Last weekend the machine went on its first road trip. We went up north, about 135mi to a friends house in the middle of nowhere at about 7200' elevation. The Cummins ran great. I pulled the 7% grades at 75mph with throttle to spare. Had great weather going up. To get to his place you have to look for mile marker number something, then go half mile past, look for a locked Forest Service gate, unlock, re-lock, then you have a 1.5mi linear mud bog to get to a 10% grade, pull that and poof, you have arrived.
Going in:
It was real muddy. I learned last time that this mud is like super epoxy. Whatever it gets on, it stays on--clothes, shoes, trucks, anything. nasty stuff.
Near the end we picked up enough elevation and there was enough shade that the road was still frozen:
I did some work on his carburetor and had some fun for a few days, then it was time to leave. As we finished packing up, the snow flurries started. Just barely enough to be able to see. As we got to his property line a couple hundred yards away, the flakes got bigger:
By the time we got out to the gate, the flakes were getting larger:
By the time I got the gate unlocked, re-locked and unlocked my hubs, the flakes were pretty huge:
A few miles down the road we were seeing this:
A couple miles after that the road turned into this:
Shortly after that, the road turned into this:
I talked to my buddy today and right now they have four feet of snow on the ground and another storm coming in Tuesday night.
All in all it was a great long weekend. I learned that the Cummins does not appreciate being awakened below 32deg. I did get it started, but it did not want to. It was running on approximately two cylinders and dragging the other four along for the ride until I threw the grid heater switch and almost immediately it smoothed out and would run without my foot holding the throttle on the floor.
As far as the drive goes everything was great. My windshield washer setup (pushbutton auto detailer) was fantastic. I used it many times and except for when it was frozen solid, it was great. The truck drove great overall. The ONLY issue I have with it is a driveline-type vibration at 60-65 under power and 65+ under power but significantly less powerful. Also I learned that I can not coast down a hill over 65--under 65--fine, over 65--BAAAADDD!! I can either float or power down the hill but I can not coast or a horrible constant frequency harmonic vibration resonates throughout the entire truck (in or out of gear). I have tried different driveline angles, pinion angles, lowered the t/case, replaced some spring bushings, re-torqued every fastener I can find and nothing changes. I am going to have the driveline balance re-checked. I highly doubt that to be the issue as I have never had the slightest problem with any driveline that I have had done by the guy who did this one for twenty or so years. I hope someting is wrong with it just so I can be done with this, but I am not holding my breath.
Other than that it was a very enjoyable drive and fun to see this thing out in the woods finally.