Anyone else following The Tiger Bus?

[HarryMann]

Staying open-minded then, the most important of all virtues, as we drive through virtual Tibet talking to virtual Tibetans, ignoring the plain 60 year old truth of the matter, despite Unicefs wonderful characterisation of life there (a 5 minute longer life, but hell all the way) we'll continue with the Tiger-Bus tour now

Apologies to all, back to reality with diff rings and gearboxes... and hoping the rest of it holds together ? Onward somewhere in Russia, difflocks et al

Over...

[KarlT]

Yet again another dig, can't you help yourself?
No, having an open mind on a subject that you have not fully researched, is a bonus. As an outsider, with a brief over-view.... One dictatorship has been overthrown by another, although as said, I've never been there, don't know about you.
The UNICEF report kinda spoils the whole 3,000,000 genocide theory though. Or are they in league with the Chinese aswell?

[HarryMann]

Genocide is "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group",[1] though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars

Nobody said 3 million or any other number... and I didn't know UNICEF or any other organisation had studied and documented the lifespans of Tibetans before 1950 or even before 1959. So whose datum are we using here...

[KarlT]

You're quite right, a few short decades ago Tibet was a closed, undeveloped, primitive land, ruled by monks & holy-men. Nobody really governed or carried out any censors. Infant death was guessed at 40% & life expectancy was probably 40 years.
UNICEF say that since 2000, life expectancy has increased, fact. and I think the figure is now up in the mid 60's.
Anyhow, as you say, enough said....... Where is TigerBus now?

[syncropaddy]

I think 4th gear has given up on them ....

[Mickyfin]

Oh no

[gelPsy]

Hello

Long story short: In Mongolia we smashed the pinion bearing retainer nut, meaning it simply jumped on the thread. Of course pinion bearing became loose and walked backwards through the gearbox, ruining the G synchroizer teeth and making the ring/pinion overlap smaller and smaller. One day in the middle of Mongolia the pinion and the ring just gave up. Total failure alltogether. 400kms of towing by a fellow Landcruiser who HAPPEND to be there just in time into Ulaan Bataar. LUCKILY sarah had flown back to Germany to sort out some University stuff, so just two weeks of waiting for me all alone in Ulaan Bataar, then Sarah came back to Mongolia with our fully stripped down spare gearbox (no diff, no nose cone, nothing else...). Put it all back together and off we went into Russia. 3000kms later the 4th threw all its teeth again. Should have replaced it right there and then in Mongolia, but I didn't think about it. Of course the spare box wasn't new, so that could have been foreseen. Anyway, 12hrs by the road and we went on with yet another 4th gear - i put the shot blasted 0.85 back in, that took us all the way from Turkey to Mongolia. It does its job fine ever since, we're about 1800kms short of St. Petersburg now, near KIROV in the forrest Apparently the HD pinion retainer nut and 3rd/4th from Weddle could have made this trip much more enjoyable. Oh well, we simply didn't have the funds.

I'll put some picture from russia on the blog right now

Btw, some russian vanagon driver in Sibiria presented me a 3rd and a 4th just in case... ))

.martin

P.S.: Lake Baikal is nice... )

[Mickyfin]

[hotpod]

a 12 hour roadside gearbox rebuild is quite inspirational!
i guess there is less mystery on the third go.
its making my almost a year with both vans off the road look quite pathetic.
at least i am saving money

[gelPsy]

I know by now, how things look inside such a box, granted )

Here are some more pictures for you: http://www.easy2design.de/bla/en/2012/0 ... m-sibiria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

.martin

[KarlT]

I know by now, how things look inside such a box, granted )

.martin

Does it look like this........

[gelPsy]

Why should it - we were talking about gearboxes, not engines

[syncropaddy]

Why should it - we were talking about gearboxes, not engines

LOL .... you dont know KartT, its all the same to him!

[KarlT]

Maybe that's where it keeps going wrong!!



Only oilly, messy, junk image I could find!

[gelPsy]

Crossed most of russia into St. Petersburg, "Venice of the East", met with a group of Russian bus drivers on the island of Kronstadt Will stay another day, then off to Helsinki, Finland, where even more vanagon enthusiasts are already awaiting the arrival of the Tigerbus - un-be-lie-va-ble!

Track update to St. Petersburg: http://traveller-tracks.de/bl/journeys/ ... tiger2asia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pictures from Kronstadt meeting:





.martin+sarah