1200 feet uphill - 3000 feet above - 7200 feet total elevation

terryjm1

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Jan 23, 2011
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I took my first somewhat challenging off road adventure in this D1. No longer overheating it did great. There is a fireworks show that is held in the city below and we were told this is a great place to watch. Next year we will. That is White Sands National Park in the far background.A31D0D32-D73B-437C-AE92-354BF0AB7BB0.jpeg769016F8-7425-4C24-9CA3-7106D8620098.jpeg
 

Tugela

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May 21, 2007
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Seattle
That sounds like a good workout for ye olde D1. I've driven the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route enough to gain an appreciation for its topography. Over 600 miles from Oregon to Canada the route ascends more than 72,000 vertical feet, with individual climbs exceeding 5,000 feet. If you want to learn the hard way how robust your cooling system is, that's a great place to find out. Thankfully it proved my preventative maintenance effective.

Those views look great. Was this your 300TDI? I have fond memories of staying in Las Cruces and visiting White Sands. I wish I could have spent more time there.

IMG_20210410_073128_982.jpg
 

terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,492
377
That sounds like a good workout for ye olde D1. I've driven the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route enough to gain an appreciation for its topography. Over 600 miles from Oregon to Canada the route ascends more than 72,000 vertical feet, with individual climbs exceeding 5,000 feet. If you want to learn the hard way how robust your cooling system is, that's a great place to find out. Thankfully it proved my preventative maintenance effective.

Those views look great. Was this your 300TDI? I have fond memories of staying in Las Cruces and visiting White Sands. I wish I could have spent more time there.
I hope to someday make trips like you have. This adventure was not in the 300tdi, although i will repeat it with that one. The 300tdi has seen a lot of the forest but not the desert so far. One thing that drew me to this area is there is a lot of desert, forest, and elevation variation in a relatively small area. There are very many challenging forestry service roads.

This was in the 96 4.0 / R380 which I have been resurrecting for some time now. I believe, mechanically, it’s all well sorted out now. It has a 3 inch lift and I needed all of it. It was warm outside today, around 90. The engine temp was mostly in the 180s on the way up (overactive fan clutch) but got up to 192 coasting on the way down until I clued in it was better to let the engine do the braking. Then it dropped below 180. This was its first real test which it passed quite well.
 
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Tugela

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May 21, 2007
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564
Seattle
Good stuff. Those coolant temperatures make for peace of mind. If anything, 180 might be a shade on the cool side, but it's a fine line and everyone has their own comfort zone with temps. Guys I drive with don't blink at their D2s running at 215.

Way to get out there. What's the vantage point of those photos? Looking west over Alamogordo?
 

terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
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Good stuff. Those coolant temperatures make for peace of mind. If anything, 180 might be a shade on the cool side, but it's a fine line and everyone has their own comfort zone with temps. Guys I drive with don't blink at their D2s running at 215.

Way to get out there. What's the vantage point of those photos? Looking west over Alamogordo?
Yes, west over Alamogordo. It is the spot that we were told has a great view for the fireworks show the space history museum does. For a relatively small town, 40,000 ish, it is a very impressive fireworks show. We have for years watched from down low in Alamogordo. It will be really cool to watch from there. I wish I had checked it out before the 4th this year but now I know for next year.
 

DiscoHasBeen

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Aug 7, 2016
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Indy
That's pretty cool Terry. Like those skinnies on that truck. It's kind of a small(ish) world. My brother lives in Albuquerque and as an electrician spent most of the time working at the missal range.
 
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terryjm1

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Jan 23, 2011
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That's pretty cool Terry. Like those skinnies on that truck. It's kind of a small(ish) world. My brother lives in Albuquerque and as an electrician spent most of the time working at the missal range.
There are a whole lot of either retired or active duty Air Force families that live around us. There are also a number of private contractors that work for the missile range as well as the Air Force base. They make great neighbors. The guy that did all the stone work on our cabin does it as a side job. He works on the test skids / tracks at the missle range as his full time job. If he can build things that require the precision of a missile I figured he was more than capable of working with stone. Contractors / skilled tradespeople, regardless of the type, are very hit or miss here. It’s really nice when you find someone that really knows what they are doing and are affordable. It was a great idea to make friends with the staff at 84 lumber. They referred me to two really great people, the stone guy being one of them.
 

DiscoHasBeen

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Aug 7, 2016
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Indy
He came home to hunt with me for a while right around Y2K. A couple of things he told me that concerned White Sands. LED, he was like everything will be LED. Headlights, flashlights, light bulbs, everything. Nailed that. Star Wars, the Regan edition. He is a stanch Democrat, but the topic came up and I stated that it never panned out. He called BS. He said they have it, it works, it's only a matter of size. Meaning of course to achieve the desired results the hardware needed was not practical in a war zone setting.
 
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terryjm1

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Jan 23, 2011
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As a side note, that run was made possible by this forum. That D1 was purchased from a forum member in Indiana (haven’t seen him here since). The engine and radiator came from StangGT5 in Georgia and the Safari Gard bumpers (front and rear) as well as the front driveshaft came from Discostew in Illinois. It all resides in New Mexico now.
 

StangGT5

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Feb 4, 2019
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Atlanta, GA
As a side note, that run was made possible by this forum. That D1 was purchased from a forum member in Indiana (haven’t seen him here since). The engine and radiator came from StangGT5 in Georgia and the Safari Gard bumpers (front and rear) as well as the front driveshaft came from Discostew in Illinois. It all resides in New Mexico now.
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