Snow Wheelin on The MET Take #2

If you're getting new axle shafts, you might wanna consider chromoly shafts. More $, but damn tough

 

Who supplies them?

 

yeah but I bought my truck with 100k on it I have a ext warranty that will cover it but toyota says they cant diagnose the problem even tho I told them what it is

 

Moose, I don't really remember. Kragen or Napa might be able to order some, but where I used to live, it was much easier to just order them off the Internet. Just a thought

 

It's being done by predator offroad in auburn. I will report back on my experience. I'm having my link mounts done as well.

 

Got my alignment done today and decided it was more of a drone than a vibe on the way down the hill. Got the alignment done and on the way home didn't even hear the drone at all. So either I'm in the group where you hear it when the diff oil is still cold and goes away when it's warm (fair number of people in the situation), or fixing the camber angled the axle just a little bit to make a difference? I'm thinking the former but won't know until I drive it when it's cold for a distance...probably not until Tuesday. And if it does appear when cold but go away when it's warm, then do I still replace the axle? That's the million dollar question. I'm thinking I should. But I'll wait until after Tuesday to decide.

 

Had to laugh at the brand new shovel in picture 2. Looks like a good shovel, but take the sticker off and go rake it through some gravel or something.

 

^ or take care of your equipment and not care if you leave the sticker. It's a tool, doesn't have to win the beauty contest, but doesn't have to be trashed before it's time to look used.

It'll earn it's battle scars eventually. Every tool is new at one point in it's life

 

Still smiling and chuckling, not sure if I ever bought a new shovel always seemed to have some hand-me-downs about. Like you said take care of them and they take care of you.

New shovels are like new handi-man jacks to me; seems like someone always has one. Just never saw one stay "new" enough to make it to any photos with the sticker still on☺

Still smiling.

 

Are you guys talking about how clean a shovel should/shouldn't be?

 

Yes they are. Haha

 

Lol jus sayin I take care of my tools. If my sockets get dirty, I clean em.

Exactly, take care of your tools and they take care of you

 

I'm sure you spend alot of time cleaning your tool dean

 

That's what I'm thinking...

Wife wants to go up MET to Capps Crossing to see if she can get to the cascading water we stood by at the creek. She's hoping the wildflowers will be in bloom (it looked really good last year). I guess we'll see how much snow is still up there and whether it's passable by a lone driver. And I'll see how the front diff is today instead of waiting until Tuesday.

 

Yep, I'm subscribed to all the front diff threads. And I knew he was going to do it awhile back, so I posted a followup question to him the other day about how it went. The good news is that you can retrieve the rollers via magnet (I have a magnet on an extending pencil just for such emergencies). Yeah, sounds like a major PITA. But when considering the cost, that PITA is still worth it. On today's note, the drone is there even when the diff is warm (no idea why I didn't feel/hear it on the way home yesterday). So I guess next month, I'll replace it and see what the outcome is like.

Still tons of snow up there. Sorry, Kevin, didn't see your tow strap/shackles, but I did see my two 4x4 pieces of wood so I picked them up. Tried some side dirt roads and came to deep snow immediately on at least one. Got some good waterfall shots and a few good ones of a salamander playing in the water where it crossed the road (where we hung out at the bottom). Anyway, we continued on out Capps Crossing. A few miles past the creek where we stopped is the Cosumnes River (one fork of it anyway). Got within a mile of it and saw the patches of snow beginning like what we experienced last time. And sitting in that snow was a ford excursion with 3 guys around it shoveling (sharing one shovel). So I pulled out the short tow rope I have and gave it a pull. Wheels were just spinning (one or two in the snow, the others on wet pavement). So I gave it a jerk and it was freed. He said, "I know it's a bad day when a Toyota has to pull my Ford free." I never would have thought to jerk it to free it except for the experience I gained with you guys on the last trip. So I'll pass along his thanks to all of you. I've only used that tow rope twice...both times up MET...and both times on an excursion. Do they not realize they have like maybe 4 inches of clearance on those big 'ol honkin' SUVs?

Anyway, there's going to be some deep snow on the dirt roads even in two weeks!