Cruisin'
Out in the shop, building something cool!
Hey all, here's the start of the trip report. I'll be adding more as I have time to type it all up.
Here’s part one of the trip report: Its past my bedtime but I just feel like reliving some of the cool memories of an amazing trip.
It all started innocently enough: Chatting with Amy one January morning while having breakfast I mention that one of these years I’d like to take a trip south for Cruise Moab. Much to my shock she says “Why not this year? I’m good with the kids for a week”. Did I just hear what I think I heard? A follow up conversation later in the day to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, and the wheels in my mind start turning. I get registered before the end of the week, and I’m committed.
Now I have some projects I need to get going on. I had purchased the M101 in the fall, and needed to convert it into camping duty. A slow week in the shop afforded the time to finish the tailgate, fab up a lid for the RTT to sit on, mount stabilizer legs, and install the camp kitchen my highly talented brother, Daryl, had built for us. And there are truck projects. Hi-Lift mount for the ladder, repaint the ladder and sliders, install a lift, take care of some maintenance issues...
As of April 1st I have super beefy rear lower control arms fabbed up with 1/2” DOM tubes, and all the other parts gathered for a 2.5” OME lift. I’ll need to deal with sway bar link extension and castor correction, but I’m making the parts for those when I do the job. Oh, and I just discovered that I have a rear brake dragging badly... One month and counting.
Oh yes, and at the beginning of April the plan for the trip changed a bit. Originally just Daryl and I would be making the trip, but then Amy decided that the didn’t want to miss the adventure and scenery of a trip to Moab, and since she’s still on Mat leave with our youngest, she decided that she and the kids would like to come too. This will be changing the dynamic of the trip, what with traveling 2,000km in 2 days with a 1yr old and 3 yr old, but I’m glad that they will be along on the trip. Amy is running a 1/2 marathon on Sunday May 1st, so we can’t leave early. We are to head out Sunday evening and drive through the night.
We left Chilliwack about 8:15pm. Border was no problem. Drove through the night with just a bit of conversation to keep the driver awake. Daryl and I did most of the driving. A fuel stop at a little nothing town called Huntington Id reveals a fuel station with no fuel. Good thing we filled the 2 jerry cans at the last stop. Also discovered that these old school NATO style cans need a spout, not just a funnel. What a mess.
Had a visit with Amy’s Aunt and Uncle in Boise on Monday and stayed the night. Tuesday we made a shop at a Machine shop on Salt Lake City and picked up some parts. Shop tours are cool We were at Summit Machine Summit Machine Daryl and I checked out the place while Amy and the kids played at a park around the corner. After a stop at Wal Mart, and some dinner at Arby’s we were back on the road for the home stretch.
Bombing down the highway with about 50mi to go I notice that the coolant temp is reading quite high. I slow down, but it doesn’t really help. After a bit I turn on the heat and all that really accomplishes is making us all very uncomfortable. I had to stop at the side of the highway and use the cab heat to cool things down under the hood. Got it cooled down and limped at 40mph towards Moab. So much for a daylight arrival. About 3 mi out of town the guage seemed normal so I booted it and it was working fine. It seems that the right thing would be to change the thermostat, thinking that it had been stuck closed.
Then next morning I ran the truck through tech inspection. I was a bit surprised that the “inspection” pretty well consisted of a guy asking “do the brakes work” and such questions like that. After about 2 minutes I was given clearance to run trails rated up to a 7 and sent on my way.
Driving a RHD 80 with a Diesel generates quite a stir south of the 49th. There was almost always somebody checking the truck out, and wanting to look under the hood. Poor saps have to wait another 5 years.
Daryl and I changed the thermostat at the campsite, then after lunch Daryl and Amy went for a bike ride on the Slickrock trail, while I took the kids for a quick run on Fins & Things.
Check out Amy's album on Facebook for some pics. I'll post more wheeling pics here
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150569225195456.677384.663155455&l=354a4a0e26.
Here’s part one of the trip report: Its past my bedtime but I just feel like reliving some of the cool memories of an amazing trip.
It all started innocently enough: Chatting with Amy one January morning while having breakfast I mention that one of these years I’d like to take a trip south for Cruise Moab. Much to my shock she says “Why not this year? I’m good with the kids for a week”. Did I just hear what I think I heard? A follow up conversation later in the day to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, and the wheels in my mind start turning. I get registered before the end of the week, and I’m committed.
Now I have some projects I need to get going on. I had purchased the M101 in the fall, and needed to convert it into camping duty. A slow week in the shop afforded the time to finish the tailgate, fab up a lid for the RTT to sit on, mount stabilizer legs, and install the camp kitchen my highly talented brother, Daryl, had built for us. And there are truck projects. Hi-Lift mount for the ladder, repaint the ladder and sliders, install a lift, take care of some maintenance issues...
As of April 1st I have super beefy rear lower control arms fabbed up with 1/2” DOM tubes, and all the other parts gathered for a 2.5” OME lift. I’ll need to deal with sway bar link extension and castor correction, but I’m making the parts for those when I do the job. Oh, and I just discovered that I have a rear brake dragging badly... One month and counting.
Oh yes, and at the beginning of April the plan for the trip changed a bit. Originally just Daryl and I would be making the trip, but then Amy decided that the didn’t want to miss the adventure and scenery of a trip to Moab, and since she’s still on Mat leave with our youngest, she decided that she and the kids would like to come too. This will be changing the dynamic of the trip, what with traveling 2,000km in 2 days with a 1yr old and 3 yr old, but I’m glad that they will be along on the trip. Amy is running a 1/2 marathon on Sunday May 1st, so we can’t leave early. We are to head out Sunday evening and drive through the night.
We left Chilliwack about 8:15pm. Border was no problem. Drove through the night with just a bit of conversation to keep the driver awake. Daryl and I did most of the driving. A fuel stop at a little nothing town called Huntington Id reveals a fuel station with no fuel. Good thing we filled the 2 jerry cans at the last stop. Also discovered that these old school NATO style cans need a spout, not just a funnel. What a mess.
Had a visit with Amy’s Aunt and Uncle in Boise on Monday and stayed the night. Tuesday we made a shop at a Machine shop on Salt Lake City and picked up some parts. Shop tours are cool We were at Summit Machine Summit Machine Daryl and I checked out the place while Amy and the kids played at a park around the corner. After a stop at Wal Mart, and some dinner at Arby’s we were back on the road for the home stretch.
Bombing down the highway with about 50mi to go I notice that the coolant temp is reading quite high. I slow down, but it doesn’t really help. After a bit I turn on the heat and all that really accomplishes is making us all very uncomfortable. I had to stop at the side of the highway and use the cab heat to cool things down under the hood. Got it cooled down and limped at 40mph towards Moab. So much for a daylight arrival. About 3 mi out of town the guage seemed normal so I booted it and it was working fine. It seems that the right thing would be to change the thermostat, thinking that it had been stuck closed.
Then next morning I ran the truck through tech inspection. I was a bit surprised that the “inspection” pretty well consisted of a guy asking “do the brakes work” and such questions like that. After about 2 minutes I was given clearance to run trails rated up to a 7 and sent on my way.
Driving a RHD 80 with a Diesel generates quite a stir south of the 49th. There was almost always somebody checking the truck out, and wanting to look under the hood. Poor saps have to wait another 5 years.
Daryl and I changed the thermostat at the campsite, then after lunch Daryl and Amy went for a bike ride on the Slickrock trail, while I took the kids for a quick run on Fins & Things.
Check out Amy's album on Facebook for some pics. I'll post more wheeling pics here
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150569225195456.677384.663155455&l=354a4a0e26.
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