Minor Surgery For Michael and The False Start

As Ang eluded to in the last post we had a little scare regarding Michael's brakes. It appears that the brakes were not checked as part of the major service I had done in November. An oversight? or perhaps stopping before you plummett off a rocky pass in the middle of nowhere is not as important as I once thought. So I got the brakes sorted in Joburg two day before we left. Due to the fact that these should have been checked, I decided to book Michael in for a quick once over here in Cape Town. So on Saturday he had his under parts thoroughly checked by Jim, but he likes it when I call him "Big Jim".

Big Jim discovered that, although most things were in good order, there was some play in the rear prop shaft and that the universal joints would need to be replaced. A few weeks ago I would not have been able to compose that last sentence as I did not know what those parts did, but the last couple of days have been an education. So for those of you who are not familiar with the terminology, we basically needed to replace the cross thing on the pole that spins very fast underneath the car and makes it go forward. I left Big Jim's place a little deflated and knowing the next day was a Sunday we would have to delay our first border crossing in to Namibia by a few days.

So, today, myself and my father in-law, Norman, sprung into action like a well-oiled machine that would have made the mechanics on the Dakar Rally proud. We managed to get the propshaft off and into the workshop by 10:00 and also managed to get some bushes for the stabiliser bars from Toyota too. At 15:00 the chaps from Propshaft Engineering had finished with the propshaft and it was as good as new. Again the team of Halland and Beringer sprung into action and had the propshaft fitted in half an hour. I am now proud to say that Michael has a clean bill of health and is not only trip ready but bullet proof ( a comment I may regret at a later stage, but man, am I chuffed). It is probably a good time to mention that the bulk of the work was done by Norman but I was always there under the car (on top of a carefully laid out sarong) encouraging him and passing the all important number 13 spanner. What a team!

So although we have delayed our departure by a few days I am glad that we have made 100% sure that the car is sorted and it gives me peace of mind that we have done all we could to ensure a smooth ride. We also managed to do a few other things here in Cape Town that will save us a bit of time later. We got dollars, fitted all the Gas holders and jerry can holders, modified the tent and a few other things. So all is looking good for an early start on Wednesday.

Cheers from Cape Town.