Ozark$
I woke up a little before 5 am. When I got downstairs Mrs AAZCD already had a breakfast ready for me and lunchbox packed. I ate, threw a few things in the Prius, and fed the feral cats. A little after 5:30 I was on the road for what Google Maps said would take a little over two hours. There was occasional light rain and it was dark, but the first hour of the drive was familiar and in an hour and a half, I was on I-40 at sunrise. Not bad.
I forgot to grab my Bluetooth OBDII reader, which is great to have along in an old Prius with a few known issues. This one still needs to have the clockspring replaced and a new capaciter soldered in to the dash display. Most of the time the display is good, but on a long drive if I turn the car off, there's a good chance that I will lose the display of my gas gauge and speedometer. When I got off the interstate, I filled the tank up along with a 2 gallon gas can just in case.
It turned out there was no need to worry. I kept the car running the whole day, 5:30 am until about 7:00 pm and still had a half tank of gas when I got home.
The waypoints were scheduled to be released at 7:30 am. I expected that some groups would be rolling out of camp early to hit all the points, but when I got to camp just before 8 am things were pretty chill. The burnout party and drinking had lasted well into the night for some of the campers. I didn't plan to do the 'serious' Gambler thing. I was happy to spend the day friends and casually cruise through the back roads of the Ozarks, going to whatever checkpoints looked good.
I parked near some of my friend's cars and walked around camp. Almost immediately I was met by another Prius owner. We each had questions while we checked out each other's cars. His was a gen3 with some body damage and a lift. He has the Prius hobby and a scrapyard. We talked about battery renewal - he uses a regular 12 volt 2A charger without any trouble - and various other Priusisms. Before I got the camera out, his teammate came over and wanted to get on the road, so I don't have any pics. From there, I walked through checking out the Gambler rides and chatting with some acquaintances from past Gamblers.
With my rounds completed, I hung out with a group of friends from Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma who had most of the checkpoints plotted into their phones. Being solo in my car, I didn't plan to do much navigating, but follow along and enjoy the drive. I didn't note what time we rolled out, but it was unrushed. I was in the middle of a group of seven cars.
There was some rain at times and we were in and out of the clouds as we drove through the mountains.
The weather prevented some long scenic vistas in the mountains, but it was still beautiful to be in the mountains of Arkansas.
At one point, a car in our group started overheating so we stopped on the roadside. Not long after we stopped some curious horses came to visit.
Lunch stop and a rustic cafe. It was absolutely packed with groups of locals, overlanders and hunters.
The Prius was great. No issues and people thought it was cool, but not quite Porsche cool.
At one point I even got to use the winch to pull a partially buried (Cavalier?) door out of the dirt to be hauled back to our dumpster.
I need to put the next one of these on my calendar. Oklahoma. Arkansas. Texas. Anyplace that is a short drive from Dallas.
I also need to get my beat up XJ running. It looks about as bad as anything in this thread.
Along the road, Poncho (one of the Lonestar Gambler organizers) cooked up some wonderful sandwiches under the hood of his car 'The Edge of Disaster'
Later in the day, the Edge of Disaster went over the edge and couldn't climb back up. Luckily there was a Honda Del Sol available to pull him back up.
After recovering the Disaster I decided to start my trip back home. We were about as far north and west as we had been all day and if I continued with the group, my trip home would be longer, in the dark, and in deteriorating weather. The first 45 minutes of the drive were still through the mountains, then I was on more familiar roads. Just when I arrived back in my home town a little after sunset, the rain started pouring. Perfect timing and a good close to my one-day Gambler trip.
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
I need to put the next one of these on my calendar. Oklahoma. Arkansas. Texas. Anyplace that is a short drive from Dallas.
I also need to get my beat up XJ running. It looks about as bad as anything in this thread.
The next one up that I'm aware of will be the Texas Carnado. I think it's the second weekend in February every year. Beyond that, there's the Red River Rollout next June. If you are really ambitious and willing to do a longer drive, there's the Mexico Gambler in May. There's a few others around the extended area. Most of them are posted and organized on Facebook, but the Gambler 500 web page often has info too.
Next up for me is the Key Swap. We bring street legal cars with a title and trade them 'Dirty Santa' style. Drive home what you win. No complaining. I've committed to bring the Orient Red Boxster. I'll probably end up 'winning' whatever Junk car Billy brings again.
After that I'm planning to attend the Texas Carnado (in Oklahoma and Arkansas). Planning to take the Xbox this year.
Then I took my pile of Prius batteries from the one I stripped out of the green '05 and hooked all of the 7.45v or better ones to a 12v 5A charger. I was going to charge until they hit 7.9, checking every 20 minutes. It was slow. I forgot to disconnect and went to bed. In the morning, all are at 8.65v and looking good. I guess that's where they maxed out. Now after they rest for a while, I'll drain them to 6v-ish with a 12v fan. Planning for three cycles.
When it's done, I'll sort them and see if I can rebuild a couple batteries.
Bought a '19 F150 2.7L as an updated Tow Pig. I think I'll like it. No firm plans for the Touareg yet. It's been great, but I found myself wanting something newer and a little less ...21st century VW. As a '19 it's pretty much how I wanted: No huge screen, Physical buttons and knobs for most of the controls, Not very nanny-ish, Connected to the 'personal data-sharing AI mothership' by default, but opting out doesn't look too difficult.
https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos/sync/sync-4/how-do-i-turn-off-data-sharing-in-my-vehicle/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/how-figure-out-what-your-car-knows-about-you-and-opt-out-sharing-when-you-can
Edit:
It came with one key, so bought a pair of keys on Amazon for $50. Programming looks pretty easy and I have a good locksmith to cut the blades. I also got a roll-up bed cover while on Amazon. Mrs AAZCD says I need a toolbox for the bed too, so I'll shop for that locally. I didn't buy this for a pickup bed, but rather towing and 4 doors with a back seat. The 5.5' bed is about the same as the ACTY and should be good for my needs.
Color reference:
The Gambler activities look fun! I was bummed when I missed the Florida one this year, but a local buddy has been pushing to hit some of the other Gambler events in GA and NC etc.
Lof8 - Andy said:
The Gambler activities look fun! I was bummed when I missed the Florida one this year, but a local buddy has been pushing to hit some of the other Gambler events in GA and NC etc.
I have enjoyed every Gambler I've been to, but they can all be very different. For the last few when I have gone solo in my car, I have barely done any navigating. Mostly just joining a group of cars and cruising along with them. In the Missouri Gambler, I ended up in a group with total strangers. Hanging out with random people I just met adds a lot to the adventure. At the other end of the spectrum, there are people and teams that focus on 100% checkpoints and participation - Themed costumes, pictures at every checkpoint, and meeting every challenge. It is what you make it. I love maps and cross country navigation (orienteering). One of these days, I'll jump in someone else's car (randomly) and do one as a co-driver.
A little more about the new truck. TowPig recently had a check engine light ...again. It turned out to be a simple one and cleaning the MAF seems to have resolved it. Before that I had a DEF tank sensor failure, DPF clog, multiple iterations of EGR cooler problems, and headlights that needed a programming tool to get them aimed properly. With all that it is still a great tow vehicle and gets better mpg than any of my cars. I do not dislike it, but I want something newer that can take me across the USA without concern that it may need a week long stop at a dealership to diagnose and replace an aged-out sensor or failed vacuum hose. I decided that I wanted newer, but pre-COVID build with minimal nanny. Porsche/Audi/VW TDIs were either older than I wanted or priced higher than I consider the value. I think they were made through 2018, but I have not seen newer than '17 for sale.
I don't intend to cover the F150 much in this thread other than reporting in occasionally about towing. There's been some great discussions here in the last year or two about the eco boost engines and what to get for a tow vehicle. I didn't post much in them, but followed along with most of what was said. I liked the Chevy 2.7L discussion, but couldn't get past my general distaste for anything GM. A few days ago I asked some friends who tow what works best for them. It came down to RAM 2500 with a Cummins, Deleted RAM 1500 eco diesel, or F150 2.7L EB. Honestly if I had found the right RAM 2500 bargain before I bought the F150, I'd be happy enough not to worry about the mpg difference. With my friend's recommendations I came back to GRM to review some of the "What Tow Vehicle" threads. It turned out that preach had just posted: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/learn-me-pre-covid-aluminum-f-150s/274605/page1/ and Driven5 linked his thread that I had seen earlier: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/love-this-engine/237813/page1/ Both of which reinforced the goodness of the 2.7L eco boost.
Throw in this video for good measure and the choice was pretty easy: Ford F150 2.7L EcoBoost V6 Engine **Heavy Mechanic Review** | How GOOD Is It? (Surprising how different it is from the 3.5L)
Where do you shop online for a car? I ended up searching Autotrader,com and Cars,com. That gave me a feel for the market in my area, but my favorites were more distant than I wanted to shop. I ended up on Facebook Market and found this truck at a small dealer who handles late model trucks. I showed up ready to verify the condition and buy the truck. Probably the easiest sale that guy has had for a while. Note: Doc fee was $95, which I find acceptable. A larger dealership in the area was proud to say that they didn't have 'Sales People' with commissions. Instead they had 'Client Advisors' to guide you through the process and a $599 doc fee. 
...nope, not going there whatever they're selling.
docwyte
UltimaDork
11/14/24 9:42 a.m.
If you can delete the touareg TDI (so DEF, DPF and EGR) it becomes very reliable. They weren't sold here after 2016 model year, so that's the newest one you can find.
Congrats on the new truck!
North Texas Rallycross season Finale was today. I was up and on the road before sunrise for the 3+ hour drive. I finished the day at the top of the Modified RWD Class. ...I was the only one registered in class, but my times were actually decent.
The Frog was great through the day.
The only problem that developed was the resonator mufflers coming out of the exhaust clamps. It didn't make much difference - it sounded awesome with or without the resonators.
The I'm happy with the F150. The only negatives compared to TowPig were that it got just under 15 mpg towing vs TowPig's 20+ mpg and that the truck's overall length from front bumper to hitch is almost four feet longer, making it a little more difficult to maneuver in limited space.
The video from last Sunday.
I think I've posted it before, but This sums up Gambler:
Love all the updates thanks! Gambler is a great time, I need to get to one again soon. Love the Prius!
BBC
AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:
Then I took my pile of Prius batteries from the one I stripped out of the green '05 and hooked all of the 7.45v or better ones to a 12v 5A charger. I was going to charge until they hit 7.9, checking every 20 minutes. It was slow. I forgot to disconnect and went to bed. In the morning, all are at 8.65v and looking good. I guess that's where they maxed out. Now after they rest for a while, I'll drain them to 6v-ish with a 12v fan. Planning for three cycles.
When it's done, I'll sort them and see if I can rebuild a couple batteries.
How's the battery conditioning coming along?
Indy - Guy said:
How's the battery conditioning coming along?
It almost went well. The batteries looked like they charged to a good level and balanced. When I put it back in the car, two batteries alternatively reversed polarity. I pulled it again and cleaned the connections. It still had trouble.
At that point I didn't have desire or time to play with it anymore [wiring or electronic issue]. My son in law dropped it off with a guy in Tulsa that rebuilds them and I'll get it back after the holiday. I still have another battery left to repair that just has one bad cell.
I brought the truck to work today and installed a bed cover. I wanted a soft roll-up cover that would allow easy access to the whole bed. This one worked out great for $150.
Hopefully it holds up well to weather and UV. With it rolled up I still have easy access to my toolboxes. The boxes from Harbor Freight are a perfect fit three across raised about 8" above the bed. They are on a 2x4 platform for now. I may slag together a better one with steel in the future.
