NW WA BS Thread (Whatcom, Skagit, Island counties)

I’m in Oak Harbor. Mary’s in Lynnwood and the one next to it that’s all trucks are the ones that wouldn’t let me in the yard.

 

Missed it, I just took Finney creek to nf17 and it was pretty tame

 

Am I allowed to join?

I was born in Oak Harbor (but recently moved back to WA and am living in King County). Needless to say, I'm always looking for reasons to drive back to Whidbey.

 

1722 is a good in too, takes you up to Gee Point. There’s a little Gee Lake is right off the road and has some fish in it. All the fun little hole in the wall your gonna need 4x4 roads are blocked off now. Hell even the little road off Baker Lake Hwy. down to the old power house on bear cr. is gated now. Irene Cr rd (1550) off Cascade river Rd is a cool drive with La Rush lake up on top is about a 15 minute hike. It pretty easy to find up there. There’s an old gate on top with a big turn around the trail kicks off out of it heading south and down hill. The lake is down there a couple hundred yards.

 

Only if you show me some good spots.

 

All great info, thanks. Why are the 4x4 roads blocked?

Im up in whatcom but need to explore Skagit more. Anything with really good mountain views? Camp spots?

 

Shit bags leaving trash and abandoned vehicles is why they are getting gated. People where putting it on blast on the Facebook community pages... gets reported to the Sheriffs... easy fix after it’s cleaned up is to gate it. Same thing is happening where the wood poachers are hitting USFS is gating those spots too. It sucks either they are dumping trash right off the blacktop down the little abandoned roads( they were running a scam on Facebook where they would charge to clean up and haul trash to the dump but pocket all the money and dump it illegally) or up in the middle of nowhere dumping trees to feed their drug habits. 1775 probably has the best views and coolest looking terrain and meadows and little ponds to drive past/through. Lol, on the road of course, not in the damn medows. You can see all the way out to Anacortes off one of the kicker rds. The top of Jackman looks out up Baker river Valley. 1550 has some killer views up Cascade River valley and across the canyon into the high country. Bacon Cr. has some decent camping spots. All these spots have little pull offs that you can camp at. Thornton Lk Rd (Off Hwy 20 near New Halem) and Hidden Lk rd (off Cascade River Rd.)are both cool drives but not a lot of “views”

 

Anyone around Snohomish area have a 35 spare on a wheel that I could use for a mock up on my swing out? I’m playing around with changing up the swing out configuration and won’t to make sure I have enough room if I ever go to a bigger tire.

 

Any places you guys recommend to have tires mounted and balanced? Les Schwab just quoted me $200. I'm in Bellingham but open to any suggestions!

 

Check discount tire and meridian tire

 

will do. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

Meridian Auto and Tire did a great job installing my new wheels and tires. A fair price to transfer TPMS, mount balance, and install. Alignment seems good too, although I do drift a little on the highway due to my caster settings with stock UCAs.

Thinking about doing the ECGS bushing now. Has anyone done this locally (Bellingham or surrounding area)?

 

Do they know off road applications? I have aftermarket UCAs and am hoping they'll know what I'm talking about when I ask for caster that clears the cabmount.

 

I’m not sure how knowledgeable they are for that application, but I did talk to them on the printout of my alignment just to verify that all the numbers make sense. They were positive I didn’t need new UCAs when honestly I probably should due to low caster, so I wouldn’t say they are Tacoma experts. But all in all I’m happy with the work they did

 

Firestone in Smoky Point are fucken rock stars for alignments. $205 lifetime. I called Thursday after being told les Schwabs was out a week on appointments. I had them aligned my truck on a Friday before I did my Marlin frame/gusset braces the next day. Called Saturday at noon after we had to move the alignment bolts for welding and they said bring it right in. I was out the door in about a half hour. I wouldn’t take anything I own anywhere else.

 

Smokey points about 50 minutes away unfortunately.

 

True, but all 3 places I called in Skagit County two weeks ago were 5-6 days out. I got next day at 11 and get it here, we got you from them. Les Schwab charged me $150 because I have SPC UCA’s last time I had them do it. Firestone had zero issues with setting a 3-0-0. Les Schwab flipped my balljoints around and set it to max spec and told me my bolts were frozen. I believed them until I swapped my coils and dropped out my LCA.

 

I'm going to be replacing my LCAs and doing the TC gusset kit soon, I will have to hit them up for an alignment when I'm done. Dynamite Diesel in Snohomish fixed the hack job that the Everett Firestone did last time but it was $180 for just the one alignment.

 

X2 for firestone in Smokey point. I’ve had the lifetime alignment through them and have always had good experiences. I bring in my last alignment sheet which have the specs I asked for from before and they get it right in where I want it. Quick to make appointments and have the truck in and out.

This kind of brings me to a different service related question. Does anyone have experience with any ships in Snohomish for a tranny flush? Used to have a buddies shop do it until he retired. There’s a few spots in town like Dynamite and honest trans but I do t have any experience with them

 

Anyone in whatcom have the tactrix cable?