Uncategorized – Page 4 – OKIEROVER.COM

May 9, 2018May 16, 2023

More Bears? (Post #578) 5/9/2018

Bears?

When did bears become a thing in the first place?

Actually I’ve known the bears were back for a few years. We were down in southeast Oklahoma around 10 years ago and all the trails had bear warnings.

These aren’t grizzly bears, they aren’t even brown bears, they are black bears. Think of them as smaller man-sized bears that, like there ferocious cousins, will kill you if you are stupid. Imagine the scene from The Revenent but the bear is smaller.

When in bear country, read that as Oklahoma and Arkansas, you should always take bear precautions. As always keep your food up high, make plenty of noise when hiking trails.

Apparently there are many misconceptions about bears. Some people think taking a selfie is a great idea. There was a recent news story about a bear enthusiast who was killed along with his girlfriend while trying to take a selfie with a grizzly bear. I call that natural selection at work. It’s just dumb.

“In the unlikely event a bear charges to attack, you should aggressively fight back against the bear, according to the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Do not attempt to “play dead” during a black bear attack, the agency says.“

Good to know. I’m pretty sure after fighting a bear for 5 to 15 minutes I might appear to be “playing dead” but trust me I’m laying down because I’m out of shape and need a rest. I may have also run out of bullets. Maybe I will give a class on defending yourself from a bear attack by fighting like a rabid ninja turtle.

That quote from above is from KFOR who posted a news story about the increasing population of bears in Oklahoma. The heat map is a good start but be aware if you are on a river bed you can encounter bears.

Mountain Lions and Big Cats

I for one am much more afraid of our mountain lion population in Oklahoma. They have been seen all over the state, even in semi populous areas like the South Canadian River south of Norman and north of Newcastle Oklahoma. I recently saw the carcass of a small mountain lion in the median of highway 62 a mile and a half north of the river. I emailed the Oklahoma Wildlife Department and it was gone the next day. The OWD has had a stance in the recent past the denied the existence of big cats in Oklahoma. It’s hard to deny when you hear one at night.

So if the ice storms, tornados, earthquakes, prairie fires, bears, and mountain lions don’t get you, feral hogs just might.

Don’t even get me started on Bigfoot!

To wrap up,

bear selfies are a “hard no”
take bear precautions when camping east of I35 and up near Black Mesa
while less likely to be encountered, mountain lions are out there and they will mangle you too
feral pigs have a mean streak a mile wide and there is no daily limit

I feel better that I have provided this very valuable public service announcement.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering

March 22, 2018May 16, 2023

Operational Pause (Post #577) 3/22/2018

I’m not dead.
I haven’t posted in a while mostly because I’ve been working on the new house. I haven’t planned any trips for this Spring either. This is also due to the house remodel but also the uncertainty surrounding my ignition module issues of late.

I’ve run the BWB and taken a few short trips in her. I replaced the alternator as a preventative measure. This is part of the thought that the alternator may be failing and cause an over voltage or spikes that cause damage to the ignition module.

As the remodel budget shrinks, summer will be upon us. And as you know, camping in 90-100°F heat is not terribly fun. Perhaps that is an excuse to travel to higher altitudes like New Mexico and Colorado.

Who knows?

Thanks for reading an happy Rovering.

October 24, 2017May 16, 2023

Headquarters Relocation (Post #576) 10/24/2017

I’ve been reminded by Facebook that I have not posted in a while.

Here’s the latest:
Okierover Headquarters is moving to Newcastle, Oklahoma at the end of the month. We found a house with an acre of land and managed to downsize a bit. It was my former high school English teacher’s house and a one owner built in 1973. Mrsokierover has promised I can build a shoppe so I’m pretty chuffed.

The Big White Bus is still in the shoppe. That’s fine because one I have no money right now due to moving expenses and closing costs. I also have no place to park her because the driveway is covered with PODS. AND, my tools and garage are in a terrible state with all the packing going on.

Mickey is still diagnosing the issue. At this point I still believe that the issue is heat related but that remains to be seen. I am still convinced it is ignition related. The shear number of components that could cause the issue will make for a rather complex decision tree. More on this after the move.

I want to remind you all to #Hibernot as winter approaches. If it stays wet in the middle states we might even have real winter. You remember winter it’s that season when it gets cold outside and frozen precipitation falls from the sky. Last winter may have spoiled a few of you. So prepare yourself to get outside.

Okierover bought an F150 Lariat Edition to haul the camper. It is ridiculously outfitted with features. Of course having air conditioning and a radio is quite an upgrade compared to the spartan Big White Bus as Mr. Fisher so aptly stated. We took the OkieF150 on the last overland trip to Southeastern Oklahoma. It was pretty nice to drive around with air conditioning and listening to satellite radio. A guy could get spoiled if he wasn’t careful.

That’s all for now.

As always, thank you for reading and Happy Rovering.

June 24, 2017May 16, 2023

Video Blog: Panhard Rod Bushings (Post #573) 6/24/2017

Professional driver, do not try this at home.

I discuss panhard rod bushing failure and deathwobble.

I demonstrate how knackered my panhard rod bushings were.

Removing the failed bushing requires you to use a “punch”, I used a socket which is slightly small in diameter than the bushing, to press the failed bushing out. It is similar to the process of pressing them in except when you press in new ones you used a socket that is larger in diameter than the bushing.

I demonstrate how to press in new bushings. Find the beveled side of the panhard rod and the bushings will go in easier than the side that is not beveled. I used a vise to get the bushing started. This helps with getting the bushing “square” in the hole before you apply the press to the bushing.

Getting the tool lined up correctly is 90% of the battle.

Victory is mine. The bushing is pressed in. You do this for both sides.

I had trouble with the width of the bushing sleeve and it require a bit of grinding to get it mounted. I used a bench mounted grinder. Just take off a little of the material and try to fit. If you need more, grind off a little more then refit. I went to the bench grinder four times to get both sides right before mounting with the bolts.

Thanks for watching and Happy Rovering.

July 4, 2016May 16, 2023

Celebrate Freedom and Independence (Post #561) 7/4/2016

My daughter RovErica captured this picture tonight. It’s kinda ironic, we are celebrating our independence from Great Britain today and I drive a British vehicle.

Happy Independence Day or as the British call it Happy Treason Day. Either way remember the sacrifices brave men have made to allow you to sleep under the warm blanket of freedom tonight. A lot of lives have been traded to give you that.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

May 14, 2016May 16, 2023

Leaks? I think I’ll pass (Post #558) 5/14/2016

We’ve all heard the jokes.

“If your Land Rover isn’t leaking you’ve run out of that fluid.”

I heard them all, I’ve even made up some of my own. But the jokes are all true. The only Land Rovers that don’t leak are still in the first 3 years of their life. Even then, I’m not entirely sure you won’t have a leak of some kind. The basic premise is, if you’ve cracked open a system, coolant, oil, transmission fluid, air condition, steering fluid, brake fluid, blinker fluid, it doesn’t matter, that system will forever leak from that day forward.

This year I decided, I’m not going to pour my hard earned money “through” my Land Rover any longer. You buy the fluid, you pour it whatever reservoir, and you see it on the ground in your parking spot at home, work, wherever you park. I decided I am stopping that now.

Earlier this year, I started with my power steering system. I got that sealed back up only to have the “O” rings fail and it leak out again. That’s fixed now.

I then decided that my oil leak needed to stop. I replaced my oil sump gasket and got that sorted. This will probably always “weep” but it’s not leaving a puddle and I’m good with that.

The last major leak is the coolant system. This is one you don’t ignore. You get an aluminum block too hot and you’re doing engine work. In this case I had my expansion tank finally give up. It had a slow leak in the seam. I sourced a new one and decided the coolant hoses were starting to resemble over-inflated balloon animals and needed to be replaced as well.

The filler tube nut was also past it’s life expectancy. I bought a brass one and another plastic one. The brass one was actually for my radiator but the plug there was soldered and would not be replaced. I used the brass one to clean the filler tube threads. That worked better than I expected.

I got the system filled and started looking for leaks. There were none in the things I touched. But I still had a leak from under the transmission. There are no coolant line back there I thought, “What the hell?”

I let the engine cool a bit while I solved all the world’s problems with Mr. Fisher. I then began what I hoped was not a leaking heater hose. The heater hoses that go across the top of the motor to the heater core are back there. That has to be where the leak is coming from.

You can see the offending hose there on the firewall. The hose clamp is the one. Turned out it was not tight at all. I was able to turn the hose with my hand.

Getting it tight required pulling it off and replacing the hose clamp and combining various combinations of socket sets to get the socket on the clamp screw. Eventually I got it tight.

I had to fill the system again so that process was followed again. Finally I got done and started the engine up to get her back to pressure and hot to look for leaks. I also moved the Big White Bus down the driveway to spot new leaks.

And ~~to my surprise~~ just as I expected there were no leaks. It was decided a maiden voyage to Hollywood Corners for lunch. On the way the coolant light decided it was going to notify me of a low coolant situation. I knew this wasn’t possible. Did I have an air bubble?

When I got the BWB back tot he hacienda I opened and saw the level in the tank was below the fill mark. I topped her off. I also decided to swap my cap for one I salvaged off one from the breaker’s yard.

So for the time being I’m leak free. And for the next 24 hours I’m going to be the only human on earth with a 23 year old Land Rover that doesn’t have any leaks. That feels good.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

Why 24 hours? Because I’ll drive her again tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll be planning how I’ll stop the new leak.