My K5 Blazer Story.

[1976K5CHALET]

Tomorrow i am taking my butt to the fiberglass shop and i am going to get pictures of my new 1k camper door! Its been a week and i can't stand myself. Lol.

[Zoomad75]

I guess I should update the thread since I've been using this thing all summer.

So picking up on the cabinet construction. This got moved forward on a faster pace since my friend put his house on the market at that moment so we needed to get it together soon. We got the doors hung and added other little bits to the mix.

Cabinet work. by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Cabinet work. by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

The cabinets really being the only thing left to get done inside, we ripped the roof off at my house and went back to John's to install the camper. The tailgate proved to be a pain as one of the bolts for the hinges on the body side had a head snapped off some other time and would not facilitate removal. Had to take the hinge off the gate just to get the gate off. (I actually didn't extract the broken bolt and hinge until prep was happening for the desert trip)
Camper install day! by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

No pics taken of the install as it didn't look any different than the last couple of times it went off and on. But once it was on I stopped on the ride home..
Camper install day! by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Looking back into the camper you can get an idea why I deleted the fridge as my seatback is right where it would have been.
Camper install day! by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Still need to build the lower bench at this point..
Camper install day! by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Once home I could get to business on sanding the cabinet and doors down for a fresh stain/poly.
Camper work day by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Camper work day by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

I was able to use my onboard air compressor to blow out the dust after sanding.
Camper work day by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Lots of room to work inside with the top up. The stuck hinge was a great spot for my tumbler as I worked though..
Camper work day by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

I also got started with the needed 12v goodies I had planned for the camper side of things. With the plans for a 12v fridge eventually I ran 12g power and ground from the aux battery to this point. Added 6 circuit (should have gone with 8) fuse panel and power/ground junctions blocks. The entire camper is switched so it can be completely shut off to limit drain when parked/not in use.
Camper electrical by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

I kept the 110v plug that was already on the outside of the camper and ran it to 1 outlet with a GFCI breaker. At most I might run a shop vac or my laptop power if I'm plugged into shore power at a campground.
Electrical by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

I changed out ALL lighting for LED. Crazy bright and tiny power consumption. Like under 1.5 amps with two of these lights on full.
Electrical by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Electrical by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Added a GM underhood reel light to the back near the door too. It's using a LED bulb array too. Stupid bright. Also added a inside switch for the outside porch light above the reel.
Electrical by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

The new porch light. Again, it's LED as well.
Electrical by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Then I got a little nutty. I added some color changing LED light strips that would normally be sold for lighting up the inside of a truck bed. Really bright, but the plan was using the red color when one might need to get up and use the "facilities" in the middle of the night and not mess with your night vision. Plus it don't attact bugs as much.
Lights! by Rob Zulian, on Flickr
Lights! by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Lights! by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

I finished up my little panel where the stock ashtray would normally reside. One thing I found on the previous trip is a need for 12v/USB ports for phones, cameras, ipad, gps. So I added a two port usb to my panel with the aux battery control switch and onboard air switch. The little switch on the top kills power to the USB since it's lit all the time, so I don't kill power.
Electrical work by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Some of the wiring in the cabinets. In total, there 4 more double USB ports in the camper and two more 12v sockets.
Electrical work by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Electrical work by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Another repurposed ashtray location.
Electrical work by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

In the cabinet.
Electrical work by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

My sisters even got in on the action. I had expressed an interest to copy some of the interior of the newer FWC Woolrich edition as imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. They worked up some buffalo plaid curtains and had enough left over to make a couple of pillows too.
Trimmings by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Custom curtains for the camper. by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Custom curtains for the camper. by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

Got Shane back over so we could put together a simple bench that reused the orginal cushions. After using it for three trips this summer, it will be reworked.
Bench time by Rob Zulian, on Flickr
Bench time by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

I wanted a way to monitor my power consumption. This little panel was found on Amazon, includes a 100amp shunt for the current measurement. It's installed above the lower front cubby. I can follow the battery voltage, current, watts and total watt/hours. It's pretty cool to know what is going on in the system.
Bench time by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

I needed some kind of way to carry a spare as the intended location of our desert trip would have us MILES off pavement and mooching a spare from Larry just woudn't cut it. So my buddy Bill and I whipped this up over a weekend. We had to add a hitch (Larry had a spare in stock) and some square stock with a couple of bolts we got a swing down unit. Bill added the step to make it a little easier to get in and out. This will change too. That dang tire is friggen heavy!
Final work day before trip by Rob Zulian, on Flickr

That pretty much catches up to where I was at prior to the desert trip. Not much has happend other than using it and fixing the lower bench where it came loose.

[MTCK]

Great update. I dig all the little details like the matching curtains and pillows. Have a make and model on the electrical control center?

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Great update. I dig all the little details like the matching curtains and pillows. Have a make and model on the electrical control center?

I picked the panel up on Amazon. Here's a link to it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The whole thing is backlit like indiglow and during the day it makes it easier to see in the day. At night though it's brighter than you think. It does have a little switch to shut it off though.

[LT7A]

The camper is cool. I like seeing the rebuild on it. Good work and good progress. Hated to see that your Cobra CB radio died. I have one almost exactly like it going into a truck.

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by LT7A

The camper is cool. I like seeing the rebuild on it. Good work and good progress. Hated to see that your Cobra CB radio died. I have one almost exactly like it going into a truck.

Thanks! I was bummed on the CB too. Had I not have the deal on the Uniden drop in my lap for a good price I probably would have found a shop to repair it. It probably would have cost me almost as much as a new one to fix though.

I still have it. But then again I have a 23 channel GE radio that my Grandpa ran in one of his cars. I don't think it transmits. But it's cool to see a 23 channel radio and remember him using it so I keep it.

[Big Tex]

Did you or Larry do a write up on this year's desert trip? If so, can you share a link?

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by Big Tex

Did you or Larry do a write up on this year's desert trip? If so, can you share a link?

Yes I did, the original can be found on CK5.com here:
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/2018-desert-trip.334182/

I started a version on here, but since it would not copy my photo links I kinda stalled out on completing it.

But the full version is over there to read.

[Zoomad75]

Ok, I've let the story lag over here. Time to get it caught up.

So, 2018 Desert trip was a blast. First trip with the camper onboard. My buddy Ian rode along again. Target area was the Mojave Road.

A few hours into our 12 hour Cannonball run to Kingman AZ.


Crossing the Colorado River the next day to access the start of the Mojave Rd.


Larry took us as close to the start of the road as we could go near the river. It looked like we cut through some farmer's field.


We had a diverse group as usual. 2 Squarebodies, 2 Tacomas, 2 Rams and a land yacht 2500 longbox Silverado. Good thing the trail we are on, isn't very technical at all.


We crossed the border into CA on dirt and made our way for Ft. Piute and broke for lunch.




That trail off in the distance was the way came in. Long, dusty and full of washboards. thank goodness for the Bilstein shocks I installed.


The trail goes around a mountain that leads up to the opposite end of a gorge that connects to where the we saw the Fort earlier. We were close to the Ft. Piute horse corrals where we camped for night one on the trail.




Excellent views in any direction.


We had to hide in the shade as it was brutally hot that day. We saw 113 degrees earlier.


Stopping at one of the roads landmarks for the penny can tree.


We got to the Mojave Mailbox and had to leave our mark.


We took a side trail to go see the lava tubes and ended up continuing further up that trail to find a campsite and eventually get off the trail.
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The next morning we would head north off of the Mojave rd and decided to head somewhere else. We kicked around the idea for Death Valley, but we were already over the heat. So the idea was to head on into Nevada and gain elevation heading to the AZ strip and the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Little did we know what we would be in for.

[Zoomad75]

That next morning we hit a little gas station off of I-15, fill up the tanks, tires and ice. Based on the time of day we were getting on the highway we'd be passing through Las Vegas right around lunchtime. Those of us from Colorado know we could hit an In-N-Out burger joint that we don't normally have access too back home so I offer to plug it into the GPS and lead the way there.

In no less than 10 minutes on the highway after leaving the gas station Ian and I see our lifes flash before us when a maniac stripper cuts us off in a 7 series BMW and rolls the car next to us.

The aftermath.


Basically, what happened was this gal was hauling ass. We had all spread out on the highway. Larry watched her weave from the far left lane to the far right lane and back to the left when she got past him. She cut off a Semi pretty close in that run. At this point Ian and I are cresting the hill on a curve in the middle lane when the Bimmer pulls up on my left side at a very high rate of speed to my truck going 70 mph. Just as she gets up to my front fender something happens. The BMW makes a HARD right turn in front of us. I'm sure I'm going to drill this thing square in the doors. I let off the throttle and slowly start appling the brakes, trying not to make any sudden movements and flip. Strangely the Bimmer is carrying so much momentum it continues to travel to our right in a slide and ends up hitting the rock wall on the shoulder of the road with the trunk. It is at that point the car is launched into the air and flips onto it's roof, sliding and spinning back towards us again. I make a move for the left shoulder and park.

We stop at the same time of the BMW was and both of us jump out of the truck to see if the driver is OK. She was belted in and stuck upside down in the car, unable to release the belt. She's screaming for help and the roof is far to smashed down for me or anybody else to get to her. I was able to hand her my pocket knife and she cuts herself out and we pull her through the side window. She was in pain but we couldn't see any major injuries besides some cuts and a possible broken arm.

Cutting the story short, the CSP shows up and takes over. We figure the chinese 22" tires on the blingy wheels failed in the right rear position causing the cars reaction right next to us. The best way to describe what happened is it looked like I pulled the perfect cop PIT manuver and she spun into the wall.

The scene cleared we boogie to Vegas in silence as we were still in shock. We had our burgers and got out of the zoo of Lost Wages and pulled into Mesquite NV for a fuel stop and resupply.

After a few misguided turns looking for our way, we finally get the right road and cross the state line back into AZ just a few minutes out of town.


Some of the view.




We quickly gain elevation and loose the heat down on the valley floor.


The Campsite was epic, soft red sand and secluded within a ring of rock outcroppings. It was awesome.




We made our way down to the Grand Canyon area.


After miles and miles of more washbord roads we got to the north rim at at Toroweep. If you want to see the Grand Canyon and do it without the crowds of the south rim, this is the way to see it.




We snuck into the campground and everybody set up quickly.

[Zoomad75]

The next day we pushed back out and headed out on another 80+ miles of dirt roads to head out towords Lake Powell. Some of the CA people headed back home as we were going further away, while we were heading in the direction of home.



Our tribe is down to three trucks now. We've staked out a spot below a huge rock monolith well above the waterline.


It was during the setup in the sand I managed to snap another front u-joint.


That night we were visited by the local meth dealer who was camping in a tent down by the waterline. We watched her stuff her Subaru into deep sand and ask for help from us to help pull her out Our trucks were all leveled out and in camp mode so we weren't moving, besides her crappy attitude was a put off to any of us wanting to help her. We watched her get pulled out by somebody and she proceeded to do the same thing again and come ask for help a second time. At this point we were cooking dinner and she's asking to join in and maybe buy some goods from her. I polietly decline for the group and she starts tossing insults at me, so I get pissed and make it be known she's not welcome and to get the hell out of here. (mind you that's the cleaned up version, LOL)

From there the next day we boogied home since my u-joint is busted.

First trip with the camper was great, but it was pretty obvious improvements could be made for easy organization and set up.

[Zoomad75]

Desert trip completed, I was able to make quite a few weekend runs into the mountains. I've posted up some of these pics in the camping thread, but will note the story here as well.

First up was Red Cone Pass. Quite the trail. Rocky and tight in the trees and then a straight up climb up and down the peak unlike any other trail in Colorado. Crazy piucker factor.

Camped at the bottom end of the trail before making the run the next day.


The next morning we commence the climb out of the valley.


My buddy Bill's Taco in the rocks. It's a hell of a rock crawl through here.


As we gain elevation we can see the trail leading up above the timberline. No switchbacks here, it's a straight up assault on the peak. Way steeper than it looks too.


There's another group of Jeeps in front of us making the climb.


The final section of the climb.




It's a long way down to the bottom and the drop is on both sides of the truck.




Finally at the top.


The way down is the same, but with three steep drops to navigate. No pics here, too much else to focus on.


Below the last drop.


Looking into the valley leading out.


The trail dropped us into Breckenridge and we headed home from there.

[Zoomad75]

Next up was a run up to Pomeroy lakes and Hancock Pass with friends.


The wife and one of our dogs was along for this one. The view at the lake is amazing.


Pretty funny seeing my truck out with a gaggle of Jeeps.


At the summit of Hancock pass.


We had planned to come home via Tomichi Pass, but it was closed due to a rockslide. We ended up going over cumberland pass and back via Tincup pass. I've posted many pics of Tincup as we've done it so many times. But the funny thing was finding a busted Mazda Crossover that some moron tried to take over the pass. It didn't make it. Flat tires, smashed rockers and and beat all over. We got a few laughs over it for sure.


We aired back up in St. Elmo and rolled home.

[Zoomad75]

The next run was a double trail ride. We did the Wheeler Lake trail and Mosquito Pass. This was with Larry and Ian, John and his wife in the yellow Jeep and my son along for the ride with me.

Airing down.


Lots of mining history in this area.

Just behind the mine building was a cool creek running.


The first challenge comes right after the building, fairly easy section for sure.


Next up. A nice little section to climb.


We got to challenge ourselves on this one. I took the wrong line and had to winch to get over it.




Larry took a different section and with no traction device in the front diff then, didn't have the pull to get up to the top. He had to winch too.


The trail winds up this beautiful valley that the leaves were starting to turn for fall.


Shortly into the relentless section of rocks known as Bowling ball hill Larry had spaced out for a second and absolutly tagged a rock with his tie rod. The resulting damage bent the tie rod all to hell and broke the steering stabilizer off of it. Ian is pulling the stabilizer off here.


Further up the trail, now above timberline.


Camped out at the top.


Wheeler lake. Quite pretty, but the fishing stunk.


Camp.


We came down the next morning with a bit of traffic coming at is going up. The start of Mosquito Pass was only a few miles down from where we got back on the highway. But That short amount of pavement proved that the lack of steering stabilizer and bias plu Swampers were not going to behave at speeds above 35 mph at all. Death wobble came on hard and fast. So I ran ahead to Fairplay to find a parts store and locate a stabilizer for Larry's truck. The rest show up and we commenced to the parking lot patch job.


Repair completed, we make our way up to Mosquito Pass.


More mines up here too.






The summit of the pass at 13,185 ft of elevation.


Camp setup on the backside of the pass. Pro-tip. Don't leave the paper towels on the table overnight if it's going to be windy and rainy. Looked like we got TP'd with a jumbo roll the next morning. It was all over camp.


The trail dropped into the town of Leadville, the highest incorporated city in the US.


From here it was an easy ride home on pavement. We took it a little slower since Larry still had some wobble north of 60mph but we made it home without any other issues.

[Zoomad75]

Over the winter my buddy Bill and I put together a new rear bumper with swing out tire carrier. The tire carrier that swung down from the hitch was ok, but sucked lowering and lifting all the time on trips. Plus how dirty one gets lifting a dusty tire up or setting it down. So we set on to build the swingout with a 10 bolt spindle and hub as the hinge.

Mocking it up on the truck. We reused part of the old tire carrier to recycle and save time.


We used a torch to pre-heat the spindle prior to welding to aid penetration.


The welds came out good and there was extra gusseting added inside the box to support the spindle. The spindle and bearings are twice the size one gets from the online fab shops selling trailer spindles for swingout hinges.


Start of the swingout arm. Yes the lockout is functional. I can lock it in any position to hold the arm open. Don't matter if it's parked flat or on a side hill.


We tucked in a trailer reciever too.


We added 1/4" thick mounting brackets and thick D-ring mounts.




It got a scuff and spray paint job with our favorite tractor paint and mounted on the truck.




It got finished off with a basket to carry three jerry cans and a plate light/bracket to be legal again.




That was to get the truck ready for the '19 Desert trip. Sadly I was unable to attend due to issues beyond my control at work.

[Zoomad75]

However, before I knew I wouldn't be able go on the desert trip we had to take a validation run to prove out our buddy Ian's CUCV Blazer was ready for the big trip. He's running an 8.1/nv4500 combo with one tons like Larry's K10. So we took off for a day run to our normal spot for snow wheeling. Keep in mind these pics were taken in May and we ran into a LOT of moisture at the lower elevations and some killer deep snow at the higher spots. I don't think I've ever wheeled in the snow that late before.






I'm still finding mud on the truck months later.




I made it probably another 1/2 mile breaking trail for the group when I hit a wall. It was up to the hubs and it was solid as block of ice. Stuffed it in good too. Could not back out of it either. Took the Jeep and the Taco tied together to rescue me with a winch.




We got it pulled out and proceeded to make our way back home.

My dog storm had a good time. We found a couple of weak links on Ian's ride for him to fix before the trip too. No major breakage either.

[Zoomad75]

Missing the desert trip was a bummer, so other plans got made. My Jeep friends were heading up to a spot we like to go to outside of Westcliffe. I had to work that day so the doggo and I went up after I closed the shop and met them up there.



I had made some improvements inside based on the previous year's trips. One major thing was the addition of an ARB refridgerator I bought off of one of the other Desert Rats we go with. I also had a better side bench built by a co-worker much more adept at carpentry than I am. This version is a fully enclosed box with a hinged lid that has a secondary flap that folds out to extend the sleeping area as the old one was too narrow.



The tan Pelican case is the entire cook box. All the cooking gear is in there. It's the first thing out of the back when setting up camp. It's weatherproof so I can leave it out even if the weather turns.


Not many pics going up since I was solo.


Nearing camp.


Setup in camp. With the new setup and better organization I went from parked to camp set up in about 5 minutes flat now. Once set up I rewarded myself with a frosty one from the fridge.


The lake down from the campsite.


So when you wheel with Jeeps in a full size, you end up being able to carry the stuff they don't have room for, like a camp stove and food to cook on it!


While everybody was sleeping in tents me and the doggo had it comfy inside the camper.


Coming back down.


Summer was crazy with work and not a lot of time for off road fun. The plan was to attend Blazer Bash at the end of the summer in Moab.

[Zoomad75]

That brings us up to Blazer Bash which I already have a full write up on in the 4x4 section I'll link to here.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=793485

I did get one more run in before the snow started flying around here. Bill and John and I did a quick run over Medano Pass and a side trip up a good chunk of the Blanca Peak trail.

Medano is a very basic trail most stock pickups can handle. But when the leaves are changing color it's very pretty to see. Here is where we stopped on the west side of the pass where we stopped to eat lunch.




The Trail leads into the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was loaded with people.






It was at this point we decided to escape the crowds and go somewhere to escape them. Bill brought up Blanca Peak nearby. Blanca is arguably one of the toughest in the state, known for fatalities and many rollovers. And we plan on taking a basically stock Taco and my overgrown K5 on it. John's TJ was really the most capable to be on that trail with Long arm suspension and air lockers. So we figured make the Taco go first like a bird in a mineshaft, as in if he couldn't make it further we'd stop and come back down.



After driving up over a mile of loose rock on the initial climb, the trail gets steep and starts going up a series of tight switchbacks.


Certain parts of the climb let us see the view back down into the wide and flat San Luids valley.


It's a steep trail at every turn. Plus the further we go the more narrow it's becoming.






We make it further up the trail near the first major section known as Jaws 1 to find this hammered Cherokee that's obviously been rolled a couple of times. This can't be good for us.


This is getting ugly fast. However the sheer drop downhill on the left side of the rock is the dangerous part. The climb over the rock tilts the truck to the downhill side. We wisely decide it's not worth it to proceed and elect to climb down in search of a good campsite.


After coming down for a while I found a spot tucked away in the Juniper trees that looked promising.




I cooked up a mess of Cheesesteak sandwiches for the group and hung out until it was fully dark. My nephew and I turned into the camper with the furnace keeping the camper nice and toasty inside.

The following morning I cooked a big breakfast of bacon and eggs for everybody. We broke camp after breakfast and came home via a new route avoiding La Veta Pass.

[70inbville]

is that area around horseshoe lake? I grew up I Pueblo and spent tons of weekends around that area. beautiful waterfall dropping out of horseshoe into tons of beaver ponds down below. ahh memories!

[MTCK]

Great write ups, Rob. Sorry to see you missed DT19 but looks like the blazer is still getting lots of use!

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by 70inbville

is that area around horseshoe lake? I grew up I Pueblo and spent tons of weekends around that area. beautiful waterfall dropping out of horseshoe into tons of beaver ponds down below. ahh memories!

Horseshoe lake is on the Hermit Lake trail outside of Westcliffe. It's one of three trails on the west side of the valley. Rainbow lake (aka Cloverdale mine) is the northern-most trail, Medano is the southern-most trail and Hermit is in between them. Of the three trails only Medano goes all the way over to the other side which is the San Luis valley. Hermit used to go all the way over too, but it got closed near the top many years ago. Hermit also is an extremely rocky trail now. Not so much a full blown rock crawling trail, but it's covered in annoyingly lose and smaller rocks that makes travel slow and methodical.

Originally Posted by MTCK

Great write ups, Rob. Sorry to see you missed DT19 but looks like the blazer is still getting lots of use!

Yep, I was bummed, but what I missed was Death Valley and without AC it would have proved to be rough. I didn't get the truck out as much as I would have liked but made sure when I did get it out I was going to have fun. I can say I did for sure.

[Zoomad75]

Man, it's been a while since I updated this. Many changes...Lots of trips. I'll do a speed run down memory lane here and bring us up from 2019.

2020 got into prep for DT, which included a validation run back up to Rainbow lake again. This time, just Larry, Ian and me. My dog rode shotgun. To give an idea how much the lake dropped, in a previous pic we were on the opposite shore standing at a cut in the trees looking out on the lake. My truck would be under water where it's at in this pic. The cut in the treeline can be seen here too.


The weather turned and we had to make some shelter to cook under. Like idiots, we left it up when we turned in. The wind picked up and ended up shredding the tarp.


Pretty good spot though.


Validation run completed without major issues we prepped for Desert Trip. '20 would be a year to remember on multiple levels. To start out we had a huge group that came out.


Keeping a large group together was much like herding cats, but we finally got everybody into camp.



One more camp night together and the group split into smaller ones. Larry, Ian, Ty and his wife and I stuck together.

Speaking of stuck, we managed to get the mighty K10 stuck in wet sand in the desert. Ty tugged him out of trouble and we continued on.



Poison spring canyon is a favorite trail of mine. Very remote, very pretty and rarely traveled.


Great campspot. Awesome dinner as usual.


The next day we ventured into Cayonlands to check out the Maze overlook. We never made it.


After getting stopped by a Ranger, we decided to boogie back to get the proper permits, but we were a solid three hour drive to get up there. It was on the ride back proverbial crap hit the fan. Larry's truck tried to commit suicide on the trail by almost breaking in half. Not many pics taken as we switched gears into "get this monster home" mode. We patched the crack in the frame with some flat stock we scrounged up and ended up towing it out with Ty's truck.

The biggest task to get out was the Flint Switchbacks. Nothing more than a 2000 ft elevation gain in 5 switchbacks. Ugly. But we made it out.


Within a couple of weeks within getting back from DT20, I got an offer on my 5.3/700r4 drivetrain I couldn't refuse. So I proceeded to yank it out and get the ball rolling on swapping in a 8.1 with a 5 speed.


It came out pretty good.



To be continued..

[Zoomad75]

So with Larry driving the bus the 8.1 5-speed install came out awesome. It had it's moments where it fought harder than any other 8.1 install, but as per usual it lit right off on the first twist of the key.



The first official off road outing was our annual snow run on new years day. The newfound power of the 8.1 over the 5.3 was mind blowing. Both on the drive up there into the mountains and on the snow.


Didn't stop me from getting it stuck.


While DT prep was pretty much done with getting the truck back together after the swap I ended up bowing out to stay close to home as my Mom was struggling with ALS and I didn't want to be far. Though later with her blessing as I needed to get the hell away from the shop due to stress I went to Blazer Bash in Moab with my son.



We did the Top of the World trail solo and got the iconic shot that everybody should do when going to Moab. It's a rough trail though..


We had a great time on Backwards Bill.


Did a little wheelie action..


The next day I led a group out to Thelma and Louise point and up the Shaffer Switchbacks.



I came back from BB knowing a lot of changes were coming in my life. My Mom wasn't going to survive the battle and I made sure I was up as often as I could up to the end. I also was filing for a divorce as my soon to be ex had gone completely off the rails and was obviously in another relationship. I pulled the plug and put the house up for sale. Life at the dealership was just getting harder and harder with only two techs, twice the workload and half of it coming back due to shoddy work. I was getting beat up constantly from every angle. Customers, Ownership and the techs. My exit strategy was to pull up and gtfo as soon as the house sold. Then I got covid. Everything was already moved into storage, I couldn't stay at anybody's place for fear of infection. My Mom had passed in October and my Dad was on his own at 83. I was going to leave the dealership and go help my Dad in Denver. The dealer knew what was going on, though my timetable got accelerated when my ex managed to loose my Dog. Long story short she was missing for two days in the freezing cold and was finally found by the local animal control. The signs were pretty obvious, it was then that I decided to just leave. Packed what little I had that hadn't already been sent to Denver, turned in my stuff to the dealer and drove to Denver. Not how I planned it, but I would have lost my sanity staying any longer and staying at a buddy's house.

I got settled in and started working on a plan to hit the desert to clear out my head and hit the reset button. My buddy Bill is retired and is always up to get out of town. We planned on hitting western AZ as the weather is good compared to Colorado in Feb.



We decided to take the roads less taken on the way and cut across NM on two-lane roads. We stopped to check out the Very Large Array radio telescope and Pie Town Fred from Dirt Every Day always raved about. Too bad they were out of pie in Pie town.


My pooch came along as she needed a reset in warm weather after two frozen nights out on the streets alone.


We set up camp on night one on BLM land east of Phoenix in the dark. This is the landscape we woke up to.


Day two had us west of Phoenix at the former Camp Bouse where they trained soldiers to operate tanks for WWII. Not much is left of the old base but some foundations and the flag pole but it was still really cool to check out.





We checked out a large mine operation nearby the next day. We made our way down to Quartzite and got back on dirt south of town made our way on a trail that links up to the KofA wildlife preserve.

AZ sunsets are awesome.


AZ sunrises aren't too shabby either. Even more so when you wake up to a great orange pumpkin that was there when you went to bed.


Nick's burb is a well weathered desert dweller. He and his son are our guides to the KofA area. But don't let the dry orange paint fool ya, he's packing heat under the body. 12v Cummins, NV4500, one tons and ORD custom springs. It's a well sorted out package for sure.


Camp on night 3 was clear and chilly once the sun went down. Nick's home built awning with side walls provided a nice space to escape the wind as group and a little propane fire took the chill off.


One thing that was discovered during the trip was the NV4500 decided it wanted to eat itself. It got stuck in 4th gear a couple of times and the noise coming from the throwout bearing was sounding worse by the day. The noise was worst with the trans in neutral with the clutch pedal released but I had a feeling it was more than the bearing with the trans hanging up in gear. So I did what anybody would do a thousand miles from home and not wanting to work on it, I skipped 4th gear and turned up the stereo. Though a blown exhaust donut did a good job to slow the truck down. I fixed the donut at Bill's house on the way home and made it back to Denver under it's own power.

The I pulled the trans and found the obvious in the wiped out throwout bearing. But pulling up and down on the input shaft confirmed the input bearing was loose. I had made arrangements to get a rebuilt nv4500. They did me a solid and built a hybrid unit of an early and late version of the 4500. Early in that it has the killer 6.34:1 low gear and late in that it has the bolt on shifter and integrated release bearing. It's awesome BTW. Plus they build them with brass synchronizers vs the stock fiber-based synchros.

I got that together and did a weekend run down to Penrose to test it out and watch guys take on the hardest trail network in the state.


My truck stayed out of the rocks.


To be continued..

[Zoomad75]

I neglected to cover some updates made to the truck prior to the summer season. First off the dead Smittybuilt air compressor was chucked in favor of an ARB twin air compressor.


The camper got an upgrade of 2ga cable feeding it from the aux battery. The fridge was struggling in the heat with a smaller feed. Hydraulic crimper for the win, killer tool.



On a weekend thrash session at Larry's we fixed the cracks in the frame at the steering box, fresh softride front springs, rear shock mount braces and yet another front fender.

These cracks occurred with the ORD steering box brace installed from the beginning when we put the 5.3 in. It's just a matter of time if you actually wheel your junk to have this happen. The weld on brace was installed by our buddy Bill.


The trip to AZ found another issue with the fenders. This time the rear bracket on the fender broke spot welds again and broke the captured nut on the cowl for the fender mount too.




With another used GM fender acquired we used the same technique Larry used on his K10 to combat the same issue of broken spot welds.


The Superlift softride 4" springs replaced the almost 20 year old Rough Country springs. ORD kevlar/poly bushings were used with greaseable bolts on all three pivot points and ORD HD shackles went in. The frame mounted shackle bushings proved to be a pain to remove.



The rear shock support brackets from ORD went in with fresh Bilstien shocks.


A fresh steering gear went on after the paint dried on the frame repair. The ride quality increased exponentially. Between the better springs and steering the truck was way more pleasing to drive at highway speed and I later found on faster dirt stuff was much more stable than before.

Desert trip came quickly after the upgrades. Utah bound with the boys.



The rest of the crew in Hanksville.


Night one up in the Henry Mountains.


There was a reason we were up in the mountains on the Desert trip. I set the route and had a surprise for everyone. The run over the pass would provide a very unique overlook of Canyonlands to the east and on the horizon, the LaSalle mountains.



Coming down the other side of the pass we went from overlooking one national park to another. Looking over Capitol Reef NP here.


On our way down the mountain I noticed my exhaust getting louder and louder. I was pretty sure I blew out another exhaust donut.


The closest part store is all the way back in Green River or Moab. The 8.1 is way down on power with the exhaust leak a scant few inches in front of the o2 sensor on that side. We had to adapt. I had a roll of aluminum tape under the front seat from the insulation I installed on the floor. The foil got wrapped around the donut to add some needed thickness. It worked.


We camped on the moon.


Continued....

[dieseldawg142]

super glad you got your "bug out buddy" back, i'd be going nuts not knowing where my dawgs were...
sorry for your loss as well, my mom passed in 2018, it's never easy.
and i'll bet your a torque junky now, nice step up from the five three. that eight one looks like a piece of jewelry in your blaze-how is your gas consumption now?.....aw who cares about mpg's anyways.....