Jack's 2007 Chevy Build

[locrwln]

We got into Zion NP before lunch and looked around to figure what/how we wanted to do. The only thing we knew was that we wanted to do Angels Landing Trail.

We had lunch and got on the tram and headed up the valley. We rode to the end and back to the "Grotto" as a jumping off point. We decided to leave Angels Landing for the next day. For the afternoon, we chose Kayenta Trail up to the Emerald Pools. This trail is labeled as Moderate and will take you down to the Zion Lodge. It was a good 3ish mile hike, but as with most NP, there were plenty of people. No pictures of this trail, this was a quickie.

The next day was set for the serious hike. We stayed in a motel in Springdale and got up early the next morning (Tuesday).

Angels Landing is labeled as Strenuous and they aren't kidding. It is 5.4 miles round trip and gains 1488 vertical feet in 2.7 miles. There are a lot of switch backs to gain that elevation and most impressively once you get above Scout Lookout, it turns into a full on goat trail with chains anchored to allow you to traverse the fin.

Looking from the valley up to the Angels Landing.


Looking back down on the first set of switchbacks, pretty tame in comparison of what is to come.


Looking up at Walter's Wiggles. Hard to see each level, but trust me, those things go back and forth and back and forth.



The chains and the "trail"








Looking back down into the valley.


D on the fin.

 

[locrwln]

And the trail goes on. Looking back down at the beginning of the trail.



Finally reached the top and looking northwest.




Heading back down, we passed a guy heading up, so I took a picture of him on the trail to get some perspective.


We finished the trail and headed over to Bryce Canyon.

 

[locrwln]

We got to Bryce in the afternoon and were a little disappointed. It is ok, but definitely not one I would go back to. We drove to the end and back, took a few pictures and decided to camp outside of the park. Bryce sits in the 7k' range, so it was a cold night.





Last year, we had completed the "east" side of Hole in the Rock trail, which is very tough. This year, we decided to do the "west" side. The west side is very tame, it is just a dirt road to the end of the trail. The road is 54 miles long, so it took us until just before lunch to get there. Again, since we had time, why not hike down to Lake Powell? The Mormons lowered wagons down this shute back in the 1800's. There is no way to do it today, too much erosion.

At the top looking down at Lake Powell. 800' from top to bottom.



On the way down through canyon.






Looking across at the other side, where we made it to last year.

 

[locrwln]

Time to hike back up...


We had lunch and headed back down trail to find a good camp spot.

We found a spot, this is the view out the back door.






Had a good rest, got up the next morning, broke camp and headed out. We passed an interesting looking road on the way in called 50 mile shelf road, so on the way back, we decided to take it. It was very interesting working our way up the side of the canyon, more switchbacks. Pretty tame for the most part, and then it was time to head down. This area saw a lot of the same rain we saw over last winter, so there was a washout on the way down. Hard to see in the pic, but we will get to that.

Looking down,


Getting through. Check out that mad flex...:flipoff2:



Once we made it back down to the main road, we headed out. We didn't start out to "get" anywhere, but as we kept going, we just kept going. We made it home after a really long day. It was a great trip and we are even more thrilled with the truck/camper. Good livin' I tell ya'.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Also as an update to the build of the truck. I never cared for the weird 3-4 shift from the allison on 1/2 to full throttle, so after a little research most everyone recommended a Transgo Jr. shift kit. Because of the improvements that GM made to the allison 6spd, you don't have to do the full Transgo kit, which is nice because you don't have to drop the whole transmission, just the pan and valvebody.

I was able to find one shipped to my door for less than $70. I stopped by my local allison dealer and picked up a filter and some fluid and set aside Sunday for the fun.

I didn't get any pictures, my wife and I were covered in transmission fluid. It doesn't seem to matter how long you let everything drain, as soon as you touch something, more fluid drains out of the valvebody.

My wife kept an eye on me, read the instructions (Transgo ones are horrible), handed me parts/tools/rags/etc. and we got everything buttoned up.

Post install was a major improvement all the way around. You do have to take the truck/transmission through a "learning" cycle, which includes all throttle settings in regular mode and then go through the cycles in "tow/haul" mode.

Much, much improvement. Some reported minor effects, but it made a big improvement on mine. The other good news is that the fluid that drained out and what was in the pan looked brand new. No evidence of burned or damaged clutches or steels.

I highly recommend the transgo kit on the 6spds.

Jack

 

[tombodad]

Jack-
Awesome to hear your review of the Transgo jr, as that is something I have been considering also.
Quick question, when you dropped your pan, did you have any loose bolts in the transmission? When I flushed and replaced my filters after I bought mine, I dropped the pan to get to the internal filter. Imagine my surprise when an internal bolt hit me in the head, as well as another being half backed out!! :O I'm talking about the long black 8mm bolts, of which there are what, maybe 15 of them?

Needless to say, I was very alarmed, as well as confused as to how that may have happened.

Yours were all tight?

 

[locrwln]

Thanks, I highly recommend the kit. Looking at your location, just for reference, I ordered my kit off of ebay and the company was out of Lakeside, WA.

Anyway, nope none of my bolts were loose. In fact they were very tight, everyone of them. When I re-installed them I torqued them to spec and it didn't seem as tight. Could have been the difference between wrenches (regular for removal and torque for install). And yeah, there are a boat load of those in both black and zinc plated. If you do the intall, make sure you clean everything up as much as you can and mark where the zinc ones go. They are longer than the black bolts.

Jack

 

[Redline]

Fun pics and some serious hiking there J & D

Nice

 

[Walker]

Love it, you are an inspiration to us all.

 

[locrwln]

Fun pics and some serious hiking there J & D

Nice

Thank you. Hopefully you will get to put your new to you camper to use after getting it up to speed.

Love it, you are an inspiration to us all.

Thanks, I do what I can. :wings:

Jack

 

[locrwln]

I thought my wife had deleted the pics we took of the transmission. They aren't that detailed as far as the install goes, they were just pics of bolt location and wire location on the VB.







Jack

 

[locrwln]

Completed another quick project Friday afternoon. None of my other offroad vehicles has ever had the cabin filter and once you hit pavement and turn on the HVAC, you get a big poof of dust out of the vents.

When GM first designed the GMT800 platform, they designed it with a cabin filter. Sometime around 2002-2003, they stopped installing them in the trucks. It does take a little work, but you can add the filters to your truck.

Picked up the filters from Napa, there are two filters in each box, so don't do like I did and buy two boxes (unless you just want to have spares on hand.

Here is the writeup I used.
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=384555

This first cut was the hardest, but I now have a cabin filter for the truck. Hopefully that will keep the interior dust down.

Jack

 

[1stDeuce]

Jack, how about a Transgo update?? I have read on Dieselplace that many people reported good results initially, but then as miles are accumulated post-install, the trans learns the shifts back soft again. I assume you were happy with the firmness of the shifts after install, so are they still as firm as when you first did it, or is it learning the mod out slowly? I'm thinking about doing this to my truck too, as it's at 150k now, and this seems like a good idea!!

Thanks for all the writeups too!! Good to see you out and about!
Chris

 

[locrwln]

Jack, how about a Transgo update?? I have read on Dieselplace that many people reported good results initially, but then as miles are accumulated post-install, the trans learns the shifts back soft again. I assume you were happy with the firmness of the shifts after install, so are they still as firm as when you first did it, or is it learning the mod out slowly? I'm thinking about doing this to my truck too, as it's at 150k now, and this seems like a good idea!!

Thanks for all the writeups too!! Good to see you out and about!
Chris

Still shifting "right." I have about 400 miles or so since the install and still liking it. I do think it has softened sightly, especially at light throttle settings, but the "flare" I was getting is completely gone and when you get on it, it shifts firm. So I am happy.

As a side note, major score for me today. A guy was selling an almost new Warn 12k winch on a local board, it was too big for his jeep, so I was able to pick it up for $800. Can't beat that. Now I just have to get a bumper to mount it on...

Jack

 

[bobDog]

Still shifting "right." I have about 400 miles or so since the install and still liking it. I do think it has softened sightly, especially at light throttle settings, but the "flare" I was getting is completely gone and when you get on it, it shifts firm. So I am happy.

As a side note, major score for me today. A guy was selling an almost new Warn 12k winch on a local board, it was too big for his jeep, so I was able to pick it up for $800. Can't beat that. Now I just have to get a bumper to mount it on...

Jack

nice score!!!! so you don't think a couple C clamps won't do the job?:coffeedrink: