I took my '72 Travelall 1110 fourwheelin' for the first time today.. as well as for its first real trip.
Our family has befriended a homeless person, Don. The details of the situation could take a while, but one of the key points is he seems to buy all of our derilict vehicles after *we* are through with 'em (and there ain't much there, folks..)
He bought my parts Chevy Luv in the Spring, and had used it to tow a camper trailer up and down a few mountains over the summer, migrating from campsite to campsite. I was impressed, but the inevitable happened.. it died.
He came to me today and asked if I'd move his camper for him. I said "yep" but I had to get the Travelall ready for the task (1- Scout has bald tires, 2- Scout lacks the room to haul him and his two dogs back into the hills until I clean the interior!).
So I put a used master cylinder from a '72 SII I'm junking on (recall my m/c was leaking down), and bled the brakes. I then changed the oil (fresh oil after 5 years??!!) and checked things over.
I loaded up my sleeping bag, Carharts, spare tire, jack, 5gal gas can (no fuel gauge, no odometer, no idea what kind of mileage I get, and only the 15gal front tank), etc.
Topped off the tank and headed for Mullan pass.
My Travelall has some stock (and dry rotted) 235/75R15s on it.. I asked Don if I should put the racer's 31" tires on, and he said I should bring my chains even if I did that.. well I didn't, and I left the chains at home, too.
We motored up to the very top of the pass, and just over the other side to where his camper was parked. The trip up was fairly uneventful.
He cleaned his gear up, and we hitched up the camper. We were in snow, and it was a little slick, so for the first time I turned the front hubs in, climbed underneath, and "helped" the NP205 into 4-low with my sledge hammer (the linkage has been broken and repaired a few times, and doesn't always work very well, so I helped it). Dropped into D and motored away.
We were driving through some deep ruts, when an F250 SuperDuty pulled up and asked if we'd seen his hunting dogs. I stopped. Bad move.
It took a few minutes to get rolling again.. even with the camper trailer adding weight on the rear tires, I wasn't going anywhere. I worked it forwards and backwards, then started sawing the wheel left and right, chewing my way forward. Repeat this a few dozen times until I had enough momentum I was able to start letting up on the throttle and actually drive out.. it took 5 minutes, but I did it.
Wow it's been a while since I went fourwheelin' with open differentials
and stock tires.
Towed back over the pass, down the otherside, and into his new campsite
pretty uneventfully. Unhitched, and I headed home.. pretty happy my
Travelall pulled it all off.
6gal of gas went into the front tank.. I think I went about 50 or 60
miles, so roughly the 10mpg I thought I'd get. Very roughly, of course..
no odometer, no fuel gauge. ;)
But.. I went fourwheelin' (for the first time since HolyCross at RMIHR in
August).. in my open differential'd, stock suspension, 1/2T Travelall
with 3.73s and stock tires. And I survived. :-)
Now to make the heater work, and fix the numerous exhaust leaks.. and get
some 1/8" plate on the driver's floor, instead of the flimsy sheet metal
that's now bent into a bowl shape and the edges catch on my feet (recall
there IS no driver's side floor.. only the steel that's being held in my
what's left of the carpet).
Yee-haw.