whew, that was a close one. the Arizona land use permit finally came. the lady is very nice to work with. but we had to talk to her personally. the first application they sent out had some flyers, but no permit application. that was screwy.
that doesn't fix my tcase seal woes. the seal at the slip yoke is puking oil. so i went to checkers, and the flunkys there order the seal, should take 2 days. 5 days later it 'comes in', and i go to get it and its the wrong one. i'm really hot now because it's one week until it's time to leave Colorado! not a big deal, since a friend owns a shop. i dropped the fronty off to get it fixed, because i can't take any chances on ordering the wrong part again. so i'll spend some $ instead of fixing it myself, but nothing is going to keep me from AZ IV BABY!

Oh yeah, that slip yoke eliminator kit is starting to look like a good idea. they aren't leak proof, my jeep pile is proof of that, but i'm sure it helps.

So we'll be driving all day saturday, and we'll likely fart around on the way. is anyone going to be home sunday? i should wander into phoenix on sunday some time. want to go out to a nice dinner with the wifey, if anyone has any recommendations.

Marshall, if you see this, i'll be sending ya email for directions. thanks for the offer of a place to stay. very cool of ya.

see ya all soon!

I think we're havin a little shin-dig at my place out in East Mesa (~25 miles east of Phoenix) on Sunday.. We're having a pre-run mod party both Saturday and Sunday, and wrenching as needed. We will definitely have the grill fired up for burgers/brats/whatever people want to throw on there.

I have enough parking for everyone's rigs (5-6 in the driveways and 10+ in the street), but only enough room for wrenching on 4-5 trucks at a time (those near the garage).

I'm sure many of us will be busy getting packed and whatnot, but if you feel like dropping by, you're more than welcome. PM me for more info.

Rondo, we've been trying to call you....PM a good phone number to myself or Stone....Stone's got ya covered on a spare bed. See ya this weekend.

Rondo - let me know what kind of food you're wanting for your "nice dinner" saturday and how much $$ you're wanting to spend. We'll point you in the right direction.

You'd better make it, cause I have to see your truck to let Gator know how it measures up to his

Wow leaving Sat. and going to dinner here that night! It's twelve hours of driving isn't it?

Colorado springs to Phx in 12 hours? That's pretty optimistic. That's about 800 miles.

It's twelve hours of driving, you stop, gotta add to that.

I just re-read, he said dinner on Sunday.......

I'll give him some ideas, and directions when he gets in. Heck the Silver Spur at the Duke behind my house has a pretty good steak.

It's always taken me at least 16 hours from Denver to here....very little stopping (gas, poop, etc.) The springs is about 90 minutes closer than Denver....

It can be done tho....

Well by bro in law does it twice a year, always takes him 12 hours. Almost on the button. He goes through Winslow and Payson down 87.

He weighs less than you do though...

good replies. leaving sat, plan to arrive phoenix sunday. i'm in no hurry. the trip planner says 12 hr drive. who knows. we'll likely fart around somewhere and take our time.
Stone:
my phone is719-578-2335. or email me at rondoin_98@hotmail.com. thanks for the offer of a place to stay.

for dinner i was thinking of a steak restaurant but if you guys are having a big party and BBQ, i'm all about that.

HOWEVER, more wrenches in my plans. i changed my oil and filter, and like an idiot i didn't realize the old seal stuck to the block. i put the new filter on and added oil, then drove to my buddies shop, about 30 mph and 10 miles(to get the tcase seal fixed). meanwhile it was splooging oil out!
even though my oil light only flickered, the mechanics said oil wasn't showing on the dipstick. i'll know tomorrow if my engine ate itself all up.
this is killing me!!!! Now i'm also wondering how safe it is to do that long drive to Phoenix. my engine is strong with only 45K on it. one of my friends said its likely fine.
opine anyone??

I might not register on the dipstick and still have about a quart and a half in it. Should be fine. Drain what oil is left to make sure it's not like scorched or anything. The oil pump pickup is deep in the pan.

andy,
thanks. let's hope nothing is permanently damaged. sometimes it seems 'someone' doesn't want me to go out of town!

Find that "someone" and kick their ass!

the oil light has nothing to do with low oil.. it's about low oil pressure... and until it comes on you're basically fine... if the engine wasn't making screwed up sounds, or suddenly stopped, or anything strange, then odds are it's ok. I dumped all the oil in a 4.3 (in my van) when the oil change monkey put the wrong filter on. drove it 15 miles with 0 oil. Oil pressure light never came on, finally noticed because smoke was pouring out from under the hood when I stopped. engine was fine, ran another 50k miles until it got sold, and it's still running now (it's my uncle's daily)

I think you'll be fine. It's a Nissan. I haven't heard of very many (if any at all) engines going out before around 200k. And think about what some people use them for (in other countries, such as mexico)... I'll be most people haven't changed their oil in FOREVER! I remember when I had my Frontier, I NEVER changed the oil. It still ran at about 8k miles until a big ass chevy hit it... haha

okay, nissan engine is fine. just a bit oily underneath. and smelly. oh well, too bad this is a 'show' truck. haha
with all the nissans i've ever had, only 1 has ever ever leaked, anywhere. and that was my old 720 because my girlfriend cleaned and vacuumed it out, left the shift lever in 4low, and drove it around town. she thought she broke my truck and had no idea it was in 4wd!
anyway, minus the little snippet, i will be out to Arizona! Whoopeee!!