06.06 Boxberg Besucher/Visitors
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Thursday 14.06.2006 the „Hessen-Convoi“ started from Rockenberg to Boxberg in Saxsonia. You see the four trucks of the convoe on the rest area Herleshausen: Uli together with Hans, Uwe & Andrea, Sascha and me.

 

In the evenings we allways had a big fire and enjoyed the "came together".

 

But the event was not only "party". Here we are trained on satelite navigation systems. Furthermore Wilmaaa held a "First Aid Seminar“ and once it started to get dark we enjoyed several very interesting presentations of remarkable tours.

 

Cultur was as well an issue! Here we are visiting the beautiful town Bautzen - thanks to the guide! Unfortunately this caused that I couldn't join the "First Aid Seminar“ but Wilmaaa already offered to repeat it at one of the next meetings! Another trip had gone to the power plant plus museum close by.

 

Before we returned to the area we intensively studied the ice-cream offered by a cafe.

 

Tino had a unique motorized vehicle, the "motorized" or "speedy beer-box"!

 

But you could see as well this - unfortunately: cabine fixation due to CHIN (DIN = German Industry Standard would never allow this, but in CH it seems to be possible). PLEASE DON'T COPY EVER!!

 

Wherever someone had a problem he got assistance immediately! My best guess is, that more or less every tool was around somewhere and only a lifting device for the gearbox or motor would have required a longer search! So a general overhaul was not really an issue!

 

But the real issue of the meeting was off-road driving. It was a former coalmine and the covering ground, which was actually more or less sand, had been piled up and than started to use it as a driving area. To my expectation driving here is similar to a desert tour.
Here I got stuck in the sand although the hill wasn’t steep at all! But after we had removed the sand from behind the wheels the soft pull from the Hanomag was enough to pull me out

 

After I got stuck the second time I let the air out of the tires - from originally 6 Bar to 1 Bar.

 

The tires looked extreme but now I was able to drive through those passages where I failed before and even deeper sand. Because I wanted to test I then ineased the pressure to 1,5 Bar and still didn't get stuck again“. But steering still felt extremely strange.

 

With the low pressure I was able to drive up hills where  even Unimogs had problems as long as they didn't reduce the tire-pressure!

 

Here a phot when I passed a ramp - still enough clearance between the ground and the air-pressure-tank.

 

As well the clearance on the other side is OK.

 

When this photo was taken I thought that the front bumper must already scratch the ground. But there is still plenty of space!

 

Only the registration plate holder and the spare tire are too low. So this requires a modification sooner or later. Just to highlihgt: The hight-adjustable rear protection worked perfect (please refer to here as well)!

 

For me this photo on the steep ramp lookes really impressive.

 

I have to admit that I am impressed what Big Foot is capable to do. This photo shows the twisting facilities of the frame. Although I hadn't fixed the connection tube between both cabines and he could jump out of the framework it got ripped again at two positions. But within the next two weeks I will finally get the new tube from Ormocar!

 

And now the hill which scared me most!!

 

When I had reached without any damages the end of the steep hill I was more or less stressed as you can see on the photo. Without the support from Simon I don't think that I would have risked it - thanks again to him for the support.

 

Later on I tried to get up but I failed already after a few meters. The weight of Big Foot made it impossible to use 2nd or 3rd gear to have enough speed because he then would not have enough power when getting slower. And in the lowest gear which I used he was digging himself into the sand.

 

Only  one made it up! Although he needed several attemps he finally made it with his Unimog - congratulation!

 

An impressive picture of the flexibility of the two rear axles.

 

Extreme twist of a cabine!

 

Unfortunately caused by a damaged rubber connection!

 

A Vario lifts the front "paw"

 

And here a Video especially with shots of Big Foot. Just klick on this text or select "Save as", . ATTENTION: The file has a size of 35 MB!

 

It was a fantastic long weekend with a lot of fun, educational driving facilities and very nice people. Thanks a lot to the orginastion team!

 

The next page shows the members to the weekend with their names in front of their trucks. Please click here!

 

And who still wants to see more pictures can have a look here. Enjoy it!

[ 06.06 Boxberg ] 06.07/08 Netherlands & Belgium ] 06.10 Himmelstadt & DTTM ]
Stand: 24. September 2010