32 days in the bush with our Argo's

[Rock Doctor]

Well, we had a great trip
Lots of hard work, but also lots of good fun with the kids. Not once did I hear any of them say they wanted to go home and watch TV. All kinds of adventures from getting all the kids up on water ski's, to Bee Stings, to Argo driving lessons. The trail (10 Miles from truck to cabins), was wet. We had mostly great weather, but there were a few crazy storms too (Kids up scared and the dog hiding under one of the beds,lol)
I have some stories to tell, some pics and vids to post.

One of the first trials was that we brought enough groceries to feed an army, and one of my propane fridges died........ OK kids, start eating
Didn't want to do it, but ended up having to run the generator in order to run the backup electric fridge.

Here is a first look at the Trail (The vids are not necesserally in order, ad lots of footage from different cameras, and some got mixed up)

RD

[Rock Doctor]

This was on one of the trips when I went out and picked up mom. She came in for the weekends to visit and bake Cinnamon Buns for the kids.

[Old Tucker]

GREAT VIDEO RD It.s nice to see the kids enjoying the great outdoors like that/ They learn so much more then sitting at home. Looks like it was a lot of fun.

Thanks for sharing

[Rock Doctor]

Getting ready for the trip
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Ready to go
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RD

[Rock Doctor]

Workhorse
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RD

[spookum]

Way cool buddy! I can't wait for more pictures and fun!

[Rusty-Gunn]

I enjoyed the videos. Thanks for sharing.

[plott hound]

great videos,nice pictures.one question though,how the hell do you get 32 days off???????

me so jealous.

[locolouie]

good videos, you got it made sir

[Rock Doctor]

great videos,nice pictures.one question though,how the hell do you get 32 days off???????

me so jealous.

Well, I don't talk about it much, but I have a pretty cool job. I work 1 week on, 1 week off, that gives me 26 weeks in the year off. Add Vacation Time, Stats, Travel Days, Long Changes, and Banked time..... that gives me another 6 or 7 weeks off. So, if you think about it, when I take 1 week of Vacation time, I'm off for 3 weeks. If I take 2 weeks of VA time, I'm off for 5 weeks. If I did it right, I could take every second shift off for 7 months, meaning I would only work 1 week per month for the 7 months.
There are not a lot of people that can/will do what I do, so I get some "perks".
Next yr is the Aniversary of my 24th yr with this company........ I get another week of Vacation Time

Don't be jealous Plott, here look a picture or two:
A few friends choose to fly into this lake, here is one of my friends new "wheels", bought it a few days before these pics were taken. Super cool to look at, but he said he doesn't like it and will be selling it as soon as he can.
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RD

[Rock Doctor]

Here is a look at one of our Cabins. You will have to please excuse the mess.......... wife and kids were home alone all day while I went to the truck for a load. They were not expecting me back that early.

I didn't get stuck very much, but sometimes it can sneek up on you, lol

RD

[Rock Doctor]

A few things that happened along the way....
Don't really know where to start, so will just toss out some stories:
Early in the trip, first week or so, I noticed a wicked Cracking noise coming from the drive system in my Conquest. Now keeping in mind that I have poor hearing, and difficulty telling sound directions, this took me some time to figure out. First I suspected a bearing on it's way out, but could not tell what one it was. Finally I took the machine for a swim, and found that the 3rd Axle on the passenger side was pouring water into the machine......... Alrighty, I gotcha. I ran the Argo up on a stump, to check that bearing........... Hmm, a little loose, but not terrible. I figured WTH, I'll try to change it without taking the Track off. Surgery went well, and I changed out the bearing, off for a test ride......... NO DIFFERENCE. OK, so then I tracked the noise to a Failing Chain Tensioner....3rd chain on Passenger side. Carl, my good buddy has a spare with him, and lets me have it. Changed out the Tensioner and went for a test ride.......... Better, but something is still Cracking. So........ My Front Chains are looking really loose, I mean REALLY loose........ I bet a can cut them and get a Half-Link in them......... Um, well I was half right, I could indeed cut them, but no way in He!! could I get Half-Links in there. So then I get the bright idea that MAYBE I can get away without running front chains.... Off for a test ride I go. Meh, it works but I can make the tires spin inside the tracks, so back to the drawing board. I was a little ticked off, so insisted on getting new chains on that night. NOTE to self."Next time, just take the damn tracks off if you are fooling with chains" I got it done, but not untill about 12:30 Am the next morning. Noticed in passing that my Idler Shaft Sprockets are worn right out (This was half the problem, but I could do nothing about it at the time). Off to bed I went.

RD

[Rock Doctor]

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Zuccinni Bread
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RD

[Rock Doctor]

Some of the vids are a little on the long side, so here are a couple short ones:

Mom wasn't as impressed in this one as I thought she should be, lol. On this piece of trail, the terrain is just perfect for guiding the machines without much driver input. Here we traveled just over 2.5 minutes without me touching the steering. We wandered around and brushed the willows a bit, but nothing too bad:
Front View

Muskeg Pockets, Front View

RD

[Rock Doctor]

I was having a bit of trouble with the Ice Cleats on my Adair 14.5" Pro Series Tracks. I'm a little hard on my machines sometimes, loaded heavy, rough terrain, ect. Anyway, I managed to Bend/Fold a bunch of the Cleats, closing them up like "Clam Shells". This was no doubt from spinning out on rocks, roots, ect. I ended up having to pull them all off....... Really don't need them in the Summer time anyway.
Also had some trouble with the 18.5" Adair Tracks on my daughters machine. After a few trips, it was time to shorten the tracks, I cut the chains, and pulled a full Grouser section out.... Perfect. But then, shortly later, I noticed that her machine was pulling to the right..... kind of in a wierd way. It would run true, then it would feel like something nudged the machine to the side, then straight again, then nudge to the right.....???? I played with tire pressures, started checking chains/bearings, ect. Finally noticed that 2 of the Grouser Spacers were broken on the outside edge of the passenger side track. Not really suprising though, we have to force this machine between trees on some trails around here. Anyway, as the broken Spacers rolled past the machines front tire, the track would "open" a bit along the outside edge, deflecting the track enough to make it influence the machine to turn to the right, slightly. Of course I didn't have any spares for that, so I bumped up the pressures in my right side tires to compensate a bit. Not looking forward to trying to change out those Spacers in the Tracks, so if anyone has had this problem, and has any Tips....???? I'm all ears


RD