Than I loaded her up for a quick overnighter into the Western half of the state to check out my favorite elk hole, look for sheds, do some predator calling, and just plain relax.
Lots of long straight roads in the western half of Utah and Nevada.
Took a Sunday and drove the rig up to the mountain and trail head for a hike. It was a good day other than ripping my finger open climbing over a range fence.
I am finally finished with school and back to work full time. The last 4 years I didn't do much hunting other than a little predator calling and some OTC elk hunts. I cached in my bonus this year and drew a buck rifle tag and I am also planning on a OTC bull elk hunt.
My goal for the next two months is to get Charlie ready for the hunts this fall and hike my A$$ off to get in shape.
Starting the 2nd half of September I am going to be spending all my free time scouting for the hunts. Here is a list of everything I want to get done on the rig before September 15th.
Diagnose and fix front end clunk.
Clean the air filter.
Check motor and tranny mounts.
Pull the battery, give it a good cleaning, and check the water level.
Tighten my AC belt.
Address my exhaust. I am not happy with the routing because it rattles on the frame and it is also way too loud. I need to quiet it down.
Diagnose and fix a clunking rattling noise coming from the right rear of the rig.
Drain and fill on the tranny.
Fix the hack job on my rear fenders from the PO's attempt to trim the rear fenders. They aren't sealed anymore and the dust just pours into the interior. Not good for rifle scopes and other optics.
I am finally finished with school and back to work full time. The last 4 years I didn't do much hunting other than a little predator calling and some OTC elk hunts. I cached in my bonus this year and drew a buck rifle tag and I am also planning on a OTC bull elk hunt.
My goal for the next two months is to get Charlie ready for the hunts this fall and hike my A$$ off to get in shape.
Starting the 2nd half of September I am going to be spending all my free time scouting for the hunts. Here is a list of everything I want to get done on the rig before September 15th.
Diagnose and fix front end clunk.
Clean the air filter.
Check motor and tranny mounts.
Pull the battery, give it a good cleaning, and check the water level.
Tighten my AC belt.
Address my exhaust. I am not happy with the routing because it rattles on the frame and it is also way too loud. I need to quiet it down.
Diagnose and fix a clunking rattling noise coming from the right rear of the rig.
Drain and fill on the tranny.
Fix the hack job on my rear fenders from the PO's attempt to trim the rear fenders. They aren't sealed anymore and the dust just pours into the interior. Not good for rifle scopes and other optics.
What kind of clunk are you getting from your front end? Is it when slowing, going, or something else?
I happen to have a small clunk that sometimes more discernible than other times. It only happens on the USDS, I can feel it through the floor and I can usually hear it.
What kind of clunk are you getting from your front end? Is it when slowing, going, or something else?
I happen to have a small clunk that sometimes more discernible than other times. It only happens on the USDS, I can feel it through the floor and I can usually hear it.
Mine is one loud clunk that I mainly feel through the floor board. It happens when the front axle is flexing/articulating. But it doesn't happen on high speed dirt roads. It does happen every time I go through a dip into a parking lot or my driveway, especially if I am turning as I go through.
About 10 months ago I installed the icon 4.6 degree caster correction bushings.... They did not look well made and I figured they wouldn't last a year. That is my first guess.
So far I have only crawler under the truck and checked everything obvious. I can't find any play or anything loose. My next step is to unbolt the control arm and stick a prybar through the icon bushing and pry on them.
I think this is the best way to check the control arm to axle bushings. If the bushings are fine than I will have to dig deeper.....
I didn't know what Kifaru was until I read this comment. Holy crap that is some nice gear. Thanks for providing yet another roadblock to financial progress as I will be buying one of these at some point...
I didn't know what Kifaru was until I read this comment. Holy crap that is some nice gear. Thanks for providing yet another roadblock to financial progress as I will be buying one of these at some point...
In my opinion they are the best packs on the market.
If you watch a lot of hunting shows you always can tell when a guy is using a Kifaru pack because the logo will be blurred out.
Kifaru doesn't have to sponsor hunting shows and give away free packs to sell their product. But a lot of professional hunters still use them. Especially the camera guys.
Got up early this morning and decided to investigate my front end suspension clunk and tighten my AC belt.
My first suspect for the suspension clunk was the driver's side control arm to axle bushings.
Sure enough I knew something was amiss as soon as I started removing the two bolts for the driver's side control arm. The two bolts were not finger loose or visibly loose, but they came off way to easy. I would say it took about 50 ft lbs to get them turning.
The icon caster correction bushings are not quite a year old and they were actually still in acceptable shape. The bushings are just starting to develop cracks but I will keep running them until they really fail.
I reinstalled the driver's side control arm and got the two fronts bolts nice and tight.
I was partially correct in my clunk diagnoses, even though the bushings weren't completely shot the under torqued hardware must have been the culprit because now the clunk is gone!!!
The AC belt was a breeze to tighten up and no more squeel when I turn on the AC. The belt was changed about 6,000 miles ago and it was definitely a little loose.
After working on Charlie I took off for the mountain to see my buddy's new property. I also decided to take a nap and try out a new hammock my work gave me.
My first 80 had a chunk in the front end like you described when I bought it. Took me a while to figure it out.
Mine had elongated holes in the radius arm brackets on the axle housing. I guess just from wear over time.
I never fully stopped mine clunking, but tightening the radius arm bolts as tight as possible with a 2' breaker bar mostly stopped it.
I had intended to find some heavy washers to tack weld to the housing to eliminate the elongated holes, but it never got done.
Well no update on my to do list yet but I decided to pack the rig up and do an overnighter while exploring some central Utah mountains. I am seeing some new areas and trying to find some grouse while I am at it.
Today was great, no grouse but lots of awesome trails and beatiful views. Right now I am sitting in the rig waiting for an evening thunder storm to pass before I build a fire, cook dinner, and crash.
I left early this morning and drove roughly 70 miles of highway in a blanket of fog.
Misty cows
Sunrise
Finally climbing into the mountains and leaving the fog behind.
Pulled and cleaned my battery and all the battery connections. And I cleaned the airfilter.
I also started working on fixing a noise coming from the rear of the truck. After close inspection I realized the rear passenger body mount is toast.
last week I ordered all new body mounts from febest. Today I started taking them apart. Tomorrow I will need to find some new bolts because some of the body mount bolts are bent. Than hopefully I can finish getting the rear mounts removed than I will start installing the new mounts.
