1973 Wagoneer - Full Size Camping Goodness

[unkamonkey]

Sorry for what happened to you.

What can I say? Crap happens to people. You can take it several ways. You can run over to the corner of the parking lot and jump up and down and scream out foul words or you deal with it and continue with life. It is always fun to watch people that are screaming off in the corner because he didn't know how to hook up jumper cables. I sat with his wife and had a beer and after he got done with his tantrum. I fixed it.

Life goes on.

 

[lumpskie]

I made it 5 minutes from home and the fuel pump appears to have packed it in. So close...

Are you running an electric pump? I had 2 Airtex pumps do that to me. Both were just a few miles from my house, too. So far, my Holley Redtop has been great. BTW, towing an Airstream with the Waggy is a dream of mine!

 

[Bobzdar]

Are you running an electric pump? I had 2 Airtex pumps do that to me. Both were just a few miles from my house, too. So far, my Holley Redtop has been great. BTW, towing an Airstream with the Waggy is a dream of mine!

Nope, stock mechanical pump. I had a spare in the garage at home so an hour later it was home. Took a little of the luster off of the first camping trip we took it on, but it was a fun long weekend anyway.

It needs to be setup carefully to tow the airstream. Power, temps, and brakes were all fine but it's kind of short so wind will blow it around. You need a good weight distributing hitch with sway control and the suspension on the waggy has to be in good shape. I had everything except the sway control hooked up and I think I need a front end alignment and it was getting blown around over 60mph. Good news is it could do 60-65 on the highway without issue at max temp of 210 in 85 degree weather, but I didn't dare go any faster. With a front end alignment and the sway control and hitch set up properly I think it'll be fine, but I'm pushing it as my AS is probably close to 5000lbs loaded (4200lbs empty w/o ac). Here are a couple more pics from the trip.

 

[pyrate]

I made it 5 minutes from home and the fuel pump appears to have packed it in. So close...

Seems like this is all a thread hijack. Can we let Dr. Marneaus tell the story of his Wagoneer? IDK, maybe he doesn't mind but when I see a post like this I thought it was his Jeep that stranded him on his trip to Boonville.

 

[Zeiderman]

Haha, I was confused as hell, thought my Tapatalk jumped ship or something, glad you pointed that out.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Seems like this is all a thread hijack. Can we let Dr. Marneaus tell the story of his Wagoneer? IDK, maybe he doesn't mind but when I see a post like this I thought it was his Jeep that stranded him on his trip to Boonville.

Lol. I dont mind really but its whatever as long as it doesn't get too cluttered.

My Boonville trip is next weekend, this coming weekend I'm rolling myself down to Vegas in my pickup and will be sleeping in the back for an evening in the desert along the way. It worked great for that last year, I will post results from that trip on here as well since I think I've posted some of the mods I did to it.

If I'm not feeling the wagon, we're gonna roll my pickup to Boonville and will camp in the back. Turns out my wife is going to be in San Fran the day before, so I'm not really sure but we're trying to orchestrate some way for me to pick her up en-route without having to go too far off the beaten path. Heading to SF area will add an hour to the trip even if I dont have to go into the city.

 

[motorcycle matt]

Booneville eh? That's my neck of the woods, only 30 minutes away. It's beautiful country up there, enjoy!

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

You gonna be at the Anderson valley beer fest?

 

[motorcycle matt]

Even though I really like the beer up there I'm not planning on it because I'm hoping to go camping and fishing that weekend, but if that falls through I'll probably make it up there. I hope you enjoy the great beers and food while there, maybe even get some Frisbee golf in.

 

[Bobzdar]

Sorry for the hijack, didn't think my 2 posts were worth a thread of their own and was kinda comiserating on the reliability (or lack thereof) of these old gals.

 

[Zeiderman]

So here's a thought to ponder on old vs new, home mechanic capable, and dealer only. Check out at least...Hyundai's recall, others as well, I just happen to own a Hyundai. Motors are crapping out, at speed, going down the highway. Old, new, no matter, they all have their problems, at least I can fix all my Jeeps in the driveway with pretty basic hand tools for the most part. Old Jeeps, I expect, my wife's new car, pissses me off and is unacceptable.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[Bobzdar]

So here's a thought to ponder on old vs new, home mechanic capable, and dealer only. Check out at least...Hyundai's recall, others as well, I just happen to own a Hyundai. Motors are crapping out, at speed, going down the highway. Old, new, no matter, they all have their problems, at least I can fix all my Jeeps in the driveway with pretty basic hand tools for the most part. Old Jeeps, I expect, my wife's new car, pissses me off and is unacceptable.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

Yeah, I was able to get home grabbing a spare fuel pump from my garage and installing it in the parking lot. Most new stuff would need the tank dropped. The lack of reliability on these things is more due to years of modifications and age rather than inherent weaknesses (imo). The drivetrains on these things are stout, electronics work if they're not butchered (lots have been over the years), but after 30-40 years, stuff stops working. Especially as a lot of them have sat for extended periods, which is never good for them.

That said, my 2005 silverado is an overall vastly superior vehicle in every single way except maybe off-road (it's just too big), but not as fun to either work on or to take on trips - and fun is kind of what it's about when you go camping/overlanding or whatever. It's not fun to get stranded, of course, but I can almost always limp one of these old girls home or fix it where it sits, no so much with the newer stuff if something goes bad.

I'm seriously considering going FI like the op, but that has it's problems due to modifications.

Op, have you thought about going in-tank fuel pump? They seem to be vastly more reliable and access to the sending unit is super easy on these things. If I go FI, that's what I'm thinking of doing. Not sure what would need to be done to the fuel lines, though.

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Even though I really like the beer up there I'm not planning on it because I'm hoping to go camping and fishing that weekend, but if that falls through I'll probably make it up there. I hope you enjoy the great beers and food while there, maybe even get some Frisbee golf in.

shoot me a PM if you find yourself there.

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

So here's a thought to ponder on old vs new, home mechanic capable, and dealer only. Check out at least...Hyundai's recall, others as well, I just happen to own a Hyundai. Motors are crapping out, at speed, going down the highway. Old, new, no matter, they all have their problems, at least I can fix all my Jeeps in the driveway with pretty basic hand tools for the most part. Old Jeeps, I expect, my wife's new car, pissses me off and is unacceptable.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

I don't touch my wifes challenger unless its brakes or something. I wont even do the oil changes on it. My 04 dakota...I'm still hesitant to do anything but thats mostly because of rust.

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

Op, have you thought about going in-tank fuel pump? They seem to be vastly more reliable and access to the sending unit is super easy on these things. If I go FI, that's what I'm thinking of doing. Not sure what would need to be done to the fuel lines, though.

Well, i'm not really considering it...I did consider it....then I did it. Tanks Inc pump in a stock tank.