I got 2 miles and was fumbling with the gps cause it wasn't connecting to the satellites. I stopped on the side of the road and fumbled another 20 min with no luck. So I went home for the manual, which I couldn't find, then I went online........there isn't just a single "use with gps on/off" setting. So I lost an hour there, FRUSTRATING!
It was now 1100 and I was heading out, I was going to be at the meeting place, Afton Canyon Campground, a half day ahead of the others so there was no rush, It was just going to be a loooooong day. Even more so as road construction seemed endless in some places and following trucks up some of the single lane highways slowed me down.
Stopping for fuel I noticed an oil puddle of drips under my engine so I popped the bonnet and it appeared the return oil hose for the turbo had gotten loose again. The engine was too hot to effect a repair so I kept an eye on the oil level and kept going. At one point I hit 70 on a downhill passing a semi. Mostly I kept it around 60-62mph. I had a moving average on the gps of 45mph.
It was chilly and the sky was blue as a glacier. I fixed breakfast and took a look at the oil leak, got out the tools to tighten the hose clamp on the oil return line and the compression fitting on the dipstick tube and a flashlight. Threw down a piece of carpet to lay on and crawled under. There it became apparent that the hose clamp was not loose, must be the compression fitting....as I put the wrench on it I noticed the tube was really loose. I cranked on the already tight nut and the tube stayed loose. Crap!
I crawled out from under and found I could wiggle the dipstick tube quite a bit.
This could only mean 1 thing, the dipstick tube had cracked. Taking a few minutes I figured out a plan; Check the oil level, fill if necessary, pull off tube, plug hole.
And that is what I did.
Taking a piece of firewood I brought I whittled a plug;
Then I jammed it in the hole with the help of a baseball bat( to reach down in there) borrowed from a fellow camper. Thanks Jim!
I even had the forethought to ziptie the plug to the oil return line!
Now I was thinking "Good to go! Bring on the Mojave Road!" It was about 0900 and Drew wasn't due until around 12-1 that day, coming from Salt Lake City. Here are some pics of the camp;
I really like the BBQ and fire pits they have here. The roofs for shade over the tables leave a LOT to be desired, waaaay to small.
Packing up my gear in anticipation of pulling out when Drew showed up I got to thinking. Finally deciding that going on the Mojave Road wasn't the best decision I could make here. Making up my mind to camp here for a few days (Hey, I'd driven 433 miles to get here!) and if the plug fell out whilst driving I would get quicker help on the highway than out in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave Preserve.
Walking around I found a better campsite and moved there. Was setting up my awning when Drew and Ken arrived at noon. I showed them what happened and told em my decision to stay as difficult as it was. They took a look at the water crossing and decided to use the Rasor Rd go around.
After they left I finished setting up my camp, not setting up my Oz tent instead opting for sleeping in the 109. The moonrise was awesome;
While the sun set in the West;
It was really windy that afternoon and night. I had every guy rope and stake on my Batwing awning. The 109 rocked all night in the wind, I was glad I had not set up the tent.
Earlier in the afternoon I met Rebecca, I had seen her ride her fatbike up to the water crossing and turn around. She had decided to camp there before heading back out to Baker. We talked a while as I have also done some bicycle touring. She has been riding about a year, rides on the weekend and holes up where ever she stops either camping or airbnb while doing her online job. Rebecca sold everything and just owns what she carries on her bike. Rebecca if you read this say Hi!
Sunday and there was only 3 of us in campsites and by mid day the others had left. I walked around and picked up blown trash in the camps, took down those little slips of envelopes showing you paid from some campsites, the oldest being Jan 30, it was Feb 9.
Then the clouds rolled in and there were some sprinkles. I took some pics of the area, There seemed to be half a dozen trains come thru each day, incredibly looooong trains. I counted one of them, it started with 3 locomotives and 73 cars later was a 4th locomotive followed by 71 more cars for a total of 144 cars and 4 engines. They seemed to go by forever.
That night was again windy and much darker as this moonrise pic show.
I did have a fire and read a lot of my book, made pancakes for dinner, howled at the Moon. Yet through all that I was disappointed and apprehensive of the trip home. Deciding I wasn't having fun I figured on pulling up stakes in the morning and risking the drive home.
The morning dawned cold but wind free so as my water boiled for oatmeal I took down my awning and finished as the first breeze said good morning. I ate and packed up, hit the road.
It was only a few miles to the highway and I stopped twice to check the plug, So far so good. The pavement on Hwy 15 south to Barstow has a rest stop on it, Only about 6 miles at highway speed so I stopped and checked, so far not a drop. I breathed a sigh of relief. Passed through Barstow and on some lonely overpass I checked it again. Still dry.
I figured I was golden then and didn't check it again until I got fuel on the East side of Bakersfield on Hwy 58. There was a wet spot on one side, but by then I had done 165 miles and climbed the Tehachapi Mountains and hit 73mph on a downhill. Still just a small damp spot! Again I tried to keep it around 61-62mph, the gps showed a 42mph overall average.
Fluffy got around 21mpg on the way down and 18 on the way back. This had me scratching my head for awhile thinking my math was screwed up. Then I remembered how windy it was on the way back, and I was driving a brick............
Once home I unloaded everything and had a good nights sleep. The next morning I dug out my spare dipstick tubes, all 4 of them(don't ask). I pulled the plug out.
I checked the curved vs straight dipstick to see if there was a difference and there is.
I decided to use the curved tube as it has a bracket already at the top and if I am thinking correctly(Hey! I heard that!) will put more oil in my engine hopefully helping with cooling. What I knew was the curved one was for a Discovery and the straight for Series and Defenders and I had a Discovery block.
Carefully putting it in my vise I slowly straightened it, as when bent it wouldn't fit. Then I screwed it in, looked around for where to put a bracket. I landed on one of the engine hoist bolts. Using some 1/8 x 1" flat stock I drilled a mounting hole and test fitted, measured, marked, removed, cut, test fitted, twisted, measured, cut. Found a 1/2" piece of flat stock and cut, drilled and welded it to the longer piece then reassembled. Did some fine tweaking with the twisting, removed it and painted it.
Then I had to go to the hardware store and get a 20mm combo wrench to tighten the compression fitting. This wrench had to be chopped in half and the closed end have a slot cut into it to fit around the tube, as in a line wrench. Once this was done I tightened up all the fittings. The bracket is gray in the pics.
Just for safety sake I put my straight spare tube in my spares box AND welded up my old compression fitting to use as a plug if need be.
Nice trip write up Gene. As always.
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Thanks, too bad we didn't get to meet!
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