Vana's first (and second) boat ride

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the miz
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Vana's first (and second) boat ride

Post by the miz » Thu Jul 07, 2016 12:56 pm

So, if you've been following the 2016 Itinerary thread, you'd know that Colin saved our first camping trip in a year, by fixing Vana's rear brakes(once and for all) in the parking lot of my workplace two days before the trip. (Thanks again , Colin! :sunny: )

Woo-hoo! The first camping trip in a year...engine is running well...brakes are working fantastically...this is going to be great!

We get Vana all loaded with gear and packed up and hit the road...a ton of food and camping gear, a canoe, 2 kids, a wife and a dog...trying to push 65mph into a headwind on I 35...CHTs ~400-420, OT up to ~260...I eased off a bit and saw the CHTs drop, the OT remained right around 260 for the day.
Arrived at Moose Lake SP in the late afternoon...got to occupy my favorite site:
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It was a lovely day for a canoe ride on Echo Lake:
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...there was even a perfect spot in the site to set up the slack line for the boys:
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...a relaxing evening in camp with few mosquitos to spoil it, everyone was having a good time...the trip was off to a good start!


Woke up the next morning to a bit of rain, fortunately not enough to dampen anyone's spirits...we packed up some wet gear and headed north, en route to Bayfield, WI and ultimately Madeline Island. Heading uphill towward Duluth into a cool and substantial northwesterly headwind, the CHTs were still around 400 and the OT was a bit lower at ~240. About 1/2 mi before we crest the hill to then drop down into Duluth, we here a loud "thunk" like we hit something metal or rock...or something had broken...all morning it had sounded like something was vibrating weirdly...I attributed it to my hastier-than-normal racking of the canoe on the roof. I pulled over to investigate...no ratchet straps broken, canoe still solidly fastened to the rack...nothing appears to be amiss with wheels/tires, etc., or under the bus...huh, weird...I guess we'll proceed.
We make it through Duluth, over the Bong Bridge and into Wisconsin uneventfully, we choose the scenic route of WI Hwy 13 around the western side of the Bayfield peninsula to have more opportunity to view Lake Superior scenery. As we finish our rolling lunch, we come to the town of Herbster...which may be the geographical center of nowhere...ghost town atmosphere notwithstanding, I obey the reduced speed limit sign and apply the brakes. Whoa!!! What is that horrible noise accompanied by a grinding feeling coming back through the brake pedal??? :pale:
Dang, it!!! The Velocity Retarders have Malfunctioned!!!
I pull over to investigate...everything looks ok from the outside...I climb back into the driver's seat and admit to my wife that I'm going to have to pull the brakes apart to investigate the problem. With a sigh, she agrees...but requests that it be done anywhere other than Herbster. I agree that we can probably limp into Bayfield, since the brakes were still functioning...albeit with a horrible sound. This seems like the most agreeable solution. We roll into Bayfield, eventually locating the Apostle Islands Nat'l Lakeshore visitor center. I ask the rangers inside if it is ok for me to work on my vehicle in their parking lot and if the nearest auto parts store is really in Washburn, the next town away. They allow me to do my work in their lot and confirm the location of the nearest parts store...I retire to the parking lot to get to work, while the family peruses the visitor center and ultimately walks around town to shop and sample the local ice cream.
I start on the passenger rear brake...this was the one that had it's yoke back off and fall off earlier in the week...perhaps this had happened again?
...nope...it's rock solid...Colin's cold setting and adjustment work were AOK...this was not the culprit. I moved on the the driver-side rear brake...wow...these lug nuts are torqued "cuckoo crazy tight", I cant even to get them to budge standing on the lug nut wrench! This has got to be the problem brake, I thought to myself...why else would these be so tight? I need a breaker bar. At this moment my wife texts to see if I need anything...I send her to the local hardware store in search of a piece of pipe approximately 2' in length with a 1-2" inner diameter...she scores exactly that and brings it to me...unfortunately, the pipe is maybe 1/32" too small in inner diameter and won't fit over the wrench. :silent:
I head back to the hardware store to exchange it and return with a 4' section of pipe with a 1-3/4" inner diameter. Using the pipe on the wrench...I still can't get the nuts to budge...I'm starting to damage them a bit...finally, as I rock the 4' breaker bar with my upper body weight, the first bolt breaks free...the remaining 4 are no less challenging, but are eventually able to be removed. Meanwhile a thunderstorm is moving through the area...(yay!).
The Herculean effort of removing the wheel now behind me, I remove the drum to see what's going on inside...nothing...it is perfect...just like the passenger side. :scratch: ...well what now...I guess I'll inspect the fronts. At this point I was expecting to have somehow shed or broken a brake pad. Drivers side front was just fine...but on the passenger side, I found the cause:
...where'd that bolt go? How does a lower caliper bolt just disappear? ...was that the "thunk" near Duluth??...is this what's been vibrating?? ...must have been. Oh man, that scraping noise was the caliper scraping the inside of the rim when braking force caused it to pivot up on the upper bolt...that doesn't look good...but it doesn't look all that bad either. Well, at least I know what's going on.
With a considerable part of a day of vacation having been lost to "dad wrenching on Vana" ...again...I decide we could live without the bolt until we go through Washburn. After trying to install the upper bolt in the lower vacancy (which I discovered to be impossible after 20-30 minutes of trying), I torque the upper as well as I can and move on to pick up my full-of-ice-cream-yet-miffed-at-dad-and-Vana family in town on the way to the ferry. The torquing of the upper bolt holds for approximately 1 application of the brakes...then we're back to scraping the rim.
The afternoon storms and cool northwesterly wind made for a somewhat rough ferry ride...the boat to the island was packed, we almost couldn't get out to take the picture:
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It was getting late and I think we all felt like we needed a reward, so we stopped for dinner in LaPointe on our way to Big Bay SP. We rolled into the park, got some firewood and inquired as to whether there were any sites available for the next night..."maybe" said the ranger, come back at 8:30 and check, you'll be on the waiting list, but someone could come in yet tonight and claim the last site. We had a nice campfire, made s'mores, etc., a challenging day behind us, everyone was reasonably happy. 8:30 AM rolls around...and there are no more sites available for the weekend...well, it is the Friday of the 4th of July weekend I tell my family...they are clearly disappointed to have to leave...one night on Madeline Island is not enough. I break camp as the rest of the family goes to the beach for a few hours to enjoy what they can of Big Bay SP. Upon their return, they disappointedly pile into Vana and we limp toward LaPointe and the ferry, at least it is a much nicer day today and the ferry is not crowded! :sunny:

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...no one else seemed consoled by this. Back in Bayfield, it is now time to limp toward Washburn and the Napa Auto Parts there. God bless the guys at Napa in Washburn...they tried their best, but all they had was 12mm bolts and I needed a 14...evidently their store in Ashland didn't have one either. They apologetically sent me to the local Hardware store, in hopes I might find something there...which I did. Unfortunately the 14mm bolts at the hardware store had the wrong thread pitch...but the 1/2" 20 looked pretty close and threaded into the finer 14mm nut reasonably...ugh, thread a standard bolt into my metric brake caliper? ...the thought really bothered me. :pukeright:
...but we had to fix this brake, not only to continue our trip, but to prevent a trip from ending with Vana on the back of a tow truck...again!
I gingerly threaded the bolt in...wondering what irreparable damage I might be doing to the threads :pale: , but it seemed to be grabbing and holding. I decided not to torque it tight...just because that was the step too far, I thought.
Well, I'd fixed the brake, at least temporarily...the camping trip was back on. We headed west into the Nat'l Forest where we discovered a lovely campground...it was now 4:00 on the Friday of a holiday weekend...I considered us extremely lucky to get the last site in the campground...the one right next to the boat launch and beach no less...and wait...there are like no mosquitoes here...this is great!
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...again, there was a perfect spot for slack line set up...and a lovely lake for another family canoe ride:
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...things were looking up.

The following day we enjoyed this campground until about midday, then it was time to move on to our reservation at our other favorite Nat'l Forest campground a few hours to the south. We packed up and headed out...everthing seemed AOK with the brake...no rattling, no grinding, no noise.

We arrived at the campground and immediately wished that we had just stayed where we had been earlier in the day...the mosquitoes were horrendous...I mean we were getting eaten alive! If we were out on the lake in the canoe...or up to our necks in the lake in the swimming area, it was much better.
...would we stay the extra night? It was still a pretty lovely campsite:
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Interestingly enough, we discovered that the mosquitoes in this particular neck of the woods go to bed early...by about 7:30 they were all but gone! We had an enjoyable night with a campfire, s'mores and star gazing/satellite spotting. We decided that if we could spend the bulk of the next day in the screen house, in the canoe or in the lake, we could probably pass the time until 7:30 PM pretty well and that we could probably stay...we did this and it worked out quite well.
Finally it was Monday the 4th...time to head back to civilization to catch a fireworks display in the evening. Detours and headwinds notwithstanding, the ride back was pretty uneventful until we finally got on the interstate about 50 miles away from home...my wife and I exchanged a glance...the rattling/vibrating noise was back...uh oh. I stopped for fuel and verified that the bolt was still in place and holding...now I was really nervous for my threads, but relatively certain that we'd make it the rest of the way with fully functional brakes.

So that was it...we made it back...no tow trucks and only 6-ish hours of parking lot labor. :drunken:
"It's part of the adventure"...yeah...maybe we could have a trip be a little less adventuresome one of these times... :blackeye:

I was able to source a new bolt via BD, it should be here in a few days. I hope my threads aren't hosed and that this will allow us to resume the summer camping schedule.

Thanks for reading!

miz
1982 Westy- Vana White

71whitewesty
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by 71whitewesty » Thu Jul 07, 2016 8:28 pm

Way to save the vacation and dig right into it. Otherwise sounds like she's doing well and the trip looks fantastic.

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THall
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by THall » Fri Jul 08, 2016 6:02 am

Thanks for sharing Miz.

We did a trip to Big Bay state park last summer. We'd planned to take the bus, but that was pre-cam replacement and I didn't want to deal with the idling issues...especially when having to board the ferry. We had a great time, but would have been much better in a VW camper!

Nice job on the temp brake fix. Look forward to hearing about the next camping adventure....sans Vana drama :drunken:
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by SlowLane » Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:07 am

the miz wrote: I was able to source a new bolt via BD, it should be here in a few days. I hope my threads aren't hosed and that this will allow us to resume the summer camping schedule.
Wow, I admire your fortitude. If I lost a caliper bolt, it would be either tow-truck time or stay put until a replacement bolt could be found. Congratulations on rescuing a vacation out of a potential show-stopper.

Consider replacing both caliper bolts on that side. Brake caliper bolts are probably one of the most highly-stressed components on a car. The one you had left was doing double-duty and is likely over-stressed. Replace it with a new one and keep it as a spare (or souvenir, family heirloom, fond reminder of this trip, talisman against future velocity-reducer complications).

FWIW, Volvo (my other vehicular hobby) recommends replacing caliper bolts every time the calipers are removed. Those safety-concious Swedes just might have something there...
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the miz
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by the miz » Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:45 am

SlowLane wrote: Wow, I admire your fortitude. If I lost a caliper bolt, it would be either tow-truck time or stay put until a replacement bolt could be found. Congratulations on rescuing a vacation out of a potential show-stopper.
The fortitude was required, unless it takes many years to happen again, I fear that the next time a vacation ends in a tow, it's probably: "bye-bye Vana" time...
SlowLane wrote:Consider replacing both caliper bolts on that side. Brake caliper bolts are probably one of the most highly-stressed components on a car. The one you had left was doing double-duty and is likely over-stressed. Replace it with a new one and keep it as a spare (or souvenir, family heirloom, fond reminder of this trip, talisman against future velocity-reducer complications).

FWIW, Volvo (my other vehicular hobby) recommends replacing caliper bolts every time the calipers are removed. Those safety-concious Swedes just might have something there...
Thanks for the tip...I'll grab a few spares on the next BD order...hopefully just the new lower will suffice for a few weeks.

miz
1982 Westy- Vana White

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the miz
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by the miz » Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:47 am

THall wrote:Thanks for sharing Miz.

We did a trip to Big Bay state park last summer. We'd planned to take the bus, but that was pre-cam replacement and I didn't want to deal with the idling issues...especially when having to board the ferry. We had a great time, but would have been much better in a VW camper!

Nice job on the temp brake fix. Look forward to hearing about the next camping adventure....sans Vana drama :drunken:
Thanks, it was a ton of fun...perhaps we'll try again next year or later in th season...when we can get 2 nights! :flower:
I've got a trip in the offing with BellePlaine in the next few weeks...it's pretty close to home, so we may be able to escape drama??? ...damn, I probably just jinxed it. :shaking:

miz
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by wcfvw69 » Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:55 am

What a terrific trip report w/excellent pictures too. I'll also compliment you and working through the problem and moving forward.

One question though as I'm not familiar with Vanagons. What's the normal oil temperature range for one? 260* seems awfully hot for oil temperatures.

Again, thanks for sharing your trip w/us.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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the miz
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by the miz » Fri Jul 08, 2016 10:22 am

wcfvw69 wrote:What a terrific trip report w/excellent pictures too. I'll also compliment you and working through the problem and moving forward.

One question though as I'm not familiar with Vanagons. What's the normal oil temperature range for one? 260* seems awfully hot for oil temperatures.

Again, thanks for sharing your trip w/us.

No problem! Yeah, I felt like 260* was on the hot side too...fortunately, after day 1 on the Interstate, I didn't get above ~240* again.
On my old engine, I feel like 180-220* was "normal"...but then again, I never had under tins. This engine would barely make 180* (got to 220* once-briefly) until I put the under tins back on...and then 220* was no problem...with 240* ish seeming to be the norm when running hard.

miz
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by the miz » Wed Jul 20, 2016 12:12 pm

PS- replaced the caliper bolt...threads seem to be AOK! :cheers:
Torqued both bolts to 116 lf ft. , then re-torqued for fun...drove 100 mi. problem free.
Will re-tourque before next weekend's camping trip, for good measure.

miz
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asiab3
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Re: Vana's fist (and second) boat ride

Post by asiab3 » Wed Jul 20, 2016 2:20 pm

Congrats, glad your fix held AND wasn't harmful to the car. :cheers:

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