Eco-Roamer - F650 based Expedition Vehicle

[jayshapiro]

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Please excuse the following rare, but important holiday season message!
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Jay, please take this in the way it is intended...
But you guys are SUPER LUCKY when it really comes down to it...

YES - you are right! We feel incredibly lucky, in so many ways: We could have rolled. Someone could have rammed into us. We could have rolled on top of another car, We could have been in the mountains, or the Redwoods, or one of the thousand other places we've been over the past year that a Big Rig Tow Truck would not be coming to get us.

But you know what? There's actually a bigger reason that we're lucky, and are taking this whole thing in stride. And that is, that we know that we're so fortunate to be able to even explore this amazing planet and spend our days making a positive difference in the world in some way.

Not to sound like a commercial (sorry!) but you can too...

Several of the readers of this thread have taken up the challenge to commit a few days during their next expedition to volunteer their time to help a local entrepreneur, a group of street kids, or even local artists in the communities they're visiting.

The easiest way to make a difference is to support the efforts of the overland travelers who have already run Photography Workshops in 2010.

Please click on the link / covers below to take a look at (and hopefully order!) one of our 2011 calendars.

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All of the images were taken by the kids during one of the Muskoka Foundation Photography workshops this year, run by our volunteers, including Overland Journal contributor Ann Lockley.

100% of the profits go to the children who took the photos.

Please forward this to your friends, every dollar makes a difference in these kids lives.

Thank you all for your support over the past year, and especially during this 'challenging' time in the EcoRoamer.

Thank you so much also, to all the overlanders and portal members who helped out by volunteering during their expeditions this year!

 

[bobDog]

...and a crappy New Year!​

A word of warning to all of you writing threads on ExPo. This is what happens when you post bold statements about how great things are going, and what your plans are for the next 4 months:

Christmas Eve in San Jose, CA.

We were (luckily!) traveling at about 5 MPH around a left-turn in a major urban intersection, when the right-rear suspension broke (I think we fractured a leaf spring) dropping the camper down on top of the wheel, which then kept rotating and ripped the entire rear axle off.

Fortunately, we stopped the truck before any MAJOR damage was done, like the camper falling over onto it's side.

Here's some more pics:

Our new four wheel steering system.

The offending leaf spring.

The compass is pointing N-S, but the GPS says we're going E-W!??

This is what the new "Hover EcoRoamer" would look like...

As some of you have commented in the past, The EcoRoamer is a little bit, "large" - and so loading it onto a tow truck and clearing it out of the intersection was a bit of a challenge:

All of the pics are available at: http://bit.ly/EcoRoamer-OMFG

Needless to say, our expedition plans have changed slightly, and we're now stuck in San Jose for a while. The truck goes in to Ross Equipment tomorrow, where we will start piecing it back together and making it a lot stronger.

Ironically, the rear suspension was the only part of the truck (pretty much) that was stock Ford, and not replaced / beefed-up during the build. Not that I now regret that or anything...

-sigh-

Jay.

Glad you folks weren't hurt and you didn't connect with others on the road. Hope you get it fixed soon in top shape.
I think you can get that polished out at the local detail shop!:sombrero:
Look forward to a great year.....I just know it will be.:coffeedrink:

 

[Overland Hadley]

I read your post this morning before heading out for the day.

All day I thought about how lucky you were to be going only 5 mph when it happened. I am so glad you and your family are okay, and you are in a location that the camper can be easily worked on.

I hope the repairs go smoothly and you can get back on the road soon.

 

[Piet]

Jay, glad you and the family are OK.

So... break downs are one of my biggest "fears" in long distance travel.
Yet everytime something happens... it always seems to work out in the end.

Are you guys hotelling it? How is the family doing?

 

[jayshapiro]

Duncan comes through...

My favorite response to our "incident" so far comes from Duncan Barbour, who thinks we're being silly with all this Tow Truck and Workshop B.S...

"You've got a front mounted winch so just pull that axle back into line, brace it with the rear winch, remove your prop shaft, engage diff lock and off you go......!!!"

:sombrero:

Thanks Dunc!

 

[alexrex20]

merry christmas shapiro!

 

[Terrainist]

What a blessing that was... you should never stop thanking your lucky stars, God, the cosmos, whatever it was that lined up and decided to spare you and your family from what was sure to be lifetime of heartache and "why us's?". Assuming that some of you would have lived to lament that way.

You are blessed, be happy. And start inspecting the rig a bit more right? She's big and heavy and she's going to break. Chalk it up to a lesson learned (learn it)... you and yours are sooooooo fortunate. Tell me that doesn't give you pause when you consider all the different ways that failure could have impacted you and yours, the probabilities.. and the way it ultimately played out. You are very blessed.

 

[Mc Taco]

Good luck with the repairs and here's to hoping for a swift return to the mobile part of your journey.

 

[boblynch]

Jay, glad to see no one was hurt. What are your plans for suspension repair/upgrade? After I saw your pictures I must have spent an hour crawling under my truck. I've been thinking about a set of custom Deaver Springs to replace my OEM parts. They did a set for another F650 I know of and the owner was very pleased with the results. Good luck with repairs and Happy New Year.

 

[charlieaarons]

I would suggest a nice heavy set of conventional leaf springs with a full military wrap, and additional axle location in the form of a very thick antisway bar (One piece, mounted directly to frame or crossmember). I assume you have a rear driver controlled locking diff, so wheel lift off the ground won't cause loss of traction?

Charlie

 

[jesusgatos]

Jay, glad to see no one was hurt. What are your plans for suspension repair/upgrade? After I saw your pictures I must have spent an hour crawling under my truck. I've been thinking about a set of custom Deaver Springs to replace my OEM parts. They did a set for another F650 I know of and the owner was very pleased with the results. Good luck with repairs and Happy New Year.

That's exactly what I would do. Got a chance to check out Deaver's shop while I was having them rebuild/tune a set of custom leafsprings for my Tacoma, and wrote an article for off-road.com about it. One of the coolest shops I've ever been to, and I was really impressed with what they're able to do with a simple pair of leafsprings. Would definitely recommend giving them a call to discuss your problem. And maybe adding some type of suspension linkage to locate the axle? You could use the linkage as a backup safety measure, or put the leafsprings on shackles front and rear, and just use them to support the load.

 

[Cornfed]

Dang! Just read all the way through and then BAM! The axle drops out on the deal! LOL

"The adventure doesn't start until something goes wrong."

Glad you're safe. :coffeedrink:

 

[INSAYN]

Jay, you should try an find the builder of this kind of beast and get some heavy duty hardware under your rig so you can take it over some sweet jumps with ease.

:smiley_drive: :victory:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUj6VQTVndU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUj6VQTVndU&feature=related[/ame]

 

[jdholder]

Jay, you should try an find the builder of this kind of beast and get some heavy duty hardware under your rig so you can take it over some sweet jumps with ease.

Annoying music aside, that thing was AMAZING!!

 

[PAToyota]

Considering all the (much worse) possibilities of having that happen in other conditions, I'd say that someone is smiling upon you. Shame that it happened, but likely in about the best possible conditions.

Glad that everyone is ok and that you're able to have it taken care of.