We're making good headway, got our oil leak to a more manageable level after tightening up everything. We think the pan gasket was the main culprit. We've moved 600 miles and haven't needed more oil, just have a slow drip evident. We're well into Colorado en route to Denver to overnight, celebrate the new year, re-supply, and move out. Unfortunately I'm headed back to Cali for work so Jason will be officially co-pilot-less and traveling solo up to the northern hinterlands of Montana...unless there are any adventurous volunteers...
Gladys has been treating us well, keeping us warm and dry, and chugging right along. Good news for any of ya that are following along, the GPS SPOT tracker will be picked up in Denver and updating progress real-time.
We've assembled an odd assortment of tools and have a list of the few we are missing. The most handy so far have been the strap wrench, allen set, crescent wrench, and socket set. We've needed many extensions to reach things, up to 4 sometimes and a small jack handle as a makeshift breaker bar for most bolts. We've mastered the 5 minute oil check, comprised of a 5 minute idle to cool the turbo before shutdown while we pop the hood, wipe clean the dipstick, then kill the motor and check the level. We've have not been tightening up the oil filler plug or the dipstick plug as we suspect venting some of the crankcase pressure has helped abate our oil leak. We have confirmed the rumors that consistency when checking the oil level is paramount. We check within 30 seconds of engine shutdown, and check twice to prevent Murphy from playing. We've noticed that even a minute later the oil level reads a couple quarts higher, probably a function of the oil draining down from the upper reaches of the valve train and higher motor valleys. A quart of oil appears to equate about 3/16" of dipstick. What we're missing and wish we had are some flare nut wrenches and a large assortment of various standard wrenches of various offset and angle for the hard to reach places.
Duct tape has been valuable in securing the trailer electrical connection and sealing the cold air leaks in the cab. Bungees and zip ties have been valuable in locking the ladder down in it's rack in the back and securing the hood up when we're under there to keep the wind from decapitating us. Giant carabiners have been awesome for hanging our jackets and backpacks strategically around us in the cab keeping us warm and organized. El cheapo window hanging cup holders from a truck stop keep the caffeine close at hand. We noticed that from the rear at night Gladys is pretty stealth so we added a couple short strips of reflective tape to augment the two tiny and dim rear facing driving lights.
We're running just a single wiper as little as possible in the rains and snows and the Rain-X has helped.
We assembled a new air hose quick connect at a truck stop and have been using it to inflate a leaky tire on the passenger front rear axle. We've been running 65 in the front, 45 in the rear, and 40 on the trailer to good effect so far.
We haven't experience super low temperatures yet but of the freezing temps we've weathered overnight the ether squirt has gotten Gladys fired up, albeit rough and smoky at first.
Our big air leaks have been at the door windows, the rear frame of the cab appears shifted slightly back and we think if we can jack it back forward about 3/8" the doors will fit as tight as our knees to the dashboard. The air leaks are tolerable in 25 degree weather with the heat on high and a knit cap on, but in 10 degree or below the leaks may be uncomfortable. The thin canvas cab has been pretty **** wind and water tight except for the very back behind the shoulder blades where we could near hand a chihuahua through to the outside while driving.
Signing out,
Seth the "shotgunner"
Co-Pilot / Mechanic
Congrats on your trip so far.
