Going domestic, project vanilla aka the family tankster, 2004 Suburban 2500

[locrwln]

Glad to hear you are liking it. As I have said in the past, the domestics make for much better overlanders than most are willing to give them credit for. I have to agree on the G80. They are definitely geared toward people that don't wheel or don't have a lot of experience as they tend to challenge those who know what they are doing because we tend to not allow wheel speed. And the G80 requires wheel speed to engage.

Jack

 

[Bushcoat]

Mr Saile, your truck looks great. Very nice pictures also, they whet my appetite to tow my trailer down to the UP (around the big lake actually) at some point in 2016.

 

[Bojak]

Love the burb but i lovethe salsa eveen more. Really cool. i bought a fat tire and it has bee really cool. I was shocked at how good those big things roll. I would love to hear your 2 cents on your bike. Do you have a post on them?

 

[upcruiser]

Glad to hear you are liking it. As I have said in the past, the domestics make for much better overlanders than most are willing to give them credit for. I have to agree on the G80. They are definitely geared toward people that don't wheel or don't have a lot of experience as they tend to challenge those who know what they are doing because we tend to not allow wheel speed. And the G80 requires wheel speed to engage.

Jack

I agree, I am still getting used to how it engages, and it still is a little unnerving.

 

[upcruiser]

Mr Saile, your truck looks great. Very nice pictures also, they whet my appetite to tow my trailer down to the UP (around the big lake actually) at some point in 2016.

Thanks! What part of the north shore are you from? We are over due for a trip up that way. If you are looking for info on routes, etc, check out the UP Overland forums in my link. The members have shared slot of gps tracks and there is some good general info on places to check out off the beaten path.

 

[upcruiser]

Love the burb but i lovethe salsa eveen more. Really cool. i bought a fat tire and it has bee really cool. I was shocked at how good those big things roll. I would love to hear your 2 cents on your bike. Do you have a post on them?

My wife and I are longtime mountain bikers, I started riding in '86 so I have seen slot of fads come and go and was at first skeptical of fatbike. We are both big skiers, in fact, that's been my career for the past 20 years. My wife spent 10 years living in Jackson, WY ski mountaineering and the like. When we decided to move to Marquette we realized our skiing was going to be curtailed somewhat (though Mt Bohemia is surprisingly good), but there is an avid snow bike scene up here. There is actually a ton of winter riding on a network of groomed Singletrack as well as trails that folks snowshoe. I got my Mukluk last December as a way to have a fun outlet for outdoor fun and adventure in the long winter here. We xc ski too but this adds another activity to enjoy. I ended up having a blast and Nordic skiing very little. My wife was pregnant with our second kiddo so she couldn't ride last winter. We both have full suspension mountain bikes as well. What I wasn't expecting was that I actually enjoyed riding the fatbike on the dirt once spring arrived. I only used my Specialized Epic carbon a few times this summer and was hammering on my Salsa the rest of the time. It really isn't any slower on technical Singletrack, just on fast rolling sections or steep climbs because my Muk is pretty heavy. I like the stability, the fact I can ride anything on it, and found myself attacking lines that were sketchy on my Epic. I could ride all day comfortably on my Muk, so it became my gravel grinder/bushwacking, exploring rig too. I ended up doing the Marji Gesick on it, a 100 mile race that is almost all really technical Singletrack. I am not racing a ton any more or very serious, just ride for fun and to get into the good stuff. We picked up my wife's BearGrease Carbon X1 this summer and wow, what s bike. I wish I would have often a BearGrease. So light, so fast and very sharp handling compared to my Muk. She loves it and now doesn't ride her Jamis Dakar anymore. I am planning to get more into bike packing and my Muk has so many ways to configure it, that's the real beauty of it. It's kind of the Land Cruiser, does everything, isn't particularly sporty but it is rugged and durable. The Bear Grease is like a Range Rover Evoque. It punches above its weight class, does about 80% of the things the Muk can but is way sportier and faster, more fun to ride. We both signed up for the Marji Gesick for next year. I am considering getting a 29"+ setup for my Muk for summer and possibly a Bluto fork. My wife wants to get a Bluto for summer riding too.

So yeah, we ended up using fatbike a as quiver killers and year round bikes for us up here in the snowy northcountry. Google Cold Rolled. It's a fatbike film about the scene here. I helped out on the production of it and it ended up in the Mountain Film fest in Telluride. It's a few years old now but shows our winter riding here.

 

[eaneumann]

Good looking truck! Have you seen these? Might just work for ya. http://rokblokz.com/universal-rally-mud-flaps.html I'm also from MI, currently living in the Vail Valley. Surprised you left!

 

[Bushcoat]

Thanks! What part of the north shore are you from? We are over due for a trip up that way. If you are looking for info on routes, etc, check out the UP Overland forums in my link. The members have shared slot of gps tracks and there is some good general info on places to check out off the beaten path.

Sir, I am up in Thunder bay. Ive browsed the forum, I should spend a bit more time over there.

 

[upcruiser]

Good looking truck! Have you seen these? Might just work for ya. http://rokblokz.com/universal-rally-mud-flaps.html I'm also from MI, currently living in the Vail Valley. Surprised you left!

I thought about doing rally armor mudflaps but decided to keep it simple. The truck does do a great job of throwing mud all over itself so I might reconsider.

Yeah it was a tough call, we both had dream jobs there but decided we wanted more time with our kids and less time working. Marquette was a great choice since the mountain bike scene is off the hook and we traded the mountains for Lake Superior and paddling. We reconsidered moving back to Jackson, WY where we were before Vail but were turned off by the changing scene there and the same thing with cost of living.

 

[mattiep11]

If u need telluride area info I can help just pm me. Feel free to look at my posts for pics of the region!!!

 

[upcruiser]

If u need telluride area info I can help just pm me. Feel free to look at my posts for pics of the region!!!

Thanks man! I have spent quite a bit of time down that way, love it. Over the years I have lived in Gunnison, Crested Butte, Evergreen, Vail, and Minturn. I love the San Juans, one of my favorite places in the state in both summer and winter. Still have some friends who live in Tride. Do you know Jeremy Womack of Expedition Opps?

 

[kins18q]

Awesome update

I've got the knock sensor code too! And I just had the intake manifold gasket replaced! I also have a fuel gauge that has gone haywire, so to get the SES light off I think I will need to fix both.

 

[1stDeuce]

Well, winter is here, so I'll make the recommendation that you indeed go with Bilstein shocks. I did, and I couldn't be happier. With a slight crank, add 4 washers to the stem of the front shocks before the bushings. Gives you another 1/2" of droop travel, which is needed with the crank. Much softer than the Gabriel Ultra shocks that I had been running, and yet more controlled than the stock shocks, especially in rebound. Even with a 1500lb camper in the back, the ride and handling are excellent. No regrets.

The 6.0L will work pretty hard in the mountains, but it'll get the job done. I recently picked up an '02 2500HD. Same driveline. It's working pretty good towing a 4000lb trailer, but if you keep adding throttle, it'll just downshift and keep ripping right along. 2nd gear at 60mph is about 4000rpm, and my truck seems like it could do that all day if I asked it to.

I'll have to check your website... I spent 5 or 6 of the best years of my life at Michigan Tech, and then 15 years in SW MI. I could move back to the UP, but I sure don't miss the rust. I bought an '86 Comanche out here and it just comes apart. I have heat to break off a bolt. My '06 GMC was bought from N. Dakota in 2009, and I moved to CO in 2010. It came with the paint already stone blasted from the rockers, and I swear it hasn't rusted at all. Soooo nice.

 

[rayra]

.... With a slight crank, add 4 washers to the stem of the front shocks before the bushings. Gives you another 1/2" of droop travel, which is needed with the crank. ...

Great idea / tip. Gonna borrow that when I refresh my '02 Sub suspension in the Spring

 

[ExplorerTom]

I'll admit to skipping most of this thread (there's a lot of words- I'm more of a picture guy) but I did see you talk about the Rally Armor mudflaps a couple times. I have a set of the universals on my wife's Escape. They are pretty long, but do a good job of keeping the crap from building up along the sides. If you ever decide to go that route, you won't be disappointed.

And it looks like you ride the fat bikes year round. How come? I've never ridden a fat bike but I'd imagine the extra weight of the tires would get old hauling up hills and whatnot. Sometimes it's all I can do to get my 26er up the trail.