Builds The Story of Blue

[ClassyJalopy]

Shortly after that, I decided to replace all the door seals. No more road and wind noise from old, hard rubber seals.
Parts:
67861-60101 WEATHERSTRIP, FRONT DOOR, RH
67862-60101 WEATHERSTRIP, FRONT DOOR, LH
67871-60070 WEATHERSTRIP, REAR DOOR, RH
67872-60070 WEATHERSTRIP, REAR DOOR, LH

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Some time last month, I got to check out the Embarras River Offraod park in Tigerton.
Lots of interesting trails and obstacles play on!
At one point I nearly tipped over the truck on a steep rock. Luckily we stopped just in time and had a friend hang off on the side to act as counter weight while I slowly backed up.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Playgrounds seems to make me throw all the caution to the wind and try unwise things. This time was no exception!

Ended up denting the right rear quarter panel slightly while trying to go up a very muddy and off camber climb. Had a friend pull my truck from the driver side to get me off the tree while I winched myself up!

 

[MongooseGA]

She's just a spring chicken still!

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Been noticing some pressure build up in the gas tank. Every time I take the cap off, I can hear the tank venting loudly.
Following others footsteps, I added some embossed aluminum sheet around the cat converters. The idea is to protect the fuel return line from the heat emanating from cats.
Amazon product ASIN B0BX4MPWTG
Also, insulated the part of gas tank that is adjacent to the exhaust in hoped of reducing the fuel temps.
Amazon product ASIN B000E243AW
Final step is to cover the fuel lines near engine with this type of insulation:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDWFGDLK

 

[MongooseGA]

Interested in how this works out for you.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

We made a last minute plan to drive down to the Land Between the Lakes in KY. All said and done it was about 1200 miles round trip, loaded with 3 kids and a TON of stuff!
Spent an afternoon at the Turkey Bay OHV park. Interesting area for sure! They have trails marked as Yellow (easy), Orange (medium), and Blue (hard).

There were a couple of 'Blue' level trails where at least two different ATV/SxS drivers stopped us and told us that we won't make it through the next obstacle with our large SUV!. Of course we made through all of them without much concern!
There was one long windy climb, that was pretty tight, had a big washout ditch in the middle and so steep that I was slipping just trying to walk up the slope! Since that was the only way out of the trail I had no other option but to attempt it. A local SxS driver saw me tripping in my flip-flops trying to walk up the climb and offered to drive me up there so I could take a look. And then afterwards told me that it looks unlikely that I would make it. KY folks are so friendly and helpful!

At this point I was genuinely worried that I might slip sideways and scratch or dent body panels. This is exactly how I ended up destroying most of the body panels on my old 98! Well, I threw on the rear locker and the truck just walked up the slope. No drama at all!

At the top of the hill, the same local helpful guy came by and shook my hand and asked: "what in the world is this thing!" Made my day!
Of course, I don't have any good pictures - I was having too much fun to stop and take pictures!

 

[TRDdrew]

sounds like a great trip! i remember once we were out in VA running some trails and had several guys tell us to turn around that we wouldn't make in up the trail. We followed them up and even though both of them sustained body damage both 100's made up unscathed. Was pretty much same reaction from them They were good sports about it lol

 

[MongooseGA]

Very cool. I've been to that park before in my old '99 and had a blast. This was before I knew anything about anything offroad. We're going back up in July. We keep just missing each other lol

Did he ask if your truck was a 4Runner?

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Having used my awning exactly zero times in the last 3 years, I wasn't going to shy away from carrying this dead weight for our next trip!
I mean what self respecting ouveurlander would leave home without one?

 

[TRDdrew]

Having used my awning exactly zero times in the last 3 years, I wasn't going to shy away from carrying this dead weight for our next trip!
I mean what self respecting ouveurlander would leave hone without one?

i was in the same boat i think i used mine once in the past 4-5 years, i pulled it and sold it. I think if i had one of those fancy free-standing 270's id use it more but never pulled the trigger on one

 

[nikoli]

Been noticing some pressure build up in the gas tank. Every time I take the cap off, I can hear the tank venting loudly.
Following others footsteps, I added some embossed aluminum sheet around the cat converters. The idea is to protect the fuel return line from the heat emanating from cats.
Amazon product ASIN B0BX4MPWTG
Also, insulated the part of gas tank that is adjacent to the exhaust in hoped of reducing the fuel temps.
Amazon product ASIN B000E243AW
Final step is to cover the fuel lines near engine with this type of insulation:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDWFGDLK
View attachment 3348477View attachment 3348478View attachment 3348480

How is the shielding working out?

 

[ClassyJalopy]

How is the shielding working out?

I have put about 2500 miles on the truck since then and haven't noticed any gas vapor issues! So it must have helped!

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Spent a day riding the public trails on Drummond Island. Big thanks to @VSPro9 for providing the .gpx file for the trails and helpful tips!
Lots and lots of medium difficulty trails that can be easily done with a stock LX or even GX with decent tires. Quite a few dispersed camping sites and a beach that is accessible via trails only.

 

[Kabanstva]

This is a badass thread bro. So well documented and so many cool trips. I was down in LBL a few years ago with the LX but we mainly just fished some of the dams and Lake Kentucky. We did find a couple short trails in some woods but didn’t even realize there were actual offroading trails there.

 

[VSPro9]

Spent a day riding the public trails on Drummond Island. Big thanks to @VSPro9 for providing the .gpx file for the trails and helpful tips!
Lots and lots of medium difficulty trails that can be easily done with a stock LX or even GX with decent tires. Quite a few dispersed camping sites and a beach that is accessible via trails only.

View attachment 3367748View attachment 3367749View attachment 3367750View attachment 3367751
View attachment 3367754

Looks like you guys found the tank traps on the south marble head loop also! I left it off my gpx as it’s usually a spot for mud trucks to bury themselves, but this year it’s very low. You ever want to come back to the UP there’s a lot more fun stuff to check out!

 

[ClassyJalopy]

At 194,234 miles changed the oil and filter again. Hard to believe we did 5,000 miles in just about 1 month!

 

[ClassyJalopy]

And now for another episode of AHC yuckyness!

I started noticing that my rear end was getting bouncy, very bouncy, almost uncontrollably bouncy! The bounciness started perhaps about 4000 miles ago and has gradually gotten worse.
Naturally, I checked the pressures which were found to be just about perfect (6.8 front, 6.2 rear).
Checked for any error codes - found none!
Checked for number of graduations between H and L - about 13!
Truck goes in to L and H without complaining and AHC fluid is nice baby pink and clear.

I am running AHC standard TBs and non-AHC standard rear springs. Wondering what to try next? Perhaps, try to bleed again? Should I drain the fluid and take off the rear globes to see if they have somehow failed pre-maturely (only 25k miles on them!)

 

[ClassyJalopy]

So I flushed about 2L of AHC to see if I can cure the rear bumpiness. Accumulator and the front had no air bubble whatsoever. Rear was a different story altogether!
At first all I got was this thick foam, after about a liter it started coming out as oil stream with bubbles in it. By the time I was at the end of my second liter, I could get mostly oil to come out with still some air bubbles.
Where did all these air bubbles come from? Is it indeed indicative of rear globes being ruptured?

Calling the AHC experts for some insight @uHu , @IndroCruise and @suprarx7nut ...

Went on a quick test drive after all the flushing and no change in the rear jumpiness - still as bad as before!
I am afraid this might be the end of road for AHC for me - looks like we have found the load limits for AHC

 

[suprarx7nut]

So I flushed about 2L of AHC to see if I can cure the rear bumpiness. Accumulator and the front had no air bubble whatsoever. Rear was a different story altogether!
At first all I got was this thick foam, after about a liter it started coming out as oil stream with bubbles in it. By the time I was at the end of my second liter, I could get mostly oil to come out with still some air bubbles.
Where did all these air bubbles come from? Is it indeed indicative of rear globes being ruptured?

Calling the AHC experts for some insight @uHu , @IndroCruise and @suprarx7nut ...

Went on a quick test drive after all the flushing and no change in the rear jumpiness - still as bad as before!
I am afraid this might be the end of road for AHC for me - looks like we have found the load limits for AHC

Sounds like you probably have a worn out globe with a pinhole leak. Quick and easy fix. New globe and off you go.

Have you done the quick and easy pressure check and adjust? How many grads are you getting from L to H?

Load limit of AHC? Pssh, not a chance. That's not really a thing. Just like normal suspension, you update the mechanical spring components as you increase weight and AHC continues to provide the same level of support and function it always did. You can't go beyond the "limit" of AHC, but you can fail to update the conventional side of the equation. That's not an AHC problem so much as a normal suspension problem.