Gary Lewis

Bob - I'm making progress. But it isn't as easy as I'd hoped. The main issue I've having is with the terminology, meaning what various people call what trails. For instance, you say the trail from 550 to Poughkeepsie Gulch is Engineer Mountain Road. But Gaia calls it CR18. And Alltrails calls it Mineral Creek OHV Trail. But by printing out various things and laying them beside your maps I'm starting to get my head around it. And there's a learning curve to Gaia. Fortunately I found the user's manual and got most of my questions answered, so things are starting to come together. So, let's try this. Here's what I think you did on your Day 1 where you took in Engineer Mountain Road - Mineral Point - Animas Cutoff - Cinnamon Pass - Sherman Road - Cinnamon Pass - California Gulch - Hurricane Pass - Corkscrew Pass - Corkscrew Gulch. Except I left out Mineral Point and Sherman Road, although I can put them in pretty easily. But is this correct? That's 38 miles round trip from our hotel in Ouray, and we could take all sorts of side trips from that basic route. Or, we could change Cinnamon Pass for Engineer Pass. From what you said earlier that might be better?

John - Thanks for letting me off the hook. And maybe that is it - the slider-style lock with work for either, but not so the pin-style lock. That would explain why Cash was able to convert to pins with his slider locks, but then discovered that up is lock and down is unlock. Good luck!

That's a good idea, Dave! I've got a grille and headlight surrounds that I recently pulled off my truck. Larry/ratdude - Get us a list of needed parts and lets see what we can do for you.

On a tangent, I need to record this here to y'all can remind me when the time comes to build the bumper. Ok? By the tow eyes coming down 1/4" the bumper needs to come down 1/4" if I want to keep the tow eyes centered in it. But the receiver is anchored to the cross piece, which sits on the angle, which attaches to the frame so won't move. And that means the receiver is going to be 1/4" off center in the bumper up/down. Also, by flipping the angle so the 3" part sticks down the bottom of the angle will now be 1 3/4" below the bottom of the bumper. Not sure how that'll look, but also don't know what to do about it.

Oh yeah, different angle. Didn’t think of that. Ok, GARY IS WRONG! The only slide-style latches are those in Dad's truck, so I compared that to the spares I have, which are all pin style. And you are right, I don't see a way to use the pin style with the slide locks. The issue is that lever. On the pin style it gets pulled up/pushed down. On the slide style it has to be pulled forward/pushed back. And you can't pull a slide-style lever up/down nor push a pin-style lever fore/aft. So I don't know what I was smoking when I said you could swap them. Given that, I think you will either have to find someone that has a used one or find some place that has them NOS. The part number is F0AZ 5421812-A and Motor City Muscle Cars says they have one for $63. There may be others, but that's what I found with the first search.

Well done! I'll bet those pins and bushings make a big difference. As for the temp, I think that's about 50 to 65 F. Here it is supposed to get to 100F today, which is 38C. Kinda warm.

The measuring guide picture I posted didn't come from the FSM, it was just something I grabbed from Google after doing a search on the L code spring part number. The FSM's are fairly well detailed for decoding certification labels and VIN's...for whatever reason...who knows. I only have 1984 and 1985, so I can't comment on the other years. The FSM's were designed to be used by the mechanics and the MPC by the parts guys. There appear to have been two different teams working on them and they don't always agree. Man, that had to have been a huge pain. Dunno what software they might have used on the MPC, but they didn't have what we have now. However even today managing a 5000+ page document with all of those numbers and illustrations would be a major undertaking, but to then try to keep it parallel to another document, like the FSM, would be difficult.

Hey Ken, I took a look in the 1985 FSM and there was a code L for rear springs in there: Looks like somebody may have swapped in some heavier springs at some point? H9 axle code too I see, factory 3.55 limited slip. Cool. Don't see the factory limited slips all that often. That's interesting that there's no "L" in the listing I posted. But there certainly is in the by-year listing. The E3TA 5560-KA is an ID #. But it cross references to part number E0TZ 5560-Y. And that was certainly an "L" code spring in '85. Here are the specs on that from the MPC. Looks like the FSM has one more spec - arch.

The Ranger is a Ford. And for one show David/1986F150Six had to turn back when his truck developed oiling problems and he and his wife brought their Aztec. So on one is going to boo you here. Just glad you made it home safely.

It isn’t just the front. Three years ago one ran into the side of Blue.

Larry, that is AWFUL! I am so sorry! Glad you are ok, but that has to be a gut-punch. All that work, and money, that you've put into it. I hope in the morning things don't look so bad. And I do hope you'll come to the show in the Ranger anyway.

Agreed. Unless done correctly that thing may crack more. But, maybe I have the right box in the attic? It will be from Huck, the 1990 half-truck, which had an auto. And I'd bet the later boxes are like the Bullnose boxes - the manual boxes had a bit more to them for the spring. Right?

Thanks, Shaun! When that page comes up there are tons of isolators and washers. But all of those are in pairs and I only have one shackle. And I don't have the bumper yet to put shackles on. So I think I'll wait until I get the bumper done and then buy two shackles that come with the isolators and washers. But it is good to know that stuff exists. I can't imagine why neither place I went into had any.

Glad you got them replaced. Did you happen to use anti-seize on the nuts? I'm slathering everything under there with it, like the bumper bolts, so I can get them off later.

Yes, that looks to be structural, and JB Weld isn't going to hold it. I think I'd buy the bottle and learn to TIG, but maybe start on something different? On the other hand, that is a casting and maybe cast aluminum welds differently, just like cast iron does. Maybe it is time to take it to a pro?

We had a good outing today and Big Blue ran quite well. Here are the details:

Oops, was busy posting and missed your, Jim.

Yes, the choke is closed about right in the 2nd pic. However, the vacuum pulloff, circled in yellow, will open the choke farther as soon as the engine starts, and I'm betting it'll open it too much and the engine will stall. In addition, the choke isn't nearly fully open in the first pic. But, that may be due to bi-metallic spring trying to close it since the engine is cold and the fast idle linkage not allowing it. So you should take a pic of the choke with the engine fully warmed up.

Would an electric motor need a transmission? If not, can it go in place of the tranny and the rest of the engine compartment be used for batteries?

Let me check tomorrow, but there is a chance I have an extra slide-style lock. I think I might 'cause Cash swapped out his sliders to pin style and he's the one that discovered that the slide style locks work backward when used with pins. And I also want to compare the LMC lock with a factory pin-style lock as I think they may have made the locks differently. If so, that's what your problem is.

Bob - I have your maps printed out as well as the Nat Geo map nearby. But even then I've found it difficult to spot the trails on Gaia. But with the recent discovery of being able to search for them on Gaia things are going to go much better, I'm sure. My hope is that i can create an overall map with all of the trails showing and in the notes show the color code for each trail. That would make it easier for both my brother and I to get our heads around where the various trails are. (I'm almost there but he's not even started, although he has spent time up there on OHV's in years past, so has some knowledge of them.) And I intend to take printed copies of the overall map as well as the daily "plans". Speaking of daily plans, I'll probably have several options for some of them. For instance, on Day 2 I might have Option A be what you've suggested of seeing the summit of both Engineer and Cinnamon passes and then going down Corkscrew. But Option B could be the whole of the Alpine Loop. Why? Because in the detail it shows how many miles each is, and as Lesley said that would make for a very long day. But, my brother and his family have stayed at Lake City, so it is possible he will want to go there and I want to be prepared. I see what you are saying about routes in and out of the area east of 550. And the two roads down into Silverton don't look to be very interesting, so that leaves Engineer Mountain Road and Corkscrew Gulch as the access roads, meaning it looks like we will get very familiar with them.

Our member Jon Stittsworth/Jstitts sent me a text this morning with this link to an announcement that Ford's made regarding an electric crate motor to replace internal combustion engines. It is called the Eluminator, and you'll have to read the article to see why. Apparently the details won't be available until November, but it is intriguing. I wonder what bolts up to it? How do you marry it to a transfer case? What controller is needed? And many, many other questions. Thoughts?

I've never done any of those trails so I can't really comment. But you know most of what you're getting into! And everything out there is pretty great! I would DEFINITELY suggest doing Engineer Pass. Getting up on top of any of the passes gets you the best views though, so you definitely want to do that!If it was me I'd go up Engineer and/or Cinnamon from the Silverton side and then come back down the same side. Corkscrew Gulch would be one of the options for how to get out. (It's probably an easier trail than Engineer Mountain Road, but more fun and challenging than most of the roads/trails down to Silverton.)But it's not me. Lots of people do the Alpine Loop and love it, so if you want to do the Alpine Loop you are in good company. From what I've seen the "other" side of Cinnamon Pass is a nice, very scenic drive. The only thing I can say "against" it is that there are a lot of nice, very scenic drives out there and we didn't find Cinnamon Pass to be as fun as some of the others.Bob - Thanks! I definitely was asking for that input.Saying it another way, you think the Alpine Loop beyond Cinnamon Pass and back to Engineer Pass is too easy, meaning not enough fun. We will have had E.A.S.Y. on Day 1 with Last Dollar Road, so we probably don't want something that will be a dawdle on Day 2. But, go up those two passes from the Silverton side, at some point, and come back down.On a tangent, I'm using Gaia as well as your maps and a National Geographic Telluride/Silverton/Ouray/Lake City paper map to plan this. And I'm getting lost as I can't easily find Corkscrew Gulch or Cinnamon Pass on Gaia when I'm planning. But I just discovered that I can type in "Corkscrew Gulch" and someone has saved the trail to the public maps so that trail pops up. So, if I were to bring up the various trails on the map and print them I could lay them out around me and it would make it MUCH easier. That would give me the overall perspective I need - I think.My hope in all of this is that we get a basic plan set for each day that keeps us from going back over the same trails to get to where we want to go, but allows us time to explore some of the MANY side trails.So maybe this afternoon I can print off maps of some of the trails and work some more on getting the basic daily plans mapped out and come back with new plans.Thanks!

Excellent! In just less than two weeks you'll have a good chance to get definitive results. So, to what do you attribute the improvement? The exhaust system? Or did you make other changes at the same time?

I just checked on Amazon for "chassis saver" and got a zillion results. But the basic Chassis Saver does appear to be very similar, if not the same, as POR15. And that should work very nicely.