pvfjr
1/2 ton status
Well I finally had the pleasure of going down and running the Rubicon trail. I was able to go down with my friend Devin (Masiony) from 3 Leaf Fab. They built an S10 blazer with a prototype solid axle swap kit that needed some testing. So what better place to go test a new kit? I was needed for my tow rig and trailer, and got to tow his S10 down there, and was able to skip out on the gas bill. 
A good way to trade favors I suppose. Some of you may have seen the build thread for the 3LF S10 here. http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222180 So we had my crew cab with the S10 behind it. In addition, there was his dad towing a K5 behind his suburban, and his brother in law pulling his samurai based rig with his F150. And for the record, my tow rig pulled the best with the least issues. 
So the guys left Springfield on a Friday afternoon and met Devin's dad and I in Oakridge where we live. Everything was loaded up, and we were off. Now hwy 58 pulls a pretty good grade coming out of Oakridge and over the pass, and we weren't 5 miles out of town before Pat's suburban ruptured the upper radiator hose near the waterneck. We cut the end off and reclamped it, and let it cool down. Got going again, and a few more miles later, it blew the hose back off and boiled over. Threw it back on with two clamps, and it held. Limped that thing up the hill at around 35mph, and got up to hwy 97 where things leveled out, and we finally got cruising. Then there was an unfortunate incident. I was bringing up the rear of the convoy, in the dark, when a flopping and flailing mass of flesh popped out of the trailer in front of me. I could make the head and body of a deer, tried to straddle it, but hit it with my passenger tire and D60 diff, then the 14bff diff, both trailer axles, and the rear bumper on the trailer. Come to find out, all three of us towing ran right over that thing, and all twelve axles passed right over it. It made quite a mess. Aaron lost his trailer lights, and we stopped in Klamath Falls for the night. In the morning, we discovered under all the dried nastiness and fur, there was a piece of bone shrapnel lodged in the wiring harness for Aaron's lights, and it severed the wires. Got that fixed up. The suburban continued to run hot the whole way down, with a brand new motor in it. He was able to keep it under 240* on the hills if he went super slow, so we pressed on. We got to the trailhead outside of Tahoe in the evening, packed everything into the trail rigs and took off. We only went a couple miles into the easy part of the trail so we could stop and set up camp while it was still light. While we were sitting around in camp, someone came driving down the trail with a stock pathfinder, and a screaming drunk guy inside. The lady driving was looking for someone with cell reception, as the guy had a compound fracture of the tibia in his leg. Not a good scene. She continued on down the trail with him trying to get to a phone. Wish we could have done more. 
Definitely gotta be careful out there. We got up in the morning and set our sights on Buck Island Lake, thought it would be a good central location to camp at and wheel from. 
A good way to trade favors I suppose. Some of you may have seen the build thread for the 3LF S10 here. http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222180 So we had my crew cab with the S10 behind it. In addition, there was his dad towing a K5 behind his suburban, and his brother in law pulling his samurai based rig with his F150. And for the record, my tow rig pulled the best with the least issues. So the guys left Springfield on a Friday afternoon and met Devin's dad and I in Oakridge where we live. Everything was loaded up, and we were off. Now hwy 58 pulls a pretty good grade coming out of Oakridge and over the pass, and we weren't 5 miles out of town before Pat's suburban ruptured the upper radiator hose near the waterneck. We cut the end off and reclamped it, and let it cool down. Got going again, and a few more miles later, it blew the hose back off and boiled over. Threw it back on with two clamps, and it held. Limped that thing up the hill at around 35mph, and got up to hwy 97 where things leveled out, and we finally got cruising. Then there was an unfortunate incident. I was bringing up the rear of the convoy, in the dark, when a flopping and flailing mass of flesh popped out of the trailer in front of me. I could make the head and body of a deer, tried to straddle it, but hit it with my passenger tire and D60 diff, then the 14bff diff, both trailer axles, and the rear bumper on the trailer. Come to find out, all three of us towing ran right over that thing, and all twelve axles passed right over it. It made quite a mess. Aaron lost his trailer lights, and we stopped in Klamath Falls for the night. In the morning, we discovered under all the dried nastiness and fur, there was a piece of bone shrapnel lodged in the wiring harness for Aaron's lights, and it severed the wires. Got that fixed up. The suburban continued to run hot the whole way down, with a brand new motor in it. He was able to keep it under 240* on the hills if he went super slow, so we pressed on. We got to the trailhead outside of Tahoe in the evening, packed everything into the trail rigs and took off. We only went a couple miles into the easy part of the trail so we could stop and set up camp while it was still light. While we were sitting around in camp, someone came driving down the trail with a stock pathfinder, and a screaming drunk guy inside. The lady driving was looking for someone with cell reception, as the guy had a compound fracture of the tibia in his leg. Not a good scene. She continued on down the trail with him trying to get to a phone. Wish we could have done more. Definitely gotta be careful out there. We got up in the morning and set our sights on Buck Island Lake, thought it would be a good central location to camp at and wheel from. 
