89. 30 days since the breakdown

Friday 28 September 2007

Things are now moving ahead again.  As we have mentioned previously, we need special parts, and we have now found that they are not held in stock in Dubai or anywhere in the Middle East, so Ford in Dubai has ordered them from Detroit.

We then found that the parts were going to be shipped to Dubai, taken through customs, and then shipped to Almaty!  This would have caused an enormous delay, so at the last moment we were able to get them to be shipped directly to Almaty.

In parallel we have contacted Matt at Earthroamer, who is also organising the parts.  So if one lot goes astray, hopefully we will get another lot!

Matt made a really interesting statement.  He said, “I’m sure you already know this, but the kit that is coming to you not only has a replacement for your broken part, but a revised bracket to hold it better, preventing this from happening again.”

No Matt, we have never heard of such a thing.  By the sound of it, there is an inherent problem with the original design and the new bracket is to try to fix this problem.  I wish we had known this before we headed off through the rough Russian and Kazakh roads!

We are hoping that the parts will arrive in Almaty on Monday, and then we have to wait for the time that it takes to put the vehicle back together again.  Remember, the drive shafts, transmission and flywheel are all out of it – or so we think.

We are desperately hoping to still be able to get away before the winter sets in.  We will keep you posted.

Click here for the next entry – 36 days since the breakdown.

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