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7 Months on the road in an OBS (Pics)

12K views 77 replies 20 participants last post by  s54mcoupe 
#1 ·
I haven't posted here much, but when I've had problems, these forums have been a huge help.

I've spent the last 7 months cruising around the American West with my girlfriend and our dog. We've had out fair share of fun and minor mechanical issues, but the OBS pretty much kicks ***. It's got an older Lance camper on it, which is heavy and cumbersome, but very livable.

We'll be landing in Austin Texas and staying there for October/November, and I'm planning on taking care of some issues with the rig; when climbing steep mountain passes, I find myself wanting just a big more power.

I'm planning on a turbo-back exhaust system - leaning towards the Diamond Eye stainless steel. I've read issues with fitment on trucks with an MT (firewall/bell housing): Will a 3 inch downpipe fit if I massage the firewall a bit? I'm assuming a 4 inch downpipe is out of the question?

I'm also planning on throwing in a new CPS, GPR, aluminum radiator, thermostat, and coolant filter (all for added peace of mind).

Aside from that, I've pretty much made up my mind on the 6637 intake setup, unless someone can convince me otherwise.

I should have another $1k to spend after that's all said and done - any other ideas?

It'll eventually get an intercooler and a tune, but that's probably going to wait until I'm back home and can address some other issues. The previous owner dented the oil pan while crawling some small rocks. It leaks a little, so I'll inevitably have to pull the motor. Figure that will be a good time to weigh my options on new injectors, tune, etc. And a solid front axle, of course...

Here are a few pictures of the rig from the trip so far:







 
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#34 ·
We both just quit our jobs. My girlfriend is subletting her place and leasing her car to a friend. I had some money saved up, and my girlfriend, being smarter/more responsible, had more saved up. We started the trip in Jan and will end it February of 2014.

Desert heat, sometime in July I think - we didn't stay long:


Olympic National Forest in June, after getting shut down on climbing Rainier
 
#36 ·
That's where we started. We were living in Venice. Definatly miss the ocean... We'll be back February. I love Ventura, too!
 
#38 ·
Another question:

After 10 hours of driving through that crazy storm, I realize my stock headlights suck.

Any recommendations? I'd be stoked to get this done in the next week or two
 
#43 ·
Contact Cary T. at CT Performance for HIDs. Cheers!
 
#44 ·
Cary has an amazing projector kit, or you can DIY it, but hid's do blind people if done poorly/cheaply
 
#45 ·
in all honesty try new lenses, first. i bought a set of aftermarket on ebay less than $40 delivered and the fit well and look like stock also was amazing how much brighter they were.

went from this



to this



pictures don't show it as well as i would have liked
 
#46 ·
Sounds like new lenses would be a better option than HID, if the latter will be blinding to other drivers. I really hate when it happens to me.
 
#47 ·
try the lense restore kits its like 15 bucks. it works pretty good actually.
 
#49 ·
Put new bulbs in, and ordered new lenses. Gonna order a new harness tomorrow. Looking forward to getting the new lenses on.
 
#50 ·
Sounds good, what all did you end up going with?
 
#53 ·
Philip Xtremes and lenses from ebay. Bulbs alone made a good difference.

as of now, we've been out 4 months, grossing 21,000 lbs, mods in my signature...... averaging about 11 mpg, have hit most of the N. Parks in the SW. Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Canyons of the Anchients, Canyonlands, and a few more I've forgotten. The most important mods to the truck I've done so far are :

ALL OF THEM !!!

they all work together to make power, and cool that power....

if I were you, I'd put Stage I injectors in it, a D-66 Turbo, an intercooler, a TS chip WWildman tunes, and then you can check out the rest of the mods I've done to see if you can afford them....the 180 degree thermostat is a necessity, as are the SD trans lines.
Awesome, thanks! Sounds like you're on an epic journey... All of those places are beautiful. Our Utah portion was ill-timed (July) and we basically moved through as quick as possible.

Biggest reason you got stuck is your tires, there damn near bald, and one of the worst for anything slick.

Good road manners, but dirt...
Ordering new tires now that we're in Austin and have some downtime. I still can't imagine that any tires would have gotten us out of that mud... maybe some MT's, but it was so slick/deep I couldn't even walk in it without falling. The towtruck driver said the mud there was notorious.

Lessons learned!
 
#51 ·
as of now, we've been out 4 months, grossing 21,000 lbs, mods in my signature...... averaging about 11 mpg, have hit most of the N. Parks in the SW. Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Canyons of the Anchients, Canyonlands, and a few more I've forgotten. The most important mods to the truck I've done so far are :

ALL OF THEM !!!

they all work together to make power, and cool that power....

if I were you, I'd put Stage I injectors in it, a D-66 Turbo, an intercooler, a TS chip WWildman tunes, and then you can check out the rest of the mods I've done to see if you can afford them....the 180 degree thermostat is a necessity, as are the SD trans lines.
 
#52 ·
Biggest reason you got stuck is your tires, there damn near bald, and one of the worst for anything slick.

Good road manners, but dirt...
 
#56 ·
Hey! Sorry for disappearing.

We spent about 6 weeks in Texas, splitting our time between Austin, Hunt, and Johnson City. Put some new tires on the truck, did some other minor work, but didn't have the time to do anything major ("having time" being relative, we just chose to stay busy with other fun).
West Texas:


From Texas, we cruised through New Mexico to Arizona, spent a few nights at the Grand Canyon, then went through Utah and hiked around Arches National Park. The Grand Canyon and Arches got an unusual amount of cold, accompanied by cold weather, which made for beautiful scenery.
Grand Canyon:


Delicate Arch:


From there, we drove to Colorado, which is where we'll be until the middle of January. We've gotten 10 days of skiing since we've been here - the snow is pretty great for so early in the season.

OBS is running great. The camper is showing signs of age, but we won't need it after this trip, and it's been great to us. I'll dig up more shots with the rig in it soon...
 

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#57 ·
Looks like fun!
 
#60 ·
We're still in Colorado, and the mountains have been getting snow regularly. I had the rig in 4wd on our way up Boulder Canyon, and broke the front driveshaft near the Transfer Case. It fell onto the skid plate, and beat the hell out of the transfer case until I was able to pull off onto a shoulder.

I took the broken driveshaft off and drove the rest of the day in 2wd. Pretty interesting in the ice! Truck got pretty sideways unprovoked a few times. Fortunately, I was able to counter steer my way out of em, but it was interesting none the less.

A few questions for my life-saving friends at powerstroke.org:
1. Best option for a new front driveshaft? I'm planning on a solid front axle swap back home in a few months... Is there an aftermarket driveshaft available for the IFS? And if so, would it work with the solid axle when I swap it?

2. Afternarket option for the rear driveshaft? Might as well change them both, as a failure of the rear would be a big pain in the ***...

3. The lever selector for the transfer case has no resistance now and basically flops around. Is it possible that the linkage got wrecked?

Thanks as always!

Denver a few days ago:


Really cold day skiing Steamboat;
 
#67 ·
Do it! My parents took us on a cross country road trip when I was 7 or 8. It was amazing, and created a lot of lasting memories.

i don't know exactly what you mean by flopping around, but the nut the tightens the lever can work loose and then the lever can move about. it happened to me driving up the road one day and made alot of noise vibrating around
The lever for the transfer case has no resistance, so I'm guessing the linkage is a mess. I took the driveshaft off completely, but by the time I found a shoulder to pull over on, it beat up the transfer case pretty good (it was still turning at the front diff, and was caught above the skid plate/below the transfer case)

We'll see what happens!
 
#63 ·
i don't know exactly what you mean by flopping around, but the nut the tightens the lever can work loose and then the lever can move about. it happened to me driving up the road one day and made alot of noise vibrating around
 
#64 ·
I think he's referring to the front driveline that broke flailing around

Sent from a phone that makes calls too!
 
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