Tbars Project "X" begins

[Tbars4]

..No worries..:biggthump

..When Brian1 post up the awesome tril report of where all we traveled just to get to Mormon lake, it will be clear that this is a minor setback..I broke in a good place and some of the places we were might have taken days just for the the recovery..

..Sent from onboard a yellow Freightliner tow truck heading home on the 40..

 

[Maniak]

Single shear. Been like that for over ten years. I was thinking about making it double shear but if it ain't broke.....

Ted, sorry to hear about your vehicle troubles. Wish you were further southwest.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

I thought single sheer for shocks was bad. The front TTB not only break them when things are rusted but they can just break. I broke one of mine (and a bolt on one) on the front of our X..

~Mark

 

[BKennedy]

I thought single sheer for shocks was bad. The front TTB not only break them when things are rusted but they can just break. I broke one of mine (and a bolt on one) on the front of our X..

~Mark

Has not been bad so far. I never broke a shock mount or bolt with the TTB, just dented some shock bodies because the radius arms would contact them at full droop. I think the double shocks help to spread the load out. I had the rear axle, leafs, and shocks out just prior to the SAS and it all looked solid. Now that we are talking about it, I am sure it will break on the next run..


Ted, if you can find a trailer, I can come up there and tow you home with the Silverado for gas money. Might end up costing about as much as a tow to Victorville though.

 

[Tbars4]

..with any luck the truck will be in the barn about 10 pm..

Now if you had your mojave rd trip report done I'd have something to read..:

..and Thank you by the way..

 

[BKennedy]

..with any luck the truck will be in the barn about 10 pm..

Now if you had your mojave rd trip report done I'd have something to read..:

..and Thank you by the way..

I am still waiting on my buddy Mike's pictures. He brought a good camera and took a few hundred to sort through.

 

[Tbars4]

..The Explorer has landed...:biggthump

..updates tomorrow..

 

[Tbars4]

..But first a teaser shot of the upcoming trip report..

 

[Brian1]

Long day but glad you got it back!

 

[Turdle]

Is your explorer auto or 5 speed Ted? I have a flex plate here if it will help. I was going to throw it way but thought "what if"?

 

[Tbars4]

..It's an auto, A4ld...

 

[jwrezz]

Flexplate=auto flywheel=manual. If its a used flexplate forget it. I made the mistake of reusing old flexplate after engine rebuild. A few weeks into it the whole thing shattered. Single use seems to be the thing for the bolts AND plate. I got new bolts, but...

 

[Turdle]

..It's an auto, A4ld...

Flexplate=auto flywheel=manual. If its a used flexplate forget it. I made the mistake of reusing old flexplate after engine rebuild. A few weeks into it the whole thing shattered. Single use seems to be the thing for the bolts AND plate. I got new bolts, but...

Ted, it's your call. You can have this if'n you want it.

If you do, PM address to send it too. If not, destroy this message.

 

[Tbars4]

..Thank you and I appreciate the kind offer but as remote as we travel, I am going to have to opt for the new parts..:biggthump

_______________________________________________________________

Update

..After swapping the new IAC in and updating the "zip tie" mod, My X had never run as good as it did on this trip..

..It had power and back pressure and it would shift effortlessly on the proper points..It was awesome to drive and it took the physical fatigue away from the many miles we drove..(I'm guessing about 1500 miles for me total with about 500 miles backcountry driving)

Previous random ping

I truly believe that what I was chasing had to do with a faulty "New" IAC as it has disappeared by about 97% and only shows when climbing large hills at highway speed and just before it drops to passing gear and then it disappears also..

That horrible hammer knock

..I also accredit this to the bad IAC..The spring was like nill by the time I pulled it and it had to be sucking twice as much air than fuel so it was not a dieseling but a compression of air knock that sounded like a 2# hammer on the block..

MPG's

Now with how easy the whole drivetrain and shifting of the transmission had become on this trip it was easy to keep the foot out of the gas so one would think that would mean higher mpg's...

..I believe I had been running so lean with the prior bad IAC that is what was gving the 18-18.5 mpg highway on the long trips..This trip I was getting 16.1-17.1 mountain highway mpg and instead of getting about 10 mpg on the rougher trails I had gotten 13 plus mpg this trip..This is not scientific but something I will be keeping an eye on like I have in the past years..


The shocks..

..Although they were used shocks and well broke in, they only enhanced this driving experience..

..At one point on the trail Brian1 asked if I wasn't sure I wanted to pull over and air down as he was getting beat on in his truck..I said I was fine as I have shocks this trip..

..Between the really soft springs now and these shocks it smoothed the road out pretty well..

..I have to say it was a blast cruising about 40 over normal 25mph stuff and just letting your suspension do it's thing..There were times when the shocks would start fading away but those were minimal..

..But a number of the trails were rough and it seemed every day there were new items needing addressed from the rough roads and the amount of dirt the trucks were absorbing..

..One day I actually knocked the drivers front window out of it's tracks and drove most of the day eating dirt with the window down..It was a quick fix at camp that night..

..I need to look into the window and door lock switches as each day they would act up like one window wouldn't work and another lock wouldn't either while I had issues with both rear doors not wanting to open at different times manually..

..Right now all seems fine except there is no power to the window in the drivers back seat..

..My seats

..I actually started this trip with an ongoing pinched nerve in my lower back which I am guessing is being caused by the stock worn seat in my Ranger and the amount of clutching I do daily..

...I am truly a fan of my seats which I think I have had for about 2 years now and they are as firm and as comfortable as he day I got them and they stay that way even when you are bouncing around for 8-10 hours a day...My nagging back pain disappeared early on the trails..:biggthump

 

[gmanpaint]

When you say hammer knock by the IAC, does it sound like a bad lifter tick, pushrod knock? Or something else?

I just found oil on the plug threads on a set of plugs on one bank, with less than 10k on them. I was thinking a coil pack is going south maybe, but this IAC statement has me thinking...

 

[Tbars4]

..Nope...it sounds like a big hammer trying to knock on the block from a good swing..

Check your intake tube for raw oil..

 

[Tbars4]

..On to the Towing Story

..Most know I have the AAA Premier service which I have had for years and just for an occasion like this..

...This service allows me a couple tows a year with one of them being up to 200 miles and this would be the first time I would use it on my X..

..Now being a member with them for over a dozen years and just paying for my current service just before I left on this trip should have made this an easy transaction of getting a tow truck out to me right away..Wrong..

______________________________________________________________

..I arrived in Bullhead Az. at 11 a.m and got what would be my last gas for the way home...I was 276 miles from home so it was going to be close on a tank but it's all downhill if there is no wind..

..I had gotten about a 1/2 mile before the truck started acting up and a total of a mile by the time I was done coasting..I called AAA to get some questions answered since I knew the 200 mile service would leave me short by 76 miles..

..After looking up several 200 mile options, Victorville would be right on the 200 mile range and knowing we have several members in the area that could help me out in the area I decided this would be the best..Worst case I could get a trailer and tow my truck home from there..

The fun begins

..I called AAA back up and because of my area code on my phone, the computer sent me to SoCal AAA..Not a problem as that is where all my info is and they took my current location information but since I was in Arizona they needed to transfer me to AZ. AAA..

...Arizona AAA was easily reached and this is where the issue became apparent..I am in Az. and heading to Ca. so now my 200 mile trip is Interstate and between two different agencies..The gal on the phone in Az. needed an address for where I was dropping my truck in Victorville...It had to be a mechanic or shop and they needed a name and phone number so they could call and verify before sending a tow truck..

..Normally this would be an easy task but it was Sunday and although I have had my truck worked on out there by various shops so I could make it home from other trail runs, I was drawing a blank..I called several members I know as well as race teams in the area but it was mid day Sunday and everyone was on the road or out and about doing their own thing..

..By now it is 100*, I'm parked on asphalt, and each time I call AAA it starts in Ca., then I'm sent to Az., who then has to call Ca. to verify all my information first before we proceed any further and without a final destination address and phone verification first, I was not getting a 200 mile tow..

Plan B

..Now Bullhead City is a busy little town, it is a little town and it was now Sunday afternoon..

..I started looking for other options as renting a truck and trailer to get home and with all the rental yards in town only 1 U-haul place was open..It was now 4:30 and they were open till 5 and would rent me a 10' box and a trailer (or dolly) to haul my known to them 91 Explorer for about $280 one way...The only problem with this was going to be loading the X or maneuvering it onto a dolly when I was on a hill with no forward gears by myself..

Plan C

..It dawned on me that I had a similar incident years ago and after being stuck in a town for a few days I reached out to multiple tow companies and finally found one that would help me out..I mean seriously..I had all my ducks in a row but it was a simple technicality issue then too that I had to resolve..

..So I started looking up local tow companies on my phone and most of them showed 24 hr. towing but their offices were closed on Sunday....I then ran across A&G towing ad on the net but after looking at their website I could not find that they were an AAA tow service but they seemed to be the only one in town to show they were open on Sunday so I gave them a call..

..I started telling the guy on the phone my situation and he politely stopped me and said it was an Interstate thing and he would take care of it quickly for me if I would give him my AAA info but first he asked if they could run me out some water or if I needed a place to get out of the heat first..

..You know it's kinda funny as it didn't even dawn on me but most people are not used to running around the desert in 100 plus degree temperature...After all the calls I was on with AAA over this breakdown no one even asked me how I was doing sitting on the side of the road in the heat for all this time..:scratch:

..So the guy on the phone at A&G took down all my AAA info and now it was 5 o'clock and I had been sitting there for 4-1/2 hours after I tried to get this going with AAA..(5-1/2 hrs total)

..15 minutes later I received a call from AAA that they had dispatched a truck and it was on the way..A few minutes later A&G showed up and the first thing the driver said was he apologized for the issue with AAA and could he get me a water from his on board fridge or would I like to get up in the a/c of the cab of his truck to cool off?

..I thanked him and told him my on board fridge was still loaded with drinks and I just finished making some fresh sandwiches..

Summation

..Here I am with a little situation that I pay a large corporation to take care of and I'm stranded in the heat of the desert for hours while they are hung up on a policy while a little company who don't know me from Adam saves the day and is concerned about my well being first, then apologizes on behalf of the Service I'm paid into, then they go the extra mile to take me home the rest of the way (for an extra fee of course but they could have just dumped me in Victorville as I have had other tow companies do)..

..anyways...a couple more pictures of my ride home..

..When they picked me up..

..This picture is in Ludlow where we took a quick leg stretch..We were driving directly into the setting sun 1/2 the trip and the reds and pink desert sky was an awesome view while we had mile long trains traveling along side of us going down the highway..

..and about 11 pm she was unloaded at the barn..

_____________________________________________________________

Some Thank You's are in order

..In no particular order I want to Thank all those who helped me while I was trying to get home and I sure hope I don't forget anyone..

Maniak
Rick
Boomer
Ritsui
Sirhk100
Brian1
BKennedy
AJCal
Multiple offroad race teams (SCORE and Ultra4)

..and some guy whom I never met who was racing down at Fontana when he heard I was broke down and offered up his place in Phelan and he would be home later that night..

..and of course, A&G towing for turning what could have been a bad situation into a pleasant trip home..

Side note:

..I looked up Joey Jarhead on EF while I was sitiing out there and knowing he was in Bullhead City..He hadn't been online since february 2012 and his latest signature showed he is living in Sparks Nevada..

 

[gmanpaint]

This is the main reason I am fearful of going anywhere out of town with these old rigs.

Glad you made it back, and broke down near civilization.

Trailer time?

 

[Maniak]

Sheesh.. AAA didn't make it easy for you..

I say time to post about their crap service on social media.. (facebook, twitter and even G+).. As much as I like having AAA, hearing them pull stuff like this just pisses me off.

Their incompetence could have cost someone else that was less prepared their life.. Let alone their sanity, its good thing you don't have that...

Anywhoo, That was good thinking about calling the towing companies yourself. That never occurred to me..

I'm glad you made it all the way home.. AND I see you are already back at work.. no rest for the wicked...

~Mark

 

[Tbars4]

This is the main reason I am fearful of going anywhere out of town with these old rigs.

Glad you made it back, and broke down near civilization.

Trailer time?

..Nope...Kind of the opposite..

..Even though it was in a smaller town that this happened, If I wasn't so determined to get home I could have hit up a junk yard in even smaller towns along my trip and grabbed what I need to repair the truck to make it home and for cheaper than my tow..

..I actually spent the day before helping work on a lot newer Toyota 4runner at the Expo so the owner could get home..The owner of that vehicle happened to call me while I was on my tow truck ride home to tell me he made it home safely and thanks...We both got a kick that I was riding in a tow truck to make it home..haha..

..I actually have more faith in driving my X (and Ranger) anywhere and being able to find parts for it than I do in finding parts to repair a trailer..:biggthump

 

[Tbars4]

Sheesh.. AAA didn't make it easy for you..

I say time to post about their crap service on social media.. (facebook, twitter and even G+).. As much as I like having AAA, hearing them pull stuff like this just pisses me off.

Their incompetence could have cost someone else that was less prepared their life.. Let alone their sanity, its good thing you don't have that...

Anywhoo, That was good thinking about calling the towing companies yourself. That never occurred to me..

I'm glad you made it all the way home.. AND I see you are already back at work.. no rest for the wicked...

~Mark

..To be honest, the Ca. AAA was pretty much on the ball but I got the feeling the Az. AAA was reading a script as we are now so accustomed to large Corporations doing nowadays..

..It sure was nice knowing that in this still bad economy a small company like A&G would go out of their way to help out and for such a long distance when other companies wouldn't...

..Remind me sometime to tell you the story about when I broke my timing belt in my Ranger the night before a Mojave rd. trip...I broke down on the freeway under 10 miles from the shop and I had a tow company refuse towing me because of Harley..The guy had a phobia about Chihuahua's..

...For the next 4 hours that night of being on the phone with AAA trying to get another tow truck out, that particular local tow company had each of the trucks honk as they passed by me while I was sitting there and they passed frequently..