NJ B.S. Thread

The Makers and a multitude of blankets and sleeping bags!
Skiing was good, not much of a base to speak of under the fresh fluf from last week. Rock skis aren't born their made lol

 

I still got the night in at Hunter..

 

A couple of years ago, the lady and I spent the night in the Hunter parking lot by the storage containers before a serious storm. Woke up to over 30 inches, then just walked to the lift.
I will be deploying this technique up at Hunter and other resorts this season, but I don't think I want to be in the parking lot. If anyone has suggestions for Winter camp spots near Hunter hit me with a PM.

 

Mountain creek last weekend. Im getting spoiled with the camper. We stated Friday and Saturday night.

 

Nice! Have a house in Vernon otherwise I’d be in the parking lot with ya. This is the first year in a long time we went with a pass other than creek. We shall see how it pans out.

 

I haven't had a season pass there in like 7 years but they seemed to have the least amount of covid restrictions so we decided to give it shot this year. I also plan to hit up Gore and Killington at some point this winter with the Creek season pass discount.

 

I don't think I camped then because I was rolling up with my coworker right? I can't remember.

 

Woah did the Njbs thread turn into the nj ski/snowboard thread?

I was planning on camping in grand targhee’s parking lot last week but found my inner tie rods are shot so I cancelled the trip. Need to get out to Montana to get my gfc hinges upgraded.

speaking of tie rods... anyone have any advice on deciding when to replace the steering rack?
I can get an OEM rack with tie rods for $540. Or just OEM tie rods for $380. Or go with moog again for about $100, but they really didn’t last me all that long.

my tires need to be replaced too because they’ve worn every other lug. I believe that’s called feathering? And I’m wondering if slop in the steering rack has been allowing the tires to shimmy and cause the weird wear.

 

Yea feathering is usually alignment or steering related. There's also 'cupping' which is similar but usually from worn shocks. The differences are relatively distinct if you pay close attention to the wear pattern

 

No need to replace the rack unless it’s leaking, new bushings probably wouldn’t hurt though. They get soft and allow the whole rack to move around.

 

Also idk if this really needs to be said buttt just in case: imo you should find the root of the problem first and try a fix or two before getting new tires. Would suck to replace them just to have the new pair wear out quicker because of the same issue

 

My tie rod boots look a little wet, but nothing is dripping and the power steering reservoir isn’t low. I pulled the boots back from the rack and the rack has what looks like oil on it. Not sure if maybe the rack is weeping a bit, just not a lot?

 

right that’s why I was leaning towards replacing the rack and tie rods. My shocks are fox remote reservoirs. I’m sure they could use another rebuild because it’s been a few years, but I don’t think they’re the problem.

 

I don’t believe the rack has to be leaking to be bad. The seal between the drive piston could be shot allowing pressure to be diverted to the return side. You wouldn’t see any leak but the rack would have excessive movement as a result.

 

Yep. My rack wasn’t leaking a drop but the steering was wandering all over the place before I replaced it.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

I investigated a little further. Disconnected both outer tie rods and pulled back the boots. Both inners have some play. Rack bushings don’t have any movement. The rack piston doesn’t seem to have any play. Any movement of that is pretty much transmitted to the steering wheel.

I’m thinking it’s just the inner tie rods but now you’re making me wonder if it’s better to just do the whole thing anyway.

 

How many miles on the big nig now?

 

You guys are over thinking it. The steering rack is a mechanical gear that is assisted by hydraulic pressure. The rack it self won’t have play unless you’ve worn out the pinion teeth. As far as I know, that almost never happens, and if it did you’d know because your res would be full of metal.

 

hard to know because the odometer is off, but I’d guess about 150k

Ok thanks