My Rough n Ready Taco excruciatingly slow build

WOW!

 

So I’m doing some pre trip inspection and lubrication, and discovered that L upper ball joint was not good to go, and on further checking the R upper was pretty worn as well. So a great opportunity to install the JBA upper control arms. Due to tasking and other stuff going on in life, I had initially decided to hold off on the install till I got back up to AK - where my tool pile and a buddy’s shop is- to install them, or when the ball joint(s) needed replacing.So much for that plan.

It was an interesting event, first time doing ball joint in a couple decades so it took me a bit longer to get it done, and more swearing than I used before but at the end of the day it was done. Just finished shots, after picking up all the toolboxes and debris here they are.

each side had a different argument but stubbornness and a 2# hammer prevailed.

Really would like to work on a cement floor someday, it has been awhile.

Took a test drive and it handles a bit differently than stock, but very nice so far. Should be interesting up around Kluane lake and Destruction Bay.

 

The road test goes well, rides very nice on the paved motocross track that is the upper AlCan hwy.



Today will be a good test from Haines Junction onto the Beaver Creek port of entry.

Just another freight run up the highwayMarsh lake bridge outside Whitehorse

 

Well arrived in the great land, lots of wood bison and quite a few mountain sheep, even a red Fox in Whitehorse for wildlife sittings. Beyond that there was little fanfare. Spring is on the way and the highways show it, a few more well developed frost heaves and serious cracking. Not really surprising, there are just stretches of country that the roads go through that defy all(so far anyway) road engineering attempts to last.

So I did bottom out a couple times in the Destruction Bay to Beaver Creek stretch, which has given me some concerns. I guess once I get the truck unloaded and check it out I will develop a plan for the rear suspension.

Might be the wrong shocks? Or they might work better with a lift? Don’t want to use a block, my OME HD EXP pack w/AAL is great but taking some abuse, so maybe an additional OME D43XL or perhaps an Icon progressive overload pack in the interim until I can save for deposit on a Vagabond and then go with a custom pack.

 

Springtime in the Great Land:

Shiny:

Commuting:
Making some DC:
Getting team Kona out of the shed for some exercise:
Got rid of the widow maker:

 

On the weekly commute around 0530:


Serenity has never been fond of any of the trailers:


Last night's drive in,
The watchers:


A couple miles later, the grazer:


The price for a no dust trip:

 

Looks like a better commute than mine.

 

It has it's moments, although it can be tiring. From my cabin to work, about 98 miles takes around 3-1/2 hrs+, I doubt I will ever get tired of it.
I find the secret is go early, beat the traffic.
It's a great job, location, location, location.
Sometime it is just rainy wet and real crappy out and you need to keep an eye out for rocks and slides.
Never really boring, and you always need to pay attention to where you are and what's going on.
Which is probably one of things I like most about it, always something new...

 

A few random shots of life in the far west.



Out in front of the shop.



Valiant mountaineers...in the gravel pit staying away from the bugs...



Checking out the surging Muldrow glacier. Looking SW from Grassy Pass west of Eielson VC



Offloading the general.



Contemplating my poorly washed truck.



Bracing up for Monday...

 

I'd rather be there

 

It definitely grows on ya, but it can also be excessively wet, cold and crappy just as often.

 

Another summer in the great land comes to an interesting end. Early shutdown out west due to the Pretty Rocks landslide on Polychrome, made for a fairly eventful departure, another evacuation if you will.
So compressing a 1 week+ winterization process into 3-4 days solo, made for a hectic departure this year. Fortunately I had begun the packing a week early, so it was still a race, and I was thankful for the late 6-8” of snow on Polychrome which gave me an extra 2 days respite.The morning of the early snowfall looking west

final checks and views from the west end

the Tacoma still dislikes the trailer, looking west from Grassy pass on the way to Eielson visitor center

looking towards Sable pass, just after the Pretty Rocks slump
I have a short video of crossing the slump, still waiting for it to load in my email from the phone. More photos to come in the next couple days while I shut down the cabin and get ready to hit the road for the trip south.
The park’s road crew had things pretty well sorted by the time I got out that far-they did a heckuva job trying to stay ahead of it, and a days closure really helped them a lot.

 

A few more photos came through:
winterizing the Ranger station
Looking towards Fairbanks
Coming up to Grassy Pass
Last look back at the Muldrow glacier


Full? moon setting pic around 530 am about an hour before heading to work at HQ. this commuting daily business is quite an adjustment

Well I was going to load the video but it apparently has the wrong type of extension? A problem for another day

 

So the report on the JBAs- awesome contribution to the ride, a lot more articulation. Definitely worthy of the endeavor. Two thumbs up!

Onto the final, final, all in all another great, albeit, interesting, and somewhat whacky summer has passed. Highlights - being back in the west end of Denali, reconnecting with friends, and feeling grounded.

Lowlights missing my fiancé, some long rainy weeks and having to evacuate 3 weeks early due to the Pretty rocks landslide (an ongoing issue-due to climate change) which was exacerbated by 2 weeks or so of fairly heavy rains.
Photo dump either follows this post or precedes it. More fun with IPad

 

I thought I might add a few older photos that I have of the slump at Pretty Rocks to add some perspective. It has been a chronic situation that has gotten much more active over the last 3-4yrs mostly due to thawing of the frozen (less than it was 10+ yrs ago)mountain side which the geological info identifies as a rock glacier.

I believe this was about 2? yrs ago, maybe 2019 I think approaching from the east

This was earlier in 2018 I think, the road crew sometimes uses ore trucks(leased) to speed up the gravel stockpiling - it takes a lot of gravel to maintain an 80 mile gravel road- I think this year they also used the ore trucks to help haul fill in to the slumping area- dark grey portion of the road. Approaching from the west. This looks like late spring of 2018 or 2019 on the way out for the seasonal start up. Approaching from the east.

I’ll have to dig through my photos (most of which are in the laptop) and try to put together a better snapshot of the Pretty Rocks landslide area

 

Another Pretty rocks slump picture- core drilling summer of 2018:






So here is a time lapse gif made in late July/early August:




I did find a photo that a pilot friend of mine took about 2 weeks after the road crew pulled out for the winter. It looks like the road has slumped about 8’ -12’ or more so far:


Some more pics I got ahold of this summer, some look to be after the road crew got everything ready for summer use before it got warm and stuff started moving more rapidly:

Early spring 2021 I think:



Heading out to work 2021:



This spring 2022:





Presenting a little bit of drama over the next few years....

 

So not much new to report on the rig lately.
Replaced my fog lights, with some amber ones from super bright LEDs, we’ll see how they do. The others were just small floods, very bright, not good for fogs. I used some quick disconnect plugs that made it an easy switch:

The plugs:

some platform work, switched to low profile unistrut for clearance reasons after changing to taller bins:

a shot with the one piece top-somewhat warped but free scrap and purchased lumber are getting quite a bit closer in quality these days:

 

Well after a busy summer, plagued by our northern nemesis-road construction, and of course my screwup of shipping addresses, I finally got a chance to get the Icon progressive add-a-leaf spring pack. I went with Phessor’s idea of leaving the overloads in for a couple reasons:
1) Take the extra 1/2” of lift
2) since my Tacoma will be staying down in the states next summer, I figured to store the overloads on the truck, so if I decide it is too much I’ll take them off down there and stow them. Easier to keep them close by instead of a couple thousand miles away.
So here’s the look:




With a bit of a load

I like the ride so far, it feels planted, we’ll see how it sits after a nice break in ride down the AlCan.

 

Behold a few days on the AlCan and they blend right in:


Finally a spot with dry pavement after 3-1/2 days, south of Ft Nelson- complete with a liberal coating of oil patch mud:

just about 50km south of Whitehorse shortly after I had a NASCAR skid and save sorta:


Between Muncho Lake and Stone Mountain provincial parks in BC:


now it’s looking a bit drier and feeling a whole lot warmer. Stopped for dinner at McLeese lake:


Then spent the night at Juniper beach provincial park, lot’s of trains and a fine sunrise :


Well thanks to Telus for the Wi-Fi, time to head for the border.

 

Looks like a fun drive!