Texas Tragedy

[Sinjin]

First off I would like to thank everyone for making it out for this event, and I hope I didnt totally spoil everyones weekend with the Titanic incident. Thanks to all those involved with getting my truck back home safely, I dont know what I would of done without you guys.
Now it's time for the good and bad news.
Good News- Looks like its not TOO bad, electrical system is fine, radio, windows(thanks for the offer CBoug)and everything else seems ok.
Bad News- Its turning out to be a $600 mistake. What they "said" needs to be done is, Tranny Flush, Axle fluid flush, oil change, new battery, repack bearings. Does that seem like a reasonable price to get this done?

Thanks again for everyones help this weekend.

ohh yaa Teri, if I had a chance to move to Colorado, i'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

[Scott B.]

Rod,

Don't forget to change the fluid in your front differential and transfer case. It wouldn't hurt to flush your brake system, either.

If you are going to replace your battery, you might want to consider spending a few extra dollars and getting a red-top Optima. They hold up much better to off-roading than a regular battery.

Also, re-grease any components that may have grease fittings (ball joints, steering joints, u-joints).

 

[Sinjin]

Scott,
I thought the Axle fluid flush was the same as " the fluid in your front differential and transfer case"
Thanks for your time,

 

[Kris Guilbeaux]

Rod,

I though this was going to cost a bit more good thing there was no Elec damage.

Not Sure on the cost of the repair though... I would be Sure Every thing is Regreased and new oil in Every thing.

 

[mattadams]

Rod, glad to hear its not TOO bad. As far as some of those fluid changes you could probably do them yourself. I get uncomfortable when trying to flush out a transmission or a transfer case... but bearings and differentials (or axle fluid whatever you want to call it) is fairly routine...
If you've never repacked your bearings, save yourself a bunch of money and learn how. Most places around here if you take it there just to have them repack them, they'll charge you between $75-100 to repack.. and for the times I've repacked my own I've saved a bundle. Here's the procedures (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Remove your tire, then your hub, then your hub nuts... oh wait you have 95-newer... ok it'll be different, and I'm not sure how you get to the bearings cause I've actually never taken a wheel off the new explorers . But basically, grab the bearing in one hand, get a fistful of bearing grease in the other hands, and smash em together... get grease all over the dang thing, in every single crease you can find, try to get plenty packed in behind the rolling portion of hte bearings as well. by the way... wearing surgical gloves or painting gloves at this point is not a bad idea because cleaning an inch of grease from your sink is not as fun as it sounds.Once its crammed full of grease put it back in, grease the spindle a little bit, grease the portion where the bearing meets the hub, and there you go! As for diff fluid, once again I'm hoping its like my axle but it probably isn't. You can just take the one big bolt near the center of the diff off (mine is a 4-point 3/4" bolt... thanks Ford!). You'll have to find some way of pumping the fluid out. Syphoning could be a less then fun experience so a hand pump or something like that would be better. Once your sure you've got all the fluid out, fill it up to the whole with new redline synthetic diff fluid. As for the back, they change mine up again, maybe yours is the same way... the fill plug is actually on the more difficult side of the axle to get at, and its not like a bolt, you just stick I believe its a 1/2" socket driver (the part that sticks out, not the actual socket) and loosen it out, pump out the fluid in the same way and fill it up in the same way. If you've never changed your u-joints then chances are they are the sealed type so you can't re-grease them even if you want to... those are probably fine though. I think most of the steering joints in the new explorers are sealed types so you can't regrease them either... thanks for making maintenance so much easier ford! LOL. Hope that helps a bit. Glad your Hellas were out of the water the whole time .

 

[Michael]

I just wanted to get my say in here. I had a great time this weekend running the Slabs and getting to meet the fellow Texas wheelers that showed up. I want to thank all of them for not giving me too much trash for showing up in a Chevy. I was surprised by how well the stock explorers did, and was very impressed by Kris's changeover to 4wd.

On to Rod's "incedent". There isn't much more that can be said about that, except that he took it very well. Much better in fact than I would have. He even took all of the Titanic and Canoe comments without getting mad at anybody. Someone above mentioned Rod's Trailer Queen ride home, here it is:

All in all it was a great trip with great company. I learned a great many things from the fountain of wisdom that is Gerald (everyone needs more D-rings, and Follow the ripples). I look forward to doing it again (and in an Explorer next time).


Michael


[Edited by Michael on 10-16-2000 at 02:59 PM]

 

[mattadams]

egads man, no pictures of a chevy towing a ford! It's bad karma!

 

[Scott B.]

Rod,

Yes, they are the same thing. I guess I assumed when you said "Axle fluid flush" they were referring only to the rear axle.

In other words, flush both the rear and front axles/differentials.

 

[Sinjin]

Wow thanks for the info Matt that will definetly come in handy, thanks for taking the time out to write such a long post. And also thanks Scott for the info.
If it looks like the back of my truck on the trailer is higher then the front, it is, the tires had to be released to 0 psi to get the hold downs to fit.

 

[GJarrett]

Some Pics

It was great meeting everyone. I wish Keach and Kris could have stuck around because the campout was a real pleasure. I am very impressed with Kris' 4wd conversion. Michael's Tahoe performed much better than I expected and the ability of his BFG Longtrails shocked me in the deep sand.

Since Michael has already posted Rod's trailer queen picture I'll leave mine out. Here's what got the wannabe U-Boat Cap'n there:

He was gradually sinking and went down another few inches after this shot before I got tired of watching Rod's knowitall J**per friend fail to get him strapped. I got behind him and strapped Michael to my front and tandemed up and started pulling him out backwards before he went under.

And here's a train of Kubben, Eric, and me towing Rod through the deep sand. I tried to pull him and just dug into axle deep sand. It took all three of us to move him through the sand.

Now for the rest of the trip. Here we are at Rod's CulDeSac before departure. From left to right, the first and second vehicles are Herc and Kris's new 4wd, and the fourth and fifth are Keith and Rod. That short one in the middle is Brian's lowered SportTrac Keach showed up a little later and I didn't get his rig's picture, unfortunately.

Here's where we camped. It was a very pretty area and the weather was PERFECT.

And a view of camp from halfway up that rock. Hey, there's Keach's white rig with the hood up. We were checking out his ram air setup.

We saw tens/hundreds of thousands of Monarch butterflies on their migration. They completely covered up and surrounded the trees in one section of the river. I couldn't figure out my loaner camera in time and didn't get a pic. Did anyone else?

Here's a view of Kubben "Gettin' It Awn" on one of the Slabs late Friday evening (I was resorting to the "point here and run over me" method of spotting him). The light makes it hard to tell what he did, so I am posting a pic of me coming down the same formation so you can tell the ledge Keith was climbing(that's Brian getting the heckoutta my way). Very impressive climb for a fairly stock vehicle, Keith!

I am sorry to say that I didn't get any other pictures of Keach or Kris since we spent most of our time raising the Titanic while they were there. Hopefully others got some shots. Keach, thanks for the idea on the ram air!

To finish off, I can't resist posting a couple of Herc showing off on that slab now that I've built him up a little more

UP,

AND OVER

Finally, Rod, I am sorry what happened but am thankful it wasn't worse. $600 ain't cheap but a hydrolocked engine and fried computer and electronics would have REALLY ruined your week.

[Edited by GJarrett on 10-16-2000 at 03:07 PM]

 

[mattadams]

decent pics! The body lift/PIAA 520 combo looks excellent . Rod man... boy I don't know... I think I need to get mine a little wet now just to keep up!

 

[Trckmagik]

 

[Sinjin]

The weird thing was that it is a crossing that I had made tons of times before, but this time it rained and the river came up. I definetly learned my lesson.
Matt,
I thought I was trying to hang with you, I'm driving around in a Saturn right now.

 

[Trckmagik]

 

[Trckmagik]

Here is Kris and I going across one of our first river crossings in his converted 2wd.

[Edited by trckmagik on 10-16-2000 at 02:50 PM]

 

[mattadams]

Rod... you made fun of my saturn but now you see why I have one... so if I drown the explorer in the river over the weekend I can still get to work .

 

[Michael]

Fixed Karma

To fix everyone's Karma I went in and took the Chevy out of the Trailer Queen Picture.

Michael

 

[Sinjin]

Matt,
I wansnt trying to make fun of your Saturn, I'm really driving around in a Saturn.
Actually it's Kel's.

 

[Alec]

Rod,

If you see this tonight (monday), check your PM and give me a call. Leave me your phone # too, k?

Thanks,
Alec

 

[Trckmagik]

found some more!