Truck Haven Hills, CA in October 25 - 26

If anyone wants some factory 91 front fenders in the darker red/maroon color PM me and I"ll try to remember to toss them in. They're just taking up space in my sideyard...

I worked on the camper over the weekend. Sealed the roof, and fixed some wires on the roof that had the insulation baked off by the sun. Once I was done with that I hooked up the trailer and found that the electric brake circuit isn't working. I get to troubleshoot that today

Rick said:

I worked on the camper over the weekend. Sealed the roof, and fixed some wires on the roof that had the insulation baked off by the sun. Once I was done with that I hooked up the trailer and found that the electric brake circuit isn't working. I get to troubleshoot that today

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Today, I am washing the RV and Explorer, fueling them, propane for the RV, general pre-trip check out (tire pressure, fluids, lights) and packing tools. The drive for fuel does double duty as a check ride.

Stic-O. You want a spare F-150 D44 long side axle shaft? I got no use for it. If so, I can toss it in the RV.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

..I heard the photographer will be arriving out there some time after noon on Friday..

Trailer brakes are good to go. Just took some contact cleaner to the connectors and they're back.

While I was under there I gave the trailer hitch a quick check. One of the rearmost bolts had loosened up and had about a 1/4 gap between the washer and the hitch I tightened it up and was able to get about 1/4" turn out of the rest of the bolts. I've checked them before and never had an issue. Weird...

Rick said:

<snip>I tightened it up and was able to get about 1/4" turn out of the rest of the bolts. I've checked them before and never had an issue. Weird...

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Toss a tab of nail polish on the bolt at the seam. That way, if it moves you can tell just by a quick look.

I do this of many bolts now.. It makes quick work of checking bolts to see if they loosened up. I Mainly do it on drive shaft flange bolts etc. and other that I want to be able to check quickly while I'm doing something else (like an oil change)..

~Mark

Maniak said:

Toss a tab of nail polish on the bolt at the seam. That way, if it moves you can tell just by a quick look.

I do this of many bolts now.. It makes quick work of checking bolts to see if they loosened up. I Mainly do it on drive shaft flange bolts etc. and other that I want to be able to check quickly while I'm doing something else (like an oil change)..

~Mark

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Real men use marker paint pens, but I guess if you have nail polish in your tool box, go for it.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

Tbars4 said:

..I heard the photographer will be arriving out there some time after noon on Friday..

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Is he staying the weekend?

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..Friday thru Saturday for sure but has to head out for something else..

BKennedy said:

Today, I am washing the RV and Explorer, fueling them, propane for the RV, general pre-trip check out (tire pressure, fluids, lights) and packing tools. The drive for fuel does double duty as a check ride.

Stic-O. You want a spare F-150 D44 long side axle shaft? I got no use for it. If so, I can toss it in the RV.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

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can always use a spare shaft

worked on the super duty all weekend. Filled it up with gas (which is the first time since owning) just have to everything else together during the week.

BKennedy said:

Real men use marker paint pens, but I guess if you have nail polish in your tool box, go for it.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

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Some of us are manly enough to walk into Walgreens and buy nail polish...

I have multiple bottles of multiple colors of nail polish.. I use them on different manly things, like bolts and even on some of my guns.

Next time I see your rig, I'll have to put some bright green nail polish on some bolts for you

~Mark

I ummmm.... Changed oil last week on the expo cause it was due. Does that count as prep? That's about all I'm planning to do other then checking the rest of the fluids in it and the van. I have a clunk coming from the front pass side but can't find it. Also have a strange whining noise on initial startup for about 45 seconds but can't tell where it's coming from either. Both need to get worse before I can pin point them. LOL

I'll load the van thursday evening and get the trailer out and race truck unloaded off it. Then get race truck parked and covered back up and load expo on Friday after work when I get home.

sirhk100 said:

<snip> I have a clunk coming from the front pass side but can't find it. Also have a strange whining noise on initial startup for about 45 seconds but can't tell where it's coming from either. Both need to get worse before I can pin point them. <snip>

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If this is on the X, I just spent a few months off/on trying to track down a clunk on the front left of the X that wasn't the typical loose bearing, steering/tie rod etc...

Short answer: Lower bolt holding the Radius arm to the Axle beam..

Long answer:...
It finally got bad enough that while sitting still, if I turned the wheel to the right of center and then all the way left, as I got close to the end of the left travel I got the clunk AND I could see the tire jump.

I "thought" it was coming from the lower ball joint (that is what it looked like) but it was still there after changing the ball joints.

This weekend I finally found it.. I was lying under the truck while someone else was turning the wheel right/left and when I was behind the front axle I saw the axle move independently (jump) of the radius arm. A little more watching/feeling and I figured out the mount between the radius arm and the beam wasn't as tight as it should be (no nail polish on that bolt yet). I put on a big breaker bar on a 1 1/8" socket and pulled and got 1/2 turn out of the bolt.. No more clunk...

[/hijack]

~Mark

That's actually the first two bolts I checked... Both top and bottom ones. Then radius arm mounts, then beam pivot bolts. Then jacked it up and holding top/bottom of the tire tried to rock it, tight as can be. I didn't put a pry bar in to try and move the BJ's though, could be those... I'll be bringing tools and spares this weekend so if whatever it is gets worse hopefully I can tighten it or deal with it out there. In all actuallity... I really should rebuild my driver's side front shock this week. Not sure if I'll have the time/motivation though. May just hit them all with the nitro tank and run with it.

Maniak said:

Some of us are manly enough to walk into Walgreens and buy nail polish...

I have multiple bottles of multiple colors of nail polish.. I use them on different manly things, like bolts and even on some of my guns.

Next time I see your rig, I'll have to put some bright green nail polish on some bolts for you

~Mark

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How about some glitter, cause you know I like the bling??

BKennedy said:

How about some glitter, cause you know I like the bling??

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Well, I do have some glitter nail polish (top coat)..

I can put that on your truck if you want.. It came with a bottle of green when I bought it.. That is the green I use on the front sight of my competition pistol.

~Mark

BTW, my beams are on uniball pivots, radius arms are heim joints, tie rods are all heim joints, etc... Clunk could very well be one of those showing first signs of wear and if that's the case, not too stressed. Will tear into it eventually and see what's up. It's minor enough I'm not too concerned for this weekend. If it gets worse, I'll worry. LOL

Prep...

- Had tire shop fix slow leak in DR/L tire.

- Finally got off my butt and installed body lift and sliders

- Checked and fixed missing swaybar link parts for the drive down.

- Bought a mag mount antenna for the roof. 1/2 ground plane on the hood mount never seemed to work.

- Fixed wiper relays and MF switch so I won't be jumping out of the truck every few miles to clean the windshield

- Got Tacoma ready with CB, hood/bed LEDs. Checked camping supplies (tents, cooking gear, portapotty) . . . then said screw it and rented a small RV


** Ignoring several undiagnosed clunks **

Getting my shocks rebuilt and some new tires put on Wednesday, and then Thursday ripping the cb and a couple other small things out of the expo to move over to the truck.

Multi-car prep

So it looks like I'll probably be headed out Friday and I will have Dora in tow, I don't really feel like driving her on a 300 mile trip with a worn out inner tie rod and ball joints. I have custom upper A-Arms on order with uniballs but they won't be ready in time. This week I need to fill up the Excursion with premium (pockets are already burning) so I can put the Hypertech tune on it (makes towing so much easier). Checking fluids and such, increasing tire pressure for long distance towing, then off to UHaul to get a car hauler for Dora to ride on out to the hills. Expo doesn't really need much prep except for hooking up my LED light bar and lowering tire pressure a tad for off roading. Really looking forward to this trip.