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- #981
The maiden voyage,
I know the burning question everyone is thinking is how did the windshield squirter alignment hold up, it would appear that I am a squirter alignment genius and every squirt was precisely placed with exacting accuracy, yes I am very proud of this accomplishment.
First the good.
Kurt,
Kurt Williams from Cruiser Outfitters is not only a genuinely nice guy but he is also a hell of a trail mechanic (we put a harbor freight screwdriver in his hand and he wheeled it like a magic wand), trail guide (he led us through some of the most beautiful country Utah has to offer giving us details over the CB radio the entire trip) but his real attribute is in his ability to stay friendly, professional and helpful when dealing with adversity. We offered several times to head to town and put our PIG on a flat deck and get it hauled home so he and his group could continue on their adventure without our drama and every time he not only declined but was the first guy in (with his magic H/F screwdriver) to get us back up and running and always encouraged us to keep going. I’m going to just leave it at thanks Kurt before you guys start thinking I have some sort of man crush.
Cummins 4BT,
This little engine is amazing, the morning we are to leave to meet up with the Moab group I am draining the brake-in oil out and adjusting the valves with only 28 miles on this engine. Long story short we thought we would meet up with the group in the Salt Lake area (5 hours from my place) when in fact we were to meet up with them closer to Moab (10 hours from my place) so the fire drill started with 9 hours from the departure time of the group and we were still 10 hours away and still not packed. We spent about 20 minutes packing for a five day camping trip in a vehicle that had 28 total miles on it so when we finally hit the road it was hammer down right out of the chute and we drove 80MPH + the entire way to Utah. The trip was a little over 1300 miles total and the engine only saw 215 degrees once on a long steep uphill going 80 in fifth but it was mostly under 195 degrees for the majority of the trip. The torque of this engine is remarkable, it would not die regardless of what you were doing or what gear you were in, it reminded me of driving with an automatic transmission when we were off road and accelerating quicker than a PIG should on road at any speed. The engine made the entire 1300 mile trip averaging 25MPG without a hitch of its own doing and exceeded all my expectations.
Sherwin-Williams Acrolon 218 HS Acrylic Polyurethane
I painted most of the body panel’s just days before this trip and nothing was cured so the plan was to try to keep it clean on the trails and off the rocks and trees. Well like most of my plans it sound good in my head but the seeing it through part doesn’t always line up exactly and this one was no exception. We were on a trail called Black Dragon or something like that and I was watching a large tree/bush in my mirror trying to keep my passengers side quarter panel clean when I smacked a larger tree/bush with my driver’s side doors and quarter panel and snapped a large branch off in the process. The paint only has a slight rub mark and everyone that has looked at this section is completely blown away at the durability of this paint as am I.
The Moab group.
One of the camping spots.
Well now it’s time for the bad.
Transfer case oil seal,
We stopped 20 miles from the house at a truck stop to give everything a quick look over and noticed oil coming from the transmission vent, I pulled the plugs and the transfer case is low and the trans is high so I ran into the truck stop and bought five quarts of gear oil topped off the transfer case and stopped every 250 miles to repeat for the entire trip so it looks like I’ll be pulling the transfer case soon.
Rear Axles,
I had some custom rear axles made and because of a mix-up at the manufacture they are too long and would push the dust caps off, I knew about this before we departed for the trip so I brought a couple of quarts of gear oil, well at the same truck stop it appeared that the problem was getting worse and leaking more oil than it did previously so back into the truck stop to buy two kits of JB weld and it slowed down enough that I only lost about one quart the entire trip. Rear end is coming back out anyway to get a rebuilt center section and extra axle seals so this was more of an inconvenience than anything else checking the diff level constantly.
Bump stop adjustment,
I had been playing with my front bump stops and using my forklift to lift the front tires checking for clearance and at no point would the front third member get within 2 ½” of the oil pan. It now appears like I should have been shooting for 2 3/4” of clearance and thanks to the same Black Dragon trail I now have JB weld holding the oil in my pan. I’ll make some new bump pads and weld up the oil pan and should be good to go for next year.
High/Low transfer case shift arm,
When I was mocking up my engine and trans mounts I was just using an empty transmission/transfer case to try to make it a bit lighter for me to jockey around and not being that familiar with Toyota I neglected to give myself enough room for the High/Low shift linkage. After final install I noticed that the High/Low shifting was firm so I gave it a little more clearance with some creative sawzalling and as I now know it needs a little more. On the same Black Dragon trail I decided to give low range a try, after shifting up to fourth gear I thought well I’ll put it back into high and no/go so I finished the trail stuck in low. We radioed Kurt to tell him we had an issue and he had us drive about ten miles in low range to a good spot to make the repair. With the linkage intermittently contacting the floor it backed off the cross bolt nut and allowed the selector arm to drop down so Kurt grabbed the H/F screwdriver and we dropped the transfer case pried the selector up enough to get me back into high and I finished up the trip in high. Again the transfer case is coming out so I will fix the floor properly and should be good to go.
Black Dragon.
Yep you guessed it “the ugly”
Lug nuts,
Just when I thought I couldn’t get worse I lost a rear wheel, we were headed down a fire trail enjoying the scenery when without notice my rear wheel/tire passes me after bouncing off my roof so I get over to the side as far as I could and get it stopped, climb out and to my complete disbelief all six wheel studs are missing as with all six lug nuts and my wheel (I’m quite sure if I were a dog someone would have shot me right then to put me out of my misery) in fact I think at some point I was begging Kurt to take my wife and dogs into town so they could catch a cab home and leave me on the mountain to die a sad and lonely man. After about fifteen minutes of looking things over Kurt made the decision that if we could get a tire and some wheel studs that possibly we could get the PIG off the trail and down to the town and make better repairs. The part of the story when I said that I packed up in 20 minutes I neglected to mention that I had no good way to secure a spare tire and made the decision to leave it in the shop for this trip and yes this tire had a three inch gash in the sidewall now. So with the help of my Moab trail mates I barrowed a tire and wheel then we got the PIG up on a few jacks and dissembled the rear hub while Kurt drove three hours into town to buy me some studs, by now I’m feeling like a complete Dick, I’m covered in 90WT, the rear quarter panel that I was worried about scratching is just about completely ripped off the side of the PIG now, for the third time I’ve held up the Moab trial group, my wife is crying because our still unfinished PIG is now more unfinished and she is also feeling bad about holding up the Moab trial group for a third time so we ask if the group would please continue on without us and we would wait for Kurt to help us with the repairs then be on our way home. My fellow PIG owner Gordobe stayed behind with us and waited for Kurt to return with the wheel studs and one of the other trail leaders also came back after getting the group to a malt shop to grab some lunch. When Kurt returned the repair went quick and we were back under power headed into town. This is when I believe I discovered what true kindness is in the cruiser community. Kurt called a meeting with the group to explain that they were going to miss a portion of the days trail run because of time constraints and they needed to head straight to camp, we staid back from the meeting because we had decided we had been enough of a burden on the group and to head to Salt Lake to make repairs before heading home, after Kurt’s meeting we mentioned our plans to him and instead of agreeing he immediately ask the entire group what they thought and every member said if we were comfortable driving the PIG the rest of the trip they were happy to have us. I had my spare tire and rim next day aired the a friend’s house in Utah that delivered it out to me on the trail, we finished the trip with the Moab group and made it to cruiserfest and had the time of our lives, made some friends along the way and can’t wait for next year
I know the burning question everyone is thinking is how did the windshield squirter alignment hold up, it would appear that I am a squirter alignment genius and every squirt was precisely placed with exacting accuracy, yes I am very proud of this accomplishment.
First the good.
Kurt,
Kurt Williams from Cruiser Outfitters is not only a genuinely nice guy but he is also a hell of a trail mechanic (we put a harbor freight screwdriver in his hand and he wheeled it like a magic wand), trail guide (he led us through some of the most beautiful country Utah has to offer giving us details over the CB radio the entire trip) but his real attribute is in his ability to stay friendly, professional and helpful when dealing with adversity. We offered several times to head to town and put our PIG on a flat deck and get it hauled home so he and his group could continue on their adventure without our drama and every time he not only declined but was the first guy in (with his magic H/F screwdriver) to get us back up and running and always encouraged us to keep going. I’m going to just leave it at thanks Kurt before you guys start thinking I have some sort of man crush.
Cummins 4BT,
This little engine is amazing, the morning we are to leave to meet up with the Moab group I am draining the brake-in oil out and adjusting the valves with only 28 miles on this engine. Long story short we thought we would meet up with the group in the Salt Lake area (5 hours from my place) when in fact we were to meet up with them closer to Moab (10 hours from my place) so the fire drill started with 9 hours from the departure time of the group and we were still 10 hours away and still not packed. We spent about 20 minutes packing for a five day camping trip in a vehicle that had 28 total miles on it so when we finally hit the road it was hammer down right out of the chute and we drove 80MPH + the entire way to Utah. The trip was a little over 1300 miles total and the engine only saw 215 degrees once on a long steep uphill going 80 in fifth but it was mostly under 195 degrees for the majority of the trip. The torque of this engine is remarkable, it would not die regardless of what you were doing or what gear you were in, it reminded me of driving with an automatic transmission when we were off road and accelerating quicker than a PIG should on road at any speed. The engine made the entire 1300 mile trip averaging 25MPG without a hitch of its own doing and exceeded all my expectations.
Sherwin-Williams Acrolon 218 HS Acrylic Polyurethane
I painted most of the body panel’s just days before this trip and nothing was cured so the plan was to try to keep it clean on the trails and off the rocks and trees. Well like most of my plans it sound good in my head but the seeing it through part doesn’t always line up exactly and this one was no exception. We were on a trail called Black Dragon or something like that and I was watching a large tree/bush in my mirror trying to keep my passengers side quarter panel clean when I smacked a larger tree/bush with my driver’s side doors and quarter panel and snapped a large branch off in the process. The paint only has a slight rub mark and everyone that has looked at this section is completely blown away at the durability of this paint as am I.
The Moab group.
One of the camping spots.
Well now it’s time for the bad.
Transfer case oil seal,
We stopped 20 miles from the house at a truck stop to give everything a quick look over and noticed oil coming from the transmission vent, I pulled the plugs and the transfer case is low and the trans is high so I ran into the truck stop and bought five quarts of gear oil topped off the transfer case and stopped every 250 miles to repeat for the entire trip so it looks like I’ll be pulling the transfer case soon.
Rear Axles,
I had some custom rear axles made and because of a mix-up at the manufacture they are too long and would push the dust caps off, I knew about this before we departed for the trip so I brought a couple of quarts of gear oil, well at the same truck stop it appeared that the problem was getting worse and leaking more oil than it did previously so back into the truck stop to buy two kits of JB weld and it slowed down enough that I only lost about one quart the entire trip. Rear end is coming back out anyway to get a rebuilt center section and extra axle seals so this was more of an inconvenience than anything else checking the diff level constantly.
Bump stop adjustment,
I had been playing with my front bump stops and using my forklift to lift the front tires checking for clearance and at no point would the front third member get within 2 ½” of the oil pan. It now appears like I should have been shooting for 2 3/4” of clearance and thanks to the same Black Dragon trail I now have JB weld holding the oil in my pan. I’ll make some new bump pads and weld up the oil pan and should be good to go for next year.
High/Low transfer case shift arm,
When I was mocking up my engine and trans mounts I was just using an empty transmission/transfer case to try to make it a bit lighter for me to jockey around and not being that familiar with Toyota I neglected to give myself enough room for the High/Low shift linkage. After final install I noticed that the High/Low shifting was firm so I gave it a little more clearance with some creative sawzalling and as I now know it needs a little more. On the same Black Dragon trail I decided to give low range a try, after shifting up to fourth gear I thought well I’ll put it back into high and no/go so I finished the trail stuck in low. We radioed Kurt to tell him we had an issue and he had us drive about ten miles in low range to a good spot to make the repair. With the linkage intermittently contacting the floor it backed off the cross bolt nut and allowed the selector arm to drop down so Kurt grabbed the H/F screwdriver and we dropped the transfer case pried the selector up enough to get me back into high and I finished up the trip in high. Again the transfer case is coming out so I will fix the floor properly and should be good to go.
Black Dragon.
Yep you guessed it “the ugly”
Lug nuts,
Just when I thought I couldn’t get worse I lost a rear wheel, we were headed down a fire trail enjoying the scenery when without notice my rear wheel/tire passes me after bouncing off my roof so I get over to the side as far as I could and get it stopped, climb out and to my complete disbelief all six wheel studs are missing as with all six lug nuts and my wheel (I’m quite sure if I were a dog someone would have shot me right then to put me out of my misery) in fact I think at some point I was begging Kurt to take my wife and dogs into town so they could catch a cab home and leave me on the mountain to die a sad and lonely man. After about fifteen minutes of looking things over Kurt made the decision that if we could get a tire and some wheel studs that possibly we could get the PIG off the trail and down to the town and make better repairs. The part of the story when I said that I packed up in 20 minutes I neglected to mention that I had no good way to secure a spare tire and made the decision to leave it in the shop for this trip and yes this tire had a three inch gash in the sidewall now. So with the help of my Moab trail mates I barrowed a tire and wheel then we got the PIG up on a few jacks and dissembled the rear hub while Kurt drove three hours into town to buy me some studs, by now I’m feeling like a complete Dick, I’m covered in 90WT, the rear quarter panel that I was worried about scratching is just about completely ripped off the side of the PIG now, for the third time I’ve held up the Moab trial group, my wife is crying because our still unfinished PIG is now more unfinished and she is also feeling bad about holding up the Moab trial group for a third time so we ask if the group would please continue on without us and we would wait for Kurt to help us with the repairs then be on our way home. My fellow PIG owner Gordobe stayed behind with us and waited for Kurt to return with the wheel studs and one of the other trail leaders also came back after getting the group to a malt shop to grab some lunch. When Kurt returned the repair went quick and we were back under power headed into town. This is when I believe I discovered what true kindness is in the cruiser community. Kurt called a meeting with the group to explain that they were going to miss a portion of the days trail run because of time constraints and they needed to head straight to camp, we staid back from the meeting because we had decided we had been enough of a burden on the group and to head to Salt Lake to make repairs before heading home, after Kurt’s meeting we mentioned our plans to him and instead of agreeing he immediately ask the entire group what they thought and every member said if we were comfortable driving the PIG the rest of the trip they were happy to have us. I had my spare tire and rim next day aired the a friend’s house in Utah that delivered it out to me on the trail, we finished the trip with the Moab group and made it to cruiserfest and had the time of our lives, made some friends along the way and can’t wait for next year
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