thrashingcows

I spent two days, and 800+ Km's, helping my brother move two of his Ford trucks.

It started on Thursday Nov 28 at about 4pm. I picked up my brother from his work, and grabbed one of their Tandem axle, tilt deck car trailers....nice trailer! We then went back to his place and loaded up his 72 Ford 4x4. We finally got going about 6pm. It was dark, cold (-8*C), and windy and starting to snow.

We traveled about an hour until we hit the Flying J truck stop to get some eats, and repair a couple lights on the trailer. Wind was so bad that I was seeing 12-14lbs of boost on level hwy surface!

Here what we looked like....





Now the next 4-5 hours we were up in the mountains of BC. It was friggin cold, and had been snowing the last day or so, and was continuing to snow. The roads we were on were single lane each way, and twisty, up and down, was packed ice with snow covering it. Top speed was maybe 70km/h, but mostly 50km/h.

First fill up about 10:45pm.....

thrashingcows

That was the last of the "Good" roads. The next 100kms was mostly wash board dirt roads covered in packed ice and snow. Not a lot of gravel tossed down either for traction. Nasty climbs up and down....switch backs and 8-13% grades!

I was surprised how well Ol' Patches did. Thank goodness I had those diffs rebuilt...that power loc in the rear diff was one busy piece of equipment I can tell you that!

I spun out on one hill. It was a sheet of ice under the snow cover, and now gravel to be seen. Even in 4Lo it wouldn't continue up the hill. Thankfully I had brought my cheapy cable chains with me. We ended up putting one chain on the back RH side, and one on the LH front.





And what the truck and trailer looked like by this time....



I gently got under way and was able to get enough traction to get to the top of the hill. We continued on, again at top speeds of 50km/h until we were about 10Km's from our destination. We had one last hill to climb. This one covered about 1200ft in 10km's....I made an attempt and spun out on the first section. Put it in 4Lo and made it to pull out and dropped the trailer.

By now it was 3am and we were done for the night. Up to my brothers place and crash for a few hours.

thrashingcows

Next morning it was -20*c with a windchill about -25+*C!



We went back down the hill with hopes the road crews had tossed more rock on the hill...not really. So we hooked back up to the trailer, and then got the old ford running, and he drove it up while I brought up the trailer.



Here are a couple pics from that climb.

MrFusion

Sounds like a party!

thrashingcows

We then had to haul out his old 52 Ford from storage, clean and sort it out, bolt things down and get it on the trailer....there was no motor in this one.



We finally got out of there some time around 1:30pm. The roads were not any better then the night before, and it was dark by 4:30pm.

Stopped to check trailer and chains...Gorgeous scenery. That pile of loose rock, down between the hills, is a Dam!





Didn't spin out on the way down, guess the slightly lighter truck helped there. But I did use the 4wd a little more on some of the steep switch back grades. It took us until about 10pm to get to my brother place down here. Quick drop of the trailer at his place, then I had to rush home, get cleaned up and get to bed so I could get up for work at 4am!

Over all I was pretty happy with the way the crew performed. Think I averaged about 13mpg for the trip. But considering that a straight away was probably less then 1/4 mile, and most of the trip was spent in 3rd gear doing 50km/h at 2000rpm. I think it did OK.

Now I have to wait for it to warm up so I can give Ol' Patches a good bath.

NJTman

Thanks for sharing that !


That looked like fun..... and also at times where you would have had to pull over and wipe yourself clean. I'm not a fan of downhill in the snowy weather with a trailer. Geesh! couldn't you have done this in the summer ?


Beautiful up there. OMG ! Simply amazing scenery photos....

I just came back from North Carolina with my mom's old ride. When she passed away, no one had legal rights to it, so it sat at my brother's store since Dec. 2012. Once the courts gave me full rights to it, I went down to get it... (after my sister in law was served papers by the state of NC). I used a U-haul and my wifes ride. Since she went along, we took the dogs with us, and made a day of it. No way was I taking the wife and 3 dogs to NC in the Dodge. I purchased the car from my mother's estate, and it's been made into my wife's new commuter vehicle. New tires, fuel pump, drained the tank, synthetic oil change, K&N air filter, antifreeze, wipers, etc...

You wouldn't believe how many U-haul dealers there are in NC....

patdaly

TC, I know eventually you are going to paint Patches, but I gotta say, I really like her just how she looks right now.

I can't put my fingers on it, she just looks like the unpretentious girl next door she is...........

mknittle

That is a cool story I am liking the old Fords. There is a 75 F250 in town here that I wish would follow me home

nice pictures. reminds me of some of the places around here(one of the reasons I liked logging so much.). They are mostly closed in winter due to deep snow though.

StealthDiesel

Nice write-up and great pictures.

What part of B.C. were you driving around? Up the Fraser Canyon?

I grew up in Williams Lake, SFU grad many years ago and moved to Calgary right after graduation at 22.

Still a Canucks and Lions fan though!


The crew-cab looks awesome. Not sure I would want to run it in the winter salt though...

MARF75

Looks like a 73,4, or 5 Ford.
72 was the last year of the previous body style

Awesome pics! Looks like it could've been a bit tight at times on that ride, if you know what I mean

madhat

Sweet pics, man. Good looking ride, too. Can't beat those 1st gens.

Meanwhile, I broke a mild sweat today in South Carolina!

thrashingcows

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. It was a good trip. Little dicey at times, since the one to three thousand drops have no barricades along the sides of the road. And that trailer pushing and causing the truck to slide down a 13% grade can be a little nerve racking. If I had an exhaust brake it would have made things just that much better.

We traveled from Chillwack up the Fraser canyon to Lyton, then over to Lillooet and then up to Bralorne BC.

My brother said that if this had been a usual year there would have been over 2 feet of snow already. The fact that there was only about 6-8" was the only reason we went.

j_martin

I've seen many a semi jackknife because of excessive engine braking. By the time they get the JB turned off, it's already folded up and going over the side.

Been driving with small truck big trailer loads for 45 years. I chain the rear most trailer axle with x chains, and gently use the trailer brakes to keep the rig in a straight line. The back axle because stopping force on it forces it downward and increases the grip.

Another trick is to have a cutoff switch on the brakes for the front most trailer axle. They're minimally effective anyway, and if you can leave one set rolling, it increases your chance for keeping it lined up.

StealthDiesel

Those roads would not be recommended in the winter while towing anything, especially with tires you had on your truck.
Nice job and excellent drivings skills to complete the trips with no issues.

Wifey and I have dreams of hooking up our 5th wheel and heading south for winters. Not sure how I will do towing in the winter though...


Lillooet to Pemberton is an "interesting" road. We love Whistler, even in the summer so we've taken our 30foot 5th wheel over that pass twice.
It's scary, even in the summer with perfect road conditions.
The road is now paved all the way, but not recommended for RV's.
It's completely closed in the winters.

If you plan to start towing regularily, I can't recommend an exhaust brake enough.

StealthDiesel

Excellent info.

I have a 5th wheels with about 2000 pounds pin weight, manual trans and exhaust brake.

What about chaining up the rear wheels on the truck and carefully using the exhaust brake while towing downhill on slippery roads?