2013 SR5 4x4 Update

[Ron4RNevada]

361 plus

more pics

 

[Ron4RNevada]

RCI Metal OffRoad

Ordered RCI Off Road Front Skid Plate this morning ($284.30 including shipping) in 3/16" black powder coated steel.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

RCI OFF-ROAD Skid installed

Pretty straight forward - except I ordered steel instead of aluminum. Kinda' heavy when installing alone.

 

[RedSled]

Pretty straight forward - except I ordered steel instead of aluminum. Kinda' heavy when installing alone.

Hats off to another old goat for installing heavy stuff by himself.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Yeah, at 77 crawling under a truck and lifting 40 pounds of steel while starting the first screw was a bit tough. However, now adays I let the dealer change my oil so will never take it off again.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Short Exercising of 4wd

Yesterday got the oil and filter changed - had 'em rotate tires - flushed my dirty steering fluid. Next time will be at 100K so will probably do Transmission fluid change.

Today just went out in the boonies across the road to exercise the 4WD and me.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Trek 362 - May 1 2018

180501 - Trek 362 - Past Salt Wells

Well I had intended to Hike the Grimes Point Archaeological Site. It was closed; grading the road out to the other early man caves and doing some kind of work at Grimes Point itself.

So I drove down to the quarry at Sehoo Mountain. To get access to the Eagles House area. Turns out the quarry operators have dozed up berms to keep 4 wheelers from using their road. Bummer.

Continued on past Salt Wells (site)to the isthmus between Eight Mile Flat and Four Mile Flat. That’s the area just west of Sand Mountain. As we had a tiny bit of rain on Sunday the sand wasn’t bottomless; got some nice exploring around.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Just thought I'd stick a couple of LR Discovery

photos up here. Twas a really great off-roader. Too bad the '60ss designed Buick engine gave up the good fight the second time at 125,000 miles.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Just a few past

Pen and ink portraits:

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Wow, you're quite an artist!

 

[bane]

Is that a unimog? Super cool trucks.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Is that a unimog? Super cool trucks.

No; that's a forward control Land Rover (British Army).

Six years ago I signed up for an Irish off-road event that sponsored the Dublin Childr4ens Hospital (Dublin, Ireland). At the time I was the only Nevada member of an Irish 4x4 forum.

The event was held in October/November 2012. There were about 50 two man teams (mostly Land Rovers, some Kias, two Toyotas, a couple others. I was in a team that ran a Series 2A the first day and a more modern rig the rest of the event.

The entry cost for each team member was $200; plus we were supposed to get sponsors and raise more money for hospital. Plus I needed $1100 for round trip air fare from Reno to Dublin. Also spending money in Ireland for three weeks. Four different famalies put me up in their homes while I was there.

Anyway, getting Nevada sponsors for an Irish hospital was nearly impossible so I came up with a brilliant idea:

I let the folks on the Irish forum know that I would do portraits of their off-road rigs for $100 each (ink and colored pencil 8x10). I would use half of the money for air fare and expenses and half for the hospital. The response was great; I raised over $3000. The Irish 4x4 forum has pretty much disappeared but I still get a request for a painting now and then.

In the three weeks I managed to visit every county in Eire and Northern Ireland.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

a few more Irish pics

The Irish guys were hoping that I was going to teach them tons of stuff about off-roading. Little did they know that Ireland and Nevada are completely different:

Ireland = trees, rain, mud
Nevada = sand, rocks, desert.

I went fishing out to the islands off the north west coast; off-roading to the northern tip and southern tip of the island.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Latest Artwotrk Commission

Did a couple of aircraft portraits for one of the "aggressor" pilots at Naval Air Station Fallon - Top Gun School.

An F-16 and an F-18

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Trek 363 - 10 May

180510-Trek 363 10 May 2018 Mule Team Mine.

Basically turning off of I-80 at the Nightingale/Hot Springs Exit; Traveling around the north end of the Hot Spring Range; exploring several tracks I had never explored before; continuing on to the Mule Team Mine (Cinnabar, I believe) and then east across the flats and finally intersecting US-95.
From their took US-50 from Fallon back to Fernley.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

363 continued

filling the frame with sand - -

Shifted between 4Hi and 4Lo several times just to exercise the shifter; mostly just left it in 4Lo though....... Was mostly in 4Lo 3rd gear all day...

 

[Ron4RNevada]

5-14 Checking out RCI Stuff

Yep; doing well. RCI Skid and sliders do it well. Sand in frame properly topped up too.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

We've had three days of very light drizzle

Perhaps I'll go across the road and play in the sand for a couple of hours.
Should be perfect.

Yep, I'll get pictures - - -

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Trek 364 -Just across the road

180516 Trek 364 Within 15 Miles

After 3 days of very mild rain I decided to check out the sand situation. The sand is perfect! I was able to get the top of a steep hill that I haven’t successfully climbed in about 15 years of trying with two different Land Rovers and the SR5.

The trail is very steep climbing in very deep sand. The ridge is broken rock on top but the climb up is ridiculous. I used Low Range 3rd gear. I had the A-Trac engaged but it never came on. I was at about 1/2 throttle. Great view from the top.

Incidentally, for those who do not follow my adventures: I’m generally all over northern Nevada, however these photos and today’s adventure was all just 15 miles from my house.

The last photo is sitting on top the ridge - - - Only took 15 years to get to the top - - - Sand dampness was just right!

 

[Ron4RNevada]

A few more pics from 364

Oh- It's a major thunderstorm now - without rain