Coast to coast road trip with a 5x8 enclosed trailer, follow along for laughs

[msvphoto]

Good catch on Hwy closure, I was going to mention that. Stay on 101 in San Luis Obisbo.

The biggest grade between LA and the SF bay area will be just leaving SLO, called Questa Grade. It is steep but pretty short. We were able to hold 65 with a heavily loaded Uhual moving our daughter back home behind our 2001 F150 4.6 which is less powerful than our 540iT.

I much prefer 101 to I5, especially if towing. The catch is I5 offers much easier exit from LA traffic. We used to leave our daughter's place (San Diego) at 5am on Sunday mornings to get a clear traffic window.

Looking forward to following your trip in this thread! Hope it is uneventful and rewarding! Good luck!

[JimLev]

With the highway closure you'll need to bypass a few good spots, do some back tracking, or visit them later.
Morrow Bay, San Simeon, Pismo Bay, Hearst Mansion are good to visit.
In Big Sur there's a good resturant on the the west side of the PCH, Nepenthe. Great views of the pacific.

[joekitch]

i'm curious what the closure is even about, will it still be in effect essentially two weeks from now? that stretch of drive is going to be on june 13th and 14th

[justinca540i]

Are we talking HWY 1 near big sur?

[JimLev]

Sometime last fall(??) there was a big landslide that took out part of the highway and maybe the bridge.

[justinca540i]

ok yes that's what I thought happened. I've been blocked by it

http://www.visitcalifornia.com/attra...bridge-rebuild

[computiNATEor]

Just a heads up: vehicles towing things in CA have a statewide speed limit of 55mph.

Your route should be just about perfect. The coastal route doesn't have any huge elevation, unlike the 5. Just take note of the times you're going by Santa Barbara, because you could really get stuck in a big jam at the wrong times of day. You can use the Google Maps tools and traffic predictions to see what's up there.

If you do stop in Santa Barbara (which is very compact, and may not be trailer-friendly), I love eating at Los Agaves (the one at 2911 De La Vina). It's a nicely presented fast-casual Mexican place.

You're going right past Solvang, which is a cute little Danish town with excellent pastries and whatnot. Worth at least a brief stop, and photo. Lots of tourists there, but I always get fudge and lemonade at the Old Danish Fudge Kitchen if I'm in the area.

If you stop in Pismo Beach, CA, I recommend the Pismo Splash Café. They serve good seafood in a very casual environment - and they're always busy.

Yes, part of Highway 1 was washed out in the winter of 16/17. It's going to be quite a while before it's reopened.

Yes to all the stops mentioned before - elephant seals in San Simeon are definitely worth a stop.

Hearst Castle if you have the time and can stomach the ticket price.

The quaint town of Cambria, CA has a lovely seaside drive (Moonstone Beach Dr). And we almost always eat at the Main Street Grille for some good grub.

Monterey CA has some great ocean overlooks where the street is just feet from the shore, and the Cannery Row district is neat.

[joekitch]

trailer acquired, hooks up fine, looks a little weird though since it's rather tall



IMG_20180601_181006.jpg




these trailer mirrors were a good investment too




IMG_20180601_181207.jpg



some observations while driving, keep in mind this is unladen so 50/50 weight and only 900 lbs
-baking performance is reduced but not that much, you basically just give it 30% more brakes than normal
-i'm used to using pretty minor throttle input, so i need to give it a good deal more gas for similar performance to before, but accelerating slow is fine
-the trailer bounces quite a bit and it sounds like the ball is shaking around inside the receiver which isn't good. I imagine once it'd fully loaded and has 200lbs on the tongue that'll quiet down a lot. is there such a thing as a "hitch ball bushing" or a sleeve that sits over the ball to keep it centered and quiet?



Bigger problem, the swing-arm trailer jack straight up does not fit.


IMG_20180601_200609.jpg


IMG_20180601_204853.jpg



It's designed for 3" to 5" thick trailer tongues and this trailer is only a 2.5" tube. 3" is very standard on trailers so 2.5 is like what. nothing in any of uhaul's documentation states this
If you put both bolts through the inner mounting hold the tongue is SLIGHTLY too thick and the bolts rub on it, darn
However i'm confident if i find some sided thick bolt spacers (like, quarter inch thickness), they'll take out that slack and this thing will work fine....except ace hardware is closed for the night and i'm pretty sure home depot won't have what i need. drat


pretty sure the through bolt is 3/8s inch....


So i need to reduce a 101mm gap to a 66mm gap, maybe 67mm, meaning the two spacers need to have a total thickness of 34 or 35mm. which means i need some 11/16 spacers, or maybe 5/8
time to wander around home depot with my calipers, going through drawers *shurg*

[JimLev]

Got a Tractor Supply near you? I bought some 3/8's bolts there yesterday. They have just about any size and length you'll need.

[geargrinder]

Trailers clunk. That’s how they roll. Prob slightly exacerbated yes by your euro hitch, but all hitches clunk a little. Usually there’s a little clunk in the car-side receiver and a little clunk in the ball hitch. Make sure all is tight and hunky dory but otherwise don’t sweat it. It’s how they work.

No idea what you are possibly on about re that jack. Your words and pictures are utterly incomprehensible in terms of Illuminating what the problem is. Can you not tighten the bolts for some reason? If not, then , well you ain’t assplained that part. If the bolts can’t be tightened, like because it’s acorn nuts or something on the other side, then, uh.... why not shorter bolts? If instead you mean the top/bottom air gap between the bolt shaft and the tongue, AND, using the inner bolt holes top AND bottom doesn’t fit, then eff that doesn’t matter a whit. Loosen the bolts, put the jack wheel down on the ground, let the tongue slide down to rest on the bottom bolts, then tighten all four. The gap at the top won’t matter in the least. I’ve only seen 1000 boat trailer jacks like that (prob owned some too).

[joekitch]

reason i want to close the gap is the instructions are pretty damn adamant about keeping the gap between bolt and tongue (vertically) to be less than 1/16", so they want it real tight, probably to prevent it from slipping around on the tongue during transit
BUT, yeah letting it just rest on the bottom ones should be fine, i'll worry about spacers if it's a nuissance

Although i almost got stranded going to home depot. Miata died on the highway pretty abruptly. couldn't start it again, so i cursed a lot then walked the last quarter mile to the home depot and of course they had nothing like i was looking for
Walked back, the miata started right up and drove home. I suspect there's some kind of weird heat soak thing going on with it

[geargrinder]

Code scan that Miata (miata is staying back East I take it?) but often a good first look for that condition is fuel related stuff. Pumps that crap out when they have run for a little while. Clogged tank vent or pinched hose so you're getting vapor lock (did you delete the vapor canister and plug the line by any chance? I just saw a sweet old hotrod truck that was having all kinda mystery runability problems .... turns out the guy didn't vent the gas tank!)

[joekitch]

Today is the day of great junking
used car parts, car parts that are perfectly good but i dont have time to sell
lots of cardboard and packing paper from FCP euro orders over the years
a very, very large tub of used coolant
many empty coolant and oil jugs
lots of bottles&cans


Also, i got the swing arm jack on nice and tight, it'll be sort of caged in placed by that welded on handle the tongue has so i'm not worried about it wandering
what i AM worried about is it striking the bumper during sharp turns, but i realized i'd need to turn VERY sharply for it to strike the bumper, like, jackknife sharp

IMG_20180601_223213.jpg




As a proof of concept i took a top down photo, pulled it into paint.net and rotated a crop around the ball as the axis, and THIS is how sharp the trailer would need to be to strike the jack




trailer turn.jpg

[geargrinder]

reason i want to close the gap is the instructions are pretty damn adamant about keeping the gap between bolt and tongue (vertically) to be less than 1/16", so they want it real tight, probably to prevent it from slipping around on the tongue during transit
BUT, yeah letting it just rest on the bottom ones should be fine, i'll worry about spacers if it's a nuissance

OK - so that is the problem.

Well, if it was me I'd either just do what I said and leave it, or, very possibly just measure twice cut once and drill new holes with the exact right spacing on the drill press. But pretty sure you ain't got a drill press and freehanding someting like that is a PITA... If you decide to try it you better have a non-cordless drill, and, do it in 3-4 steps from pilot hole to final...

[JimLev]

Here's what to do with the stuff you can't take with you.
Call GG, when I moved I had him come down so I could load up the back of his winter beater with all my good stuff that was just too good to throw out.

[joekitch]

i mean if he can make it by today or tomorrow i got a few things
-pretty damn good condition NB miata door with everything except the interior plastic door panel bits
-NB miata trunk with a dent in the back
-the two mentioned seats
-assuming i'll keep the 17" as a spare...
-2x bridgestone potenzas in my rear tire size (265/25/18)
-2x nokian WRG3s in 205/30/16? i think? something like that?
-4x 15" miata steel wheels with pretty worn blizzak WS60s on them

The car junkyard place closes at 3 though, and isnt open tomorrow, so he (or whoever else) needs to commit pretty soon

[joekitch]

alright well, GG didnt have time to pick the stuff up so i took it to a local pull-a-part place and paid them $50 to take it all off my hands

IMG_20180602_122345.jpg


I accidentally discovered the point at which the jack hits my bumper during a steering locked left hand turn. Turns out the bumper just deflects for it, no drama.
didn't even scratch it or scuff it in any way


IMG_20180602_125254.jpg




Got some of that juicy coolant temp info. Hangs around 205 at speed, spiked to 218 when i stopped at a stoplight at the top of a hill.
with the a/c on
in 90 degree heat
with way too much humidity



trailer hauling temps, to junkyard.jpg






I keep forgetting, what's the "too hot" number for the m62? i thought it was like 225 when the needle started to creep to the right

[dannyzabolotny]

Switch the coolant readout to celsius if you can. Normal operating temps for an M62tu are anywhere between 103º and 108º. Generally speaking, if it's below 110º and goes down on its own then it's fine, but if it starts creeping up past 110º and doesn't go back down then you might be in trouble.

Good to know that U-Haul will rent a trailer to a 540it with a hitch, I'll probably do something like that for the next time I move. I also have a car trailer that I partially own with a friend, since there's no way U-Haul would ever let me tow a car with my 540it, haha

[geargrinder]

Yeah. Its a german car, get rid of the ridiculous farenheit numbers. Just to confirm what Danzo says, the very top number for the "MAP" thermostat is 110, so if you start going above that for more than a momentary condition, you know something is a problem.

[geargrinder]

-right after starting it up (either cold or still hot) the idle is real stumble-y, like legit misfiring and shaking the cabin noticeably, really pronounced when i just start up and pop it into reverse. If i rev the engine in neutral before going into reverse it reduces the effect dramatically.
Also some subtle stumbles at idle during normal operation. no odb2 codes thrown...for now anyway

Uuhhhh. That does NOT sound good. Doesn't sound exaclty like the way I'd leave for a coast to coast trip towing a trailer.

In fact it sounds exactly how I would NOT leave for a coast to coast trip towing a trailer.

Have you scanned it with a proper BMW scan tool? Or just some piece of crap OBD thing that might not be getting all the BMW codes?

What are your trims like? (those at least you can retrieve with your OBD tool)?

[joekitch]

haven't used inpa in a bit since the only system i had that could use it (port-ably) was my work laptop...which i returned on friday
wonder if there's anyone in the westborough area who can do a quick scan
i'll get some fuel trims, need to idle it for a while for the trans fluid replacement anyway

[joekitch]

YAY FUEL TRIM DATA
although it probably won't be helpfu, nothing's really jumping out at me here, and when it's "stumbling" is when the fuel trims seem smoothest...

anyway, it's in an imgur images album, each image has a description of the circumstances around each reading
https://imgur.com/a/efJ7eC6

i'm actually updating this album as i go, adding more scenarios

[JimLev]

Link not working.

[joekitch]

Updated the post with an imgur album link

also my desktop is about to go into a packing box, so my image posting is going to be somewhat more limited on my chrome book

[geargrinder]

Yeah. Classic signs of a vacuum leak. Positive fuel trims, not huge but not insignificant.

You seem to have some kind of vac leak. I think we've been telling you this for a while.

Almost certainly you got something a little wrong during the reassembly of the chain job, and should have sorted it out.
If you got any of those wrong when re-assembling from the chain job then that might explain it, there's a check valve or two in there that if you put on backwards would screw things up.

There's not a load of vac lines on these motors so its pretty easy to diagnose one by one, but, you're on the road now so, uh,,, 'eff it' I guess.

If you decide to try to have a look... Your vac systems are:
- SAI system with a check valve, 'reservoir', solenoid, then hose to the SAI valve
- Brake booster system with 2 lines (one from manifold and one from front of throttle body) going to the 'sucking jet pump' then on to the booster
- Evap system - one vac line going to a solenoid then on to the carbon canister
- Fuel pressure regulator - vent line going to the front of the throttle body

The sucking jet pump is famous for being a 'sneaky leak' because it can be broken but look fine. It might even pass a smoke test in the way that it fails unless you really pressurized it good.

For diag purposes you can really plug all of those except the brake booster and drive the car. You'll throw codes but it would tell you if the car starts to run right. Clear your adaptations if you try that to fast-track the test (car might run like crap for a bit with the old adaptations if you plug the leak its' compensating for).

Beyond those things the list starts to get into:
- manifold mis-seated when reassembled / pinched gasket
- bad CCV or CCV related (crossover tube mis-seated)
- intake tube leaks or problems (rare, but, people do stupid stuff and make mistakes... did you delete the helmholtz 'silencer' and not plug it up properly?)

- - - Updated - - -

i mean if he can make it by today or tomorrow i got a few things

Quick tip: next time you move and have good stuff, you'll have to get rid of, maybe put the word out like 3 or 4 days in advance instead of 3 hours in advance..?

I definitely would have made that happen... Woulda saved you bux and I'd have found good home for those seats.. in fact my bud w/ the Dinan 530iA probably would have been extremely psyched to have them, right color and everything...