What Did You Do With Your Rig Today?

[Rubicajon]

We

It's been an expensive week at the twiget household.

Over the summer I took a 5 week, 10,000 mile road trip from Albuquerque NM to Prudhoe Bay AK. Around 1,500 miles of that was not on pavement, and it beat the hell out of my truck's suspension. I've been out of town a lot between then and now, but it's finally time to pay the price for that road trip.

Alignment: Totally out of whack, truck pulls hard to the right
Wheels: One bent so bad it can't be balanced, lots of road rash from rock crawling
Tires: Pretty badly worn due to the alignment. One threw a belt and is causing the truck to shake at speeds >65mph
Transfer Case: Apparently I bottomed out pretty hard at some point and bent the skid plate that protects the bottom of the T-case. This caused the plate to vibrate against the bottom of the T-case and wear a hole through the bottom of the T-case. I got lucky, the tech's found the hole as they were installing my new wheels and tires.

Ouch
View attachment 52899

New Wheels
View attachment 52898

All told, it was a small price to pay for such an awesome trip. And now I know some of the weak points on my truck, so I can start addressing them.

Would like to see a write up with info os camping spots, fuel stops things like that. We are planning this trip for 2019. Also what time of the year did you go?

 

[NightCrawler]

Yes that's Lake Elsinore. The Forest Service Web-Site said the South Main Divide Road was open. They lied..........

Thats a bummer...we are supposed to be living in the digital age...I guess no told the forest service that they need to stay up to date.

 

[EODCoduto]

Finally got it shipped from California to Washington D.C. after the move!

 

[Andy G]

Exciting stuff here...finally got the windshield replaced...and it's now getting a full interior detailing as I type this! Let's just say the previous owner...didn't exactly keep it clean.

 

[Dangit00]

Change the gear oil, rear wasn't bad but the front was like sludge.

 

[Todd Jackson]

Upgrading the LED lights around the truck, rear interior light is now a whopping 18 watts and the rear lights are 45 watts.

 

[jim lee]

Finally, ready to drop out the gearbox for rebuild. Getting this ready to pull out was quite the task. You have to tear into just about everything to get to it. One frame crossmember needed to be removed. Much of this stuff is so covered with rust, oil, grease, dirt.. Its like excavating a tar pit to locate the parts. Oh and much of it is rusted solid.

But "fingers crossed" this should be the last major bit that's holding things back for long distance cruising. I'm sounds like the gearbox is pretty worn out inside there. With this repaired, it'll be engine to wheels on all new parts.

The hope is that once we get the driveline working correctly, we can start setting up this machine for some Overland off-road camping.

-jim lee

 

[TrippinStfflr]

Practiced some trail driving in South Cow Mountain OHV park just outside Ukiah, Ca. Not the best line but at least I didnt scrape.


Oh and I realized I needed to add a lighter to my gear list. Almost couldnt get the stove lit. Thats what I get for not being a smoker.
Luckily I had a propane torch in my tool box...guess thats better than a lighter.

 

[California Overland]

Went to the OHV park to get some skill work in.

 

[twiget]

We

Would like to see a write up with info os camping spots, fuel stops things like that. We are planning this trip for 2019. Also what time of the year did you go?

I left in late July and got back to ABQ at the end of August. I really didn't have a plan, other than to get to Prudhoe Bay. For camping spots, I used iOverlander to find free spots near me. Fuel wasn't an issue. The longest stint between fuel stops was heading north through Youkon. It was around 260 miles if memory serves. The only reason it was that long was because the highway headed out of Watson's Lake was closed due to a fuel tanker spill, and I took an alternate route .

Have fun on your trip.

 

[ASRussell]

This is Isabella Dumps, PA. We had a blast playing in this wasteland

 

[HIALT2D]

Damn...... I'm puckering just looking at that picture. What is the groundcover?

 

[ASRussell]

Damn...... I'm puckering just looking at that picture. What is the groundcover?

This is just south of Pittsburgh, PA. This at one time was a trash dump for the steel mills to dump their coal cinders..... Those hills (mountain) is extremely steep and a bit hair raising to go up / down.

 

[jim lee]

It's been an expensive week at the twiget household.

Over the summer I took a 5 week, 10,000 mile road trip from Albuquerque NM to Prudhoe Bay AK. Around 1,500 miles of that was not on pavement, and it beat the hell out of my truck's suspension. I've been out of town a lot between then and now, but it's finally time to pay the price for that road trip.

Alignment: Totally out of whack, truck pulls hard to the right
Wheels: One bent so bad it can't be balanced, lots of road rash from rock crawling
Tires: Pretty badly worn due to the alignment. One threw a belt and is causing the truck to shake at speeds >65mph
Transfer Case: Apparently I bottomed out pretty hard at some point and bent the skid plate that protects the bottom of the T-case. This caused the plate to vibrate against the bottom of the T-case and wear a hole through the bottom of the T-case. I got lucky, the tech's found the hole as they were installing my new wheels and tires.

Ouch
View attachment 52899

New Wheels
View attachment 52898

All told, it was a small price to pay for such an awesome trip. And now I know some of the weak points on my truck, so I can start addressing them.

Is the sliced boss for the case bolt the damage from the skidplate? That's pretty scary. Looks like the bolt itself stopped the skidplate from cutting all the way through.

Also, what's the bright yellow stuff showing next to the bolt above that?

-jim lee

 

[tsteb112]

Worked on the tire carrier and wiring up the switch panel and fuse box yesterday. The box is going under the center console where there is an empty space. All wires run through the transmission tunnel. I just need to ground them and I’ll be good to go. I’ll post pictures when done.
We have two more pieces to weld up to finish the tire carrier, then gusset it and add dimple dies to the gussets and build a jerry can rack. The bar in the middle won’t be there when done. It was just to get the top piece level.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Knitron]

The rig got a new set of amber lights today.

OB# 3805

 

[Chris Owens]

I got the arb awning installed today. It’s the large one. It looks small on the van. Ha.

 

[Rubyredfozzy]

View attachment 53241 I got the arb awning installed today. It’s the large one. It looks small on the van. Ha.

Love the rig choice

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using OB Talk mobile app

 

[PaulK]

Did some overlanding on the Daniel Boon Backwood BiWay.

 

[Chris Owens]

Love the rig choice

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using OB Talk mobile app

Thanks!!