The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Yes. That's what I'm currently running right now with my Dakars & AAL

 

Excellent.

 

Thanks. It's here:. Auxiliary secondary door seals, Nov 2015

Great mod. Tricky to get right. Keeps dust out, cuts wind noise way down. I forded a river in the summer and I'm pretty sure they helped slow water intrusion down as well.

 

Thanks! Not sure how I missed the link.....

 

Yes. Tons of fun and lots of adventures. Just had a new one I'll try to share some pics.

Thanks for the compliment!

Drop the spare tire, and you'll have lots of room.

Negative. House of Sun, in Spanish, on the main strip.

 

Joshua Tree NP & Mojave Nat'l Preserve. Oct 2017

My Rig rolled again, and I took my family on a three day, two night adventure. I decided to camp one night in J-Tree, and then pass through, but not after a good 2-hour rock scramble the morning after. Between J-Tree and Mojave, we visited a volcanic cinder cone and was going to explore it, but it was too hot to hike 90*F. I pitched the tent near some granite mountains in the Mojave. The next day I made some yummy b'fast. Then went to the Kelso Dunes which rise 600' from the desert floor. My kids requested sand dunes on this adventure they LOVE them. I was happy to oblige. After fun in the dunes, I took them all to Kelso Visitor center where we watched a very lenghty freight train pass through. Very exciting if your a kid.

The visitor center was fun to visit. My kids had a lot of fun in the historic jail that was preserved near the outside lawn.

After eating lunch on the tailgate and exploring the visitor center, I took Kelbaker Road to the North and finally took the turn off for the historic Mojave Road. Two built 4-Runners passed me as I aired the truck down again. I saw no other vehicles on this day on the trail. We proceeded to travel West. We stopped at one of the old mining sites where numerous treasures were strewn about. My kids know to leave things as they are found since this is protected land, but it did not stop them from ooh'ing and ah'ing at all that was there.

I drove the trail back to the main route and continued west. I may have caught air on the moguls en route to soda dry lake. Not sure about that.

My wife drove across the lake bed and very much enjoyed driving. She very much approves of the suspension.

Caught Razor road to the north then I-15 home.

About 120 miles from home I detected a problem in the front end, but was unable to find it, and got home safely at 9:30pm.

Found an old primitive clean campsite.

My kids are 5 and 7 years old now. They love the outdoors, exploring, and nature.

Salt Farm in high desert



Our Mojave Camp site, after it got packed away.

Kelso Dunes, where my kids played endlessly in the soft sand.


Mojave camp site at dusk.


A real-wood-high-powered camp fire!

We had not camped since February, so this was a really nice get away! We adventured Sat-Mon.

 

This bolt used to be straight, until it wasn't.

 

Damn, how does one do that? Better yet, avoid doing that.

 

I was 120 miles from home when I heard metal-on-metal grinding noise coming from the front drivers side when pulling into a gas station and making a sharp right turn. I parked the truck and went over the whole front end with a flashlight and could not find anything obviously wrong. I thought to myself, wheel bearing, CV joint, front diff are possibilities. I decided to chance it, and drive some more. I was able to drive safely home, only hearing the noise when getting on the on-ramp to interstate. No issues getting home.

A week later I decide to tear down the front end to find the problem. I thought for sure it was CV joint. So I disconnected shock bolt, tie rod, and LCA steering stop, and swing spindle/knuckle outta the way. Thought I was being smart saving time.

WRONG. CV axle assembly was solid. I knew then the problem was in the hub.



I reattached shock, tie rod and LCA steering stop. At least I got this picture above which shows how you can cheat to save time when you do actually have a CV problem.

This was my issue. One of my hub bolts backed out so far that it was clipping the wheel studs as they passed by.


Shaved metal?


This most likely is the result of overuse of anti-seize thread lubricant on the hub bolts. And severe vibration that is perpendicular to the bolt face. I would advise either keeping the threads dry, or using a thread locker compound instead.

The shitty thing here is that these are captured bolts. They are captured during the manufacturing process when the bearing is pressed onto the hub with a 20-ton press. Furthermore, the bolts can't be inspected without removing the caliper and rotor. They are completely concealed.

I solved my problem for $0 because I already had two good used wheel hub / bearing assemblies in the lab.

So I only lost 4 hours of time on the repair. For good measure, I will tear down the pass side to inspect that one too. It's too f'ing important not to check.

For anybody reading this for the first time, I did a complete front end rebuild back in December 2016 which included new hubs / bearings.

Truck has returned to glory and is waiting for next adventure.

 

Always great to read your stories.

Did the dunes sing for you and the family? One of my first, if not the first, trip out to the desert with my truck was to Kelso Dunes. It was quite strange hearing the reverberations from the dunes.

Oh those salt evaporation pools look so inviting when looking down into them. I still want to know what would happen if a person got in the water. The first time I passed by them it was fun surprise seeing the glowing blue/green pools.

A wrencher and a wanderer you are.

 

We did not hear the dunes sing. In a role reversal, I think my kids sang to the dunes. We climbed the highest one that was closest. There were lots on animal tracks in the sand, evidence that wildlife is alive and well out there. There was a little shelter from the sun where I setup for midmorning snacks, and took rest at dunes summit. It was pretty warm out there, but not HOT.

Last time I was at the Kelso dunes prior, was July 5, 2011.

I've heard that if you put an arm in the salt pond and pull it out it will quickly evaporate, and leave white micro salt crystals all over. Should be harmless, but I didn't try... It's not my pond, and could be other chemistry at work... The ponds are neat to look at.

I still have my custom modified stock leaf shackles ready to install on the truck. I look at them on my work bench from time to time. Maybe if I wish hard enough they'll go on the truck without me doing the work.

 

Hey Nick, nice to see you posting adventures again. I assume you torqued those hub bolts to spec? Just the anti seize I guess. Good to know about that when I get around to rebuilding my front end. One of the many reasons I keep up to date on this thread. I've learned a lot and avoided many issues because of your trailblazing and great write ups. So far just not fixing anything that aint broke or isn't for me. But inspecting a lot especially the wheel bearings and LCA bushings (those are not far off). Did you put your original hub back in? Well done

 

If you want to slog around in saline evaporation ponds you can every year about this time in Trona. I did it once... once. Will never do it again. Indeed evaporation results in salt crystallizing everywhere - including places you'd prefer it didn't. If you want pink halite just buy it from the Trona Gem and Mineral Society and save yourself the horror of collecting it yourself:

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That second photo is after we had used all the water in the truck to clean up a bit.

Kelso Dunes is a wonderful spot. Was there this past spring with my daughter but it was a bit too toasty to get out to the tallest dune - should have started earlier in the morning. I've heard them "sing" on one trip by starting small slides on the slip face. My very first trip it was too windy to hear anything:

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Was still cleaning sand out my ears a week later.

Awesome trip report as usual Nick! Great to see the whole family out enjoying the desert. Can't wait to get out there myself in a little under two weeks (assuming work doesn't interfere).

And as usual great diagnosis on a truck problem and thanks for sharing with all of us so we have another thing to inspect and worry about

 

I forgot to say that I think you may be lucky to have heard them and I think it's awesome. I know from reading the literature, they sing when sand is falling down the slope face. I don't know how often that happens.

Thanks! I'm still severely time limited, so my posts are going to or should be short; it's the best I can do.

Yes the spec is 61 ft.lbf on the hub bolts, but here is the deal, can't get a normal torque wrench in there just like the drive shaft bolts so you need a torque adapter. Picture in this post: Torquing Drive Shaft bolts proper. (65 ft.lbf). When you break the bolts loose for the first time, you'll need to use two box wrenches and interlock them for leverage like this, or use a long handled wrench to get in there. I think the factory install + time makes them hard to break loose, plus there just is not a lot of room.

Now something else to note is if you do lube threads, then you should to reduce torque by about 25% or you could risk damaging threads, so the experts say.

All that said, I didn't use torque wrench on the repair. I've wrenched enough where I can do most, but not all, by feel now. This is a change for me. I more or less fell into the category of torque wrench worship. But what I learned is that through experience, a certain muscle memory develops and the feel works. I know it works too, for two reasons. Almost all of my bolts are indexed with white or yellow paint. Upon reassembling, 99% of the time, the right torque by feel, is where the paint marks realign, and I can always check by torque wrench, except two places on the truck.

Yes I reused my old wheel bearing / hub with 71K miles on it. I'll burn that one up and swap it for the other 71K mile hub whenever, or if it ever becomes an issue.

Truck is super low mileage this year. Have not driven enough yet for one oil change.

Awesome post Ken! Love the pics! That's pretty smart to make the sand fall over the dune face and make it sing. I have to say, I'd mine that halite right now if I could. Looks fun!!! My kids would love it, for sure. Thanks for confirming the salt crystallization. I have not made a trip report from my summer solo trip, but I did get to go swimming in Mono Lake, and it was super salty. I loved it; miraculous! I had a 1 gal clean water sprayer at the truck I used to try and clean up, lol not enough water! About half hour later I had a near heart attack when I forded Lee Vining Creek that was 35-40" deep and fast flowing. After I didn't die from a heart attack and truck was deemed okay from the water crossing I washed all the salt off in the freezing creek water. okay I'll have to do a trip report on that now.

 

Phrasing.....

Also, while I'm no expert, I've been told by experts that you should not use antiseize on those hub bolts.

Glad you're still kicking and having truck fun

 

Enjoyed the photo contrast, drab desert and children's clothes - neat!

 

Nice truck! I have been going through this and have enjoyed seeing your adventures. I may have missed it but what size tent do you have? I am looking at buying the same one.

 

Thanks! I need to catch up on your most excellent Colorado adventures. My brother lives out there now, sends me pics of amazing mountains.

Welcome and thanks.

Thanks.

10'x10' VX model, Kodiak Canvas, love it so much.

 

Well, first truck mod this year... Bought last year with 2016 budget!

BAMF diff skid. Very well built and powder coat is clean and solid.

Should install on Friday.

EDIT: INstalled.

 

Well I crawled under the truck, quick cleaned, squired some paint on the axle housing before finally installing the Diff Skid (pictured in post above). It is 100% beef @ 23.589 lbs with all parts + fasteners.

I also tore down the passenger side to inspect hub bolts. They were TAF (tight as friends ).

I quick cleaned, indexed with paint, and reassembled.

I got some other minor things to maintenance and truck will be ready for desert late fall / winter trips.