Colorado Land Cruisers is a four-wheel drive club based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and sanctioned by Toyota Land Cruisers Association. We are organized to bring together Toyota owning families and individuals interested in exploring Colorado four-wheel drive trails.
Well, summers almost
over but there are still several fun trail runs coming up. The next two are Wheeler Lake on the 14th
and Holy Cross on the 28th/29th. Both are fun scenic trails. We had a good turnout for our Reynolds wrap
clean up run and Jeff VanWyk brought some excellent burgers and brats for the
cookout! Thanks again Jeff!
If you weren’t at the
last meeting, you may not know that Mike (our secretary) and Jill moved to
Montana earlier this month. This meant
that CLC needed a new secretary - and Kendall volunteered to fill in for the remainder of Mike’s
term. Way to go Kendall! We also need
to get a Committee together to head up the swap meet. We need to get our stuff into TLCA soon to meet their
deadlines.
“Remember we’re all in this together, I’m pullin’ for ya!”
Andy “Minisrule” Johnson
President - CLC
Reynold's Wrap - Trail clean up July 24, 2004
The annual trail cleanup this year started out wet. It was raining pretty good when we were at the meeting spot. It had been raining quite a bit over the last few weeks and I was curious how much erosion had taken place. We had six vehicles on the trail, Mike in his cruiser, Mike's friend Matt in a big Chevy truck, Mike's friend in a Land Rover Discovery, in a Toyota pickup, Jeff in his cruiser, and myself. We left the meeting spot in the rain and traveled up Old Stage Road to the shortcut trail where we aired down. The rain had mostly stopped at this point. All of the rain made the mountains really green and clean looking.
After the shortcut we continued on to Reynold's Wrap trail. We got on the trail and headed up the eroded hill. I was surprised that the water bar that we cut into the trail was still there doing its job. There did not appear to be much new erosion on that hill. The Toyota truck with us had open diffs and was able to make it up the hill with a little spotting. The Rover's traction control worked pretty good and he got some good air a couple of times under the front tire.
We all headed up to the next hill with the off camber rock. We all made it through. The Rover's traction control got kind of confused when three of the tires would spin the fourth would not hook up. We finally got him on the right line and made it through. There was a little extra erosion around the off camber rock, but not severe.
There was more extensive erosion just before the Y at the rock garden. We headed up the rock garden. The Toyota truck and the Rover wisely took the bypass. Quite a bit of erosion had occurred at the last rock at the top of the rock garden. The climb was taller. The rest of us made it through with little difficulty. Jeff did a good job of piloting his Cruiser with 31's and open diffs through the rock garden with no assistance.
After the rock garden we waited untill another group came through. We were going to go back down the rock garden, but a Jeep with open diffs and 31's broke a rear axle. They did not have a spare, so we decided to take the bypass down and meet Andy and John at Frosty Park for the cookout.
We took the cut across over to 370C and back to Old Stage. The little pond at the intersection of Old Stage and 370C was completely flooded, so we had a foot or so of water to cross. We headed over to Frosty Park where Andy had a nice campfire going. Jeff supplied Brats and Burgers. Andy cooked over the fire and we enjoyed a nice time in the woods.
Since this was the annual trail clean up, we picked up trash as we found it, but there was little to be found. I only found a couple of cans. It is nice to see that this trail is staying in good condition. Remember - Pack it in & Pack it out.
Kendall
Using a 32-year-old FJ40 as a daily driver places demands on time as to what needs to be taken care of and what would be nice to do. Always do the lubrication, especially on the drive train and the steering. Make ‘em last a lot longer! There are times though, when an item needing attention, just jumps out and grabs you by the wallet! Such was the case last month when I took the newsletter over to get copies made. When we came back out, Linda noticed that there seemed to be a large puddle of water coming out from under her side of the FJ. I looked, and had what turned out to be a wishful thought that it was probably the previous vehicle. When we got home, the condition was obvious. I had a radiator that had decided to turn into a lawn sprinkler. It was so bad that I was worried that the water cops might turn me in for watering on the wrong day! This wasn’t a condition that I would even think about fixing. So I removed the radiator, and off to Potts I went. In Colorado Springs, there is but one radiator shop, and it’s Potts Radiator. When I drove up and opened the tail gate, old man Potts was in the drive, and on seeing the radiator, he asked if it was from a ’71 or’72 FJ40? You know you are in the right place when they know what you have. That was the good news. On examination, Potts told me that the best and least expensive way to fix it was to buy a brand new one. With the tubes having let go on the bottom header, fixing it would be very tedious and expensive. (Bummer, only lasted 32 years – whats this world coming too?) The 2nd piece of good news was that the new radiator was affordable and they would have it there in an hour! And it was! So now I have a nice, new shiny and very black radiator. I say shiny black, because if you know Potts, you know that he will never paint a radiator. He says black paint hides a lot – and “those other shops” use black paint to cover up stuff. I did notice one cool thing about the radiator and its black paint – when it gets hot, the paint gives my ’72 FJ40 a “new” smell! The new radiator has a 3 year warranty but I don’t hold any hope that it will last anywhere as long as the original. If you have a radiator problem you want fixed right, take it to Potts. You will like the experience.
See you on the trail.
Darryl
Next
Run – Wheeler Lake – Aug 14, 2004
Meet 7am; leave 7:30am from the Western station 3 miles east of Woodland Park. Wheeler is a good fun run, above Alma, west of Hoosier Pass. Bring lunch, a jacket and your camera! David is planning to lead.
NextNext Run Holy Cross
– August 28/29 2004
Meet 6am; leave 6:30am from the Western station 3 miles east of Woodland Park. I would guess some might leave Friday afternoon/evening. Make it known if you plan to go. Call Andy 338-3384 or Darryl 593-9829. Plan on camping out – last year we didn’t get home until 2am. Holy Cross is rated at a 4.
Next
CLC Meeting ~ Aug 17, 2004 7:00PM
Mark your calendar for CLC’s next meeting, Liberty Toyota, North. See you there!
FOR
SALE - FOR SALE - FOR SALE
For sale:
LC 3spd transfer case. Vacuum shift. (I believe it can work with your floor shifter parts.) $200
LC "South Africa" spec radiator: 3-row, staggered tubes, high fin count. Needs rodding out. $50
LC poly spring bushings (21) New in packages (I used 3 of them) $20
Original LC leaf springs (4). One center pin broken, but all leaves included. Good for spring-over??? $100
Sam Grivy
(719) 494-1226