www.lj10.com

Guess I better start a thread for pictures and meet info...

We arrived in the campground about 6:00pm Monday, sans truck. Just south of Deadwood the tranny started leaking, so we pulled over, unloaded the LJ's, and drove them the last 20 miles to camp. Then called a tow truck, went to meet him, had him bring the truck to the CG so we could unload the camper, and then had him take the truck to the Ford dealer in Rapid City.

Tuesday morning I called the Ford dealer... a note to anyone travelling to South Dakota - don't bother with any of the car dealers here. They are all owned by the same person/company (McKie), and they are pretty much useless. The Ford dealer transferred my Ford truck to the Nissan dealer, and transferred my call up there. The Nissan dealer couldn't figure out why it was there, and didn't think they had the equipment to work on it, but would look at it. I called them back that afternoon, and they confirmed that they didn't have a rack big enough to hold my 7500# truck. I called the local AAMCO, and they could get to it first thing the next morning, so Wed. morning Myers drove me down to Rapid City, and I drove the truck to AAMCO (only 1/2 mile away). It was leaking out the front seal, but knowing the reputation of these transmissions, and wanting to make sure I could get home on time, I just had them put a new tranny in. Good thing too - the leaky seal was cause by a bad bearing; there were ball bearings stuck to the magnetic drain plug. Tweedy Bird gave me a ride back down that afternoon, and I got back to camp just in time to start cooking dinner. However, since I gone to Rapid City twice that day with a trail ride in between, I opted for a beer and a shower first.

Thanks very much to everyone who helped me get the situation handled, we do have a great groupe of people! Special thanks to Myers and Tweedy Bird for driving me to Rapid City, and to Mom & Stephen for driving me back up to meet the tow truck in their motorhome, as well as towing my trailer to the CG!

I got excited when I read pictures in the title, now this story.........cough....dodge time....cough. Tough luck Steve.

Sorry, the connection here at the campground is REALLY slow - feels like dial up again. I'm trying to load pictures onto photobucket, but it may have to wait until I get home.

We have seven LJ's here currently: my two, Mouser (Smuz), Myers, Tweedy Bird, SuzukiTom, and Mom & Stephen. Troy and his dad were here Tuesday with his very nice '46 Willys, but they carburetor issues on the trail, and left Tuesday evening. Troy - wish you could have stayed longer, I didn't get much of a chance to talk to you and your dad until right before you left. We also had Terry (Black Hills Wanderer from the Black Hills 4-Wheelers) in his very clean Samurai to lead us around Tuesday, and show us some other trails to take. Big thanks to Terry and the Black Hills 4-wheelers for helping put this meet together!

We've run trails the last two days, and are getting ready to head out this morning again. No problems on the trail except the Willys carb problems, though I did have a slight vapor lock issue that stopped me on a long rocky hill (a little cool water over the carb, and it ran fine the rest of the day) Potluck dinner last night was awesome as usual; I've decided that we will not hold any more LJ meets unless Tweedy Bird promises to be there with a pot of pulled pork! It's about the best I've tasted.

Not too many pictures taken yet, but I'll try to get more today. We do have a "special" video, but I think that will have to wait until I have a better connection (i.e., when I get home) I'll try again to get a couple of teaser pics up here.

Bummer that your truck broke down but awesome to hear you guys are having a good time!

Well, Smuz, Alice and Mouser are home safe. Was a great meet. With all the camera bugs around, I took zero pics. I just enjoyed myself.

I fought a nasty head wind all the way home. It took me about 160 gallons of gas to get the 700 miles from the meet to home. OUCH!

Smuz wrote:I fought a nasty head wind all the way home. It took me about 160 gallons of gas to get the 700 miles from the meet to home. OUCH!

1 ton dually Dodges with V10 engines don't get very good gas mileage even when they don't have a headwind!

Nancy and myself have a few picts, when we get home we'll cull thru them and post any good ones....

Tom & Nancy

Perhaps the first picture should be of Terry Fuller (Black Hills Wanderer from the Black Hills 4-Wheelers) who volunteered the time and effort to lead us on Day 1 and for providing valuable trail information for the remaining days. How about a pic of Terry (L) providing additional information to Steve (C) and Tom (R) at the end of Day 1.
Thanks a million Terry and great to meet you.

Note: Terry is referencing a a white map laying on the hood of Tom's white LJ. You just can't see it....

Smuz wrote:I fought a nasty head wind all the way home. It took me about 160 gallons of gas to get the 700 miles from the meet to home. OUCH!

Ouch is right, that's under 5 mpg! We had a pretty mean headwind (~20mph) across most of Montana and Washington, but I think we still averaged about 11 mpg (on the trip there we were over 12 mpg). I do like that new transmission so far, it shifted much better going up hills than either of the two "Ford Built" ones. I'm sure the Ford built ones are designed for smoother shifting, to give less of a truck feel, but I like this better. Hopefully I can get a few years out of this tranny, and then get a new truck (with a stick) before this tranny gives up.

Getting pics uploaded to photobucket:



From front to back:
Terry's (our local guide) Samurai
Tom's LJ10 (with Nancy driving)
Mouser
My RHD
Cheez Whiz
Pat & Stephen's LJ20
Myers' LJ20, Miss Alice
Troy's dad's Willys
Tweedy Bird's LJ20

Wow, I just discovered that I didn't take many photos out on the trail! Too busy driving, I guess. Oh well, I did get a photo of how many LJs you can park in two regular parking spots! Tom & Nancy

Steve, can't load pics that have been formated to 638x477

Max file size is 300KB. You should be within that Larry, though it's close. You might check your file size to make sure. There is plenty of space available for attachments, so that isn't the issue.

some pics

Steve, sometimes I am getting this message "The file is too big, maximum allowed is 220KiB"

Holy crap! Ya'll got Momma to go play, too???

Looks like you guys had a great time

some more pic

some more pics

Great pics Larry! Did anyone get a picture of Amber driving?

stevec wrote:Did anyone get a picture of Amber driving?

Don't remember, I have pics not posted yet so will see.

Wow,awesome pics,looks like we missed another cool meet.Seeing all those pics almost brought a tear to our eyes.We really miss you guys.. would have been so much fun.Really wanted to see Mouser in person. Nice hats you guys!!!!! Keep them pics coming
.......... Jim and Carol

more pics

Looks like you all had a good time, good to see. Good pictures too.

panorama taken in Badlands National Park east of Black Hills