New from Washington

[carboncanyon]

New here, not new to the internet. Done the Hi-Performance diesel thing, doing the hi performance classic jetboat thing, and now maybe gonna do the wheeler thing for awhile.

Picked up a trashed 1991 exploder sport on a 6" lift and 35s. Previous owner took it to Evans Creek ORV as a nice rig, and in one trip, literally found every tree and rock to bounce it off of. It came out the other side like hamburger! I think the only thing he didnt do was roll it!

It needs lots of work to be a decent rig again, but it has potential. And if not, I will put all the running gear into my 1990 B-II thats only a 2wd, but in good shape.

Only reason I bought the exploder was I took my 1978 4x4 Ford van up into the snow this last weekend, and while it had no problems going everywhere the Grand Cherokee's went, the van just takes up WAY more space and things got too tight and I didnt want to hurt the van. Its old, but its still an OK rig.

I'll post more in the 1st gen section, but here's a couple shots...

 

[Albino 94LTD]

Welcome to the forum.

We were up at Coplay Lake Saturday.

Snow too deep for us 33" rigs to get much further.

 

[carboncanyon]

Thats funny, because thats where I was at Saturday with the van!

Except we cut left and went up the Surprise lake trail. I got the van up to the first wide turn-around, and the jeeps got another 1/4 mile or so before the road turned into a river and couldnt climb back up onto the snowpack to make it the rest of the way to the lake.

I took my superduty up to Coplay last winter, and made it all the way up to the upper parking lot even. It was a hard climb. More ice than snow.

We plan on going back up to Surprise Lake this spring/summer, and also, there are 3 old mine shafts just a short hike off the main road we want to check out also.

 

[carboncanyon]

The van on Saturday up on the Coplay Lake road after going up the Surprise lake trail. By the way, those are mostly bald 31s and they didnt do half bad! I only landed on the frame once (and hence the decision to buy a real wheeler!)

Posing in the snow

Posing on the rocks

Showing off that awesome flex!

 

[Albino 94LTD]

Ha, we saw the jeeps and Sami at the Burnett store. You must have been up the Suprise trail when we came down. We saw tracks but didn't try it.

Keep you eyes on the NW forum for future outings.

 

[carboncanyon]

yeah, that was them. I was actually late meeting up with them. They had already gone up the trail before I got there. I pulled in just as that little honda suv thing with the chains on the front was parking at the trailhead. Snowshoers.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! The Econoline looks great for its age.

 

[carboncanyon]

Welcome to this forum! The Econoline looks great for its age.

thanks. yeah, its in pretty good shape considering me and the van are almost the same age! Its got a pretty nasty caved in rear quarter on the drivers side from the previous owner jack-knifing a trailer while driving to alaska, but other than that, its pretty straight. interior is in great shape too. Tucked velvet like material, 4 capt's chairs and a bench/bed conversion in the back. Its great for short weekend trips towing the jetboat.

Paid 400 bucks for it as it sits with a bad radiator.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check WWW.AutoCoolRadiators.Com or WWW.RadiatorBarn.Com for a replacement radiator.

 

[carboncanyon]

oh, it has a new radiator in it now. I was saying I paid 400 bucks for it just the way it sits, all it had was a bad radiator. Put a new one in and drove it! Havnt done anything else to it.