Quray 2012

[Tad]

For the 5 of the last 10 years we have been going to Ouray, CO in mid-late July with a group of friends. Normally we are in the big rig as this is the annual FSJ (full size jeep) Invasion.

This year we took the Q and it did very well.

 

Usually we camp 2 nights on the road up and back from Tucson, AZ, it's about 720 miles the way we go up the AZ/NM border, it's a little more desolate and I really don't like interstate driving when towing.

This time things changed, sitting at the turn to El Morro (about 25 miles south of Gallup, NM) we were staring into a huge rainstorm coming. Not wanting to setup in the rain we made the call to push north and see what was on the other side of the storm.

 

Colorado:

 

 

Em' posted on FB where we were and some friends that live in Mancos, CO (about 70 miles north of the state line) called and said come on in, we were grateful for the place to crash after 13 hours on the road.

 

Setting up camp in Ouray, CO took about 3 hours in between rain storms. The pop-up has some areas of marginal canvas so we decided to tarp everything, as Em' says "always bring protection".

 

 

Tuesday we woke feeling pretty rested and enjoyed a nice breakfast of BBQuray cooked pork chops and eggs, awesome.

Knowing we were running on the 12 year old (non-servicable) factory half-shafts and u-joints I had called ahead to the Montrose O'reillys and ordered them, everything was there except for the front driveshaft u-joints which would come in later that night from SLC.

We decided to go ahead and run without the front spares.

 

We bagged around Sliverton Tuesday morning enjoying some ice cream and expresso while wait for another group to finish Mineral Creek and then headed out with a group of 7-8 rigs to do Corkscrew.

 

Here we are chasing our friend Ronnie and his Mutt out to the trail.

 

 

Ronnie likes to do things a bit differently.

It's amazing how he can drive that thing backwards so well.

 

 

It rained on and off for most of the early part getting up to Corkscrew.

 

 

The top was beautiful and we had some downtime when a front u-joint spit out of a rig taking with it the front stub shaft. That got removed very quickly as I think all of us had pulled several over the years and made it just a simple task.

 

 

Like clockwork some of our NC friends developed fuel issues just after the top of Corkscrew, getting off the mountain involved lots of strapping and put us at the bottom around 8pm.

 

 

Heading back to camp on 550 we find the road closed for construction, closed all night.

Two options, drive all the way back through Silverton and around (probably 6 hours) or take on Ophir pass in the dark.

Over in the dark we went.

We are now on the trail/road for over 9 hours, didn't really pack for this amount of time.

Having been over Ophir before (it's not a bad road) hungry, tired and with my sucky night vision I'm getting pretty cranky.

My apologies to anyone I snapped at.

We make it back to camp after mid-night, total time on road/trail about 13 hours.

 

Wednesday is a wash, tired, beat, we decide to not run.

Had some good lunch in Montrose, picked up the front u-joints, relaxed and chatted the rest of the day enjoying the beer and the people.

 

Thursday brings on Imogene.

We take the shortcut by the mansion, it's quicker but has a few steps to be concerned about.

I take the hard line for the most part but try to keep the front wheels out of any holes.

I don't want to change a half-shaft on the trail if we can help it.

Temp's climb even in the Q so here we are resting just before the last obstacle to the trail and the top.

 

 

Again, like clockwork a rig needs to be strapped over the top.

We take the hard line with the Q over the last obstacle to avoid being trapped behind the rig being strapped and we simply pop up on top.

 

 

A little poser shot just to give a size comparison.

 

 

The views are great from the top of Imogene.

 

http://i149.photobuc.../Qpics/view.jpg

 

Here is what the Q looks like from the top of Imogene coming up.

 

http://i149.photobuc...cs/P1000945.jpg

 

Friday is another wash.

Heading up to Clear Lake on the switchbacks I think I feel issues with the Q's transmission.

After a mile or two climbing in low range I notice what I think is the trans not shifting from 1-2-D.

We pop onto a flat spot and let some rigs pass, temps are normal but the hood feels hot so Bob and I (Em' stayed back at camp) let the Q cool for about 10 minutes.

Put the Q back in high and try the next section, seems to shift fine.

Try it in low range, seems fine, I call it quits based on a trans with 200K and not knowing much about this type of trans.

Back on level ground at the bottom we check fluid (good) test run at some higher speeds, everything seems fine.

Knowing we have 720 miles to drive/tow on Saturday and not wanting to break something to prove a point we head back to camp for lunch, relax and start organizing for the long haul back.

 

The Q ran great and for the grand total of $3,500.00 (including yet installed parts) I think it's a keeper.

 

.......

 

Three Questions:

1.

We have the All Mode (sp?) transfer case with manual locking hubs.

I've done some reading here and found a few references to the 4WD light coming on in 2WD mode with the hubs unlocked.

This happened for most of the trip. It's totally unpredictable as to frequency, temperature and engine load.

First time was 45 miles out on I-10, the 3 miles after a stop, then again after 70 miles. then it went almost 300 miles without coming on. I quit keeping track as it seems to have no effect on performance, handling and makes no noises.

Are we doing damage running this way?

 

2.

Transfer Case Pump.

As I understand it there is an electric front pump for the transfer case. I drained and refilled (Dex/Merc) the transfer case prior to leaving, the fluid was black. No real particles in it, I am assuming it has never been serviced.

We have had this rig in 4Hi and 4Lo before and I had never heard the pump. After the first day of trails (around 7 hours in 4Lo) I can now hear the pump anytime it's put into 4WD, it does it in Lo or Hi and makes about the same noise as the AC compressor.

Anyone experience this?

Is this pump going south?

 

3.

The transmission not up shifting in 4Lo.

It only did that once, it did not repeat, although we did not push it hard after that. I have to assume that the trans has never been serviced either. I'm sure there is a procedure for service in the manual and we are fairly confident working on our rigs.

Is this something that can/should be done by us?

 

TIA,

Tad & Em'

 

(sorry about the links, ran out of image space apparently)

[Azplinker]

I know you're looking for replies that have to do with your vehicle, but I'm glad to see someone else with and old Coleman popup like mine. I have a '72 Brandywine that we use to camp with. Yours looks in a lot better shape on the outside than mine though. I do have a 2004 Pathfinder and have been thinking about the 2" lift. Just haven't got the cash for it yet.

[Tad]

Thanks,

This is a '78 Coleman Concord, smallest of the line from back then, canvas is pretty worn on the rear side. It took us about a year to find this smaller version in so-so shape for under $900 and we looked at some in really poor shape.

I've prowled for replacement canvas finding several outfits like this one: http://idahocanvas.com/id135.htm

Most places are around $1K to replace so we are going to look into some local marine and RV shops before making a decision.

[Azplinker]

Tad,

We bought ours from these guys.http://www.bearcreekcanvas.com/pricing.php. Good quality and I think a pretty good fit.

[devonianwalk]

Wish I could help answer your questions about the transfer case and auto shifting. My only relative experience that you had is that I have not experienced any up shift at all from my auto tranny while riding in 4-Lo. Then again, I'm always crawling slowly on rocks with mine in that mode.

 

I remember reading your post about your aluminium radiator upgrade last year but, I can't recall if you installed an aftermarket transmission cooler? If you are still running the cooler lines through your radiator, your tranny will be basically the same temp as the engine coolant. I know this dose not help you much, sorry.

[Tad]

Thanks for the link AZplinker, we'll check them out.

 

devonianwalk,

We do run an external cooler for the trans after the cooler in the rad.

I think if it was heat related it would have been doing it before when we were in low range for several hours at a time.

We are going to work through serviceable transmission items and simply keep an eye on things since I can't seem to duplicate that issue.

 

I really wish there was a good explanation for the intermittent 4WD light.