72 IH + ‘85 Alaskan = Questionable Judgment...

[Nailhead]

Got a new PS reservoir cap, to replace the leaky old one:

Big deal, you’re thinking. I was too! How hard could it be, right?

Wrong— no parts stores had the correct one. I had to get an NOS cap off eBay for about $50.

 

[Nailhead]

Harry and I realigned the frame & camper to the truck frame with a Porta-Power, and then I installed these:

That solved it.

 

[Nailhead]

Next was replacement of the rear pinion seal:

I probably didn’t need to do that. I’m pretty sure the leakage (minor as it was) was caused by a loose pinion nut, and torquing probably would have cured it. Oh well.

While testing out the new seal, the brake master cylinder failed, so I got to replace that, too, after I located one:

I also installed a cell booster in the camper for my upcoming trip to Montana:

I’ll touch on that trip later; Tapatalk is being a little ********** and I’m sick of it.

 

[texasnielsen]

I’ve owned 4 slide-ins over the last 40 years and have always had a soft spot for the Alaskan (lived there for 15 years and at the time they were always out of my $$$ range). Your efforts at “saving” this unit and being the caretaker of it and the IH are truly the stuff or lore, awe and accolades. I just binged on this entire thread and have enjoyed it as much as any novel I’ve held. Thank you for the time taken to share this story, thank you for the appreciation of valuing truly worthy products with the attention they deserved since new. Save travels and looking forward to future posts.

 

[Nailhead]

I’ve owned 4 slide-ins over the last 40 years and have always had a soft spot for the Alaskan (lived there for 15 years and at the time they were always out of my $$$ range). Your efforts at “saving” this unit and being the caretaker of it and the IH are truly the stuff or lore, awe and accolades. I just binged on this entire thread and have enjoyed it as much as any novel I’ve held. Thank you for the time taken to share this story, thank you for the appreciation of valuing truly worthy products with the attention they deserved since new. Save travels and looking forward to future posts.

Well, thank you very much. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my somewhat unconventional journey with this project. It’s turned out to be more work than I envisioned, but then working on it (usually) gives me more satisfaction and enjoyment than I had foreseen.

Usually.

The brake master cylinder replacement— coming right on top of another repair— and the upcoming alternator replacement are two notable exceptions.


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[TripLeader]

I just read the whole thread today. Wow! Keep it going, please!

 

[Nailhead]

I just read the whole thread today. Wow! Keep it going, please!

Thanks for the kudos!

"Keep it going..."

In the upcoming posts, you'll see how ironic and foreshadowing that statement truly is.

 

[Nailhead]

Then, a trip to Paradise Valley, MT, for a wedding.

Medicine Bow, WY (stopped early from post-preparation exhaustion):

Fremont Canyon, WY:

West of Alcova, WY:

More:

And my goal: a burger & beer at the Old Saloon in Emigrant:

Nice camp site, too:

I ended turning it down for the temptations of the VRBO my sister rented.

 

[Nailhead]

Nice place, that VRBO:

Big river in the background. We missed the flood by a week.

A shot from the wedding venue:

A shot obtained online OF the venue a week later:

The reception tent is bright white at the far left, my pic was taken at the last riverside bush to the right.

 

[Nailhead]

Wind River Canyon, WY on the way home:

 

[Nailhead]

After I got home, I addressed some deficiencies, the first of which was replacing this:

A trip through Yellowstone in the summer without a working horn is insanity, so I rectified it with this:

Bugs were also a problem, so I finally installed my washer bottle:

It’s amazing how satisfying small improvements can be.

 

[Nailhead]

37A seems too little to keep 3 batteries charged, so I bought a new 100A 12si alternator:

After I got it clocked correctly, I set about installing it. That should be the easy part in my experience, but it wasn’t, because of where it goes:

The upper bolt was almost impossible to get stabbed, and I dropped the alternator at least four times. Luckily, it worked after all that abuse.


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[Nailhead]

I had to finish off a range installation at my BIL’s little mountain place in Rollinsville, needed some butcher block for a small countertop:

and used the remainder for a new more functional sink cover in the Alaskan.

That’s the old laminate sink cover on the left. Single purpose, wasted potential.

I could have made it a bit deeper, but it’ll work:

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[Nailhead]

Then I found what I hoped was the source of all the oil that leaks out of the transfer case:

So I ran a bead of Permatex around it:

I think it might have improved the situation a bit. Hard to tell with all the leakage from the front output shaft seal:

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[fisher205]

Then, a trip to Paradise Valley, MT, for a wedding.

Medicine Bow, WY (stopped early from post-preparation exhaustion):

Fremont Canyon, WY:

West

back in the neighborhood. Sounds like a great trip