Death Valley, revisited with LRCSD

p m

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Awesome travelogue! Thanks for taking the time to write it up to share, especially for us East Coast armchair adventurers. I really need to get out there some day.
Thanks for the compliment! I figured Discoweb needs some travel stories once in a while, to detract from broken bits and pieces.
 
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rover rob

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Mar 29, 2016
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Does one need a Land Rover to visit Death Valley? Not necessarily, but... If you think a Subaru with an RTT is a suitable alternative ...
just a foot note to this. the woman was rescued and the mans body was recovered. not a happy ending.
 

Frobisher

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Dec 27, 2012
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Thanks for the compliment! I figured Discoweb needs some travel stories once in a while, to detract from broken bits and pieces.
Yes, it’s definitely nice to be reminded of the adventures we can have when we get out from underneath.
 

p m

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Well, a little luck doesn't hurt, either.
Just before the trip I replaced a transmission cooler line (same as the one that sprang a leak at Ubehebe Crater in my brother's D1).
Guess what, today it blew.

1618099661261.png

You could call this self-inflicted since the hose was from Allmakes, but something tells me all of them are garbage, just like the suspension bushings.
But this can cripple your truck pronto, and field fixes are limited - and only if you have a stretch of half-inch ID oil- and fuel-resistant hose, a bunch of hose clamps, a hacksaw blade, and at least two quarts of ATF...
 

Frobisher

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Dec 27, 2012
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Hmmm. At 198K, maybe I’m on borrowed time. That definitely looks like a long-haul replacement. Where did you source that?

Those sure appear difficult to replace, but they’re probably easier in the driveway than in the wild, as you point out!
 

p m

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Great write up and really enjoyed reading it.
What was used to make this line?
Thanks!
Not sure (fortunately for me, this hose was already made - Behr at Sport Utility Motorcar chopped the steel ends of the hose and brazed in AN-6 fittings) - but it could be any generic steel-jacketed hose.
This brings up another subject: how well do we know "singular points of failure" of our vehicles, before we hit the dirt?
 
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Frobisher

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Dec 27, 2012
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Not sure (fortunately for me, this hose was already made - Behr at Sport Utility Motorcar chopped the steel ends of the hose and brazed in AN-6 fittings) - but it could be any generic steel-jacketed hose.
This brings up another subject: how well do we know "singular points of failure" of our vehicles, before we hit the dirt?

That would actually be a great thread of its own to start.
 
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Blueboy

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Apr 20, 2004
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Back in the USA; Rockwood, PA
Not sure (fortunately for me, this hose was already made - Behr at Sport Utility Motorcar chopped the steel ends of the hose and brazed in AN-6 fittings) - but it could be any generic steel-jacketed hose.
This brings up another subject: how well do we know "singular points of failure" of our vehicles, before we hit the dirt?
Would be an excellent thread and very informative. Thinking at least the early coil springers would have some commonality.
 

p m

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Nearly a month after the trip, I finally got around to look at my left rear tire that was slowly losing air ever since Death Valley.
Found a headless drywall screw buried deeply in one of the lugs - that required a plug. I have to say that pushing that round file through the XZL's tread block was a royal bitch. It was also the first time the needle that was supposed to drag the plug into the hole cut the plug in half, requiring more of the file action.
But I also found this:
1618936126042.png

It is really a pinhole leak, possibly, from a cactus needle. It could have been there since our trip to Arizona earlier in the year.
I didn't feel like poking the hole in the tread just for this one, so I smeared some rubber glue over it and jammed a leftover piece of the rubber plug. It'll fall off, I am sure.
 
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sdtim

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Feb 21, 2021
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Oceanside, CA
Such an amazing read! Thanks for taking the time to detail out the trip, and make it interesting. I'm in North SD County and would love to be part of an expedition one of these days.
 
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