The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[ryanroo]

Man i didnt realize you had gone up to silverton! you should have just kept on truckin up the hill past the old hundered. the stony pass road is a blast! and you can stand in the pile of snow that is the Rio Grande. and you were like a nice 20 minute fire road drive from animas forks. there is some really neat stuff left up there from the boom days.

[Dieselwrencher]

Thanks for the pics of my old town. Those buildings on the side of that mountain look really neat. I'm sure it was one tough task building those back in the day!

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

That castle looks cool. I like the design of it. Definitely saw a lot of different stuff on this road trip. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, definitely saw quite a bit on this run.

Originally Posted by Dean'smeanmachine

nice build. do you have any videos of your truck on the web? id love to see more of it!

Thanks. The only videos I have are the ones posted earlier in this thread that I swiped from Larry.

Originally Posted by ryanroo

Man i didnt realize you had gone up to silverton! you should have just kept on truckin up the hill past the old hundered. the stony pass road is a blast! and you can stand in the pile of snow that is the Rio Grande. and you were like a nice 20 minute fire road drive from animas forks. there is some really neat stuff left up there from the boom days.

We would have loved to explore more up there, but by the time we got out of the mine it was getting late in the afternoon and we still needed to head back into DGO. Next time we get up there I want to do a bunch of those trails. There is a lot of neat stuff up there.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Thanks for the pics of my old town. Those buildings on the side of that mountain look really neat. I'm sure it was one tough task building those back in the day!

Yeah, they were a bunch of hardcore badasses back then. From what I understand the trail that led to the buildings starts on the other side of the mountain and you have to crest the mountain, then come back down this side to get to the buildings.

[Average Joe]

Cool road trip! Thanks again for sharing your pics. My sister was at Glacier this summer too but apparently slightly earlier in the season as Going To The Sun was still closed when she was there. I was there in 97 in a old CJ and from there went to Rushmore and Badlands. I did a marathon nonstop drive from Sturgis back to southern Oregon so I wouldnt lose my job. Good times

[justcuz]

You know Meiser with the Jeep and the diesel Dodge lives in the Durango area? Larry says the tourist traffic in Colorado in the summer dissuades him from driving the local areas. Was Larry's baby girl born yet when you were there? Great pics of another super trip. I think I am going to do a 2 day trip on the Mojave Road this next week with some friends. If I do I can reciprocate a little, since you have been carrying the off and on road travel guides for the last couple years!

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

Cool road trip! Thanks again for sharing your pics. My sister was at Glacier this summer too but apparently slightly earlier in the season as Going To The Sun was still closed when she was there. I was there in 97 in a old CJ and from there went to Rushmore and Badlands. I did a marathon nonstop drive from Sturgis back to southern Oregon so I wouldnt lose my job. Good times

Thanks. The Going To The Sun Road just opened a day or two before we got there. Glad it was open, even if we didn't get to see much.

Originally Posted by justcuz

You know Meiser with the Jeep and the diesel Dodge lives in the Durango area?

Don't know Meiser. We did stop and see ryanroo at his place outside of Durango though.

Originally Posted by justcuz

Larry says the tourist traffic in Colorado in the summer dissuades him from driving the local areas.

Meh, Larry whines a lot.

Originally Posted by justcuz

Was Larry's baby girl born yet when you were there?

We did stop and see Larry, but Mama was out with the baby, so we didn't get to see her. She probably didn't trust him with her just yet. Knowing Larry, there would probably be a bouncy chair set up on the bench with her in it while he works on his truck . Maybe not, but it wouldn't surprise me...

Originally Posted by justcuz

Great pics of another super trip.

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by justcuz

I think I am going to do a 2 day trip on the Mojave Road this next week with some friends. If I do I can reciprocate a little, since you have been carrying the off and on road travel guides for the last couple years!

Sounds good. You taking a real truck or one of those late model plastic ones??

[Dean'smeanmachine]

thats awsome!!

[ryanroo]

i am just impressed/amazed that you found even one nice thing to say about Kayenta. what a dump.

unrelated side story. i was driving through Kayenta one year the night after my company christmas party. needless to say i was slightly hungover. driving out to vegas. i desperately needed to drop something off and stock up on gatorade and crappy snacks and i was about out of cigarettes. kayenta to the rescue. i braved the restroom, loaded up on gas station hangover remedies and tossed the lady a $50. she hands me a wad of cash back and away i go. somewhere around the virgin gorge/st.george i become once again in desperate need of hangover remedy. pull out my wad of cash and notice that i have $80 some odd dollars. the crazy lady gave me my change and the fifty back. so i save all of it in a separate pocket and stop back in on my way home a few days later. show the lady the receipt and the change. gave her back the fiddy. i have never been looked at like i was such a weirdo. i may as well have been from a different planet. lesson learned, next time you screw up and have to eat a $50 imbalance in your register, i wont help out...

[ThreeQtr]

I'm flying out on Thursday and will take my laptop with me this trip. Staying at my Mom's house in southern Michigan. Going to try to hit the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana and the GM Heritage Center in Highland Park, Michigan. My cousin is having open heart surgery on the 14th at the Cleveland Clinic, so it will be a busy 2 weeks. Home on the 20th of November.

Not to hi jack, but it's sounds like you will be near the RV/Motorhome museum in Elkhart IN. Haven't been but have read articles on it. Looks interesting.

http://www.rvmhhalloffame.org/

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

There are different types of radiation. Particulate like alpha and beta radiation are basically parts of atoms moving around. And gamma which is like a radio wave but of a different energy. Shielding can be made up of many things, but soil and water actually work quite well. You might think heavy dense metal like lead is the only thing that will "contain" it, but thats just not true. Any physical material can be used as shielding to lower the amount of radiation emitted. For instance, depleted uranium actually makes very good shielding from radiation, if you can wrap your head around that concept. The amount of shielding is usually termed the halving thickness. That basically means the thickness of the material needed to reduce the radiation emitted by half. The soil layer doesn't do anything to remove the radioactive material, but keeps the exposure levels down around it and will keep the wind from blowing them all over and spreading the contamination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_protection

As for water treatment, there are ways to filter or collect some of the radioactive particles from water. The water itself, H2O is not radioactive, but it carries the dissolved isotopes and such with it. Whatever you can remove chemically or through filters is at least better than ignoring it and doing nothing but letting it settle. The only real difference in this situation from the Butte, MT one is that the contamination there isn't radioactive isotopes of the same type of metals, etc.. Will the water treatment fix it? Of course not. But doing nothing isn't going to help either and as long as the actions taken don't make the situation worse, then I would call it good.

Very good information there. I do not claim to know the specifics of and probably spouted off a bit more than I should have because of that lack of knowledge. I think my pessimism results more from the agency (gov't) responsible for the containment and cleanup, and their ignoring and denying (actually it was litigation) of the problem for decades while the contamination spread and people got sick, diseased and died rather than the actual methods of cleanup/containment used. Frustration; I think that word sums it up?? Thanks for the real information.

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

As always, I very much enjoyed the ride. That was a doozy of a trip. Looking forward to the next one.

Thanks!! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I enjoy your "stops along the way" in your misc thread too. I know that stuff takes a lot of time to load and post up and it is appreciated.

Originally Posted by justcuz

How long before you post up your trip with Lance? Did you guys have nice weather? Everything go without a hitch?

Hell, at the rate I'm going , I'll be lucky to have it posted by the end of the year.... He actually posted about half of the trip in his thread though. I know, crazy right?? Lance posting pictures without prodding and heckling him??

Originally Posted by justcuz

I'm flying out on Thursday and will take my laptop with me this trip. Staying at my Mom's house in southern Michigan. Going to try to hit the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana and the GM Heritage Center in Highland Park, Michigan. My cousin is having open heart surgery on the 14th at the Cleveland Clinic, so it will be a busy 2 weeks. Home on the 20th of November.

Good luck with that. Sounds like fun (except for the whole open heart surgery thing). If you make it to Studebaker and the Heritage Center, you have to post pics.

Originally Posted by Dean'smeanmachine

thats awsome!!

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by ryanroo

i am just impressed/amazed that you found even one nice thing to say about Kayenta. what a dump.

Yeah, pretty much. Probably a little over 30 years ago we stayed in the motel by the gas station on the south side of the road there in Kayenta. Believe it or not, it was a Holiday Inn back then, no seriously, it was. What a ****-hole. We had our mild-mannered dog with us and she laid by the door all night and growled at the large gap surrounding the door. I think that was the last Holiday Inn we ever stayed at.

Originally Posted by ThreeQtr

Not to hi jack, but it's sounds like you will be near the RV/Motorhome museum in Elkhart IN. Haven't been but have read articles on it. Looks interesting.

http://www.rvmhhalloffame.org/

That looks pretty cool!!

[justcuz]

The RV museums website has some neat photos! I will try to add it to the list. Another of my cousins lives down in Findlay, Elkhart is not too far from there as I recall.

I saw the pictures on Lances thread, looks like you had nice weather.

[El Campo]

Nick it was a true pleasure meeting you out at Dino's and checking out the burb. It looked even better in real life than on here. Sure did enjoy it!

[Dieselwrencher]

Man your trips are always so cool! What's the next off road trail trip you're going on??

[1leglance]

He still needs to post up his Bday run we did to Tombstone/Bisbee, Az
And I know he took some great pic cuz I was there

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by El Campo

Nick it was a true pleasure meeting you out at Dino's and checking out the burb. It looked even better in real life than on here. Sure did enjoy it!

Thanks, it was great meeting you too!! Looks better in real life?? Probably because it was in a dark corner

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Man your trips are always so cool! What's the next off road trail trip you're going on??

Thanks!! Not sure what the next one is, but I do have to post some pics of runs since this one occurred. Probably going to take the truck out of service for a little while to install some of the parts we discussed awhile back.

Originally Posted by 1leglance

He still needs to post up his Bday run we did to Tombstone/Bisbee, Az
And I know he took some great pic cuz I was there

Yeah, don't forget about the WFA. You were there too, well, for part of it anyway.

[ryanroo]

its about time someone got some use out of those t3 flanges.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

its about time someone got some use out of those t3 flanges.

I've sent some dirty air through some of those said flanges.

[ERASER5]

I thought about you ,Mosesburb last Sunday. Leaving a TSC store, I natrually scan the parking lot for vehicles that might warrent a second look. Nothing popped. Then behind me I hear a diesel cough to life. "There are no diesels in the lot" flashed across my mind as my head swiveld like an owl. It was a lifted RANGER! I thought this must be what Mosesburb gets when he fires up his burb! Wrong sound from the wrong truck!

Pretty cool. There was no tell tail signs that the truck had been converted. If I can find him again, maybe I can get a look.

[dhaymaker]

Originally Posted by ERASER5

I thought about you ,Mosesburb last Sunday. Leaving a TSC store, I natrually scan the parking lot for vehicles that might warrent a second look. Nothing popped. Then behind me I hear a diesel cough to life. "There are no diesels in the lot" flashed across my mind as my head swiveld like an owl. It was a lifted RANGER! I thought this must be what Mosesburb gets when he fires up his burb! Wrong sound from the wrong truck!

Pretty cool. There was no tell tail signs that the truck had been converted. If I can find him again, maybe I can get a look.

A while back, I was leaving work on one of the last days before I was laid off and I'm headed across the parking lot to my truck. I hear a diesel start up and I look around, but the only other person I saw in the parking lot was in a Dodge Ramcharger, probably a late '80s model. I didn't get a chance to ask the driver about it, nor did I ever see the vehicle again in the parking lot in my remaining time with that company, but I had the same reaction as ERASER5!! LOL

[goldenburb]

Wish to know more on the parts need to install a 5.9L Cummins to my sub

[84chevyguyid]

My suggestion would be to go to page one and start reading, he has documented his build very thoroughly. He has made a heck of a nice rig out of it!

[goldenburb]

Originally Posted by 84chevyguyid

My suggestion would be to go to page one and start reading, he has documented his build very thoroughly. He has made a heck of a nice rig out of it!

Just did and theirs no way in hell I could every be able to do this.. The man got skills. Better start looking for plain B..lol

[FrankieD]

I love your post's I sent the link to my brother he just moved to Maricopa last July and is looking for places to explore. Him and his wife are into rock hunting, I am looking at Snow Birding there when I retire in July of 2015 Illinois is about as much of a no fun state as you can get. looking forward to your next trip.

[1leglance]

Goldenburb
Nick has a been a huge help in my build and you are absolutely right about him having serious skills.
Not only that he is a fountain of knowledge. As soon as I switched from doing a diesel swap to fuel injection he was already putting together a parts list, helping me pull parts at the salvage yard and thinking way ahead in the project.

Frankie, you should have your brother look at www.expeditionportal.com/forum as Nick and I are both on there and plenty of great info in the Four Corners section on where to travel out here....and I am sure some of us would be happy to show'em around.

[mosesburb]

Well, it looks like I have some unwanted free-time on my hands here so I guess it's time to catch up a little. Things have been going on and time has been tight so no updates have been given. After having to search out this thread and wondering where to start, I wandered through some picture files and found some stuff that had not been posted so I figured I'd start with those first and see where it goes from there (or how long it takes for my PB to meltdown).

This trip happened a couple years back. I took the usual few hundred, but somewhere along the way some setting on my camera got bumped and the pictures turned out with a horrible cyan color. I was able to correct a lot of it out, but it took forever, really didn't look right, and I actually never finished, so I bagged the trip report. It was actually the trip that illustrated the need for a more reliable method of heating for the cabin of the truck while parked. It was early October in 2012. We headed up to an area a little bit south of Williams AZ for a day of wilderness first aid. The pics of that portion are not too exciting, but a lot was learned. After that we retired up the hill a little to an old cinder pit and set up camp for the night. This was the night that I had so many different problems with the propane heating of the truck. So after a chilly night, we packed up and set out for a little town called Parks over near Flagstaff. I needed to pick up a winch from a member up there whose wife had picked it up for me in Flagstaff a while back.

One neat thing about that town is it is on a old alignment of Route 66. There is quite a bit of old 66 still in Northern Arizona. The longest remaining stretch runs between Seligman and Kingman (covered in a previous post), but with a little investigation, you can run most of the way from Flagstaff to the California border on the old road. It won't be the most direct, nor the quickest, but a lot of it is still there. Williams AZ was the last town to be bypassed by I-40 in late 1983. October I think.

Route 66 near Parks:



Right near here is a very old alignment of 66. Looking back at the truck you can see it off to the left as a void between the trees:



It looks pretty obvious as to where the road went and that it was a lot narrower then, but it is a little deceiving as shown in this pic:



The trees that look like they frame the road are actually growing on a concrete bridge from the original alignment. A shot of the original pavement:



So we picked up our winch and had to decide what to do. I asked my boy where he wanted to camp that night and he said Jerome. With that we decided to head back to Williams and head south from there running dirt instead of pavement. I decided it was a great day to run some 66 back to Williams as we are not on a time schedule. On our way we pass some neat old roadside history.

An old gas station/grocery store:



Along the way we pass an old "wayside". I haven't seen a wayside in probably 30 years. It wasn't fenced off or gated, so I swung in to take a look. It had the old vault/pit toilet house (still open and maintained) and some picnic benches here and there. Pretty neat slice of history of how the modern "super rest areas" began.

Gratuitous truck shot at the wayside:



A neat look down the narrow two lane back towards Parks:



This is a much lesser-used portion that was paved at one point, but probably fell into disrepair and was deemed less expensive to maintain as gravel than the cost of repaving it. Just a guess though. I do believe it to be an original alignment because of one of the tell-tale 66 identifiers--the telephone poles.



So we got down into Williams which is a really neat town to wander around--which we did, but the pics are really bad and the color correction really didn't turn out well, so I'll hold off on those for another trip. Just south of Williams is a neat stone masonry dam:



It doesn't take too long to get off of pavement going this way:



This is coming into the lowest elevation of the road. Nice looking scenery here:



This is not too far out of Jerome. A view across the valley:



We got into Jerome and grabbed some grub at a diner and then headed south out of Jerome to find a place to camp. We headed down a trail that I have wanted to check out for years. We ended up widening it for a while until we found a good spot to pull off of it. That night was significantly warmer than the previous night. We packed up the next morning , went back into Jerome and did some wandering. I can neither admit nor deny wandering through some neat areas outside of town. I took some great pics, but those turned out horrible too. We ended up heading back home mid-afternoon. Other than freezing our hinders off in the truck the first night, it was a great time.