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Thats a bummer your pictures shared is alot of help to folks like us and you know how much we love pictures thank you for taking the TIME to share your knowledge.
Sweet, I'm trying to get there for 2014. Cant wait wanted to go there for years.
- Thread starter
- #1,865
Update
Whew... all the pics are finally re-linked. Life of course hasn't stopped during the last year and projects on the cruiser have also continued so my plan is to start a series of update posts to catch up where I am currently. Unfortunately some of the details get a little foggy as time passes but I've at least got new pics to share.
I'll start off with a trip report from last July where some unfortunate events happened. This was the second mini overland trip put on by my club and covered routes 1 and part of route 2 of the Washington Back Country Discovery route. The technical challenge is the navigating and the strategy becomes the challenge of packing and supplies for a 5-day trip with a family of 5 in my case. It's a chance to see parts of the country you can't see from the Highway and to share the joy of being in nature with my kids.
A few of us met in Cascade Locks on the Oregon side before we jumped over to Washington on the "Bridge of the Gods" on our way to our first spot.
We stopped along the way to explore an ice cave. It was dramatically cooler down there compared to outside.
Some of the ice had formed a scale-like surface.
We then found another more primitive cave and went in for some exploration.
Once we hit the end of easy access we climbed back out and headed to our base camp for the night.
We found a great spot for the group and set up a base camp for two nights.
It was close to a waterfall and the mosquitoes were pretty much non-existent. Fun things for the kids and parents to do.
The next day we drove some more of the route and explored. We stopped at a lake on the way back to base camp. With four diesel cruisers on the trip we inevitably gathered around an engine and chatted while others played on the dock and in the water.
Close to camp while rallying up a side road something didn't feel right so I stopped to investigate.
Whew... all the pics are finally re-linked. Life of course hasn't stopped during the last year and projects on the cruiser have also continued so my plan is to start a series of update posts to catch up where I am currently. Unfortunately some of the details get a little foggy as time passes but I've at least got new pics to share.
I'll start off with a trip report from last July where some unfortunate events happened. This was the second mini overland trip put on by my club and covered routes 1 and part of route 2 of the Washington Back Country Discovery route. The technical challenge is the navigating and the strategy becomes the challenge of packing and supplies for a 5-day trip with a family of 5 in my case. It's a chance to see parts of the country you can't see from the Highway and to share the joy of being in nature with my kids.
A few of us met in Cascade Locks on the Oregon side before we jumped over to Washington on the "Bridge of the Gods" on our way to our first spot.
We stopped along the way to explore an ice cave. It was dramatically cooler down there compared to outside.
Some of the ice had formed a scale-like surface.
We then found another more primitive cave and went in for some exploration.
Once we hit the end of easy access we climbed back out and headed to our base camp for the night.
We found a great spot for the group and set up a base camp for two nights.
It was close to a waterfall and the mosquitoes were pretty much non-existent. Fun things for the kids and parents to do.
The next day we drove some more of the route and explored. We stopped at a lake on the way back to base camp. With four diesel cruisers on the trip we inevitably gathered around an engine and chatted while others played on the dock and in the water.
Close to camp while rallying up a side road something didn't feel right so I stopped to investigate.
Last edited:
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- Apr 4, 2006
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- Hillsboro, OR
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- www.cascadecruisers.com
looks like a good time. Nice lookin cruisers.
- Thread starter
- #1,867
Update
When I got around the back to look, this is what I saw.
My tube split right where I joined it together when I offset my diff. I took a minute to think about what to do. On trips like this I always pack my ready welder and this is actually the first time I've had to use it during a trip. So we got things set up by anchoring to the rig in front and wedging the tires to keep it from rolling when we jacked it up. Luckily the driver side was higher and really didn't loose any gear oil. When we carefully jacked it up the tube hinged right back where it was.
There was a convenient hill for the kids to play on while we got it fixed so they were entertained.
With the tube coming back together perfectly I filed off the paint to try and get some better welds.
About now is when I realized I forgot to pack a welding helmet. Well, use what you got so we gathered everyone's sunglasses and with some electrical tape put together some kind of protection for my eyes. It turned out being about a shade 7. Definitely too light for fluxcore welding but absolutely better than burning my eyes out. The BJ42 on the trip was a 24v system so I hooked up to his batteries instead of removing mine from the engine bay.
Sometimes creativity is just to get the job done. It might not make into any fashion show's but while my eyes were a little sore the next day I didn't have any sand feeling of them being burned. Now the thing I didn't think of was to protect my face. My skin ended up peeling and that was with generous amounts of lotion being constantly applied.
I had some metal chucks in my tool box I added to the weld to give it some more strength but miraculously it aligned just right and I didn't get any strange handling influence from it on the road. I definitely took it easy and slowed down before every pot hole after the repair but it didn't fail on me again during that trip. So what did I learn from this: ALWAYS sleeve a cut axle tube. This is exactly what I ended up doing once I torn it apart later on to fix it properly.
It was nice coming back to camp and not having to set things up after fixing that axle tube. We stayed there one more night and pushed on further north.
I had debated peeling out and heading home that next day but the axle was holding up fine so after a little family counsel we decided to continue on. I'm glad we were able to because the following day had some spectacular scenery and vista points traveling along a ridge line.
Then we dropped into a little section of trail that actually required some 4wd.
For the last area we hit up an open camping area and let the kids run around. We stayed there for a night and did some exploring the next day.
When I got around the back to look, this is what I saw.
My tube split right where I joined it together when I offset my diff. I took a minute to think about what to do. On trips like this I always pack my ready welder and this is actually the first time I've had to use it during a trip. So we got things set up by anchoring to the rig in front and wedging the tires to keep it from rolling when we jacked it up. Luckily the driver side was higher and really didn't loose any gear oil. When we carefully jacked it up the tube hinged right back where it was.
There was a convenient hill for the kids to play on while we got it fixed so they were entertained.
With the tube coming back together perfectly I filed off the paint to try and get some better welds.
About now is when I realized I forgot to pack a welding helmet. Well, use what you got so we gathered everyone's sunglasses and with some electrical tape put together some kind of protection for my eyes. It turned out being about a shade 7. Definitely too light for fluxcore welding but absolutely better than burning my eyes out. The BJ42 on the trip was a 24v system so I hooked up to his batteries instead of removing mine from the engine bay.
Sometimes creativity is just to get the job done. It might not make into any fashion show's but while my eyes were a little sore the next day I didn't have any sand feeling of them being burned. Now the thing I didn't think of was to protect my face. My skin ended up peeling and that was with generous amounts of lotion being constantly applied.
I had some metal chucks in my tool box I added to the weld to give it some more strength but miraculously it aligned just right and I didn't get any strange handling influence from it on the road. I definitely took it easy and slowed down before every pot hole after the repair but it didn't fail on me again during that trip. So what did I learn from this: ALWAYS sleeve a cut axle tube. This is exactly what I ended up doing once I torn it apart later on to fix it properly.
It was nice coming back to camp and not having to set things up after fixing that axle tube. We stayed there one more night and pushed on further north.
I had debated peeling out and heading home that next day but the axle was holding up fine so after a little family counsel we decided to continue on. I'm glad we were able to because the following day had some spectacular scenery and vista points traveling along a ridge line.
Then we dropped into a little section of trail that actually required some 4wd.
For the last area we hit up an open camping area and let the kids run around. We stayed there for a night and did some exploring the next day.
Last edited:
Updates! Woohoo!!! And some of that even looks familiar! 
how do you break an axle like that? great scenery and trail fix. now I have to invest in a welder when I take long trips. Keep the pictures coming.
- Joined
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- Hillsboro, OR
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- www.cascadecruisers.com
I think he did it on purpose so he could play with his ready welder and look cool in those shades.
Sent from my SCH-I545 2
Holy crap Mike, that's nuts!! I'm sure you're glad you had the ready welder 
Keep the updates coming!
Keep the updates coming!
- Thread starter
- #1,872
It broke at the seam where I joined the tube together when I swapped tube sides to offset the diff to work with my cruiser tcase. I didn't sleeve it on the inside and confirmed what I know I should have done in the first place.
Holy crap Mike, that's nuts!! I'm sure you're glad you had the ready welder
Yeah, no matter whatever feed problems I've had with it in the past it easily paid for itself on this trip. I'd hate to see what a tow bill out there in the back country would have cost. I'm very glad I have one.
- Thread starter
- #1,873
Glad to see you are still around. Stay tuned I've got plenty more. The next update will show even more unfortunate business.
I'm sitting on the edge of my seat!!!
- Thread starter
- #1,875
Update
By now the others on the trip either pressed on to explore more of the route or peeled out and headed back home. It was just Dirtgypy's family and my own. We set out the next day to explore on our own.
Road to the lake.
After the lake we found a fire road and started to climb. There were a couple of alpine lakes on the map we thought we'd go visit and have lunch. At this point we started to see some snow that hadn't melted yet. We hung out here to eat and do a little fishing with the kids.
We also started to come across downed trees.
This one was just a little too big to drive over and with the spikey branches off the side we didn't want to risk tire failure so we did some tail maintenance and made a path.
Clint's doing all the work, I'm just standing around acting like I'm helping.
There ended up being more and bigger downed trees around the courner and we could see more snow patches on the trail so we turned around and found another road to try out. We found a short hike to another lake down the road so we unloaded the kids to stretch their legs.
We headed back to camp for the last night to relax. There was a river close by and whenever there is a pile of rocks and water you are obligated to toss rocks. The kids and adults played for a while until the arms were tired and the kids were ready for dinner and sleep.
By now the others on the trip either pressed on to explore more of the route or peeled out and headed back home. It was just Dirtgypy's family and my own. We set out the next day to explore on our own.
Road to the lake.
After the lake we found a fire road and started to climb. There were a couple of alpine lakes on the map we thought we'd go visit and have lunch. At this point we started to see some snow that hadn't melted yet. We hung out here to eat and do a little fishing with the kids.
We also started to come across downed trees.
This one was just a little too big to drive over and with the spikey branches off the side we didn't want to risk tire failure so we did some tail maintenance and made a path.
Clint's doing all the work, I'm just standing around acting like I'm helping.
There ended up being more and bigger downed trees around the courner and we could see more snow patches on the trail so we turned around and found another road to try out. We found a short hike to another lake down the road so we unloaded the kids to stretch their legs.
We headed back to camp for the last night to relax. There was a river close by and whenever there is a pile of rocks and water you are obligated to toss rocks. The kids and adults played for a while until the arms were tired and the kids were ready for dinner and sleep.
Tapage
Club 4X4 Panamá
Awesome trip and report Mike ... family trip envy from down here .. keep updates coming .. !
- Thread starter
- #1,877
Update
To get the pics in I split up the post.
All packed and on the road headed back home. The axle had held up but I was already planning on the proper fix. We were cruising on a main road with a hill wall on one side and a river down below on the other when all of the sudden I saw Clint anchor the brakes. I followed in kind and 2 seconds into my braking a heard a loud bang come from the rear end of my truck. There wasn't anyone following me so my first reaction was that my axle tube just let go. I let off the brakes for a split second but seeing that I was approaching Clint rapidly I had to stop so I anchored the brakes hoping to scrub some speed. Talking about this afterwards Clint heard my brakes lock up and saw our gap diminishing, he knew I was going to hit him but what I didn't know was what Clint was seeing in front of him. There was a Honda parked on the side of the road and a truck and trailer turning around right in the middle of the road. The reason he was turning around was that the road was closed with cones immediately in front of him. So I've got my brakes locked, Clint knows I'm going to hit him and he needs to stop before he hits that trailer. As I contact his rear he briefly lets off his brakes to absorb some of the impact and to help get me stopped and then re-applies his brakes to stop us before an impact in front of him.
We hop out and true to his character Clint is checking on both our families to make sure everyone is alright while me pumped with adrenalin I'm checking on the damage.
The folks in front of us come over the see if everyone is alright once they are done turning around and I may have uttered some expletives in my excitement at that time. The bumpers took the brunt of the impact but there was some sheet metal adjustments and finding out later some bolts and mounts sacrificed as well.
Some of Clint's surface damage.
Dora's bumper folded onto the hood and I couldn't open the hood.
When I ran around the back the axle was intact, so what did happen? I then saw the culprit hanging at the bottom of the disc instead up top where it should have been.
The rear disc brake bracket just ripped apart under the panick stop which let the caliper spin with the disc ripping the brake line which in turn rendered my rear brake circuit moot. After that loud bang in the back I was trying to stop my loaded up cruiser from a 5-day trip with my whole family on board with just the front brakes, thus the healthy layer of goodyear rubber left on the road from my front tires.
The interesting thing was that we were on a curve and when brakes lock inertia and momentum would direct you straight which could have lead right over the guardrail and down into the river but you can clearly see the skid marks follow the curve. We believe in God and continue to believe after seeing that.
Another shot where part of the caliper bracket ended up. I was amazed that 3/8" steel could rip apart like that.
Parts rounded up.
The fix. Vice grips to pinch off the line and zipties/bungy cord to keep those vice grips from opening on a road bump. I wanted to at lease have one brake actuating in the the rear. It did pull to the driver but you better believe I left plenty of stopping space on the way home.
We hooked up a strap to the front bumper and bent it off the hood with a tug from Clint's truck so I could get inside to see what damage was under the hood. Luckily nothing that kept us from getting back on the road was found and the hood still opened and latched like normal. The radiator support was pushed back which you can see from the mis-alignment on one of my intake boots but no liquids dripping or critical parts damaged under the hood. Dora was driveable. There were no steering problems either so for the most part Dora weathered the impact well enough to get us home, she just didn't have a pretty face anymore.
So what about signs? There were no warning signs coming up to the set of cones like a road closed around the corner kind of thing. The only sign was found way back at an intersection (~5 miles away) where they weren't even on the road. If the road was closed those signs should have been ON the road. While we were fixing, a construction pick-up drove pass the cones and right by us, didn't even stop to see if everything was OK and when we got to that intersection I saw that he had moved that cone slightly into the road. If that cone had been there in the first place we would have run right into it so I know it wasn't there when we passed by. So at the intersection I jumped out and drug that cone straight in the middle of the lane so that no one else gets that surprise like we did coming around that corner.
The rest of the way home was thankfully uneventful and we made it home safely.
At that point I pretty much parked my rig for the next 4 months while I focused on gathering parts and fixing Clint's rig.
To get the pics in I split up the post.
All packed and on the road headed back home. The axle had held up but I was already planning on the proper fix. We were cruising on a main road with a hill wall on one side and a river down below on the other when all of the sudden I saw Clint anchor the brakes. I followed in kind and 2 seconds into my braking a heard a loud bang come from the rear end of my truck. There wasn't anyone following me so my first reaction was that my axle tube just let go. I let off the brakes for a split second but seeing that I was approaching Clint rapidly I had to stop so I anchored the brakes hoping to scrub some speed. Talking about this afterwards Clint heard my brakes lock up and saw our gap diminishing, he knew I was going to hit him but what I didn't know was what Clint was seeing in front of him. There was a Honda parked on the side of the road and a truck and trailer turning around right in the middle of the road. The reason he was turning around was that the road was closed with cones immediately in front of him. So I've got my brakes locked, Clint knows I'm going to hit him and he needs to stop before he hits that trailer. As I contact his rear he briefly lets off his brakes to absorb some of the impact and to help get me stopped and then re-applies his brakes to stop us before an impact in front of him.
We hop out and true to his character Clint is checking on both our families to make sure everyone is alright while me pumped with adrenalin I'm checking on the damage.
The folks in front of us come over the see if everyone is alright once they are done turning around and I may have uttered some expletives in my excitement at that time. The bumpers took the brunt of the impact but there was some sheet metal adjustments and finding out later some bolts and mounts sacrificed as well.
Some of Clint's surface damage.
Dora's bumper folded onto the hood and I couldn't open the hood.
When I ran around the back the axle was intact, so what did happen? I then saw the culprit hanging at the bottom of the disc instead up top where it should have been.
The rear disc brake bracket just ripped apart under the panick stop which let the caliper spin with the disc ripping the brake line which in turn rendered my rear brake circuit moot. After that loud bang in the back I was trying to stop my loaded up cruiser from a 5-day trip with my whole family on board with just the front brakes, thus the healthy layer of goodyear rubber left on the road from my front tires.
The interesting thing was that we were on a curve and when brakes lock inertia and momentum would direct you straight which could have lead right over the guardrail and down into the river but you can clearly see the skid marks follow the curve. We believe in God and continue to believe after seeing that.
Another shot where part of the caliper bracket ended up. I was amazed that 3/8" steel could rip apart like that.
Parts rounded up.
The fix. Vice grips to pinch off the line and zipties/bungy cord to keep those vice grips from opening on a road bump. I wanted to at lease have one brake actuating in the the rear. It did pull to the driver but you better believe I left plenty of stopping space on the way home.
We hooked up a strap to the front bumper and bent it off the hood with a tug from Clint's truck so I could get inside to see what damage was under the hood. Luckily nothing that kept us from getting back on the road was found and the hood still opened and latched like normal. The radiator support was pushed back which you can see from the mis-alignment on one of my intake boots but no liquids dripping or critical parts damaged under the hood. Dora was driveable. There were no steering problems either so for the most part Dora weathered the impact well enough to get us home, she just didn't have a pretty face anymore.
So what about signs? There were no warning signs coming up to the set of cones like a road closed around the corner kind of thing. The only sign was found way back at an intersection (~5 miles away) where they weren't even on the road. If the road was closed those signs should have been ON the road. While we were fixing, a construction pick-up drove pass the cones and right by us, didn't even stop to see if everything was OK and when we got to that intersection I saw that he had moved that cone slightly into the road. If that cone had been there in the first place we would have run right into it so I know it wasn't there when we passed by. So at the intersection I jumped out and drug that cone straight in the middle of the lane so that no one else gets that surprise like we did coming around that corner.
The rest of the way home was thankfully uneventful and we made it home safely.
At that point I pretty much parked my rig for the next 4 months while I focused on gathering parts and fixing Clint's rig.
Last edited:
Holy s*** snacks 
Did you call RuffStuff about these brackets?? Not necessarily to recoup for the expenses, but to have them at least correct the design so this doesn't happen to someone else
Did you call RuffStuff about these brackets?? Not necessarily to recoup for the expenses, but to have them at least correct the design so this doesn't happen to someone else