jgaz

Info on the truck? Make, model, mileage etc. Has the alignment been checked recently? Its not necessarily bad that someone wants to change the LCA (lower control arm) as an assembly. Many times a remove and replace of the LCA assembly is cost effective over just a ball joint replacement depending on what’s involved in replacing the ball joints. Also, if the truck is high mileage you may have bushing wear that would be corrected with an complete assembly. I rebuilt the upper control arms on my Dakota, (ball joints and bushings). After going thru the hassle of charging the bushings I wished I had just gone with a complete assembly

Looks good Kris. What are you making with these parts?

Impressive photo of a very scary situation

Good article Steve. Thanks for the link.

Honda is releasing a new model of an old favorite. https://www.thedrive.com/news/36198/2021-honda-trail-125-is-happy-practicality-on-two-wheels-for-3899 @ob1jeeper this makes your ‘79 look pretty valuable.

I love old pictures and these are great. Do you remember what hydraulic pump you used for this project? The reason I asked is I was involved with a Chrysler LeBaron, H body ( the hatch back because I know LeBaron doesn’t narrow things down) in the late 80’s. This vehicle was an early attempt at an active suspension system. We had a helicopter hydraulic pump mounted under the back seat and a number of hydraulic lines running all over the vehicle underside. I know nothing of the cost but can speak to the less than stellar reliability of the hydraulic system. Granted, it was a mule vehicle but I oiled down more than one stretch of I75 in Detroit.!

Kris, In the future, if you ever want to try or use the Harbor Freight brake I’ve modified, you are welcome to it. I did very little with my brake before modifying it with the roll pins shown above. I’ve never had any problem with the clamp bar slipping with the roll pins installed and I’m sure I’ve pushed the recommended limits of my brake. In my experience 16 gauge steel is pushing it. I’ve had good success with 16 gauge aluminum. I recently made these four fingers for my brake to try and turn it into a poor man’s box brake. I was able to use a friends Bridgeport in exchange for planning some wood for him. There has been only one time I’ve wanted the added capability of a box brake but you never know. When I made the tray below I could have used a finger to bend a box instead of making the tray ends out of plywood. That said I’m not unhappy at all with the way the tray turned out.

Check out this add on pump for the Scepter MWC. Might not be news to many but I thought it was interesting. https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/scepter-water-can-pump.64344/page-5#post-2825220 Look at the last page, post 64 and down for the pump I’m talking about. FWI: We use the same pump on a five gallon water cooler jug when we camp at NASCAR for the weekend. This set up with a stack of cups and a small cooler for ice saves us from buying bottled water and finding cooler space for it. We host a party for 40+ on Saturday night and this set up makes things much simpler. The charge in the pump lasts all week end. Maybe 10+ gallons?

“Great minds think alike”

Excellent article written by a very experienced lady that many of you know personally. https://expeditionportal.com/death-in-the-desert/

Great trip report Kris. Thanks for posting it

Looks great Steve! what changes do you have planned for it?

I like this site for what I think are practical reviews. YMMV https://www.switchbacktravel.com/best-tents-backpacking

I’ve used a MSR Hubba, one man tent, for about 8 years. There was a lot I liked about this model. I’m almost 6’ 3” and there was plenty of length in this tent. They sell a Hubba Hubba 2 person model. FYI, IMO MSR makes good stuff but they are an expensive way to go. The rain fly and floor were wearing out on my Hubba, I needed a replacement, so last year I bought an REI quarter dome. I believe it was a an older model as it was sold thru their outlet site. I think with a $25 gift card I was out the door for around $120. I’ve only used it once. It worked fine. No extreme weather test though. If I had one complaint it would be that there is not as much foot room as my old MSR. I like to have my boots inside the tent with me and there really wasn’t enough room to do this with the REI.

Near the bottom of the first post is about the best explanation of how the element extinguisher works. https://americanadventurist.com/forum/threads/the-fire-extinguisher-thread.7200/