low-64 high-83....it's the best time of year here.
low-64 high-83....it's the best time of year here.
Warm. sunny and in the 80's in Tampa Bay area of Florida.
I feel sorry for those in the mid west from the ice storm.
My mother lives in Missouri. She was without electricity for a few days because of the storm. I told her to come to Florida.
See!!!!Deermagnet got it....Looks like home to me!!
Other than a beefed up Samauri that doesn't come out in the snow, my VX is the only rig capable of pulling into the parking stalls the plow piles all the snow into. If I wasn't so busy I would definitely be driving up some canyons and having some fun. Maybe around Christmas!![]()
Sent from my "two hands on a keyboard"
I'm fairly certain that I owned the two farthest north VXs on the planet (7 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska).
Sadly, we don't get as much snow as you'd think, but we do get our fair share of cold.
Our VXs ran like new even as cold as -53F. The only cold related issues that I ever saw were the Rancho 9000 shocks blowing out their oil (oil turns to Jello at those temps) and both vehicles pretty much stayed fogged up, which is annoying as the fog freezes on the inside of the windows. You need to use your ice scraper to keep it cleaned off.
For a cost to value comparison, we ended up trading the Ironman for a V8 Touareg ($50k new). The first day at -20F the following happened:
-mirror mounted turn signal lenses cracked spontaneously,
-the door skins expanded and broke the sealant from the door frame (*pop*), then they rattled around until we got rid of it,
-the battery froze (it is in the passenger compartment),
-the TPMS sensors went into permanant alarm,
-3rd gear went out,
-the luggage rack loosened up to the point that it wouldn't stay in position,
-the PCV valve froze closed, overpressuring the oil system -causing EVERY seal to blow out, spraying 7 quarts of oil everywhere.
-the self aiming HIDs stopped aiming, they just got stuck in the down position,
-a ground strap loosened up, causing a voltage drop from the nominal (an necessary) 13.8V. This caused a whole host of gremlins, from flickering dash lights to a failed steering wheel heater.
-I'm sure that there's more, but I was too disgusted to take notes by then...
The point is, that cold weather really highlights any bad engineering. My VXs (and the handful of others up here) have never experienced a cold-related failure. Way to go Isuzu!
Another storm is hitting us today. This time it's all snow for me. I went out this afternoon and shot some video in my VX going up a steep unplowed hill. I now have all-season tires and not A/T tires, so I used 4-LO in drive to help me out. Some slipping, but no big problems. Another storm will hit us on Sunday.
48 seconds and 18.3 mb, wmv file-
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/vids/sno.wmv
Mark Griffin (a VX lifer)![]()
Last edited by deermagnet : 01/15/2008 at 12:54 PM
Took the VX out this morning and wheeled for about 3 hours up and around the Dog Valley range. Lots of loose fluffy snow, lots of hard packed snow, and some icey spots. The VX did alot better than I thought it would climbing in the powder and generally not slipping to much. The BFG A/Ts also probably helped quite a bit. I did have a little nerve wracking moment however, where I wanted to turn around, so I backed up down another (less traveled) trail off to the left. As I backed down I found out the other trail had a minor decline to it, and I struggled a bit to get back up onto the main trail. I was stuck for about 2 minutes, but two minutes too long when you are 4 miles up the side of a snow covered mountain...But the VX prevailed and with a little spinning and revving I got out of it...whew.
Saw tons of mule deer and just plain enjoyed the winter scenery.
Bart
We're coming up to 2ft right now in upstated New York! You can all of it you want. Personally I'd rather be driving on a beach!
"I'm fairly certain that I owned the two farthest north VXs on the planet (7 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska)."
Beach - I spent 6 1/2 weeks there one day - I mean I spent some time there (Greely) a few years back. The only place I've been where it was too cold to snow. The air was so dessicated that the snow evaporated before it hit the ground. Beautiful place tho. I'd love to see it in the summer months.
Deermagnet - there were no deer in the video. Did you have the magnet turned off or is your rep as deerslayer keeping you safe now? LOL
gasmask - nice pix. Your Eb looks good against the snow.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Put a smiley after you say that Bub.
I have spent many weeks at Ft. Greely -that place is awful. Beautiful, but awful. I hit my alltime record there, minus 62*F (ambient temp, not counting the 18 knot wind). 6 of us packed ourselves into a crusty snow cave and huddled together to stay warm for two days.
When the base was closing down, they were entertaining the thought of turning it into a SuperMax style maximum security prison. Imagine being sent there...
Those pictures look great -that's a really pretty area all times of the year.
The latest storm stayed to the north and socked New England. We just got a nuisance snowfall here, but ya gotta love when the snow sticks to the trees.
VX video from this morning-
1:06, 60.4 mb, 640x480, wmv file-
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/vids/1-15-08.wmv
Same video, smaller version-
1:06, 14.3 mb, 320x240, wmv file-
http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/vids/11508.wmv
Mark Griffin
Last edited by deermagnet : 01/18/2008 at 05:17 AM