Gary's Trip To Ouray

[Gary Lewis]

This is the first installment to tell y'all that things are going pretty well. But not perfectly.

Big Blue is running like a champ save for some carburetion problems. He was doing well until we swapped metering rods today, and that made him too lean. We swapped back later but did something wrong and it was still lean. We will work on it a bit tomorrow, but towards the end of today I opened the idle screws up 1 full turn each and that helped a bunch.

And, a minor problem where the passenger's front fender was just touching the door, but we've found many situations where we couldn't open the door. So we've adjusted the fender a bit and made it better, but not perfect. However, it'll do until we get it home.

But other than that, my brother can't seem to say enough good about the truck. The suspension is "spot on" according to him, and it all just works well. We've taken it on some really difficult trails, and it has done extremely well. Plus, the compressor is a huge benefit. We've discovered that one minute of airing up takes a tire from 15 psi to at least 30 psi, and usually more.

Yesterday we went over Ophir Pass, into Telluride, and then up over Imogene Pass back to Ouray. Ophir was easy, but Imogene had some challenging sections.

Then today we took what Bob calls Engineer Mountain Road and had an interesting time. I was driving and got too close to the right hand side and the tires slipped over the edge a bit to the point it was obvious that any further attempt to power out would make matters worse.

About that time another old guy in a 2020 4Runner came along and offered to help. So he went past us, around the corner, and parked above us where he could run his winch line down to my step to keep the rear of the truck from going down more. And I ran my line out to a couple of Aspen in front of the truck, and we coordinated the extraction - perfectly.

Here's a shot of how we did it. And now Mike is our new best friend. He followed us all day and will be going with us tomorrow, although we aren't quite sure where that is going to be. I'll post more pics later, but here's one:

[grumpin]

That is awesome! Looks like fun!

One thing I’ve learned, these 460’s like their fuel. Leaning out at my altitude did not work. I had went down a size (2) on the main jets, went back to what the carb came with (new Holley 4160), then ordered the next size richer.

When I got the idle mixture screws where I wanted, I went a half turn rich.

[1986F150Six]

That is awesome! Looks like fun!

One thing I’ve learned, these 460’s like their fuel. Leaning out at my altitude did not work. I had went down a size (2) on the main jets, went back to what the carb came with (new Holley 4160), then ordered the next size richer.

When I got the idle mixture screws where I wanted, I went a half turn rich.

Beautiful photo, Gary! Have fun and a safe return to Skiatook!

[FuzzFace2]

Beautiful photo, Gary! Have fun and a safe return to Skiatook!

Good to hear for the most part everything is going good.

In the picture I see you have a floor mat on the cable.

That is good but it needs to be at the other end or in the middle.

When the line "takes off" its the hook end that will wip and the mat should slow it down some.

Dave ----

[ArdWrknTrk]

Glad you two are having fun, and big blue is doing well.

Looking forward to the full report on your return.

[85lebaront2]

You do realize that the EFI system adjusts for altitude automatically. At least having an AFB on it means metering rods can be easily changed.

[Machspeed]

Beautiful picture. As I recall, seems we had some discussion on changing out those metering rods...lol!

[Nothing Special]

Hey, I recognize that section of trail!

Glad to hear you're having fun. And VERY glad to hear you got back on the trail! It is fun meeting others on the trail and helping / getting helped. And then wheeling together for a while!

[Gary Lewis]

Hey, I recognize that section of trail!

Glad to hear you're having fun. And VERY glad to hear you got back on the trail! It is fun meeting others on the trail and helping / getting helped. And then wheeling together for a while!

Dane - You are right, the 460's like their fuel! Won't know until we gas up in the morn what MPG we got today, but yesterday's combo of highway and trail got 3.13 MPG. Today may be about the same.

Bill - Yes, I certainly do realize that EFI adjusts for altitude. And boy, am I ready for it! In fact, I'm going to check out the PTO input to the ECU to see if that will raise the idle speed, which would sure be nice at times.

But, I did get the carb back to where it should be today. I stewed on it last night and decided I'd do what I've done before on AFB's that were acting up - blow air through the idle mix screw holes. (Kinda nice having onboard air!) So that's what I did this morning as well as checked the choke for functioning and the metering rods for being installed correctly. (How can you mess up a metering rod install?) All else was spot-on, so apparently the compressed air did the trick as I then had to screw the idle mix screws in almost a turn as the idle was too rich. And overall the AFR was still a bit too rich, but that's far better than the way too lean we saw yesterday. So we are happy with it.

John - Yes we did have that discussion, and now we are back to where we were so should have left them alone. Rich is better than lean. (But spot-on would be best.)

Dave - You can't see the other end of the cable.

Bob - If you remember that spot then you'll remember the rocks. I thought I could get past the rocks with the right side tires on the top of the berm. But the left side tires hit the edge of the rocks and bumped us over the berm. Lesson learned - go over the rock! Stay off the berm!

And yes, it is great to meet others and help/get help. Mike, the gentleman we met, has been tagging along ever since. Just before we met him he'd been told by someone coming down that he shouldn't be there with his 2020 Toyota 4Runner. But after helping us he asked if he could follow us and he's gone everywhere we've gone. In fact, we went over Cinnamon Pass and then up into American Basin today and had a blast. And we are going some where tomorrow with Mike, we just don't know where.

Speaking of that, we've done everything we thought we'd do save for Black Bear, and we don't think we are up for that this trip, and The Wall, which we went up to yesterday and I don't want to attempt. So tomorrow we may do something easy. Like Last Dollar Road and either Ophir or Imogene back to Ouray.

[Nothing Special]

.... Bob - If you remember that spot then you'll remember the rocks. I thought I could get past the rocks with the right side tires on the top of the berm. But the left side tires hit the edge of the rocks and bumped us over the berm. Lesson learned - go over the rock! Stay off the berm!

It's a little counter-intuitive at first, but often hitting the rocks (with the tires) is the best path, frequently better than trying to go around them, especially with a larger vehicle.

.... Speaking of that, we've done everything we thought we'd do save for Black Bear, and we don't think we are up for that this trip, and The Wall, which we went up to yesterday and I don't want to attempt. So tomorrow we may do something easy. Like Last Dollar Road and either Ophir or Imogene back to Ouray.

I think those are good calls, specifically because they are YOUR calls. You can see what you want to do or not. Maybe some time in the future, with a little more experience, you'll be able to enjoy tackling The Wall or Black Bear. Or maybe some time in the future you'll continue to enjoy not tackling them! The goal is just to have fun, it doesn't matter how.

And if you think back on most of my trip reports, the last day or two usually tends to be an easier trail. Somehow that often seems like that's the way to have the most fun after pushing yourself for a few days!