The Tank ~ My Build
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ADK Explorer
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[MENTION=170822]stephan07[/MENTION] most of these trails are around Lake George in the Southeastern Adirondacks. Access into the mountains is limited but I am discovering more open trails all the time. Many of the trails are narrow and tricky with deep mud and I am unable to explore them alone until I get my winch installed. Shoot me a pm when your going to be up this way and I'd be happy to show you some.
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Cymon
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Heading up your way (actually Vermont) this weekend for some family ski adventures. Can’t wait!
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I haven't been Alpine skiing in years. (Back injury) I miss it. Enjoy !
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Sub Zero Snowshoeing
Winter really isn't so bad if you're willing to wear five layers of clothing.
I also finally got to use my Tred Pro traction boards. On the way out along the one lane access road a snow plow came from the other direction. I pulled into the deep snow on the edge of the road to let it go by. I did not think about the drainage channel causing my passenger side tires to sink down into a few feet of snow causing the truck to high center. I remembered I had thrown my Tred Pros in the back, got out my handy dandy little aluminum shovel, shoveled enough snow out from in front of each tire to shove the traction boards in, put it in 4 Low, locked the rear diff and walked it right up and out of that ditch. I'm very happy that the Tred Pros finally came in handy and worked like a charm.
Winter really isn't so bad if you're willing to wear five layers of clothing.
I also finally got to use my Tred Pro traction boards. On the way out along the one lane access road a snow plow came from the other direction. I pulled into the deep snow on the edge of the road to let it go by. I did not think about the drainage channel causing my passenger side tires to sink down into a few feet of snow causing the truck to high center. I remembered I had thrown my Tred Pros in the back, got out my handy dandy little aluminum shovel, shoveled enough snow out from in front of each tire to shove the traction boards in, put it in 4 Low, locked the rear diff and walked it right up and out of that ditch. I'm very happy that the Tred Pros finally came in handy and worked like a charm.
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ADK Explorer
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Adirondacks Off Road
People have asked about trails in the Adirondacks so I am putting this here for future reference.
There are logging roads and Jeep trails throughout the Adirondacks. Unfortunately most of these trails are off limits to motorized vehicles. (Many are maintained as snowmobile trails.) There are however several State maintained trails that are accessible from May until first snowfall. Since I live in Glens Falls most of my explorations have been in the Eastern Adirondacks. When I was younger I had a 4 x 4 pickup truck which I used to explore random trails back when more of them were open and accessible. To be honest most of my explorations of the Adirondacks have been hiking and backpacking. I can share with you some fairly interesting drives that I have discovered since buying my 4Runner.
North of Lake Luzerne is East River Road. North of Thomas Road this turns into a dirt access road leading into the Hudson River special management area. This is a scenic drive along the Eastern side of the Hudson River which turns into a moderately challenging 5 mile off-road track leading up into Gay pond. This is a fun one-way track up onto the mountain with lots of rocks and little bit of mud. There are places where you definitely have to put it into 4lo and get into a little bit of technical crawling through some of the rocky areas but it is not difficult or extreme and not a risk for damaging vehicles. It winds through some nice deep green forest with several primitive camping sites along the way. The pond itself is small and not the prettiest but the drive is good off road fun. I would not recommend taking the wife and kids on this one as they may get tired of being bobble heads the entire way.
Another relatively easy access road is North of Fort Ann off of Route 149 taking Buttermilk Falls Road to Sly Pond Road which then takes you into Shelving Rock Road and Dacy Clearing Road. Dacy clearing road is a 1 ½ mile track that leads to hiking trails in the Lake George Wild Forest. Shelving Rock Rd leads down to the Eastern shore of Lake George and both have primitive camping spots along the way.
North of Silver Bay, West of Lake George is Jabe Pond. Jabe Pond Road is off Battle Hill Road. This is an easy 2 mile access track to the pond. This is a pretty area, a place where you could take the family and sit at the edge of the pond to picnic or hike around the pond.
East of Brant Lake off Rt 8 is Lily Pond Road. This is another short 1 - 2 mile access track to the pond. This also is pretty pond with hiking trails around it.
Pumpkin Hollow Road is a fun and interesting abandoned track West of Brant Lake off of North Dorset Road. Although Google Maps does not show the connection it does leads through to Beaver Pond Road. It is a short drive that leads through thick forest but is fun nonetheless.
In that same area off of Beaver Pond Road is Pharaoh Road. This is a one-way access track to the hiking trails leading into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area. The extension is a challenging track with large foot deep washouts and some rocks that take a little creativity to get over but it is not extreme.
The northern access to the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area is Northeast of Schroon Lake off of Alder Meadow Road. This is the Crane Pond access which is a moderately challenging 2 – 3 mile track back into Crane Pond. This is a pretty area to which you could take the family to either enjoy just exploring around the pond or to access hiking trails throughout the Putnum pond, Pharoah Lake area.
One of the longer and more interesting drives is through the Moose River Plains Wilderness. This is in the Western section of the park and runs from Indian Lake (Rt 28) to Inlet. In Indian Lake take Cedar River Road (Rt 30) to Moose River Road. This is a 22 mile graded access road through the heart of the largest tract of State owned forest in the park. It is an easy drive on dirt but it goes through deep forest and runs along the Moose River with many ponds and lakes in the area. It also has about 130 primitive camping sites along it. You could either drive straight through in a day or take a week and hop from campsite to campsite enjoying the peace and quiet of the area.
This is what I have been able to explore in my rig so far. I find these tracks using Google Maps set on the terrain feature. I look for thin little lines that meander through the mountains, mark their locations, and then go to see if they are accessible. As I have said many are not but I am pleased with what I have been able to find so far. This is a rich and beautiful area and getting into the forest anywhere is rewarding. I have seen several tracks disappearing up into the forest as I have driven many back roads. Considering the mud, rocks and downfall I have not been able to explore these due to the lack of self recovery gear. This spring however I am installing my winch and skid plates under my rig and I have a set of traction boards which should enable me to take more risks. You can see pictures of several of these trails here in my thread.
You could also call DEC or go to dec.ny.gov/lands to find information and maps. National Geographic also makes maps for the Adirondacks. You can go to the Nat Geo website and look under Maps/ New York. Hopefully this will give you something to start with and if you find some good trails that I have not mentioned please let me know. Enjoy.
People have asked about trails in the Adirondacks so I am putting this here for future reference.
There are logging roads and Jeep trails throughout the Adirondacks. Unfortunately most of these trails are off limits to motorized vehicles. (Many are maintained as snowmobile trails.) There are however several State maintained trails that are accessible from May until first snowfall. Since I live in Glens Falls most of my explorations have been in the Eastern Adirondacks. When I was younger I had a 4 x 4 pickup truck which I used to explore random trails back when more of them were open and accessible. To be honest most of my explorations of the Adirondacks have been hiking and backpacking. I can share with you some fairly interesting drives that I have discovered since buying my 4Runner.
North of Lake Luzerne is East River Road. North of Thomas Road this turns into a dirt access road leading into the Hudson River special management area. This is a scenic drive along the Eastern side of the Hudson River which turns into a moderately challenging 5 mile off-road track leading up into Gay pond. This is a fun one-way track up onto the mountain with lots of rocks and little bit of mud. There are places where you definitely have to put it into 4lo and get into a little bit of technical crawling through some of the rocky areas but it is not difficult or extreme and not a risk for damaging vehicles. It winds through some nice deep green forest with several primitive camping sites along the way. The pond itself is small and not the prettiest but the drive is good off road fun. I would not recommend taking the wife and kids on this one as they may get tired of being bobble heads the entire way.
Another relatively easy access road is North of Fort Ann off of Route 149 taking Buttermilk Falls Road to Sly Pond Road which then takes you into Shelving Rock Road and Dacy Clearing Road. Dacy clearing road is a 1 ½ mile track that leads to hiking trails in the Lake George Wild Forest. Shelving Rock Rd leads down to the Eastern shore of Lake George and both have primitive camping spots along the way.
North of Silver Bay, West of Lake George is Jabe Pond. Jabe Pond Road is off Battle Hill Road. This is an easy 2 mile access track to the pond. This is a pretty area, a place where you could take the family and sit at the edge of the pond to picnic or hike around the pond.
East of Brant Lake off Rt 8 is Lily Pond Road. This is another short 1 - 2 mile access track to the pond. This also is pretty pond with hiking trails around it.
Pumpkin Hollow Road is a fun and interesting abandoned track West of Brant Lake off of North Dorset Road. Although Google Maps does not show the connection it does leads through to Beaver Pond Road. It is a short drive that leads through thick forest but is fun nonetheless.
In that same area off of Beaver Pond Road is Pharaoh Road. This is a one-way access track to the hiking trails leading into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area. The extension is a challenging track with large foot deep washouts and some rocks that take a little creativity to get over but it is not extreme.
The northern access to the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area is Northeast of Schroon Lake off of Alder Meadow Road. This is the Crane Pond access which is a moderately challenging 2 – 3 mile track back into Crane Pond. This is a pretty area to which you could take the family to either enjoy just exploring around the pond or to access hiking trails throughout the Putnum pond, Pharoah Lake area.
One of the longer and more interesting drives is through the Moose River Plains Wilderness. This is in the Western section of the park and runs from Indian Lake (Rt 28) to Inlet. In Indian Lake take Cedar River Road (Rt 30) to Moose River Road. This is a 22 mile graded access road through the heart of the largest tract of State owned forest in the park. It is an easy drive on dirt but it goes through deep forest and runs along the Moose River with many ponds and lakes in the area. It also has about 130 primitive camping sites along it. You could either drive straight through in a day or take a week and hop from campsite to campsite enjoying the peace and quiet of the area.
This is what I have been able to explore in my rig so far. I find these tracks using Google Maps set on the terrain feature. I look for thin little lines that meander through the mountains, mark their locations, and then go to see if they are accessible. As I have said many are not but I am pleased with what I have been able to find so far. This is a rich and beautiful area and getting into the forest anywhere is rewarding. I have seen several tracks disappearing up into the forest as I have driven many back roads. Considering the mud, rocks and downfall I have not been able to explore these due to the lack of self recovery gear. This spring however I am installing my winch and skid plates under my rig and I have a set of traction boards which should enable me to take more risks. You can see pictures of several of these trails here in my thread.
You could also call DEC or go to dec.ny.gov/lands to find information and maps. National Geographic also makes maps for the Adirondacks. You can go to the Nat Geo website and look under Maps/ New York. Hopefully this will give you something to start with and if you find some good trails that I have not mentioned please let me know. Enjoy.
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ADK Explorer
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First I had to unbolt the main power cables from the back of the solenoid. Then I removed the solenoid chassis from the winch housing. There are four 6 mm hex bolts bolted into spacer tubes which hold two halves of the winch onto the drum. Once the chassis is removed underneath there are three 4 mm hex bolts which hold the solenoid housing together.
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Once you have the solenoid out you see four wires; red, white and two black. The remote controller has black, red, green, yellow and white wires. The black wire from the remote controller connects to the black ground wire, in the middle, on the solenoid. This is the connection that runs to the underside of the winch motor and connects with the black grounding cable that runs to the battery.
The red wire piggybacks onto the red connection on solenoid. This is your hot wire.
The green wire is the the radio wire, it is left loose in the housing.
The yellow wire connects to the black connection farthest on the right.
The white wire connect to the white connection. The white and yellow are the in and out controls.
I sealed the connections with heat shrink tubing.
The red wire piggybacks onto the red connection on solenoid. This is your hot wire.
The green wire is the the radio wire, it is left loose in the housing.
The yellow wire connects to the black connection farthest on the right.
The white wire connect to the white connection. The white and yellow are the in and out controls.
I sealed the connections with heat shrink tubing.
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On the left of this next pic you'll see a plastic screw slot tab. This needs to be cut off so the control box can fit in to the solenoid housing. The next two show the controller in the housing. From here on out just put everything back together again. Remember to pay attention to the color coding of your main power cables.
Taking my time and sorting through all of this took me a few hours. But having gone through it I'm so glad it worked! I really did not want to have to take all apart again to troubleshoot. Now I wait for the weather to warm up so I can install the winch on my truck.
Taking my time and sorting through all of this took me a few hours. But having gone through it I'm so glad it worked! I really did not want to have to take all apart again to troubleshoot. Now I wait for the weather to warm up so I can install the winch on my truck.
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P.S. My RCI belly skids have shipped. We're getting there.
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Changed the front differential oil today. ODO at 11017. Put in Amsoil Severe Gear 75 W 90. Factory skid came off ok. Plugs came out easily. Old oil black but only a little sludge on magnet. Took off front skid in preparation for changing engine oil in a couple of days. Front skid bolts came out without problem. Evidently my dealer service dept did a good job with my oil changes. I will probably use Mobile 1 for the engine. I'm planning on a 6 month or 6000 mile interval schedule. Amsoil 0 W 20 is just too damned expensive.
Front skid is holding up pretty well.
Front skid is holding up pretty well.
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Viair 300 P Compressor RCI Skids
The Easter Bunny was good to me.
Got a Viair 300 P compressor and my RCI Aluminum Integration and steel Transmission and Transfer Case skids. As soon as the oil is changed I will Fluid Film the hell out of every thing underneath and install my skids. Then hopefully it will be warm enough to paint my mount and install my winch.
The Easter Bunny was good to me.
Got a Viair 300 P compressor and my RCI Aluminum Integration and steel Transmission and Transfer Case skids. As soon as the oil is changed I will Fluid Film the hell out of every thing underneath and install my skids. Then hopefully it will be warm enough to paint my mount and install my winch.
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ADK Explorer
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Engine oil change. ODO: 11040. Used Mobil 1 0W-20 Advanced Fuel Economy. OEM filter. Tomorrow will lube it and put on skids.
Like the results!
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For the record, greased the drive shafts today with valvoline multi purpose lithium nlgi 2 ujoints & slip yokes. ODO 11070
Also put in new oem engine & cabin air filters.
Also put in new oem engine & cabin air filters.
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