We pay a short visit to Montenegro, with a technical twist, Milady makes some noises.
As we enter Montenegro, border control is minimal, I notice that Milady makes a strange noise when cornering. We stop at a (closed) campsite for an initial repair. Later we stay in an apartment for a few days to have a better repair done. All in all we stay in Montenegro for 6 days, of which 2 are real travel days.
The sound
At first it is minimal, but as we drive further into Montenegro the noise is more and more present. Especially when we take a sharp turn to the right, we hear a thumping sound somewhere at the back. My first diagnosis, after inspecting the rear wheels, is that the rear bearings have play. We stop at a (closed) campsite along the Bay of Kotor and get permission to spend the night there.
I put a tarpaulin on the wet field, put on my overalls and take care of the bearings of the rear wheels one by one. So, at least that can’t rattle anymore.
The next morning we continue our way along the Bay of Kotor in good spirits. The road is winding and offers a beautiful view of the bay – some call it a fjord. Unfortunately, at the first sharper turn to the right, we hear the familiar but disturbing sound again. Now there is also a kind of grinding sound, it seems like a tire rubbing against something.
I inspect and it appears that the left rear tire has rubbed against the coil spring. That’s weird, so that means the entire axle moved to the right in that last turn. I crawl under the car and soon I see what’s going on. One of the attachment points of the A-frame has become detached from the chassis, a cross member of the chassis has rusted through at that location.
I attach the mounting plate to the chassis beam with a tension strap and we drive on at a careful pace to the next gas station.
At the gas station we meet Neno who knows a garage where they can repair this. 20 minutes later there is a technician who assesses the damage.
We can bring Milady to him and he will provide a proper repair that will also require some welding. Neno leads us up the mountain to the garage where we leave Milady. We have already unloaded our stuff at the apartment that Neno rents out. The repair will take about 3 days.
Indeed, we stay 3 days, 4 nights in the apartment and at the end of the 3rd day Milady is delivered repaired to our temporary address. The repair is done, but when we get home we need to have a replacement beam installed. It’s strong enough for now, the mechanic guarantees. (You can read the continuation of this adventure in our blog about Albania).
From Risan to the border
We drive carefully along the Bay of Kotor and notice that there are no noises anymore when taking turns. That way we can continue.
Kotor
The town of Kotor is nicely sheltered between the high mountains at the end of the bay.
Southeast of Kotor lies the Kotor serpentine, a steep road that leads up to the Mausoleum of Petar II Petrovic.
The mausoleum for this folk hero is located high on a mountain top, with us there is even snow.
Because we cannot find a suitable place to stay in Montenegro, we decide to continue to Albania.