It was another excellent trip on the Rubicon with Disabled Sports this year. The Samurai made it to Buck Island Lake and back without a hitch. Going up Old Sluice there was a guy waiting for us to pass who yelled out, "hope you brought axles!" I just said to myself, "I don't need no extra axles, I'm in a Samurai!"

There were a lot of people on the Rubicon this year. A few times we had to wait for traffic to clear before continuing on. It seems a bit harder this year. The rocks seemed bigger. But the Samurai just weaved through them like only a Samurai can.

I was trying to take it easy because I have the front welded up. I didn't want to bust a birfield while on the trip. It was very hard to steer that way, but it did OK. I was thinking that it was going to be worse.

Oh, and the tube doors were great!

Next year I'll have my Wicked Zuk to take on the trip.

I couldn't just go to the Rubicon in my Samurai the way it was. I needed something more than I had last year. So last night I whipped up some real cheap tube doors. I'm talking way cheap. ;-)

All my hard work to get my buggy going in time for the Rubicon trip is for not. Ends up that the steering ram has a bad seal and needs to be rebuilt. It's hard to wheel if you can't steer.

I had hoped it was just air in the system, but no matter what I do I can't get it to turn right. Yesterday I noticed fluid around the left side of the ram. It's leaking out of the seal.

I'm going to have to pull the ram off, take it apart, buy new seals, replace them, then put it all back together, bleed it, and then it will be ready to go.

So I'm going to end up taking the old trusty Samurai back to The Rubicon this year. All well. Maybe when I get back I can get some seat time in the buggy.

On a positive note, the brakes are finally working better. Still need to bleed them one more time. I also need a new MC cap because the one I have leaks like a sieve.

So a few weeks back I found a leak in the hydro hose going from the pump to the orbital. The hose is one of the cheapest hoses around. No surprise that it would get a leak. I should have taken care of it sooner, but I've been busy with other things on the buggy.

Well, I took it off the other day to take it in and get a new one. A few people told me to take it to Cashman Equipment Co. because they would have everything I needed. So I verified that they were open on Saturday and sent Jane into town to pick it up for me.

She finds out that they only sell CAT stuff, so that was a total bust. I tell her to head over to Napa and try them. They could almost do it, but they didn't have the small end that goes into the pump. Cashman had the small end but not the large end. So she tries asks if she could buy the hose and small end at Cashman and take it to Napa and get the large end put on. Well, neither one would do that. Something about licensing and liability. LAME! So I could have had the hose if I had a way to crimp on the connectors. All the specialty shops are closed on weekends, so no wheeling for me.

I have everything else ready to go, pending other problems. This weekend was suppose to be the shake down test to make sure everything was good to go. It also give me one more weekend to fix any problems. Looks like I might get the hose this week and hopefully I can get it installed and all the fluid replaced before the weekend. Then next weekend I'll do my shake down on Sat giving myself Sun to fix any problems.

I'm cutting it way too close for the Rubicon trip at the end of the month.

All I need now is a way to get the buggy to the Rubicon.

Well, my brakes still suck, but they are getting better. I have a leak in my hydro steer hose from the pump to the orbital valve. I'm still looking for some different 17" rims so I'm not rubbing on everything. My exhaust is still too hot and I need to buy some heat wrap for it.

Looks like I'm going to be dropping another $300 on it soon. Arg!

I figured out how to shift my buggy's rear t-case. It's the 2lo conversion where you have 2 wheel drive low. The trick is moving the shifter between the two shift rails and moving both of them at the same time. Tricky, tricky, tricky.

So all I really need now is some new rims and I'm set. I just need like an inch to inch and a half more clearance and everything will be good.

I also need to finish bleeding my brakes. They are sorta working right now, but I have to pump them up. I also need to redo the brake peddle mounting bracket. It's a bit weak and bends easy. I just need some more gusting. I should weld the things in there, but I don't want to burn down my buggy yet. It's right in there by some wires, hydro-fluid, brake-fluid, and the firewall has foam on it. This buggy needs a lot of work...

This weekend I'm going to put on the bump stops, bleed the brakes, fix the peddle mounting bracket, and take it out wheeling again.

Oh, and the Rubicon trip for next week was canceled, so I have four weeks to get my buggy running good for Disabled Sports Rubicon Trip. I hope I can get this buggy working good enough for it.

I took the buggy up the hill yesterday!

Saturday I had a few problems. No brakes, locked up brakes, master cylinder was bad, brake peddle mounting bracket bends easy, no high speed gears, hydro steering goes out, gas going to the rear of the tank starving the engine, rear shocks rubbing on tires, bad ball joints in front axle, and then I blew a fuse.

Sunday was better. Still no brakes, figured out high speed but I have to pull the stick out to switch the shift rails, still need to fill the gas tank so I can drive up a hill, need wheels with more backspace, and a bunch of other small stuff.

The parts I need to buy now are:
new rims with more backspace
twin stick for Samurai t-case

I'm getting super close now. Johnny and I plumed in the brake lines and got them all set. But then we ran into a problem with the master cylinder. The way it was mounted and the brake peddle assembly was all hosed up. I had to tear it all apart and build new mounting plates for it. I have the MC remounted and now I'm working on a new brake peddle.

I should have taken photos of how it was. It was totally whack. Now it's looking good. I hope that it will actually work now.

I'm almost done. Just a few small issues. I still need to plumb my rear brakes, and now I have to cut off my steering ram and move it down a bit. I think this weekend I'm going to have it finished!

The buggy is on it's feet! I welded all the trusses and link tabs, hooked up the links and drive shafts and drove it out of the garage. It still needs brakes, steering, and a bunch of other small things, but it's running and it's almost there!