OnlyDirtRoads

A new tent! (We hope!)

It appears our new RTT will arrive in Prescott by the end of this week! As Prescott is a multi-day drive from here, we'll fold the beginning of our vacation, Labor Day weekend, and "The-trip-to-get-the-tent" all into one.

Friday at 0800, I will give a speech for a client in Boulder. I have awesome clients; so I couldn't say "No" when I was asked to speak. I'll drive into town, run through my PowerPoint deck; drive back home, change clothes, hook the Horizon to the FJ, fill the water tank, lockup the house and leave.

We are meeting some overlanding freinds at their house on the Western Slope and will caravan to Woods Lake, near Telluride for the night. The next day, we'll both drive to Hovenweep and camp there for the weekend. Our freinds assure us that it isn't crowded, even on Holiday weekends. We'll see.

Monday, at some point, we'll then drive from Hovenweep to Prescott, AZ; and welcome the Adventure Trailer crew in the morning. ( Note to self: "Find a donut shop in Prescott".) Ben from Equipt1 will also be there, it'll be nice to see him, and possibly even get a tour of the entire Overlanding Industrial Complex. Hopefully, in short order, we'll have our new RTT on the Horizon, and will mail our car camping Kelty tent back home, so we don't have to drag it all over the Western US. We have a few optional routes planned from Prescott to the Bay Area; and will select one based on what time it is when we depart Prescott.

Almost ready!

Last week, I installed my new suspension. On a 95 degree day, I set my FJ on jack stands , removed the front tires, pulled the old OME coilovers, and promptly broke a 19mm socket. As this would be required to remove other parts, and install all the new parts; I jumped on a bicycle and rode a mile or so to a hardware store and bought three new 19mm sockets. Why three? Just in case. Once a Boy Scout, always a Boy Scout.
Anyway, a few hours later, I had all the new suspension parts on the truck. Naturally, I had to test it out...so I drive to a nearby rutted out dirt parking lot. It was cool to be able to drive over deep ruts without feeling like parts were going to rattle off the truck.


I also assembled and installed a new Adventure Trailer drawer. This new storage space was great motivation to examine all the loose crap I'd accumulated in the truck. I was able to consolidate stuff and toss a lot of random junk. I wound up removing EVERYTHING inside the truck that wasn't part of the FJ. I vacuumed the truck, Armor-All'ed everything and cleaned all the glass. It looks new!



The FJ went to Boulder Toyota for the 100,000 mile service. Turns out it was finally time for front brakes. While doing the brakes, the tech noticed a lot of play in the right front wheel..turns out the wheel bearing was failing! I'm happy to have caught that in town, rather than 100 miles from AssCrack, New Mexico.
At this point, we need to lack food, clothes, fill the tank with water, and leave.
One of my clients asked me to give a speech Friday morning. I was tempted to show up with the trailer hooked up and leave town from their office...fortunately, I got over that. Noon Friday, we are outta here!

Location:Pine St,Boulder,United States

Mod day coming up!

The last month has been filled with business travel and only the odd trip to the mountains. With our month-long trip only a few weeks away, I decided I will play hooky for a day this coming Tuesday and finally install some suspension parts that have been sitting on the floor of my office for a month.
Item one is a set of Total Chaos Upper Control Arms. These are tubular alloy steel, and have two advantages over the stock UCAs. First, they are stronger. Secondly, they have been made to correct the front-end geometry; as a mild lift often makes it impossible to align the front end to factory spec. This leads to not enough caster which causes mild "wandering" at highway speeds. When pulling the trailer, this gets tiring.
They also look wicked cool.
Naturally, installing these has its own set of difficulties: removing a bolt that is several inches long from which the UCAs hinge. This will involve removing the battery, which will be a project. I will also have to separate the ball joint at each hub carrier. According to most accounts, this is a chore.

I will also install a set of Icon coil overs, a combination spring and shock. The shock is 2.5" in diameter, and very beefy looking. The spring is a custom wound Eibach made to spec for my rig. It has a spring rate of 700 pounds, which is about 100 pounds greater than stock. However, I'm carrying two 90 pound batteries, a heavy 10 gauge steel bumper and a winch ( as well as steel skid plates, a heavy roof rack, etc.) I'm hopeful this new suspension will be more forgiving over rutted dirt roads. I'm also hoping I can successfully install these solo on Tuesday.
Pics will be taken and posted.


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Location:Longmont