redthies
Renaissance Redneck
To add I bit more vehicular content, I will say the trip wasn't all sunshine and lollipops. Well, actually, it WAS all sunshine!
I had run out of time before leaving home and did not get a chance to get my glow plugs sorted out. I figured we might hit state parks the odd night, and I have a Yamaha 2000 watt genset, so I should be able to run my coolant heater most nights. This worked fine until the fifth night. Sleeping at 8-9000' in sw Colorado, it was getting down to the mid 30s overnight. Not ideal temps for diesel powered obs Fords.
The old Coleman stove to the rescue! The wife thought I was nuts. Only slightly less so when the truck started 30 minutes later. I paid the stove back by driving over it with 10,500 lbs of truck and camper a few days later.
We also lost our AC refrigerant through a small hole in the main hose. 108* and a black crewcab with wife and three dogs is not ideal. The unfortunate thing is that it went on a Saturday afternoon, and the forecast was for hotter the next couple of days. We were just outside Kingman Az that night. Do we wait for a part on Monday, if the dealer could get it, or just head for cooler air? A single afternoon was enough to inspire a 3:00 am wake up, and a blitz across the Mojave to the coast. I was REAL choked up about getting to the surf a few days early.
The last glitch of the trip was a front wheel bearing that overheated and started to squeal. I chose to ignore that, and deal with it at home. Now home, it has decided to rain every day.
Not too bad for 4500 miles of hard use on a 15 year old truck with 280,000 miles on it.
I had run out of time before leaving home and did not get a chance to get my glow plugs sorted out. I figured we might hit state parks the odd night, and I have a Yamaha 2000 watt genset, so I should be able to run my coolant heater most nights. This worked fine until the fifth night. Sleeping at 8-9000' in sw Colorado, it was getting down to the mid 30s overnight. Not ideal temps for diesel powered obs Fords.
The old Coleman stove to the rescue! The wife thought I was nuts. Only slightly less so when the truck started 30 minutes later. I paid the stove back by driving over it with 10,500 lbs of truck and camper a few days later.
We also lost our AC refrigerant through a small hole in the main hose. 108* and a black crewcab with wife and three dogs is not ideal. The unfortunate thing is that it went on a Saturday afternoon, and the forecast was for hotter the next couple of days. We were just outside Kingman Az that night. Do we wait for a part on Monday, if the dealer could get it, or just head for cooler air? A single afternoon was enough to inspire a 3:00 am wake up, and a blitz across the Mojave to the coast. I was REAL choked up about getting to the surf a few days early.
The last glitch of the trip was a front wheel bearing that overheated and started to squeal. I chose to ignore that, and deal with it at home. Now home, it has decided to rain every day.
Not too bad for 4500 miles of hard use on a 15 year old truck with 280,000 miles on it.
