It’s been a little bit since my last update. A big part of that has been related to some Truck Troubles that we have had.
At the beginning of August, when we were in the Twin Falls area of Idaho, the truck threw some codes related to the Diesel Particulate Filter and was regenerating frequently. I was fortunate and able to find a shop close by (within walking distance!) to address the issues. They looked into it and resolved the issues, or so we thought.
Fast forward a bit later to the end of September, and the truck threw the same codes, but with an additional code pertaining to DPF soot build up. When we got to the Rapid City, SD area – we were staying in Custer, SD in the Black Hills, I had it looked at by a shop in Rapid City.
The shop found some of the same issues but indicated that the whole DPF assembly on the truck might need to be replaced, and that it would take 1) some time to get the parts and 2) take him about 3 weeks to get to the truck. Well, this didn’t work for a variety of reasons, the least of which was the campground we were staying at shuts down for the year on 4 Oct, and we couldn’t afford to hang out into late Oct waiting. Not to mention, the cold weather coming (eventually) – this time last year there was snow on the ground according to the locals.
So, we were at a decision point at what to do with the truck and the trip in general. Doing some research on available truck nearby, I was able to find one that met our needs at a reasonable price. So, we decided to purchase the new (to us) truck, a 2020 F350 dually, now christened Huginn, and send our (now) old truck, Fenrir, back to Florida to be repaired by the shop I use there.
Fenrir being loaded up on the trailer for transport back to Florida. Fortunately, the problem didn’t strand us on the road, but the assessment was that if the problems went unaddressed, that eventually it would lead to a force shutdown situation, stranding us. That is an unacceptable situation for us to be in.
Picking up Huginn at the dealership in Rapid City. The truck had all the add-ons that we would have added. It was perfect and ready to go!
Ready to go on the maiden voyage! Heading out of Custer, SD and down out of the Black Hills I got to learn how the new truck handled on the grades. Huginn did very well. I learned how to use the engine brake, which wasn’t available on Fenrir. With the trailer and the engine brake, I was able to maintain about a 42 mph descent on a 6% grade without touching the brakes, which was very nice.
I still have some learning to do on the newer truck and the various features it has, but that will come with time. The adventure continues!
Thanks for reading!
Sign up on Patreon as a free member to get notified of updates on our Journey! You can read about other stops on our adventure here on Patreon, or at our blog at https://www.wolfandraven.blog
You can also buy us a coffee!