With an itch to try out the new manual transmission and twin sticks in the Eric’s 62, Eric, Tony and his kids, Don and his son went out to Walker with both the wagons. We lucked out with a nice day of sun, but still had a brisk breeze from time to time to make you want to stay in the vehicle with the heaters on. This was also a chance to play with a new camera for wheeling, a GoPro Hero camera.
We arrived at Walker about 9:30 with a full parking lot of ATV’s and a few Jeeps. After airing down, we set off to see how the tranny would do. With every intent to start out easy, since Eric had not wheeled with a manual in about 10 years, we did not. The smell of burnt clutch filled the chilled air around us, with light frustration. The ground was also not in favorable conditions, adding to the already difficult time with the clutch. Eric’s front winch was not hooked up when it needed to be, but fixed no problem. All in all things went well. After getting used to that third pedal, the hand throttle, and the not as low crawl ratio, it got better as the day went on. Both Tony and Eric were pulling cable in places we had never needed. Both of us were having problems on areas where we wouldn’t even thought to, but we got through with great spotting by Don and Tony’s sons.
Of course Walker didn’t let us leave without it leaving it’s mark on us. Both rigs endured some “visual enhancements”. Luckily in places that just “enhanced” areas more. A great day of wheeling and getting out to enjoy the outdoors was had by all. The camera worked great as you can see in the video. The wide angled lens took some getting used to, but this was a learning trip for many things. As for the transmission and the twin sticks, it’s awesome. I am glad I did the conversion. Having 2-Lo with a Lock-rite in front is heaven going downhill around turns. Yeah the auto is nice in a lot of areas, but when I get the crawl ratio down more soon, the auto will never cross my mind again.
Thanks all who came, and for those who didn’t, you missed out.
