Big angry eagle. Lift, stroker, aw4

[anrkii]

I havent posted an update in forever!
So a year and a half ago , I pretty much went broke, and I had to take a job in the Bakken oilfields of western North Dakota, 1250 miles away from my southwestern missouri home.
The only vehicle I own that could possibly tow my toolbox is, you guessed it, the eagle!
In march 2014 I stuffed my 2000+ lbs. of HD diesel toolbox and equipment into a uhaul trailer, hung a hitch off the car,  and headed north.
The eagle had been a toy and occasional daily driver and now its dragging my livelyhood to the butt end of ND.

I cant think of a better way to travel in the eagle than with $30,000 of tools strapped to the hitch  . the car made the trip, no problems, and is my daily driver here when I am at work. It towed just fine, but only got 11mpg doing so. ( I blame the lousy HEI distributor)
I am sure glad I added a block heater, and kept the electric heated intake manifold, It did start  all winter for me just fine, even in -40 temps, to the amazement of everyone, myself included!
Ive been working my butt off for a year up here, 24 days on, 10 off for over a year now, and Ive seen some some cool stuff.





One of my favorite spots up here is this little lake near White Earth, its in a small valley


The lake is teeming with these ugly buggers. Northern pike, watch out for the teeth!

And look, I even found a parts car out here in nowhere! Its the exact same color and trim options as my car was

[img]http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn199/cdh4088/IMG_20150331_190423_zpsuamttkeo.jpg[/img

So thats what Ive been up to lately. Ive got to say, that after working the bugs out, the IFS lift has turned out ok. The tires are too noisy, though. Ive got a DUI distributor thats ready to replace the cheapo ebay HEI, its been the only sore spot under the hood on this car, everything else has worked out pretty good.

I would like to thank you fellow nesters for all the info and parts support.   

Two years later and living with it daily I still love this car! 

[Nightpath]

Nice looking Eagle, good to see it could haul that weight all that way!

Glad you're enjoying it

[eaglefreek]

Good to see you're still around. 24 days straight is a tough gig, but having 10 days off in a row is nice. I heard it was really hard and expensive to find housing there. Has the oil prices effected you guys out there, yet? My 86 gets 11-13 towing, also. A lifted Eagle isn't the most aerodynamic and the L6 is the best engine for economy.

[Prafeston]

The car looks great! Glad to hear it's been treating you good too. One of those wheels and your front skid plate I'm proud to say came from me! Did your family move with you or have you been living apart? Hope they are paying you well so you can get home if you are living apart! Still working on a roof rack and lighting setup?

[anrkii]

The longest stretch was 37 days back in January, Ill admit it was a bit difficult.

I have a decent setup, Transportation to and from work is provided, plus housing while im here. we share a company van and make the 2500 mile rount trip every month. The provided housing is a big deal  because here in Tioga or in nearby Williston, a plain 2 bedroom apt. can cost upwards of $2800 monthly. several of my coworkers are from missouri as well, Ive worked with several of them in the past. Our company is somewhat of a southern refugee camp.
I was standing on the front porch in my skivvies having a smoke one morning, and a ratty, rusted out old dodge went blazing by waving an eight foot dixie flag from the bed.   
I worked my butt off becoming a top notch HD diesel engine and electrical technician back home for thirteen years,while slowly going broke. Wages are stagnant in SW Missouri. My income has tripled coming here and I do mostly fleet work. One day ill be overhauling a C-15, and the next busting trailer tires and brakes, or doing field service on all sorts of things in some not great weather. I like the challenge , but I dont get to see my wife and kids nearly enough.

The extra money is nice, but my goal is eventually to move to a place that is both pleasant, and where one can make a living wage as well. ND is not the place to raise my family, but neither is Springfield MO. Ive been looking at coastal Alabama. My whole family loves that part of the gulf. I may look at Alaska too, I plan to ride the ALCAN up there this summer and check it out. That will be exciting.

Prafeston, Ive got all the relays, switches and wiring installed and ready to go for all sorts of cool stuff, but I just didnt get any of the extras done before I had to put her to use. Thanks for the parts BTW.

[Prafeston]

We fired our Fleet Mechanic out here in Bullfrog, UT. Hint Hint. Really not a great place to raise your kids cause there just aren't a lot of young ones around I think the school here had a little over 20 kids in it...K-12 grade! The people here are great though and the small community atmosphere is nice!

But you can't beat the views and your Eagle would out last you before rust would ever be an issue!

You'd be working on things like this!


My backyard!

[Nightpath]

Makes my working in the airforce on airplanes look boring. Of course...I've been around the world a few times

I'd love to see the parts you added for that lift made into a kit, no doubt they'd sell like crazy to every Eagle owner.

[anrkii]

When did you move out to Utah? I thought you were nearby in Missouri. Move for a job? Whats Utah like?

I am trying to get work on an offshore rig. Its not the easiest job to land, but those guys get so much time off. some schedules are 14 on , 21 off.
Then move us to coastal Alabama. I could have enough money to get by AND have a life at the same time.

[Prafeston]

Yeah, it's been almost exactly a year since we moved out here. Up rooted from my boring job to come have an adventure. We love the desert. It gets hot, but the dry heat isn't nearly as bad as MO!

http://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=43183.15