micahfelker Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 (edited) Last one for today. This weekend I took a trip up to glacier, and just thought I'd share some pictures. I am SO happy with how well the duratracs do in the snow. Their performance and traction seriously blew me away.Here was my sleeping setup for the weekend. A foam camping pad on bottom, with some blankets in the middle for insulation (it got to like 15° at night), and finally the mummy bag on top that I slept in. The picture is crap because I took it with my phone and not my camera, but you get the idea.We had Friday off from school, so right after class ended Thursday I hit the road. I just listened to country music the entire drive, so it was enjoyable for the most part. Around the Missoula area it started pouring so hard that I could barely see 15 feet in front of me on the highway, so I made a pit stop at Taco Bell to get some food while the rain calmed down. Besides that it was good.I got to West Glacier around 9, and I moved my spare tire to the roof rack and some other things from my trunk to the front seats and set up for the night, watched a movie I had downloaded on my phone, and went to sleep.In the morning I got a little fire going and made some oatmeal for breakfast, and then packed up and drove to lake McDonald. I was planning on trying to hike up to Sperry Glacier, but the trail was closed because of the fire, so I continued onwards and decided to hike to Avalanche Lake instead. Nowhere near as far, but it was beautiful.I got back to my car around 4, and then drove 2 more hours all the way along the outside of the park to East Glacier since the Going to the Sun Road was closed for the winter. When I got to St. Mary's campground, I set up my bed again and got another fire going and boiled some water to make some ramen noodles, and then went to bed early.Pretty much everything except the campground was closed on the east side, so no hikes for that day. I just drove around a bit, and ended up seeing 2 bald eagles in a tree. Murcia.That's pretty much it, besides driving back. It was an absolutely gorgeous and much needed break from little Dillon where there's nothing to do.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited November 14, 2017 by micahfelker 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 Is that your friend in the last picture? He looks pretty upset. Yeah it is. We were all relieved that it was finally coming out though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Sounds like an epic weekend trip! Too bad so much stuff was closed. So you keep your spare in the trunk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 15, 2017 Author Share Posted November 15, 2017 So you keep your spare in the trunk? Yeah, the hanger thing under the car stopped working so I ripped it out. I used to keep the spare on the roof rack but it made the body roll too much. I took it out though, it takes up too much room in the trunk and it's not really worth carrying around since all the driving I do at the moment is around town. I'll probably put it back in if I go somewhere though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TowndawgR50 Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Thats pretty rough. Fj down! I can only imagine that was super expensive. Sucks about your plates. I only had mine for a few months before I left CA. Ordered in Feb and got them in August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 15, 2017 Author Share Posted November 15, 2017 Ordered in Feb and got them in August. Classic. Everything is so slow and inefficient. There's definitely a lot I won't miss about California (mostly government related stuff), but I'll definitely miss the redwoods and the beach. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Nice snow pictures! And man, I've seen wasted but "get someone else's truck stuck in the lake" wasted is a new one. Hopefully it didn't get screwed up too bad. The wrecker tank looks like fun, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 15, 2017 Author Share Posted November 15, 2017 Yeah he ended up really lucky, one of his mud flaps and two of his wheel center caps got ripped off in the ice, and he had to replace his battery because water froze on it and cracked it. Besides that (and a whole lot of cleaning) it turned out okay. The ice actually kinda helped because instead of having to drain out all the water from the interior we just broke up the ice and tossed it out haha. And yeah, the tank was pretty sweet. I have videos of it pulling him out, but I don't know how to share them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citron Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 (edited) YouTube then post a link here. You can make it a private video that way only people with the link see it. Edited November 15, 2017 by Citron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 15, 2017 Author Share Posted November 15, 2017 How exactly do I do that? Can I do it from my phone? I'm not exactly familiar with YouTube besides just watching videos lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citron Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Set up an account, unless you already have a Google account. Once your account is set up, then upload a video. You can make it public or private. Share the link here and done. I have only done it on PC, but I am sure it would be pretty simple on a phone since Google owns YouTube. May be easier with the YouTube app, idk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 (edited) Thanks Citron! I tried it out just from my phone and it was super easy. I'm not sure why the quality is so terrible though, it was originally 1080p Anyway, this is a random video from awhile back at Hollister Hills, I posted pics at this same spot awhile ago. Hopefully it works!EDIT: I guess it showed up being okay quality after all! For some reason it would only go up to 320p on my phone. Edited November 16, 2017 by micahfelker 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Might be a mobile thing? I've also had videos play back looking like crap because they weren't done processing yet. Looks like it's working now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 As Slartibartfast said, the quality is usually slower at first because it isn't rendered fully yet. Now that it's been uploaded for a while it should be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 19, 2017 Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 Alright guys I have some questions, hopefully you may have answers. First of all, pretty much ever since the move to Montana I've been getting absolutely terrible gas mileage, usually around 12 or 13 (this is correct for my tire size). I don't really know why there's such a sudden drop, because even when I had the duratracs on earlier this summer I still got 16-17. I usually drive pretty slow too, and I try to keep the rpm under 2500 as much as possible, so I don't think it's my driving. There's no way I should be getting 13 mpg driving at 2k rpm going 60 on the highway for an entire tank. Another thing, my tires keep getting extremely toed out, and I don't know why. The steering wheel also likes to pull to the right. I thought maybe this was the reason for the terrible mileage but it wasn't (I'll get to that in a bit). I really try to treat my car well and I'm a very careful driver, I always avoid potholes, I go slow over speed bumps and into driveways, and all that good stuff. The only time the tires should even have a chance to get out of toe is when I'm driving off road, which I do pretty often. After driving to glacier and back, I noticed my almost new duratracs were wearing really bad in the front (I have a little bit of negative camber on the driver side), so I got it professionally aligned at a shop before my 600 trip to the Seattle area, where I am right now (I still have to drive back). I literally got the alignment the DAY I drove over here, and it was perfectly straight and all was well. However, by the time I got here the car pulls to the right again, and the front tires are noticeably toed out again! I have no clue why this keeps happening, and it's wearing out my expensive tires that I don't have money to replace. Anybody have any ideas? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Hmm. My first thought on the mileage is a failing O2 sensor, but the alignment drifting that quickly is more worrying. Take a good look at the joints and bushings, maybe jack it up and check for play, see if anything is obviously bent. You might also want to check the strut towers around where they tend to have corrosion issues just to be sure those aren't getting weak and moving around. You could even check the front end measurements against the service manual, but that's probably overkill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 Today I got to hang out with some awesome forum members here in Washington, Kyle, Brian, and Jake. We did a bit of cruising on dirt roads, and then ventured off into the narrow woods a bit until Brian ripped his tire on a rock. After that incident I'm definitely rethinking my decision to take my spare tire out of my car haha. Pretty soon after we hit a bunch of logs that weren't going anywhere, so we all sketchily turned around and headed back down. It was so awesome hanging out with everyone today, I really hope we can do it again soon. Now onto the important part: pictures! Here's a video of where we had to turn around: https://youtu.be/_dkaDmesTYA Today was a blast, we all definitely have to meet up again, and hopefully next time Jake's rig will be able to wheel as well! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrariowner123 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Such a good time man, cant wait to get together again, today was the boost of motivation i needed to get my 03' done! Awesome pics too man! -Kyle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remus92 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Jealous!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Stunning pictures as always, looks like a lot of fun!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bax03SE Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Looks like a great trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjonez Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 What changes have you made to the exhaust? Sounds pretty good in the video! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrariowner123 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 What changes have you made to the exhaust? Sounds pretty good in the video! Sounds even better in person! If i was keeping my 3.3 it would be the next mod on my list. -Kyle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Sounds even better in person! If i was keeping my 3.3 it would be the next mod on my list. -Kyle New Pathy or engine swap? I think Micah told me what exhaust he has once, but I don't remember. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micahfelker Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) What changes have you made to the exhaust? Sounds pretty good in the video! Thanks man! It's the stock piping from the cats to the mufflers, then it has 2 spiral chamber mufflers (one for each pipe), I think the brand is Lobak. Then it goes back into a single pipe, using all the factory hangars. It has a slightly bigger tip too as you've probably seen in some of my pics too. I'd be happy to make a video for you if you want Edited November 21, 2017 by micahfelker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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