I can't see any way this trip would not be a blast!
Can't wait for some pictures/updates.
Full trip report coming soon. Got lots of pictures and video’s to upload first.
87MPH Thats cliping along good in a square body with a pop up camper.
Yeah, you would be surprised how well the ole K10 cruises down the road. One wouldn’t expect it to drive and handle so well at highway speeds. The 8.1L and OD trans allows it to fly down the highway just like any late model modern truck. I’ve had it as high as 93 MPH passing cars on interstate before. The tcase screams like hell above 85 MPH though. More on that later.
how did i just now find this thread? ive wanted to do Mojave rd for years.
Definitely do the entire Mojave Rd some time. Great trail with beautiful scenery!
Well, we rolled back into the driveway at straight up 7 PM last night (Easter Sunday). It was definitely an epic trip that is for sure. The total miles from home and back came in at 2,435 miles in 8 days. 5 of the 8 days were spent entirely on trails with no pavement, services, etc. Just good ole desert back country trails. It was awesome!
We didn’t do as good as job as last year with getting fuel receipts but the MPG from what we do have looks to be right around 10-11 MPG. I also forgot to turn off the transfer pump once and pushed out almost a half tank of fuel on the highway. You would think I would have smelled or saw it coming out….ah, nope!
We got pretty lucky with vehicle issues again this with nothing major to speak of. As I posted the first night out from the hotel, I thought I had an issue with the fuel gauge. As it turned out the 6.5L diesel lift pump I recently installed to serve as a fuel transfer pump to move fuel from the RH to the LH tank (main tank with fuel pump) was allowing fuel to move to the LH on its own without running the pump. It must have been just pressure building up in the tank pushing the fuel to the LH side. For the longest time I though the gauge was reading backward or just inaccurate. I even rewired the fuel gauge circuit from the switch valve to the main harness near the starter motor in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Bullhead City. That turned out to be a waste of time. Then once on the Mojave Rd as we made our way through a twisty wash the truck suddenly died. This happened a couple years ago too so the first place I looked was the issue again this time. The circuit from the fuel pump relay to the fuel pump pulled apart at the weather pack connector on the back side of the engine. I extended the circuit by a few inches to avoid that from happening again but need to do a proper repair now that I am home.
Other than that the only other odd thing that happened was the rear axle overheated on me twice. I could feel the truck lugging hard like it was pulling a hard load so I stopped to take a look underneath and my nose and eyes discovered gear oil pushing out of the vent tube while oil was getting baked on the exhaust. This was on the main paved road in Death Valley as we were headed to the Race Track trail head. It happened again a few days later as we were crawling out of Death Valley headed to Beatty, NV on the highway. Oddly, when I checked the fluid level it was fine but then again, I do over fill these a bit by tilting the axle when I fill them up. The plan is to find a larger rear cover then move to synthetic oil. I’ve never had a rear axle overheat on me ever before in any vehicle....Very odd feeling. The steep 8% grades with elevations going from -200 ft. to 7,000 ft. within an hour probably also contributed to the oil getting pushed out. Still odd how it noticeably loaded the engine like dragging sled.
We got over a thousand pictures, tons of GoPro’s and videos being uploaded now. Once they are all loaded I’ll start posting them up.
..... Outstanding setup. I will be watching for pictures.
