessity in the 30-degree-plus heat of the outback.

[Kryton]

Any vehicle running factory shocks would have ended up with the same result.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by davway

Any vehicle running factory shocks would have ended up with the same result.

Exactly. Those muppets at Drive must be living in fantasy land of they think OEM suspension components can take on the CSR and survive it.

[Uncle Niceguy]

surprised they dont have an emergency land cruiser to get the parts cos that will at least get the parts back compared to the army-spec model which might crap itself too.

[StrokedXT]

Originally Posted by eb-fairmont

surprised they dont have an emergency land cruiser to get the parts cos that will at least get the parts back compared to the army-spec model which might crap itself too.

The G Wagen crushes any dirty cruiser stock for stock

[BadMax]

Wonder how far a Tezza would get...before it's ball joints explode!

[StrokedXT]

About 5 metres down a real trail

[bingoTE50]

I have an old mate who worked for the original importer of bilstein shocks in the early days of bilstein here ,worked with Brocky on early Commodores and DJ 's Greens Tuf Falcon .Demonstrated to the bilstein boxheads what we do to 4wd 's in this country. They could not believe what we dish out to them . Obviously they still have not learned .

[Franco Cozzo]

I wonder how the F150 SVT Raptor would have gone?

[GTP 290]

I wonder if they are stil going to claim they have done a 'full 1900km pass' of the state even though they've had top replace major components on the car.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by GTP 290

I wonder if they are stil going to claim they have done a 'full 1900km pass' of the state even though they've had top replace major components on the car.

Most people have to repair or replace some sort of automotive component whilst travelling the CSR. It's a tough track. You can't take trailers up the track so everything you need has to be on or in the vehicle, meaning that many vehicles are over their GVM, that combined with a tough 1900klm means lots of broken vehicles.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I wonder how the F150 SVT Raptor would have gone?

Hopefully quickly and airborne for most of it..lol

[smoo]

Luckily Toyota didn't pull the same stunt when the V8ttd was realeased, as they would need an oil tanker in tow to keep on top of excess oil consumption.
Or Nissan with the 3.0td patrol and Navara, as we all know at least one of the pistons would have blown to bits on the first hard days work.

[smally289]

I'd love to get all the early V6 Explorers out there and ...... leave them there!

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by smally351

I'd love to get all the early V6 Explorers out there and ...... leave them there!

Like this?

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I wonder how the F150 SVT Raptor would have gone?

They won't leave you stranded; a handful of amateur off-roaders found that if you crashed them into ditches at over 100km/h all components were unharmed, but the chassis itself would distort. SVT defended this 'flaw' by saying at least you weren't stranded with broken bits in the middle of nowhere, EDIT, or even worse, losing control courtesy of broken bits at very high speeds.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I wonder how the F150 SVT Raptor would have gone?

Product engineering have one, maybe they could try it out.

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Product engineering have one, maybe they could try it out.

Any particular reason why they would have one?


Here's an example of one with the bent frame.



And here's the story in this link for anyone interested. There's also a video showing why/how the damage was caused. Basically, it's not fool-proof.
http://ca.autoblog.com/2011/07/21/sv...s-w/#continued

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Product engineering have one, maybe they could try it out.

100% sure its a raptor, I saw a silver 150 4x4 in Lara the other day.

If it's a raptor then it wouldn't be out here for a laugh...hmm v8 ranger with a Miami would be freaking sweet...or maybe some tougher off road components?

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by Polyal

100% sure its a raptor, I saw a silver 150 4x4 in Lara the other day.

If it's a raptor then it wouldn't be out here for a laugh...hmm v8 ranger with a Miami would be freaking sweet...or maybe some tougher off road components?

That would be nice with an eight; I think it would attract a lot of buyers. I won't hold my breath, though.

[rods falcon]

Most people attempting this track would carry at least 1 spare shock absorber. I wonder what spares Mercedes were carrying or did they think that they wouldnt need any?

[CAMS290]

Originally Posted by GTP 290

I wonder if they are stil going to claim they have done a 'full 1900km pass' of the state even though they've had top replace major components on the car.

I would hardly call shock absorbers major components, but if you happened to read the daily diary of the G Wagen CSR trip, these vehicles were loaded to the hilt, some even had their back seats removed to fit in extra camping equipment, as well as 150kg on the roof racks.

Pretty impressive vehicles to have ONLY shock absorber failures, I would put my money/life on one of these overa 200 series any day.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Falc'man

Any particular reason why they would have one?

I'm not really sure. They must be testing something, 6.2 V8? Who knows.

Originally Posted by Polyal

100% sure its a raptor, I saw a silver 150 4x4 in Lara the other day.

If it's a raptor then it wouldn't be out here for a laugh...hmm v8 ranger with a Miami would be freaking sweet...or maybe some tougher off road components?

100% its a Raptor, there's no mistaking it, its a beast. That front end with the big F O R D across the grille is tough. Its an orange colour. I've seen it about 5 or 6 times. I'd love to know what they are doing with it.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

100% its a Raptor, there's no mistaking it, its a beast. That front end with the big F O R D across the grille is tough. Its an orange colour. I've seen it about 5 or 6 times. I'd love to know what they are doing with it.

The only logical explanation is for benchmarking purposes.

Unless SVT have asked the local arm here to put the Raptor under pressure to design a fix for some issues. They may have thought that the T6 crew would be the best people for this.

[StrokedXT]

Originally Posted by GTP 290

I wonder if they are stil going to claim they have done a 'full 1900km pass' of the state even though they've had top replace major components on the car.

A shock in a 4wd isn't a major component, it's a commonly carried spare on these sorts of trips.

[burnz]

bahwahh remind me of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isC32ev4Lw4

[zetec]

There's someone commenting on the caradvice version of that story that he recently did the CSR with 2 Cruisers and a Ranger Wildtrak... and the Wildtrak was the only survivor unharmed!!

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

The only logical explanation is for benchmarking purposes.

Unless SVT have asked the local arm here to put the Raptor under pressure to design a fix for some issues. They may have thought that the T6 crew would be the best people for this.

Benchmarking against what though, the Raptor is like a Baha off road racer, what would they be benchmarking it against, the Ranger isn't even in the ballpark in terms of high speed off road ability.

Its hard to think of a reason they might be using it. Maybe they just want to joyride it around the proving ground, i'm sure there would be some good places to thrash it around the you yangs.

[SteveJH]

Or they could be using it as a benchmark for something Ford Aus are developing for all we know.

[GTP owner]

I would be thinking the cruiser would have suffered the same fate. I wonder if the disco 4 would have been a suitable vehicle - the airwags would have made the tripa lot more comfortable