You bought what?? 88 Eagle Wagon - Overlander Build

[amarshall]

This is the route we plan to take in August. 



We start at the Arkansas/Oklahoma state line and head West.  We have two weeks so we expect to get into Utah, fingers crossed.  I will be riding with two buddies on motorcycles the whole way.  A fourth guy is flying out to meet us for the 2nd week. I am picking him up at the Colorado Springs airport Friday night, August 17.  That's really the only thing that's locked in, so a meet & greet might be best on Saturday morning the 18th - since I know roughly where we will be.

Other than that, Laura if you are along the route let me know where and we'll drop in for a quick "howdy" as we go past.

[trucker79005]

You'll be within 30 miles or so of us when you get about half way across the Oklahoma panhandle. It's always fun to put a face to the forum name. Will have to get a way to contact and try to catch you for the quick howdy. Riding across here in the middle of august should make you ready for an ice water stop!

[amarshall]

Yes, August will be hot for sure but some of the places we are going in Colorado are only open from late July to September.  We need to go through there when the snow is gone.  At least I have A/C in the Eagle - my buddies on the bikes will be cooking in all their gear.  From what we hear about the trail in Oklahoma, it's either deep sand or deep mud, depending on the rainfall.

Laura, I'll PM you and we can trade info for a possible drive-by.

[Ace2600]

I know this thread is dead? but whatever happened to the eagle? Did you get the trip done?

[eaglefreek]

I'll answer for him. It's sitting in a storage unit in Utah waiting for the next, maybe last, leg of the trip this summer.

[amarshall]

I've been having problems posting the past couple days, not sure what is going on.  I have a bunch of pictures, but that will have to come later.
 I've been meaning to give a trip report from last August for a while.  We spent 2 weeks on the Trans-America Trail and got from Arkansas to Salt Lake City.  About 2000 miles on dirt, and much of it some pretty hairy stuff through Colorado and Utah.  Oklahoma was muddy - my two buddies on motorcycles couldn't stay up on some of the slick stuff.  At least I wasn't going to fall over in the Eagle!

Before the trip I had another round of mad thrashing.  I changed both my differentials to get to 3.07 gears.  Found an Eagle front axle in 3.07, and had it shipped to me thanks to VanGremlin!!  Then I found a Jeep Cherokee rear axle in a matching ratio, it's a Chrysler 8-1/4" so a little stronger.  The higher gearing really helped with my big mud tires, and brought the engine back into it's power range.  Third was really almost useless before.  Still not fast - it's an Eagle - but much better!

I also swapped the transfer case for a NP242 from a Cherokee, adding a full locked 4Lo.  Driveshaft from a Jeep Grand Cherokee was about the right length, just needed a different style slip joint.  Getting the 4wd shifter in was last minute, so I still need to clean up the boot and carpet.  But that was the only reason I was able to tackle the mountain passes in Colorado.  The Eagle is now like a billy goat, just keeps on crawling up the mountains.  On some of the passes near Silverton CO, there were plenty of very fancy Jeeps and side-by-sides, and we got a lot of funny looks showing up in the Eagle.  We were coming down off Ophir Pass and the road was nothing but 10" boulders for about a mile.  One guy in a very nice Jeep CJ said he hadn't seen an Eagle in years, and I joked that we had been stuck at the top of the pass since the 90's!

-to be continued

[Blip Downshift]

I just found this thread and read the entire thing.   I'm not usually a Eagle wagon guy (although I've owned one) but yours has to be among my favorites (Eagles in general not just wagons).  Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading the update from last years journey.

[amarshall]

I just found this thread and read the entire thing.   I'm not usually a Eagle wagon guy (although I've owned one) but yours has to be among my favorites (Eagles in general not just wagons).  Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading the update from last years journey.

Thanks!  I originally bought the "Eagle Knievel" just for this trip as I knew it would take multiple trips.  I told my wife I'd sell it when I got to Oregon.  But all my buddies swear I'm going to be buried in it, and they just may be right!  I love this thing.

Still having trouble posting, but I'll put bits and pieces from last year's trail.  There are tons of amazing pictures, the scenery was unbelievable.

[Taylor]

Have you been able to upload the photos and links you were attempting to load the last few days?

[amarshall]

Have you been able to upload the photos and links you were attempting to load the last few days?

No, not yet.  It seems to be related to the length of the post also.  I wrote this huge update, and I'm having to post it in chunks.  If I try to post too much at once, I get that error message I sent you and then I can't reload the site for a while.  After an hour or so it resets and I can try again.  Maybe I'm tripping some spam protection mechanism?

[amarshall]

Anyway...to continue:

I've lost track of all the stuff I've done to the "Eagle Knievel" at this point.  I'm getting really good at spark plugs, rejetting the carb, setting the timing for different altitudes.  And also fixing door handles - the first round of repairs didn't last in my front doors, but I've got it figured out now I think.  Had a new catalytic converter put in, a bit of a hack job but it's ok for now.  Had a problem with overheating (again) and finally replaced the fan clutch at a campsite (thanks to EagleFreek for the phone support!) and bingo - that was the problem I've been chasing for two years I think.  Coming down out of Colorado into Green River, Utah one of the rear brake lines failed.  I had moved the old Eagle lines over to the Cherokee axle, and the corrosion and vibration finally won.  Found a local shop to run a new line and we were back on the road!  I told the shop owner I'd tell all my Eagle buddies about his shop, and he said "Please don't. I get an Eagle in here every couple years, that's plenty."  Hah!

[amarshall]

We stored the Eagle and the two motorcycles in Salt Lake City, and we will finish the Trans-America Trail this year.  We are planning a week in July from SLC to Boise ID, and then a second week in August to get from Boise to the Pacific Ocean.

Every time we turned around there was something new and amazing scenery.  These pics don't do it justice, but here are some random pictures of the 2018 leg.

----

Hauling 2 motorcycles from Nashville to Arkansas - what could go wrong?

[amarshall]

New shifter for 4wd.  Not pretty, but it works fantastic!




Chasing a motorcycle in Oklahoma, very flat and those clouds turned to mud.



This is somewhere in Colorado, rest break.



Tweaking the timing became a daily chore.  Up to 12,000ft then back down to about 6,000 the next minute.



I can't even remember what the problem was here, but my buddies love to take these pictures.



Holy cow, look at this scenery!



Made it to the top of the world!  I think this is Cinnamon Pass, Colorado.



The bikes had a hard time staying vertical.  The Eagle never tipped over, thank god.



Try doing this for 2000 miles!  We rode these vehicles HARD.




This is my favorite shot, seems like we are on another planet.



A new sticker for every state we finished.  2019 will be Utah, Idaho, and Oregon.



The Eagle ended up being the pack mule for the group, we had to get all the extra weight off the bikes to help the riders endure.



All stored and ready for the big finish in 2019!

[Ace2600]

MAN, That is a good looking eagle. Consider me jealous!!

[Taylor]

Thanks for the thread. Lots of great pictures.
On the trouble posting. I know there is a size limit for photos. 5MB, No limit with overall data. I just haven’t found it yet. I need a 36hr day for everything I need to do, including work on My Eagle.
Did you travel the Trans America Trail?