Actual cruiser content.

[seapotato]

Survived bamfield, or at least the truck did. Jury is still out on my liver...


Fwiw, the drive via Youbou is MUCH more pleasant. Flora main appeared to be closed, but for some unfathomable reason, the carmanah main is paved from near the nitinat junction all the way up to where it meets the bamfield road. So it's a nice reprieve in the middle of the trip from the rattling and pounding. It's not exactly smooth paving, (you'd get airborne if you went much above 60) but it was a nice break.

We came back via port alberni, and even tho it's technically a shorter distance on dirt, it seemed way longer. Lots of steep ass hills, and worst of all, parns...

after the 2 hours of eating dust it's a 1.5 hour drive over the hump, as opposed to 20 mins from youbou. So, good experiment, but there's no question which route we prefer...

Pachena beach is awesome. Craploads of white sand, almost no people, and nice campground...with an actual flush toilet and showers , not just the dodgy bug infested bog house.

We'll definitely be going back.

And from the "worthless without pics" file, there was a red 70 series troopy in port alberni.


Truck was a bouncy sob on the back roads. I need to ditch the calgary/ontario retard shackles for some of the proper length, and see if my shocks are performing any other function than adding weight. I could see myself getting a set of 33's for next summer and airing them down to smooth things out. 31's are good for now tho.

Other items on list...."door fest" which likely will begin today ( lubing inner machinations and rattle chasing) and I have some hokey exhaust to deal with. Tail pipe rubs on the tire when it gets stuffed a little....I may just hack it off until I have a rear bumper done tho. I'll have more room with that tire out of there.

But all in all good. I made a quick rear bed/storage setup on wednesday night, and we just threw the futon cushion into the truck to sleep on. No bugs out there either , so leaving the rear hatch open with a tent fly tossed over it was good enough..

 

[midnightrider]

A fine offer.


However, I haven't fully committed to officially posting it and selling it yet (waiting on papers) and I don't really want to part it out if I don't have to.

Well if you decide to part it out, dibs on the turbo lol

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Glad the truck survived despite the suspension needs. Nice to know about the alternate route; I'd never have thought to go that way before the chat here. Will definitely go that route when/if I get the chance to head out to Bamfield sometime.

Did you see anyone towing RV trailers on either route? Probably at a crawl if there were? Probably the only way I'd get my family to come along...they're spoiled now. Might hit Pachena Bay campground next year.

LWB are great for sleeping in tho eh?

Glad you're getting the rig all sorted.

 

[seapotato]

Glad the truck survived despite the suspension needs. Nice to know about the alternate route; I'd never have thought to go that way before the chat here. Will definitely go that route when/if I get the chance to head out to Bamfield sometime.

Did you see anyone towing RV trailers on either route? Probably at a crawl if there were? Probably the only way I'd get my family to come along...they're spoiled now. Might hit Pachena Bay campground next year.

LWB are great for sleeping in tho eh?

Glad you're getting the rig all sorted.

Yeah it wasn't really all that bad, but long shackles are stooopid...If I had stock ones in my shed they'd be swapped out already. Last trucks I spent much time on logging roads in were either sprung over on 33's to 35's, or a big fat 80, both of which are better than sua and 31's (that I was too lazy to air down...)

Lots of rv's on the road, especially the youbou end. I used to go to nitinat lake windsurfing pretty much every weekend in the summer, and the place was always half full of rv's, as are kissinger etc.

Were quite a few out at pachena too, the bamfield rd from the junction to pachena was pretty good. Worst stretch of that route was the first hour past youbou, after that it was decent.

Sucked on the way back via pa tho, washboard while going up a steep ass hills is a little sketchy, still got dumbassed parns blasting past me on every corner in lifted chevs and fords tho, more and more of them as I got closer to pa.
This thing doesn't drive much like the 3b's I'm used to , barrelling up those hills accelerating in 3rd instead of the 2nd gear chug.
I'm sure my mileage on this tank will be somewhat ugly. Haven't calculated it yet, not sure I will...

(a parn is a port alberni redneck , in case you were wondering.)

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Heh, yeah, I remember taking my tercel 4x4 down to nitnat lake back in the day, and being very suprised at all the RV's and big diesel pickups down there. I guess just taking it slow and easy I could get my trailer down some rough roads.

Bahaha!! I was going to ask what you meant by 'parns' ; thats hilarious man.

12HT FTW!! Must be nice having that power and torque with no heat penalty (I'm on a IDI hate binge). I bet your mileage will be better than you think on that trip; my guess would be 25mpg...12ht is a miracle engine.

 

[seapotato]

my guess would be 25mpg...12ht is a miracle engine.

Good guess, was actually a bit better than that...


Miracle engine may be a bit of a stretch. It's certainly different from the other toyota diesels I've driven tho...


This morning I got to eradicate something that pisses me off. Long shackles are so fxxxing stupid it makes me want to bang my head against a wall. (also the effect they have on your suspension.)
These things offend me by their very existence, and basically are like posting a big fxxxing sign saying that you are too stupid to understand geometry.

So now, I have a front suspension that actually is able to function, my steering wheel rotated 1/4 turn, and I don't have bump steer.

Almost as worthy of the

is the fact that they took the time to machine the plates to countersink the shackle pins, but didn't do anything about the bloody great square corners...


The rears are almost as bad, but tail pipe is in the way, and I don't feel like re-doing the aft end of the exhaust just yet.

time for some wood dust and epoxy.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Good guess, was actually a bit better than that...

Miracle engine may be a bit of a stretch. It's certainly different from the other toyota diesels I've driven tho...

'Miracle engine' is not a stretch when comparing a 12ht to a 2lte...haha.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

So, a month down the road, hows it treating you? Too quiet on these forums, we need something to talk about...

 

[seapotato]

So, a month down the road, hows it treating you? Too quiet on these forums, we need something to talk about...

Yeah...not much going on. Trucks good.

No updates, got my AC working ( I do love $5 repairs...Tho my timing for that could've be a smidge better.)

Might change out my rad hoses and belts this weekend. I'm on call, so I can't go anywhere but we have a spare car these days, so I'm not totally hooped if I have to run out.

Beginning to contemplate bumpers...

 

[ForealBoreal]

Don't blow the budget or anything

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Ah yes... the all important 2nd vehicle. As my pickups poly urethane bushings smoulder in a gooey puddle on the ground I seem to find myself needing the all important 2nd vehicle to get me to the stealership tomorrow to pick up the fancy cam adjustment bolt that was sacrificed during the melting process. 2 fancy bolts to be exact. Now take into consideration that the 2nd vehicle is an Audi.... which in itself should have it own support crew for day to day operations and its obvious I'm pushing my luck.

What have I learned? Mechanics that assemble suspension things without never-seize should be beaten and powder coated suspension parts are a bad idea. We will see if the Audi can pull its sh*t together tomorrow...... its amazing the check engine light hasn't failed. Grunt.

Vent and Hijack present and accounted for.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Yeah...not much going on. Trucks good.

No updates, got my AC working ( I do love $5 repairs...Tho my timing for that could've be a smidge better.)

Might change out my rad hoses and belts this weekend. I'm on call, so I can't go anywhere but we have a spare car these days, so I'm not totally hooped if I have to run out.

Beginning to contemplate bumpers...

Glad its still working out man. Looking forward to checking it out sometime.

Ah yes... the all important 2nd vehicle. As my pickups poly urethane bushings smoulder in a gooey puddle on the ground I seem to find myself needing the all important 2nd vehicle to get me to the stealership tomorrow to pick up the fancy cam adjustment bolt that was sacrificed during the melting process. 2 fancy bolts to be exact. Now take into consideration that the 2nd vehicle is an Audi.... which in itself should have it own support crew for day to day operations and its obvious I'm pushing my luck.

What have I learned? Mechanics that assemble suspension things without never-seize should be beaten and powder coated suspension parts are a bad idea. We will see if the Audi can pull its sh*t together tomorrow...... its amazing the check engine light hasn't failed. Grunt.

Vent and Hijack present and accounted for.

Clearly you need another cruiser as a back up vehicle to get parts for the Dodge and Audi.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Audi - As my boss and owner of several has put it:

Another
Useless
Deutch
Invention

But of course, none of his are diesels.

 

[seapotato]

Don't blow the budget or anything

Yeah. Not very JDM douchebag of me to not be spending 1k every week on shiny parts and bling someone else made that I don't really need, now is it?

But of course, none of his are diesels.

Neither is Cams. I rode in it once. I hope no one saw me.

 

[seapotato]

Changed out my belts and upper and lower rad hoses yesterday...something of a pain in the snapper...

Got two of them from Mr Radd, could NOT get the ps belt on even with the tensioner completely out of the way. So, too short methinks, and off to to parts place, (right across highway fortunately) to buy one an inch longer(story of Cam's life)...got it on, and it's just on the edge of being too long.

After staring at it and uttering more than one "what the fxxx?" I had another go with the one from Radd...using full on redhead rage I managed to get over the sheave, but jeebus in a fxxxin miniskirt on the streetcorner did it take some doing.

Tightened up to mid range on the tensioner so I guess it's the right belt...sheaves just have them some deep cheeks(story of....nevermind).

I picked up some softer belts for spares so they're a bit easier to pop on if I need to do it on the side of the road somewhere.

As for the old belts, to use a term from the eloquent gentlemen on Blackflag....Powerfxxxed.

seeing as I am by default a jdm douchebag at the moment, I opted for some douchebaggery on my hoseclamps.

Here endeth this exciting update.

 

[Diesel Cruiserman]

Got two of them from Mr Radd, could NOT get the ps belt on even with the tensioner completely out of the way. So, too short methinks, and off to to parts place, (right across highway fortunately) to buy one an inch longer(story of Cam's life)

 

[Diesel Cruiserman]

We stole Spuds motor when he was not looking today..

Going into the left hand drive BJ74..

Lots of cruiser leaning and swapping stories on the ranch...

 

[seapotato]

Yeah. I saw you take that spy shot, you were in full on "yoga pants close up in grocery store lineup" uber-perv stealth mode when you took that.

For the record, there are few things more offensive to me than douchebags taking spyshots.



And yeah, good luck with that 3b.

 

[Diesel Cruiserman]

Gottcha, thought I saw you glancing at my camel toe..eyes up here big boy eyes up here...

Looks like yur giving me a sea mens scowl, look of death I say..

Should have the motor in tomorrow if all goes well..

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

You two just keep taking pictures of each other and leave me out of it....... and no I don't want to see the pictures you took in the dimly lit basement during the negotiation process. Sheesh.