South Dakota,  Trips

2011 WY/MT Trip – Day 9

Today we wound our way by Mt Rushmore, and through the Badlands of SD.

Travel:
Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

On the way to Mt Rushmore:
Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Mt. Rushmore:
Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Of course, we had to stop by Wall Drug on the way (worth the stop if you’re going by):
Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Badlands:
Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

Sara L.: Ben WY / MT 2011 &emdash;

And now we’re here in Oacoma SD, which is about 12 more hours from home. True to the nature of the beast, the truck is trying to break again. When I pulled off the interstate and pushed in the clutch, I noticed that it didn’t feel right (I’ve got about ½ the pedal stroke I should have). So I’m pretty much counting on it giving out the rest of the way by the time we get home. Hopefully it’s the clutch MC and not the slave cylinder. Neither one appears to be leaking, so it seems as though it is an internal failure at this point.

So what’s broke so far (to date, we’re over the 3500 mile mark on this trip):

– Brake caliper trying to take off multiple times (Fixed by jamming some metal to hold it in place at the home depot)

– Ball joints (not fixed, killed the wheeling fun for the trip, and making the truck a handful on the highway).

– Motor likes to detonate at partial throttle while cruising highway speeds (but doesn’t detonate when running WOT which is where I usually am on the highway).

– Truck likes to run hot on the highway (which has been par for the course on this truck) not overheating, but hotter than it should. Probably related to the detonation issue (dirty injectors maybe?).

– The rear end seems to have sprung a leak on the drivers side wheel seal, and on the pinion seal (there’s other leaks as well that I haven’t tracked down yet).

– And finally, whatever the issue is with the clutch.
Had I known we were going to have this many issues with the truck, we would have taken the econo-box instead. Live and learn.

Hopefully the ride home will be uneventful, and the clutch will keep doing what its suppose to keep doing.

Day 10, Monday’s suck

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