Back from SAS4 and I guess it's time to upload some pictures. The trip there was memorable and fun, but also really hot at times. I turned on the heater in certain places as the elevation made Big Red struggle more than usual. We spend the first night in New Mexico where I discovered I had a torn silicone coupler and the only way to replace it was to have the rig cold. It was between both turbos, luckily I happened to have a spare with me.
After replacing it , we headed north towards Colorado. Here the engine started pushing between 210 and 220*, so I opened up the heater. It wasn't bad until I lose momentum. I think I'm geared too high for the mountain, or I need a gear between 3rd and 4th and between 4th and 5th to run better. Right around 7000 ft the turbo boost begins to lower and EGTs get higher. I ran a lot of this trip at or under 10psi and 1200*.
Luckily, I married an adventurous woman, so she didn't mind the heat as long as she was seeing new things. We made good time up until one of the passes at around 1000ft. I was cut off and came to a near dead stop. Big Red started seeing temps I'd never seen before, 270* for a few minutes before it came back down to 220* Nothing I could do but pray, I thought I had blown a head gasket at least. Luckily, there was not permanent damage that I could tell.
Parked it to the side of the road a few minutes and waited on traffic to ease before reattempting the drive. Luckily it was only a few miles before it started down the mountain and all temps cooled.
We finally made it in and set up camp.
Before I forget this, I want to mention that upgrading to the 2017+ 4Runner brakes was a great idea. It can stop Big Red and the trailer in it's tracks with ease and came in handy coming down some of the switchbacks.