Shorter Days

A coupe of posts back had a image from WeatherUnderground that showed 12 hours of daylight here in Fairbanks. It is only five days later and we've already lost an additional 34 minutes. Quite the rapid retreat as we continue our decent towards winter. We've already had our first bit of snow a few days back but it won't be sticking for a while. Last year, we had a pile of snow at this point in time. This post is just a quick update on several items.  

• The Shoe-Goo repair seems to be holding up well and the boots are once again waterproof. I'm impressed at how well that stuff holds. 
• I stil haven't replaced the front tire on the Ural since the old tire still has about ⅓ tread left. Not enough to hold studs but plenty of tread for driving around. I'm not sure that I'm even going to bother with studding the tires this year as it needs about $200 worth of GripStuds. After all, I'm not trying to prove anything. 
• I called Aerostitch as the main zipper wouldn't always zip closed and they sent a new main slide and lower stop. It now zips closed except for one tooth at the very top. I had the main zipper replaced last year and it probably needs to be replaced again to completely eliminate the problem. 
• Two tasks left on the Ural 50k km service. Adjust the head bearings and lubricate the rear brake pedal shaft. There is a mod on SovietSteeds that I will be doing over the next couple of weeks where you add grease zerk fittings to some of these lubrication points. 
• I am planning to pull off the transmission and front timing cover off of the Ural to examine some aspects of the engine rebuild now that the engine has been thoroughly "run in".
  • Check the lash of the alternator drive gear. Since the alternator is installed after the engine is installed into the frame, I adjusted the lash and marked the alternator adjustment point hoping that it'll be at the same value.
  • The axial runout of the flywheel bothered me and I think that it may lead to accelerated wear of the clutch splines. 
• I still have BruceW's deep sump pan, oil pump extension and spin-on filter. The plan is to try and get those done next Monday. 
• At the end of October, I will be heading to the Portland area to look at a used 5th wheel RV. In case you were wondering why the hitch and other towing mods on the truck.
• Speaking of the truck, it is now 11 years old and probably time to get some more maintenance done.
  • Replace the coolant, transmission fluid, transfer case fluid, front & rear differential fluid
  • Replace the leaking front clearance lights
  • Install locking toolbox in the bed for additional locking storage
• Start work on the Barrow contract for next year

Plenty to keep me busy…