Recent content by PapaGiamati

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a pre-combustion cup! It still held oil pressure even after it blew up!! And oddly enough it still ran strong even after the metallic BANG! Like what would let go that catastrophically and still allow the engine to run and keep oil pressure? My bet...

I really appreciate your words. Thank you for responding! As my friend recently said, this truck brought me all the way home safely, and then decided to blow up. I owe it to rebuild or find another engine for it. It got me home so I need to renew its life. That monster claw in Bella Coola was...

Hahaha yeah I should get a flight back to Alaska and see if I can find the owner! Luckily I have some irons in the fire right now and might have some contacts with the ability to source an engine or rebuild what’s already broken if that’s possible. We shall see.

And now to yesterday, destruction day. I ended up driving from Hyder AK to east of Prince George the day before and the knock went from occasional to now being constant. But not too loud. Yesterday I went from east of PG to Calgary AB where the truck blew up. I did some small diagnostics to...

Then came my redemption drive to Hyder AK! It was a perfect weather window to see the salmon glacier. It was another prolonged drive up a gravel road. Probably hard on the engine again. But the knock was still only really intermittent and the truck ran fine, so again, I wasn’t concerned...

Now started my long 10+ hour days on my way to try and get to Bend Oregon. Little did I know at the time that I would only make it to Calgary, and only just! I got my oil changed at a jiffy lube in Anchorage. I usual don’t like letting these small places change my oil but I figured what harm...

The last day of the trip before the long haul back was in Whittier AK. An old Cold War army port town that only is accessible by boat or driving through a miles long train tunnel! Saw my last 60 series on my way out of Seward and before I started my long drives back. I was hoping this was a...

Took a cruise from Seward to see some wildlife and the Northwestern glacier. And we saw a humpback whale calf breach as well!

Bagged another hike! On a perfect bluebird day. Salmon berries and huckleberries were in full force in august too! Back to the same spot on the river for 3 nights in a row just outside Seward. Out of the whole month, I only spent $20USD on a single camp site. Pretty good cost savings!

the Kenai peninsula was one of the few places I spent multiple nights in the same camp spot! Leaving the beach was the first time I heard the knocking/rattling noise from the engine. I didn’t think much of it, and figured the bearing on the water pump was failing. Another wicked 60 series I...

I ended up making it to the most western highway location you can drive on in North America! Mission success. Found an epic camp spot on Anchor Point

The drive out was a little better as there was less traffic and dust. But I still hammered the truck over the pothole and washboard ridden road. I then headed for my later days of the trip up to Anchorage and Homer Alaska. On the way I caught one more hike to see another epic glacier. Then...

While I was parked up at the mine I had 3 seperate people come up and talk to me about the Land Cruiser. The truck that brings people together! I ended up walking to the mine site (should have taken the shuttle) and then walked onto the glacier to go have lunch!

Then from Chitina to McCarthy was surprisingly the worst 62miles of road I drove the whole trip. Check out the warning signs before you drive! Haha I again lucked out with the weather window and had a perfect opportunity to see all the glaciers around the Kennecott Mine

More pictures of driving through the Yukon to get back into Alaska! And not the panhandle this time. The frost heaves on the road in the Yukon were horrendous. I was so lucky to have the new suspension on my truck to ride them out smoothly. I think I would have been o so much slower with the...