Swamp Donkey Progess

I took Diane to Pickups Plus last week. I have been having a "transmission issue" for about a year. Basically a hard stutter seamingly when going into OD. Trans shop who build it said it was for sure a miss but I did not believe them. No codes or anything. Anyhow, 2 ignition coils and 8 plugs and the "transmission" issue is gone. She screams now!

Also had them check out a very strange ticking from the front, pass. side of the motor. They said they fixed it with an idler pulley, but it is still doing it.

It has to get warm before it will do it, but that usually only takes a couple minutes.

This sounds weird, but it goes like this:
tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick

3 sets of 4 ticks, then a set of 3 ticks. It in no way varies from this sequence. I removed the belt and ran it and the noise still persists. Maybe a valve, or maybe something with the timing chain/tensioner. It does not affect performance in any way. I just want to know what it is.

Got the camper painted and re-installed today. Would a roof rack on the camper be :rainbow:? I want to mount 2 badass lights somehow. I could make a little bracket off the front Warn winch kit license plate mount thing, or mount 2 lights to a roof rack on the shell.

Rod bearing

sounds more on top of the motor.

does it go away when your rev the motor? might be a rod bearing going out.

Boss at the air port had the same problem and thought it was everything else including pulleys and lifters and ended up being the back rod bearings

Just got back from my Colorado/Wyoming trip. Put just over 4400 miles on her in 13 days without a hiccup.

I will have to post some pics once my buddy gets them up.

Yellowstone kinda sucked. Very structured.

Grand Teton was cool

Amazed at the number of slide in campers in truck beds up there. It was seriously the prefered camping method. Some of those slide ins are enormous and the majority of them were on SRW 3/4tons. Swaying and bouncing pretty good. Crazy. I want a lighter/smaller FWC for Diane.

Saw moose, bison, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, coyote, fox, and a wolf. No bears, but we were honestly pretty scared. My 3 buddies are into guns like you fags, and had all sorts of fire power, but were saying that it probably would be enough. Bunch of stories out lately about bears up there.

Spend a couple days around Buena Vista area. Gorgeous.

Weather could not have been better.

Is there still an orange 79 f-250 with a flat bed for sale on the side of the road coming into buena vista?

dont recall

Meh, I guess its better than before. I am still thinking about tearing it down and building something else, but certainly not before Clayton-palooza. Clayton plans include some more cleanup on the rear fender hacking, new plugs and an oil change on the motor, fix the winch line, and figure out what I bent in the steering on the drive back to camp. If the plugs do not fix the motor, then it will just smoke a little on her last voyage.

Why?

Why? Much like JB I often look at my pile of parts. Is it wicked fun at Alto? Hell Yes, but for serious rock crawling like Katemcy, Clayton, etc... it will never compete with a lighter truck or buggy. Also full sizes will always require more maintenance than a smaller vehicle due to weight. Look at Cook's rig, look at all the odd problems he has had because of the weight associated with a full size. Seriously, sometimes I want to stab BDR in his cherokee, it does pretty much everythin JB and I's rigs do, but it has a full cab and A/C... I love JB's rig and I love the Klogger because of the image, a Bronco, a Crew Cab, etc... but at the end of the day it is not the best base to start with.

I'll give you your 78/79 is holding up well, but at the end of the day, some d-bag with dana 44's and a toyota is going to crawl past you.

no, I know that. Why take the rear off? Now it looks like clark's, and we all know what happened to it.

I might hold off on building a cage and wait till jb decides to scrap that and I'll buy it.

The body was trashed. The fenders flopped around. It is what I was stuck on when the balljoints let loose. It looked like **** before if you really looked at it. Now its several hundred pounds lighter and I have better visibility. It looks just as ****ty as it did before, maybe a little better once I finish.

JB you've had the bronco forever. I recall you saying something about it being your first vehicle.

Don't kill this thing, it's got too much history, and it can wheel better than most of the fullsize rigs ive seen.

if he makes a buggy and still use the parts its not dead.... its just reborn