Builds My '78 FJ40 "44" (2 Viewers)

[CarDude]

Danny that's great news.but I am the worry wart you know as well as anyone the rough ride of the 40 and even rideing around on the streets can get a really rough. Well at least were I live. So after stating the obvious please use extreme restraint with using the 40 it's only two more months.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Danny that's great news.but I am the worry wart you know as well as anyone the rough ride of the 40 and even rideing around on the streets can get a really rough. Well at least were I live. So after stating the obvious please use extreme restraint with using the 40 it's only two more months.

Oh, I will!!

I know well just how rough it can be!

I mentioned this exact concern to the surgeon and he told me that I couldn't hurt anything unless I was doing extreme crawling, on very rough trails... I don't partake, so that won't happen.

He said it's the bending and twisting that torques it enough to potentially cause problems.

I can freely lift anything... Well, anything I can lift... As long as I use my legs and not my back... Squat, don't bend.

Regardless, I will be very careful... I don't want to go through all this again.

I have some minor wiring to do, under the hood... Includes removing the air cleaner... And disconnecting/reconnecting my hand throttle (Edit: premature post) at the bell crank... At the middle of the engine compartment. I delayed this until I saw the surgeon... Now I can finish it.

But, I will be taking 44 to have the valves adjusted in the next month or so... I will NOT lean over the engine to do that task.

Thanks for your concern!!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Well, this morning, daBoise and I started out to the Wildlife Refuge, for a few days of hiking and chilling and stargazing and telling ghost stories...

There's a long incline on US95, as you head north out of Vegas... By the time I reached the 'summit', 44 was getting quite hot.

Remember, I recently removed my heaters and looped the heater loop, from my burping cap to the lower rad hose 'y'. I burped it then and again, when I drove out 95, the day before surgery.

So, today, I thought it was odd, but went to burp it again... There was coolant all over the engine compartment, but looked like it came from the overflow... No obvious leak...

Until I started to unscrew this brass cap... Then it became obvious there was a pinhole in it... It started shooting coolant about 15'.

I mulled it over and decided to try cinching the heater loop as tightly as I could, using a screw clamp... And inserted a piece of gasket material into the brass cap and screwed it back on, over the middle (appropriate) finger off a latex glove.

I made it back home (15 miles) without overheating.

After the engine/coolant cools down, I'll replace that cap and replace the screw clamp with a ball valve and we kids will start again at first light tomorrow.

Edit: removed the tourniquet, replaced the cap, topped off the coolant and burped the baby. daBoise and I will hit the trail at first light tomorrow... With 4' of hose and 2 barbed splice connectors added to my spares... I'll also be carrying 2 gallons of coolant concentrate... I don't plan on coming home until I'm ready... Not gonna be ruled by 44...

I have to say, I'm getting very tired of parking in the shade of the Snow Mountain overpass, on the Las Vegas Piute Reservation... daBoise have napped in the shade, 4 times, while I've worked on 44... Twice in each direction.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

daBoise and I drove out to the DNWR and spent a few nights in 44. Just like old times!!

One bit of excitement, 44 started to overheat again and I found the water pump/fan clutch belt was so loose it didn't even squeal. The bolt was missing from the belt tensioner. I didn't have another bolt that fit, so I used a ratchet strap and strapped it down, to tighten the belt. We drove two more days that way and returned home, with no problems today.

We revisited a number of places we had visited before, so I really don't have new landscape pictures... just a few of a storm that resembled a forest fire (in an area without trees) and daBoise playing a bit of grab-ass.

44 from about 1/2 mile away, on a 2 mile hike

We also took a 5 mile round trip hike up into Long Canyon - shortly after this picture was taken, the canyon was all shadows and was very cold - we turned back at 2.5 miles

 

[Solace in Solitude]

A couple more...

El Dorado on the DVD Player

A huge bullfrog

daBoise

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Glad to see you are back at it Danny!

 

[sggoat]

Renaming you the real Macgiver-----

 

[65swb45]

I am very happy to see/read this Danny. Very happy.

I had a guy in a Rubicon- bound group with a similar issue 15 years ago. His PS bolt AND adjuster bracket disappeared somewhere near Sacramento. We were on the highway, and it wasn't immediately noticeable to him.

All of a sudden he pulls to the shoulder in rush hour traffic, in the dark. The rest of the group was not there. I ratchet strapped the pump to the shock tower to get him to Loon Lake trailhead. We had to booty fab a bracket the next day, and the bracket material we had between us wasn't sturdy enough. So the strap was kept as an assist thru the Rubicon and 500 miles back home.

Gary, this was YEARS after they named me Markguyver.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Glad to see you are back at it Danny!

Renaming you the real Macgiver-----

I am very happy to see/read this Danny. Very happy.

I had a guy in a Rubicon- bound group with a similar issue 15 years ago. His PS bolt AND adjuster bracket disappeared somewhere near Sacramento. We were on the highway, and it wasn't immediately noticeable to him.

All of a sudden he pulls to the shoulder in rush hour traffic, in the dark. The rest of the group was not there. I ratchet strapped the pump to the shock tower to get him to Loon Lake trailhead. We had to booty fab a bracket the next day, and the bracket material we had between us wasn't sturdy enough. So the strap was kept as an assist thru the Rubicon and 500 miles back home.

Gary, this was YEARS after they named me Markgyver.

Thanks guys!!

It was great being out and about!!

I'm gonna be away from MUD for a while...

I have a ton of tasks to catch up on, after being on-hold for so long... And Dianna wants a trip in the Casita before she flies to Austin, the day after Thanksgiving. for our daughter's surgery.

I've got a couple of things to do to 44, the rest are Casita and house-related... Plus a couple of things Dianna has wanted me to build.

So, starting Monday, I won't be online at all, until I get it all caught up.

It sure is great to feel so great!!

 

[65swb45]

You know where to find us.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

You know where to find us.

I do, I do!!

I spent 43 years "chained" to computers and, my long period of forced inactivity, has nourished a habit of spending much too much time online and/or, watching TV.

That's not how I want to spend the bulk of my time... I've always made a point of being physically active in my free time.

For some time, I've had to put most physical activities aside. But, now that I feel so good, I'm going to go cold turkey and redefine my life around the physical activities I've missed so much.

I'll be back... Probably after Thanksgiving... But, I don't plan on spending all my time laying in bed or sitting in a recliner and this is the best way for me to address this 'addiction'.

I don't presume people will miss me or worry about me... But, there are a few MUD friends who have 'gone missing' and I didn't want to be another...

So, you're correct, I know where to find you.

 

[micruz60]

It is great that you are Cruising again!
Walking five miles a day sounds like a key part of the 'restoration' on your back, enjoy the break from Mudsanity...

 

[Solace in Solitude]

It is great that you are Cruising again!
Walking five miles a day sounds like a key part of the 'restoration' on your back, enjoy the break from Mudsanity...

Thanks!!

Yeah, my surgeon was surprised how quickly it's fusing, until my wife mentioned how much I walk.

I've always loved hiking and thoroughly enjoyed our 5 mile hike, in a drainage... all soft gravel, with NO pain!!

I'm going out again next week, with only Chester. I can't target shoot with Gunner along... He has very sensitive ears.

MUDsanity certainly fits me!!

 

[65swb45]

Thanks!!

Yeah, my surgeon was surprised how quickly it's fusing, until my wife mentioned how much I walk.

I've always loved hiking and thoroughly enjoyed our 5 mile hike, in a drainage... all soft gravel, with NO pain!!

I'm going out again next week, with only Chester. I can't target shoot with Gunner along... He has very sensitive ears.

MUDsanity certainly fits me!!

A body in motion tends to stay in motion;...

 

[Solace in Solitude]

A body in motion tends to stay in motion;...

Exactly!

 

[65swb45]

Hopefully we can share some of that motion with you when we're in LV. Coming right after the new year for our daughter's wedding.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Hopefully we can share some of that motion with you when we're in LV. Coming right after the new year for our daughter's wedding.

Let me know. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be testifying again, around that time. The trial is currently scheduled for 1/4 or something like that. Maybe he'll take a plea...

 

[lostmarbles]

Having a hiatus eh... I can fully understand that Danny. The chore list never seems to shorten, even though I always thought it should (or maybe even completely disappear) as we enter our "twilight years".

And of course the Great Outdoors beckons...

Anyway .. we'll still keep in touch.. (There's more than one way to skin a canary.)

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Having a hiatus eh... I can fully understand that Danny. The chore list never seems to shorten, even though I always thought it should (or maybe even completely disappear) as we enter our "twilight years".

And of course the Great Outdoors beckons...

Anyway .. we'll still keep in touch.. (There's more than one way to skin a canary.)

Articulate Tom!

Edit: disregard ... I received your email!

 

[handcannon]

Hey Danny, excellent news about the hikes, and how good it felt to you. I know from personal experience just how much walking helps with recovery after back surgery. I'm able now to do almost the same things I did prior to my accident. I do have limitations I have found, and I think you will find some also. However, I did push the envelope a bit, and I expect you will also. That careful pushing is how we find our limits, and even can extend our limits over time.

It is real good to see you are now able to get back out in 44. I don't care if these trips were in areas you previously reported on. Every time you go out you will see something new that you had missed before. The bullfrog is a good example, and the "forest fire" is another good example.

I have always heard from retirees how they got so busy they wondered how they previously had time to even hold down a job. Now I understand. For a person who has always been active it is not hard to do. Anyway, enjoy your "vacation", and we will be looking forward to hearing about your upgrades to 44, and other projects, after Thanksgiving.

Don