Wyoming B.S. Thread

I still use GE for my "master" KMLs, but you know how creating routes can be a bit of a pain, even with "from here, to here"?

Well, in Google My Maps, you can create a layer ("Draw a line") and then drag the route around/along roads. You can update it mid-way through the route to use some other road if you don't like the auto selected one. Then, you can just export it as KML and pull it into GE.

"Add driving route"



Click where you want to start, and then map your route visually. If you don't like a point in the middle, click the point and drag it somewhere else.



Then, export for GE:



Anyway, Gaia has essentially the same functionality, but it's even better, as it seems to follow (what I consider to be) the correct road more often, and you can have as many routes as you want before exporting. (Google My Maps only allows 10 before export.)

 

Cool to know about Gaia. Sounds like it'll be worth it for me then.

I just use Maps to draw my tracks. Then convert it to a GPX and then import in to GE. Works like a charm.

 

Also ATAK/CIVTAK I think is totally free. But you'll be limited with maps I think. I haven't tried it yet. But looks super cool.

I realized last night that its what Timmy used on his windows tablet. WINTAK was it.

 

Gaia is how everyone I know here shares routes/trails in the mountains. not sure the crossover to vehicle travel, but its super popular among the ski/hike community

 

I posted this in the Idaho thread but it's worth sharing here about how my Sunday went this weekend. Several lessons to learn too.
1. Move over for pulled over cars.
2. Check on stranded motorists to make sure they are actually OK. Not only are they vulnerable but lonely/isolated. It costs nothing to be a good human.
3. Sometimes shit goes sideways, but getting upset won't fix it. Laugh about it in the moment, understand that things aren't in your control and life will move on much easier.

On Friday when I cold started my car (Mercedes) I heard a grind from under the hood. I popped it and sure enough the top idler was making noise. My Toyota has had idlers make noise before so I assumed (wrongly) that I just had a job to do when I got home. It wasn't gonna be a problem and I can address it when I get home.

Sunday, I wake up, noise sounds the same and drop my brother off at KSLC around 5:45 and start my journey home. At 7:45 the AMG throws a battery warning on the dash. I tug on the steering and instantly know that pulley seized and ate the belt as I lost power steering. I didn't realize the belt also drove the water pump. So when I look down at the gauges again I see the temp is 250*F. So I hit the shoulder and shut it down, 275 miles from home. With my mind racing about what my options are I get out to confirm what happened. Coolant is spitting out of the overflow and of course there's a shredded belt still intertwined in the pulleys. Suns not up yet but it's going to be a long day.

A couple tries on the phone and I reach my wife in Boise and explain the situation. She gets ready to come pick me up but I brush that off as that means we would leave my car and that's not a great solution. She suggests a uhaul and we use her Range Rover to drag the mess back, brilliant! So I get online and look in the N SLC area and there are no trailers available. I look in Boise and one place has one. Perfect! Order it online and an hour later it's hooked and booked headed east.5 hours later the AMG is on the trailer behind the most unlikely of rescue vehicles.


I start the drive home and it is actually really impressive how the range Rover towed. The suspension auto adjusted for the weight, it didn't sway, it had plenty of power, and stopped well. At 65mph is was getting 16 mpg. I was actually really impressed. At 100 miles into the journey we hit construction, so the 4 lanes divided became 2 lane oncoming traffic. As we were about to exit the construction zone and just after we filtered back away from oncoming traffic, hell broke loose.

I feel the trailer jolt and sway, I look in the mirror to see a tire in bounding along the road towards the median. I keep it steady and point to the shoulder. The trailer brakes lock up and before I get to a stop in my mirror I see a billow of white smoke and flames.

My wife, who was awaken by this commotion is confused and all I can mumble is we have a problem and we are on fire. I grab the closest thing to me, a cherry Coke and jump out of the truck and work to put out the brake assemble that has flames shooting out of it. Took the whole bottle but it was out.

I then try to figure out what came to be of the rogue tire. Last I saw was it in the median. I'm trying to figure out my best frogger strategy to go look for it, knowing at this point it's red hot and cold start a fire. My wife points to a tire near the fence to our right in the ditch, suggesting it's ours and at first I dismiss it, knowing what I had seen. But frogger seemed pretty deadly so I figured I should at least check and sure enough the tires was ours, still smoldering from the heat. It was so hot I couldn't even touch the tire, smoke was coming from it, and the bearing material, was welded to the spindle.

I was able to then move the shitshow further right, off the pavement and settle down for what would end up a 5 hour ordeal. Don't forget I had already been stranded for 6 hours at this point...

Contacted uhaul, and while in that situation you want help immediately, it took some time to reach a solution. It took some pressing for the uhaul representative to understand the tire, was fine. The wheel was fine. This was not something they could repair on the road and they needed to send more than a tire truck. But they did listen and eventually found someone to haul us the remaining 150 miles home.

So there we sat for 5 hours, got to meet the local ISP trooper, listen to music, and just pass the time. At least this time I wasn't alone. We broke this time at 4pm and didn't have the wrecker there until almost 5 hours later.


B&W Wrecker dispatched out of Caldwell and put the car on the bed, and with the weight of the car off the trailer was able to tow it without it dragging. (I tried myself but wasn't possible) some friends stopped by when the wrecker and I were loading the car and dropped off some much needed beer.


Once the car and trailer were loaded we took off for Boise. Got home around 11 and then I had to stay up until the wrecker dropped the trailer and then brought me my car. By the time I went to bed it was after 1am. The range Rover, a true hero in this story. Uhaul owned up and paid for the tow and didn't try to push the blame on us. And the AMG is in the garage getting torn down and parts ordered.


As we transition to the present I do have it apart and it's clear that the bearing seized and the plastic pulley was obliterated.
I will get parts on order and should be right as rain with one hell of a story/experience to show for it. All of this from a $26 part failing...

 

Oof. Fun times. Mostly. Haha

Not to make you feel bad(or maybe this will make you feel justified in brushing it off ha) but my ac idler bearing has been in need of replacement for like... 2 years?? Haha guess that's the Toyota way.

Fun story though.

 

Oh I know, my AC one made noise for a long time hence why I brushed it off. Big difference I learned is that the Mercedes uses a plastic pulley vs the metal on our trucks. I'm sure that's a part of it.

 

Oof Ben, rough day. Glad you're back on your feet at home. Not the adventure you'd wish for but an adventure non the less!

 

Yeah wild it uses plastic. But makes sense. If the bearing is bad it'll not spin as fast probably and the belts slips which causes heat and then it melts.

 

For sure, won't forget it for a long time. Was quite the event. Everything worked out luckily!

The bearing seized but the belt kept driving, shearing the pulley free from the bearing itself and breaking it that is what I see with the remains of what failed. Can't turn the bearing a full turn even.

 

crazy. At least its an easy fix.

 

Man, crazy. Glad everyone is OK!

What was the deal with the Uhaul, or did you ever really care to find out? At first I thought stuck trailer brake, but if K was able to drive to pick you up and didn't run into any issues on the way down...?

 

For sure the bearing melted/failed. There was damage to the fender so maybe that maybe indicates damage to the assembly prior. Or they failed to maintain the bearings with grease. That I cannot answer. I did notice that tire had some camber to it when it showed up, but assumed it wasn't a big deal, it wasn't a concerning amount that I saw. I think it survived fine until the extra load of the car being on the trailer pushed it beyond. Either way I was assured that this is all water under the bridge at this point between me and uhaul.

It could've been much worse, glad the tire didn't hit anyone that would've caused so much more headache with liability, damages, etc. Should have parts on order tonight and have it slapped back together in the next week.

 

I did disassemble the failed Mercedes bearing and found it quite interesting. It was devoid of any grease, and the cage was broken and jammed up. The balls were actually find and in the inner race there was a spot that was a bit pitted and the playing worn through, but honestly nothing that stood out as a big failure. What is curious is that it is a common failure and a fast one at that (learned after the fact). The time between noise and failure is about 100 miles. My guess is there was a manufacturing defect with the plating in the inner races, leading to increased friction and heat. Over time this burns off the grease to the point it no longer has lubricant. At this point the bearing builds enough heat to start damaging and cracking the cage (found it in many locations) and eventually the cage fails, jams up the ball bearings and the pulley breaks free and throws the belt. To me this is an unusual failure and one that I would attribute to a manufacturing defect that Mercedes missed. Idlers normally don't fail so fast and so catastrophically, and the fact it isn't unique to my car tells me that there is some truth to it. Either way, I ordered a kit with 4 new idlers, a new tensioner, and a new belt for $230 which isn't so terrible considering it's an aging performance German car. Tack on a coolant flush ($60) and an oil change ($110) and the car is hopefully right as rain for $400.

 

Casper Wyoming, KingCobraJFS
I’ve been watching his vids since 2014

 

got the new trans in the tacoma, shifting ad drivng good. a little aggressive shifting into R so hopefully i can adjust the line pressure down

the transfer case goes into 2lo and 4 lo but the 4wd doesen't engage and the light doesen't come on. Sounds like it possible to mix up some plugs on the t case because there are 2 similar ones? i can check that out...any chance when I put the 4wd j shift back in that its some how able to shift into 2 and 4lo, but not slide the shafts back enough to engage the 4wd switch?

 

If it's a manual J shift then it should just engage ball bearings to activate the switches. I remember there being 2 similar electrical connections but I thought they were color matched. Maybe your dash bulb burned out if the connections aren't reversed

 

Do I win the game? Truck basically died at the pump.

 

i also *thought* they were color matched but i need to confirm, i know there are a couple of grey plugs down there.

I can tell its not engaging the front, its not binding up at all on pavement

 

Yeah prob check the connection, I would think one of those sends a signal to engage the front diff