Tacoma
Et incurventur ante non
- Location
- far enough away
So I finally got away and took the Blazer out for some trail testing. It is a completely different animal in every way, and I'm stoked to keep going with it. So far it only has CUCV axles (60/14blt w/Detroit rear) w/discs, and Meat's well-tenderized 4" lift springs and a shackle flip in the back. Immediate plans are for some Summit drive flanges and a 454 to replace the very, VERY tired 350... and then a Doubler and full cage.
I was hoping to see Meat out there, but he hasn't received his Bailout Package yet, so I don't blame him. And it was cold as all hell out there, despite the sun. Frickin' seasons. I did see Jsudar, looking spiffy in official gear. Be kind to him, he commands the waters! We waited till about 4:30, and then bugged out, thinking no one made it down. Later, we found out we were wrong.
anyway. The start of Rattlesnake. The springs work really well, did a great job of flexing over stuff.
ALL PICS CLICKABLE
This is I think at that off-camber section w/the optional line up the hill to my left...
The rock garden before the steps. I finally drove something small enough to sort of fit through. This is right before the open front stopped me, and my first lesson in how lockers spin you downhill... kind of tight backing off of there. I also learned that my wife couldn't guide a falling rock to the ground... again.
The steps! That was fun and way less involved than even these tame pictures look like. Just bloop! up and over. So much better than w/the stock setup. I'm thrilled.
ChestonScout made it down and caught up with us at the steps. I didn't know if he was gonna make it down, I would have waited a little longer. But it was great to meet him, and his brother. And the strange Labrabasset. The kids liked her.
Taking the easy way up the steps in the wife's Jeep, which they had to drive 1.5hrs back home.
Tenderly avoiding body damage, as seen from the back of the Blazer...
We all went up to the Jeep in the mine shaft, hung out until we were too cold to keep hanging out, and bailed. Cheston went to WW to show his brother, and we tried to head down the trail to the RS/Con parking lot, but took the wrong trail somehow and ended up one canyon over on a wide ATV trail with lots of berms. The kids were stoked to carve them, while my wife, Tara, was not stoked at all! Something about "We're going to tip over!!" or whatever.
The Blazer has 4 definite issues I need to sort out ASAP:
1. ugly vibes from what I hope is just the driveshaft. I down-shimmed the rear 6*, but there's still a mismatch. Occasionally I hit it just right and it's smooth, but usually it vibrates at highway speed, with nasty sounds when I'm off the gas. The other option is the rearend itself, but I kind of doubt it.
FIX: deal with until I get a Doubler in there.
2. rear shocks-- this is actually two things: the shocks are in the stock, vertical position, and the ghetto but free grinder-cut shock mounts are too tall and hit the bottom of the shock. These two things limit rear articulation a fair bit.
FIX: an inboard kit for the upper mount, and top-of-tube mounts for the bottom. I'm waiting until I get new shocks to do any of that though.
3. Transmission seems to shift strangely, ie, not when it's supposed to.
FIX: call my builder once again, and get a new radiator to get all the baked-on crud out of the system once and for all. P.O. was a retard, and I keep finding CRUD where it should not be. My builder did a great job on the tranny, and the cooler is new, so there is only one possible source for more crud.
4. NO POWER!! The 350 has like 275k on it, only about 50k of which were verifiably maintained by myself. But it's dying, rings are beat and I'm sure the valvetrain needs help.
FIX: freshen up the 454 on the stand, and install the TBI from the spare or the work truck engine. Enjoy lots of power, and thank God that work pays for most of my gas.
So that's it. Not a real thrilling report for most of you, I'm sure, but I was very happy to be in a good, cheap, capable vehicle. Out of all the rigs I've had on the trail I think I like this one the best so far. It has none of the issues my previous vehicles bugged me with, and at a way cheaper cost, with a lot more strength. Once the bugs get ironed out I think I should have a decent trail rig that I won't have to mess with very much at all.
That is all!
I was hoping to see Meat out there, but he hasn't received his Bailout Package yet, so I don't blame him. And it was cold as all hell out there, despite the sun. Frickin' seasons. I did see Jsudar, looking spiffy in official gear. Be kind to him, he commands the waters! We waited till about 4:30, and then bugged out, thinking no one made it down. Later, we found out we were wrong.
anyway. The start of Rattlesnake. The springs work really well, did a great job of flexing over stuff.
ALL PICS CLICKABLE
This is I think at that off-camber section w/the optional line up the hill to my left...
The rock garden before the steps. I finally drove something small enough to sort of fit through. This is right before the open front stopped me, and my first lesson in how lockers spin you downhill... kind of tight backing off of there. I also learned that my wife couldn't guide a falling rock to the ground... again.
The steps! That was fun and way less involved than even these tame pictures look like. Just bloop! up and over. So much better than w/the stock setup. I'm thrilled.
ChestonScout made it down and caught up with us at the steps. I didn't know if he was gonna make it down, I would have waited a little longer.
But it was great to meet him, and his brother. And the strange Labrabasset. The kids liked her. Taking the easy way up the steps in the wife's Jeep, which they had to drive 1.5hrs back home.
Tenderly avoiding body damage, as seen from the back of the Blazer...
We all went up to the Jeep in the mine shaft, hung out until we were too cold to keep hanging out, and bailed. Cheston went to WW to show his brother, and we tried to head down the trail to the RS/Con parking lot, but took the wrong trail somehow and ended up one canyon over on a wide ATV trail with lots of berms. The kids were stoked to carve them, while my wife, Tara, was not stoked at all! Something about "We're going to tip over!!" or whatever.
The Blazer has 4 definite issues I need to sort out ASAP:
1. ugly vibes from what I hope is just the driveshaft. I down-shimmed the rear 6*, but there's still a mismatch. Occasionally I hit it just right and it's smooth, but usually it vibrates at highway speed, with nasty sounds when I'm off the gas. The other option is the rearend itself, but I kind of doubt it.
FIX: deal with until I get a Doubler in there.
2. rear shocks-- this is actually two things: the shocks are in the stock, vertical position, and the ghetto but free grinder-cut shock mounts are too tall and hit the bottom of the shock. These two things limit rear articulation a fair bit.
FIX: an inboard kit for the upper mount, and top-of-tube mounts for the bottom. I'm waiting until I get new shocks to do any of that though.
3. Transmission seems to shift strangely, ie, not when it's supposed to.
FIX: call my builder once again, and get a new radiator to get all the baked-on crud out of the system once and for all. P.O. was a retard, and I keep finding CRUD where it should not be. My builder did a great job on the tranny, and the cooler is new, so there is only one possible source for more crud.
4. NO POWER!! The 350 has like 275k on it, only about 50k of which were verifiably maintained by myself. But it's dying, rings are beat and I'm sure the valvetrain needs help.
FIX: freshen up the 454 on the stand, and install the TBI from the spare or the work truck engine. Enjoy lots of power, and thank God that work pays for most of my gas.
So that's it. Not a real thrilling report for most of you, I'm sure, but I was very happy to be in a good, cheap, capable vehicle. Out of all the rigs I've had on the trail I think I like this one the best so far. It has none of the issues my previous vehicles bugged me with, and at a way cheaper cost, with a lot more strength. Once the bugs get ironed out I think I should have a decent trail rig that I won't have to mess with very much at all.
That is all!
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