M&G Trip Report

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SOCALFJ said:
Hows your batteries Brent?
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Tested both batteries this afternoon when I got home. Truck had been sitting since yesterday afternoon.

Stats - Diehard main battery purchased May, 2006. Main battery at 10.5 volts and Optima 2nd battery at 12.7. Started right up and both batteries them measured at 14.7.

Main battery going after only 4 years? Hard to fathom, but possible. Both batteries at 14.7 with engine running - alternator OK?

Interesting that the main battery tested right about what we measured Sunday morning when the truck wouldn't start. Only big difference is that the 2nd battery is now fully charged from the drive home instead of the 8 volts I'd expected out of the 2nd battery because of the fridge drain since Friday afternoon. Between the two, not enough juice to start it Sunday, but there is now with the 2nd fully charged.

Checked the hubs on the trailer too. Both castle nuts were beyond loose. Retorqued to 25 ft/lbs per manual then backed them off to just beyond finger tight per manual and inserted the cotter pin again. No wobble in either tire now! Easy fix.

Smitty - I'll see what pics I've got that don't duplicate what VCCruzr hasn't already posted and put them up tonight.
 
Brent, not impossible for a 4 year old battery to crap out. Especially if you dont drive it everyday.

Glad you got the hubs fixed... how did they become so loose? geez... gotta check that every couple trips as basic maint.

Im editing my photos now and will do the trip report tomorrow.
 
Brentbba said:
Tested both batteries this afternoon when I got home. Truck had been sitting since yesterday afternoon.

Stats - Diehard main battery purchased May, 2006. Main battery at 10.5 volts and Optima 2nd battery at 12.7. Started right up and both batteries them measured at 14.7.

Main battery going after only 4 years? Hard to fathom, but possible. Both batteries at 14.7 with engine running - alternator OK?

Interesting that the main battery tested right about what we measured Sunday morning when the truck wouldn't start. Only big difference is that the 2nd battery is now fully charged from the drive home instead of the 8 volts I'd expected out of the 2nd battery because of the fridge drain since Friday afternoon. Between the two, not enough juice to start it Sunday, but there is now with the 2nd fully charged.

Checked the hubs on the trailer too. Both castle nuts were beyond loose. Retorqued to 25 ft/lbs per manual then backed them off to just beyond finger tight per manual and inserted the cotter pin again. No wobble in either tire now! Easy fix.

Smitty - I'll see what pics I've got that don't duplicate what VCCruzr hasn't already posted and put them up tonight.
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14.7V with engine running is fine, a bit on the high side maybe but that would be because of the discharged battery. Should settle down to around 14V when the batts are full, if it's like mine.
 
One other PITA item - washed the truck and trailer and when finished, as I usually do, check the tire pressures and the air bags. DS airbag was nil so filled it and PSSSSSSS - leaking air. Sounded like it was coming from the top of the bag in the coil. Could be and hopefully just the air line has worn out after at least 5 years or more in there. Still a PITA to repair. Need to completely unload the coil to get to the top of the bag and that means the hi-lift since I don't have access to a garage with a lift. Shiat! At least the M101 isn't heavy enough to really need the air bags like the troop trailer did.
 
Time for my pics. This trip was the maiden voyage for my M101CDN. Dave pushed me to finish it up so I spent the previous weekend finishing the painting and wiring up the tail lights.

These three pics are the trailer ready to go on her first trip and hitting the dirt for the first time. :bounce:
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More. Pic of trailer up the rock gardens. VCCruzr climing thru the first rock garden and the first waterfall back in Sheep Canyon.
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Even more. VCCruzr up top of one of the climbs, taking a pic of the second waterfall and enjoying the fruits of the climb - a good head soaking in the nice cool water from the falls. It was well worth it!!!
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Last pic - largest outcropping of palms right in the middle of this pic is where the 2nd falls is. For me personally it was a bucket list item I can now check off. Not even a pissed off rattle snake that gave me a nice scare kept us away from making it all the way up there. Pic is deceiving. It took a good 2+ hours to climb up there - no trail, just boulder hopping and figuring which way to go. Personally it was a great feeling to accomplish being in good enough shape after a heart attack to do this. Derrick - my heartfelt (no pun) thanks for making the climb with me! It was a blast and well worth it. I'll let Dave fill in the rest (food, camp fire, company, etc) in his, as usual, great trip report coming soon to a link near you!
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Ok - one last one since Dave says his didn't turn out too well...and I don't know better since his is undoubtably better, but here you go with one more story and a poser photo op pic.

We stopped at this turnout about 2 miles from the bottom of the Montezuma grade for a photo op of two perfectly matched cruisers/trailers. Dave had his Horizon painted to match his cruiser and I obviously painted mine with matching the cruiser as the goal, all the way down to the Durabak on the fenders to match the flares on the cruiser.

One little item Dave noticed when we stopped - he saw a wisp of smoke from the front of my cruiser. :eek: Popped the hood, nothing. Looked at the brakes - :eek::eek::eek: little wisps of smoke from both sides - not smoking constantly or badly, just a wisp from both every couple of seconds! I'd almost toasted the brakes coming down the grade. I hadn't shifted to 2nd at all coming down the grade and the trailer does not have brakes, not that it needs them coming in at only 750 lbs empty. Even with all the wood I brought along, it couldn't have been over 1000 lbs. I've even got 100 series pads on the cruiser. At least for the rest of the trip I didn't notice anything different about the braking so I don't think I've warped the rotors, thank god! Will look into $$ of converting the trailer axle to one with electric brakes soon!
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Man, I really wish I could have made this M&G it looks like you guys had a great time. After a week of very long work hours and no sleep I got into SD Sat afternoon and was in no shape to drive out to AB. All I wanted to do was sleep and eat some Mexican food.

Oh well, next time! :frown:
 
Brent, your 101 doesn't look like a 101, what's with that? Is that a bizarre optical illusion from having painted the edges in the back?
 
e9999 said:
Brent, your 101 doesn't look like a 101, what's with that? Is that a bizarre optical illusion from having painted the edges in the back?
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Optical/shmoptical. It looks great to me and that's all I care about. :p:D

Frankly, when I had the entire rig primed light gray it looked plain jane to me. I started looking at the lines on the trailer and the black out areas are actually heavier pieces of corner metal that I taped off to follow. I went in knowing the very bottom/frame would be black and that just wasn't enough. It was boring. Even when I'd painted the body with the blacked out corners and hadn't durabak'ed the fenders I wasn't real sure, but when I blacked out the fenders with the Duraback, it tied it all together.

To each his own my friend. It was much, much easier packing up camp with the trailer than hauling everything up on the INTI. :cheers:

It performed very well in the rock gardens of Coyote Canyon too, surprisingly well. Good teacher in Dave who's experienced in hauling his Horizon.
 
Dave,
Your pictures are awesome! Thanks.
 
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