NVBigBlue

Overall not too bad. Didn't make it to where we wanted to go...but even a bad day wheelin' is better than a good day stayin' at home! We started out heading down 395 below Gardnerville. We turned at the Leviathan mine road and headed back in on a side road. We got to within about 1.5 miles of the "hot tub" on the Carson river, but we hit a fence at someone's property line . So we turned around and headed back to the highway... Further down 395, past Topaz, we turned up the road to Monitor Pass. Lot's of color up there. We headed down from the top and turned off on Loope road. We drove that road WAY back in until we got to about a mile away from the hot tub, but by then it was getting late, and we'd come down some pretty steep, very rough sections of road, and I didn't want to try and work our way back out in the dark. And to go any further we would have had to drop down a few more rough sections. Here's a link (I think it will work) to some of the pics we took. We ran into 2 bears along the way into the river and came across one more on the way back from Markleeville along the road. The Loope road way in, is definately not a road for long wheel base vehicles, although the Tracker didn't bottom too many times, there were a couple of spots that I had to work to get it through. I think a suby with some lift could get in, but you'd probably want to take it real easy. I got into a couple of places (going in) where I had to drop the right front over an edge, and that left me with a tire in rear up in the air at the same time about 2 feet........ It rocked over real slow, and I wasn't really worried about rolling or anything, but heading down hill, and then having the front drop even further.....interesting feeling. Coming out, I got out and had to move some rather large rocks so that I didn't have to twist the truck up and lift wheels.... Of course, I didn't get any pics of the "fun" stuff....my camera person was holding on for dear life http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=928 I'd like to go back out and make it all the way in, but it can make a person being that far off the path, with just one vehicle. We only passed one truck all day once we got off the pavement... NV

Hey guys, Looks like we're going to try and head out of here around 9 tomorrow. I think we're going to head down towards Topaz and cut back in towards the Laviathon mine and hopefully work our way to the hot springs on the river. I'm gonna check the board, but if anyone wants to come along unannounced, we're gonna top off gas in Minden at the AM-PM right as you come into town. We should be there about 9:45 and we'll hang until 10. We'll be in the red Geo Tracker with the safari style soft top.... NV

Greetings!! Hey for those of you in the Reno/Carson City area..... anyone interested in an impromptu run this weekend? My wife needs some time away from the kids and I was thinking about going for a drive somewhere around the area. I was actually thinking about heading up towards Markleeville and the Barney Riley trail which goes up to a hot springs on the Carson river. I was checking out the run on reno4x4.com (thanks for hint to that site JIBS!) However, not committed to that trail.... I'll be taking my daughter's Geo Tracker out and not my sons Hatch so not looking to get wild and crazy, but more of a "get out and see the.... ahhhhhhh......colors of fall..." type of run. Anyone got suggestions and / or want to go? I know it's short notice, but hey.... usually more fun with more people:) I was looking to go out on Sunday, but might be able to go on Saturday. Also thought about running out the frog ponds near gerlach.... Anyways.... let me know. NV

Low PSI kicks @$$! I got my '85 3/4ton Suburban (6850+ lbs) stuck in soft river bank sand one time, burried down to the top of the pumpkins.... I could barely move in either direction.... Tried digging a path, etc.. but couldn't get moving Aired down the tires to a low PSI....no gauge on hand, so I just let 'em down until they were really nice a bulgee.... Truck moved about 1 1/2 feet and bascially popped up on top of the sand.... Drove the 100 or so feet back to hard land no problems..... Only bad part was I had drive about 15 miles back to my house with VERY low tires..... I don't have my 'burb anymore, but now I carry an air gauge, compressor and a "Y" hose (let's me air two tires at a time to the same pressure) in my Silverado..... haven't had to use them yet, but better to have and not need, then need and not have... Of course, I also carry a folding shovel, pick/maddox, tow strap, and other goodies, but i've got room to do so.....in a soob I'd say at least a folding shovel, tow strap/rope and maybe a compressor.?? Wouldn't take up too much room and not too heavy. Live and learn! NV

If you look here: http://www.jergensinc.com/pins.aspx?source=search_engine they have a big selection of pins....not that you'd have to buy from them.....but a good place to find something that might work. NV

I wasn't playing any kind of card with my comment. I wasn't implying that your age made you less important or that you were just a "silly kid" or anything like that... simply that you may not have as much driving experience as an older person, in the same way that I don't have as much driving experience as someone who is say 75 years old... Sorry if you took it the wrong way. Why would someone want to drive around in 2nd all day at 30mph? I don't know. Why do some people find it neccessary to lower their car, put wide tires on it, put a big wing on the back, and make the tailpipe go buzzzzzz? :-\ I was simply illustrating that, while it might not make sense to do so, it isn't going to hurt the tranny. I think it really comes down to a persons own driving style. If you feel your vehicle is performing as designed and you have no wish to shift manually...don't. But I, personally, really don't think manually shifting it is going to shorten the lifespan of the tranny. That being said, there is the possibility that manually shifting a tranny could wear out the bushings and such of the linkages faster than normal. NV

Manarius, I'm not picking on you here, but (your profile says 18) as a "young" driver, you may be a bit lacking in the experience area.... Look, the whole idea of a transmission (manual or auto) is to keep the engine in the proper torque range for the speed you are traveling, e.g., level ground, 25mph might equal 1500rpm and 4th gear...... the same speed on a 6% grade hill, might equal 2500 rpm and 2nd gear... The design of an automatic transmission is to duplicate the exact same thing as a manual tranny, except replace the manual portion, e.g., the person. Look at it this way.... You have a manual tranny, and you decide to drive around at 4.5 mph all day long, what gear would you use? Probably 1st right? Now step on the gas and drive 20..... high rpm, but the tranny doesn't care..... OK, same place but, your car is an auto. What gear is it going to stay in ? 1st..... then 2nd....then 3rd....why..... torque requirements, throttle position etc....the tranny says no torque needed, shift gears.... If I decide to drive 35mph (low speed) and "lock" the tranny in 2nd gear (mid torque) and drive around at 3000 rpm (mid rpm) all day am I hurting the tranny? No. I might not get very good gas milage, but the tranny isn't going to care. (assuming cooling, rpm, etc are all within specs...) Here's a good example of manually shifting an atuo.... Towing a small tent trailer. Start down the road, no problem, 70mph, shifts up to 3rd. Small hill, no problem, slows down to 65 but stays in 3rd. Flattens out, speeds up to 70, 3rd gear. Start up a hill. Slows down to 60, shifts to 2nd. Speeds up to 65, shifts to 3rd....Slows down to 60, shifts to 2nd...Speeds up to 65 shifts to 3rd... Repeat.... Now same hill...but manual shift.... Start up a hill. Slows down to 60, shifts to 2nd. Speeds up to 65, shifts to 3rd....Slows down to 60, manual shift to 2nd...Speeds up to 65.... slight decrease in throttle..... holds 65 to top of hill... top hill, manual shift to 3rd.... Most trucks do this exact same thing with a "tow mode" button on the shifter....it tells the tranny to hold the shift pattern for slightly longer.... The modern auto tranny is pretty robust. i've seen (and done ) some pretty extreme things to them....and they keep on ticking....over-reving a modern tranny isn't going to hurt it....but over heating it will...and manually shifting it isn't going to hurt it either either.... yes, "drive" to "reverse" might damage it simply by the torque placed on the gear set, but I've seen several trannys dropped from "drive" to "reverse" or "park" at over 70 mph and other than killing the engine (and leaving some cool skids marks on the road) do no damage......(they usually kick to a "free-wheel" state...) And Keltik.... that's probably the best way to do things.... set brake and the place tranny in Park. That way the vehicle doesn't roll and place torque on the "parking pin". Notice that when you park an auto...the car usually will roll a slight amount before stopping (maybe a few inches or so...). It takes a bit for the "parking pin" to lock in place and hold the drive shaft. On hills, the weight of the car put stress on the pin and when you shift out of Park the car will "clunk" into gear. But yes, in cold weather, the brakes CAN freeze to the rotors (or drums) and keep you from moving.... NV

Damn it! :banghead: That's it..... next time, I'm there come hell or high water! Of course I did get 19 hours of overtime the day before...... NV

Hey guys, Thanks for thinking about me .... (Jibs I got your voicemail). Unfortunately, I didn't get off until 3 this morning (20 hour days suck ) so I was just a little tired. The bad: too tired to get up and go have fun . The good: time and a half kicks @ss:banana:!!!!! I've only got 2 more Saturdays to go, so maybe about the end of the month we could set up another run somewhere?? .......waiting for the video! NV

Hey guys, My sons hatch is clicking like crazy...and I'm not feeling real warm and fuzzy about driving it.... would you be upset if I happened to show up in my tracker? I'll bring up the rear and freely give up glory to the subes! Also, was anyone planning on running CB's (or the cheapo family radios stuff...) or just running "winging it"? (hehehehe...sometimes I think more fun....) Also, someone, please..... drop a note on the board late SAT. letting everyone know where we're meetering ... I'm working tommow @ 5:30 AM and donn't expect to be out before 6 or 7 PM, so I need to know where to meet Sunday AM... If I'm not there (with mrs bigblue in tow I hope:headbang:), don't wait for me.... NV

Hey I might be able to make it on Sunday. . NV

Smelly, After you get this fixed, you might consider installing a fuel filter right before the carb. I had to do this on my sons hatch due to the crap in the hard lines between the filter at the back of the car and the carb. Since then I haven't had to touch the carb. Good luck, NV

Well I can't really drive it around to check it out as the clutch being shot and all, but he doesn't seem like a racer kid.... he was using it as a winter car driving from Reno to the ski resort he worked at up at Tahoe, so most likely just a lot of miles on the thing. We're gonna go do a detailed look at on Saturday, so I'll bring my floor jack and tools and poke and prod at it. And yes, my daughter really will work on it (with help from dad of course...) but she's gonna be 16 in a few days and she's decided that she want to pursue auto mechanics as a career choice, so I imagine this will be a good experience for her. Thanks for the input guys! NV

Hey guys, We came across a '93 Imp Sedan (AWD, 5-spd) here in Reno and my daughter (the mechanic to be) has decided she simple must have it. The bad: blown clutch broken windshield no stereo needs tires damage to left-front headlight housing some dings and bumps 195K The good: it's cheap ($500) the interior is in very good condition it has an air bag It's sounds like there's a lot wrong with it, but over all I'd say, for the price, it would be a good first car for her. And I'm sure the kid is going to come down in price when I start haggling with him. I can deal with all the bad stuff, and she wants to do all the work on it, but what I'm looking for is anything else besides the obvious....belts, etc. that i should replace on it and things that I should check prior to buying it (I'm an EA81 guy...). Supposedly he had all the axles replaced at around 150K and had all the belts, brakes and hoses replaced around 175K, but no reciepts to prove it.... Thanks for the input. NV

I ended up using an electric impact for this. But I've had to use a jack as well. The extra pressure from the jack, and the "bang" from an impact usually does it. Not that the bang means torque.....more like it can spin the nut faster than the shaft can turn, so it tightens up.... Good luck, NV

Ya, I'll be back working in Carson again. So the trip will be about 30 miles each way in stead of 64 each way. Gee, maybe i'll even be able to hit the p-n-p on my way home once in a while now.....

Well guys, I may have to forgo the show this year. I just gave notice to the college that I'm longer going to be working for them. Good for me. Bad for them. But bad for me because now I may not have enough leave accrued at the new job by time the show comes around. Hopefully, the new job will let me earn some extra comptime hours that I can burn.... but we'll have to wait and see now.

Hey guys, I don't have a newer Suby anymore, just my '86 hatch. But I think it really comes down to basic stuff to save gas. Driving style, tire pressure, speed and general vehicle maintenance (e.g., air filters...) My hatch was getting a steady 26mpg on the hiway. Just changing my tire pressure from 35 to 41 psi, which for me has not changed the way the tires are wearing, has pushed my hatch to 30.5 to 32mpg regularly. This is at 65 to 70mph and it has a 4 speed. This has been for the last 4 months of driving back and forth to work. Granted this is all hiway driving about 65 miles each way. But this is from a carb'ed ea81 engine and the car is 4x4. When my wife drives our Hyundai, she gets between 42 and 44 mpg. I get about 37 - 39 mpg out of it, so I know it's all driving style (it has a little more oomph then the hatch ) Does adding chemicals to the gas help? I don't know, but I personally am a little doubtful. But let me know if anyone finds that it does help. NV

Ya I know what you mean.....:-\Bend is nice, been there a few times for snowboarding. Would be nice to see the place in the summer time! Is anyone bringing a bigger vehicle up? My wife was thinking maybe tow my tent trailer up with my truck, but I'd just as soon camp old school... And I think my tent trailer might be a bit much for the hatch to handle...(1200-1500lbs....)

I'm definately planning on coming up. I'm trying to talk my wife into coming along as well..... As long as work doesn't get in the way (which it looks like it won't right now), I should be able to drive up with you guys. Was the plan to over night in Bend? Sounds good to me, but whatever....

Could be. EA-81 4" for my hatch. Price/per? NV

NVZ, I replaced the one on my sons hatch with one from autozone. I believe it was about $30. It was a dura-last. I would have liked to get something more "name brand" but this one looked pretty decent and it was the right price. I've put about 6-7K on it so far and no problems. NV

D@mn it! Why is work always getting in the way of my fun?? Looks like you guys had a blast. Next time I'll see if I can make it too! NV

GD, I agree that it's nice to have a working gauge. When I got my sons hatch, the gauge didn't work at all. I went to the local P-N-P and tore the sending unit out of another tank. I beleive it was a 4wd wagon. At any rate, not quite the same as the one in the hatch, but it works. The original had 2 wires coming off of it, one for gas level and one for the reserve light I think. The pnp one only had one wire. Drain the tank, remove the little nuts (8mm I think) around the sender and carefully pull it out. Be careful not to tear the rubber gasket. Install "new" sender and wire it up. I've reused the gasket about 10 times now cleaning that tank, and it doesn't seem like it's going to leak, just check it after you fill up. I think using another suby sender is going to be a lot easier than trying to make an aftermarket sender and gauge work on these tanks. Good luck, NV

You know....it's really hard for me to live vicariously through you guys, when you don't post pictures! NV