Our "new" Tiger...

[ihatemybike]

No prob, I'm so addicted to these vans I want to help keep as many on the road as possible. Never know when I might need my next one.

Thank you for sharing your Tiger mods and trips with us. Simply love reading all about them.

 

[HMR]

Santa Rosa Truck Trail to Toro Peak...

On Friday morning, my wife informed me that we were blowing off all our boring weekend plans and going camping.

We decided to go to one of our favorite local spots and headed up Santa Rosa Truck Trail towards Toro Peak. It's a ~12 mile long, bumpy dirt road that tops out around 7800' where you can look one way to the Pacific and the other way to the desert.

Here's a pic of the trail from a previous trip:

We didn't bring a real camera but I snapped a few pics with my cellphone:

Good times!

 

[HMR]

Purrs like a kitten...

I've been spending less and less time on Expo but lots of time enjoying the Tiger. Figured I should post an update of recent work:

I noticed after 24 miles of bumpy dirt road on our Toro Peak trip that the front seats were a little loose. That had me scratching my head since I built the seat mounts to withstand much worse conditions. Upon removing the seats, I discovered I forgot to install lock washers on 4 of the bolts. Doh! It was a quick fix and the seats should stay nice and tight for years to come.

Seat mount:

Since I had the seats out (not necessary but helpful), I decided to remove the doghouse and finally get around to installing the new plugs and wires. I'd been dreading this job. The passenger side was pretty straight forward but it took me most of the day to figure out how to remove the driver side plugs. Each of the 3 plugs requires a different, unusual technique. It's a complex puzzle of body position, socket extensions and patience. Now that I've done it, it'll be an easy job in the future but it was one of the more "fun" mechanical challenges I've had in awhile. I also went ahead and replaced the rotor, cap and ignition control module while I was at it.

Before:

After:

We were so happy with the Bilsteins in the rear, we installed a set up front. This turned out to be a much easier job than expected.
Old vs. new:

The only drivetrain fluid I don't like to service myself is the Transmission. I took the Tiger to an independent, pro Transmission shop. They dropped the pan, cleaned everything up and installed a new filter, gasket and fluid.

Our little Tiger is purring like a kitten.

 

[ihatemybike]

You should have posted about the plugs, they are very easy to do. Here's the trick, change them through the wheel wells. Remove the tires, then move the splash shield out of the way and the plugs are right there. I usually use 18" of extension to move me out of the wheel wells when doing the job.

Right up from when I changed Green's.
http://astrosafarivans.org/bb2/viewtopic.php?p=20259#p20259

 

[HMR]

Here's the trick, change them through the wheel wells. Remove the tires, then move the splash shield out of the way and the plugs are right there. I usually use 18" of extension to move me out of the wheel wells when doing the job.

Yep. That's what I ended up doing. It will be a much faster job in the future now that I know the trick. It took me a long time to figure out where to put the wrench, what extensions to use, etc.

Right up from when I changed Green's.
http://astrosafarivans.org/bb2/viewt...p=20259#p20259

Great writeup!

 

[HMR]

New Decals...

We put the finishing touches on our re-stripe project this week.
My wife and I drew up this design and took it to the local sign shop:

 

[HMR]

We interupt our normal programming...

I took the 1200GS to the dealer today to have a couple Factory Service Bulletins addressed.
They loaned me a new 1300GT to ride in the meantime:

Good grief! If I owned one of these, I'd need to cover my helmet with those heat tiles they use on the space shuttle. :Wow1:

 

[ihatemybike]

The new stickers look sweet. Your wife did a great job.

 

[Overland Hadley]

We put the finishing touches on our re-stripe project this week.

Wow, looking really good! Nice work.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I took the 1200GS to the dealer today to have a couple Factory Service Bulletins addressed.
They loaned me a new 1300GT to ride in the meantime:

That is awesome!

Do I hear a funny little chant in the back of your helmut?


Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip
Road Trip!!!!
Road Trip!!!!!!

OH man what a nice bike! I would love to get to take that thing for a weekend! Wow.

 

[HMR]

Hollister Hills

I headed up to Hollister Hills along with Gear and his amazing Jeep for the Overland Expo event. It was an ~800mile round trip. The Tiger is running and driving better than ever after the tune-up, transmission service and new shocks. I debated which of our vehicles to take as the Tiger is the least capable "off road" and I was looking forward to running some trails. After the first round of good meal/comfy sleep/hot shower/coffee in the morning I was very happy to have brought the Tiger. I think I'm getting soft as the motorcycle tent and the Maggiolina have seen very little use the past 6 months.

Gear spotted a random trail on a hill off of I-5 so we took a detour to scout it out.
We discovered a decent stealth campsite a little farther down this dirt road:

We met up with TacoDoc at Hollister. It was fun to have 3 of my favorite rigs all sharing the same campsite:

 

[HMR]

Thanks to Gear for this photo. It's my new favorite:

.

 

[HMR]

I just became a better cook...

Gear's Jeep was like Santa's sleigh this weekend.
He brought a bunch of goodies home for us from Overland Gourmet:

Our current project is an "outside cooking" drawer that will go in the space above the refrigerator:

All of the Snow Peak gear (other than the table) will fit snugly inside.

 

[4GRAINR]

Gear's Jeep was like Santa's sleigh this weekend.
He brought a bunch of goodies home for us from Overland Gourmet:

Our current project is an "outside cooking" drawer that will go in the space above the refrigerator:

All of the Snow Peak gear (other than the table) will fit snugly inside.

Look at all that sexy Snow Peak! Now you just have to break it all in. :chef:

 

[suntinez]

Our current project is an "outside cooking" drawer that will go in the space above the refrigerator:

All of the Snow Peak gear (other than the table) will fit snugly inside.

Can't wait to see what you do here, all that empty space ... :ylsmoke:

Will it be a removable drawer to take outside? like a baby chuckbox? or storage inside for outside things?