Day 0ne. Santa Rosa to Smith River.

The Van.

After I installed the Harmonic Balancer. I reset the timing to about 6° advanced, as the book said.
I didn’t have a chance to test it out before we left on our trip.

Heading Out.

We left Santa Rosa around 11:00. Our plan was to drive north on Highway 101 to the town of Fortuna where we were to stop for the night at the Bear River Casino.

As we drove up the freeway I knew something was wrong with the engine. It was back to its old hesitation problem. I just continued to drive, nursing it up the hills. It wasn’t as bad as it had been but it still had trouble keeping up on the hills.

Lunch

We stopped in Laytonville and had lunch at Boomers Saloon.

Bear River Casino.

Around 4PM we pulled into the Bear River Casino parking lot. We arrived earlier than we expected.
After parking we went into the casino and used their rest rooms.

Back at the van I decided to take a short nap until about 5:30.
When I woke up from my nap I took another walk to the casino rest room. When I got back to the van there was a car parked on each side of us. Each car had a Lap weasel type dog in it and they were both barking at full speed and full volume.

Behind us was a car that’s alarm had been honking for about half an hour.

“Let’s get out of here” I said.

Continuing north.

We decided to try and find a campground further north but every one we came to was full.

We drove through Eureka, CA. and Crescent City and turned east on Hwy 199 toward Grants Pass, OR.
 


We thought we might find a campground along there.
All the campgrounds were full but I remembered a place where I camped off the highway when I drove to Alaska. It was a river access area.
We tried a couple of side roads and eventually found a spot where we could get off the road and spend the night near the river.

We spent a nice quiet night and were on the road early the next morning.

Day Two.

Smith River to Glendale, OR.

The van’s still running bad but it is still running.

We stopped in Cave Junction for breakfast.

A Detour.

As we were getting near Grants Pass we decided that instead of going through Grants Pass we would take a detour through Merlin, Galice and Wolf Creek.

It was a nice scenic drive along the Rogue River

where we crossed this bridge.

Bob and Kathy.

We got to Bob and Kathi’s around noon. It was nice to see them again.
We visited for a while and they suggested we get some lunch.
We went with them to a local café and had lunch.

On the way home we stopped at a neighbors house to borrow a timing light.

Adjusting the Timing.

When we got back home I set out to adjust the timing on the van.
I ended up setting the timing at about 10° BTDC.

Buffett at Seven Feathers.

We decided to go to The Seven Feathers Casino for their Seafood Buffet.
Seven Feathers is 25 miles north of Glendale and there are a couple of steep grades going and coming. I wanted to drive the van there so I could check it out.
The van ran much better this time, going up the hill with little problem although it still trembles a bit. I will see if I can adjust the timing a bit more and see if I can clear that tremble.

The buffet was good and we left the casino ahead and full.

Back at Kathy and Bobs.

We visited and watched television until bed time.

Day three.

Kathy and Bobs.

I got up early and got my shower and breakfast. After breakfast I went out to the van and tried to improve its performance. I would move the timing mark a bit and drive up the road and it would stumble. It took many tries but eventually it appears that I have the timing adjusted as close as I will get.

Around 10:45 to we drove with Kathy and Bob to Grants Pass so Kathy could go to the doctors.

Becky and Dennis

This evening we are going the Valley of the Rogue State Park to visit with Becky and Dennis, who are hosting there.
Around 3:45 we headed down I-5 to the Valley of the Rogue State Park to visit Becky and Dennis.
We visited with them at their spot in the park for a while then we went to a very good Mexican restaurant for supper.

After supper and a lot more visiting inside the restaurant, we said our goodbye's to Becky and Dennis and headed back to Kathy and Bob’s.

Around 10:00 we said goodnight to Kathy and Bob and went to bed.

Off We Go Then.

A Quote from J.R.R Tolkien's "Lord of the Ring’s”.

““Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.””

Where We Are Going.

Okay this is a short description of our trip on The Continental Divide.

From here ( Santa Rosa) we are going to make our way to Eureka, Montana.
It will take us about a week to get there. We will be visiting relatives along the way. We will travel through Northern California, Oregon, Washington , Idaho and Montana Just to get to the start of our trip.

Once we get to Eureka, MT we will meet up with Cheryl and Dennis and Bob.
From there, we will drive north about 5 miles to the Canadian border where on July 24, 2017 we will officially start the trip down Continental Divide to Mexico. The ride will take us through Montana, some of Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico to the border with Mexico at Antelope Wells, New Mexico.
We are expecting it to take us around 3 to 4 weeks to complete this trip, Maybe more as we will still have to get home from New Mexico.

It should be an awesome trip so travel along with us on this blog.
We will see this beautiful country of ours together.

Prepping for the Continental Divide Trip.

Installing New Lighter Socket.

First thing Monday morning, I installed a second cigarette lighter socket so there would be a place to plug the GPS in and another place for the XM radio.
That only took about 20 minutes.

Taking Care of Business.

Once Patti got it going this morning we went to the bank so she could get some cash for the trip. After that we went to see our financial advisor to take care of a few things.

Grocery Shopping.

After leaving Joel’s, we went to the Walmart Neighborhood Market and did our grocery shopping.
We were able to get almost everything there. We will still need to stop on the way out tomorrow for a couple of last minute items.

Loading the Van.

When we got home, we continued loading stuff in the van.
We put all the non perishable stuff on the racks. All the paper products and canned food will go a large wooden box that doubles as a step and can be left out side at night.

Loading the van is kind of like putting together a Chinese puzzle; everything has to fit just right, so it takes a while.

Ready to Go.

Okay it looks like we are pretty much ready to leave tomorrow.
We don’t intend to get on the road until after lunch as we are only going as far as Fortuna, CA. where we will spend the night. It is about 5 hours drive from home.

Okay that’s it for now.
I’ll try and post as often as possible but there will some gaps as we will be in the mountains for a lot of the trip. 

The Van is Ready! I think.

Finishing up the Van.

This morning I filled the radiator in the van and started it up.
It ran fine , no horrible noises, no leaks, no smoke.
I shut it down and then gave the van a grease job.
I drove the van to the gas station to top off the tank and take a little test ride. While I was there I checked the oil (my driveway is too slanted to get an accurate oil check) . Everything seems to be fine, I think it’s ready to go.

Getting ready for the Great Divide.

Later in the day I started collecting stuff to put in the van for our trip on the Continental Divide. The biggest issue will be storage but we won’t need to much stuff as we will not be totally isolated on this trip.  We will leave here Wednesday 7/12 and are supposed to meet the other travelers in Eureka,  Montana to start the actual Divide trip on July 24th.

There is still a lot to do but the afternoons have been too hot to do much.

Sunday.

Today we start serious packing. This will probably continue right up to the time we leave.

This trip should be quite an adventure so read about it right here and at “Bob’s Eyes”   http://www.bobseyes.net/.

Install the Harmonic Balancer on the Van Engine.

Pick Up Parts.

Around 8:30 Friday morning I drove to the parts place and picked up the new Harmonic Balancer for the van.

Get Started

I got started working on installing the Balancer as soon as I got home. It is supposed to be hot this afternoon so I want to get this done early.

Install the Seal.

The first thing to do is to install the front oil seal. First I spread some RTV around the outside edge of the seal. Then I used a large socket to push the seal in with. 

Here is the socket and the seal waiting to be installed

The seal went in with no problems.

Time to Install the Balancer.

I put some grease on the inside and outside of the hole and seal surface of the balancer.
The Balancer fits over the end of the crankshaft and has a key to keep it from turning.
To push the Balancer on there is a threaded hole in the end of the crankshaft where you insert a 7/16-20 bolt with a big thick washer and as you tighten the bolt it press’s the Balancer onto the shaft.
I had a devil of a time getting the Balancer to go all the way on. I ended up using my longest breaker bar on a socket to tighten it up. I even broke one of the bolts I was using.

You can see the end of the bolt in this picture. Fortunately the bolt came out easily.

I found another bolt and continued to press the Balancer on.
Eventually I got it as far as it would go. The grooves on the Balancer line up with the grooves on the fan pulley so I guess it is good.

Install the Radiator.

I installed the belts for the fan and alternator and then installed the radiator.

Getting the radiator in by ones self is a struggle as it has to go in from the bottom.  I hope I didn’t damage any of the tubes.

To Hot to Work.

I went to the auto parts store to get some coolant but by then it was about 105° outside and it was to hot to continue working.
Tomorrow (Saturday) I’ll finish this up. It got to 108° today.

Pulling the Harmonic Balancer, Order Parts and Buy bolts.

Lets Try That Again.

First thing Thursday morning I cleaned up all the threads in all the holes and on all three bolts for the puller. I figured I would try one more time to pull what is left of the balancer.  As I was tightening the bolts the stripped one would not even tighten. I took puller off the engine and decided that I would need to drill out that one hole and rethread it for a larger bolt.

Order Parts.

I Tried Smothers Parts.

Around 10:00 Patti took off on some errands and I went to see about parts.
I was told that Smothers Auto Parts was the best place to look for parts like the Balancer as they had a large selection of parts and a large network from which to draw parts.
They had the Balancer on their computer but could not find any in the real world.

I Went to our Local Napa Store.

The counter guy, looked the Balancer up on their computer and said that he could have it here in the morning.
Now that’s a parts store!
I also ordered a seal and gasket set for the timing cover in case I have to pull it.

On the way home I stopped at the hardware store and purchased two 3/8-24X2” and 0ne 7/16-20X2” bolts. The two new 3/8 bolts will replace two of the ones for the puller and the 7/16 bolt will be the third bolt on the puller.

Drilling the Hole.

I was concerned about drilling out the hole in the Balancer that is stripped because there isn’t much room behind the Balancer and I was concerned about accidently punching a hole in the timing cover.

I selected four drills  as I wanted to increase the size of the hole in small steps.

Below are the drill bits and the tap.

The two smaller drills were too small so I ended up using a 3/8 followed by the 25/64.
I managed to drill the hole without blowing a hole in the cover.

Tapping the Hole.

Next I had to tap the hole.

Pull the Balancer.

In order to use the larger bolt on the puller I had to file one of the slots a little larger. It’s the slot on the right.

I hooked up the puller and pulled the rest of the Balancer off with out a problem.

Pulling the Seal.

I wasn’t sure if the timing cover had to be removed to pull the seal or not.  After cleaning the dirt and grease from the area I noticed the metal ring around the seal.
I decided that I could pull the seal from without.
I took a small punch and made a small hole in the edge of the metal ring then I used a slide hammer with a sheet metal screw affixed to the end.  I screwed the screw into the small hole and with a few slams of the slide the seal came right out.

Below is the seal removed, the slide hammer and the punch.

Okay that’s as far as I got on this project today. I get the parts tomorrow and hopefully finish this up.

5 Days at the Cabin.

Getting Started.

We got up early and after breakfast we finished loading the last minute stuff in the van.

We stopped at Arco for gas and were on the road heading for the cabin by 10:00.

Dead Van.

The van was running great going up the freeway, lots of power.

We took the highway 128 exit from 101 and started climbing the hills. The van is climbing the hills nicely.
About 5 miles out of Cloverdale on 128 there is some road work so we had to stop for the flag man.

While we were waiting for the traffic to start moving again Patti said that she felt something hit the inside top of the engine box.
We could also hear some squealing coming from the engine area.

The traffic moved forward so I followed.
Just a short distance past the road work Patti said that she could smell engine coolant. So could I.
I looked at my gauges and saw that the generator light was on.

Did the fan belt break? No, I have two fan belts, they both couldn’t have broken at the same time.

As soon as I could I found a safe spot to pull off the road,

I started to open the engine cover and steam and water spewed out around the engine cover. I closed the cover and we waited for the engine to cool down.

Good Samaritans.

Some guys in a pickup stopped and gave us some water for the radiator.
Thanks guys.

Strange problem.

Once the engine had cooled I was able to top off the radiator.
I checked the belts and they were still in place.
What could have caused the engine to over heat so quickly.
When the radiator was filled I tried starting the engine.
It started right up.
What the heck? The engine is running but the fan isn’t turning.
I checked it out and found that the Harmonic Balancer had come apart.
The Harmonic Balancer is the bottom pulley on the engine.  It is connected directly to the end of the crank shaft and turns the fan , the generator and coolant pump.

Between the center of the pulley and the outer surface is a rubber insert. That is supposed to allow a certain amount of movement to keep down vibration.
Some how the rubber had come unsecured from the center. The crankshaft was turning but the outer part of the pulley was not so therefore the fan and generator were not turning; hence overheating the engine.

Call for a Tow.

Fortunately we have AAA road service and in under an hour we were on the hook and heading back to Santa Rosa.

Lets Try This Again.

Once we were home we took all the stuff that we would need for the weekend out of the van and loaded it into Patti’s car.
We had to stop for gas and lunch and we got to the cabin around 4PM.

Some Disturbing News.

When we arrived, Bob was sitting on the bench on the hill by the cabin.

As we exited the car he asked; “Do you want the good news first or the bad news”.

“Well, I have had enough bad news for one day” I replied; “how about the good news”.

“The good news is; the bear didn’t get into the cabin”.

“Okay, that’s good. What is the bad news”?

“He did break (tore a hole) in one of the plastic windows”.

He also tore a hole in Dave’s tent again. On the opposite side from where the bear tore a hole last time.

The bear got in and knocked a bunch of stuff around in their tent but didn’t destroy anything.

Bob also told us that he saw the bear the evening before we arrived. It was coming into the clearing near the dining hall.
Bob yelled at the bear and it took off.
It’ll be back.

Something has got to be done about that bear!

Water Leak.

Another thing that the bear did was to bite the main water line in half.

Bob and I went up and fixed it before dinner.

Here is Bob pushing the splice together.

More Arrivals.

Around 5:00 Josie arrived. We had a nice visit and then she went to set up her camp.

Around 8:30 Dina arrived.
We talked about where she wanted to camp. Originally she was planning to camp at the Grove down by the creek but after hearing about the bear she decided to camp at the cabin site with us.

After a little discussion she tried to move her car but it would not start. We will have to address that tomorrow. It was full dark before she and Robert got their tent up.

Okay that was our Friday I sure hope Saturday is an improvement.

Saturday.

I woke up around six o'clock and got up as I had several things I wanted to do before everyone else was up.

Fix the Frig

The first thing I tackled was the refrigerator. It seems that every time I come up here I have to work on the frig. What happens is; rust falls down the chimney and collects on the burner partially snuffing the flame. The flame is needed to heat the chemicals in the system to cool the frig. Low flame = low cooling.
I pulled the back off the frig and cleared the rust from the burner.
Now the frig should work right.

Set up the shower

After breakfast I tried setting the shower up but when I transferred the stuff from the van to Patti’s car I forgot to transfer my tool box so I am very limited. I have a Crescent Wrench,  a Multi Tool and a Screw Driver.

I needed Channel Lock Plyers to tighten the fittings.  There is a bad leak in the shower connection. It may be missing an
“O” ring. I gave up on that for the time being.

Mow the flat.

Once most of the others were up I decided to see if the lawn mower would start.
I filled it with gas and pumped the bulb on the carburetor, pulled the rope and it started right up.

I mowed a little, then Bob took over and mowed most of the flat.

Cover the Spring.

Bob had been doing some work on one of the springs before we came up. He wanted to finish covering the spring so he and I went up to check it out.

Here, we are hiking up to the spring.

The spring is in the rocks in the gully.

Here you can see the rough screen covering the drain and Bob starting to cover it with rocks.

Once the rocks are all in place he covered the pile with some plastic and more rocks. Then he connected the out put line.

That done we went back to the cabin. 

Bob Left.

Around 1:00 Bob decided to take off.

We hung around camp the rest of the day and around 5:30 we  had supper.

First Campfire.

Around 7:30 we decided to have a campfire. I set up the fire ring last season but haven’t had a chance to have a fire in it until now.

We are wearing hoody’s and long sleeve’s not because it is particularly cold but to keep the Mosquitos at bay.

Sunday.

Joanne and Dave.

Joanne and Dave showed up around 10:30.
They had read Bob’s blog and knew about the bear break in so they weren’t surprised.
Dave brought some canvas and stuff to fix their tent.

The Shower’s Fixed

He also brought some other tools.
I was able to borrow his large locking plyers to work on the shower.
I found the missing “O” ring stuck to a piece of blue tape on the shelf above the water heater.
We now have Hot showers.

Peter Shows Up.

Around 11:30 Peter showed up. We had a nice visit and he brought us up to date on the status of the property.
Things are still in flux.
He assured us that the parcel that the cabin is on will be kept safe.

Call a Tow Truck.

We tried several things to attempt to get Dina’s car going but no luck.

We decided that the only thing to do was to see if a tow truck would come out here to pick the car up.

It took Dina and Robert until 2:00 to get their shit together so Patti could take them down to the highway and try to get a tow truck.

About two hours later they showed up with a big flat bed truck.
The driver was bitching and complaining about having to come all the way out these dirt roads but it only took him around 15 minutes to get the car on the truck.

We waved good by to Dina and Robert as the tow truck disappeared around the corner. 

Peter Leaves.

A short time after the truck left it was Peter’s turn to leave. He has to get up at 4:00am to go to work tomorrow.

Jean and Don Arrive.

After supper we were just sitting down to play cards  with Joanne and Dave when a vehicle pulled into the compound.
It was our friend’s from Seattle, Jean and Don. They were on a road trip and we were on their itinerary.
We hung out with them until after dark then they had to leave as they were staying at the Anderson Valley Inn in Philo. 
They will be back tomorrow.

Monday.

Nothing Like a Hot Shower.

I got up early and got a hot shower this morning. It sure is nice having a working shower again.

Jean and Don Show up.

Around 10:30, Jean and Don showed up. We spent some time shade hopping and visiting.

A Walk in the Woods.

After visiting for a while, Jean, Don, Dave and I took a walk on the cabin loop trail.

It only takes about 45 minutes to walk the loop from the cabin.

Quirkle?

A short time after we got back from our walk the ladies decided to play a tile game called Quirkle, or something like that. They played in the dining hall for an hour or so. Patti won.

Supper in the Dining Hall.

Around 6:00 we cooked some Burgers and Brats and we all ate in the dining hall.

Jean and Don left for their hotel around 8:30. They will be back tomorrow.

Tuesday.

I got up early and after breakfast I fired up the weed whacker and whacked some weeds before Jean and Don showed up. Now the place looks better.

We visited with Jean and Don at the cabin for a while then drove down to the Grove to check it out. We sat in the shade by the creek visiting until around 1:00.

Joanne was the only one to play in the water.

Heading back to the Cabin

Jean and Don decided to walk up the road to the cabin from the creek.
It’s a pretty steep climb so we gave them about a half hour start and then drove up the hill.  We passed them about 1/3 of the way up the hill.
They didn’t want a lift so we continued up to the cabin. Jean and Don arrived about 20 minutes later. They made good time.

Jean and Don left around 4:00 as they had to drive to Marin County.

Supper and Cards.

After Jean and Don left we fixed supper.
When we had finished our supper’s Joanne and Dave came to our place to play cards.

Wednesday.

Got up early again. While the water for my breakfast was heating I started striping my bed and folding up the bedding. We are leaving today and want to be ready to go by around 11:00.
I had breakfast and was lingering over my coffee when Patti got up.

Once Patti was up and running, we began the task of moving out of the cabin. By around 10:15 the car was packed and Patti had the cabin all swept out clean.

Window Fix.

Dave had some clear packing tape so we used that to put a temporary patch on the window that the bear tore.

Here is how it looks from the outside.

It looks a little better from the inside.

Heading Home.

We left around 10:30 and stopped at the Hamburger Ranch in Cloverdale for lunch.
We got home around 1:00 and in a half hour we had the car unloaded.

The Van’s Harmonic Balancer.

After we had been home for a short time I decided to start trying to fix the van.

I removed the radiator and the fan belts.  Then I removed the outer pulley from the Harmonic Balancer. The center of the Balancer is still on the engine.

This view is looking up from under the front of the engine. You can see the center of the Balancer below the fan.

The Harmonic Balancer should look like the one on the left in the picture below.

The ring on the right is the outer ring of the Balancer that is still on the engine.

On the left is an old Balancer that I am using as an example. Unfortunately that Balancer is worn out and can’t be used on the engine.
The black line round the center of the Balancer (on the left) is the rubber that should bond the inner hub to the outer ring.
There is no rubber on the outer ring of the failed Balancer (right) and there is no rubber on the inner hub of the failed Balancer, as you can see in the view of the engine.
The rubber was totally gone so the center was turning but the outside was not.

A Stripped Bolt Hole.

I got out my pullers and tried to remove the inner hub of the Balancer but one of the holes that the puller bolts go into is stripped.
It looks like I will have to enlarge the hole and rethread it for a larger bolt.
By this time I was hot and tired so I stopped for the day.

I’ll work on it tomorrow.