Playing Dirty, Staying Clean

There's ordinary dirty, and there's Ba'kelalan dirty.

Does your car wash kit include a spade? Ah Ngiu's does.

This is a black truck. Pic courtesy of Vance Lee.

When you take a 4X4 out to play in the mud, it's going to get muddy. That's kind of obvious, don't you think? So, we've established that 4X4 people don't mind getting their cars dirty.
But there's dirty, and there's really dirty, really very dirty and then there's outright filthy. Ordinary dirty is fine, that's no worse than driving on any city road in Malaysia after it rains, and especially just after you've washed your beloved ride.
But out on the trail, things get really messy. There are many kinds of mud, of varying viscosity and consistency and colour. Some will stick to your door handles, and windscreen, and side windows, and side mirrors, and cling o your shoes when you step out. All this is OK, all part and parcel of offroading.

Then there's the mud that gets shoved into every nook and crevice underneath the car, coating the suspension, steering, propshafts, gearbox ... in short, everything. And there's mud that clogs up the wheels (or rims, if you prefer) which is great for taking photos of that tell your friends how tough the trip was and, by extension, how tough you are. They are also okay, until you get back on the tarmac and begin to drive at normal road speeds, at which point they may cause enough imbalance in your front wheels to cause varying degrees of vibration.
One of the most important factors that determine how well your4X4 vehicle progresses in rough terrain is the tyres. Generally speaking, the bigger the tyres, and the more aggressive the treads, the better your progress will be.
To fit bigger-than-standard tyres, you'd probably need a new set of wheels that have a more negative offset than standard, i.e., they place the tyres further from the car's body. Without this extra offset, chances are high that the front tyres will foul parts of the wheel arch or suspension components or other parts of the body work.
But the negative offset (relative to standard wheels) will likely push the outer edge of the tyres beyond the car's fenders or mudguards. If aftermarket fenders are not added to ensure the tyres are shielded, then they will throw up mud with every turn, and this mud will end up all over the sides of the car. If the tyres protrude enough, it does not take much dirty driving to have the entire sides, including the windows, completely caked with mud.

The problem then is you won't be able to see. The front windscreen will also get dirt but at least the wipers and washer jets can help keep it clean enough that there is visibility directly to the front but you may have zero visibility to either side. It's safe to say that this is not a safe situation to be in when negotiating difficult terrain.
Furthermore, it is also illegal to have tyres protrude beyond the car's bodywork so, while it may make your truck look mucho macho, it will also attract the unwelcome attention of the JPJ and possibly the police.
To avoid all these problems, the solution is to add wider fenders that sufficiently cover the tyres.
There are two main types available - the rigid or semi-rigid types that are specifically made for a particular vehicle. For example, a Land Cruiser owner will have to find the specific model of fender made for his particular model car, and it will be different from those for Ford Rangers, which are different from the type for Mitsubishi Tritons, and so on. These would usually be the best option if looks are important but they tend to be fairly expensive. Try checking the various accessory reatilers on the web to find out just how much.
A cheaper solution is generic flexible flares that are one type, suits all makes. I came across a Facebook post by Billy Chan advertising this type for sale, and followed up with the advertiser, Ambassador Industrial (M) Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian subsidiary of an Australian company. For further information on the product, shipping and pricing call Billy on 0193250187 or message him through Facebook.
Now, let's get technical. Their product is flexible fenders extensions made from EPDM rubber (ethylene propylene diene monomer). I have forgotten most of my high school chemistry so this is what wikipedia has to say about EPDM: a type of synthetic rubber, is an elastomer which is characterized by a wide range of applications.
The E refers to ethylene, P to propylene, D to diene and M refers to its classification in ASTM standard D-1418. The M class includes rubbers having a saturated chain of the polymethylene type. Dienes currently used in the manufacture of EPDM rubbers are dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), ethylidene norbornene (ENB), and vinyl norbornene (VNB).
The main advantage is that it is cheap and cheerful. An average 4X4 needs 6 metres of the material, and this costs less than RM200, inclusive of courier delivery (to Kuching, in my case). This sum is to cover all four corners.
Moving along, I placed an order and within a couple of days, had the product in my hands. They had several profiles available and I asked for two types because of my peculiar needs.
My Land Rover 110 Defender High Capacity Pick-up (HCPU) is different from most other vehicles in the fender department because it has cargo tub that's wider than the cabin, so it comes from the factory with front fender flares as standard, but none for the rear. If it had been left well alone to run on standard tyres and wheels, this arrangement would have been fine because the every part of all four tyres would be completely covered. But, as mentioned above ...

Pneumatic riveter, broad head rivets ...

Fitting was relatively straightforward, requiring basic DIY skills, a power drill and a riveter with some 35 to 36 rivets. I chose to get professional help because there's this friend who has all kinds of nifty tools, like a pneumatic (compressed air-powered) rivet gun which makes everything so much more effortless, and also a supply of special rivets with extra wide heads that mean washers are not needed.
Only when we had gone more than half way through did we realise something was not quite right, and the flares looked wrinkly. So, we got a couple of strips of 1.3mm aluminium plate and riveted them as support, and it worked a treat.

A bit crooked ... but sorted eventually.

Later, I found out from Ambassador that the fender flare type I was using, WF 100, had a small hole running along the outer edge that I was supposed to thread a steel wire through to stiffen it. Ah so. But it was already installed and shoving a wire through is definitely easier done before the rubber is bent to fit the flare. So if you are inspired by this post to try the flares, take note.
The finished fenders look good, and the last couple of rainy days have confirmed that they work well in their intended roles.
That is, they will stop your car getting dirty from mud and other gunk thrown up by your own tyres. They are not guaranteed to keep your car shiny clean because there are so many other sources and causes out there that can dirty your pride and joy.
How well they hold up to abuse in the rough stuff, we will know only by putting it to more tests, including the tests of time. Stay tuned for updates.

Photos here

Before ... wheel sticks out.

After ... all covered up.

There are several profiles and widths available, to suit various needs.

Where a Sunday drive can take you to Tuesday

Andy 'One-Ten' Wong

The story below was published in The Star, Malaysia, two years ago (circa June 2011). The trials and travails faced by travellers described in it no longer exist since the road to Ba'kelalan has been completed. I have left the story as it was published then to retain its original flavour, and also to remind readers not to wait too long to go out and chase that dream. The great wilderness may not be there much longer. 

I dedicate this post to the memory of a good friend and a legend in the Borneo 4X4 community, Andy 'One-Ten' Wong. Rest In Peace, dear friend. Carpe diem

Yes, this was a road ... between Long Semadoh and Ba'kelalan.

IN a faraway land known as Borneo, a place that many Malaysians have never visited, time stands still. Truth is, the clock's hands do move but ever so slowly that it feels like time hardly passes at all.
It's not that backward, though, they do have cars there.
Up in the mysterious mountains of north-eastern Sarawak, there are no traffic lights or jams but they take an entire day, or two, to drive just 12 kilometres. Or maybe just two kilometres.
The slow pace is not because there are no roads. There's one road, at least. Not just any road, mind you, but one of the last great driving adventures in the world.

It’s also the worst road I’ve driven on, and I’ve driven on plenty in far-flung places. Here, a Sunday drive could stretch to Monday, or maybe Tuesday, or even Wednesday. For those in a hurry or travelling light, a MASwings Twin Otter flight from the nearest town of Lawas about 130km away, takes less than 30 minutes.
Here, a couple of inches are a big deal. Having a set of tyres an inch bigger or smaller in diameter makes a world of difference – between making it home or not.
Here, the "road" swallows even jacked-up Land Cruisers that look like monster trucks in town and spits out bits of bumpers, hubs, CV joints and other assorted car parts.
“Here” is Ba'kelalan, billed by tourism marketeers as “Sarawak's hidden highland paradise” where the journey (to and from) is really the adventure, although the destination is pretty nice, too.
Until recently, this writer had heard about the unusual charms of this slow-paced Garden of Eden where they grow apples but didn't really believe those tall tales.
One fine day, after reading about the 1Borneo 4X4WD Expedition to Ba’kelalan (185km east of Miri as the crow flies), I decided to find out if these tall tales were true.

It would turn out to be an epic road trip which entailed an 800km drive from Kuching to Miri just to get to the preliminary starting point. Here, I collected several travelling companions and motored over border to Brunei to pick up more companions, then back into the Sarawak district and town of Limbang.

View from a tyre track.

Eight stamps on my passport later, I was in the company of around 80 fellow travellers from Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah, heading for the hills in 36 four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicles.
After an entertaining detour to sample a bit of traditional jungle driving and river fording, expedition leader and local taikoh (big brother, or Boss) Clarence Labo led the convoy up some seriously steep slopes that proved to be a strain for many vehicles’ engines. Intermittent halts were needed to let the hot engines cool down.
The 90km run from the Sarawakian town of Lawas to Long Semadoh was relatively easy-going on wide tracks maintained by the logging companies operating in the area. In these parts, they’re called highways.
The passengers were treated to magnificent views while drivers kept one eye on overworked temperature gauges and the other alert for the log-laden behemoths that were the main danger to other road users.

On these timber roads, traffic flow is not fixed to the left or right side but rather, on right of way for the laden logging trucks. These heavy behemoths have priority to hug the hillsides so that they can stop safely in the event of emergencies while all other traffic must stay out of their way and use the ravine side, mere metres from a very long drop if anything goes wrong.
As the convoy snaked its way upwards through Long Tanguh, Long Ramirang and Long Luping, it wasn’t long before the two-way radios crackled with quips about how many places here were named after Ah Long, one of the participants from Brunei. Or, maybe the residents owed him a lot of money. (“Long” is actually “river” in the languages of the Orang Ulu, the collective term for the natives in Sarawak's highlands.)
Before nightfall, we arrived at Long Semadoh with just enough daylight left to set up camp by a pristine mountain stream. After driving almost the entire day, a good night's rest was just what the doctor ordered considering what lay ahead the following day.
Ba'kelalan was just 40km away but the Lawas-bound local pick-ups we passed along the way hinted at the rugged terrain lying in wait. They were all completely caked in mud up to the roof!

Lost sole along the way.

Setting off early the next morning, about 25km of reasonably smooth motoring brought the 1Borneo adventurers to what they had come for – MUD!
Just how bad is this so-called road to Ba'kelalan? It's viscous and vicious, gooey and gluey, with consistency ranging from thick oatmeal porridge to peanut butter, the type that sticks uncomfortably to the roof of your mouth.
The yellow-brown clay is too soft to support a vehicle's weight but sticky enough to cling to tyres, feet, clothes and just about everything else that touches it. And this was on a fine day with brilliant sunshine and blue sky overhead.
From here on, progress became painfully slow as each vehicle charged through the murk as far as momentum would carry it before bogging down in ruts that were thigh-deep in places.
Even the best-equipped 4X4 ended up stranded on the raised plateau between two canyons masquerading as tyre tracks, all four wheels spinning helplessly without any purchase on the slick mud beneath.
Willing souls with strong backs set to work with winches, tow ropes and assorted digging implements to fill the deepest holes and coax the heavy trucks up the slippery slopes.

Getting a single vehicle through a 100m stretch in 20 minutes was cause for celebration until one realises that it would take 720 minutes – that's 12 hours – to get the entire 36-car convoy across.
Fortunately, the vehicles that had made it across moved on to tackle the next muddy obstacle – just 500 metres away at the other side of the hill so the entire convoy was not held up at one spot.
Anyone who has attended one of the Rainforest Challenge 4X4 competition special stages would have seen men and machines taking on similar obstacles but this was a road that the locals used daily just to get from Point A to B.
The ordeal did not let up after the first two major obstacles, with more deeply-rutted stretches waiting to trap traveller all along the remaining 12km or so to Ba'kelalan proper, which the last car reached at sunset, nearly 10 hours after we set out from Long Semadoh.
The return journey would turn out to be even tougher because it rained intermittently, turning the ground into a squishy slurry that made every footstep a deliberate, considered action.
The same 40km that had taken us about 10 hours to cover on the way in would see us driving, winching, towing and digging from 10am to 1.30am the following morning before reaching a campsite, with a brief halt at 11pm for instant noodles eaten on the muddy road.
We were lucky. According to the locals, they frequently camp by the roadside or sleep in stuck cars.
To the locals, the torturous road is not an adventure but their lifeline to the rest of the world. Everything bulky and heavy that they need – fuel, cement, roofing & other building materials, etc – is hauled up on that road, and it is vital for transporting the famous Ba'kelalan rice to market.
In its present unsealed state, it is easily torn up by the heavy vehicles, which cut deep ruts into the soft surface. So they solve the problem by using bigger diameter tyres to lift themselves higher, but they end up cutting even deeper ruts.
So, when they reach largest practical size tyres, the ruts are so deep that everyone MUST use those tyres. It's a vicious circle that can only be broken by making the road all-weather, sealed, tarred, etc.
The government has allocated funds and entrusted the task of building an all-weather road to the army corps of engineers. Empty drums that used to contain sealants are scattered everywhere, signalling the approach of progress.
Although the works are behind schedule – the road was supposed to be completed in April – it should be no more than a year before the drive to and from Ba'kelalan is no longer an adventure.

Or, you could just fly ...

More photos here