Our camper pays tribute to Moldowa’s rough roads

As we were aware that the roads in northern Romania and Moldova will be challenging, we had updated our rear shocks in advance at our service stop in Austria. We knew that the weak point is the upper bolt supporting the shock at the frame, as we already had one broken bolt after our Scandinavian expedition in late 2020.

This was the reason we frequently checked the status of the shocks while we travelled through Moldova. Our last check after crossing the border from Moldova to Romania showed that both of the bolts were broken. It seems that this happened at the last section crossing Transnistria.

No problem, we have new bolts with us, but we could only replace it at one side. At the second shock, we had also lost the rubber bushing.

Currently, we are in communication with https://www.marquartstossdaempfer.de, to solve the issue. They support us very well. Maybe they can send the needed replacement to Istanbul, where we will arrive in some days.

exported from Germany 16th of September

Marquart sent immediately the needed spare parts with UPS to Istanbul. The parts arrived within 2 days from Germany, but the Turkish customs did not clear the parcel within another 5 days. Marquart tried their best to help, but without success. Even our personal contact with UPS in Istanbul did not help either. We decided to leave Istanbul without the spare parts.

24th of September still not cleared out of Turkish customs

On 24. of September, we arrived at Samsun at the Black Sea, there we found helpful hands which did the repair of the existing shock. Thanks to “AE BOGACICI OTO” Mahmut, who found an improvised solution for our problem.

@ Batumi, Georgia we found (second hand) spare bolts for free! Thanks to Archil +995571560505!!!!

During all that time looking for a solution, we nevertheless travelled and explored Romania, Turkey and finally Georgia – more next!

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