Kuz I said so » quading

Fallen Timber

Mike — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:56:32 +0000

Went out to Fallen Timber last weekend. I like going on non-long weekends. There are too many shit heads that head out on the longs and trash the place. Stupid punk ass kids (and not so kids) that tear up the camp sites, chop down live trees, break glass, and don’t clean up after themselves. They are wrecking it for everyone. Pisses me off.

I heard that Indian Graves is now no 4x4s, no random camping, and they are shutting down the unmarked trails. Which just pushes the idiots to another spot. ugh. No respect for nature.

We leave the site better than we found it. It’s not that hard to do.

We had a good time at Fallen. First time I was there and there were some challenging trails. The worst part was they hadn’t been cleared yet. We spent a lot of time trying to get thru one trail with a small bow saw and a lot of cutting… then cruise around the next corner, and stop to cut a bunch more… crappy thing was, there were 2 chain saws back at camp that we could have easily brought if we had known it was that blocked… we eventually turned around and headed back the way we came.

Had my share of trouble with the quad this trip. Recall that last trip I blew out the front sprocket. The last problem was easy… I pulled a bonehead move and over inflated the tires back home so we just let some air out after our riding buddies noticed how bouncy the wifes quad was riding. A lot easier to get over the rocks and trees!

The first and almost catastrophic problem was I almost ripped off my handlebars! You can see light shooting thru were the top plate is welded to the steering column. (I’ve removed the handle bars in that shot) I got stuck in the mud and started leaning side to side to free the quad. When I went left, the bars bent right down to the plastic! I bent them back up (way too easily), and limped the quad back to camp.

I say almost catastrophic because I fixed it… I needed to weld the top plate back on the steering shaft…. so I thought I was done for the weekend. Lucky for me, a neighbour was coming up the next day for a day ride. (It was a quick friday night ride that I broke the steering.) I have a canadian tire welder that works off of a standard 120v 15 amp circuit. My camping buddy has a generator. My neighbour brought out the gear on saturday mornin.

So here I am, in the middle of nowhere, welding up a broken quad. using my welder, running off one neighbours generator, brought out by another neighbour. I got the best neighbours. And thanks (again) to Dad for buying me the welder. It’s come in so handy so many times.

Unfortunately my photographer was busy getting the gear ready for quading so I don’t have any shots of us at work on the quad. But I’m not a great welder, so it’s prolly a good thing there are no shots of it

new sprockets

Mike — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:16:57 +0000

I finally got around to fixing my quad.

On May long I was climbing a hill and heard a clang and a bang from where the chain is… and I couldn’t go no more… I thought I had a rock stuck in the chain so I backed it up and all was working again.

One of the guys I was riding with said, “I know that sound… You toasted your front sprocket” Not being one to argue, I limped it back home in 4 wheel drive.

It actually ran pretty good, so I ended up taking it out again the next day with a few bangs and clangs as the chain jumped on the broken teeth but it got me out an back on a lame trail ride.

I thought I just snapped one or two teeth… Here’s a pic of the old one and the new replacement

Can you tell which is which

I also replaced the rear sprocket because it was gouged out a bit, and I also replaced the chain.

You can see the valleys on the rear sprocket are elongated. It’s not as noticeable as the fronts damage, but it needed replacing just the same.

Sept Long

Mike — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 15:32:14 +0000

Once again we loaded up the truck and (moved to Beverly….) went quading. This time we landed in Dutch Creek. I love the camping out there. It’s just awesome. The quading is a bit rocky and dusty though. Weather was perfect… still… some rain to keep the dust down would have been welcome.

It was so hot, I ended up going for a swim in the Oldman river… there’s a good swimmin hole right by the camp site. The water was a lot warmer than the may long weekend, but still cold enough to steal the breath out of you.

We got stopped 3 times (!!) by the fish cops. Never seen so many in one weekend. After they check you licence and insurance, they affix an orange ride legal tag to your bike. It’s so you don’t have to dig out the insurance/licence info every time. It came in very handy this trip.

And the hilight of the trip was Wife trying to make her quad fly… Thru some miracle she managed to not break anything… but she’s banged up pretty good. Lets just say that when two roads diverge in a yellow wood, it’s best to choose the road without the 5 foot drop onto the rocky riverbed.

She is a trooper…

Finally, a spare moment…

Mike — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 23:27:27 +0000

It’s been a pretty crazy week.

Work has me busy as hell. I put in an 11 hour day yesterday, and I’m just done now… (and done the work too) Good thing a neighbour is having a TGIF party… I will be the entertainment tonight. glug, glug, glug… either that, or I’ll pass out halfway thru the first beer.

Last week was camping. Wife and I went up to Burnt Timber and had a quiet 5 days of camping. We were right by the creek. (No, not the Red Deer River, but a creek that feeds it) It was an awesome site. Bit of a nail biter getting the trailer into it. The ‘roads’ are more like quad trails at the end… pretty steep and uneven in some spots. Clipped a few trees as well.
Quading was good. Actually got bored by the last day… felt like we really quadded out the area. Wife dumped her quad going down a really steep cut line. SHe’s ok (and so is the quad :p). Trooper she is, she kept riding and still wants more.

Trailer held up quite well… still leaks though, but I bought some trailer roofing compound that I’m going to try (400% expandable it says) … one more season…
Broke another tooth… I’m a grinder… my teeth just shatter every once in a while. Since Wife just got a new job/insurance plan, the pre-auth is going to take a bit of time. It didn’t hurt much before, but now it’s starting to bug me a bit… should be a right bear in a couple of weeks when they tell me they are not going to cover it

I’m totally stoked! I’m going in for an ultrasound on tuesday. Gonna try and get a few pictures. I’m guessing it’s the same maching they use for fetal imaging, so I’m hoping I can get a few shots. “This is my spleen… and see here? it’s a gall bladder!” lol Damn I hope the tech will take some pics for me… I better bring bribe cash just in case…

Not much planned for the weekend… work on the trailer a bit, some quad maintenance, and perhaps a bit on the deck skirting too…

I know, I know….

Mike — Tue, 16 May 2006 03:30:27 +0000

So busy.

May long will see us up at dutch with the camprailer. What with the working, shopping, and now the sickness… I’m suprised. But…. the beast is complete. pics to follow tomorrow I hope.
We did have time to go out a few weekends ago. I got stuck.

Another busy weekend

Mike — Mon, 08 May 2006 15:20:04 +0000

May long is so close I can almost touch it. I think I might even have the trailer ready!
The camper and trailer are now permanently welded together. Well, permanent in as much as a grinder could cut thru the welds… but they are one right now. I’m trying to think of a name for it… Camprailer? Traimper? Mable? Delorise? dunno.

Anyhoo, neighbours are cool. Mine have been so much help. I really can’t believe I would ever be ready without them. Mind you, I really wouldn’t be going if it wasn’t for them so there you go

Saturday I spent the first part of the day getting some of the plumbing ready, and attaching the tiedowns for the quads. I was planning on using the winches to hold the quads down in front, but now I’m not so sure… Almost lost one on the trip out yesterday…. winch let go, and only thing holding it on the trailer was it’s brakes (which I set at the last minute… Yikes! ) I will use ratchet straps from now on to hold down the front of the quads. Lesson learned.

Where was I… oh yes, working on the Camprailer… tiedowns… yeah, I now have tiedown rings on the deck to well tiedown to. I preped up the welding by scraping off paint from the trailer so the front bumper and outriggers have a clean place to be welded to.

In the afternoon, Moved the trailer over to Dan’s and started welding up the front bumper… Glen offered his welding services: He has a mig and it’s a much cleaner weld. But he was not around that day, and I’m, well, in a hurry. Dan and I got the verticals lined up and the big horizontal bar stick welded on. Nothing really to clamp to… so there was a bit of holding, tacking, hamering … but it ended up perfect!

Glen showed up and offered to finish er up with the mig. (I was persuaded to move the rig for the cleaner welds) So I drove it over to Glen’s and we started welding it up while Dan was on the deck drinking well earned rums in the sun.

Terry the plumber showed up and started working on the plumbing. I was having some issues rerunning the shower and grey water bypass. He made short work of it. I’m constantly amazed by how good professionals are. Not amazed that they are good, just how good. What takes me multiple measures and cuts and then it’s still not right… Terry looks, cuts and glues and it’s 100%. Awesome. But we’re short a few valves so hopefully it will get buttoned up mid week.

I got Glen to back the trailer out of his driveway (still a little backup shy) and then he offered to take it back to my pad, so I said sure…

Ever seen shows were people jump on moving cars, trains, trailers, etc ? Ya me too. As the trailer was going by, I just about killed myself trying to jump on it… Don’t try this at home. (I did make it on the second time though )

After the work was done, the rums/beers were flowing… I was hoping to get a good night sleep as I was still a little sore from fridays binge drinking, and had a long day of work. We were planning a trip on sunday and I wanted to be in some kind of shape for it.

Now sunday moring I remember getting to bed at 3am the night before. Glen said we left at midnight… dunno what happend but I lost 3 hours in there some how… I did have a snak, and watch a bit of tv, then had a shower (hate waking up smelling like smoke) must have dozed off for a while at some point…

Regardless, I was hurting the next day when we woke up at 7:30 to get ready for a day trip. I can’t drink 2 days in a row anymore. I have to learn a bit of moderation… been getting too drunk too much lately… liver hurts.

Well, this is turning into another marathon post, so I’ll just wrap it up with quading was great: Muskeg, mud, and steep as hell hill at the end.

And another thing…

Mike — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 03:37:29 +0000

…about the quad trip to McLean Creek on Saturday. Wife got to ride her own quad for the first time, and I broke my glasses. Notice the lack of left arm.

On a quad related note, I did manage to finish wiring up Wife’s winch. Added a final coat of paint, and it’s good to go! It’s so shiney with new paint goodness, that the features of the mounting plate are all but indiscernible. But, you can see the silver fairlead roller in the front, with the cable sticking out.

Weekend Long Gone

Mike — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 14:32:06 +0000

Another great weekend. I’ve been really lucky lately and had a string of really good weekends.

Let’s see… Friday, I puttered in the garage and worked on the mounting plate for Rhonda’s quad. Cut some metal, drilled some holes, did a test fitting. I then mangled the stupid control paddle that came with the winch. I pulled it apart and put the gooey bits into the hood of the quad. Basically, I mounted the buttons on the quad in an accessible location. Standard promise: I’ll post a pic when it’s done.

Saturday, we took the first quad trip of the year. McLean creek. It was excellent! A lot of puddles had ice bottoms still, and the muskeg was frozen, but we still found a good deal of mud. Nice and easy first run out. Wife did awesome!! I’m so happy about that, and she had a blast.

At the end of the day, we started to load up and Dan couldn’t find the keys to the lock on the trailer (the lock held the ramps in place, and without the ramps, it’s tough to load up ) turns out it’s really easy to snap a lock. I’m really surprised at how easy it was. Also turns out that the keys were not lost on the trail, but lost in the inner depths of the lining from a hole in a pocket. Whew! Minus 1 lock, but still, a good day.

Sunday… Quad check day. Start of the season, it’s always best to spend a bit of time going over kit to check for worn out bits, and etc. So, a good deal of twisting bolts off and on again in order to check things out. I needed new brakes all around, and inner tie rod ends. Wife’s need 1 outer tie rod end. Not bad really. Parts in this week and also going to change out the diff fluid and perhaps tranny fluid… see how ambitious I get. Oh, gotts to bleed the brakes too.

Monday I was going to take off work, but didn’t get the parts I needed for the camper, so I ended up going in and fixing bugs (woo hoo). I did get a ton done after work though… finished the oil change on the pressure washer (motor and pump). It was leaking oil when I was using it last sunday. ( We got home too late saturday to wash the quads, so I cleaned up on sunday) …so I started taking it apart to check things out. All the bolts were tight, so I just changed the oil. The leak could have been from the oil drain plug… we’ll see…

Also finished the mounting plate for Wife’s winch; Welded on the roller fairlead mounting plates, mounted the winch on the mounting plate, and put it all on the quad. Got a coat of paint on it too. Busy monday, that’s for sure. (Wife must have been really happy that I was working on her quad, she switched out my laundry!) I still have to wire the winch up yet, but then Wife’s quad is ready for action.

Now if I can just get all the gear I need for the camper!

But before I begin

Mike — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 04:05:54 +0000

Looking for pictures of my renos and such I came across this pic again. I took this at Dutch Creek up at Crowsnest Pass area. Love it. We’re at a fire lookout on the top of a mountain. You can see the groups quads in the center of the picture.

Scary as hell getting up there, but the view is worth it.

I love quading… and so does my wife