The Pig Rig!

[ericjon262]

We left the Spit, kinda disappointed, but on the way back north, I saw a small trail with a sign that said "Daytime use only" (like there's any other kind of time in Alaska in the summer!) I pulled over to check it out, and there was a neat foot trail that led to a rocky beach.















driving up from homer, I saw my oil pressure gauge go to zero pulling up to a stop, I immediately turned the truck off an pulled over, I popped the hood, and check the oil level, and it was about 1/4 of a quart low, but nowhere near low enough to cause issue. I looked around very carefully, and noticed an oil drip near the oil pressure sending unit. I restarted the truck, and it dripped a little bit quicker, but nothing insanely crazy and it wasn't making any of the typical SBC without oil noises, I gave it some thought, and decided to roll on it until I could get a new sender. about an hour or two later I was able to get a new sender at the parts store, and decided I would change it after camping for the night so I didn't burn myself on the exhaust. little did I know, the fitting is metric, and my metric wrenched somehow didn't make it into the truck with us... DOH! of course an adjustable doesn't fit, and the sender is not wanting to come free at all for some reason. after an hour or two of laying under the truck on gravel, I decided to just deal with it when I had all the right tools to fix it if my attempts broke it worse.

on the road north that's all smoke, no rain...
















Campsite:

[ericjon262]

our campsite was somewhere north of Cooper Landing, and south of Anchorage, there was really only one way to go from there, and that was to continue north. we blasted through anchorage, and headed towards Palmer. anytime I plan a trip like this, I like to use paper road maps instead of google maps, they tend to show you things you wouldn't otherwise see, like Willow-Fishhook rd through hatcher pass.




























Eventually, we found ourselves back on pavement near Willow, AK.



we continued north, and could see Mount Denali in the distance.

[ericjon262]

continuing, still north, we headed towards Fairbanks.

both of us (Dad and I) were getting hungry and looking for a good spot to pull over and make lunch, while crossing over a river, I could see cars, trucks, and RV's on the bank and though it would be as good a place as any, so we pulled in.

Fire Department is well funded...





Continuing north, drove through fairbanks(yawn...) and kept going north, we had out sights set on a grand adventure!















finally, crossing the Yukon River.



but we weren't done yet! onward Pig!







and then we made our goal!









we took some times to stretch our legs before climbing back into the truck, there were several people there, bunches of guys on dual sport motorcycles, one of whom claimed it was his first trip on a bike and would have about 9000 miles in the seat at the conclusion! that's commitment!

There was also a very nice lady from Alaska Department of Natural Resources there, she gave us some "certificates" to prove we made it, it was pretty cool! If I end up back in Alaska I'll do it again for sure!

[ericjon262]

We left the Arctic Circle and headed back south towards Fairbanks, and ended up camping southeast of Fairbanks.





we got up early, and continued east. and saw our first bull moose



and then a Cow with a calf.



we kept on, and took in the scenery.



we found a cool truss bridge, with a gravel bank alongside.









after a while, we ended up in Chicken, AK, a tiny little spot in the middle of nowhere! not much here, here's the rig in front of the "post office"!



next we continued onto the "Top of the World hwy"









we ended up camping along the hwy in a spot that looked like an old mining camp.

[ericjon262]

we left there and continued on the top of the world hwy towards Canada.



The Hwy was mostly dirt, and we saw this off the woods, it was hard to see exactly what it was, some kind of old wagon.





crossing into Canada, and there was still a bit of snow left up there even in early July!



around the corner, we found a herd of caribou.







the Pig also got a chance to hit some snow! Lol...



we came across a gravel pit, and had to do a little "hill climb". I didn't want to go to crazy, because I was hundreds of miles from anything, and didn't have many spare parts if I broke something. didn't want to be totally screwed.







then we continued on.








we crossed the Yukon River into Dawson City another ferry.











Canadian beer... just say's "Pilsner" no brand, nothing, just " Pilsner". it wasn't bad, I've had way worse.

[ericjon262]

leaving Dawson city, I spotted this cool old bread truck, I wish it was closer to home so I could try and pick it up...



then, heading south, we came up on a gnarly forest fire.







they were fighting it with helicopters, it was pretty cool to watch.



we ended up comping a south of Pelly Crossing



next morning, we headed towards Watson Lake, YT.





We came across these old log cabins, pretty cool sight.







we stopped for fuel, and the pump was super old school, with reels!

[ericjon262]

we rolled into Watson Lake, home of the world famous "Signpost Forest" I new about the place before the trip, but completely forgot to add it to a list of destinations.


























The closest I could find to home was a Santa Rosa County License plate



Of course, because I forgot to put it on the list of destinations, I didn't have anything to make a sign with... I looked for a while for something, anything to make a sign with, I came up with 2 things to make a sign. I looked at the side of the truck and saw the "Silverado" badge, I then remembered the driver's side badge had been damaged in the wreck, so I got my hatchet, and scrapped the damaged emblem off, and then cut the side out of an old water jug, add a paint pen, and wala! sign for the forest! I used a screw from the dash to hold it onto a post.

[ericjon262]

well, today made for quite a bit of progress on the Pig Rig.

I fixed both battery trays, the passenger side tray had a mounting ear break off, so I welded it back on and it's now much tighter. the driver's side is another story, and had I known the problem existed before I left to go to Alaska, I wouldn't have had to do anything to it. what I didn't know before, is that it was only held in by two of the four bolts the factory used. which cause the metal to tear at the bolt holes in the fender and let the battery flop around in the engine bay, thankfully, I noticed the change in noise and was able to strap it down with a ratchet strap to prevent further problems. my fix was kinda ghetto, but it should be fine, I through bolted the top two bolts with large fender washers and high strength bolts, then I drilled the holes required in the inner fender and put bolts in to hold the lower portions, it's strong enough now to shake the entire truck by the mount!

I also fixed the leaky oil pressure sending unit, all that's left to investigate is a small trans fluid leak, I think it's coming from the fittings on the transmission.

in other news I fixed the back window, which decided it only wanted to go down and not up, unfortunately, I did a ton of work to fix things that weren't actually the problem...

I never gave this wire much thought



today, I pulled it out and found one of my favorite things to find on an old truck, a wire with a ball of tape on the end...



Remove the tape to find the plug for the switch that prevents the window motor from operating with the door open... and previous owner hackery...







If I had a line on a new switch, I'd put it in, but I don't, and I plan to replace this body anyways, so I used a butt connector to bypass the non existant switch permanently,

then I moved on to replacing the window tracks that allow the regulator to move the window, one of mine had been bent, so I ordered a pair from LMC truck, they're about $20 each not including shipping.

see a problem here???





For parts that could easily be measured with the simplest of hand tools, they somehow made not one, but both of them over 1/8" off! I'm pretty irritated I'm not going to use them, but I am contacting them about it. I ended up taking a hammer to the bent slide, and then welding in a new nut so that it would work.

I also decided that I wanted curtains for a bit of added privacy on camping trips, so I found some fabric. and am going to fire up the sewing machine!

[1976gmc20]

I need to get an 84" computer screen!

[ericjon262]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

I need to get an 84" computer screen!

this is the only site I post on that doesn't auto resize pictures, otherwise I'd post them more reasonably. I just zoom out for here.