daschae
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- Chandler, AZ
Not so much a "road trip" but more off-road
So this Sunday we took a trip in Arizona from the North side of Lake Pleasant to Crown King Arizona on "the senators highway". All in all, an eventful and fun trip.
The trail to Crown King normally takes about 4 hours, but in the deuce it was closer to 6.
We started out at about 6:45 am, I woke up early and took the mirrors off the truck because I knew they wouldnt make it home with me if I didnt..(never thought about the smoke stack). We pulled out of Gilbert at about 7am and headed up to Lake Pleasant. My little brother locked his keys in is truck (tahoe) before he even made it out of Gilbert, but I figured he would catch us by the time he got back in it since we could only do 55ish mph any ways. I was right. My father in-law also decided to come along with his Rubicon. There are a few tough spots on the trail, which I think is over 20 miles long, with the top speed possible being about 10 mph for no more than 100 yards at a time. Prior to the trip, I had put about 150-200 miles on the M35 to make sure it was in good running order before getting out in the middle of nowhere and discovering a problem...ha!
Right off the bat, Im thinking...You can stop this truck, it can climb anything...and as Im grinding my fuel tank on some rocks while trying to climb through a difficult section, I realized I was mistake.. But it was a great chance to use the winch
Unfortunately for the poor little mesquite tree, it was all we had to anchor from! It managed to hold out, we needed just a little extra pull. The cable got bound up all on one side and jammed the drum and I couldnt get it to engage after that..so the cable was thrown into the bed and run across the hood for the rest of the trip.
The next factor I failed to take into account was wearing my seat belt. My first thought was kind of like buckling up on a train... whats the point? That was until some big rocks sent me bouncing out of the drivers seat and nearly into my passengers lap. I buckled up after that. Climbing everything else wasnt really an issue, width and finesse were. I didnt really have to pick a "route" based on clearance, I just went with what seemed convenient. I also discovered important fact number 3... hold the wheel VERY tightly because not having power steering is a bear! My fingers all hurt, my elbows hurt (from being hurled into my hip and the door from a spinning wheel).
I also knew that trees are an issue for the M35 when I got up into the higher country (hence removing the mirrors earlier) but I didnt think about my smoke stack...which was flung off the truck and propelled 50ft by a big branch but we managed to track it down.
And then there was the issue of losing power to the truck.... I didnt know until I stalled it that my electronics were all out. I stalled, attempted to restart, and got nothing! The other two vehicles were ahead of me and didnt realize I was not near... So 45 mins later, I ended up finding a piece of bailing wire to jump the starter and get the truck fired up. Luckily those diesels don't need juice for a computer!
Almost forgot! I reformed a rock face with the corner of the bumper and managed to tweak it a bit...Never even slowed me down!
The rest of the trail was uneventful. We had burgers and a beer at the mill up there in crown king, then headed back down to the valley to an angry wife and 10mo daughter who were expecting me at 1pm not 5:45pm...
So, lessons taught this weekend by the deuce..
1. Buckle up
2. Hold the wheel tight without thumbs in-between the spokes
3. Check the wiring closer
4. GET POWER STEERING
5. did i mention get power steering?
I love doing this trail, so if anyone else is interested, let me know!
PS. Pictures and videos to follow.
So this Sunday we took a trip in Arizona from the North side of Lake Pleasant to Crown King Arizona on "the senators highway". All in all, an eventful and fun trip.
The trail to Crown King normally takes about 4 hours, but in the deuce it was closer to 6.
We started out at about 6:45 am, I woke up early and took the mirrors off the truck because I knew they wouldnt make it home with me if I didnt..(never thought about the smoke stack). We pulled out of Gilbert at about 7am and headed up to Lake Pleasant. My little brother locked his keys in is truck (tahoe) before he even made it out of Gilbert, but I figured he would catch us by the time he got back in it since we could only do 55ish mph any ways. I was right. My father in-law also decided to come along with his Rubicon. There are a few tough spots on the trail, which I think is over 20 miles long, with the top speed possible being about 10 mph for no more than 100 yards at a time. Prior to the trip, I had put about 150-200 miles on the M35 to make sure it was in good running order before getting out in the middle of nowhere and discovering a problem...ha!
Right off the bat, Im thinking...You can stop this truck, it can climb anything...and as Im grinding my fuel tank on some rocks while trying to climb through a difficult section, I realized I was mistake.. But it was a great chance to use the winch
Unfortunately for the poor little mesquite tree, it was all we had to anchor from! It managed to hold out, we needed just a little extra pull. The cable got bound up all on one side and jammed the drum and I couldnt get it to engage after that..so the cable was thrown into the bed and run across the hood for the rest of the trip.The next factor I failed to take into account was wearing my seat belt. My first thought was kind of like buckling up on a train... whats the point? That was until some big rocks sent me bouncing out of the drivers seat and nearly into my passengers lap. I buckled up after that. Climbing everything else wasnt really an issue, width and finesse were. I didnt really have to pick a "route" based on clearance, I just went with what seemed convenient. I also discovered important fact number 3... hold the wheel VERY tightly because not having power steering is a bear! My fingers all hurt, my elbows hurt (from being hurled into my hip and the door from a spinning wheel).
I also knew that trees are an issue for the M35 when I got up into the higher country (hence removing the mirrors earlier) but I didnt think about my smoke stack...which was flung off the truck and propelled 50ft by a big branch but we managed to track it down.
And then there was the issue of losing power to the truck.... I didnt know until I stalled it that my electronics were all out. I stalled, attempted to restart, and got nothing! The other two vehicles were ahead of me and didnt realize I was not near... So 45 mins later, I ended up finding a piece of bailing wire to jump the starter and get the truck fired up. Luckily those diesels don't need juice for a computer!
Almost forgot! I reformed a rock face with the corner of the bumper and managed to tweak it a bit...Never even slowed me down!
The rest of the trail was uneventful. We had burgers and a beer at the mill up there in crown king, then headed back down to the valley to an angry wife and 10mo daughter who were expecting me at 1pm not 5:45pm...
So, lessons taught this weekend by the deuce..
1. Buckle up
2. Hold the wheel tight without thumbs in-between the spokes
3. Check the wiring closer
4. GET POWER STEERING
5. did i mention get power steering?
I love doing this trail, so if anyone else is interested, let me know!
PS. Pictures and videos to follow.
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