Bud777 Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Hi I am new to the forum and wanted to introduce myself. My wife and I just bought the MJ motorhome from Ben. I was very impressed with the support offered by this board. it was a big part of my decision to buy it. We live in Portland, Oregon and Ben was kind enough to drive it down to us from Battleground. When I saw it online I was out of the country, so I had my wife look at it and make the decision. She grew up in a car family and has a real talent for anything mechanical. We just retired last year and are looking forward to using it quite a bit. After getting things sorted out, we plan a trip to Arizona via Utah and then a trip to Yellowknife in Canada. The plan is to never use an interstate. The rig is is great shape. The exhaust leak was a combination of a split in the down pipe (now welded) and a leaking exhaust manifold gasket (now replaced). I don't plan on converting to 4X4 until I see how much we need it, but a select-able differential might be the first big upgrade. With that big rear overhang, we will not be doing any rock crawling, and with all that weight on the rear dualies, i think having traction to both sides on the rear might be enough for sand and mud. Maybe a winch, bit we will see how it goes. Given that this is one of 3, maybe 2 of these, I sort of feel like this belongs to all of us and i am just taking care of it. I'll post here before making any changes to see what the community thinks. I look forward to getting to know all of you Bud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimoshel Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Welcome, and if you ever use that motor home to come this way, drop in. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87manche1 Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Welcome awesome plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Look forward to seeing your travel photos in that nice Rig :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Nice. Your welcome to stop in anytime your in Montana also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexia Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Welcome to the site! Always great to have someone who wants to preserve a bit of history in the community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComancheKid45 Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Glad to hear your plans.....best of luck and enjoy the heck out of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny quest Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 welcome!! so glad that the Campmanche stayed in the family :D and be sure to look me up when you come through Utah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86customanche Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Welcome. I sure would love to take a look at it if you ever make it to the east coast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain Dude Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Bud, if you happen to drive through Prince George, BC on your way to Yellowknife, drop me a PM...I would love to meet up and see the camper too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armyofchuckness Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Glad to see it went to someone that will appreciate it. Tanks for keeping it in the family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comanche County Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Yeah welcome to the club, so happy to see you're here. It would be heartbreaking to see an indifferent owner drive it into the ground and junk it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMCJeepMJ Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Welcome, glad you joined up with such an interesting rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comanchedude Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Nice, enjoy it.. i think its cool as can be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earl*t Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 86customanche, on 17 Mar 2013 - 17:21, said: Welcome. I sure would love to take a look at it if you ever make it to the east coast. X2 on the East coast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud777 Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 We took the camper out for a shakedown trip last week. I thought you might like some pictures. The idea was to take it easy and just learn things like, what else we needed for extended trips, how far we could comfortably cover in a day, how fast we used different tank capacities and just generally learn how to use it. We live in Portland Oregon, so we decided to take it from the northwest corner of the state to the extreme southeast corner. It was a round trip of about 1400 miles. If you are not familiar with eastern Oregon, it is vastly different from the tall firs and constant rain usually associated with our state. This is high desert, the northern edge of the Great Basin. The mountains are fault block uplift, but there is also a lot of volcanic activity. It is remote, empty and pretty amazing. Think of it as the Nevada desert, only fewer people. Our first night was in a primitive campground at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge which is usually a great place for bird watching. We seemed to miss them this year, so we moved on to a desolate area of craters and lava flows. This was about 8 miles down a dirt road. The next day we went around the Steens mountains to the north and headed to the Alvord desert on the eastern side of the mountains. They looked like this: We camped below them for a night and then set out to find some hot springs. Nothing is marked, so we went down some wrong turns like this before finding them The hot springs were great and hard to leave. By this time, we were getting used to the camper, everything was working well, and our only concern was running out of gas. 100 miles between service stations is not unusual, and even then, they may be out of business. Returning from the hot springs, we headed directly toward the mountains and got this view Leaving the mountains, we headed further east, almost to the Idaho border. There, a gravel road goes for about 50 miles to a canyon called Leslie Gulch. This is seldom visited, but i think it can stand up to Bryce or Arches for what it offers. After an approach that takes you slowly up to the edge of the plateau, the road drops about 3000 feet in 7 miles through a canyon. Here is the view out the windshield... and a stop for a hike on the way down The climb out the next day was just as beautiful. The rig climbed out easily, although 40 mph was about the best we could do. After leaving the canyon, we followed a rough track north another 50 miles. This lead us through an amazing little canyon called Succor creek As we were headed up this road, my wife reached for the binoculars and examines the road ahead. She said, "Well, damn!". I said, "What?" She said, "Pavement" That about sums up the trip. We were just enchanted at the scenery and delighted with the rig. There are a few little things to be done, but it does everything we hoped it would. It give us access to places we would not attempt in a normal RV, allows us to travel with the two dogs, and doesn't break the bank on gas. We averaged 14.9 mpg over the entire 1400 miles with a high of 18.2 and a low of 12.8. You can cruise at 55, but much abovet that things start to get a little loose. My only real concern is the range. I believe we have the 18 gallon tank, so we have an effective range of about 250 miles. That is workable, but 400 would be a lot better. I bought a couple of 5 gallon gas cans that we will add to the rear bumper or carry on the roof. I think you can see one of them in the pictures. The plan now is to add all the little things we found and head to Monument Valley next week. I am not thinking about any major modifications for a while. I wouldn't mind replacing the gauge cluster to add a tach and real gauges. And a rear view camera would probably make things safer, but that is about it for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakedoc67 Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 I'll enjoy seeing your threads, originally had plans to tow my Jeep behind an 89 Winnebago and go fulltiming but the Bago has many issues that must be fixed before that can happen. I'll be in NE for quite some time, nothing quite as interesting as where you are now but if you get this way let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPB Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Glad to see you guys are enjoying it!! Keep the trip reports coming!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotex Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Thanks for the update. When you get ready to visit Big Bend Nat'l Park, please look me up. If you are into birding, my family owns Christmas Mountains/ Big Bend Bird Habitat. I'll hook you up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 18 gallon was in the short wheelbase Comanches. Long wheelbase had 23.5 gallon tanks, although a 16 gallon was also available. Have never seen a 16 gallon one, though. I would imagine that they would have started with a lwb truck. Maybe the vin can tell you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakal Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 welcome! thanks for the pictures. we live in eugene, and love the high desert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exgrayxj Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 :thumbsup: Awesome, and great pics! I love the west, but living on the right coast all my life, have only been out there once ... :( Tremendous variety in the countryside, and all in the same state! I am envious, enjoy the Jeep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92tanMJ Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Wow nice photos! I'm glad you guys got it and not some bozo! Welcome to the cite! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepComanche89 Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Looks like an awesome time, congrats on having one of the coolest MJ's ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasbulliwagen Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 I'm not sure if anyone has asked, but I persoanlly would like to see what mods were done underneath one of these to make this all work. Including the axles and wheel ends to see how it was all adapted. I too agree you should have a long wheelbase gas tank 23.5 gallon in that thing. The extra gas cans don't hurt though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now