In Memory of Kevin, Tools R US

[ChaseTruck]

Well, I would say that for those of us that venture to the Landcruiser Spa aka Kevin's old shop every now and then, Kevin's spirit is certainly still alive, just as it is here on Mud. Landcruisers at the Spa are in the knowledgeable and capable hands of @richardlillard1, @inkpot, and Travis (with the complicated Mud handle that I can never remember).
@richardlillard1 - we ought to figure out soon-ish where we'll be going on the Kevin Patterson Memorial Trail Run this year.

 

[brockdeck]

When I first got my 80, reading back years of posts I commonly was taking advice and knowledge from what Kevin posted here. We had a few direct messages where he helped me out. Kevin was a class act and example for what it means to be apart of this community. I never met him, but reading this thread makes me realize how important he was, but still is to the 80 community. Clearly the kindest of souls.

 

[richardlillard1]

Hello everyone!

It’s that time of year again and while we’re all asking where the time went, I figured it best to get you some information on this year’s Kevin Patterson memorial run.

We’re going to meet at Cottonwood Camp (Google calls this Stewart’s Camp) at 10am on Saturday, November 27th for some gabbing, power discs, and maybe even some lunch from the chuck wagon (as Rich so affectionately calls his Land Cruiser).

After lunch, we’ll do some wheeling. The run itself is yet to be decided; Kevin was always accommodating to those who showed up and our plan is to do the same, basing it off of how many and who would like to go playing in the desert with us.

November 27th, 10am:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

For those of you who never had the privilege of knowing him, Kevin Patterson was a central figure in Tonto Recreation Alliance from 2010 until the time of his passing in 2019. During his tenure as president of Copperstate Cruisers, he organized cleanups of the Cottonwood Camp area yearly with the club as well as taking TRAL folks out there during the annual Four Peaks Cleanup every year. It’s often difficult to put into words his devotion to helping others and his inspiring work within the OHV community.

I hope to see you all there!


Richard

 

[OGBeno]

Finally in AZ.

In.

 

[DSRTRDR]

yeah, I will be there, too

 

[120mm]

7 years ago, today, with an assist from @DSRTRDR and @inkpot, Kevin saved my bacon.

 

[120mm]

One more picture I found

 

[Michael Hanson]

Hi, Nice pictures. He Helped me a lot. Mike

 

[inkpot]

One more picture I found

View attachment 2913738

Thanks for the memories!

 

[DSRTRDR]

I can honestly say that we didn't much wrench on stuff I didn't manage to mangle first

in fact, less than a month after meeting him for the first time, this happened and my truck landed in the hands of a total stranger to me then: Recommendations for a reputable shop to do frame repair - East Valley?

to commemorate that Kevin's birthday would have been yesterday, I want to add that from that linked post on, through many years of wheeling and wrenching, he had become one of my best friends

and, as I was driving to work yesterday behind a panel van, Kevin's one-time diatribe about the "chicken tax" came to mind . . . , at some time relevant to Ford imports from the Ford factory in Cologne where I went to university Chicken tax - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

about a half hour later, as my laptop screen background flashed on the big projector while I was preparing for an important presentation, showing our trucks wheeling, both Michael and I relayed the story of "Kevin's motor oil speech" to the IT people setting up the audio-visual support for my presentation

so yeah, Kevin continues to be present in my life with anything around cruisers - almost every time on the trail, and definitely every time we have to wrench on them

 

[DSRTRDR]

and since I can't recall that there has ever been a proper documentation here on MUD about "the motor oil speech":

many years ago, Kevin @Tools R Us, Rob @BrotherRob, Ben @-Spike-, Michae l @ChaseTruck, and I @DSRTRDR went on a rock-crawling trail kinda late in the morning - so we got to the half-way point for a late lunch past 2pm, but hearing repeated affirmations from Ben (-Spike-), that the shelf road out under the powerline would be easier, because "it's regularly graded" - [the phrase has become a great moniker for all of our wheeling outings since ]

that winding-grinding shelf road of ~2 hrs when in good conditions, however, turned out to take a whole lot longer than anticipated . . . due to not having been graded in some time, it had eroded to being narrower than before, and iffy off-camber in spots - and on top, it was getting dark . . . so, some 4-5 hours or more later . . . by the time we saw asphalt and were aired up, it was -like- 8:30pm with another hour to go into the Phoenix area

so, to stay alert, we started chatting over the CBs - and as we were all kinda tired, the conversation not too soon was taken over by Kevin, and somehow, he landed on the topic of the specifications for motor oils in the US . . .

I remember Ben making occasional efforts to divert to photography, which was also one of Kevin's favorite topics, and he would get onto that for maybe 5 minutes . . .

but then, he was right was back to motor oil - particularly, how the recommendations were changed relative to gas mileage and emissions requirements, and how -when you look at the 80 series, for example- the thickness recommendations for motor oil in other markets than the US are quite different . . . and then, of course, Kevin also went back to before the 80 series, to his experience with the VWs . . .

and on and on it went . . . for at least 45 minutes . . . maybe one of us asked a question or two . . . but he was determined to keep going on the topic of motor oil just as the highway was ever getting closer to home . . .

and ever since then, this was known as "Kevin's motor oil speech"

 

[-Spike-]

and since I can't recall that there has ever been a proper documentation here on MUD about "the motor oil speech":

many years ago, Kevin @Tools R Us, Rob @BrotherRob, Ben @-Spike-, Michae l @ChaseTruck, and I @DSRTRDR went on a rock-crawling trail kinda late in the morning - so we got to the half-way point for a late lunch past 2pm, but hearing repeated affirmations from Ben (-Spike-), that the shelf road out under the powerline would be easier, because "regularly graded" - [the phrase has become a great moniker for all of our wheeling outings since ]

that winding-grinding shelf road of ~2 hrs in good conditions, however, turned out to take a whole lot longer than anticipated . . . due to not having been graded in some time, it had eroded to being narrower than before, and iffy off-camber in spots - and on top, it was getting dark . . . so, some 4-5 hours or more later . . . by the time we saw asphalt and were aired up, it was -like- 8:30pm with another hour to go into the Phoenix area

so, to stay alert, we started chatting over the CBs - and as we were all kinda tired, the conversation not too soon was taken over by Kevin, and somehow, he landed on the topic of the specifications for motor oils in the US . . .

I remember Ben making occasional efforts to divert to photography, which was also one of Kevin's favorite topics, and he would get onto that for maybe 5 minutes . . .

but then, he was right was back to motor oil - particularly, how the recommendations were changed relative to gas mileage and emissions requirements, and how -when you look at the 80 series, for example- the thickness recommendations for motor oil in other markets than the US are quite different . . . and then, of course, Kevin also went back to before the 80 series, to his experience with the VWs . . .

and on and on it went . . . for at least 45 minutes . . . maybe one of us asked a question or two . . . but he was determined to keep going just as the highway was ever getting closer to home . . .

and ever since then, this was known as "Kevin's motor oil speech"

I learned a lot from that discussion, and it led me to looking for opportunities to 'prime the pump' and get Kevin started on subjects that he might have insights on. Then I started realizing how many subjects he had firsthand knowledge on, which just led to more probing. Explosives, window tint, refrigerants, racing, VW's, tools, model rockets, metalurgy, and many more. It seemed like he could carry a conversation on almost any subject, and usually because he had been personally involved in it in some way. He passed too soon, but he had a full life too.

 

[DSRTRDR]

indeed - he also had a routine of a "speech" on tire pressure, dual batteries, etc. . . . . .

how about his "speech" on recovery - to the vehicle to be rescued:

"I am willing to pull you out of here, but you have to realize: if your truck breaks in the effort, it's YOUR FAULT - but more importantly, if my truck breaks in the effort, THAT's YOUR FAULT, TOO" - that always left quite the impression

so when Michael or I had to do rescues, we've since used the same "speech"

 

[DSRTRDR]

I learned a lot from that discussion, and it led me to looking for opportunities to 'prime the pump' and get Kevin started on subjects that he might have insights on. Then I started realizing how many subjects he had firsthand knowledge on, which just led to more probing. Explosives, window tint, refrigerants, racing, VW's, tools, model rockets, metalurgy, and many more. It seemed like he could carry a conversation on almost any subject, and usually because he had been personally involved in it in some way. He passed too soon, but he had a full life too.

yes, I learned a lot, too - and have been running my Miata (in southern US climates since 2007) on 20W50 ever since

 

[OGBeno]

20w50 all the way 100% in the desert in any large displacement LC engine. Bravo Kevin.

I’ve been running Motul for years now in all of my LC engines.

 

[Broski]

Like most I miss Tools (Kevin), his Knowledge, posts, presents on Mud and his willingness to help anyone.
I regret the fact that I never got to meet the man Personally !!!

I to am a advocate of running 20w50 in older high mileage vehicles in a hot climate and what I have be running in my 80

Cheers Carry on

 

[ChaseTruck]

Two pics from that day, around Thanksgiving 2007... here's Kevin in his truck, back then on 295's

Kevin called this 'rock crawling in station wagons'

Then again, station wagons don't usually come with a custom driver's side control arm...

In the back, you can see what Kevin later on referred to as the 'one ton of sh!t in a half-ton bag'

 

[Broski]

Two pics from that day, around Thanksgiving 2007... here's Kevin in his truck, back then on 295'sView attachment 3007577

Kevin called this 'rock crawling in station wagons'

View attachment 3007578
Then again, station wagons don't usually come with a custom driver's side control arm...

In the back, you can see what Kevin later on referred to as the 'one ton of sh!t in a half-ton bag'

Looks like a fun trail !!

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Crawling with 295s and no sliders. Actually needing to pay attention rather than banging through a trail.

 

[ChaseTruck]

A fun day on a fun trail in great company. It's called Log Corral, northeast of Phoenix. Haven't been there in a while; I hear it's completely different now, after the rains last year.
We learned on that day that 40s can do something that 80s apparently can't: 40s can "levitate". Claudia in the '72 40 got semi-stuck in a rut, locked the truck to drive out of it, and then we were all like "...wtf just happened?" Upon further inspection, one could see the tire tracks of the front end of the 40 just stop, and then continue about 3 feet further forward and about 1 1/2 feet further to the right. Since nobody had noticed a dramatic wheelstand, we all concluded it must have been levitation...

And yes, Kevin didn't believe in rock sliders - his words were something like "... why would I give up 4 inches in ground clearance??"