//If you don't feel like reading, or just can't, skip to the bottom there's cliff notes\\

This weekend was the MDR Night Race in Lucerne Valley CA so since I was going to specate anyway I figured it would be a good idea to take the Ranger out and put some miles on it. This was only the second time out since finishing the cage, and only the fourth time out since linking it.

The truck was running great, took it off the trailer Friday night and went for a drive with Adam. Truck was running great for the 10 miles or so we did... and there is where that ended. Got the truck back to camp on Friday night and noticed it idling at about 1500 rpm in gear and 2500 in park. It was late and we were tired so we left it.

Saturday morning we starting looking for the problem and figured out that the Idle Air Control valve was stuck open. It had a bunch of sand and crap in it (good bye K&N) so I cleaned that out and it was good to go again.

So by 8am Saturday it was Desert - 1 Ranger - 0

With the truck idling I had to take it out and see if it was fixed. So Phil hopped in the truck with me and we took off on the race course. We covered about another 10 miles and came back, truck was working great. When we got back to camp however I looked down at my passenger wheel and noticed something missing... my AVM hub was gone. Some how or another it got knocked off.

It's now 10am Saturday...Desert 2 - Ranger - 0


//AVM Repair\\

Fine, so the hub is gone. I can replace that and my cv is still broken so I don't have 4wd anyway. I grabbed a cap from a can of carb cleaner and duct taped it over the hub to keep dirt out of the bearings. With that fixed and the truck aired down we decided to head out to do a lap of the 50 mile race course. Right off the bat the truck had fuel pickup issues. We added 5 gallons to the cell, fired it back up and took off, the issue seemed to resolve its self.

We set off down the course making a pretty good pace for just being out to have fun. For those that know the area we averaged over 45mph from SF to the Rock Pile and hit a max speed of 65mph (stopped to check on the fuel issue, so I checked the GPS). With the fuel issue fixed we set off on the course. We made it to Mile Marker 18 at an average speed of 37mph (not fast, but not slow) when *** hit the fan. I came over a hill into a set of large rollers, hit two big ones, the suspension compressed, rebounded, compressed, rebounded, then there was no dampening.

My friend Brian waves me down and we get out to see what the problem was. Some how or another I ripped the bottom out of my front left coilover. The wiper seal and seal head were resting at the bottom of the shock and the oil had spilled all over the lower arm, and desert floor. The shaft was jammed into the side of the shock body. We had to press on to get the truck back to camp to asses the situation.

11:30am, Saturday, August 16th, Desert - 3 Ranger - 0


//Blown shock, see the shiny part at the bottom, that is supposed to be INSIDE the shock\\


//That stuff, the oil on the ground, is supposed to be inside the shock too\\

Now were in the middle of the desert and need to get back so we push on forward, slowish, but moving. We get to about MM 20 when the fuel issue comes back. The fuel pump start wining really loud and the truck cuts off from lack of fuel. We investigate and find nothing besides a hot fuel line and filter. We get it fired again and keep moving, continually fighting it trying to die from lack of fuel. We make about 25 miles of the course when we find an access road to get us back to camp. The truck stops and dies three more times when we finally give up and send someone back for a truck to tow it back.

1:00pm Saturday... trucks dead... [I]Desert - 4 Ranger - 0  


//Towed by a Chevy... gasp!\\


Sunday morning it fires up and drives onto the trailer. Son of a....

So I have a ton of work ahead of me...


//Loaded up heading home, at least the F-1 didn't let me down...\\



If you don't feel like reading all of that here's the cliff notes...

8am Saturday, stuck IAC...
10am Saturday, missing AVM hub...
11:30am Saturday, blown front left coilover...
1pm Saturday, trucks dead, fuel issue.

Now go back and read the story... lol  

All told, sounds like one messed up trip...or a Country song!  

that sucks jason, sounds like a bad fuel pump to me, but as for the rest of the stuff i have no clue.  

damn man sounds crazy.    (thanks for the invite by the way hahaha just kidden)

for your air setup check out "true flow"  its a high flow foam style filter like the ones on your quad.

what are you gonna do about the shock?? is sway away gonna cover it?