SWFWDA Summer Quarterly Live Report

[mark]

I am starting this little thread to give an almost live stream of posts updating the mayhem which is sure to follow our fellow intrepid TAMORites during the latest epic trip to Colorado.

Several of the group left this morning. Of course it started off in its usual manner, a complete Mongolian Charlie Foxtrot.

With a departure time scheduled for 7pm yesterday, the lead elements (David) left at 8:30pm. Not bad for TAMOR. Too bad the rest of the group didn't leave until 4am due to problems with Chris’s trailer and Brandon’s compulsive need to screw around for a couple hours prior to going anywhere.

Brandon's Scout had a bit of a problem with exploding headlights. He burned out one set, then immediately burned a second set out. So at about Waco, the Scout went on the trailer and off came the 8-Runner. Yes, I too fail to see the wisdom in that move.

Of course in true 8-runner fashion, the engine overheated. So off came the hood. Problem solved hillbilly style.

The trailer too decided that problematic was the word of the day so it sent one of its Desert Dawgs off to its just reward. Fortunately, and surprisingly, there was a spare.

Somehow they made it to Troy's. In the fine tradition of Andy's wallet, Brandon's keys rode every bit of the way on the Scout's fender. Classic Jackassic. I can only imagine what it must be like following the Scout on a trailer. It must be like getting behind an overloaded Tijuana trash truck with papers, old slurpees, small dead animals and potpourri of International Harvester bits being liberated to decorate the countryside.

The motley caravan regrouped at Troy's house for some last chance wrenching. According to my sources, Brandon's wrenching wasn't complete anyway. Turns out he had a rear bearing to replace too. So after a bit of machine work and a new questionable trailer tire, they rolled from Troy's promptly at 12:30.

As of a few minutes ago the caravan was near Wichita and progressing smartly. ETA in Keystone: 2am. The first trail ride starts at 8am and its 40 miles away. What are the chances?

I wonder if Brandon ever got that passenger seat bolted down.

-Mark

[Fredo]

From the sounds of it, this is shaping up to be a TAMOR Trip of Epic proportions.....wish I could have made it.

[mark]

It's now 8:00 pm Mountain Standard time. My guess is that David is now snoozing in the back seat while Brandon drives. About this time Whitney is in abject horror while Brandon takes his customary catnaps at the wheel. If she hasn't figured it out yet, a sharp stick is a good way to avoid a triple rollover. Godspeed Whitney, Godspeed.

-Mark

[uglyota]

Wow!
Probably a good thing I didn't go...I don't think you guys are getting back sunday...
out of curiosity, which trailer wheel let go?

[mark]

So here’s the latest. I am sitting in the airport in Dulles waiting to catch my flight. The genius who booked my flight (me) somehow got booked out of Dulles and back in into Reagan National. So thinking I am flying in and out of Reagan, I gleefully show up at the airport thinking I may catch an earlier flight out. Wrong airport. $50 dollars and an hour cab ride later, I am now sitting waiting for my actual flight. Somehow I missed the fact that the corporate reservation system picks the cheapest fair no matter what. And it’s persistent. My turrets is beginning to return. Cover your children’s ears.

The crew in Colorado arrived in Keystone at a rather TAMORish 5am. After a quick breakfast, and a couple hours of sleep, they are out looking for trails. We’ll see if they make it back.

-Mark

[mark]

Sorry for the long delay. Due to the fact that the internet doesn’t quite make it to Fairplay, my live coverage has not been so live.

Now that I have found a broadband connection, time for some more tales.

Thursday was Mosquito Pass time for our intrepid four wheelers. This is an easy trail that runs from Leadville to Alma. The only real challenge is that it tops out at 13165’. According to the folks who went, it was scenic but not challenging at all. The only thing we really missed was Burro Days. This year it was the 25th and 26th of July. In some bizarre competition, runners lead mules over Mosquito Pass into Alma. It’s the only excitement in Alma all year. In fact its so exciting that Fairplay proclaims it with a banner over Main Street. Needless to say, if you can jog a trail with mule in tow, it’s not going to be much for wheeling. Here are a couple of Brandon’s and Scott's pictures:

[mark]

Mosquito Pass ended with the crew being chased off the mountain by a snow storm. But all's well that ends well as the crew was treated by the Higgs to dinner in Keystone. As for me, my flight was delayed getting out of Dulles so I didn't get to Fairplay until 11:00pm. No free dinner for me. Just Jaskassic already sacked out in my motel room by the time I made it in. But I made it in high style thanks to my new favorite rental car. For some reason Avis thought it prudent to let me behind the wheel of a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. It’s really nothing special except for the supercharged 3.8 liter engine. With the supercharger, it works great at altitude. I am becoming the master of the 6 car uphill pass an 10,000’. Scott will back me up on this too. He likes this type of rental car for the smokey two gear burnouts they’ll do at sea level. So, if you ever decide to buy a used “program” car avoid the Grand Prix GTP.

[Jackasic]

keep it up Mark, I just got back in a little after 10. Here are a few pics, the rest will be up on my web site later.

old skool TAMOR style



the binder on the rocks



the snow, fun in an open top vehical. Right Mark?

[mark]

For Friday, we decided to run Wheeler Lake. The name sounded promising and the trail was rated as hard. So off we went. All except for Chris. Evidently he was having his usual cooling and alternator problems, so he stayed behind to fix them. There were 19 vehicles in all which was a few too many, but the trip went smoothly if not a little slowly. There are only three real obstacles on the trail and only one gave anyone any real problems. The real challenge was the weather. Much like the day before, clear skies gave way to sleet and snow before we got off the trail. I wussed out and gave up my tropical perch in Brandon’s Scout for a drier ride. As we were nearing the exit off the trail, I start hearing chatter about someone’s dead vehicle blocking the trail ahead. When the vehicle was described as a Four Runner, I immediately new what was up. The tailgunner who I was riding with came unglued. Evidently he helped Chris extinguish an under-hood fire earlier in the day. The fire resulted from an alternator short which melted some insulation off of the wiring. After a good dose of fire retardant chemicals, Chris attempted to repair the wiring, so he and Hailey could catch up with the rest of us. The fix only worked for about 500 yards before electrical system went dead. The only hope for a jumpstart, an H2, refused to help as he “had too much sensitive electronics” to provide a jump start. So there they sat for about three hours until we returned. They did find a “pot shack” as Hailey describes it. At the end of the trail, we met up with the Higgs and hit the “highest saloon in the USA.” A few drinks later and we decided on dinner in Breckenridge. With a thorough gut stuffing behind us we chose up sides and headed off to get some shut eye. As an extra bonus, the Keystone crowd was treated to Greg’s latest career: a TV spokes model for an Indonesian fabric softener. Who would have thunk it.

[mark]

Here we are at the bar. Fig Em.

[Chadnutz]

The only hope for a jumpstart, an H2, refused to help as he “had too much sensitive electronics” to provide a jump start.

Classic!

[8Runner]

Despite all my problems I had an absolute blast on the trip. Thanks to everybody for all the help & for being patient.

To set a few things straight here is a quick chronology of the problems that affected me on this trip.

Tuesday
7pm - Have trouble finding a belt that fits after Bryan alternator puts my alternator back together.
8pm - Tried to leave town but had trouble with the trailer brakes. Scott Schubring "fixes" the problem in 5 minutes
9:30pm - ready to go, but decide to wait for Brandon who is "Almost Ready"
10:30pm - Brandon calls his headlights went out pulling out of his parking lot
11:30pm - Trip to Bryan Wallmart & back with new headlights. He made it 10 feet and they blew again.

Wednesday
12am - Brandon drives the scout to walmart in "stealth mode"
3am- spent 3 hours in the walmart parking lot - tried several different fixes & finally ended up wiring the damn headlights straight to the battery - we finally head out!
4:30am - brandon notices my right trailer light is out, after pulling into a gas station in Waco, we discover a thrown tread.
5am - put on the spare. Lesson Learned:double check all tire pressures
5:30am - about to take off and Brandon discover's the rear wheel bearing is going out on the scout. Swap it with the 8runner on the trailer.
6am - Brandon is enjoying the plush comforts and handling characteristics of 8runner, when we decide to take the hood off to reduce overheating issues.
8am - arrive in Denton. I shower and crash for a couple hours while others fix the scout bearing & get a new trailer spare.
~9am - Leave Denton, Thanks Scott for driving & giving Hayley & I a chance to rest
~7pm - somewhere in Kansas. I wake up to Hayley yelling "the tire came off, the tire came off!" I look up just in time to see the tire and wheel rolling past us at 70mph, through a ditch, and launch over a barb wire fence into a muddy field. Lesson learned - double check lug nuts to make sure they are tight.
8pm - Salina, Kansas - We barely make it to Tractor supply & Walmart Tire center to replace the damaged wheel & hub. Unfortunately the only bolt pattern they have fits Matt's trailer spare, so we swap them out and get back on the road.
Sometime really Late/early -Whitney takes over driving for a bit so I can catch some zzz's before we hit the passes.

Thursday
4am - I pick up Ben in Denver, but fall behind in the process
6am - We pull into the higgs house to sleep a couple hours before hitting the trails.
~11am - Arrive in Fairplay too late to catch up with organized runs, so we get some trail maps and head off on our own.
~1pm - 8runner does great as far as overheating as long as I let the fans and water pump run with the truck off for a minute every 30min or so. Unfortunately I blow 2 belts in a ten minute span (thanks Nick & Landon for the help) Give up on the belts and we wait and explore some pretty cool old mining buildings. I then head back down the trail sans power steering or an alternator, it was scary but not all that bad.


More to come...

[8Runner]

I decided to get a little more verbose below since I figured a little more backstory was in order. Maybe I'l turn this into an actual trail report. Yes, the 8runner did actually complete a trail on the 3rd day


Thursday afternoon - I made friends with the local napa guy while swapping belts until finding one that fit. He ended up giving me a bunch of stuff for like $10. I installed a relay that allowed for manual control of my water pump. Sidenote: Although cylcling the pump did not really help the cooling situation as hoped, it did allow me to run further on battery power when I had no alternator.
Thursday night - I hooked the suburban up to the 4runner to charge it for several hours.

Friday
8AM - I left earlier than the rest of the group to get to fairplay to get the new belts and to put the batteries on the charger at the shop next to napa for a bit. Unfortunately, spare belts did not come in as hoped. We were able to zip-tie the battery in sideways (only worked because the hood was off), which allowed more adjustability and therefore different belts.
9:30am - We cought up with the group without too much trouble, mostly because they were held up by some fuel line problems on David's FJ, I think. However, once we pulled up to the group, someone noticed sparks from my alternator. I shut the engine off and figured out that one of the output posts on the back of it was loose and grounding out on the case. We tried to screw it in tight, but it turns out that whatever it was screwing into on the inside was broken. All of a sudden, it catches on fire (small 1" flame on the positve cable from the battery)". After a couple squirts from the extingusher and a VERY quick removal of the positive battery terminal, all was good.
10:30-11:30am - We let the group go on, thinking we would have to back down and get back to the trailer on battery power (AGAIN) and call it a day. While waiting for the engine to cool, Hayley, Ben, & I took some time to explore the old mill. We found some really cool stuff and even managed to safely climb up to the 3rd story, in which we found an old office and some cool machinery. Turns out the place had been in use until the 1960's so there was a lot of recognizeable stuff left.
12pm - I got the bright idea of trying to attach everything to the second output terminal on the alternator just to try and see if the alternator would still charge. Although I had very little hope of it working, Ben stood there with the multimeter in one hand and the fire extinguisher in the other as I turned the engine over. Amazingly, it actually worked. Both batteries were charging! Keep in miund though that the yellow top was pretty much dead from the day before and the red top only had the short charge from the 'burban the night before - this meant that the functioning half of the alternator had a lot of work to do. We decided to risk it and head leisurely up the trail that the rest of the group had left on the hour before. We knew that everyone was headed back out within 2-3 hours and had to come back our way anyhow. We knew we wouldn't catch up, but figured we could meet them partway on their way back.
~1:30pm- We make it up the one and only obstacle on the trail (from what I understand) and the truck promptly sputters out. The alternator was no longer charging. We tried to start it and get it turned around with the remaiing battery charge, but just couldn't make it. It finally would not even start.
2-3:30pm - Although we were stranded we actually had a lot of fun hiking around while waiting for the group. At one point, we noticed an H2 off in the distance and decided to go see if he would come jump start us. We joked all the way over about whether we were even going to be able to convice the guy to come further up the trail in his pretty H2 with dealer tags still on it. Ironically, the guy didn't have a problem with coming up to meet us, but when we asked him to jump start us he said "Well my dad had this Datsun that he tried to jumpstart someone from and his electronic speedometer never worked right after that. My Hummer has a lot of sensitive electronics in it and I don't think it would be safe to jumpstart from it". We didn't argue much because it was kind of hard to hold back our laughter in front of this guy's wife and mother. No worries though because our expectations weren't all that high. On the way back to the 4runner, it started to sleet. I don't think I have ever been out in sleet before. Imagine a slushy being dumped on you while standing in front of a box fan. The stuff just kind of hits you and freezes in place. We saw an old cabin/shelter up the hill a bit and decided to take refuge there while waiting out the storm. Maybe I'll flesh this part of the story out a bit in the future, but for now, lets just say this place was a still functioning hippy commune from the 60's. Although no-one was there at the moment, someone had been there and written their drugged up ramblings in the "travel diary/LSD storybook" dated the day before. Anyway, I am glad we found it when we did, because shortly after we got there is started to hail, bad. Unfortunately this was when the trucks started heading back down the trail so we had to run out into the hail to flag them down. Davido was first, evidently hauling ass down the trail because he was "out of gas". I hollered at him but only got a fading and unintelligible response as he dissapeared around the corner.
~3:30pm - on the way back to the 4runner, we met a pretty cool guy in a cherokee that said that the rest of the group was a ways back. He offered to help charge/jump the 4runner while waiting. The rest of the group reached us at this point and I could hear all the rumblings and unhappy people at the fact the the 4runner was blocking the easy way down (a stock jeep could have made the "hard way"). At this point it starts to rain, and although seeing so many different types of precipitation over a 45 minute span is somewhat interesting, it is not the most pleasant conditions to nurse a vehicle back to health with people that are already pissed off at you.
4pm - After a bit of charging the 4runner makes it back down the trail and all the way out to a place we could bring the 4runner too. After another short charge from Nick's jeep, it even made it back up on the trailer under it's own power.

to be continued...

[8Runner]

Friday 5pm - Here's where I really fleshed out my relationship with Napa guy (I think his real name is John, but his drunk friends kept telling me conflicting names so it might have been pete, dave or tom). I told him the story about the alternator and although the smallish Fairplay napa does not stock alternator's, he offered me the almost new one he just installed on his son's truck for $40 bucks, including the time to install it! He also gave me a test light and crimpers he said he didn't need anymore. I worked on other things in the Napa parking lot until he could join me over at his best friend's shop (Mike of Planet Cruisers).
7pm-11pm - After many hours of looking for the correct bolts, brackets and wires. We got the alternator in and it appeared to be charging...at 17 volts! If we un-hooked the regulator, it dropped back down to 14. Napa guy suggested that I leave it at the higher voltage for a while the next morning as the optima's probably "really needed a charge and that is why it is running high, if it stays that way for more than an hour or two, unplug the regulator again or you mihgt burn it up".
11pm - I dropped the trailer at the fairgrounds and headed back to Keystone. On the way I stopped several places to see if they were still serving food as I was still lacking dinner. I got looked at pretty funny in this bar in alma when I asked at almost midnight, so I continued on to Breckenridge. Here I found a place, Extreme Pizza, that was pretty sweet, and more importantly, still open.

Saturday-
7am - We had to leave early as the majority of our group was off to a 8am run to Carnage Canyon.
8am-9am - I got the 4runner ready, further tested the alternator, and gassed up before the trail run that Brandon & I signed up for to Georgia Pass/Glacier Summit. Hayley had had enough of the "non-wheeling" by this point so she headed off to Breckenridge to shop.
9:30am - the 4runner made it the 20mile drive to the trail head. Somewhere along the way the voltage dropped back to a comfortable 14v so I assumed Napa guy's theory was right in that the optima's had finished charging (in retrospect, this is likely where the alternator died).
10am - I lhad earlier learned that stopping for 30seconds every 20-30min on the trail really helped the overheating issue, so I did this, much to the tailgunner's dismay. Of course, I'm pretty sure he blamed it on Brandon, who was right in front of me stopping every 10 minutes to take a half a dozen pictures of scenery, himself, exotic tree bark, and humus.
11:30am - We stopped for lunch at the "summit" (I couldn't tell because we were in the middle of a forest). We had previosuly been told that there was lots of obstacles to play on here. Unfortunately, this info fit in line with the poor trail rating system of the rest of the trip. There was one mediocre hill that everyone oohed and aahed at before easily making it down and up it. Lockers and anything over 30" inch tires weren't really required.
12pm - Once I made it back to the top of said hill, the 4runner sputtered out in it's now traditional fashion. Of course it wouldn't start. The multimeter told us the news; the "new" alternator was toast. I traded brandon some gas for some scout alternator love. Of course brandon would have nothing of the rinky-dink nice hose and funnel that was really meant for filling a hard to reach tranny. We proceeded to dump most of the gas on ourselves, the ground, and the scout body right over the exhaust pipe, which of course was running and hot as it was charging my truck at the time.
1pm-3pm We made it out of the trails without much issue. I was able to keep one of the fans and the water pump off much of the time because it was downhill, cool, and shaded. This kept the battery in good shape until almost to Breckenridge.
3pm- Once we hit breckenridge we topped off the radiator, batteries, tire pressure, and the scouts gas tank for the upcoming (paved) hill climb on the way back to fairplay.
3:30-4:30pm - Of course the temperature did not fair so well on the way back so we did have to stop and run the fans for a bit, which in turn meant we had to charge the batteries again. At one of the stops I bought a $10 bag of Buffalo Jerky that was really good. I shared it with Ben and Braqndon for their patience and stuck the rest of the bag in the cab for Hayley to try later, while unhooking the jumper cables. In that 60seconds, Molly, our dog downed $5 of jerky and half the plastic bag it was in.
4:30 pm - After making the summit it was all downhill and in neutral back to Fairplay, so I had no overheating or battery issues. I rolled back into the napa to give my friend the good news. He promptly located another alternator (who knows from where) and offered to come install it while we were eating BBQ at the fairgrounds. I was still holding out for a bit more wheeling on sunday, but I soon found out that everybody wanted to leave. 5:30pm - David, Whitney, Scott and a few others went over to Planet Cruisers and Jet's off road to check them out while I waited for Napa guy. When they got back I was informed that Napa guy was there and drinking beer, so if I was expecting anything soon, I should go talk to him. Scott also said that he measured and found a trailer tire to replace the one I borrowed from Matt earlier & Mike (Planet Cruiser's owner) said I could have it for free and he would even mount it. I had planned on swapping them in Denver on the way back on Sunday, but this was too offer to pass up. I went and dropped off the tires and told napa guy to forget about the alternator and just give my $40 back and I would let him keep it to warranty later. By this time I had found out that no-one wanted to wheel sunday.
7:30pm - after a hurried BBQ, I headed back over to the shop to see if the tires were ready since everyone was ready to get the hell out of Dodge. Of course they were still sitting on the ground where I left them (what can I expect for free?). Mike sent me out into his yard to grab the wheel I assumed was the one scott measured earlier. I proceeded to give them a hand swapping them, airing them up, and learning how to use a pneumatic tire mounting system.
8pm- I head back over to the fairgrounds to mount the tires and found that the bolt pattern was wrong. Way too large. Scott said this was not the wheel he measured earlier.
8:15pm - Went back to the shop and found the wheel scott measured. Mike broke out his tape measure just in case and sure enough his measured 4.5" across. For the heck of it he measure MAtt's hub (which it needed to match) and found it was 4 & 11/16". He said he had never heard of that size but that the 4.5" should fit.
8:30 - Back to the fairgrounds and behold, the damn thing still wouldn't fit. The only choice we had at this point was to go back to where we started. So I went back to the shop and swapped the tires back to where we started originally. We crossed our fingers and hoped that matt wouldn't blow a tire and that I wouldn't blow the one that he loaned me.
9pm- After putting the tire on the trailer. I attached 8runner's wires straight to the battery (no alternator) and barely got it on the trailer before it gave it's final gasp. We quickly taped up the hot wires under the engine compartment, put the hood on, strapped everything down and got on the road. The plan was to drive for at least 4 hours and stop at a hotel.


Stay tuned for the conclusion....

[lissa]

here are some of my pics