Gaz-66 trip to Western Isles

[zoltan]

Just got back from a two week trip up to the Western Isles of Scotland in the Gaz

Unlike pre Cummins engined trips there was very little in the way of issues with the truck, a little loss of water from an ill fitting radiator cap which showed up on the A82 near Loch Lomond and what sounded like a horrible sound of front axle death after some very steep downhill twists and turns coming down into Stanhope in the North Pennines
The axle noise was almost certainly the front cam and pawl diff winding itself up as it disapppeared as soon as we got on the flat and ran the truck back and forth to free it off
I also had quite a bit of vibration from the front prop on the motorway so on the way home I pulled into services and removed the front prop which stopped the noise straightaway and reminded me that I need to make Gaz-66 free wheeling hubs

Fuel economy was actually much better than expected, I carefully noted miles against litres and on the way up we got 19mpg which for a big old truck isn't too bad, that was driving at about 50mph and using 1850-1900prm. Proved the big old lazy diesel, if correctly geared can give some decent enough numbers

All in all we did about 1700-1800 miles and scared plenty of white campers

I can't get Flickr pictures to embed, if you want to see them here are the links

The hell that is Glen Brittle https://flic.kr/p/2nHBwzS

Glen Garry https://flic.kr/p/2nHHPZS

on Scalpay, Harris https://flic.kr/p/2nHHg6j

Rannoch Moor https://flic.kr/p/2nHHQ6J

[portamurda1]

Nice…I did used to like pulling upto the bathtub campers on sites, but individuality soon disappeared at filling stations and on motorways!
I do like the sound of a big V6 and V8 petrol but what were the Russians thinking sticking petrol engines in these things wehn they clearly needed diesels…it was one of their advantages in WWII, it’s like they learnt nothing
I’ve been toying with the idea of sticking a diesel in the Kurz as, although the straight six engine sounds great, it’s a nightmare to get running right, it’s either too rich or too lean and it’s begging for a KHD, but time and money is the perennial issue!