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Pretty choice for what I'm sure is not a place of honor.
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Aug 31, 2022 23:58
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Found a highlight reel of that DUKW in action, dead tourist attractions make me sad. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cJC6cP5q5y8
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Sep 1, 2022 02:52
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Liquid Communism posted:Pretty choice for what I'm sure is not a place of honor. There's a theme here so far.. Fornax Disaster posted:Found a highlight reel of that DUKW in action, dead tourist attractions make me sad. Have you ever ridden one? they're like the worst of every world. I got to ride in a dukw as a kid. There's a contemporary version here in San Diego called the SEAL built on a hydra-terra chassis. Being foam filled they're less prone to going down like a brick. Since it's a long weekend for me and I've already put this post together I'm gonna go ahead and  I carry a cheap tarp on board, and now a 5 gallon bucket. The coolant in this thing is specialized and in the low triple digits to replace, plus its all brand new thanks to the coolant pump(that's still leaking). The tarp gets replaced when its ratty or too filthy. They're cheap poo poo from HF and here to help prevent loving up the area. The door cards go in first. Clean work before dirty. Every time. The haul. Complete with printing in good shape.  And the old ones. Most of the clips are broken. When the bodyshop repainted the truck they got all kinds of overspray and blocking solution on the door panels.    These look better in person than they do in the photos. Alright now that the clean work is finished. I'm gonna bang out the quarterly chassis service. Greasin' the shaft. Gotta drop both pinion side drivelines to get at the zerk. (I literally got a new tip for the grease gun two weeks ago that should fix this hassle, thanks Motronic)  Pull the fan which spins off, four bolts then the shroud lifts out, 2 hoses, 4 bolts that secures the radiator, and the rad lifts out. Draining it takes longer. It weighs far in excess of 100 pounds. It sucks to deal with. We team lifted the new one in so that it would not at all get hosed up.  This core owes me nothing. However I'm going to save it for whenever it is time to build the next radiator.   While I'm in here. New belts and hoses.  Assembly is the reverse of disassembly. Except you swear in different places. This vehicle is simple. No fancy bleeding procedures or the like.  Shouldn't need to deal with this again for a good long while. Since the spot is shaded and killing PV production, moved to a less shaded spot. It's still not great but at least the coach is getting closer to charging everyday. We'll take this spot till the coach runs low on water.   Now that I'm done playing fleet mechanic, go beat on the mtb a while. So far this bike is the most reliable thing I've owned.  Free range artisanal Mitsubishi. Pretty much stripped though nobody wanted a single cam Mitsu engine. Probably a ten thousand dollar car now. The road in the background is the same road from the last post. Could have made it had it not been late afternoon.  Same road little ahead of the Mitsubishi and after a few good climbs.   This section of the forest burned back in 2017. My husband and I almost got caught in it had his bike not picked up a flat.  There's some juxtaposition about riding an S-works through a burnt out forest.  Found some dozer parts. Useless for a donkey.   Speaking of. The truck is making forest frens.  And side car Ural frens.  The truck definitely runs cooler now. The pump still of course leaks. Fine. I'm not putting another timing cover on this engine during this trip. That's entirely too much work and I really don't wanna do that. However there's less coolant loss now. With this project completed and still a few weeks to our second vaccine we're off to the coast for a couple days with full hookups.
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Sep 2, 2022 00:31
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cursedshitbox posted:These look better in person than they do in the photos. I know the photo isn't close up, but drat, this must be great, because in the first pic they look almost new!
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Sep 2, 2022 02:42
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BuckyDoneGun posted:I know the photo isn't close up, but drat, this must be great, because in the first pic they look almost new! They're good. So good. It's next to impossible to find XLT door cards in tan. It's the one with the pocket. The pocket is super useful and I didn't want to lose that. What good is being from California without bumming it on the beach every now and then?  Ok maybe not roughing it tooo much here.  It's a cool little campground near the beach with everything from tent spots to cabins that are available for rent. There's no cell service here too. Disconnect. Go play in the ocean. The cabins are quirky and awesome. This one is right infront of us.  A more traditional type of cabin secluded deep in the back of the campground.  Nearby to the tent spots is a stream. Definitely coming here to motocamp just to camp next to this stream.  The trails are pretty wide here. Easy to hike. Being on the coast it also gets foggy which adds to the ambiance.   The fog really changes the feel of the beach.   Chorin' done then made a pizza.  And from the beach we go up into the mountains to camp in the snow in early May. This is at 5500' altitude in the Sierras due east of Redding.  Cold beer via snow.  Big dead tree with warnings not to approach it.  Another dead tree. Recently felled.   After four days near Chester, CA we moved to a new spot in Lassen National Forest but near some active logging. Pacific Crest Trail is nearby which provides for some awesome hiking. We'll wait out the calendar here until it is time to get the second round of shots.  I may have picked the wrong time to camp in the mountains. Everything is pollinating. This is misery on glass.  The fog followed us into the mountains however.  Making friends with the local deere.  ...And goatheads. Should convert to tubeless eventually... 
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Sep 7, 2022 17:12
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Post round two and full 5G capable now we're camping at Orland Buttes. Here's a random placard to a historcal bridge.  The riding here is pretty so-so.   Birbs!  Over in the corner. Sunlight is 'ok'. Afternoon coverage happens and that's not great for polishing off the battery array.   Round two, not much reaction other than some sore arms and lethargy. Fine enough to do some grillin'.    And then uhh a flat tire. We were headed out to run to the storage unit. On the vehicle's pretrip inspection I caught the valve stem had been hosed with and was leaking air. Not cool, someone hosed with the rig. Luckily the tire didn't go totally flat and ruin the camper as it was sitting on its jacks. I don't have the spare. I was actually planning to go get it today.  I reinflated the tire, taped the valve stem over which stopped the leak and gently drove it into town.  New valve stem installed. All is well.  Got to storage. Took the hitch basket apart. Flipped the frame that the tire hung off of and stabbed it into the receiver. This biases the rear of the truck around 150lb. It's a massive dingleberry that's probably going to drag on everything.  Shortly after, we're outta here and onwards to Oregon. But not before the tanks are taken care of.  This is roughly six months into the trip. We've put down 3100 miles and barely left the state of California.  The camper's tanks last around 10ish days.  Propene lasts a lot longer when chasing 70F and warmer.  At the total opposite end of the spectrum. This truck doesn't miss a fuel stop. Especially when it is hot and hilly.  It also doesn't miss a parts store and takes every chance it can for a little lovin with a wrench. Each dot represents at least one entry for the mileage. It can be maintenance like zerks or something more fun, like coolant pumps and radiators. The consensus here is to never track costs on a project car or a hobby. Yeah well, I'm gonna.  I should also note that this subset of the spreadsheet isn't really designed around issues per mile | cost per mile | maintenance minutes per mile or the like. It's structured more like a log book so there's not a lot I can do here with visualizations unless I build an entire new spreadsheet to structure the data that way. This is getting damned close to using a proper db and python. I don't have the camper's power stats. That doesn't happen until August 2022.
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Sep 9, 2022 18:25
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Is there a reason someone would mess with tire, I assumed if you were at remote campsites no one would be about that but seems not.
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Sep 10, 2022 02:37
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everdave posted:Is there a reason someone would mess with tire, I assumed if you were at remote campsites no one would be about that but seems not. well, california does have its share of good ole boys, especially out in the sticks
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Sep 10, 2022 03:07
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I cannot count on all the digits in my state the number of times I've had a tube puncture from a goathead. Truly the most devilish of plants.
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Sep 10, 2022 07:05
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This camping site is far from remote and it's square in the wannabe breakway state of jefferson. It's the Alabama part of California. Much like the discussion going on in another thread right now, blue state isn't blue, red state isn't red. Nothing like this will be homogeneous. One of the undercurrents for this trip was to see how things have gone structurally, politically, and socially in the country since my last round in the late 2000s. I need to put a shop up somewhere. I'd prefer not to set up shop next door to people that want my head on a spike. the TL;DR of it all is that the datasets are actually out there now on the internet and you don't even need to road trip it to see for yourself. I don't really want to get into the nitty gritty of these details outside of isolated incidents. To illustrate how not-remote this campsite is. While there I rode to the Pilot just off of I5 and back a time or two just to do it. https://goo.gl/maps/S1fwV8SQv6NHQnYz7 As to why? beats me. Two bald dudes in a tiny assed camper? Jealousy? There's no bumperstickers or any signal that would link an affiliate to anything on my rig for a reason. The moto is plastered in stickers and it never gets hosed with so YMMV. The truck hit firmly into nostalgia with locals the entire year. With the camper on the truck it was a hit. Consistently. Even when things were at their worst. We never once got turned away from a campground despite strict vehicle age restrictions. People were very positive about this setup. It surprised us both and in a way has us second guessing ourselves in rolling this camper into a newer truck or going back to a bus. The rig got hosed with a couple times last year. This was the worst of it. Mr. Wiggles posted:I cannot count on all the digits in my state the number of times I've had a tube puncture from a goathead. Truly the most devilish of plants. Tubeless helps. Somewhat. There's no less than 3-4 goatheads/glass shards in both tires right now... and picked it up on the first ride after spooning said tires on. But hey. tubeless. Pour more sealant in, pump it up, and go shred.
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Sep 10, 2022 17:49
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Thanks again for posting this stuff, definitely enjoying coming along vicariously. Where/what's the name of that little coastal cabin camp, if you don't mind? You can PM, or just ignore if that's your secret spot I fully understand.
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Sep 10, 2022 19:26
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Sucks to hear about people being lovely, so far the only objectionable thing I've seen about your whole trip is the Ford. It also looks like you should have brought the bikes with but I understand your weight concerns.
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Sep 10, 2022 19:36
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The Royal Nonesuch posted:Thanks again for posting this stuff, definitely enjoying coming along vicariously. Where/what's the name of that little coastal cabin camp, if you don't mind? You can PM, or just ignore if that's your secret spot I fully understand. Riiiight heeere. https://www.casparbeachrvpark.com/home I highly recommend them. I don't mind sharing GPS coordinates privately. Some of them can be found via campendium or ioverlander anyway. Don't leave a trace and we good. Parks or the like? sure if you all would like I'll leave links to them. People suck. But nature is good. It's pretty ironic in that people love the Ford because it's a classic truck still at work 30 years on that was built in America! It was built in Canada and it was the definition of disposable truck.. The Ford doesn't stop with its antics. It's hilariously consistent in this way. The truck is an order of magnitude improved in September 2022 than it was when we launched in November 2020. It's nearly* ready to deal with two ADVs now and all of the supporting components they require. The thread is almost to where it really kicks off shenanigans that chase us to Philly and back. I was thinking about this just a few days ago. The only major assembly that is original or I haven't been elbows deep in is the steering box. Guess I should prepare for that at some point. *It's getting intercooled and probably 13" discs put on out back, fronts will go from 13" to a 14.5" if the current ones will ever wear out. I suspect the tires will wear out before its brakes do.
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Sep 10, 2022 20:43
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Mount Shasta. Host to everything from fun twisty roads to skiing. Currently the A10 line in is closed at the Bunny Flat Trailhead to cars but you can still hike your way in. Lots of snow still on the ground. And I stumbled on a skoolie get together of some kind. With the advantage of four wheel drive, no need to camp right next door.  It looks flat but it isn't. It alllways looks flat. Mount shasta in the background.  This spot is suitable enough. Good solar and a bit out of the way.  With skiing here, in the off season they double as mtb trails. Some trails are better than others.    Should also mention that the soil here is hell on the equipment.   And since A10 is closed, the bike is recently tuned up, go climb? Bunny Flats is where the gates are down to prevent motorists from crossing as this section of road is unmaintained during the snow season. It's mostly melted now but still closed. Bikes ok? Bikes ok.  Last bit of glorious switchbacks to the end of the road at 7840' elevation. The trip back down much faster than the trip up. 4.5mi ride from camp to the trailhead, 1658 feet of elevation gain, 10mph average. Not bad on a mtb.   Wine or Coffee? You Decide!  A post without the 7.3? Nah. It's still there. Still leaking coolant.  We've nearly run out of water staying here on the side of Shasta. In the week that we were here we noticed a visual change in snow melt on the mountain itself. The temperatures went from brisk at night and chilly in the mornings to downright hot. This is A10 headed towards Bunny Flats. We're not going that way.  Instead let's go camp amongst some oil burning ancestors in Dunsmuir at The Railroad Park Resort.  Parked out front is a snow plow and an old Shay style Willamette locomotive.  These specifically are a knockoff of the Shay built after the patents expired. They're built in Oregon by Willamette. One of six survivors this is CN-21. These run superheaters unlike their Shay siblings and in general are a little more refined. They excel at pulling mountains. The cars are converted and you can rent them to camp in for the night. What a novel idea. I want to come back at some point and camp in one of the cars. The caboose retained the lookout.  This park started sometime in the 70s with all of the leftup scrap around. The dining car itself is built up of old carriages.  Here is an entire album to The Railroad Park itself. A creek runs adjacent to the park.   Walking into Dunsmuir itself I spotted a creosote soaked wooden bridge on the way.  Really cool to see these still in action in 2021.   Some old-school cool that I don't see often anymore. Rail is still prominent in this little town nestled in the mountains of northern California.  Their yard even has a turnstyle.  Visited Dunsmuir Brewery Works. Neat old automotive service garage converted into a brewery. Chatted with their brewer for a bit. He worked at Russian River prior to Dunsmuir.  Cool old chapel.  And a mural of the city.  Walking back to camp I found a late bay window VW Transporter. Solid thirty thousand dollar truck these days.  And their neighbor that should totally have an account here.  Shop ideas...  Let's go explore OREGON.
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Sep 19, 2022 16:09
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poo poo you’re coming to Oregon again?! Holler here if you’re going to be anywhere within a couple hours of Portland, there’s quite a few of us around.
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Sep 22, 2022 21:02
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this thread is a historical retelling, isnt it?
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Sep 23, 2022 21:56
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Yup. The thread at the moment is right around June 2021. I plan to run it up through now 9/2022 and into the future. Just gonna take us a lil while to get there.
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Sep 23, 2022 22:15
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My last stop in CA is a random bikeshop that just so happens to have the brake parts I need for my bike.  The bike parts shortage is so bad I'm still on the lookout for tires after 800 miles of driving. Driving towards camp. Nobody around, though the forest canopy is concerning for power.  Not the greatest of camping spots but it'll do for a couple of days. This is Near Odessa.  Swapped the pads. These are fairly easy to do at least compared to say, old Jag brakes.  And found a little water crossing.  It was around two ish feet deep. Oregon has tons of Sno-Parks. These are incredibly useful for transit days. Sometimes they have some bike trails around that are off season snowmobile/skiing trails.  I did not try to climb this hill with the truck. I did however climb this gorge.   As it's on the way to Crater Lake.   It's ridiculously busy. The hike down to the lake is closed this year and the lodge is booked solid. Pity. I'll have to go back.  And a wicked awesome old dolphin still at it.  Not gonna camp there though, but rather next to Chemult at the Corral Springs Campground.  While here, I'm gonna address the annoying backup cam that is no longer working because of the spare.  It's epoxied to the bumper. Chiseled it off, put a big magnet on it, and extended the cable.  The camper's rear bumper is metal, and so is the trucks. It works out, and works again.  The down side of being at this easily accessed camping spot, is that its easily accessed.  Pop it in 4wd then take the soft sandy roads to move a few miles away. The solar and hiking is better here anyways.   Okay maybe not always.  The riding near Chemult is pretty good. Still snow on the grounds and slick in some spots.    Where I called it and turned around after a couple hours of climbing this fire road.  It was b r i s k on the return. This is also where the 900W PV system hit a high point.  I stumbled on a xc race. Didn't see anybody or any details so I have no idea what was going on.  and some excellent technical singletrack. This is mostly a OHV(River's South) area for quads and dirtbikes but mid week it is pretty safe to mtb around.  By now I've condensed riding food into these veggie fuel rod burritos. 
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Sep 26, 2022 17:36
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Bend! We spent like six or so weeks in this area of Oregon. Bend, Sisters, Portland, the coast, you name it. The surrounding cities of Bend are so not to my liking but Bend itself has this chill laid back mountain resort town kinda vibe without the whole rural Alabama feel. The gorbage is good, the breweries are fantastic. The trails even better. The time here I put over 200 miles on the trails in the COTA network. I have yet to find another trail network that compares to COTA's. There's tubin' and all sorts of hobbies around to do. It's an excellent little spot for hitting the parking brake and going outdoors. On landing. a swing through a bike shop and get the bikes up to snuff. Tubeless + new tires all around + new chain on my pos. Also picked up an ant+ sensor and a watch to work as a cockpit for the bike.  Funner indeed.  What I couldn't get in tools, I made. Two spoke wrenches for Mavic wheels, two chain link tools, a disc brake tool, chain checker, and cassette holder.   I've no idea what these are but they're gorgeous and smell nice.   Visiting 10barrel...  Some other gorbage around Bend.  Despite all the goony eats and beer, This was the fittest I had ever been. Down 85 pounds from my heaviest. Living in this camper has had one benefit on our health despite our lust for garbage. Sourdough blins that I make semi regularly in batches way too big.   With plenty of solar comes plenty of shenangians. Sometimes even shunting excess solar into generating hot water.   This is about the time I popped one of the rear air bags doing what my spouse calls a "Turkish Slalom" through the roundabouts. Bend is full of these things and well this is a big heavy slow pig. But! If you take it right about the top 2/3 of 1st gear, on the turbo on entry, brake moderately heavy to weight transfer to the front. tip the front end to the right, power on, straighten up, roll into the roundie at the halfway point keeping the same power, then one final steering adjustment and roll on the power. hit 2nd by the end of the roundy then power the gently caress out. Can navigate roundies a lot quicker than anybody would reasonably think a tc would. First ends at around 15-17mph. Boost is on by 10ish. Between these shenanigans and the Jeep trails we've been driving on, the right rear bag has perished. But because we're bad at navigation. We've made a series of wrong turns and wound up on even more primitive Jeep trails and steep power line runs.  Same intersection in the above photo. but crosswise in it.  Our follies in navigation continue to compound against us with light running out.   Which this was just setting us up for the masterclass in amateur hour trail clearing and logging.    Temp spot while I figure out logistics of parts and where to install them.  La Pine State Park.  The river is around 65F while everything else is in the triple digits.  With parts comes a poo poo job playing equpiment mechanic.  The place of dishonor.  To replace the spring both the upper and lower plate need to be unbolted. Unbolting the wheel isn't happening when there's a 3 ton camper over my head and only a jack for support. I'll take the secondary risk of all four camper jacks failing crushing my arms.  This is where I learn something is off. See for yourself.   $120 airsprings aren't gonna fix this. Till then. Outdoor. Shower. Beer. 
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Oct 3, 2022 17:18
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I saw the first pic of the bag and thought it looked like it was rubbing.
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Oct 3, 2022 17:51
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Suburban Dad posted:I saw the first pic of the bag and thought it looked like it was rubbing. Something shifted here. This photo is from the time of install.  That something, is the axle. Probably from the not-fire-roads. DS outer  PS outer  DS inner  PS inner 
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Oct 4, 2022 00:52
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This part of the country is where cars are enshrined the day they're sold and never fall to old age. In the southwest the interior and all the plastic melts. Elsewhere the metal melts away. Here? somehow everything survives. I mean. Just look at it.  It even happens to campers to some degree. Though their truck is fairly modern.  Sporties cost that of a house did in 2012 though this person's living the dream.  Others aren't from around here originally.  Then there's the really weird poo poo.  Bend's riding is top drat notch. The best I've been on so far. They don't do ebikes, the trails are well maintained, documented, and classed, there's an active community around it all, and it's drat engaging. This part of Oregon is also pretty good about forestry management. It's a good thing with annual fires.  "the chicken". Stopping to take this photo put me just out of a group's ride where a guy fixated into a big root and broke his clavicle. Really put a color on the whole ride.  Slipped on new pedals with metal studs since the nylon ones just won't hold my shoes in place on the trails here. Bonus in that they'll hold your shins really well.  They work awesome.  There's lots of technical drops here. Most anything intermediate can be done without a dropper.  Sisters area, still in the COTA.  Black diamond trail. I called it quits without a dropper.  Of course this decade old bike is like the three decade old truck in that there's always something to fix.  Speaking of the truck. It has been hard starting when it is over 100F out. But screw dealing with that right now, less go tubin' on The Deschutes.  Hilarity ensues. Group of early 20 somethings chugging the gently caress out of cardboardeau directly out of the bag. mild rapids on a tube. Husband was yeeted from his tube.  And back to the truck. Grabbed a few new glowplugs just in case. It's missing on a couple cylinders when "cold" and in general being a pain in the rear end.  Nope, the glowplugs are fine. But in touching such, the old crispy wiring disintegrated. This plugs into a thermoswitch in the head that determines when the glowplugs, fast idle, and timing advance is needed. It's quite important.  New "connector" and pigtail generated and spliced into the harness.  And it goes here, in Satan's rear end in a top hat.  It would run cold on 6/7 cylinders for a good thirty seconds before all eight came around. It's just being a cantankerous old piece of poo poo 7.3 they're all like this. Oil consumption hasn't changed, coolant hasn't increased, fuel economy, intake restriction or exhaust temps haven't changed outside of its norms. It's just being old hardware. Backhoe near a fish migration channel off of a nearby stream near Sisters. The water is relatively cold and good for a swim, especially on a hot day.  And our '4wd required' camping site. This is where I'm starting to line up the logistics to get This Old Truck's suspension fixed and correctly set up for the camper.  This is kind of a pain because: I don't want to unload the camper. While the jacks can hold it, I don't really feel comfortable living in it while it's on the jacks, and all of our poo poo in it. It is twenny plus years old and extremely heavy. This drastically reduces the number of shops that'll touch it. While they're in there, they need to correct some things I never corrected from a few years ago. The rear pinion angle is incorrect for its new driveline and wears diff side U-joints at an accelerated rate. The air bags need to gently caress the hell off. All of it. I don't want em on the truck anymore. All the rest of its suspension needs to be relatively intact and it needs to stay within an inch of its current ride height or the camper can't be loaded/unloaded + it screws up the sway bar end links, steering/panhard linkages, and the driveline angles. This means we'll need to secure a temporary place to stay, this needs to have a temporary safe space to stay in, and it'll need to be handled by a competent shop that knows how to deal with old weird poo poo. Deer! Oh dear!   And because I'm in the west. It's now the 5th season. Fire Season.  I can't breathe this stuff at all or I'll get sick from it. This is the worst time in my life to get sick. So we pull the jacks up and run like hell to the coast. But first, supplies, like water.  The spot next to me is blocked off because bees have taken up residency in one of the trees. Rather than kill them there's a specialist that has come out and is slowly persuading them to leave the tree. This is really fascinating to me. An awesome high clearance setup.  Another but it's 2wd. It can probably go most anywhere if it has a locker out back.  And someone else that knows how to truck properly without paying the little truck tax.  The smoke continues to follow so onto the Ray Benson Sno-Park.  The Ideal Shop.  This is not the riding I seek. Soft sandy pumice. hard on me. hard on the bike. Big ring. go up an extra gear. stay light on the bars and heavy on the pedals. Go fast enough to float the front wheel above it. Can't produce the power required to float? well it sucks to suck.  Rock gardens is more like it. These are snowtercycle trails in the winter. However they're all in hiding right now. Presumably getting fresh topends and turbos for this coming winter.   Annnnd the smoke is creeping in again.  We converted the rooftop into a makeshift air filter using a generic hepa filter from a hardware store. The solar can run this for a few hours at a time. The camper is air tight enough that smoke won't ingress if the hatches are closed. It was built this way for this reason. And we got to test it before we left the bay area. However we can't always keep the hatches closed when its so drat hot. The smoke also really cuts into solar production. It'll kill the air filter of the truck and the generator.   So we run again. Really slowly. Behind this big guy.  For what seems like forever.  Because there's road construction. And traffic goes on forever behind me.  We eventually pull the parking brake after driving through the various winerys of rural Oregon. At this giant building.  It contains a bunch of old hardware. Namely. This.  It's the Evergreen Museum.
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Oct 6, 2022 19:23
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cursedshitbox posted:Then there's the really weird poo poo. csb posted:This part of Oregon is also pretty good about forestry management. It's a good thing with annual fires. Do you want them to bring the flamethrower out right next to the truck? I have faith in your ability to break mechanical things but starting a forest fire seems like cheating.
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Oct 6, 2022 22:07
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cursedshitbox posted:Then there's the really weird poo poo. I think this is the B is for Build offroad Hurrican? Also you got linked from the Announcement today. HELLO NEW PEOPLE
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Oct 6, 2022 22:11
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builds character posted:Go on... No idea what it is other than 'want'. Hey, no starting fires. Nature is precious and should be preserved. There is a couple undersized(imo) couple pounders onboard should this thing ignite. I'd be more comfortable with 3-4 10 pounders but there's no good place to stick em. An announcement?  (I've known about this for a while and ironically forgot about it) Welcome New People!
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Oct 7, 2022 00:56
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Thanks for sharing your trip, love this thread! I have in-laws in Bend; they say the town has gone from a quiet, out of the way place to activity-central and it's made them a little sad and a lot crowded. I can see from your pictures why.
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Oct 7, 2022 03:24
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Excellent thread. Looking forward to reading more!
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Oct 7, 2022 05:45
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So glad I looked at the sticky and clicked to this thread. I envy your adventure, this all looks so fun! Also bonus TownAce spotted. E: or maybe a different type of Toyota minivan? I often confuse them, despite it being my favorite car as of six months ago.
Rick fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Oct 7, 2022 |
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Oct 7, 2022 06:47
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Oooh, this thread is famous now. Good, 'cause this is the best thread.
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Oct 7, 2022 12:23
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EVERYWHERE 
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cursedshitbox posted:
Just slap ALDECADOS on this bad boy and call it good  Hype for this thread!
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Oct 8, 2022 20:12
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Rick posted:So glad I looked at the sticky and clicked to this thread. I envy your adventure, this all looks so fun! Also bonus TownAce spotted. E: or maybe a different type of Toyota minivan? I often confuse them, despite it being my favorite car as of six months ago. I've always wanted one. Small funfact here, if covid and 2020 didn't happen I was kinda planning to sell the truck or trade it for a 4wd toyota van/hiace/delica star wagon. Yeah so Evergreen is pretty awesome. I skipped the water park for obvious reasons. You must go and see for yourself. This is in the like top three of air museums I've been to. They'll even let you camp in the parkinglot provided your poo poo leaks less than theirs. I've just under a thousand photos, a highlights album is here. Spruce' power plant cutaway. Wasp Major.  My other ride is also a composite boondoggle.  Cutaway of the aircraft's structure with the visible layering. Technology way ahead of its time.  The goose is a gargantuan bird. Hughes was a madman with a vision when he created this thing.   Looking up from a DC3  There's more here than just aircraft. Early space race Vostok capsule.  V2 and its subsequent engine.  Titan II with control room buried down below.  The F1 rocket engine  And one of the intact intstrument units it worked under on the Saturn V.   It wouldn't be an air museum without The Sled.  This one complete enough that the docents didn't know the complete functions of its modules laid out on display for those details aren't public domain.  Pointing out the three massive OpAmps here. They're a staple of the electronics world today. In this era? That's the technology of space programs.  Of course it even has the Buick Wildcat powered start carts.  They unfortunately wouldn't let me take it out for a spin. It was part of the way through an engine swap, provided my husband could distract the docent for a few more minutes I could wrap this up and jump it off of a couple power tool batteries. We could be outta here and down the runway before they'd slug down their BC powders to be able to chase after us.  The blueing of the compressor blades is gorgeous imo. That's in a nutshell, Evergreen Museum.  Post camping out in the Evergreen parkinglot we took a little drive towards the coast to stay near Southlake for a week. We're killing time till we drive into Portland to get the truck's springs overhauled. I found a shop that has a proper lifting system capable of lifting dumptrucks by the chassis, works on everything from classic Rolls Royces to construction equipment, and can even forge their own springs in house. This is going to cost that of a space programme but it will be right.   Till then I can go ride bikes.   In the area is a really good climb. I ran this climb several times. It was just too good not to.  This was my turn around spot at the Mount Hebo station.      It's about time to drive to Portland and hotel it! The shop said two maybe three days. Dropping it off on thursday, should have it back by saturday at the latest. Clinical job, unbolt old, bolt on new, build up new blocks for the rear axle, all the required parts are ready to go. However everything is one broken bolt form being an ordeal. And my sinuses are acting up big time.
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Oct 13, 2022 17:05
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Love that air museum, really need to make another journey out there. Is the SR-71 still chillin’ there? Best thread of 2022!
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Oct 13, 2022 18:29
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RIP Paul Walker posted:Love that air museum, really need to make another journey out there. Is the SR-71 still chillin’ there? It was as of July 15th 2021! Related. Map as of right around Evergreen. 5190 miles, 9 months. 
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Oct 13, 2022 18:33
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Wish I knew that museum was there three years ago. Also would have loved to see the engine out of that thing, the bird and the Saturn V.
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Oct 13, 2022 20:59
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Portland Portland Portland Portland Goodbye fucker, see you in a better place in a few days.  Ok this city is cool as gently caress. Rolled through the musueums of fine art, the zoo, wandered public transit, almost got involved in a naked bike ride, etc. Found a whisky bar  With this delicious stuff.  Powell's books is incredible. Go there. My only regret is that I could only carry so much. Titles I should have bought.   Titles that are probably appropriate. For I am firmly in the last category.  Titles that I resonate with.  I found my next car while here.  Parked behind this old rear end bearing shop.   This was around the time I get sick as a loving dog. Awesome. It's probably covid. Zoom call from bed to describe symptoms. All the classic poo poo of a sinus infection that I get at the drop of a hat. Worst timing ever. Into the quickcare I go. Negative covid test but my sinuses are pissed off 6 ways from sunday. In with the Z pack and I'm good to go. Later on. I get a call from the spring shop. The front end went together easy and without a fight. They slipped the rear springs in, built up the blocks to get the driveline angles right, then sat the truck back down, and promptly ate all of the primary leaf pack sitting the truck on the bump stops. They're at a loss. They're polling the resources of every person in the building to figure this out. It's no longer a two day job. What does this thing weigh again? They're going to need it beyond the weekend and probably most of next week. Oh. gently caress. This is about to get exponentially expensive. I hope they shove it back out in the yard for the weekend, the batteries won't last that long. Oh well problem for future me. Cool old rail bridge  I wanna build my next camper on one of these. They're not as confined with weight.  Thirteen Letter represent!  What I should have put this camper on was a medium duty 4wd International. Probably not with the maxxforce 7 or VT365 this thing would have though.  The real Ideal here is this van. He really wanted one, and before Covid happened, so did I. Shoulda made it happen. Especially since this thing is being a massive pain in my rear end right now.  Honda  My uncle had one of these. Great trucks.  Almost bought one of these in this color. Should have done it. They're now worth that of a house in some parts.  In boosted v8 we trust.  It's nice to see Portland has some car culture. It's not common. And of course, there's the cars intermixed with resturants. Oh god the food trucks. It's easy to put on 10 pounds in a weekend here. I mean, just look at it.  Coming from a food truck whose owner reminds me of my own mom, just a lot less crazy.  FoFo makes delicious food holy hell. Monday afternoon rolls around, the truck will be ready first thing tomorrow they figured out a fix. Hell yeah. It's been almost a week and this is getting pretty expensive. Let's go retrieve the prize first thing in the morning. The Old Ford I should have brought back from the dead. Powered by an old L10 Cummins so it wouldn't be a lot better than what I'm already dealing with.  In the spring shop they have a cutaway of the exact frame used on my truck as a diorama. Hindsight, I shoulda added it to the tab.  Miscellaneous class 8 truck parts.   They're in a hell of a hurry this morning. They just hauled the truck outta the shop and have better paying gigs to deal with so they rush through the transaction and send me on my way. drat it definitely sits higher now.  The fronts? F53 motorhome spring with an added overload. The makeup of this new pack combines to a total of 9752lb capacity.  It sits a little higher now, you can see that the front shackle is being pulled out of line because of it. This needs to be fixed.  The rears are a combo of F-superduty primary packs (F450) and actual Superduty F550 overloads. it's good for 8600lb on the primary and 4000lb on the overload.    This is how they fixed it eating all the travel. They doubled up the blocking between the Primary and Overload packs allowing the overloads to engage a lot sooner. They actually are nearly touching with the truck unladen. It's not good for ride quality buuut it's stout.  They reground the blocks and corrected for the pinion angle. No more 65mph vibes!  With this it pushes the spring cap of the truck into class 7 territory at 26372lb in spring cap On class 4 worth of axles at 14250lb. On class 5 worth of tire capacity at 17200lb. However its still just a little class 3 truck with some stout legs. I'm elated. Thrilled. Stoked. Worth every dime. It drives better, corners better, handles bad roads a little better. Though it's rough as all hell on washboard. It does still have a vibe though. Probably the axle side Ujoint failing. I'll deal with that later.  I'll need to retorque all of the spring U-bolts in 150 miles anyway else risk breaking one of the brand new springs so I can fix the Ujoint then or whenever. Back on hookups. The batteries died 36 hours prior to pick up. The VE-Protect stepped in and shut everything down so the batteries were at least safe. Everything in the fridge including the starter died.  The crew in the stickerless class C next to us we made friends with. From here, back to the Ray Benson Sno park and let the cards cool the hell down. But the vibe continues to gain in intensity. To the point. When I pulled into the Sno-Park it is shaking both shifters violently at low speed. what in the gently caress? Oh son of a gently caress. The driveline is not supposed to be pulling away from the flange.  That's bad. I don't have a 12 point 12mm socket for those bolts. Nor do I have all of the tools should I need to repair the differential or transfer-case if any damage has occurred. The transfer-case is one of one that I custom built a few years ago but at least those are all generic parts within it. The differential is junk-class at best that I brought back from the dead. I'll have to unload the camper, find a shop to regear it, and do a break in on new gears if it has been damaged. it too is full of one off custom parts, with the required supporting parts a thousand miles away. This loving truck does not give me or anybody a break ever.
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Oct 16, 2022 22:21
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Jebus, this thread is a ride. Sorry about your starter, that sucks.
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Oct 17, 2022 00:16
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meatpimp posted:Jebus, this thread is a ride. Sorry about your starter, that sucks. Yeah? Oh, sorry, thought you were talking to me. Sounds like an eventful time in Portland. Just fyi, cursedshitbox, if you want more Powell's books, you can order them online and shipping is free if you spend $50... but that isn't as much fun as actually browsing the store.
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Oct 17, 2022 00:21
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cursedshitbox posted:My uncle had one of these. Great trucks. One of these resprayed in powder blue was my very first vehicle, it was a trooper.
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Oct 17, 2022 00:57
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Great thread. As someone who knows nothing about vehicles, how much of this truck and camper of thesus is repaired, replaced, or reworked at this point in the story? 25% 50%? 90%?
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Oct 17, 2022 01:11
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 21:55 |
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Great question. [one-hundred-thousand-yard-stare] *annoyingly high pitched whining noise* Edit: haha, at this point. Yeah the wheels fly off this bus soon enough. Some little bit of spoilers below but they're common knowledge in AI anyway. As of now, right now. I have not replaced the steering wheel, the power steering pump section* itself, or the power steering gear, I have not pulled the dash itself but major parts of it. Everything else I have been into, replaced, repaired, improved, or removed. I haven't pulled the transmission but it is from 1996 when I assume its flywheel exploded destroying it and the transmission itself and largely a wreck. I'm gentle with it. Things like axles and core supports, yeah those are original. But they've been doctored like everything else. Its at least on its second rearend rebuild, which as of the above Portland post, is on notice. The LSD is very active which... they fail early and often. It's fresh. The front differential is more or less also on notice, I've had to dig in it a few years ago to hand correct for bearing wear. The truck was sold and listed with the dmv as having around 134 thousand miles. seven years later I estimate 434 thousand or 834 thousand based on the wear and issues I've experienced. Probably even 1,134,000. I'm getting a lot of weird issues that I only see in extremely high mile and or high abuse vehicles. I've put almost 50,000 miles on it since 2016, 20 of that with the camper loaded on it. about one third to one half of the original camper remains. about 15% of its original electrical system Around 2/3 of its original plumbing system. nearly all of its LP system is still there. fwiw the starter sucked anyway and I shoulda dumped it in the black tank long ago. spoiler: the one that comes next is a fighty little bugger. Powells owns. They're best experienced in person imo. My uncles 720 was the same. Total trooper. It took a full size sedan in the passenger door at 50ish or something. Put him in the hospital. That was two ish decades ago. * Ford power steering pumps never die, they just sound like they are. I estimate another 2-3 ish years before the steering gear needs to be replaced. It leaks a little but not enough for me to care. cursedshitbox fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Oct 17, 2022 |
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Oct 17, 2022 01:29
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