Another road trip report

[Vistataco]

Well this was the first 800+ mile road trip with the cruiser since it's been lifted and everything was great. (for the most part) We left N. SD on Wed and headed up to Sequoia/Kings Cyn for some family camping and sightseeing. Did not realize how much crap you have to bring for an 18 mo old girl on a 5 day camping trip.

First the good: Averaged 15.5 MPG with the Cruiser loaded and towing about 2500lbs. We had perfect weather and Sophia was relatively well behaved considering her age. Did not intend to do much if any wheeling but we could not help ourselves when surrounded by all that National Forest. Spent the better part of 2 days wheeling on some pretty good trails. Enough for a little slider carnage and some additional pinstripping.

Room for improvement: Driving up out of Visalia in 100+ deg heat with the AC going and a 6-8% grade while towing a load did not make the Cruiser happy. I am gonna guess that the stock gears and 315's didn't help the situation. Before too long, we had the AC off, the heater blowing and all the windows rolled down. We were running in the high 220's - to low 230's for water temp.
Looks like I will need to service the radiator and maybe replace the fan clutch sooner than expected. Maybe going to 4.88/5.29 will take some of the strain off as well.

At least the wife got to experience first hand an improvement that needs to be made. Love it when that happens.

 

[mkfour]

It's good to see people getting out and using their 80, whether it be offroading or out exploring.

Funny, mine AC had a tough time this last trip as well. Blew cold only on the lowest fan setting. When I came home, I checked the low side pressure and it was good. I'm going to have to figure it out.

 

[Bluetribal]

I have been up that way twice to raft Kings River. Both times before I got my cruiser tho

The first trip up we spent the next two nights over in Sequoia NP after rafting. Beautiful area and camping.

 

[Vistataco]

It's good to see people getting out and using their 80, whether it be offroading or out exploring.

Funny, mine AC had a tough time this last trip as well. Blew cold only on the lowest fan setting. When I came home, I checked the low side pressure and it was good. I'm going to have to figure it out.

Well the AC was still blowing ice cold...I turned off the AC since I didn't want the motor to grenade. Scanguage was reading over 230F for water temp and I actually got that Toyota temp guage to move up towards the red.

 

[Slomo]

At least the wife got to experience first hand an improvement that needs to be made. Love it when that happens.

I had to drive my buddy's 4Runner back from Havasu (Manual trans and he broke his ankle in Havasu) in the end of July with it over heating the whole way. 124 ambient at Desert Center and we had the heat full blast and windows down. Not fun.

Glad you saved the motor and got home without further incident.