Metal on metal scraping at Balladonia

Crossing the Nullarbor, the last town in the west is Norseman WA.  From there, it is 1200km to Ceduna SA.

About two hours east of Norseman we stopped to refuel at Balladonia Roadhouse.  Moving the car into the refueling area, we heard a loud metal-on-metal scraping sound near the front left wheel.  Not good. 

After refueling, we moved the car to a shady spot to remove the wheel and investigate. 

This was the first time we had needed to remove the spare wheel and get out the car jack.  Flora emptied her things out of the boot and we got the jack out.  Its first use on this trip, and I think its first use ever!  With the wheel off, the scraping sound was still there, with no obvious cause.

This is why we pay for RACV Total Care.  We rang them and they organised for a RAC WA technician to visit.  Being 2 hours drive from the nearest town, I was surprised to receive a text message saying a tech would arrive within 90 minutes.

A friendly person had a look at our issue, but had no useful advice. 

I rang RAVC again and was authorised for reimbursement for booking accommodation for the night, for up to $170.  We would sleep in our caravan, but Flora, Antigone’s helper, was excited to sleep in a room rather than a tent – on a real mattress.

I was just about to book accommodation when another friendly person offered to look at our issue.  He found a small piece of gravel between the disc and a backing plate.  That was the cause of the scraping sound.  With the small stone removed, we loaded the boot, cancelled the RAC callout, and continued across the Nullarbor.