[lowenbrau]

Originally Posted by lowenbrau

You're right. The stock shock towers have to go. They are crappy anyway, I busted them off my BJ70. I'll make some hoops out of 1.5" tube. The axle is going forward about 2"

Here's the hoops.

[lowenbrau]

Well, surprisingly no rub on the lips of the wheel wells. A bit on the inside of the tubs and, as expected at the front of then fender on the inside. Mr Toyoda planned 70s perfectly to accept 17" tire and not a 1/4 inch more without trimming.

[lowenbrau]

Big projects for tomorrow are the rear shocks and exhaust. I drove it home tonight and it held highway speed fine but the egts are up about 100 F.

[Tapage]

Badas .. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WTF awesome good looking rig .. ! congrats

[lowenbrau]

Thanks for the kind words everybody

I burned off my tach sender on the way to the exhaust shop this morning. Arggh. Oh well that's why the put in the rev limiter, I guess.

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Looking awesome Bruce! Looking forward to hearing your "after action report" when you get back from the Alaska trek.

Regards,

Alan

[wesintl]

Awesome.. That's the way they should be from toyota!

[coldtaco]

Anybody know if he left yet?

[bj70_guy]

If he didn't he's about 1000 miles behind schedule already

[crushers]

he left yesterday, at noonish he was at red deer...about 6 hours behind schedual...

[lumpy70]

I'm not sure he was in Red Deer at noon, because we had dinner with him in Calgary at 7:00 pm.

He left from dinner to head straight to the first leg to Fort St. John.

We didn't get any calls of breakage on the way so we assume he is doing alright so far. He forgot his compressor, so he'll be running an open front, but the back is locked up.

Craig.

[Mark W]

If anyone talks to Bruce let him know that we can probably rig a compressor here for his locker. I've everything to put together a quick and dirty system that works great.


Mark...

[Ratpuke]

Hi. Bruce made it to FSJohn today at around 4pm after spending the night on the side of the road snoring away (he's most content when sleeping on his roof). Anyway, he ran into some issues near Grande Prairie when Random's clutch pedal bracket snapped. He was able to weld it back together after I sacrificed a paint scraper for his use. He's been putting the steering column, etc. back together while I bolted on the roof and stood behind the truck scratching my head wondering how everything is going to fit in.

Mark, one thing... he also forgot spare birfields and wondered if you'd be able to pack a spare for him.

We'll be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning.

[pismojim]

I have an extra compressor one of these I can toss into my bag. I doubt Mark needs a spare birf, but I've got a couple of those too.

Just because I don't have a rig, doesn't mean I can't bring spares.

I'll tell you about a related conversation I had with Nick and Rob at Rubithon when I see you.

I also took a hard look at my synthetic 150 ft winch rope extension. Very light and packable....

My gloves and coverralls are already packed.

[Mark W]

Spare Birfs are no problem.


The compressor I have is an old Coleman unit. I've come across a couple at garage sales over the years. Small and not much output (volume). But more than enough for an ARB and the entire system is small, cheap and easily swapped into and then out of a rig.
No reason not to bring your extension if you want to and have room for it. No big deal about it though. I've got two coils of 150 feet of 3/8s that I use for extensions. A bit bulkier and a LOT heavier than the synthetic!

Our wet weather may hold. :(

I'm sure you're all bringing rain gear. If you haven't already I'd suggest a wide brimmed hat too. We don't get the heavy thunderstorm type downpours when this stuff settles in, but we can get hours of steady light rain.

This is normally the warmest, sunniest and driest time of year over on the east side of the Talkeetnas. Hopefully the weather is better over there than we are seeng on the west side. And hopefully it will break soon!!!


Mark...

[Ratpuke]

Ok, all the nooks and crannies are full. Finally ready to go.



Hey Jim, did I send you a calendar?

[lowenbrau]

I was thinking about stopping in at a pep boys or shucks and seeing what they had in the compressor dept. Something like what Jim posted but I'm not sure at this point we'll make it into the city before the run. We are a day behind now. If one of you has something that'll plug into a cig lighter and connect to a 1/8"NPT male, I'll be set.

The rig is performing pretty well. I was bucking a headwind last night and was worried that the EGTs were constantly approaching 1200F while trying to maintain an indicated 95KPH. I finally came across an odometer check section on the highway and found myself travelling four km and indicating exactly three! My 90kph indicated is actually 120kph. I'm not surprised the engine was working to do that into a headwind.

I started to get sleepy around midnight and decided to pull into a rest stop and get set up before the storm hit but by the time I got the tent open the wind was howling and it was impossoble to set up. The fly was billowing like a huge sail and I was worried that it would rip off. The aluminum stucture was listing pretty badly as well so I finally gave up, packed it up and drove into the storm. An hour and a half later it abated and I found a good place to stop. This time I was able to set up quickly just as the moon was peeking throught the clouds and the eastern sky was starting to show some morning light. Probably 3:30 or so. I had a great sleep there and didn't get up till after nine.

It's good to be packed and ready to go. I'll post up again when I can.

[pismojim]

Just put the trailhead coordinates into my handheld GPS and couldn't help but try the Sun/Moon function....

Sunrise 5:15 AM
Sunset 12:31 AM

A bit longer day than we're having in Pismo. I'm leaving the flashlight at home.

I remember when we were there in July 2001 it was the wettest July in recorded history. Just our luck as we spent a couple months tent camping. We got pretty good at setting up the blue tarps.

Since it's all I know, I've been expecting and preparing for rain and mosquitoes. If its clear and sunny I'll just have to make do. In the rain, the wide brimmed hat is very helpful with the prescription glasses which still suck. This trip was a good excuse to pick up a waterproof duffel bag. It should survive the airport and carry my sleeping bag, pad, tent, and change of clothes. I figure it can easily set outside or survive one of Mark's river crossings. I'm also bring a small day pack so a hike and night away from the rigs will be possible.

Charla, no I didn't get the Calendar so if you have a spare... I trust you'll find more subject matter on the way North.

I'll be in Anchorage Monday afternoon.

[Mark W]

I just posted this in the thread about Trips and Expeditions:

_________________

Just got a report tonight of water running 3-5 feet deep in the Little Nelchina River where it's normally 2-3 feet deep.

But the snow melt is all gone now and there's no glacial feed for the Lil' Nel'. It drains a fairly small area so I expect that so long as this unseasonable rain does not continue this (and the other...larger... rivers out there should be back to normal by next week.

Hopefully.

This may get interesting.

_______________


Jim, I'll meet you at the airport.

You'll be... Impressed... by Charla's calender. It's... different.

Bruce, I'll have to take a look and see if it is 1/8 npt. It's close. But we'll make it work one way or another.



Mark...

[crushers]

Originally Posted by lumpy70

I'm not sure he was in Red Deer at noon, because we had dinner with him in Calgary at 7:00 pm.

He left from dinner to head straight to the first leg to Fort St. John.

We didn't get any calls of breakage on the way so we assume he is doing alright so far. He forgot his compressor, so he'll be running an open front, but the back is locked up.

Craig.

yah, you are right it was after dinner when i called him not lunch...

[crushers]

Originally Posted by Mark W

I
This may get interesting.

Mark...

that sounds like a bit of an understatment, 3 ft of rushing water would be bad enough, 5 ft!!!! WOW!! you boys have balls.

[pismojim]

Originally Posted by crushers

that sounds like a bit of an understatment, 3 ft of rushing water would be bad enough, 5 ft!!!! WOW!! you boys have balls.

Wayne, fixed it for you...

[lowenbrau]

I forgot to mention the broken clutch pedal hanger. This truck came to me with a broken clutch booster but I wasn't worried because I don't find the unboosted pedal feel to be too heavy but it turns out that all that additional stress is way too much for the tin foil pedal hanger. It broke in three places. I was able to limp it to FT St John by wedging and tie wiring a piece of wood in there but last night I had to yank it out and weld it. I 'borrowed' one of Charla's putty knives and welded the blade of it on over the breaks. Using the ready welder on sheet metal isn't exactly my idea of a good time and I got a heck of a raccoon tan but it's all back together now. FYI The brake hanger and steering column have to come out to swap a clutch booster on a RHD BJ74. What a crappy job!

We're off now and will try to make it a long day to make up some lost time.

[Mark W]

Originally Posted by crushers

that sounds like a bit of an understatment, 3 ft of rushing water would be bad enough, 5 ft!!!! WOW!! you boys have balls.

Three foot doesn't worry me. Five feet would. But I expect it to drop off. IF it's actually that high (I'd expect that the "3-5 feet" that was reported to me is closer to the bottom end of that range). And I know these rivers better than most which means that I know the signs of holes and other "traps" waiting to cause trouble better than most too.


Mark...

[lowenbrau]

We're in Whitehorse. Had a great day yesterday and saw loads of animals. Also happened upon a fresh plane crash right on the side of the highway. There was still just one cop on the scene and a yellow tarp covering someone beside the wreck. That was sad. We should make the border tonight and be back on schedule tomorrow.

[brownbear]

Originally Posted by lowenbrau

We're in Whitehorse. Had a great day yesterday and saw loads of animals. Also happened upon a fresh plane crash right on the side of the highway. There was still just one cop on the scene and a yellow tarp covering someone beside the wreck. That was sad. We should make the border tonight and be back on schedule tomorrow.

Was it the Twin otter that just crashed up there? One elderly man died in the crash.

[Greg_B]

Hey Bruce. Got your message. Was up at Deka Lake after the long weekend wheeling with the CC. Will check the shop and see, and let you know.

Happy trails!

gb

[Mark W]

Bruce and Charla rolled into Palmer this afternoon. Fairly smooth trip here.

The '70 is sagging ass with the load. We're gonna add a leaf out of a set of "kidney busters" that I've hung onto in case I ever watned top make a dump truck out of a '40 so that he doesn't beat his shocks to death once we hit the trail on Thursday.


Mark...

[crushers]

glad to hear they made it...
safe trip

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:


"Lowenbrau" wrote:

<snip> Using the ready welder on sheet metal isn't exactly my idea of a good time and I got a heck of a raccoon tan but it's all back together now.


Any photos of your new mask?


>FYI The brake hanger and steering column have to come out to swap a clutch booster on a RHD BJ74. What a crappy job!


Oh man, that is definitely a PITA!

Have a good time on the Alaska Cruiser Trek, Bruce!

Regards,

Alan