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Keith
Keith GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
4/23/12 2:53 p.m.

Just a bump - they're several months in. Adversity has been encountered and overcome. Adventures have been had. Friends have been made. Wheel bearings have been broken and repaired repeatedly. And lots of blog posts have been posted to blog. Again, I recommend the reading. There's even a monthly expense summary for those who want to know how much all this costs.

Nashco
Nashco UltraDork
4/23/12 4:21 p.m.
Keith wrote: Just a bump - they're several months in. Adversity has been encountered and overcome. Adventures have been had. Friends have been made. Wheel bearings have been broken and repaired repeatedly. And lots of blog posts have been posted to blog. Again, I recommend the reading. There's even a monthly expense summary for those who want to know how much all this costs.

I've been following. The rear wheel bearing failures are a little odd, makes me wonder if there's more to the story, but without being there who knows.

Bryce

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
4/23/12 4:35 p.m.

Between the rear bumper, the water system and such it's probably overloaded. Add that to the lunar like roads they are on and it makes sense. I would love to do something similar but with a truck more like the turtle expedition

Nashco
Nashco UltraDork
4/23/12 4:46 p.m.

It's certainly overloaded and the roads certainly suck, but it's hard to fathom they'd fail so fast with JUST those conditions. I'm imagining a combination of poor quality replacement parts, improper torque, tweaked carrier/knuckle, etc. working together. Possibly just plain bad luck, of course.

Bryce

Keith
Keith GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
4/23/12 6:24 p.m.

According to a recent Facebook post, they're looking at "rear bearing housings" at this point. The torque on those wheel bearing nuts is astronomical, it could be an installation issue by local mechanics. Adventure!

drivenachodrive
drivenachodrive New Reader
4/27/12 12:12 a.m.

It's been a while, so thought I'd check in. We've arrived in Costa Rica and are getting some work done on Nacho. While doing so I'm doing a bit of blog catch up. We've been updating about once or twice per week (trying to improve!) Here's the latest installment, in case you're interested:

Drive Nacho Drive: The Antigua Creeper

drivenachodrive
drivenachodrive New Reader
4/29/12 12:57 p.m.

Our new blog entry talks about how to deal with the police in Mexico and Central America. Lots of people end up paying bribes to get out of sticky situations; this talks about how to bumble through without paying any bribes. Enjoy!

Freeze Lawbreaker!

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/8/14 1:46 p.m.

And we have a happy ending: Nacho has returned home. It's now sporting a Subaru engine that was installed in Thailand (the obvious place), transmissions were smuggled and the wheel bearing problems seem to have been sorted. Nacho came back faster and stronger than he left!

The blog is lagging behind, but it's still a great read.

Burrito Enthusiast
Burrito Enthusiast HalfDork
7/8/14 2:32 p.m.

The blog is probably lagging behind because of this.

Burrito Enthusiette has been reading it lately. Judging from the all giggles, it's quite funny.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/8/14 3:30 p.m.

Yes, they posted (in India, I think) that they were concentrating more on the new book over the blog. Tough to get all the experiences across in the short form, I think.

That book takes you through South America, which was very well covered in the blog. It's pretty good. Expect a second volume to cover Asia/Northern Africa/etc. I don't think they spent a lot of time in Europe.

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Associate Editor
7/8/14 3:45 p.m.

Woo! Keith is doing a good job with this thread, I just stopped by to voice my support.

Book number one was a great read; I can't wait for book two!

maj75
maj75 Reader
7/8/14 6:01 p.m.

Some guy raised $35,000 for a recipe for potato salad.

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/8/14 6:01 p.m.

They have been posting on Facebook regularly. It has been an incredible journey, I wish I had the nerve to try sonething like that.

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