Stampede Take 2

[ChevyKev]

Overheard:

Kevin: Tell them those hole were where Ole broke through the ice
Kael on the radio: "Hey guys, Ole’s holies to the left."

Kael on the radio again: Houston, we have a problem

Hold on - let me do my hair (Kevin, sarcastically, as he ran his fingers through his tangled mess)
To which James replied "Oh yeah, me too!"

After Skitzo brush dived for the 80th time, as Kevin was backing up - James on the radio says: Beep Beep Beep.

The Skitzo is acting completely schizophrenia!

What we need to do is weld the pitman to the shaft
Yeah, if we had a welder with us that’d be great
... umm... I do.

Kevin to Kael: Well - sure, but don’t tell your mom I let you do that.
Mike: Wow, glad I got that on video.

The Skitzo needs to go back to Kindergarten and learn it’s left from its right. (Kael)

Looks like Mrs "24 volt 1800 amp" just taught kindergarten.

The ability to have your vehicle go in the direction you steer it is greatly underappreciated. Kevin at the end of the trail.

"Kevin, is it driving like a new car now?"
"I dunno - I’ve never driven a new car."

"Most people wouldn’t do that, Thanks." Snow machiner to James talking about the trail grooming.

"I’ve never seen anyone cook Mountain Dew before."

You guys stopped?
Yeah, James is zip-tying again.

There were some more good comments, but I'm too tired to remember them.

I had an incredibly good time - as did Kael.
Thanks to those who went with us.
Thanks also for the effort to be "kid friendly"
Thanks for the help in diagnosing and fixing the steering issues.
Thanks to those who lent suplies and equipment to make this run a success.

Long story short - we had a great trip - although very frustrating for me. when you turn your steering wheel to the left and the truck darts right it is very confusing and frustrating. Culprit was stripped teeth in the pitman arm - so thee steering box shaft would spin inside the pitman - and of 3.5 revolutions it would only effect the tires the last 1/2 turn - if then. The trail fix was to weld the pitman arm to the steering shaft. The steering box will be rendered pretty much useless if it ever comes off of Skitzo, but other than that it worked great for the rest of the trail - and if it holds up (and I don't see why it wouldn't at this point) there will be no reason to remove it - although I might clean up the welds and go over them again.

[ChevyKev]

Something we didn't see last time due to clouds and light snow

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280035.jpg

[SHoppe715]

Sounds like you guys had a blast. Good to see you're all back safe and sound.

[ChevyKev]

A few candid shots:

Near the beginning of the trail
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280005.jpg

Savage river crossing with Tom's dad Mike's mug peering out of the window.
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280010.jpg

Why undo the groomer? won't it just pop back up on the ice shelf? (it did just fine)
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280012.jpg

Skitzo with Red-Green stick deflectors and bumper indicators.
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280024.jpg

At the Bus morning of March 29th. This was suppsed to be a timed shot with Tom in it - I guess he didn't make it.
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290045.jpg

[akram]

Glad you guys had fun and made it back safe. One of these years I'll get out there.

[sevenslats]

Very nice. I see a calendar pic or two in there.

[99TJ]

I really need to get on this trail sometime

[ChevyKev]

30 pics uploaded.
Trail report will have to be tomorrow.

[ajpthng]

We had a great time, I'm just glad I took off my mirrors otherwise I probably would have ended up like Ole and had a busted window. Here is the group shot with me in it.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/2/6/8/imgp2475.jpg

I have over 200 pic's to go through and over 25 video files to load up. It may take me a day or two but I will get them resized and loaded up to the site and video to youtube.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/2/6/8/imgp2474.jpg

[Fix_It]

great to see skitzo back on the trail kevin .. i bet you had fun with your boy ..

other than the steering issues how did it perform on the trail being so wide now and low COG ?

those big axles look good under the toy ..

thanks for sharing ...

[arcticmutt]

Let me tell you there was a lot of times when I was certain that I was going to lose a light or a window on this trip I am just lucky that I didnt because it wasn't exactly brush hitting the side of the truck it was more like small trees hammering it :D but all in all it was an amazing trip I would love to do this again

[ChevyKev]

I would love to do this again

That would require you sticking around! (which is fine by us.)

[SamuraiMike]

Looks like everyone had a blast!!! Wish I could have made it out for this one!!!

[78calico]

Let me tell you there was a lot of times when I was certain that I was going to lose a light or a window on this trip I am just lucky that I didnt because it wasn't exactly brush hitting the side of the truck it was more like small trees hammering it :D but all in all it was an amazing trip I would love to do this again

And That was after I pre-clearanced the trail for you last trip.:D

[ChevyKev]

We met at Fred Meyers at 8 AM to fuel up and go over any last minute needed supplies. A lengthy fill-up process and a quick run inside and we were on our way. Quick stop in Nenana and to Healy we went. James and Tom topped off at Kieth’s gas station and then we headed to the trailhead to unload Skitzo. We unloaded it and I ran the Burb and trailer to Evan’s equipment to stow it there. Tom gave me a ride back and we began the very long process of chaining tires and stowing gear. I was thinking about the brush and wondering about my brake lines, afraid they would get snagged. Mike mentioned the possibility of fashioning some carboard as stick-slides, so I said go ahead and try it. He did this for my master cylinder and the alternator - the red-green materials of duct tape and cardboard did me well the entiree trip. When we had first driven up, we passed some snow machiners. Then while chaining up we had 2 dog teams pass us. Seeing as the trail was obviously being used more, we made the decision to pull the groomer both ways. So we got it hooked up and the trailer loaded and off we went.

We passed the big drifts that we got stuck in a month previous with no problems. The warmer day temps and cold nights had compressed the snow and it was packed hard. The going was easy - sort of. Right away I noticed the steering on Skitzo wasn’t very good. And James had chain lengths slapping at his fenders. They stopped to zip-tie loose links (which wold become a common practice) and I tried backing up - and found the steering was really, really not good. A quick lookover revealed a non-tightened pitman arm bolt and a bad drag link ball joint. We tightened both up as much as possible and continued on.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280005.jpg

Off the road and onto the trail we went through the first series of whoop-dee-doos and the Skitzo made it’s firts "Brush Dive" going straight, it would seemingly without warning quickly veer into the brush on the side of the trail. It didn’t happen that often, at first. It got worse as the day progressed. Once we got into the hills and creeks another problem showed up - I could steer to the right fairly well, but had about 1/3 of the steering to the left. So at every bigger than slight left hand turn, it was a 3 point venture at best, some 5 point turns.

All told, getting to the first river went fairly quick. Not far into the woods we noticed some rope in the trail, I hung it up on a branch and off we went. Maybe ½ way to the river we came upon a backpack in the middle of the trail. I stopped and set this off to the side on top of a snow covered muskeg clump where it was very obvious. When we got to the river a snow machiner came up and asked if we had seen a backpack. We told him yes and that we set it on the right side of the trail now in plain sight. He asked where we were headed and we told him the bus, of which he said he had just come. The pack was his niece’s, he was very thankful for us setting it off the trail and headed off to retrieve it.

At the main crossing point the water level had dropped from the last time out, and we possibly could have crawled down and back up the 3-4 foot ice ledges. However, especially with the trailer/groomer behind James’ truck, we decided to cross in the same spot we did last time. We were going to undo the groomer, but James asked why? Wouldn’t it pop back upon the other side? Seeing as it was just near freezing and not 20 below, we decided to give it a shot. And it worked great.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280010.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280012.jpg

So we pressed on. The two rivers are not far in-between, maybe a mile - with the canyon in-between them. With chains on all the vehicles, and the snow being a bit more compacted, and soft as it was near freezing out, the vehicles had no trouble sliding toward the hole in the off camber spot of the canyon drop.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280014.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280015.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280019.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280021.jpg

The trailer slid a bit yet pulled right back onto the trail without hitting anything but maybe a small bush or two. And on we went. At the second river crossing the ice had dropped a bit more in the center, but was still solidly frozen. We could hear the water running underneath though. We drove across without problem.

More creeks and 3 and 5 point turns, more brush diving, and we had a thought: I can't see my tires, nor do I have a hood. My visual clues as to where the front of the rig is and which way it is pointed is the stinger - which doesn't give much of a hint. So we took a stick and taped it to the stinger so I could see approximately which way the front was angling. We had hoped this would help with my steering correction abilities. It sort of worked, but not really. It did give me indications of where the corners were at, but the other steering problems rendered that help virtually useless.

Next we came to the short but steep creek bank. All made it up with ease, even James pulling the trailer. Skitzo barely spun the tires.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280024.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280028.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280032.jpg

This is where the big frustration began. From there, for some reason, the steering was loosening up and getting worse. I was constantly fighting it. Whipping the steering wheel back and forth as fast as possible to get the steering effect from only the last ½ of turn. My shoulders started aching and back and neck muscles started stiffening up - I can’t overemphasize the difficulty I had trying to keep it on the trail. In-between brush dives I would be going straight, and then just simply dart one way or the other. Any time a tire hit the softer side of the trail it would get sucked in and I’d go diving. Club requirements state brake lights and turn signals... of which I don’t have. And I’m sure my sudden darts to the trail sides and quick braking was a pain for Tom to follow without the brake light warnings. I will work on remedying that. My brush dives literally added hours to the last 1/3 of the trip. I was so frustrated that if we hadn’t been that far I probably would have abandoned the effort. We discussed that when we got to the bus we’d see what we could do to fix it. One of the problems it was having that was very obvious was a bad rear drag link ball joint. It wasn’t seated in the attachment point on the axle. We tried tightening it up, but it simply spun in the socket. We passed where Lisa and Ole had almost flopped without problem. But we did notice a huge branch wedged in my tire chains. I claimed it was my redneck-traction-device.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280034.jpg

Not far before the bus we had another great view of Denali. This is something we didn't see on the Feb trip - it was shrouded by clouds. I had no idea of the views that were on this trail until this incredibly clear day.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3280035.jpg

Finally, around probably 6:30 or so, we arrived at the bus. I was incredibly frustrated at the steering issues and was very glad to get out of Skitzo for the time being. We re-arranged some parking of vehicles, dumped the collection of snow out of the groomer and turned it and the trailer around, got a fire going and put some soup on the stove. Mike started tearing the Skitzo’s drag link assembly part as I got Kael doing some un-packing. James and Tom sealed up the broken windows in the bus - including those in the door (which we hadn’t done last time and resulted in a lot of cold seeping in) while Mike Kael and I worked on the steering links. We shortened up the links to straighten out the steering a bit, then used the hi-lift to put pressure on the links while we tightened the nuts down. We got it to where it was much better than it was before, but not quite right. We noticed the teeth on the pitman arm were almost gone, but we re-assembled it with the splines lined up and cranked hard on the tightening bolt, hoping it would hold. It seemed to do rather well and we called it good - and went in to eat and light the lantern as the sunlight was fading.

We set up the cots and ate and chatted about things. Kael and I had been reading the book "Into the Wild" and we had 2 more chapters to go - we read one that evening and the other the next morning - finishing the book in the bus.

In the morning we had breakfast and broke camp. Took a lot of pics in various poses.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290037.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290038.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290043.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/2/6/8/imgp2475.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/2/6/8/imgp2474.jpg

Then we headed out. Skitzo seemed to do much better, but not necessarily good. We actually made decent time getting to the steep creek bank drop. When we stopped before dropping in, 3 dog teams came up behind us. We quickly moved down the hill and I went back up to see if they needed us to move aside so they could pass, or if they were taking the other trail at the top of the hill.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290051.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290052.jpg

They said they were going left and I watched as they slid on by. They weren’t overly friendly, but they weren’t condescending either. Two of them gave a little wave as they passed. I realized later that I had ran up the hill to figure their directions with jeans and a t-shirt on, and my 9mm very easily seen on my hip. (I forget it’s there when out hunting/wheeling) I hope that didn’t startle them, but also wonder if that made our encounter more pleasant as they might not have wanted to voice complaints to an armed fellow. Either way, it was a pleasant encounter.

We stopped there for about 15 minutes, letting the mushers go around and get ahead if they were indeed connecting back up with our trail. Then we headed out and the steering got worse. As well, Tom and Mike noticed that I was blowing a lot of black smoke when I got on the throttle. A quick look revealed that the choke wasn’t opening up - so Mike adjusted it (as he is a carb guru) and off we went - with a much better throttle response even though a fouled plug left me with a slight miss. Got to the big river and made it across no problem,

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290054.jpg

Up the canyon without difficulty. The trailer did hit and bounce a bit. It didn’t snap the strap this time, but did move it out of the tire-buckets, so we spent a few minutes correcting that and headed to the Savage with the open water.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290059.jpg

The ice ledge on the other side of the Savage river, where we had dropped in before, was a bit more abrupt than the side we had climbed up on our way in the trail. Skitzo crept across the water and the front tires climbed just fine, but the back spun on the ice ledge. A bit of throttle and more spinning, so I backed up a few feet and hit it with some of that stuff Steve doesn’t understand called momentum, and with a bit of a bump up we went. Tom had to do the same. A bit of a bump and he went up as well. James with the longer wheel base went up without a problem, and the trailer slid up fairly easy, except the left front corner stuck for a second, then popped right up.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290063.jpg

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290067.jpg

We stopped for Kael to eat lunch while the rest of us had some snacks, then headed on down the trail. We hadn’t gone too far when Skitzo dove left again, into a huge stump. We hit it hard and the whole rig bounced and I heard a familiar and loud snap as we bounced backwards. I figured it was the spring center pin, but on inspection it was fine. My steering was now worse than ever. Mike crawled underneath to look at the play in the drag link while I moved the steering wheel and he saw the culprit - the teeth on the pitman arm had completely sheered off and the steering box shaft was simply spinning inside the pitman arm.

I said, "Oh, we need to line up the shaft and the pitman and then weld the pitman to the shaft."
Mike says, "That’d be great if we had a welder."
I said, "I do."
He asked, "With you?"
"Yep, called a Ready-Welder, fits in a briefcase, we just need to pull 2 batteries."
"I gotta see this."

Not only did he get to see it, he got to use it. I had to dig out the ready welder form behind the passenger seat - which is not an easy task. While I dug that out Tom pulled the battery out of Skitzo while James retrieved the spare battery I had brought along from the trailer. Mike got some cardboard for us to work on and stay out of the snow. I had never hooked the Ready-Welder up to a side post battery, and when I attempted I found the stock eyelets too small for the battery bolts to fit through. A little wallowing with a pocketknife and then a chainsaw round file got the bolt through it and the welder was hooked up. We centered the threads on the pitman arm, cleaned the area with a wire brush, and then started welding. Mike had asked if he could try it, the day before I had mentioned that I hated welding upside down to which he had said he was fairly good at, so I said, I’ll weld the top and let you weld the bottom. In my Ready-Welder case I have all the cables to hook it up to 2 top post batteries, or 2 side post batteries, or one of each. Also I have a set of welding goggles, leather gloves, wire brush, and an extra spool of flux-core wire. We got it welded up nicely, I packed the welder in the case and put it back behind the pass seat, Tom reinstalled the battery, James put the spare battery back, and we had only been stopped for a total of about 30 minutes for the inspection, diagnosis, and repair.

Which wire goes where?????
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290068.jpg

Burning metal
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290074.jpg

Mike welding upside-down
http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290077.jpg

It was like driving a completely different vehicle. The steering response was dead on. Someone asked if it was like driving a new car, to which I replied, "I don’t know, I’ve never driven a new car." But it was a completely different experience after the repair. Even with the bad ball joint on the drag link, the steering responded incredibly well. Less than 1/4 turn of the steering wheel and the wheels were turning. Before, I wasn’t able to travel more than about 3mph without losing control of the steering, now I was able to hit second gear and had to keep stopping and waiting for the others to catch up. After that, the only times we hit the brush on the sides of the trail was once when I turned around to see if Tom was behind me (I really need a rear-view mirror!) and another time when I was staring at the mountains instead of the trail in front of me. I really can’t explain the frustration level I was at before that repair.

When Kris asked Kael what his favorite part of the trip was, he replied, "Fixing the steering."
To which she re-questioned, "You mean getting to the bus, camping in it, reading the book, going through the rivers, in all of that fixing the steering was the best part?"
His reply, "Mom, you just don’t understand."

So after the fix, we motored along. Even with the time it took to fix it, we made it back quicker than if not, due to the difficulty and time it took to steer beforehand. When we were back toward the beginning of the trail, before the whoop-dee-doos, while in the woods at the base of the hill, where the trail is very narrow, we encountered snow machiners coming straight at us. They stopped and I was able to move to the right a bit and they barely had enough room to pass on my left. They waved as they passed. Behind me the other two stopped at a wider spot in the brush, and as they went by James there was a conversation about the groomer and they thanked him, saying "most people wouldn’t do that." Another very positive encounter.

A bit farther we came up on a ski-jour-er with two dogs. I came up to about 100 feet of her and stopped, she was traveling in the same direction we were. She turned and saw us, went forward a bit to where she could move aside, and got her dogs off the trail and we slowly went by. She smiled and waved as well.

Through the Whoop-Dee-Doos and the at the beginning of the road we turned around for a poser shot.

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/gallery/files/1/3/p3290084.jpg

Then we headed out to de-chain and put the groomer on top of the trailer. Instead of driving back for the Burb and trailer and loading up there, Tom lead, I was behind him, and James followed. We figured it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to travel the 2 miles to Evans with the Skitzo on the road. We made it with no traffic approaching form behind us and only 1 vehicle passing the other way. I loaded up Skitzo and we used my CO2 tank to fill tires. Then we headed for Totem for a meal and had a good discussion with a guy and his son returning to Anchorage from checking out UAF. They were very interested in the rigs and our trip.

All in all, we had a great time, and the encounters we had with other trail users were mostly positive, neutral at worst.

I’m sure Tom and James have more to add.

What an awesome trip! :headbang:

[arcticmutt]

We also removed the drivers side front shock which was also greatly limiting the steering. In fact I think that it is still in the back of my truck kevin :whistle:

[sevenslats]

Nice writeup, Kev.

BEAutifil pictures.

[ChevyKev]

We also removed the drivers side front shock which was also greatly limiting the steering. In fact I think that it is still in the back of my truck kevin :whistle:

Yeah, I forgot about that. The way the shock was mounted, when the sterring was all the way right it smacked into the shock. Once removed, I did have a bit better right hand turning, but that was early in the trip and the other problems limited the effect of that fix.

Also I forgot to mention that one time, on our way out, Skitzo dove left and when I went to back up I was on an off-camber and slid into a frozen creek. Aa I slid a log on the bank jammed into my front wheelwell between the hub and rim edge. I got the radio and said I needed the chainsaw or limb saw, turned off the truck and got out. By the time I got to the trailer Mike had the chainsaw started and walked by with a sort of "Don't even think you're taking this out of my hands" look. He carefully cut off the log to free the rim, then also lopped off another 18 inches of the log to ensure that if I slid anymore it wouldn't hang up again. Mike's willingness to help with whatever we were doing helped make this trip the success it was. Thanks Mike!

I'm kinda bummed I didn't get a pic of that log-jam incident.

Another note, it seemed at the end of the trail James had a bad

[arcticmutt]

Another note, it seemed at the end of the trail that James had a bad valve stem which in turn ended up bineg just a lose core :banghead:

[ChevyKev]

Wow - my computer went whacko - not a double post - but posted the same thread 8 times! In the middle of me typing the rest :pcsmash:

So here's a re-typed version of what I had started:

Also I forgot to mention that we all had ARB tire deflators with us and they worked great. Unfortunately, when we got back to the trailhead at the end of the trip James noticed he had a bad valve stem. Evidently it had gotten hit by too much brush and was slightly leaking. Before heading into Healy to get it replaced, we decided we ought to put a bit more air in the tire, and on removing the valve stem cap it started leaking more. A quick tightening of the core, and the leak stopped. We used the CO2 tank and aired it up and it was all good.

Lesson learned is: when using the deflator tool make sure you get the core back in there tightly. It is easy to unscrew the core somewhat when you are removing the tool from the valve stem, I know I've had that happen to me before. Just a mention here to pass on the warning to be extra careful with that.

[ajpthng]

I have some stuff to add but I will get on here soon to add it before I forget :D

I'm still uploading video's but here is 1 that is loaded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-TQ2Wfsbcw

[SHoppe715]

... A bit of throttle and more spinning, so I backed up a few feet and hit it with some of that stuff Steve doesn’t understand called momentum...

Hey, wait just a gosh darn minute.:angry: I know all about 'mentum. :fishslap: I simply choose to only use mo' of it when traction fails me.:D

Again, looks like an awesome ride. Great write-up.

[ajpthng]

I'm still uploading but this is what I got done so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCZbsX8ztlo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N3M5kaX2yE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XY8zLqvnsg

[ajpthng]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0qPsQfQD1o

[ChevyKev]

Thanks for posting all those, Tom!

[arcticmutt]

X2 thanks eh :D

[ajpthng]

I have a bunch more, been busy here with the family in town. I should have the rest up by this weekend.

[FlatBlackXJ]

Tya and I watched "Into the Wild" a week or so ago and I thought of your guys past trip and how much we want to get back to Alaska. Looks like you guys had a good run, miss you guys.

Tyler

[arcticmutt]

I have a bunch more, been busy here with the family in town. I should have the rest up by this weekend.
:whistle: