Arizona 2014

[Stripe]

I thought he did, I think he posted it a while back..?  I'll be buggered if I can't find it though..

[pvoth1111]

I know right....I thought it was disassembled....then came the k5.....I doe no wha happin i??

[pvoth1111]

Hey Kev take US 60 to New Mexico if you can...and if the brakes are good......and  take pics along the way....that stretch of us 60 is amazing.....the Grades are kinda steep...k they are steep.

[DonD]

"
First thing Monday morning I drove down to O'Reilly's and borrowed spring compressors, then paid my friend Gabe to remove the Mor/Ryde spring boxes while I then went out and got materials and ran a whole bunch of other errands.

He had the spring boxes off by the time I came back, so I spent some time cutting stuff out and whatnot for this week's enormous catapult run."

"While all of this was going on, my buddy Gabe reinstalled the spring boxes on the Holiday Rambler and got it all ready to go.  Patti paid him for the work, and we gave him the special spring compressors I had to buy as a bonus, since I'll never have to use them again...hopefully!"

[pvoth1111]

"
First thing Monday morning I drove down to O'Reilly's and borrowed spring compressors, then paid my friend Gabe to remove the Mor/Ryde spring boxes while I then went out and got materials and ran a whole bunch of other errands.

He had the spring boxes off by the time I came back, so I spent some time cutting stuff out and whatnot for this week's enormous catapult run."

"While all of this was going on, my buddy Gabe reinstalled the spring boxes on the Holiday Rambler and got it all ready to go.  Patti paid him for the work, and we gave him the special spring compressors I had to buy as a bonus, since I'll never have to use them again...hopefully!"

like this

[Stripe]

like this

Or this?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Yep!  Spring boxes are all fixed and reinstalled.  Gabe did a great job, as did the welding shop.  Logistically I just didn't have time with everything else going on, so I gladly paid the welding shop 150 bucks to fix them, reenforce them, and drop the shock mount 3 inches lower.  And I gladly paid Gabe 220 bucks for the job, plus the spring compressors.

It was a super busy productive day today I tell ya!  Got everything staged to go with the boys to So.Cal, cut out all the rest of the parts and drilled and routered them, and then packed up all the tools they'll need into the U-Haul trailer we rented for them.

Then spent the rest of the day packing down the workshop and making a bunch of trips with the tools in the truck to stow it in a friend's booth, then cleaned up piles of sawdust and whatnot (9 big garbage bags), and even had time to load up the RV compartments.  All that's left to do to hit the road is to load up the porch furniture and mats and whatnot into the Blazer, hook the Blazer to the RV tow bar and all that that entails, and we'll be off!

Still gonna wait until Thursday though.  I have to have made 3 copies of the key to our friend's booth that he let us stow our stuff in, and give one to the office tomorrow.  Also gotta troubleshoot why some of the lights in the RV don't work, but I'm guessing its a fuse from when the pups tore down the visor, since it has a hard wired lighted vanity mirror and its in the same area as the rest of the lights that aren't working.  Another goal tomorrow is to get some flexible duct hose the right size and install it in the Blazer dash so the new AC actually blows out of the dash vents...lol! 

Also have to bag up a bunch of peat moss bags and change out the compost in the toilet...Patti is going to take care of the bagging up process.

Another thing I have to do tomorrow is go down to the local vet and pick up Heartgard and Advantix for the pups and Barnabas.  They had their last ones on the first of March, and they'll sure as heck need them in Muskogee!  Not taking any chances in bug central!

So we'll definitely be out of here first thing Thursday morning.  We plan on taking Highway 60 West to pick up I-17 North to Flagstaff, then taking I-40 East all the way to Muskogee.  I-40 is a pretty easy ride without too many big climbs.  I-17 has 2 HUGE climbs and elevation gains out of the valley, so if it gets too bad, we'll disco the Blazer and Patti will follow me the rest of the way to Flagstaff.  We are travelling pretty light this trip though, so it should be fine just towing the Blazer.

Kev

[Stripe]

Hehe, gotta love the puppies!! Barnabas included!!

[DonD]

Kev, On I-17 honk as you drive by SR69. I'll be listening!!

Safe travels.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Got everything done on my list today, although it took until 6pm.  Then went out to dinner with friends. 

Just a few things to wrap up tomorrow, but we decided to leave on Friday.  That will put us in Muskogee on Monday when the office is open and we can actually pull into our campsite.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Getting on the road tomorrow in the RV pretty much at 9am sharp, which will allow us to avoid the Phoenix, AZ rush hour traffic on our way from Gold Canyon, AZ, to Muskogee, OK.  We are taking I-17N to I-40 East pretty much all the way...1180 miles towing the K5.

Going to drop the driveshaft again...still can't figure out if its safe to tow in neutral...too many conflicting opinions.  So I'll err on the side of caution once again and spend 9 minutes disconnecting it, taping the bearing cups in place, and hanging it from a frame rail.

It was a lot of work, but everything is staged and we can be out of here within 20 minutes of waking up tomorrow if need be.

Even already took my shower and shaved...lol!

But we definitely are going to wait until 9am to get on the road.  Before that the traffic sucks on a weekday!  Not going into Phoenix, but up the 101 to 17...but the traffic is still bad during rush hour.

Anyone know how bad the elevation gains I'm going to face are, going up I-17 to Flagstaff?

Went that way last year as far as Sedona, and it wasn't all that bad...but from Sedona we took the back way to Flagstaff, and it was VERY bad...Long Long Trailer bad!

Kev

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Even already took my shower and shaved...lol!

Gee if I could get a shave to last that long ......

It would already be time to shave again for me.

Dave

[DonD]

Flag is over 7000ft, PHX is about 1000.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Uneventful trip so far!  Went from 1200-1700 feet to over 7000 feet...and some of those hills were epic!...up I-17 to Flagstaff.  Our RV with its carburated 454 pulled the hills just fine towing the K5...I was keeping up with the semi trucks at least...and thanks to all the mods I did on the engine and transmission cooling systems, I never got over 220 for water temp, and not a hair over 200 for transmission temp, and both cooled down quickly after each climb.

Then we hit I-40 East, which while windy...couldn't go much faster than 50mph without being all over the road...was an easy run all the way to just outside of Gallup, NM, where we are staying for the night at a rest stop.  Could have gone farther, but I hate driving at night, and this waypoint puts us about 1/3rd the way to our destination.  We can't arrive before Monday morning, so I figured this was a good place to stop.

Our goal tomorrow is to make it all the way to Amarillo, TX, and stay for the night at a Flying J, then all the way to the Flying J near Muskogee, OK the next day...and roll into our campsite first thing Monday morning.

Only problem we've had so far is that the rear window on the K5, which has worked flawlessly since we bought it, decided to stop working this morning when I had to roll up the signal tow lights with flaps into it!  It was stuck for some reason...had to take the access panel off and start it up a bit, then if finally closed on the flaps.  Murphy's law!  At least one thing has to go wrong on every trip...so I'm hoping that was the one...lol!

Ordered a beautiful burlwood dash bezel off of eBay for the K5 and had it sent to Muskogee, so maybe it will be waiting for us by the time we arrive!

And LMAO Dave!  Not in the service anymore, so a day or two is good enough for my own personal inspections, since I'm the Captain...lol!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

460 gruelingly long miles later, and we are parked for the night at a rest stop about 20 miles East of Amarillo...the Flying J in Amarillo doesn't have RV parking spots, and all the semi parking is the back in kind, which we can't do with a vehicle in tow.

Mechanically everything ran flawlessly, temps stayed great, and once I got out of Albuquerque, we didn't have to open the secondaries very often on the 454, so our gas mileage improved dramatically, back to its typical 7-8 mpg.  Not so good going up to Flagstaff...lol!

The wind though...Geesh!!!  STRONG winds all day coming from the South, with the occasional and unnerving powerful gust!  Those winds lasted all the way from Albuquerque, NM, to past Amarillo, TX.  And its still blowing out there!

That made those 460 miles seem VERY long, and often we were only driving 40-50 mph.  Even the semi trucks were slowing down and being rocked by the wind!

The rear spring boxes are doing their job, and I think I made the right choice dropping the lower shock mounts 3 inches!  The biggest bumps on the road, and nothing bottoms out anymore.

I'm exhausted, but we've only got 380 miles to go!  We gassed up in Amarillo, and we'll gas up again at the Flying J in Oklahoma City tomorrow when we get there, then drive the rest of the way to the Flying J near Muskogee, in a town called Chekotaw, or something like that.

So far so good!  The RV pulls the K5 just fine...not much different than the Jeep, although I feel it more when braking on steep downgrades...I put it 2nd anyways on steep downhills and just engine brake, so it all worked out.  I'll pick up another Brake Buddy one of these days when I find a sweet deal on one.

Pups travel really well, and have a blast sniffing everywhere at the rest stops and reading p-mail...we make sure we stop at least every 4 hours or so.

Had way too much coffee way too late in the day, so now its time for a few Bourbons so I can get some sleep for tomorrow's leg of the journey!  Lost 2 hours traveling through the time zones.  We are now in Central Time and will be there for a while. 

Okay...I'm rambling again.  Time for a nightcap and some sleep!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

A pretty uneventful 375 miles today, and we are pulled in for the night at a Flying J in Checotaw, OK, or however you spell that.  Just 25 miles to go in the morning to the Muskogee Renaissance Festival.

Not much wind, but it started pouring once we hit Oklahoma City, and rained all the rest of the way.  At least it was daytime!  At one point I thought the windshield wipers were going to give up the ghost...they were going really slow and stuttering...and then they started acting normal...whew!  Windshield wipers seem to be the bane of my existence!  It  was probably because they sat so long since the last time I had to use them.

Almost there!  25 miles to go, then its set up camp and the workshop and get back to work!  No rest for the wicked!

Before we leave in the morning we'll fill the gas tank, the propane tank, and the BBQ grill tank...then we'll be off!

And a funny story about Paladin.  On our very first road trip together and our first stop at a Flying J, he was walking along and looked up and saw on the Flying J trash cans.  It scared him since he didn't see it at first, so he barked and growled at it...too cute!  Well...at every Flying J we've been too since, including the ones on this trip, he now barks and growls at the trash cans, having remembered the one that jumped out at him when he was just a young pup...lmfao!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So we gased up the RV and filled the propane tank this morning at the Flying J (including the bbq tank we use for our grill), and drove the last 25 miles to the faire site. 

Looks like I get 2 days off!

The campground is too soggy to try to park the RV, so we'll be out in the parking lot for the next couple of days waiting for it to dry out.  Supposed to be sunny, in the 70s, and very windy for the next couple of days, so it should dry it out quickly.  The plan is to boondock it out here in the parking lot for 2 days (grassy field parking lot with lots of trees...so at least its pretty), then pull into our campsite Wednesday afternoon.

So on Thursday all the real work begins.  First setting up camp and the fence for the dogs, then the workshop...then get back to work building catapults!

Next week I'll be fixing the wipers and the washer bottle/motor on the K5 (bought Rain-X today which I'll be applying tomorrow), and as time allows start correcting the steering, suspension, and then checking and bleeding the brakes (replacing pads, shoes, etc if needed).  I figured I'd save the brakes for after the suspension, in case I need extended brake lines...don't want to bleed it twice!

Mostly I'll just be building catapults like crazy for the next couple of months.  I'll squeeze in time for K5 and RV projects and maintenance in between whenever I can.  As I always do.  And they always get done.  Eventually.  LOL!

The spring box repair came out great, and there is no bottoming out anymore.  SWEET! 

And thus endeth this chapter!

I'll start the new chapter, Oklahoma 2014, tomorrow morning.  When I'm having my awesome percolated coffee!

The new Dogwidget collars are on charge, so tomorrow we'll start the pup's training!

Kev

[RedneckExpress]

Dang, I'm way behind!   Where'd you pick the k5 up at?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Arizona!  Rust free, new 350 engine, rebuilt 700 tranny, leaky 208 transfer case, and the most poorly done redneck 4" lift you ever saw...lol!  Gonna fix all that while we are here in OK!

Kev