It's not always just fun and games while you're overlanding
One of the realities of a life on the road is that you can never escape some breakdowns and repairs. And now we have to make one bigger repair.
You may have already noticed our Facebook post about the latest turn of events that we’ve had here in Namibia. Here’s a bit deeper story on what actually is on. And if you missed the social media post, here’s a full update on what’s happening on the road right now.
We’ve been anticipating this repair for a while already since when you drive the same car for many years, you tend to get to know it pretty well.
And when you’re overlanding, you have to know your car well.
You have to be able to know when something is wrong. However, sometimes things still may surprise you a bit. We guess it’s that things usually happen when you least expect them. Luckily, this one caught us while we were here in Swakopmund and not in some remote bush without any resources.
It’s Going to Be a New Clutch for Honey Badger the Defender
Yes, we need a new clutch. And it’s a big and expensive job to repair.
Last week, we took HB for a check-up with a mechanic here in Swakopmund, and he, unfortunately, confirmed our suspicion: the slave cylinder leaks. 😰
Repairing the slave in the Land Rover Defender Puma model requires removing either the gearbox or the engine to change the slave. Also, the springs in our clutch are weak already.
So, when it’s such a big job anyway, we decided it’s the perfect time to change the whole clutch simultaneously.
And we will upgrade the clutch to a better one, too. Every Land Rover Defender owner knows that Lof makes one of the best clutches in the market, as they also make heavy-duty models that should last a long time. And as we are a bit overweight, that is the clutch we decided to go for.
It doesn’t make any sense to put the cheapest one on the market, as the old saying really rings true here: good quality and cheap price do not go hand-in-hand. And Land Rover’s own doesn’t really have a good reputation here…
So, we ordered the new clutch from South Africa, and we’re now waiting for it to arrive.
The only thing we need is an excellent mechanic to put it in. It won’t be an effortless job, and the only mechanic here in Swakopmund who we really do trust is too busy to take us in… So, that was bad news to us. :(
Keep your fingers crossed that we’ll find another good one! 🤞
We really can’t afford things to go wrong here.
We always really hate to ask for help (yes, maybe that’s one of those not-so-good characteristics of Finns ;), but now we do:
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Having Some Luck on Our Side Lately
Despite this new turn and big repair, we luckily still managed to drive our planned route from Botswana to Namibia and all the way to Swakopmund.
We came through the Okavango Panhandle in Botswana right into the Zambezi region of Namibia.
Then we visited our old favorites, Bwabwata and Nkasa Rupara National Parks, and also spent a few days in Mudumu National Park.
Then we did the bit strenuous route through the deep sand tracks of Khaudum National Park – a proper, remote wilderness area!
We will write you stories about all these amazing places in the future! 😊
Luckily, we didn’t experience any problems with our clutch during these visits. In hindsight, yes, it was a bit hard to get the 1st gear on in high gears a few times, but nothing more. All functioned swiftly in low gears, too.
And we needed the low gears a LOT in Khaudum! 😄
But then, when we eventually drove from Khaudum towards Grootfontein and approached the town, we suddenly couldn’t change any gears! 😰
The clutch stuck to the bottom for a while, too. Fortunately, after a few minutes, we could engage 1st and 2nd gear and limped to a nearby workshop. It was pure luck that we happened to be near one – and not in the bush anymore!
There, it turned out that the clutch fluid reservoir was almost empty! The mechanic then bled the system and refilled it. We got our gears back functioning OK.
We tried to look for leaks but didn’t find much. However, we saw no fluids in the driver’s foot space, which would have meant that the master leaked. That was a good sign. We did see some leaks indicating a possible leaking slave, though. And all the other symptoms matched, too. That was not good news, but it was not totally unexpected.
The clutch fluid doesn’t disappear without a reason, after all.
We got the instructions to top it up regularly, and off we drove towards Swakopmund – but not without spending a few days in one of our favorite places in Namibia: Etosha National Park.
We got our gears functioning, and there wasn’t much else to do then, so we decided to do this. It was a risk, yes. But then again, what isn’t?!
Then – fast forward to last week, we got it confirmed what we already anticipated: a leaking slave and that it’s better to change a new clutch.
(Though it wouldn’t be strictly necessary to change a new clutch, as we said before, it’s such a big job in a Defender Puma to change only the slave; we take this opportunity to change the whole clutch simultaneously. As that would be ahead of us anyway at some probably near future point).
We still have about two weeks here in Swakopmund, and we hope we’ll get the job done adequately during this time (and some other minor fixes that HB needs)! 🤞
Wish us luck that all goes well! 🙏 Thank you!
Stay Wild,