Judging by your vid that water was much higher on Saturday! That would have been up to my seat.That's why they come with hand throttles though!
Jim..
Are you doing that water crossing riding SIDE SADDLE??
AWESOME!!
The Official Post-Fall Gathering thread...
- Thread starter Wrench
- Start date
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Jim..
Are you doing that water crossing riding SIDE SADDLE??
AWESOME!!
Saturday trail 5 pics
2 flats @ the same time
I promise to have a hi-jack next year
AND ALL THAT EFFORT just to take the go-around..
busted
Here are a few Trail 2 (Saturday) pix.
(BTW - can't wait to see Tim and Dawn's pix!!!)
P.S. If you were with me on Trail 1 on Friday, or Trail 2 on Saturday, PM your email address to me and I will send you an invitation to view all of my pix and videos.
(BTW - can't wait to see Tim and Dawn's pix!!!)
P.S. If you were with me on Trail 1 on Friday, or Trail 2 on Saturday, PM your email address to me and I will send you an invitation to view all of my pix and videos.
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grayfj40
SILVER Star
Well it was another great fall gathering.
Thanks to all that put their time and effort in to making this a great weekend.
P.S. I got a new fender for the 80, I guess they call it carnage (trail 5) for a reason.
Thanks to all that put their time and effort in to making this a great weekend.
P.S. I got a new fender for the 80, I guess they call it carnage (trail 5) for a reason.
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yodafrick
Cruiserhead
A big THANK YOU!!!!!!! to everyone involved in this event. As John said, this event has come a long way in the past few years.
Thanks to everyone not involved for coming, supporting the club, smilin through the rain, and keepin the trails clean.
Thanks to everyone in south camp for the laughter, food, fun, music,.... thank you Chris Robinson
Thanks Kina for the seat, next time I'll bring more quarters!
Thanks to all the raffle sponsors.
Thanks to the breakfast crew.
Thanks Jason for selling me a winning raffle ticket, just make sure it's the winch next year!!!
Yankee Toys and Fall Gathering Rock!
Thanks to everyone not involved for coming, supporting the club, smilin through the rain, and keepin the trails clean.
Thanks to everyone in south camp for the laughter, food, fun, music,.... thank you Chris Robinson
Thanks Kina for the seat, next time I'll bring more quarters!
Thanks to all the raffle sponsors.
Thanks to the breakfast crew.
Thanks Jason for selling me a winning raffle ticket, just make sure it's the winch next year!!!
Yankee Toys and Fall Gathering Rock!
yodafrick
Cruiserhead
That guy looks oddly familiar, is that the phantom yodeler?
My take on the Fall Gathering. . .
Its long don’t read it if you get bored easy.
I guess it starts for me with those last mods/ fixies I wanted to get done to Wilma before I headed up to the FG. So back up to the Friday before the FG. I had 2 major things I want to do 1.)install some extra leafs in my sagging rear springs 2).Install my new gauge cluster which was made through a fellow mudder “amaurer” who puts auto meter mechanical gauges into the stock fj40 cluster. Randy sent me the link and I was in love I had to have one. So I sent my stock gauge cluster to him and got it back pretty fast. It took me a month to assemble the other parts like the right Speedo cable to fit in my old cluster. (Apparently that was hard for SOR to understand so 3 Speedo cables later I have gotten all the parts nuts bolts and wiring (so I think) for cluster swap.
Friday night Sept. 25th I head out to the garage and over several hours perform the surgery everything goes well I am so pleased I button it all back up hop in turn the key and nothin. . . . I as a graphic designer am not an electrical minded person. While I did draw wire diagrams for all the Navy’s planes for a year apparently that did not run off. . wtf well after much scratching head and wasting the whole week end to no avail I sent up the white flag and was able to con Jim Casagrande over to help me. Long story short the new volt meter does not get wired like the old amp meter. Problem solved meanwhile the mechanical water temp sensor comes nowhere near fitting into the head much searching and head scratching I am able to track down a auto meter extension that through much measuring and guestimation and praying that it will works arrives Wednesday afternoon and miraculously fits perfectly. It was like it was made just for me. this fitting is far superior to the back up plan which was a chunk of solid bar stock that I had drilled our then was in the process of tapping the inside and bottom to fit into the block
So that just left the mess that was my wiring and the oil sending unit line to figure out. I had planned to put the add-a-leafs from alcan (another long story) over the week end but decided to pack all the tools and just install them at the camp site. So since I did not have time to wire the trailer lights and even prep the trailer the roof top tent went on the top of the lv. It worked well there but meant I has house bound while at camp no biggie. Next came pack since this is a new truck packing seemed to take on a new dimension. Did I have enough tools the right tools, tools that Ken would think are kewl… next my Dad came over and added to the pile so he did not have to carry them on his motor cycle. This was more on my insisting because he would have tried to strap them all to his motorcycle.
The tent is on top I head to bed.
Thursday morning October 1st plan is to hit the road at 9am after the girls go to school. More packing shifting sorting I am able to leave at noon but as I remind myself I am able to leave.
*Authors note. This is by far the biggest trip my fj45lv Wilma has done under her own power in over 30 years. I am trying not to think about what could go wrong but instead check everything that could go wrong. As it is I forget to check the routine stuff like oil after 4 years now of putting her back together into my perfect cruiser I was alittle nervous.
So on the road I decide to take back roads a for the scenery B I just don’t like hiways. Things are going well the back is saggin a bit can’t wait to get those leafs in there. I notice all my gauges are working which is good. I notice that it’s staying at half a tank for 50 miles or so, so I make a mental note to pull over at the next gas station and fill up the tank and my jerry can. Well the next 2 gas stations are on the left and have some sort of mental block not wanting to cross to the left side of the road. As I think back on it I scratch my head. So I zip on by and 30 seconds later the engine dies. So I pull over as far as I can and get the jerry can and head back and get 2.5 gallons. Return to the truck and pour it in. now My DAD has raised me right. You never back track for any reason. So instead of driving back the 2 minutes to the gas station I decide to go onto the next one. Take a mental note of the Odometer. 37593 and figure I have 25 miles to find a gas station just to be safe. Excellent plan. . . . So at miles 23 on the OD I start to worry. At mile 33 I see the oasis and fill up the tank and the jerry can to the top.
So I roll into camp find a spot in the trees hoping it will offer some easement from the impending rain and set up camp next to Dave and Jim then start to sell raffle tickets. And that is pretty much all I did the rest of the week end was sell raffle tickets. . . and have a lot of fun wheeling and such.
My dad arrives at 630 and we head over and enjoy some damm good bar-b-que thank you thank you thank you Randy what an outstanding effort Randy goes through to get us a wicked nice meal to start off the week end. My Dad and I were starved that last piece of Jerked chicken went down slow though. So a cup of hot chocolate later I was ready for bed.
Friday October 2nd what I glorious morning awoke to the sounds of junior chopping wood at 5am apparently the water alarm got him up (my nice new choice phrase for the week end) thanks Junior!
So my plans for the day were to get the add a leafs in. I wait for that and wonder the camp selling raffle tickets as best I could. Meeting all the different Yankee Toyers and there trucks. The Gotham contingent the 80’s in the woods, the Crazy diesel Canadians to name a few. Heavily contemplate an offer to ride shotgun with Randy for the day. Not sure how serious he was but I was seriously thinking about it. But head back to my truck at 9am for some more surgery. The first spring back takes me 4 hours to get apart and put back together, the second one takes me an hour. At one point I took a short nap under my truck. Life was good. Meanwhile Mark from Gotham came back to came with a broken birf. Then I see Kina running around with a drive shaft and a grinder with a cut off wheel. With his glasses sliding down his nose like Santa Claus he was looking for a power source seemed Frankie had blew out a pumpkin and a rear drive shaft and he’s was very determined to build it right.
Well with the truck all buttoned up fluids all checked and topped off. Flipper arrived and I helped him set up his 3 family tent and then it was dinner time. That night brought the first of the rain that my dad and I kept trying to forecast from our iphones. Unfortunately when it was supposed to be clearing, according to the iphone, is when we got the heaviest rain.
Saturday October 3rd Wilma’s first trail ride. . . ever!!!
I for her first trail ride I decide to pick trail #1 class 6 road led by Rick “landtank” I notice that I am the only vintage truck in the line the next oldest is ricks son’s late 90’s fzj80. Hmmm luckily as I wait in line and am out selling raffle tickets Ernie in his 45 crew cab and Ed in his tan fj40 (fresh from Wally’s with a new tub) join the line while my Dad was excited to see the 3 forerunners in our group due to to him owning a 1005 v8 forerunner while I think the 4runners are cool and they did a great job of keeping me in site I wanted to have a couple 40 series in the group so I could compare how they managed obstacles vs. Wilma. Got to know where she stands off the road.
So off we go. In the rain FUN!!! We hit the first class 6 road lock the hubs and air down and put her in 4 wheel drive and go. Total different feel having 3 pedals now to use and a stick vs. the automatic of my fj62. I make it through the first obstacle without any issues nice!! The day of wheeling went great for Wilma started to get used to how she moves the narrower wheel base meant I was not bangin the diffs as much as on my fj62 and the tires stuffed nicely in the rear wheel wells. Everything was working to plan. Half way through the day we had an amazing couple of water crossings very kewl very kewl trail selection. After the first water crossing we lost the other 2 40 series due to Ed hitting his fly wheel cover and Ernie following him back to camp. So at the end of the trail one wrong turn and we drove north for alittle ways then back south to the gas station. Which ended up being a bit to far for me to go and not to do a once over on the old girl. My drivers side lug nuts had loosened and the studs on the (pos spacer I am running (another story) had wobbled pretty good, so I tightened them up as best I could and drove as slow as I could back to camp thank you NE07FJC for picking me up and leading the way back, much appreciated.
Got back to camp pulled in at 5300 and am immediately hit with raffle ticket duties. Not sure I wanted to fix the wheel in the pouring rain anyway. So off to the tent I go and position myself in the prime position where every hungry soul has to go by me before they can get to the food so the raffle tickets were sold. One weird odd fact I enjoy about the raffle ticket sales is I know when every ticket was sold so when someone wins I remember when I sold the ticket. Kind of odd but it’s the little things that make me smile. So I finally get to eat. I think I got the last biscuit and boy was it good. Raffle then I stop by the Vermont boy’s tent for a minute Junior is giggling about his trike ride and Wally wants to hit up Wal-Mart for some garden gnomes.
Sunday October 4th
Sad the gathering is coming to end but not before more surgery off comes the evil wheel spacer and I refrain from hucking it into the woods good thing I did because I ended up with Jim’s help having to rebuild it with cruiser studs worked out well. Thanks Tim for the trusty cruiser studs and lugs thank you. Then I started the pack up process man I brought a lot of tools and stuff. Did some horse trading for the camping labs awning that was a raffle prize kind of excited about having more shelter from the rain?
Then off my Dad and I went on our trek home. Again back roads stopping every half hour to check the lugs on the circumspect rebuild of the wheel spacer. A quarter turn the first stop and a 1/8 the next two then they were tight the next 4 stops. Good stuff.
So I have a list already started of mods and fixes and things I want to do to the old girl but while there were mechanical issues and brake downs I never felt stranded or nervous that I would never see my family again because when ever there was the slightest problem there was always 4 people willing to help. Poor Jim might rethink l agreeing to letting me camp next door next year my Dad said to me when we got back to the camp ground on Saturday night his greatest fear was that we would break down on the trail I told him that never worried me because I knew if I did what ever broke would be fixed better than new.
Great people great times we chatter all year on the interweb egging each other on in our crazy cruiser obsessions that it feels like a family reunion more than an event when the Fall gathering comes around.
Jason
Its long don’t read it if you get bored easy.
I guess it starts for me with those last mods/ fixies I wanted to get done to Wilma before I headed up to the FG. So back up to the Friday before the FG. I had 2 major things I want to do 1.)install some extra leafs in my sagging rear springs 2).Install my new gauge cluster which was made through a fellow mudder “amaurer” who puts auto meter mechanical gauges into the stock fj40 cluster. Randy sent me the link and I was in love I had to have one. So I sent my stock gauge cluster to him and got it back pretty fast. It took me a month to assemble the other parts like the right Speedo cable to fit in my old cluster. (Apparently that was hard for SOR to understand so 3 Speedo cables later I have gotten all the parts nuts bolts and wiring (so I think) for cluster swap.
Friday night Sept. 25th I head out to the garage and over several hours perform the surgery everything goes well I am so pleased I button it all back up hop in turn the key and nothin. . . . I as a graphic designer am not an electrical minded person. While I did draw wire diagrams for all the Navy’s planes for a year apparently that did not run off. . wtf well after much scratching head and wasting the whole week end to no avail I sent up the white flag and was able to con Jim Casagrande over to help me. Long story short the new volt meter does not get wired like the old amp meter. Problem solved meanwhile the mechanical water temp sensor comes nowhere near fitting into the head much searching and head scratching I am able to track down a auto meter extension that through much measuring and guestimation and praying that it will works arrives Wednesday afternoon and miraculously fits perfectly. It was like it was made just for me. this fitting is far superior to the back up plan which was a chunk of solid bar stock that I had drilled our then was in the process of tapping the inside and bottom to fit into the block
So that just left the mess that was my wiring and the oil sending unit line to figure out. I had planned to put the add-a-leafs from alcan (another long story) over the week end but decided to pack all the tools and just install them at the camp site. So since I did not have time to wire the trailer lights and even prep the trailer the roof top tent went on the top of the lv. It worked well there but meant I has house bound while at camp no biggie. Next came pack since this is a new truck packing seemed to take on a new dimension. Did I have enough tools the right tools, tools that Ken would think are kewl… next my Dad came over and added to the pile so he did not have to carry them on his motor cycle. This was more on my insisting because he would have tried to strap them all to his motorcycle.
The tent is on top I head to bed.
Thursday morning October 1st plan is to hit the road at 9am after the girls go to school. More packing shifting sorting I am able to leave at noon but as I remind myself I am able to leave.
*Authors note. This is by far the biggest trip my fj45lv Wilma has done under her own power in over 30 years. I am trying not to think about what could go wrong but instead check everything that could go wrong. As it is I forget to check the routine stuff like oil after 4 years now of putting her back together into my perfect cruiser I was alittle nervous.
So on the road I decide to take back roads a for the scenery B I just don’t like hiways. Things are going well the back is saggin a bit can’t wait to get those leafs in there. I notice all my gauges are working which is good. I notice that it’s staying at half a tank for 50 miles or so, so I make a mental note to pull over at the next gas station and fill up the tank and my jerry can. Well the next 2 gas stations are on the left and have some sort of mental block not wanting to cross to the left side of the road. As I think back on it I scratch my head. So I zip on by and 30 seconds later the engine dies. So I pull over as far as I can and get the jerry can and head back and get 2.5 gallons. Return to the truck and pour it in. now My DAD has raised me right. You never back track for any reason. So instead of driving back the 2 minutes to the gas station I decide to go onto the next one. Take a mental note of the Odometer. 37593 and figure I have 25 miles to find a gas station just to be safe. Excellent plan. . . . So at miles 23 on the OD I start to worry. At mile 33 I see the oasis and fill up the tank and the jerry can to the top.
So I roll into camp find a spot in the trees hoping it will offer some easement from the impending rain and set up camp next to Dave and Jim then start to sell raffle tickets. And that is pretty much all I did the rest of the week end was sell raffle tickets. . . and have a lot of fun wheeling and such.
My dad arrives at 630 and we head over and enjoy some damm good bar-b-que thank you thank you thank you Randy what an outstanding effort Randy goes through to get us a wicked nice meal to start off the week end. My Dad and I were starved that last piece of Jerked chicken went down slow though. So a cup of hot chocolate later I was ready for bed.
Friday October 2nd what I glorious morning awoke to the sounds of junior chopping wood at 5am apparently the water alarm got him up (my nice new choice phrase for the week end) thanks Junior!
So my plans for the day were to get the add a leafs in. I wait for that and wonder the camp selling raffle tickets as best I could. Meeting all the different Yankee Toyers and there trucks. The Gotham contingent the 80’s in the woods, the Crazy diesel Canadians to name a few. Heavily contemplate an offer to ride shotgun with Randy for the day. Not sure how serious he was but I was seriously thinking about it. But head back to my truck at 9am for some more surgery. The first spring back takes me 4 hours to get apart and put back together, the second one takes me an hour. At one point I took a short nap under my truck. Life was good. Meanwhile Mark from Gotham came back to came with a broken birf. Then I see Kina running around with a drive shaft and a grinder with a cut off wheel. With his glasses sliding down his nose like Santa Claus he was looking for a power source seemed Frankie had blew out a pumpkin and a rear drive shaft and he’s was very determined to build it right.
Well with the truck all buttoned up fluids all checked and topped off. Flipper arrived and I helped him set up his 3 family tent and then it was dinner time. That night brought the first of the rain that my dad and I kept trying to forecast from our iphones. Unfortunately when it was supposed to be clearing, according to the iphone, is when we got the heaviest rain.
Saturday October 3rd Wilma’s first trail ride. . . ever!!!
I for her first trail ride I decide to pick trail #1 class 6 road led by Rick “landtank” I notice that I am the only vintage truck in the line the next oldest is ricks son’s late 90’s fzj80. Hmmm luckily as I wait in line and am out selling raffle tickets Ernie in his 45 crew cab and Ed in his tan fj40 (fresh from Wally’s with a new tub) join the line while my Dad was excited to see the 3 forerunners in our group due to to him owning a 1005 v8 forerunner while I think the 4runners are cool and they did a great job of keeping me in site I wanted to have a couple 40 series in the group so I could compare how they managed obstacles vs. Wilma. Got to know where she stands off the road.
So off we go. In the rain FUN!!! We hit the first class 6 road lock the hubs and air down and put her in 4 wheel drive and go. Total different feel having 3 pedals now to use and a stick vs. the automatic of my fj62. I make it through the first obstacle without any issues nice!! The day of wheeling went great for Wilma started to get used to how she moves the narrower wheel base meant I was not bangin the diffs as much as on my fj62 and the tires stuffed nicely in the rear wheel wells. Everything was working to plan. Half way through the day we had an amazing couple of water crossings very kewl very kewl trail selection. After the first water crossing we lost the other 2 40 series due to Ed hitting his fly wheel cover and Ernie following him back to camp. So at the end of the trail one wrong turn and we drove north for alittle ways then back south to the gas station. Which ended up being a bit to far for me to go and not to do a once over on the old girl. My drivers side lug nuts had loosened and the studs on the (pos spacer I am running (another story) had wobbled pretty good, so I tightened them up as best I could and drove as slow as I could back to camp thank you NE07FJC for picking me up and leading the way back, much appreciated.
Got back to camp pulled in at 5300 and am immediately hit with raffle ticket duties. Not sure I wanted to fix the wheel in the pouring rain anyway. So off to the tent I go and position myself in the prime position where every hungry soul has to go by me before they can get to the food so the raffle tickets were sold. One weird odd fact I enjoy about the raffle ticket sales is I know when every ticket was sold so when someone wins I remember when I sold the ticket. Kind of odd but it’s the little things that make me smile. So I finally get to eat. I think I got the last biscuit and boy was it good. Raffle then I stop by the Vermont boy’s tent for a minute Junior is giggling about his trike ride and Wally wants to hit up Wal-Mart for some garden gnomes.
Sunday October 4th
Sad the gathering is coming to end but not before more surgery off comes the evil wheel spacer and I refrain from hucking it into the woods good thing I did because I ended up with Jim’s help having to rebuild it with cruiser studs worked out well. Thanks Tim for the trusty cruiser studs and lugs thank you. Then I started the pack up process man I brought a lot of tools and stuff. Did some horse trading for the camping labs awning that was a raffle prize kind of excited about having more shelter from the rain?
Then off my Dad and I went on our trek home. Again back roads stopping every half hour to check the lugs on the circumspect rebuild of the wheel spacer. A quarter turn the first stop and a 1/8 the next two then they were tight the next 4 stops. Good stuff.
So I have a list already started of mods and fixes and things I want to do to the old girl but while there were mechanical issues and brake downs I never felt stranded or nervous that I would never see my family again because when ever there was the slightest problem there was always 4 people willing to help. Poor Jim might rethink l agreeing to letting me camp next door next year my Dad said to me when we got back to the camp ground on Saturday night his greatest fear was that we would break down on the trail I told him that never worried me because I knew if I did what ever broke would be fixed better than new.
Great people great times we chatter all year on the interweb egging each other on in our crazy cruiser obsessions that it feels like a family reunion more than an event when the Fall gathering comes around.
Jason
My email is mcmc1977@yahoo.com. Thanks Dave for the sweet pics and an awesome day friday!
yodafrick
Cruiserhead
pics...
yodafrick
Cruiserhead
Will's version of a car seat!
yodafrick
Cruiserhead
Oxymoron?
yodafrick
Cruiserhead
Saw two cruisers on the way home (besides the VTers in the rearview). They both looked like they needed good homes. A stock 60 parked in a driveway full of clunkers on the left just before the junction of routes 9 and 7 in Vermont and a 71 or 72 fj40 plow truck, typical rust, on the left just before the junction of routes 7 and 8 in Mass, right before this.....
Kids Raffle
I just want to say thank you to all the kids who braved the rain and participated in my kids activities this year. We had fun playing bingo and painting t-shirts and everyone walked away with a great goodie bag.
The kids raffle raised $238 this year. All the money raised is sent to the Intensive Care Nursery Parent Council Fund to be used for items that help both the parents and babies who are in the NICU at Dartmouth Hitchcock for days, weeks, even months before they can come home. Baby Will, Kina and Hillary's handsome little boy was born premature over 2 years ago and Colin, Ernie and my son was born 16 weeks premature and he is now 5 1/2. These little boys are the awesome kids you met thanks to that hospital and that is why we have chosen them to benefit from our efforts.
Thank you finally to those generous club members who handed me money at the end of the night. I don't remember everyone but Lane Noyes and Jenn Smith were two. If I'm forgetting your name please know that we all appreciate your generosity.
Yankee Toys is a club with huge hearts and I thank you all!!! We will get a nice thank you in the newsletter that the hospital puts together on behalf of our efforts.
Sheri Becker
I just want to say thank you to all the kids who braved the rain and participated in my kids activities this year. We had fun playing bingo and painting t-shirts and everyone walked away with a great goodie bag.
The kids raffle raised $238 this year. All the money raised is sent to the Intensive Care Nursery Parent Council Fund to be used for items that help both the parents and babies who are in the NICU at Dartmouth Hitchcock for days, weeks, even months before they can come home. Baby Will, Kina and Hillary's handsome little boy was born premature over 2 years ago and Colin, Ernie and my son was born 16 weeks premature and he is now 5 1/2. These little boys are the awesome kids you met thanks to that hospital and that is why we have chosen them to benefit from our efforts.
Thank you finally to those generous club members who handed me money at the end of the night. I don't remember everyone but Lane Noyes and Jenn Smith were two. If I'm forgetting your name please know that we all appreciate your generosity.
Yankee Toys is a club with huge hearts and I thank you all!!! We will get a nice thank you in the newsletter that the hospital puts together on behalf of our efforts.
Sheri Becker
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Did anyone happen to snap a pic of the Jeep from RI with the FJ bezel tie-wrapped to his grill? I really wish I took a pic of that. 
Mike,
Email invitation to view the entire album sent (note: I haven't uploaded all the videos yet). You might want to edit your email address out of your post above before you get added to thousands more spam mailing lists
