Known issues with Telstra pods

[Bakes]

Ladies , gents and everyone in between,

Just thought I'd share some knowledge given to me by lads that repair our beloved camping pods. More specifically, things that can go wrong and what to watch out for during maintenance or buying one for your dream camper. It should be known however, I rate my pod highly and believe both manufacturers do a top rate job fabbing these pods up, which is probably why most of us want one.

If anyone would like to add to the list, it may well be a good reference for someone to check before buying one.

[Bakes]

Hinges.

The black plastic hinge that ships with the pods are good while they last but as photos on other threads show, you can axe yourself when opening the side doors. People are saying they have a shelf life of around 6 years but some certainly have had them on for much longer. Things to look out for are:

Split plastic in the centre of the hinge
Perishing at the ends of the hinge
Plastic hinge breaking away from the pod surface
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Pod Chassis

Now I reakon it seems that north Queensland/outback pods seem to be the most abused pods. Inspecting some pods has revealed the aluminium channel rail parting from the base of the pod. Probably due to overloading?? My pod is from city Victoria and has been looked after well, hence everything is still glued together, however seeing some other pods from qld, it's certainly apparent that their former owners have tested their durability very well.
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T locks and door sensors

Some pod locks will receive the key but then turn but not unlock. My opinion is the barrels in the t locks aren't great. I've opted for the round high security lock for mine.
Door sensors, depending if they are working, need to be adjusted. They seem to creep out of alignment and if you have the alarm hooked up will keep getting false alarms.

[DX grunt]

Thanks

Today when I washed my truck, I noticed that the bracket that holds the metal mud flap up at the top of the rear fuel tank, is broken (cracked all the way through). Not sure how it happened, but will need welding/replacing.

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Door locks/sensors....... WD40 my locks and never had any turning/locking issues.
Sensors............The right hand one plays up occasionally. Not sure why, but I just bend it a little bit and all's good. Had a few issues with the buzzer going off when travelling on pretty corrugated gravel roads. But a bit of a bend, and it came good.

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Gas cyclinder compartment kept creaking. Soaked it in WD40 or silicone spray (can't remember), but it came good.

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One of the Telstra guys told me that the back compartment door is hard to open sometimes. Again.....WD40/silicone spray fixed mine.

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I went around and sprayed all the locks and haven't had any issues. In my case, preventative maintenance, helped.

Rossco

[Cuppa]

I tried WD40 in my pod locks but it was only effective for a short time, so I tried 'Dry Glide' aerosol lubricant & so far so good.

Mine is an 'outback pod' (Alice Springs) - very obvious from the extensive stone chipping of the underbody, chassis & door sills. Anyone have suggestions on the best way to deal with this? Just spray over, or take back to bare metal? More interested in a durable finish rather than an aesthetic one.

Only a month or so before mine was 'decomissioned' it had a complete new front diff fitted - must've hit something pretty hard I reckon.

Mine is a Rosscos pod. Could other Pod owners tell me how your pod is attached to the chassis. I get a few creaking noises when on uneven ground which I'm pretty sure is the chassis rails flexing in conjunction with the solidly mounted pod. My pod sits on aluminium pieces between pod & chassis rail. One person has suggested I should have rubber there, whilst another has told me that what I have is 'normal' & that I should expect a few creaking noises. I can live with the noise as long as I know that the pod can flex enough to take it without cracking somewhere.

Cuppa

[Bakes]

Gday cuppa mine came with 10mm rubber feet which are around 50x50. I've seen this on all the obeico pods around. I done get creaks when flexing so maybe try this.. maybe time rubber paint might fix your underbody. .
Steve

[DX grunt]

Mine's copped a hiding on unsealed roads, too. It hasn't rusted yet and adds 'character' to my truck. I'm gunna leave it for the moment.

The top support that holds the rear right hand metal mudguard has cracked right through - just below the top nut/bolt. Don't know if it was abuse or just driving on a lot of unsealed roads.

Rossco

[Stropp]

Cuppa I have probably been in your pod as I worked for the big T in Darwin and used to go to Alice and help out with the bush jobs, still have a mate in gipsland driving a Telstra pod as he still works for them.

[Cuppa]

Looks like the new suspension & exhaust will have to wait a bit as I've decided I need to do what I should have done before fitting out the camper. ie. deal with the creaking noises & repaint the chipped/rusty areas of the chassis. I've ordered some paint online. http://www.kbs-coatings.com.au/kbs-c...-paint-kit-pro
Not a job I really want to do, but will feel better about it once done.

Went into town to Clark rubber today to try to get some suitable rubber to make some 'spacers' for between pod & chassis rail. Jeez I hate going to Clark rubber, I'm sure the job description for their employees includes the ability to be permanently surly & impolite, to pretend to have product knowledge when they really know jack sh*t, & to be covered in facial pimples! I can forgive the latter, but those first two attributes really piss me off. In a so called 'specialist shop' is it too much to expect them to employ people who can offer sensible advice? Grrrrr. The strips of 'insertion rubber' of the right thickness were only available in much wider strips than I need, with a minimum length of a metre sold. Was going to cost a small fortune. They had strips of a softer dense foam rubber strip, but I thought it may compress too much or 'push out'. I ended up buying 50mm wide strip of 12mm conveyor belt material but wonder if it will have enough 'give' in it. Only way to know is to fit it & find out (unless anyone here can advise on what might be a suitable type of rubber product???). It's gonna be fun trying to make holes to take 12mm bolts in the conveyor belt material. Thinking maybe a piece of pipe of suitable diameter, sharpened at the end, heated & then pushed/punched through it. Oh what fun that's gonna be. Not.

Stropp, do you recall anyone needing to get a new front diff fitted around 2 years ago? Would love to know the story.

Cuppa

[Stropp]

Stropp, do you recall anyone needing to get a new front diff fitted around 2 years ago? Would love to know the story.
Cuppa

No mate I don't, will see if I can find out any info.

[GUtsy ute]

I put heat shrink on the ends of the rods that hold the doors shut on my pod.
Then i drilled out the holes to the same size as the heat shrink.
Took away all the noise opening and shutting the doors and made the operation of the locks feel
a lot smoother.
The holes for the rods were worn oval, so killed two problems at the same time.