At Six Tons, You'd Sag & Sway Too !

NO!, I'm not referring to us in this posts title, we're not that fat or worn out. 

I'm referring to LOAF, our travel rig ... driven hard & put away dirty!

We'll be off-line for awhile. 

Adventure Journal TRIP #133: NO bad stuff happened, 2 provinces, 19 states, 60 days, 12000+ kilometres driven. 

We're home now and as is our usual post-trip regime, we'll take a couple of days to do mostly nothing, take many soaks in a hot bath tub, sleep in a king-sized bed and watch some movies on a big screen TV. It's now time for some rest, some rig service and maintenance and several more planned modifications to the truck and camper. 

LOAF goes into Kingston tomorrow to get weighed (Update: 12120 pounds). This weight includes an almost full fuel tank and 2 passengers and a rear seat about 90% as full as the maximum weight on this trip. The camper was carrying about 1/2 the water, 3/4  the propane and 1/2 the food & supply of it's maximum. 

The rear suspension has been upgraded to address a minor sag and some noticeable body sway with the installation of a Super Spring Kit SS13.  Each spring has a rating of 5000 pounds of constant heavy loading. The springs have been set at the lowest position so potentially, could be set stiffer by raising the through bolts to the middle or upper holes. The right hand side of the spring bracket is fixed but the left (rear) is set on upper and lower rollers that allow the spring to automatically adjust to different hauling loads and to varying weights from side to side. Centre of mass can be different and the suspension stays level regardless. The condition of the shocks and factory anti-sway bar were also evaluated and found to be in good condition. 

I'll reload the camper soon and test the capability of this suspension upgrade. The sag issue has certainly been resolved. If this does not completely resolve the swaying problem the next step may be to replace the 2 rear shocks with 4 rv quality shocks.

It will take us at least a couple of months to get our property in order and complete a few minor carpentry projects. We hope to be back on the road sometime in the Fall for another trip. I hope to convince Wry to drive the recently opened Labrador Highway and connect with an Atlantic Provinces loop. If not that, there's always the Overland Expo in North Carolina in October ... where you will see a collection of the 1% of the 1% who travel in Unimogs, Rovers, Pinzgauers, KTMs, BMWs, Suzuki DR650s, Fatbikes, Truck Campers, GXVs, Earthroamers, Man 8x8s, and Unicats, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, from South Africa to Dakar, from Berlin to Vladivostok. 

Crusty ... reporting.