"Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction" (rustholes-are-weight-reduction)
02/23/2016 at 07:02 • Filed to: None | 4 | 21 |
I am planning to do a (off)road trip with a friend of mine and my dog for 2 weeks starting from April 30th. The idea is to start from where I live, drive across Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and back home in 2 weeks.
The road:
Long way home
This is the road map for our trip (makes the 2 hour drive from my home to work (blue dot) seem really small). We want to visit some cities along the way, but it’s mostly about driving and hiking and enjoying the wilderness.
The car:
No need for hydraulics to go 3 wheelin’
The car is a 1987 Mitsubishi Pajero 2.5 TD without intercooler, with all of it’s glorious 84 HP. It has been my father’s trailer-pulling-car for some years before the engine gave up in late 2006. We stored ans restored it over the years. It hit the streets again in December 2014
The replacement engine has 250.000 km on the clock, it’s not the newest, most powerful, or fuel efficient, but it keeps running, so it’ll do.
What has been done:
Underbody and frame were cleaned, repaired and painted
Swapped a new used engine (250.000km)
Lightly used clutch
New exhaust
New tires (spare included): Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S G012 in 265/70R15
New exhaust rubber mounts
New rear axle rubber bushings
New brakes
New shock absorbers
New used idler arm
Bumpers and fender flares were repaired and painted
Wheels were repainted
Up to date stereo (important on long drives)
What still needs to be done:
Building and installing a roof rack
Buying and installing a roof tent
Replacing the back seats with storage space
Fluid change
Replacing transfer case seals
Buying and installing a snorkel (maybe)
Tuning the steering box
Replacing the sway bar rubber bushings (PU?)
Repaint/replace the steering wheel (the cracking paint has some sharp edges)
Buying and installing a 220V power outlet
The team:
Well there my friend, 28 years old engineer, with little mechanical and no offroad knowledge, my dog, 1,3 year old Beauceron-Bernese Mountain Dog mix, 65 cm, 40 kg, with no mechanical or offroad knowledge, and me, 28 year old engineer, with quite a bit of mechanical and a bit of offroad knowledge.
The strategy:
We’re not going to go hardcore offroad, since we’re planning to do a long trip. The tires I chose are advertised as silent while onroad and very capable in offroad use. To my surprise they are really silent, and the offroad capability is okay, but not excellent (I didn’t expect more).
We plan to drive about 6 hours per day, a little more while crossing Germany.
We’re going to sleep in the tent while the dog will sleep in the annex. Maybe we’ll go to a hotel once or twice for a shower.
I will get some French army field rations for the parts of the trip where we’re in the wild. We will probably eat out often.
We’ll avoid to let the dog alone, but if there is no other possibility, she’ll stay in the car, with open windows and grills so she cant jump out. the temperatures shouldn’t exceed 15°C, so she will be fine.
We will avoid too long ferry rides, as I don’t know how the dog will react to them.
Question time:
Has anyone some experience with roof tents? Prices are all over the place, so I’m not sure what to get. I dont want to spend 5000€ on a tent, but it has to last for more than just 1 trip. There are some tents for just under 1000€ on Ebay, but they are delivered only, so I suspect they are sent from China directly to the consumer, and I don’t have the possibility to check the quality beforehand.
Are there things that I shouldn’t miss on the road? I have been to Finland twice, but I don’t know the rest very well. I get most informations online, but maybe some of you know something I haven’t found yet.
Do you have any tips about preparing your rig, living outdoors, and not killing each other on a 14 day vacation without escape zone?
Is there anything YOU want to know?
Chinny Raccoon
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/23/2016 at 07:15 | 1 |
No comment on the mechanics other than that’s a bloody long way! In Sweden on the way out you’ll be going past the Volvo museum in Gothenburg and the SAAB museum in Trollhatten if that’s your thing. There is some good scenery coming down the east of Lake Vattern. Jonkoping is a nice smallish city to stop off in. Between there and leaving Sweden you’ll come reasonably close past Akes Bilkrot- an abandoned Scrapyard which is a nice wander around.
I would do the proper accents on those words, but Kinja doesn’t seem to like the OSX method of inserting them...
Flavien Vidal
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/23/2016 at 07:16 | 0 |
Not much offroad experience as far as I’m concerned, but if you’re not going in winter, no real need of getting a roof tent... A small normal tent will do the trick. I doubt it’s anymore dangerous than in Canada and if bears were to come by your car/tent, being 2m in the air is not what will stop them from getting in your tent if they want to lol :)
Finland has very few bears anyway in the first place so...
Algimantas
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/23/2016 at 08:21 | 0 |
Looks like a great trip. I went Oslo to Bergen by car once, quite a nice drive. Norwegian sights are just excellent, that’s partly why I moved to Oslo. However after visiting the States this Summer, I just want to move there.
505 - morphine not found
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/23/2016 at 09:21 | 0 |
Hello fellow 505 owner :-) We did a family road trip not dissimilar to this back in 1994. Our family of three siblings and two parents took a 9-seater, but stock-size Ford Transit for the trip. Based on this long-ago experience, I would share some thoughts:
- we took a ferry from Arhus, Denmark, to Bergen, Norway, and this way we drove a little bit less. I understand you don’t want to take the dog for too long a ride, non-the-less, I would say Bergen is worth a visit. Probably even nicer than Oslo.
- Even taking the short ride to Oslo, you are going to go a lot on ferries during this trip, so if the Mitsubishi is under 2meters in height without the roofrack, I would probably reconsider fitting that. I’m of course not sure if this is still true, but in 1994 2m was the max for the “car” category, higher vehicles would have had to pay a lot more for the ferry. Our Transit proved to be 198cm with the radio aerial dismounted, and this saved us a lot of money :-)
- Norway (and to some extent Finland) has a lot of wooden cabins on camp sites. We took tents for our trips, but only ever used them in Germany on the way there, and after that, we always found a free cabin on the side of the road. The prices were all over the place: the best cabin wasn’t the most expensive, and the cheapest wasn’t the worst, but they always had heating and showers, so there’s that.
- I think not much is open on Sundays, especially not in Norway, we even had gas problems because of this, although credit cards worked much less back then... I imagine you won’t run out of diesel. But still, if i were you, I would stock up on food and gas on every Saturday anyway :-)
I don’t know what else could I write about this, 22 years are a lot, but it was a lovely trip, and I’m sure you’ll going to enjoy it.
Echo51
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/23/2016 at 09:52 | 0 |
You could take the Ferry to Oslo from the north tip of denmark, and maybe see Råbjerg Mile on the way back home?
You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/23/2016 at 16:17 | 0 |
The Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway looks to be an interesting drive. Though it would be pretty scary in high winds and may result in your vehicle getting soaked with salt water which isn’t ideal.
By Ernst Vikne - Atlanterhavsveien, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?cu…
gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/23/2016 at 23:31 | 0 |
will you be taking photos?
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
02/24/2016 at 02:30 | 0 |
The Atlantic ocean drive must be every civil engineer’s wet dream. These bridges are works of art.
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> 505 - morphine not found
02/24/2016 at 02:56 | 0 |
I modified my road map. I’m gonna head to the north of Denmark and take a Ferry from Hirtshals to Langesund so we can check out Råbjerg Mile. We might sleep there the first night. 4 1/2 hours should be ok for the dog if I’m with her.
The Mitsubishi is 1,85m high, I am building a low profile roof rack since I plan to go to Iceland someday and the max clearance for the car category is 1,90 on those ferries. I want the roof tent to be removable so I can fix it to the back of the rig while on sea (the height makes a 400€ difference on the round-trip).
I considered spending some night in hotels, but a cabin sounds better, and might even be cheaper and more compatible with the dog.
I think Sundays won’t be a problem, but I’ll take a fuel can just in case.
Thanks for the advice :)
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> Flavien Vidal
02/24/2016 at 03:02 | 0 |
Bear won’t be a problem I guess :)
The advantage of the roof tent is that you can fix a canopy tent to it so the dog can sleep in it. As much as I love my dog, I don’t want to have her hair all over the place. That way she can be in a closed room, protected from the elements, but without the hassle of dealing with a dog on your sleeping place.
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
02/24/2016 at 03:03 | 0 |
Of course I will, I’ll select a few to brag about it share the experience with you all.
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> Algimantas
02/24/2016 at 03:05 | 0 |
I might do the same trip, the path is not set in stone, and Bergen seems really nice.
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> Echo51
02/24/2016 at 03:06 | 0 |
Thanks for the heads up! Råbjerg Mile has been added to the road book.
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> Chinny Raccoon
02/24/2016 at 03:11 | 0 |
Whoa, if Akes Bilkrot- an still exists I have to go there. Jönköping seems nice, and it is on our way anyway. The Volvo and SAAB museum could be interesting, depending on the final path.
Chinny Raccoon
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/24/2016 at 05:19 | 1 |
I went in September last year. I think it’s a protected site or similar so isn’t going anywhere, apart from continuing to rust away of course.
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> Chinny Raccoon
02/24/2016 at 05:44 | 0 |
Great, thanks for the info :)
Echo51
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/24/2016 at 06:53 | 0 |
You could also go to Rømø, down on the westcoast a bit north of germany and drive on the beach/in the sand seeign as you have a somewhat terrain capable vehicle. Or just track the beach up from near the north tip a good bit down, just beware the ocassional “river” out to the ocean you’ll have to ford, some can be deceptively deep.
Algimantas
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/24/2016 at 16:48 | 0 |
Aside from the weather, which is horrible all the time, it is really a very cool city.
gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
02/24/2016 at 19:40 | 0 |
sweet
Hoccy
> Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
04/02/2016 at 06:40 | 0 |
Seems like most of the good advices are given here. I’d only like to add that if you plan on driving any mountain passes, check if they are open. Then check the weather forecast. Then check if it is prone to closing during bad weather. Even if it is May, it might still look like this:
If you plan on going towards Bergen E16 is the safest bet, though a bit longer than the other options. If good, warm weather is expected, I suggest you check if
Valdresflya
is open (not far from E16). It was where Top Gear filmed their Snowbine Harvester video, and usually opens in April-May with some quite spectacular sights.
Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction
> Hoccy
04/06/2016 at 09:50 | 0 |
wow, that looks spectacular! There are so many things to see, I have to update my route