Crazy Geologist

I'm with B...keeping the gas on the inside of the vehicle will just make it so that you reek of fuel when you go out on your hot date this weekend. Fortunately, by the end of the evening, your date will also reek of fuel, so it won't matter anymore. Seriously though, outside is best. As a crazy geologist, I have often been doing field work far from service stations (and pavement for that matter) and prior to these field camps, have rigged as many as 20 gal (4 cans) to my roof (modified yakima system) and rear tire rack. I keep one on the rear rack all the times, as it locks down. With a 31" spare there is just barely enough room to mount a Blitz/jerry can on the passenger side of the rack (you will cover a fraction of an inch of the rt side tail light). I started with a telescoping bracket from Con-Ferr (check out the link below) http://www.rockymountaincruisers.com/cgi-b...tml/product=302 Then I cut two pieces of 3/4" square x-section aluminium tube to the same length, drilled holes to match the holes on the C-F bracket, and sandwinched the tubes on the tire rack with machine bolts. I used all but one hole on the bracket (due to a curve on the bottom tube of the tire rack) and it has been mounted and happy for about 100,000 miles. as for the can itself, I prefer the Blitz cans. Some Jerry's are self-venting, and that is nice if you are going thorugh major temperature swings, but really not necessary. I just like the spout, and the leak-proof (oxymoron?) closure of the Blitz cans. The con-ferr bracket is drilled out to accept a padlock, and although I have never had one stolen or messed with, someone with an red-neck credit card (siphon tube) could steal the contents of the can. I hope this helps!

A note about loose sand: A gang of beach combers (or onlookers, friends, passengers, etc) can generally free a vehicle in loose sand. The Crazy Geologist has gone on a lot of off-road class field trips, and without fail, one or more of the other TA's have no idea how to drive on sand, and get the uni vehicle stuck, often times a 2wd ford econoline. What to do? Pile the whole class out, get the big students in the back and push. No gear to break or become a missle, no other vehicle to get stuck. A best first try as far as I'm concerned. The onlookers in flyer's story may have had more trouble in the wet sand in the surf, but you would be shocked how well this works in dry sand.

Ok. The safety issue has been covered. What about recovery? Are there rules of thumb to follow when actually flipping it over? Situation: you are flipped on roof with one friend, no other vehicles. Slow speed roll over, no injuries but you are in the middle of the woods. You have lots of straps, a high lift jack, and two good hand winches (3000 and 4000 lbs). What is the best way to flip it back over with the least amount of damage? What do you anchor to, etc.?

Hey B- How did your final product come out?

Seventy to zero in one second? that is such a high rate of decelleration... if all you hit was your seat belt, you would still get twisted up like a pretzel. But you'd come through though. The passenger would certainly survive in this example.

alright...just the little push to find a friend and get me under it. Thanks!

About a month ago, I go to start my 91se, and I have no clutch pressure. So I tow it to a mechanic, and he bleeds the clutch. It worked fine for about 100 miles, then I had the same problem. So I tow it back, and he replaced the clutch master cylinder, and charges me again to bleed the clutch. Since then I have driven about 700 miles and now my my pathy is in the driveway with the clutch bled dry- no pressure at all. My understanding of a clutch system is two cylinders, one which is controlled by the pedal and another at the end of a hydraulic line which separates the clutch plates. Seems simple, but definitely new to me. Where should I start looking for the leak? Maybe the slave cylinder was the culprit? How hard is it to bleed a clutch? Any suggestions? I really don't want to pay this mechanic again. :help:

Yeah I think the fire hydrant hit a parked car.

Thanks 88. We all needed that... :confused: and you couldn't find a better reference than a Keanu Reeves movie?

HA! my gramps is a full time snowbird... He used to cruise the biggest old Caddy coup de ville. He went blind in his left eye but still had a drivers lic. that was valid for years to come (Doesn't AZ do 40 year term licensces?) So he just didn't turn left, he said. (some justification huh?). Then the caddy was no more, mid way through a left turn. Least no one was hurt in this situation

Clean install...did the x-terra pull through the bog in that last photo? It looks like it gets worse before it gets better.

Yeah pezzy, you hit on the take home lesson. The funny thing is that thought went through my mind as I was pulling over to take a look, but I reasoned that was the only thing I DIDN'T have to check. Definitely not sound reasoning, but I had climbing on the brain.

How much did that bad boy set you back? Cool beans...I dig instrumentation. Too bad you need to head west to have a use for the altimeter... error due to weather is probably greater than the elevation range in ON...but the riceburners will never have to know that. Have fun.

Any other climbers out there? I like to get up high. I also like to get down...nice pics love bunny...Makes me miss going to mammoth each year I love the E. Sierra

I too lost a friend to similar circumstances my third year of high school. I can empathize with your loss...focus on the good memories buddy.

So I will tell you a tale, of just a couple weekends back, when the Crazy Geologist had a few days off, and decided to go to Colorado to go climbing... 4 days to departure: I need a tune up, and I am losing clutch pressure, but I have no time to do the work myself. As I am new to NM, I do not have an established relationship with a local mechanic. So I make an appointment at the shop that is recommended by co-workers. 1.5 days to departure: Drop the rig off at the shop. They keep it for a day and a half, perform ~$500 worth of service, including front wheel bearing repack. Day of departure, Noon: Pick up the rig from the shop, jet home, load the climbing hardware and bam, I am out of town, no more stops. So I get about 70 miles from home (just through the town of Taos, NM) and as I am accellerating out of town and I get a crazy vibration. Worrisome. Feels like I lost the tire weights. So I stop, get out and walk around, no tire bulges, no bent weights: nothing I can do, I'll just drive to Questa (about 25 miles up the road...with really nothing between) and get the tires re-balanced there. Back on the highway, up to 60mph and the vibration disappeared. That is even more worrisome. Tap the brakes...an unsettling shift...I am being out run by my left front wheel. Surreal. My first instinct was to pull right off of the highway, and this kept me on three wheels briefly, then *THUD* as I straighened out and the rotor, caliper and balljoint contact the asphalt at more than 55... Back to the wheel :My 31x10.5 BFG lego veered slowly into oncoming traffic, narrowly missing a lowered red honda civic (whose driver had an eye out, and a steady hand on the wheel as she romped across the shoulder). The wheel hit a berm along the shoulder, caught about 15 feet of air, flew through a tree, bounced once, cleared a barbed wire fence and rolled across a horse pasture. I eventually found it down in a small, mosquito infested creek. Fun. I stop, get out, fetch the wheel, and jack up the rig- I am missing a 1/2" chord of my brake rotor, an equal proportion of my caliper, and the ball joint nut is gone altogether. There is no cellular telephone service here. Hitchhiking is easy though. Back to Taos. Call the mechanic: "Hello, yea, it is the guy with the pathfinder... uh huh the red one. Well, I got a bit past taos and my wheel flew off." "So what do you want me to do about it?" he says. "You can probably put the wheel back on" followed...you gotta be kidding me. "No, I need you to drive your wrecker up here and get me." I patiently replied (as scores of explicatives roll through my head) 5 hours later the wrecker shows up, and I get home about midnight. Oh yeah. Road trippin!

At Trainman's suggestion, here is the poll.

I have seen quite a few used pathys for sale lately, and as I am pushin 200K on my rig, I was considering picking up another with lower mileage, and fewer off-road "adventures." This led me to wonder how many on the forum own more than one pathy. Just curious. CG

On the map... If your travels take you through Northern NM, you know where to find me!

Hey Vidro, Just so you have an idea on prices, if you give up trying to find a used tranny and rebuild: In June I had to replace 1,3,&5 gears (plus all the bearings and clips that you would expect) on my 91 4x4 and it cost me $1600. Got most of the parts from the dealership.

Maritime Man- I think I may have developed a similar problem with the door locks on my '91 this week. I can turn the key but it doesn't engage the lock mechanism. Neither doorlock works so I have a funky string on pulleys rigged up from the rear hatch. Not classy. If this is the same problem you encountered, can you advise before I tear the door apart?

My pathy came with the fenderflares, and I had kept them on until this past winter, when a loose tire chain made landfill fodder out of my rear flares. They got dumped in some backwater cafe's dumpster. Now, because I am an inherently busy guy (lazy some call it) I didn't get around to taking the front pair off until yesterday. I was horrified when I found a softball sided lump of sand, dirt, sticks and grass inside each! and yes, I have a good deal of scratching from little rocks getting caught along the edge of the flare. and that leads me to my final point- How bad does your wife want front flares Treywrust?- the front flares ('91) are sitting next to my trashcan...garbage day is Friday

The funniest part of the whole thing is that it will likely sell many car speakers...it must be a strange job to be an advertising agent.

I like to ride...ride it all! I especially like long rides. 40-50 miles. Long enough so that you start to wonder why on earth you are doing it. I like hard tails because they are light and simple. And nimble. Trek Carbon. best bike I've ever owned. Any other bike commuters out there??? With gas prices going up like they have been, warm weather is (almost here in NM) upon us, and seeing as how we all drive SUVs I would encourage everyone on this thread to at least try it. Makes it sooooo much easier to stay in shape if you don't have to scheudle a ride, you just commute. I must admit, some places are easier than others. I was spoiled in Santa Barbara, with bike paths going anywhere I would want to go. Here in New Mexico the paths are sparse (lucky if you get a shoulder) the drivers don't like you, and we still have some snow and ice in the mountains. But the single track to work will thaw soon, and then the fun begins! BTW- any northern NM mtb riders out there?

Bummer...I am moving to New mexico tomorrow...right now I am just over the hill (west past livermore) in Sunol. Hollister is primarily a motocross park. You won't find much for your stock pathy. Oceano dunes is kinda cool, make sure to air down though, and don't stop at the bottom between dunes, you might end up staying there. If you are gonna go all the way down to Pismo, (oceano) you should head east from Arroyo Grande and check out the Los Padres Nat'l forest There is some very cool stuff that it safe & fun for a stock pathy out there...check out garcia ridge and the Panza range (get a Natl forest map for the montery and santa Lucia ranger districts- there are two separate maps for Los Padres NF, and they are $6 each) keep your eye out for roadrunners, there are lots of them out there. If you keep heading south into southern los padres check out figeroa mt. and Lockwood valley there are many tracks out there that are worth a drive, and if you make it all the way to SB there are some rad hotsprings. How long will you be in stockton? I'll be back in CA come summer.