When we
arrived in Comb Wash and
set up camp, we headed into Arch Canyon to see some Anasazi
ruins. We had a great night in Comb Wash; the rain stopped and the wind was
still. We gathered around our campfire to share
liquor and stories.
The photos below are what we saw.
Early in the day, I
launched the quad
copter and got some photos of the surrounding
area. The canyon with the Anasazi ruins, Arch Canyon is
shown in the photo above. The white Volkswagon camper is with another group.
Looking north in Comb Wash canyon from an altitude of
45 meters (the maximum
altitude setting for this quad copter).
Looking back at our camp site. These photos were taken with a
Ricoh sports camera. Better than the GoPro but
not as good as my Olympus EM-1.
We hiked over to the ruins to check them
out. We had to cross a swamp and bushwack through reeds to
get to the site.
There
were some interesting pictographs consisting of the
"usual" designs found at these sites.
Portions of the site were well
preserved. These walls were in good shape.
Clay-based mud is used
as the mortar to
seal out the wind and rain.
There was a ton of labor required to
produce a rock
wall such as this.
There were some interesting rock carvings
on the canyon walls.
These rock carving designs were rather
unique; we had not seen these designs at any other site that we have
visited.
Some of the rock walls were high enough that a scaffold would
have been required to build the wall.
More interesting carvings.
The Arch Canyon site was quite large and
consisted of a number of dwellings and many walls.
Chris Cole was leading the tire training
for the U500 guys. Some of the owners had never
changed a tire on
their truck, so it was very useful for them. Brad,
the owner of the orange U500 is dressed in his overalls because he is
going to be doing the bulk of the work.
First was a class room session where Chris covered the
essential topic of safety.
Vince covered the topic of lug nuts and
highlighted the difference between standard lug nuts and "skirt
nuts". The skirt nut (black) has a flange that fits tightly into the
extra space between the wheel and the lug bolt.
The Mercedes wheels are "hub centric" and
the central portion of the wheel hub centers the rim on the
hub. This wheel shows some evidence of "clocking" where the
wheel rotates on the hub until it impacts a lug.
Note the space between the lug and the rim. This can
be unsafe, so an upgrade to skirt nuts.
Several kinds of lifting devices (jack,
air bag) and aluminum foot blocks.
The first step is to get the jack
correctly and
safely positioned.
The group had insufficient blocks to use
a regular jack so Chris demonstrated a prototype long
extension jack he is building.
Once the load on the axle was removed, the lug nuts
were loosened and the tire/wheel removed.
The U500 wheel hub is a beefy assembly.
As
the training was progressing, I noted the thunderheads
building in the west.
As the training session was wrapping up,
the group was
loading in
anticipation of breaking camp.
Chris answered some final questions about the tire
changing process.
The tire was put back on Brad's rig and
the lugs were tightened
to specification.
Mark and Gail's rig.
The thunderheads continued to grow as the morning progressed.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2014, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.