1978 Russet Metallic 4x4

[buffydores]

Yep. Me too. It has a padded car cover underneath. Too late now.

As an update, it arrived safe in Scottsdale. There was some minor paint rubbing on the leading edge of the hood that I'll buff out with my orbital, but that's it. On the way home, it's traveling uncovered. It will be dirty. No need to protect dirt or let it get rubbed in like sandpaper.

[buffydores]

I'm just counting the days waiting to get this started on Saturday........

[aggie91]

Enjoy your trip. Take plenty of pictures so that we can be jealous of the fun you had!

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Enjoy your trip. Take plenty of pictures so that we can be jealous of the fun you had!

Will do, Karl.

[schpeen]

enjoy!

[buffydores]

Here's the check-in and vehicle inspection. My personal favorite rig, other than mine, was the '79 Ford Bronco parked next to mine piloted by Keith.



There were 14 invitees and quite a few support staff. I just loved the mechanics that traveled with us. One of them was Randy Ellis. Randy is a super chill guy with a offroad resume of awesomeness. I'd known about Randy for years. It was great to actually meet him.

[buffydores]

The first morning we worked our way out of Wickenburg up Highway 89 through Congress and entered the primitive road system near Yarnell. We worked our way east into the Bradshaw Mountains over trails to Crown King.

The easy way into Crown King is Crown King Rd (59, Forest 259 Rd.). We did not come the easy way. On the way up we had to strap the broken down Pinzgauer in our group to clear the trail. Pinzgauers are super neat Austrian military rigs with 6 wheels, independent suspension and portal axles. In this story, our good old 'Murican iron represents the puller, and the curious foreign rig represents the pullee. Wish we took a picture.

This is the day that support staff following us killed both a Tahoe and an Acadia. Bad choice there.

After lunch we followed the trail system north into Prescott for a night at the Hassayampa Inn.

My wife hates this shirt. Can't imagine why.


Here we are at the Old Mill eating lunch at Crown King. You may notice I removed the steps. The suggestion was made by the mechanics that they would not survive long. Good advise. I'll also note that these heavy E-rated tires are kinda important. We came across many trucks with streetish tires that were just shredded. Things get pretty real quickly with rocks.


Finally, getting some R&R in the Hassayampa Inn Parking Lot. This is B, my wingman.

[buffydores]

The rebuilt TH350 was leaking from the shift shaft output seal. You can just see a little dab of red there.



And here is the 20 dollar tool and seal to fix it. The tool works for tons of GM transmissions.



It is so much fun learning to wrench on these things. There's so much joy doing it yourself, saving some time/money and knowing it's done right.

[phillipm]

Dude the Hassayampa is cool. Glad you guys stayed there.

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by phillipm

Dude the Hassayampa is cool. Glad you guys stayed there.

Yep. Super cool place.

[buffydores]

The second day of the journey we headed north out of Prescott towards Bill Williams Mountain.

We came across this motley crew of sheep:


Before we found our lunch destination, we ran out of waypoints:


After a shortcut through the woods, we found lunch:



Airing the tires back up for some highway duty. This Viair 400P Automatic was fantastic. What I like about it was using the air trigger/gauge attachment as an air down tool. The air hose is plenty long to get around to all the tires. Just worked really well.


During the afternoon we backtracked and made our way into the Skull Valley where Camp Overland was setup:



I hung out with the mechanics into the night as they repaired a Series I Landrover with a bad steering pump setup:

[Dc42d76]

Cool stuff Cameron!! Looks like a great time! 👍

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by Dc42d76

Cool stuff Cameron!! Looks like a great time! 👍

Yep. Super epic experience.

[phillipm]

Oh man.. Keep em coming!

[buffydores]

The last night we enjoyed some cowboy story telling and singing:


I documented the end condition of the interior in the In & Out drivethru...not bad:


The exterior has minimal scratches but a lot of road rash on the lower panels:


On the trailer headed home:

[buffydores]

More epic photos. These were all shot by the talented Christian Otjen. You can find him with his Instagram handle @cvotjen or his website OtjenPhoto.com

Working the trails on Day 2:









Across some ranches on Day 3:

[buffydores]

I did supervise one upgrade this past week to the Blazer. With the added weight of the tires, bumpers, etc., the brakes were not up to the task of locking down on the rotors. I was thinking hydroboost, but after a quick call to Chris at Offroad Design, I learned that there was a bolt on upgrade. Apparently the mid-80s 3/4 ton trucks had larger piston calipers for the higher GVWR trucks. It's a direct bolt-on upgrade that gives you 20% more clamping force. So for under 100 bucks I can stand this truck up on its front toes. I ordered brake lines from Offroad Design that have the matching 10mm banjo bolts, but if you're 79 and up, you already have the right brake lines. It's awesome. Feels good.

[phillipm]

That's good to know! Ours stops well but always good to put in the back of my mind. Thanks for sharing!

[Hammered 77]

Is the brake upgrade just for 4/4s or will it work on 4/2s also?

Thanks
Rick

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by Hammered 77

Is the brake upgrade just for 4/4s or will it work on 4/2s also?

Thanks
Rick

Based on Rockauto's cross reference, it works for both. There's a big piston caliper (JB7/JD7 - 13" - 3-5/32" piston diameter) and a smaller piston caliper (JB6/JD6 - 11" - 2-15/16" piston diameter). Starting in 1979, they started using the 10mm banjo bolt. Earlier than that, the banjo bolt was like 7/16".

[mickeykreg]

Sorry to hear about the new road rash. It must've been hard for you to take such a nice rig "out". Glad to see you did. Really cool to see these rigs on the road. What's the next adventure?

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by mickeykreg

Sorry to hear about the new road rash. It must've been hard for you to take such a nice rig "out". Glad to see you did. Really cool to see these rigs on the road. What's the next adventure?

No big deal. I had some touch-up paint to dab on it. I don't want this rig to be too nice. It needs to live. Me and my running buddy are putting our efforts into organizing a local 4x4 club for vintage iron. There's enough of our types around to get organized. I'm totally game for another adventure like this.

[phillipm]

Thanks for the update!

[buffydores]

The rubber transmission cooler lines looked a bit rough and leaky.



That's better. Finally found a use for those 3/8" FI hose clamps.

[phillipm]

Man someone went gorilla on those old hose clamps!! That hose is cut bad!