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FDM2012

Adventurer
Exactly HOW WIDE are those trails? I am just dying to do an "Out West" trip inside of a year........ Will a box Ambo make it through?

It would be a big trip. Leaving from Tampa, and stopping in several places to visit family and friends along the way. West to Dallas, then up to Denver, over to Vegas, and then up to Boise. I'm thinking a 45 day haul, round trip.

I would love some ideas on must see trails that make sense in my rig.

Gregor, great Fab work and threading, as usual! I am trying to figure out my 36'' x 15'' spare..... lol



Yes, you should be fine on the width.

The Sprinter had no problem at all. (It's a bit more capable than many think) It's no rock crawler, but we traveled over several passes last summer (Engineer, Ophir, Medano), and down MANY 4x4 trails (including the section of Schofield Pass road between Marble and Crystal) without any issues. Most people are just scared to take theirs into the woods... haha
 

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sakurama

Adventurer
Exactly HOW WIDE are those trails? I am just dying to do an "Out West" trip inside of a year........ Will a box Ambo make it through?

Sorry to be absent - I'm in the middle of building a bike for the big 1 Moto Show which is this Friday. To the question of how wide? Most Colorado trails were about as wide as a wagon. As a kid I remember having to fold the mirrors in on our F250 pickup. If a Sprinter made it I’d guess they’ve really dressed the trails and widened them.

If you go back a few pages Captain you'll see I sketched out the design for the roof rack. I'm looking at that as a good aluminum welding project for the spring when the weather improves.

And just because posts without photos are boring here's a shot of the van at Deadman's Pass.

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The van is still getting a lot of attention all the time. I enjoy working on it but right now I'm really trying to get the bike finished. If you want to see that project check out my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregorhalenda/?hl=en

My stories are documenting the fab and finish processes.

Gregor
 
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CaptainBuilt

Well-known member
I live in Ujoint country and figuring there’s probably more jacked up 4x4 vans in this town than anywhere else, I still get CRAZY attention. Literally, people stop and point. When my wife is in my van, she laughs at the attention I get.

Couple weeks ago, a guy came and knocked on our door (I was on the boat) and asked my wife about my van. And mine isn’t nearly as tricked out as yours or anything else that UJOR has running around here.

Couple months ago, I went to the scrap yard to drop some stuff off, then went and got a beer at a local brewery, then went to UJOR. They told Chris that they saw me everywhere I went. Pretty hilarious.

My name in instagram is Ashevillebeerjunkie.
 

Farfrumwork

Well-known member
Sorry if this is more hijacking Gregor...


There are some very narrow trails here in CO. Many, like Merano, is narrow with undergrowth. Some are narrow with deadly drops. Trees are OK, you just get a souvenir of Colorado pin stripes, drops not so much. Search out your routes and see what the trail conditions are. Not sure how wide an Ambo is?

PM me if you want some trail ideas so we don't (continue to) pollute this thread.

Exactly HOW WIDE are those trails? I am just dying to do an "Out West" trip inside of a year........ Will a box Ambo make it through?

It would be a big trip. Leaving from Tampa, and stopping in several places to visit family and friends along the way. West to Dallas, then up to Denver, over to Vegas, and then up to Boise. I'm thinking a 45 day haul, round trip.

I would love some ideas on must see trails that make sense in my rig.

Gregor, great Fab work and threading, as usual! I am trying to figure out my 36'' x 15'' spare..... lol
 

sakurama

Adventurer
So the big news for me is that I was invited to the Handbuilt Show - a show similar to the 1 Moto Show here in Portland but a bit more curated. Since I'll be driving down to Austin I wanted to deal with a creeping problem the van has had which is a weak charging system. It used to be about 13.9-14.1 volts but it's kept dropping but slowly enough I wasn't noticing. It kept starting and charging but with our recent cold snap it was really struggling. I knew my two DieHards were toast as even with a night on the charger they'd barely crank the van over if it was cold.

It was time to get a serious battery and have the charging system checked out.

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The back battery had pretty hammered terminals and shortening them would mean moving the rusty battery box. I didn't want to replace the whole length of 1ga. wire so I opted for what I thought was going to be a simple solution - making a new battery box to hold two batteries and moving it forward so the cables would reach with new ends.

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Much like working with Russian Baltic Birch as opposed to cheap plywood I am done working with hot rolled steel. I will pay the price to not have to deal with mill scale on any steel ever again. Yuck. I had some angle iron (hot rolled of course) and figured this would be a good material and it was in the shop.

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Like most projects I thought it would take about a day and it took three days and was more complicated than I expected. I built the hooks on the back because a 65lb battery is a huge pain to try to hold with one hand and thread fasteners with the other. A jack works but I don't have one big enough to be stable. The hooks allow me to bench press the battery up over the frame cross member and then I drilled the holes. It's another belt and suspenders situation.

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I bought one of those inexpensive hydraulic crimpers and they're worth every one of the very few pennies they cost. Crimping the new battery terminals on was easy if you don't count laying on your back in the dirty driveway with dirt falling in your eyes.

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I got a little silly with the battery clamp. I made the wing nuts because I didn't want to be fiddling with a wrench over my head any more than I had to be. I noticed that the stainless 1" strap I used for the tie down sort of bowed a bit and so I made a brace from some scrap stainless rod. Also, that rule of 33's for stainless welding has changed my life. So. Much. Easier.

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So there you go. It's up quite a bit higher and more central. Not sure if that's an improvement or not. I want to use the space on the other side for the on board air compressor and tank.

One thing I will say is that these Odyssey Extreme batteries are expensive ($300ea times two!) but powerful. Like insanely powerful. It spins the starter up at what seems like twice the speed and the van starts instantly. My alternator was also diagnosed as failing so I put a new one in at the same time so the charging system is working at 100%. Massive improvement.

That's all - just a quick van improvement. I'll get the tires rotated again before we leave for Austin and I'd love to build the rear motorcycle carrier before then but I doubt there's time for that.

Gregor
 

sakurama

Adventurer
It's been a while since I've posted here but I thought I might update the thread a little bit. The van now has 230,000 miles and quite a bit has been put on in the last couple years. When I left off I had been building a bike for the 1 Moto Show.

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Portland, OR

I was subsequently invited to the Hand Built Show in Austin, TX and my sister and I drove the van from Portland down to Austin in Spring of 2019 passing through Moab on the way.

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Moab, UT

At first I wanted to use the van strictly for towing and then I thought I might want to build it out as a camper. Over time the versatility of it being an empty vessel has proven to be the most practical.

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Hood River, OR

Pre pandemic I had mostly finished the restoration of my late fathers Avion trailer and the van was the tow vehicle for our camping trips. There had been a small leak in the HPOP and fuel would spill into the valley between the cylinders often spilling out on steep climbs. At around 225,000 miles the van started to smoke on cold starts and it was apparent that I had some leaking injectors.

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Wasatch Range, UT

At some point that I can't pinpoint I got a load of gas into the tank at a full service station (Oregon is a full service state) and after being towed to a shop in southern Oregon to have the tanks drained I decided to go ahead and have the fuel system rebuilt and replace the injectors. It was a painful bill (about $6000) but I took the opportunity to add a Wicked Wheel but opted to not upsize the injectors. Oversize injectors would only make sense if I put in an intercooler and that meant swapping the front clip - I like the look of the old nose and I love super tight approach angle I have.

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Sangre De Christos, CO

With the motor rebuilt the smoking was gone and I found a bit more power. Mileage didn't increase and has held steady at 12-14mpg and is pretty impervious to any deviations. Towing the trailer can drop the milage to 11 in the mountains.

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Eastern Oregon

Much of the work of the van has been transporting either my photography equipment for work or motorcycles for pleasure. It's done a great job on both fronts and, aside from the gas failure, has been exceptionally reliable with the new charging system and batteries. The kids love it.

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Wasatch Mountains, UT

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Leslie Gulch, OR

So the pandemic has slowed some of my motorcycle building and house projects are still prominent but I'm hoping to refocus some attention to the van and get a few things done to "finish" it up. I was considering putting a taller top on it but I think with the camper I don't anticipate ever doing any camping in the van - at least enough to warrant the expense of building it out. It's open interior works for it's purpose.

I've made a few changes that I'll detail in a future post and the next projects are a ladder and roof rack plus mounting up the on board air system. Hopefully you enjoy some of the photos of the van out doing what it was intended to do and with any luck I'll tick off a few more projects this winter before things get too cold and wet.

Gregor
 

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RVflyfish

Fishing is life. The rest is details.
I always love your photos and overall visual aesthetic. You have an amazing eye for style and detail. I follow your thread on Garage Journal and often find myself thinking, “I want to be Gregor when I grow up.“ Never mind that I’m already your age LOL. I just love that you not only have the vision, but you’ve built the skill set and toolbox to be able to bring your ideas to fruition in the real world.
 

sakurama

Adventurer
Gee thanks!

I don't really think of myself growing up so I think you have plenty of time to learn new stuff. I haven't posted here because the van went from a project that required building to a tool that was being used. That's a good thing but I just didn't really think to update the thread. I hope that I can make some progress on the van in the next month or so.

I have one big change that I'll detail in the next post.

Gregor
 

boardrider247

Weekend warrior anarchist
Gee thanks!

I don't really think of myself growing up so I think you have plenty of time to learn new stuff. I haven't posted here because the van went from a project that required building to a tool that was being used. That's a good thing but I just didn't really think to update the thread. I hope that I can make some progress on the van in the next month or so.

I have one big change that I'll detail in the next post.

Gregor
Is there anywhere we can see more of that motorcycle you built?
It looks amazing
 

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