Escape From the Prison Planet

[DRIVEN]

GMC transmission is in and working fine. I started the day at the UPull yard. The starter drive spring was broken and allowing it to slide back into the ring gear, making a random tink noise. I also managed to crack the knock sensor connector while I was taking it apart last weekend too so I grabbed one of those. One of the Suburbans out there had a brand new serp belt and I snagged it to replace the super cracked one on the GMC.
When I got back home we stuffed the transmission in as well as the transfer case. Since they were getting new fluid, we checked the diffs and they looked good. My dad greased everything and we checked the ball joints before getting it all the way back on the ground. The lowers have just a little movement and the rest of the frontend looks solid. My dad took it around the 3 mile block and said it shifted nice and firm.
The last thing we played with was the front brakes. After you drive for a while they start to drag. Cursory diag point to defective ABS unit.

No pics because I was too busy working.

[DRIVEN]

I did a three day ride with my dad and his gang of New Balance outlaws last week.



Made a big loop through Idaho, Montana, Washington and Oregon. Saw a lot of beautiful country but one state seemed a little less restrictive than the others for some reason.

Finally got a little busy with work but managed to go for a trail ride up north on Wednesday. Met a couple guys up in Garden Valley and did a 110 mile excursion. We rode though Placerville and up to Pirate peak. We made a couple scenic stops and saw a couple mines. Even a random cemetery in the middle of the forrest, then back to base.











Also, I fell down.





Today I went over and puttered on the GMC pickup some more. Did an oil change, transmission service, and replaced a cam chain tensioner on my work car too. No pics because GMC and Vibe.

[DRIVEN]

Replaced the turn signal switch and cleaned up some unused wiring under the dash and hood. Pressure washed the underside and washed it. It's been years since it last saw some soap and water.








I gave the interior a quick wipedown as well as rinsed the dust off the engine bay. It's all good enough for now. I guess we'll put some miles on it to see if any other mechanical issues pop up, then order up some new tires. We were talking about maybe taking a trip to the Upull yard for a better rear bumper and some little misc interior bits.



The Smell Camino has had an intermittent miss for probably a year now that has gotten pretty constant. Months ago I gave it a preliminary check and had it narrowed down to the Pertronix kit. Since I only drive it about once a month it's kind of outta sight, outta mind. So today I finally dug into it. I dug through a pile of storage boxes at my dad's shop and finally located my stash of spare distributor parts, which included some Pertronix take-outs. Once I pulled the distributor it was pretty obvious.

The clear covering had delaminated and the magnets were coming loose.



In my pile-o-spares was another magnet wheel so I swapped it in and verified the air gap.

The engine was filthy and it was almost 90* in the shop. Luckily, my dad reminded me of the swap cooler in the corner. That helped a bunch.





When I got it all back together it fired right up and ran smooth as ever. Finished the job by cleaning up the engine bay a little. Not a full detail but much better.

[wayno]

It's been a long time since I seen the oil filler tube on the front of an intake manifold, as I recall one of the valve covers had the PCV valve in it.

[DRIVEN]

The early small journal stuff was a little different. Most had a draft tube and a vented oil fill cap. In fact, the only reason this has PCV is because it is a California model. Originally it had an A.I.R. system too.

Draft tube was replaced with a vent tube just behind and curving around the distributor. It has a hose attached to the bottom of the air cleaner. PCV is screwed into the oil fill tube and the cap is sealed. PCV hose goes into the base of the carb.

Starting in 1968 (large journal) the draft/vent tube was eliminated. The PCV was moved to one valve cover and the other cover was vented. Both versions worked the same in theory but the later style helped keep sludge out of the valve covers better.

[DRIVEN]

Planning to do a day ride later this week and the white bike has a petcock leak. I decided I'd just ride the blue one, it runs better anyway. Then I remembered that it still has the trailside fix 18" tube in the rear so I swapped it out with the correct 14" tube.


Motorcycle jack and a tire machine made this really quick and easy one man job. All fueled up and ready to ride again. Supposed to be about 100* in the area we plan to ride so I'll be making room for extra water.

[DRIVEN]

Did a 95 mile day ride last week on the other side of the lake. Lots of different terrain and not another living soul out there. There were sections of our route where nobody had been in months, as evidenced by the fully grown and dead standing thistles blocking the trails.









The next day I welded up a cracked Cyclerack and straightened out a bent foot peg, then parked the blue bike in the corner.






I got back to the white bike to prep it for 3 days of riding coming up. I started by swapping out a Cyclerack for a narrower and more rigid Tusk rack.


A quick stop at my local thriftshop netted the base for my Jerod Loop 2.0 luggage system. An old life jacket donated the roll top buckle and locating straps.








I mainly just want to try out this configuration. It's not as much capacity as the yellow saddlebags but it is more compact. I'll probably end up with a Giant Loop Coyote eventually but that literally costs 100x more than this.

[DRIVEN]

I had a buddy in town last week that wanted to do some riding. We decided to do some desert riding then camp on the edge of Silver City.
My overnight pack (actually 3 days worth)...


His overnight pack...

^^^Notice the bald tire?^^^

We rode the desert loop south of Murphy and hit the memorable spots.










Marc overheats pretty easy so we needed frequent water and rest breaks. Aside from that it was relatively drama-free until we got to camp. We were planning to eat before setting up camp when Marc realized he had lost the keys to the padlocks on his rear case. Luckily, one of the overland guys showed up a couple hours later with a cordless cutoff saw. He found the keys inside the locked case.

[DRIVEN]

Next morning we broke camp and waited for the sun to dry out our gear and warm our bones. Stopped at one of the mines on the way out. Not exactly sure what the car is (1940 Buick?) but it used to run a winch to the mine.





Then over the hills and back home for steak, beverages, and tall tales.

[DRIVEN]

Saturday was supposed to be an easy day-ride. We got a late start but Marc managed to whittle down his load to around 60 pounds. We rode pretty hard from Poison Creek stage stop over to Spanish Charly, then headed to the horse traps. Between 2 tire pump-ups, a few water breaks, and having to reconfigure all the stuff on the back of the KLR's broken subframe, we got way behind schedule.



We finally got to the horse traps but not before the KLR went down a couple times. The last being at the turnaround. Unfortunately that caused the airbox to be filled with fuel and it wouldn't start. Minor disassembly to Dump out then air out.


Marc was overheating, out of water, and medically unstable. The thermometer showed 115 and I was a little nervous. We got the KLR started and I noticed the tire was low but kept my mouth shut. We needed to get out of there. We ran up the trail about 4 miles and met an old guy on a side-by-side who offered us cold water and Marc drank about a gallon. He was the only other guy we saw on the trail all day.

About 6 miles later he was flat again. Pumped it up and headed for Leslie Gulch to cool down.


He pumped up one more time and made it almost 100 yards. Of course, he had no new tube and the old one was wasted. Best we could do was stuff my spare 18 in his 17" tire and hope for the best.


47 miles later we were back home. He was planning to leave at noon the next morning. As he left, I suggested he check the air pressure on his tires at the gas station. An hour later I was on my way with a trailer to pick him up. After a run to Cycle Gear and yet another tire and tube replacement, he was headed to Bend just after 5.


TW did just fine, as did the Jerod Loop. One more thing...

I'm still not dead yet.

[DRIVEN]

Wasted most of my Sunday on this. I've been sharing this sprayer with my dad for the last year or so and it's been awkward on the best of days. We've both tried various methods mounting it on our 4wheelers with disappointing results. Finally decided to just build a trailer for it. Everything except the wheels and hitch came from the scrap pile. I even used leftover paint from my little flatbed trailer restoration.





I configured the boom sprayer so that I could offset it to the side to spray the ditches and it can also be stowed lengthwise for storage and transport.








If the hardware store is open tomorrow. I'm going to pick up a couple bags of salt. Rather than keep using expensive weed killer on my driveway, I'm going to experiment with nuking the soil so the weeds just can't grow there.

[DRIVEN]

The GMC got a tune-up and an oil change. I also welded up a rattling cat heatshield. My dad is going to put a few more miles on it and get tires ordered up.

[DRIVEN]

The GMC developed a gremlin. It would randomly lose Vref for the TPS and EGR. I couldn't seem to find the exact break point in the harness so I just ran another parallel wire and tapped both ends of the circuit. Then put it to work.







Things are happening.

[DRIVEN]

Idaho reality check: There's an absolute feeding frenzy here right now. My neighbors across the road just listed their house for $454k. The listed history shows they paid 189k 6 years ago. My neighbor just sold the rocky, barren 15 acres behind me for 320k. My dad looked into the property a year ago and it had no well or water rights. I looked at this place before I bought mine. It was $285 at the time. $639 today. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandho ... Marsing_ID.
The guy to the NE of me just applied for a zoning variance to divide his 50 acres into 4 building lots. Given current values, I expect them to list at $300k+ each.

I guess it's time for me to plant some privacy trees.

[wayno]

Times are changing.

[DRIVEN]

Always are. It's insanity here right now. Fucking California.

[DRIVEN]

Almost everything is moved down to the shop now. I finally built some shelves so I could get the odds and ends up off the floor.


Just need to pull the vehicles out and pressure wash the floor and I'm ready for winter.

[wayno]

So that is your house garage?

Personally I would not pressure wash in a garage, it is very hard to keep the moisture off the walls/sheet rock, if the ceiling gets enough moisture in it it will fall off, I have seen it happen.

[DRIVEN]

Yes, house garage. I did it once before I moved in and it wasn't bad at all. I started at the back and did a section then used a floor squeegee to push the water out the door...repeat...repeat as I worked toward the doors. it was a sunny warm day and dried really fast. I don't remember getting much splatter on the walls. Definitely nothing on the 10' ceiling. Wednesday is supposed to be in the mid 80s. I'll see if I'm in the mood then.

[wayno]

I have done garage floors in the past, but they were unfinished with only real wood showing, it was like a fog had moved in, moisture floating in the air everywhere, but I have a very powerful pressure washer that pumps out 4.5 gallons per minute, it is even worse when I use my concrete cleaner(looks like an electric lawn mower), it is supposed to keep water from spraying everywhere, but it turns it into even more fog coming out the small gap between the cleaner cover and the ground.