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1377 messages, Last post on Nov 20, 2003 at 1:43 PM
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| Would anyone know a good area to look for a street legal dune buggy (Manx type) that I could tow behind my cabover/truck camper? A friend mentioned that Pismo Beach might be a good area to start. I live in Truckee, up by Tahoe, but I haven't had any luck finding one. I want one that is ready to go & tow. I don't want to play Mr. mechanic, & have to work on one. Jump in & go. Up here there are lots of back roads one can explore, right from camp. Going on vacation in Sept., hope I can find one by then. Thanks for any info... | |
| Mike, OK, I give, what are Maid Rites? Another question... Does anyone have a solar panel on there camper, & if so,how many watts. Is it worth the cost? My camper already has the hook up, I just need the solar panel. | |
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grizzly1 What's a Manx? I remember seeing a Manx that was like a scooter with four wheels and also a variety of cat. Next time you come down the hill, check the shop just East of Pyramid on Victorian in Sparks. During HAN, there was a Major collection of VDubs there and I have seen lots of different varieties at the place over the past years. They should have a clue what's available locally. Good Luck. |
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A Maid Rite is an Iowa specialty (may have limited availability in other states). It is a hamburger, and the meat is steamed and separated into 'loose meat', instead of patties. The meat is seasoned and most of the fat comes off during the steaming. They put about 1 cup of meat onto a bun, and it spills over the sides. Traditional Maid Rites come with Mustard, Pickle and Onion; although the more progressive shops will let you put ketchup on yours if you want. Normally served with a spoon so you can deal with the meat that spills out the sides. My favorite local specialties include: Alaska - Halibut Iowa - Maid Rites and fresh Sweet Corn Newfoundland - Cod Southeastern US - Sweet Tea Mike L Mike L |
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Instead of me trying to explain what a Manx is, go into.. htp://www.manxclub.com/history.html. I was just in Reno today having work done on my truck, but will be heading that way again next week. Will definitely check it out. Thanks for the input. Mike, I got kind of a chuckel on your description of the Maid Rites. Here I was thinking it had something to do with your truck or camper. LOL! Sounds great though..guess I'll have to make a trip to Iowa. Have yet to go to Alaska, but we buy the Alaskan halibut at costco & Bar-B-Q it. It's really great!! Thanks for the education on the maid Rites. Hold the ketchup! |
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I suppose you had that radio fixed by now. If not, it's a repeat visit kind of thing. They take a number off the back of the radio and order a replacement. The replacement is a refurb. I've had two, first one bad, second good. The dealer will know what the blue transfer case fluid is. I find it very odd that your dealer had never heard this problem. Maybe your advisor was newish. Give them the TSB number and they can look it up. |
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That was a marathon trip! I've wanted to do one of those for a long time and someday I will. I'm finally starting to get some vacation time built up and my company is open to month long vacations. Still a ways off though. You are going to need to change your U.S. map on the camper to a world map! |
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Vince, no world map plans. We have traveled quite a bit in Europe, but not with our camper (tent camping with motorcycle mostly). The US and Canadian maps are filled in........Mexico?? Two years ago when we got our current truck, we bought an expensive ($170) Oddysey battery for underhood auxillary battery to power the camper. While heading out on vacation, that battery gave up. Not a big problem, since I had installed a 2nd battery outside the camper. However, the 2nd battery was a 6 year old wheelchair battery and it wasn't too strong. Fortunately, we don't need much electrical, especially in the summer. While in Iowa visiting family, I replaced the underhood aux battery with another small wheelchair battery for $58. These batteries are sealed, and can be mounted in any orientation. Since this little battery worked so well on vacation, I bought another one on the way home and replaced the camper battery after we got home. You may or may not recall, I had mounted the camper battery outside of the camper, in the wasted space in front of the pickup wheelwell, up against the bottom of the step in the camper. I had to lift the camper off the truck to get to the battery. I re-thought that mounting, and decided to mount the battery inside the camper where I can get to it if I need to. Since the battery is about the size of a 6-pak, I wouldn't be losing that much storage space. It fit under the small storage space that is under our table. Lifting the camper, removing the old battery, rewiring, replacing the camper, and installing the new battery took 3-4 hours. Both batteries have independent fusing, and either one can go out without affecting the other. And together, they hold a charge quite well. 13.6V after 10 days sitting. The old Oddyssey went down to 12.3V overnight, while the 6 year old wheelchair battery would still be at 12.9V overnight, it would drop to 12.3 or less with just a little use of electricity. The two wheelchair batteries cost $54 less than the Oddyssey battery and seem to have more power than it ever had. And now my battery is accesible should the need arise. Mike L |
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| Thanks for the Northstar info.A trip to Iowa might be the thing to do.Dune buggies,the first the Meyer's Manx,were on shortened VW pans.That was a lot of work.Then someone hacked the excess sheetmetal off the front and rear of the VW and the Baja Bug was born.Off road events now have many types of Baja classes from almost stock VW sedans to wild full race creations. | |
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Mike, after 10k miles you must have some good stories to tell. I did a 2k trip to Montana and did have a few notable things happen. In Glacier park there is a scenic road called "Going to the Sun" road (or something like that). You can't be over 21 feet long or 8 feet wide, counting mirrors and bumpers, to make it all the way. I'm actually 8' 3" with the electric jacks sticking out but went anyway to see how it was. I did turn around once the rock walls starting getting too close for comfort. Anyway, while at the visitor center I noticed some folks in a Dodge dually dropping their camper in a dirt parking lot. I later learned that they wanted to take the Sun drive and were going to leave the camper behind. They never made it. This camper had hydraulic jacks, which I've come to dislike. The owners were a middle aged man, his wife, and I think her mother. Well mom wanted to help and when the truck was just out from under the truck she cranked open the valve on one of the front jacks and WOOSH goes that corner of the camper almost to the ground! The flip-out (dually) jack bracket bent like sheet metal and the jack was at almost 45 degrees. The other front jack bent out and the camper corners bent some too. What stopped the camper was the overhang hitting the bed wall of the truck. It was quite a sight. A full size camper listing way over with jacks splayed out, resting haphazardly on one wall of the truck. What a mess. The jacks were useless and anything done ran the risk of making the camper fall further. I of course went to help. They called a tow truck but were told it would be a few hours. With a group effort, we managed to find some logs large enough to support my bottle jack under the floor of the camper, and his truck jack under the low jack bracket. Little by little we raised the corner, hoping the other front jack could stand the load. Once we got the bottom more or less level he backed the truck and we set the front floor on his extended bumper. So it was safe now but still couldn't be put on the truck because the front jack brackets were pretzeled. Well good thing we were in Montana. While this was going on an older gent had joined the group. He offered his services since he just happened to have an anvil in his truck (doesn't everyone in Montana?). He opens the back of his shell and it turns out he has a whole metal shop in the back of his truck, forge and all! By that time I was late leaving and had done my part so left it to them to remove the bent brackets and pound them straight. About then the tow truck arrived and was sent away. Two things I learned from this episode. First, hydraulic jacks can be VERY DANGEROUS. I had a similar experience in my driveway and almost had my camper fall over sideways. If you own those jacks, I suggest using pliers to loosen the valve knob because it gives you more control. Sometimes the knob is tight and if you are twisting hard with your hand, once it does break loose look out. Also, only drop each corner a little at a time by opening and CLOSING the valve. This is where I got into trouble by opening each one just a little and letting the camper gently fall straight down. Once one corner began to fall a lot faster than the rest and I almost lost it. The second thing I learned is to not let something like this make you loose your cool. I was amazed at the guy's demeanor as all this was going on. He didn't appear mad, never swore or said anything negative. He just focused on solving the problem. Wow, was I impressed. I know if that happened to me I'd be spewing four letter words. Of course it was his mother in law at fault so he had good reason to keep his mouth shut if he valued his marriage. Moral to this long story: don't own hydraulic jacks and leave your mother in law home! |
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