Chris Abel

I went and watched on friday and followed Jim & Adrian, i have to say they were flying along working exceptionaly well together. Had a look at Stephans truck too whick looks fantastic.

I got a copy of the Croatia 2007 Trophy in the post yesterday and obviously that was the first thing i watched when i got home! Anyway there were quite a few trucks using mechanical winches and i have to say they were awesome on the long pulls! There was one orange truck on mog axles with tractor tyres that had one of these mechanical winches, i was surprised that he was nearly stalling his engine at one point (I’m guessing the winch was too highly geared) and he resorted to using the additional 8274 on the front. Has anyone used a mechanical winch successfully on the uk challenge scene?

All this talk about hydro winches..... The top 5 at the weekend all had 8274's and the top 3 were gigglepin twin motors, ive yet to be convinced. However the new winch does look nice, but does it perform as well as it looks? I did notice the rope, ive seen that before on a 110 in france 2 weeks ago, who's the rope made by?

Thats it! I did not want to run the risk of rolling the truck in the water, we abandoned that punch and went and found a few more easier ones. Rob Tunner's truck was going well on that special considering it was his first time out getting used to the truck, i think with a bit more time behind the wheel he will be hard to beat with the 4 wheel steer on the tight specials.

I bet you wished you had an 8274 at the weekend Where did the drum crack? did it brake anything else when it broke, if not cant you just weld it up?

Big thanks to the AWDC and marshals for organising a great weekend, the layout of the punches were spot on. Thanks to challenger 4x4 for supplying us with Hot drinks and shelter from the rain over the weekend. It was the first time for me at Slab so i had no idea of what to expect, I was a bit sceptical as to how well the truck would perform with the latest addition of mods along with the fact that Adrian and i were Trying out a new set of +40% gear ratio's for the Gigglepin twin-motor top housing. However it all worked in our favour, the truck and winches performed faultlessly all day. Can’t remember the number of the punch, but did anyone get the one that involved driving through 4ft of water on a 45degree angle? I bottled it halfway when the water was halfway up the steering wheel and winched back out!

It wont take long for those 7.8's to fry themselves! thats when / if you get the truck out the shed

Hope you got one of those waterproof camera's, you might need it I haven't touched the truck since i cleaned it after france, i was going to make a new dash and rewire but ended up putting up fencing for horses all weekend Might get out into the workshop tonight and fit some rubber arches, 6" of bogger poking out past the bodywork is not a good thing in the mud

Whats happend to Chris & Nick Bolt? I thought they would be back again this year. Ive cleaned my truck, just got to strip the old wiring loom out and make a new one other than that im ready

The most obvious option is to change the 200tdi's V pullys to 300 tdi multi groove and modify the belt tensioner to fit. but its quite alot of work and if i can get away with running a 80 amp 24V alternator on a 13mm V belt that would be far easier!

I want to fit a 80amp 24v alternator to my 200 tdi and running off the aircon belt, I know that the standard alternator uses 10mm belts and can't cope with 100 amp 12v alternators under heavy load, obviously the wider and deeper 13mm aircon belt can take the extra load but how much extra load can be put on a 13mm belt? If i were to increase the diameter of the alternator pully it will increase the belt contact area which would allow more power to be transfered without slipping.

yeah its got enough room to sit in, you can't stretch your legs out like before. Its a bit like a defender for legroom now

No need for a heater now!

thanks for the help, i was hoping to pick something up for under a £100 but no luck yet when i get more time i might have to make something myself Ive recently moved the radiator in my rangerover to the passenger footwell so ive got loads of joints that need sorting out properly before they go popping off when hanging from a winch rope on some stupid angle!

Im after a pipe swaging tool for making a bead on the ends of alloy tube for intercooler and radiator pipework. 35mm and 75mm. I used one at the Lotus factory on work experience but i cant find the tool anywhere on the internet. Anyone know where i can get one? Thanks Chris

Even better idea

Looks like a great weekend, and the challenge lot can get Mildly miffed saturday night, get up late sunday, spend all day nursing a hangover watching Trials and safari or fixing our trucks I cant wait!!!

Keep up the good work Will, i know you will get it finished one day So whats the idea with the disc brake? dont you trust the orignal?

Looks nice but is it not a bit too long with the disc brake? you will need a fu%ing big winch tray! Will ive got to ask, when will your truck be ready? we might be using tractor beams instead of winches by the time you have finished building

Hi just wondering what all the fuss is about trying to match the speed of the wheels to your winch? or is it because i don't have the problem with 7.6 ratio axles ? The only time ive found it useful is when crawling over rocks and on side slopes the rest of the time ive found if more useful to have wheel spin to clear the tread, cut down into harder ground and gain more traction to put less load on the winch / anchor point. Maybe a crawler box is the answer to your problem?

Lewis get your arse out into the shed! If you want to pay someone else to do the work then at least get some axles and wheels on the truck to make it a rolling chassis, you might even find that your enthusiasm improves by doing just that. I get a real buzz out of driving a truck I’ve spent hundreds of hours working on, that feeling of achievement is great when it all works. If you want respect do it yourself!! Set yourself a realistic target like a challenge event and set weekly targets to achieve that date, a bit of pressure is a good thing when building a truck, it keeps you focused.

Nice job, hope the testing went well today, get some video's on youtube

Yeah i know, Simons a good mate, he told me all about it and what you said............................ not sure its a good idea to count your chickens before they hatch.

you not filled in yours yet either But your names on the list Are they important?

I spoke to Colin last night and the event is now full so I’m on the reserve list, however I’ve not filled in an entry form yet. Think I might be co-drive for Simon Wilkinson instead, but when I spoke to him last night he did not know he was entered until he saw his name on the list I assume that everyone on the list has filled in an Entry form and paid a deposit?