So as noted in another thread, the Jet Speedo unit is simply a POS and doesn't work -- Sam (zluster) re-flashed my computer in about 5 minutes with his DRGIII tool, and presto, i am speedo-accurate. Sam is da man. :thumbup:
Completed the first extended road trip in the Dakota from the Springs to Northern Wyoming over the weekend -- 900 miles or so round trip. Seats were comfy, and the ride up was uneventful. After meeting Wes (Buckshot62) for a beer at the Clear Creek Brewery in Buffalo and delivering his hi-lift mount :cheers: (thanks, Wes!), we decided to take a Sunday drive in the Bighorns -- gorgeous 65* day, no wind, clear skies... who knew there were petroglyphs in north-central Wyoming?:
totally alone in this state park, except for some wild turkeys - picnicked by the creek, looking to be an awesome day, until.... the transmission in the Dakota took a crap in the absolute middle of beautiful nowhere:
we were right in the middle of the red-dotted line on Red Gulch Road (map from the bottom) when the truck simply stopped moving up the relatively steep (5-6%) dirt road:
there was smoke coming from the transmission dipstick, and it registered no fluid, even though I checked before we left the house and it was full/bright pink... of course I had not managed to move my crate of fluids I ALWAYS carry into the Dakota, so all I have on hand are a couple quarts of 10-30. It was definitely an emergency, so I fancied a funnel from a plastic bottle and added (mostly... dripage and resulting manifold smoke) a quart to the tranny. That got us further up hill a bit, though while watching gages and such I missed a turn and we were too far up hill when the tranny called it quits again. BUT, we were now high enough for a cell signal and got a call into AAA for a tow -- we were a long way from anywhere, and the likelihood of anyone coming by was nil.
Second quart of motor oil into the tranny - nervous about the flashpoint, but more nervous about being stuck for the night with my 77-year old mom in the middle of nowhere - and got back down to the turn that would eventually get us to Hwy 14 and Shell. So we coasted for 18 miles, with occasional engine power to barely get over a rise, down to the highway where we met a tow truck. So its legal to ride in a towed vehicle on a flatbed in Wyoming... who knew - interesting 120 mile ride through Shell Canyon back to Sheridan and eventually to Buffalo. Dudes at the Car Clinic in Buffalo pushed me to the front of the line, and got the necessary parts from Billings (while I puked my way through food poisoning... sheesh), to get us back on the road home by Tuesday afternoon... what an adventure.