Java Builds a Ski-Bum Mobile

So a friend of mine put on a trip each year he calls "skifari", ski one hill, drive to the next, sleep in that parking lot and ski there the next day, then repeat! Makes for an awesome ski trip! 4 nights 3 states 3 ski hills 1000 miles

It was a blast! everything went pretty well. Had a blowout on one of the duals, luckily. They are the original tires and are getting tired.... One tire guy said it looked like something hit the sidewall, which it did look like to me. There was a big rub mark on it. The other guy thought they were just old. Luckily it happened the first day, and we had time to deal with it. So it has two new steer tires on there, since the duals are a little safer with the old ones. They will be replaced as soon as the budget allows.

But it was a great trip, bumming in the parking lots, and skiing different places!

Took it easy getting there, and between mountains, kept it under 65, got 8.3 MPG. Hurried home, an 11 hour drive after skiing all day.... At 70 for 600 miles averaged 7.7. Oh well. Gotta pay to play in this thing apparently, on the plus side Idaho has cheap gas.

Night one (on the way there, blewett pass WA)

Silver Mt, Kellog ID

Bums!

Schweitzer ID, My buddies on skifari are parked to the right of me.

Day 3, whitefish MT

After whitefish it was a 12 hour run home since I had to be at work in the AM, but an awesome first skifari!! A few more random ones from Skifari.

Hard life...

Didnt make it skiing this weekend. But got out to play in the snow for a quick overnight.

We started heading up the pass, it was snowing hard. Very hard. Chains required on all non 4wd/AWD vehicles. I have honestly never seen so many people at the chain up area. It was literally full! We pulled over, I hopped out and locked in the hubs, and pulled back out and went on our way. I thought for sure I was going to get stopped for no chains, but the state patrol was busy with someone else and I didn't get any trouble. I doubt many people expect a 4x4 RV...

So over we went and stopped at our favorite boat launch camping spot for the night.

Yes it really is a boat launch

Beautiful morning.

I love this thing and I'm fearful of how my Motovan will handle the snow and ice without 4WD or legit snow tires.

In reply to Petrolburner:

Yeah there a few places I would have been seriously stuck. A couple that took some doing in 4x4....

You got the treadwrights also right? Notice any vagueness with them? I think they may be the cause of my rear end wander.

java230 wrote:

Baker!
The White Salmon Lodge (lower right hand corner) is where my local club holds our autocrosses, I get a kick out of seeing snow shots from Baker, I'm only up there in the Summer.
Unsurprisingly, up 542 in the summer, in a sports car, on autocross tires, is a blast

In reply to SnowMongoose:

I can imagine that would be fun. 12k truck in snow/ice winter not so much fun...

OK ready for things to get interesting?! (this was written a while ago remember)

Well I just got finalized with the insurance Co yesterday so i can tell you a story now.....

//LONG post and RANT warning

We left Tursday night after work. Pretty late already. Got about 80 miles from home, and there is a little town on the main highway to the ski area. Greenwater on 410 for you local people. The speed limit goes from 60 to 35 there. Slowing down to go into town the rear end felt weird, kind of squirrely like a flat tire. There is a fire station right after town with a big lot so I figured I would just pull over there.

Well when I got out, I noticed something very very wrong. The drivers side duallys were sitting at a funky angle. 5 of the 8 lug studs were broken off, the last three that had the lug on them were very lose. Oh Joy.

Now remember on our last big trip I had a flat. Well Geico’s road side assistance had come out and changed it….. The drivers side rear….

So I call the road side assistance people. (luckily I stopped at the fire station and they had open WiFi, there is ZERO cell service on hiway 410… VOIP!) They say well we are sorry blah blah blah, we can get a tow truck out there. I say OK tow it to the shop I use by my house and Ill get a taxi home. Now I have two big dogs and my wife and daughter with me also… its 8pm or so at this point. Then they come back saying well the closest RV repair place is 23 miles, and that’s the distance we are authorized to tow. I say um no. What am I going to do with my family after they tow me 23 miles?! Two supervisors and an hour later they have agreed to 65 miles, this will leave me paying 20 or so @ $3.50 a mile. OK send the truck. Geico says it will be 1.5 hours till they arrive.

Two hours pass, I cal the tow co directly. Their truck broke down, they can’t do the tow. They had told Geico who didn’t feel like letting me know….. I call Geico, they cant find anyone else in the area and say if you can find a tow we will reimburse you, sorry there is nothing we can do. //Rant on. Really WTF am I supposed to do now?! Its 11pm, its cold, snowing and your leaving me here?! Really if I wasn’t in an RV I would have been frozen, and likely dead by the time Geico was able to find a tow company the next day. //Rant off

So while I had been on hold with Geico I had googled and found a semi local mobile repair guy. He was busy for the night and couldn’t get parts anyway.

My wife and I decide to jack the truck up ourselves, and I tighten the lugs as tight as I can get them with a 2’ lug wrench. We drive the remaining 20 miles @ 10 MPH stopping every mile or so to check the lugs. (I also found out at this point my hazard light don’t work! Luckily there is no traffic on the road at midnight) Also hard to hit the herd of elk and 10MPH… We make it up to the lot at 1am or so, park and call it a night.

I call the mobile guy in the morning and he happened to have a cancellation. He was a really nice guy and said go skiing, Ill go find parts, text you when I get there and call you when I’m about done so you can come pay me. He charges $100 to drive out, and $75 an hour. Pretty reasonable I thought. He gets it done and finds the cause…. I thought loose lugs, no. There is a pin on the inside wheel to keep the valve stems lined up at 180 degrees. Well the service guy who changed the tire didn’t line the pin and hole up, as I drove, the pin squished down, and the lugs loosened. This is why the 3 on the one side were still there. They were mostly tight due to being opposite of the pin. The holes in the wheels were also ovalized from wobbling…. So two new wheels are needed now too. He was quite impressed at how tight we got the last 3 lugs. He couldn't get them off with a 1” impact! My 220lb self on the end of a 2’ breaker bar works good I guess  He did bend his breaker bar trying to get them off which I felt a little bad for….

So we ski, camp another night, and head home. I call Gecio. Roadside assistance says well nothing we can do since the tire guy wasn’t one of our normally contracted carriers, we don’t have a liability policy with them. They tell me to go talk to claims. Go thru the claims dept, they want me to pay my deductible. F that, it was your fault it happened. So claims says you will have to go back and talk to the roadside people.

Well we were doing another trip so I bought new wheels, again out of my pocket. (they also don’t make the ones on the truck anymore, so they don’t match!! Arrg.)

So after a week of leaving messages, going back and forth between adjusters, roadside assistance people managers etc I get to the right adjuster. Explain everything to her, she says ok, send me your receipts and ill see what I can do for a reimbursement. She was very helpful and gets all my expenses approved, except getting matching wheels….

So that’s the story….. if you read all that great!

Short version: Geicos roadside assistance caused a bunch of lug studs to break off, almost letting the wheel fall of the truck and didn't want to pay for it.

Skiing was great. Almost too much snow. It was tiring to ski!

sad truck....

Wow, that looks like a close call for sure. How about a photo of the new wheels? At least the mismatch is on opposite sides of the vehicle. Makes it a lot harder to notice that way.

Mezzanine wrote: Wow, that looks like a close call for sure. How about a photo of the new wheels? At least the mismatch is on opposite sides of the vehicle. Makes it a lot harder to notice that way.

Unfortunately they would only replace the rears on the one side, so the fronts don't match. But its ok...

A little hard to see in this pic, but the rears are large holes instead of a bunch of little ones. Offset is slightly off too, apparently they don't make the little hole ones any more.

Meh. You're too close to this one- I generally have an eye for detail, but the size of the holes in the steel dually wheels doesn't fall inside of my spectrum. I'd never notice.

Is it really bugging you? I wonder if you might be able to find a matching set locally or in a junkyard.

Mezzanine wrote: Meh. You're too close to this one- I generally have an eye for detail, but the size of the holes in the steel dually wheels doesn't fall inside of my spectrum. I'd never notice. Is it really bugging you? I wonder if you might be able to find a matching set locally or in a junkyard.

No its a bit of a jalopy anyway, doesn't bug me. But its 4 big holes instead of a bunch of little ones....

Stuck a vinyl cutout on it, breaks up the white and faded king county sheriff.

A friend of mine sold his van and had a swivel left over he sold me. Yes I needed seats/covers.

But then he had his old seats too! Free

Took the beast out this weekend for the Northwest Overland Cooking Competition. Tons of fun, actually did pretty well of the FS roads.

I will say pulling over and locking in the hubs is priceless when chains are required and its DUMPING snow!!

Went up that road a ways, it got really tight, got to make a 37 point turn, in the middle of the night, without going off the edge...

Broke out the fire pit and had some beers, slept great!

Down in Bend OR. Drifted in really good this morning. 60+ gusts and sustained 20-26. Berkeleying cold.

On the way home from Bend. Lunch stop

Somebody likes the truck, he can sit next to his favorite mommy.

java230 wrote:

Love the choice of beverages in the cupholder.

Pull all the rear wheels off. Put the new four holes on the inside on both sides, make the two old wheels the outside wheels and now they match.

In reply to Mezzanine: Yes, good stuff

In reply to Wally:

Too much of a pain in the ass. The new ones don't have the offset pins that caused the issues either...

Well just wrapped up this years Skifari, awesome ski trip. Spent 6 days, 5 nights in the truck, drove almost exactly 1k miles, 3 different ski hills. All worked pretty well.

First day consisted of driving from home to Silver Star in BC. Raining like crazy, low clouds, so didn't get to see much of the scenery, but the drive was fine. Stopped for lunch, beautiful spot.

Did a few night runs at Silver Star and set up camp. Apparently the people in their expensive condos/cabins didn't appreciate the ski bums in the parking lot, even though overnight parking is allowed, the cops were called..... The RCMP were very cool, the ski hill security guy not so much, he was all pissy. Put the fire out and decided to call it a night.

My lovely wife at the top of Silverstar

Skied the day, and headed off to Revelstoke. Revy was beautiful! Mountains all around. Skied two days, more bumming in the parking lot, but no issues there. Burned lots of wood, drank lots of beer.

My Daughter tearing it up! She did her first real black run. It was awesome.

Another fire. Had to run to town for more wood (and beer!)

Skied a second day at Revy. Awesome terrain, but the snow was poop,just like everywhere in the PNW this year. Did 22,750 vertical ft the first day, and 18,314 the second. It amazing how long and awesome the runs are there.

Then it was time to head to Sun Peaks. Another fire and dinner in the parking lot, it was a long drive between the two.

It was nasty snow again, so we were relegated to groomers. It was nice and sunny though.

Skied the afternoon with the kid, buddies headed home.

Last night at Sun Peaks, last fire of the trip.

The ski bum house before heading home.

Then the drive home. It was supposed to be ~6 hours. Ended up taking 12.... Why is the tire inside??

It blew out (original tires to the RV circa 97, they were due... Hence the steers got changed, im cheap and ran the rears for awhile longer, they are duals). Luckily we were in a place where I could pull into a paved lot to change it, not in a snow bank! Some of this. Which btw, my tire wrench is to long to go full circle... Lots of half spins.....

and this...

And the column shifter stopped working.... It wont start in P, starts in N, and if you shift to D, it stays in 2nd gear and wont go into OD.... Jiggle it a little till it between N and D and its good to go.... Hit Crazy traffic in Chilliwack, just randomly stopped for 5-6 miles. Apparently its normal for Canadians to jump the ditch onto the road that parallels the freeway. Watched 100 people or so do it, while I was hating my huge rear overhang.

This happened too... Relays should not look like this.

Somehow a terminal broke off (did I mention the brick like ride?!), shorted and melted it. This was the culprit for the generator not working in Revy. Luckily it was a standard 30A relay, and the local auto parts store had one.

Overall great trip, great friends, lots of skiing. A few little "adventures" along the way but a great time none the less! 1000 miles, ~125 gallons of gas and no work for 6 days!

I keep stuffing this thing places RV's don't usually go.... I will say the 10 miles of beat up gravel are not a ton of fun to get to this spot in this thing. Washboard shakes it like you wouldn't believe.

Dog 2 and munchkin enoying it.

Glad we were in the RV, got down to a balmy 29 degrees....

Any progress on the plan for a suspension overhaul?

Petrolburner wrote: Any progress on the plan for a suspension overhaul?

No $$ at the moment. I browse CL for used king shocks daily.... Im thinking shocks in the front and add a bag and drop leaves in the rear for the time being. I may try to get new front springs made. A local place thinks he can make a little improvement, but not much with the length they are. ~$350 each....

Ouch. Are the springs too stiff for the weight or are you riding on the bumpstops?

I would look at possibly yanking some of the leaves.

While they aren't cheap, I would be running Bridgestone W965's on that beast for what you use it for. They made 4WD damn near superfluous on my '95 Cummins 4x4. But it was the improvement in braking performance that was really amazing. Nothing that big and heavy should have been able to stop on ice that well. It felt like defying the laws of physics.

In reply to Petrolburner:

They are very short, and very stiff. I only have about 2" of uptravel to the bumps. I think they could be softened, I dont quite know. I have been trying to get ahold of the people who made the springs for some details with no luck. It basically got an ambulance package suspension. Its ROUGH.

Ian F wrote: I would look at possibly yanking some of the leaves. While they aren't cheap, I would be running Bridgestone W965's on that beast for what you use it for. They made 4WD damn near superfluous on my '95 Cummins 4x4. But it was the improvement in braking performance that was really amazing. Nothing that big and heavy should have been able to stop on ice that well. It felt like defying the laws of physics.

Im thinking of yanking leaves in the rear, its like 12 or 14 in the pack. The front is only 5 in the pack, and flat/reverse arched a bit. They are 42" eye to eye and 3" wide.

I have toyo AT2's in the front. They seems to stop on ice ok (for as big as this thing is) for non studded. I have only really needed the 4x4 a couple times, but its nice in the snow for not having to worry about it.

Had a great Veterans day! Relaxing with a nice fire. I need to find more old telephone poles to burn.... They are AWESOME.

Watch for attack beast... 6" fresh overnight.

Heading up to find more!

Nice day in the snow. But I have a leak.... No idea where its getting in, but it dumps out right on my head while driving....

This is awesome. Good job at life.

ultraclyde wrote: This is awesome. Good job at life.

Thanks, it has been a rough couple weeks at work and it was GREAT to get out in the woods with the family.

Now if I could just find the leak....