BB10 trip from hell and glad I made the journey.

[cybrfire]

We loaded the trailer up and towed it to my house Tuesday night to pack up for the trip. Planned departure time was 12 noon on Wednesday. This was the first time the crew cab had been used with this trailer with any load on it at all. The 15 mile trip to the house was the test. It seemed a bit underpowered. I really didn't know what to expect. But for all intensive purposes it pulled OK. Good and stable.

Wednesday we left on schedule. We were due at my brother's house Wednesday night to sort of brake up the drive into two days. On the way to my brother's house the trip was uneventful. Other than not getting specific enough with the GPS everything was fine.

Thursday morning we set out at approx. 5 a.m. About 2 hours into the drive we ran into our first of many issues to come.

Now at this time we were on flat Nebraska ground and dropping MPH and couldn't get the rpm's up to hold 4th gear in the NV4500. As each mile passed we lost more power. At this point it seemed like a timing issue. No advance or whatever it just had that feel. In my head I took some inventory of what we had along for parts and tools and what could be done to discover the problem. We pulled off an exit and on the side of the ramp I swapped the HEI with one we had along for the blazer for a "Just in case the Injection goes to hell scenario."

After the swap it was worse. We rode it out for another 15-20 minutes to see what would happen. Going maybe 30 miles an hour at best. It was pretty slow going. A HEI Cap, rotor and coil swap back to the original wouldn't take long so I thought we'd pull over and try that. No change.

Next thing we could try and suggested by Stomper via telephone was a fuel filter swap. Just so happens, our vent tube breathers have the sintered bronze filters like carbs use. We stacked two of them together and swapped the carb filter for these and tried it. No dice..... Bypassed the inline filter on the frame rail..... Nada.... but we did notice this time when we fired things back up the fuel pressure did nothing, then came up a little... then a little more but not as high as it needed too. Played around with the regulator and couldn't get the pressure up over 3lbs. Grabbed an old holley pump out of the parts stock and the bolt bucket and installed the fuel pump with a inline filter on the outside of the frame rail and made the plumbing connections. WALLAH! we had some power again and away we go.

Now we're finally making some good time. Kinda late in the game but we'll take it. Then we hit the 5000+ foot elevation and our power is zapped again and we putz our way along best we could. Somewhere in Colorado going up one of the mountain passes our voltage takes a header and drops to approx. 9 volts. I didn't have anything to test or make any repairs for this so we pressed on. Low voltages combined with thin air and things were pretty slow. Making some of the climbs in 2nd gear just creeping along.

We finally rolled into camp around 4:30 a.m. If you do the math we were either traveling or wrenching on the side of the road for approx. 25 hours. We crossed a time zone line in there somewhere. That's where that last hour comes from.

My kids impressed the hell out of me. My 7 year old, Konner, remained patient and self entertaining and just happy to be along for the trip. Maybe some what unaware of the potential trauma.

My 17 year old Jimmy, really shocked me. When we pulled over to the side, out the truck he went. Getting tools together and grabbing the parts. Making the wrenching I needed to do much quicker. All the while keeping an eye on his brother making sure he stayed safe and out of traffic. Can't be prouder.

 

[cybrfire]

We had planned to do some real world testing out at area BFE on Friday. From the campsite to area BFE is around 12 miles. We immediately ran into over heating issues. These pretty much came out of the blue and would plague us the rest of the weekend no matter what we tried.

Duane and his wife helped us through the issues along with alot of the others that were passing by. Our tools were a mess from the trip out and didn't have the opportunity to sort things out before it was time to leave for area BFE. I was running on 3 hours sleep and probably should have stayed in the cabin, but how would you know this was going to happen.

The first overheat issue happened on the high way coupled with a transfercase that was spewing gear lube onto the header and had started on fire. Glad I had the extinguishers mounted. It was small and basically uneventful fire. Quickly extinguished with no damage. Radiator refilled and off we went again a little slower. This time I shut it down before we lost water. There was no more readily available. Duane suggested moving the spare tire to the roof to allow some more air flow. We tried and it was better but not quite enough. Back on the trailer went the blazer and we continued on to area BFE to tinker with it some more there.

When we pulled into the BFE parking area I was already exhausted. Pulled in straight and shut off the tow rig and just tried to regroup a little bit. Sorry to those of you that were blocked by our truck and trailer.

Boondockk5 hooked up with us and his enthusiasm brought back some life. We worked some problems best we could and got to do a little driving in the blazer. It was running incredibly lean. That was fixed. The full belly skid was removed and this also helped. The thermostat was removed and modded to be just a wide open thermostat. By now we're out of time so the only testing left available was the trip back down to the highway. Maybe 2 miles and I pounded on it to see if the temp would hold. It stayed at 190 ish on the trip down so we had hoped that was it, Boondockk5 drove the crew cab down for me. Loaded it back on the trailer and went to the BBQ.

Can't thank Duane and his wife and Boondockk5 enough for their efforts and help, along with all the others there that made suggestions and helped keep the mood light.

The BBQ was a welcomed chance to relax a bit. It was suggested that we looked a bit disconnected from the group at the BBQ. Not intentionally. Just whipped. I pretty much felt like the walking dead and was looking forward to a nights sleep.

Boondockk5 stayed with us for a bit and helped swap out the alternator in the crew cab. Jason4x4 made the parts run for us. Upon installation, the new alternator failed to raise the voltage on the dash. A voltmeter test showed poor charging levels. Off the alternator came. Ran it back into town using someone elses rig (Can't remember who's rig but thanks again!) Bench test at the parts store showed 14.4v. and 13.?? on the old alternator. We put the new one back on and called it a day for wrenching. It was time to eat.

The BBQ was great. We were there for the whole thing and enjoyed some conversation with some of the other attendees. Ate some good food, watched the giveaways and crashed immediately up returning to our campsite.

The next morning we left for the Trifecta run. This time we kept the blazer on the trailer till we got to a closer spot to unload and make the last part of highway trip with the blazer. So far our temps were staying in check. Not sure what all obstacles we made with the group.

At some point during the morning the temps started to climb again. Blazinzuk and 76Zimmer stayed with us while we let things cool down. Our spare tire came back off again and went on top of blazinzuk's cage. Blazinzuk and 76Zimmer got shade we got air flow. We pressed on hoping to catch up to the group. A jeep was with us and for the life of me I can't remember their names.

Not much further and we were getting hot again. We stopped to cool down again and this time the fans didn't turn on. We wondered if there was an air pocket in the cooling system. If so, this could cause the cooling issues and the fans to not engage at temp. We cracked the sending unit for the fans loose. It's at the highest point on the engine. Sure enough, alot of air escaped. We waited for it too cool and finish dumping air. There was alot of air in the system. A new issue crept in on us here. Some bolts holding the 205 to the doubler adapter were loose and oozing gear lube. We cranked them down tight and moved forward.

Not much further it was warm again and the bolts had loosened themselves again. At this time we decided it was time to wheel back the way we came before things got worse. What was causing the bolts to loosen, only speculation.

On the way back out, I flopped the blazer on its side. I had it coming. Doing some screwing around on the wedgy. 76Zimmer was along for the ride during the flop. I wasn't at all concerned about the blazer and just happy that Dave wasn't hurt. The blazer had provided some entertainment for everybody in our small group.

After righting the blazer we finished our escape from Poison spyder trail and loaded the blazer back on the trailer for the last time.

I had decided to spend Sunday prepping what I could for our return trip home. Reorganizing tools and getting as much stuff together as possible for a 5 a.m. departure time on Monday morning.

 

[cybrfire]

5 a.m. we started hooking up the trailer. This is when the clutch pedal rod folded in half and broke. I reached out to Blazinzuk for some help. He was more than happy and so began the morning. We went to one of the local 4x4 shops with our pieces and ideas. They seemed a bit less then enthusiastic to make some parts. They did suggest some of the parts we needed were at the local ACE hardware.

We went to ACE and picked up what we needed to fab a new clutch pedal rod. This time we made it longer and much heavier duty as well as adjustable. We needed a grinder and a welder to complete the repairs.

We hooked up with some guys at Slickrock campground. Jason4x4 had the welder and can't remember who owned the grinder. There was a fair group of people there. Just large enough to poke some fun at our campsite fabrication and keep the mood up. Hard to say for sure but I suppose an hour later we had a new clutch pedal rod. Actually, we had 1.5 rods. We had to make a trial run and the redo it. I forgot to add in the extra length we needed. Baically recreating the rod we already had in our hands.

Blazinzuk handled the welding duties and I did the cutting and shaping with the grinder.

Back to the Crewcab with parts in hand we all went. Got the clutch rod installed and everything tiedied up. Blazinzuk and 76Zimmer gave us an escourt out of town. This time we went toward Salt Lake City in an attempt to lessen the harsh climbs and altitudes. It did work. The Northern route is much easier on the vehicles if not a little bit out of the way.

This would be the beginning of a 1300 mile battle with the NV4500.

approx. 20 miles out of Moab, I started feeling some heat in the floorboards and grabbed the trans stick at the base. It was too hot to hold with your hand. The NV4500 was getting hot. I don't know what the cause of this was. Only thing I can think of is, the clutch pedal freeplay was not there. This would only cause the throwout bearing to ride tighter then normal. I decided to space the slave cylinder away from the trans a bit to get a little less pressure on the throw out bearing. It's an easy fix on the side of the road and can be done in ten minutes on my crew cab. Pulled off in a little truck stop and slipped under the truck.

I find trans gear lube just pouring out of the transmission. UGGG. Any other trans and I wouldn't have been near so worried. The NV4500 takes a special lube that can be hard to find. I couldn't immediately identify the leak point. I made some calls and located some lube in Provo Utah at a dealer ship. We limped it to Provo and got some lube. All the while the shifting is getting tougher. Managable but tougher.

In provo we decided to dump the fluid in the trans through the top shift tower. Easy to get too and quick to do. When we pulled the shift boot cover up we found the leak. The shift tower bolts had worked their way loose and oil was slinging up and seeping out. With the oil added and tower sealed up, we thought our troubles were behind us.

The Trans continued to create some amount of heat and the shifting grew increasingly difficult.

Back to the voltage issue, we found a Walmart on the way and had the walmart batteries tested. One of them had a dead cell. That was still under warranty so we swapped the battery. Unfortunatley they didn't have the identical battery. We had to settle for one slightly smaller both on CCA and size. Full voltage didn't return until the middle of Nebraska.

The East side of Nebraska shifting was getting near impossible the trans was hot again and I still don't know what is causing the heat. Perhaps the damage had already been done. We don't have leaks anymore but the heat persists. When we stop now, the clutch will no longer fully disengage. Basically like starting the engine with the clutch slipping a bit. This takes a bit of luck and some timing getting in and out of truckstops and through stop lights. Rather than risk any further damage from the heat, I defaulted back to something Miniwally recently posted. "If its slippery and wet, It'll get you out."

I got a hold of some more gear lube in a truck stop and added it. Now we should be way over full. The trans ran cooler and shifting got better. I believe the trans needs a rebuild though. The wrong lube can and will damage the synchros. Hopefully it will save any bearings. It did get us home and that was the prevailing concern with my kids in the truck. We stopped off back at my Brother's house in Eastern Nebraska and caught a couple hours sleep and then finished the journey Wednesday morning. Home by 7:45 a.m. Completely exhausted.

I will attend Blazer Bash again, despite all the trauma we still had a great adventure. Jimmy has already expressed interest in going next year. We truly got a huge dose of "Suck It up" and make the best of it. Jimmy's eyes were opened as to how much abuse these old trucks can undergo and still get you moving. With the right bunch of people and some motivation there wasn't much we couldn't have overcome.

Once again, special thanks to all that took some time from their wheeling schedule to help us. It was truly appreciated. I gave out some gloves to some that were there when we finally hit the road. There are a few more pairs here owed to a few. Just as a Thank you. There is no way I can repay the true value of the time given by others.

 

[76zimmer]

Kert, I can only say, it was a pleasure to wheel with you, and hang out with you and the kids. I concur on your being proud of your kids, Konner was just busy being a young boy, I too was amazed at his self entertaining, and being OK with sitting in the dirt having fun...even at 7am. Jimmy is a gearhead to some extent already, being he was willing to get on the ratchet a few times himself.
I'm assuming you made it home as your posting up, Eric and I were wondering yesterday how it was going for ya. Hopefully uneventful.
Looking forward to next year, and even better times.

 

[cybrfire]

Kert, I can only say, it was a pleasure to wheel with you, and hang out with you and the kids. I concur on your being proud of your kids, Konner was just busy being a young boy, I too was amazed at his self entertaining, and being OK with sitting in the dirt having fun...even at 7am. Jimmy is a gearhead to some extent already, being he was willing to get on the ratchet a few times himself.
I'm assuming you made it home as your posting up, Eric and I were wondering yesterday how it was going for ya. Hopefully uneventful.
Looking forward to next year, and even better times.

We need to hook up for next year and convoy out to the bash. Unless you'd rather avoid my luck, which I can understand.

It was good wheeling with you too Dave. Good times!

 

[50cj3]

glad to hear you made it home

 

[76zimmer]

Hey Kert, just started reading parts 2 & 3, but how did the I-80 route turn out?
I'm in for a convoy....


just finished the read....Eric and I both whole heartedly agreed that there was no way we could have just kept going on Poison Spider. It is not his nature nor mine to pass someone needing help. It gave us both a great deal of satisfaction to help keep things going....oh and sorry bout the antifreeze shower.
We both were glad to help out, when the phone rang Monday AM....I heard it, he answered it, and he said "hey Dave we gotta go help Kert"...we were on our way. So what goes around comes around, next time it may be someone else, but if I come across them, I'll do what I can to help.
Those 2 guys in the flatfender were Eric's buddies....Driver Brent and Devin. They left Sunday after we ran Pritchett.

 

[Jason4x4]

see, I told you to stay at slickrock.

I believe Wade, Ktmoutfront, gave you the ride back to town to check the alternator,
and Brent, r3ddog, had the grinder at slick rock.

I'm glad you made it home and the clutch rod worked.

 

[cybrfire]

Hey Kert, just started reading parts 2 & 3, but how did the I-80 route turn out?
I'm in for a convoy....


just finished the read....Eric and I both whole heartedly agreed that there was no way we could have just kept going on Poison Spider. It is not his nature nor mine to pass someone needing help. It gave us both a great deal of satisfaction to help keep things going....oh and sorry bout the antifreeze shower.
We both were glad to help out, when the phone rang Monday AM....I heard it, he answered it, and he said "hey Dave we gotta go help Kert"...we were on our way. So what goes around comes around, next time it may be someone else, but if I come across them, I'll do what I can to help.
Those 2 guys in the flatfender were Eric's buddies....Driver Brent and Devin. They left Sunday after we ran Pritchett.

I had a good time wheelin' out with you guys. Brent seemed to be pretty well versed with the area as well.

I'll definitely be up to helping the next guy broke down on the trail. Very cool of all you guys to hang around and keep us moving.

Meh, the antifreeze shower lead us to a complete check of the cooling system. It's all good.

see, I told you to stay at slickrock.

I believe Wade, Ktmoutfront, gave you the ride back to town to check the alternator,
and Brent, r3ddog, had the grinder at slick rock.

I'm glad you made it home and the clutch rod worked.

Jason, thanks for the name clarification. I suck at names. I'm surprised I remember the ones I did. No less gratitude to those I didn't remember. Slick rock is where we'll be next year. Hopefully fabbing and working on someone elses stuff.

 

[stockk5]

wow, i ordered some parts today and tracey said you just were just getting home, i asked how it was and she said everyone had a good time! damn i didnt expect to read that! Reminds me of 07, 7hours away from home, no tow rigs and a hydrolocked motor, called up dad, he brought up a spare motor, in a family campground we changed it and drove home... sucked then but looking back.. great times!

 

[cybrfire]

wow, i ordered some parts today and tracey said you just were just getting home, i asked how it was and she said everyone had a good time! damn i didnt expect to read that!

It was a good time! Break down on the road several times fix it and keep going finish the week with all its challenges and you'll certainly know deep down if you love your trucks or not.

 

[Jason4x4]

didn't you lose some wheels too?

 

[70jimmy]

It was great to meet you and the kids Kert. You have reason to be proud of them. I am glad you got some wheeling in. Hopefully that will be the worst trip you ever have. You guys dealt with a lot just to get there and everybody kept right on trucking trying to get some wheeling time in. Sounds like the ride home was just as eventful.

Looking forward to spending some time with you on the trail next year!!!

 

[jms]

Kert, that was just a rite of passage for the first Blazer Bash for Midwesterners...

My first trip in '02: carb was way too rich, went over Monarch Pass at 20mph, stopped at the top w/ power steering fluid boiling; continued anyway, made it to Moab, had a great time, fixed the carb on top of Potato Salad Hill, ran great the next day on Gold Bar, bounced the truck on Poison Spider next to the Wedgie (a climb that's now closed), carb ran rich from then on, needed to get home, was totally stressed out on I-70, and counting the miles up to Eisenhower; cat was glowing red when I picked up gas outside Denver, and it got so hot that it melted my briefcase in the back, including the laptop

Nevertheless, I couldn't get the grin off my face for the next month or three, and I've been back ever since.... so: see you next year.

P.S. I was gonna add 'bigger and better' but I realized that with your truck 'bigger' might actually be a little difficult to do...

 

[MNorby]

wow, crazy trip for ya. I was hoping to get to wheel with you at some point, only saw ya leaving area BFE as we BSed with out new Arizona bronco friends. I'll bring ya some loctight for next year

 

[kgblazerfive]

Im glad too that you eurvived and somewhat had a good time.

Sounds like it time for a 6bt swap in the tow rig

 

[tRustyK5]

Sounds like a classic Blazer Bash story Kert. Ask Dremu, or Skigirl, or Greg72.

my Blazer Bash adventure was a steering block for a D60 that was slowly working itself loose on the trip there. By SLC lane changes were very interesting. we stopped a few times to check everything out. Somehow missed the studs being a bit loose on the steering block.

Friday at the unofficial wheeling spot that year (lower hell, then upper hell) I wheeled Lower just fine, was having a blast. We watched the buggy's on Upper for a while. Then when driving out through a mellow wash I turned the wheel, the truck didn't turn hardly at all and I ran into a rock with the driver's tire. Three steering arm studs sheared...had to leave the truck overnight.

Saturday me, my buddy and FWP got it fixed in the am, ran into BadDog...then headed to Pritchett to try and catch the main group. About halfway through Pritchett I pretzeled my rear driveshaft, and badDog's lock right packed it in. We turned around. Sunday I spent with Greg72 and Donna getting my driveshaft fixed. Well, Dirk fixed it while we waited, BS'd, and enjoyed the fall sunshine.

Monday we wheeled Gold Bar rim with a fully packed truck. Got off the trail as it was getting dark and headed home. Got home to find the unbalanced .250" wall driveshaft wiped out my pinion bearings, and the 50 some odd hours of running at 2700 rpm didn't help my rear main seal on the 6.2.

i never had so much fun!

Rene

 

[mrk5]

I'm glad you still had fun and want to come back. I have a feeling this was one of those vacations that require a vacation to recover from the vacation.

 

[blazinzuk]

Good to hear you are home man! It was a fun time even though you had so many problems, I did enjoy our drive up and down poison spider.

Now you know if we are sitting there saying oh just one more time you might not want to try it!!! The flop was entertaining to say the least.

Tell Konner hi for me and smack Jimmy in the back of the head for me

If any of you guys didn't get the chance to meet Konner he was one of the greatest little guys around, didn't really hear him complain once, Jimmy is a great kid too.

Kert is not only doing a good job at his business but from the two kids I meant he is doing a fine job as a Dad too.

 

[BoondocK5]

Kert,
It was good to finally meet you in person. Your kids are great. I love how hey just knuckled under and did what had to be done, just as you did!
Seeing your Blazer gave me a lot of good ideas to fold into my Crew cab.
Finally, I wish I could have been more help on tuesday, I was out of town when Eric called me to help.
If there is ever anything I can do to help you out, just say the word. I'll do what I can!
I'll see you next year at the BB11.