Fillmore, Utah and New Vehicular Issues

I guess you should never embark on a long drive in a vehicle with a known issue. Before leaving Calgary, Trish and I discusssed the possible vehicular failures that could occur given the known and potential issues with the vehicle. One thing we discussed was the condition of Grover's swivel balls. Swivel balls are part of the mechanism which allows the front wheels, brakes and hubs to turn relative to the axle which is attached, via the springs, the frame. Grover's swivel balls are 53 years old, corroded, pitted and leak oil like seives.

I knew prior to the trip that the condition of the swivel balls was an issues as anything that leaks oil can also allow in water leading to corrosion and eventual failure. However, I had neither the money to get somebody else to fix them (it is a very time intesive job to fix) or the time to fix them myself before my departure. Today they started to show the first signs of wear and tear with the upper swivel pins, the parts that actually allow the front tires to steer, exhibiting significant play. I guess several thousand miles of driving and the 60 or so miles of corrugated roads yesterday did them in.

I decided today to drive to Salt Lake City, instead of to my next sample location in Vernal, Utah to discuss the issue with a Rover shop there called Great Basin Rovers. They agreed with my diagnosis and we discussed the potential failure modes. Having decided that none of the possible failures were particularly dangerous I elected not to fix the swivels at this time and continue my journey. It is highly likely that the I won't have any problems getting back to Calgary as long as I don't do anything to stress the swivel pins futher. This means that offroading is out of the question, unfortunately precluding me from collecting my eastern Uinta Mountains sample. This sample location was just not meant to be. It was the location I skipped on my journey south due to issues with White River National Forest.

Today I managed to collect samples of the Tintic Sanstone up Chalk Creek Canyon within Fishlake National Forest and samples of the Tintic and underlying crystalline rocks in Ogden Canyon, near Ogden Utah. Ogden Canyon was by far my most dangerous sample location being on a narrow road through the canyon with no shoulders and bordered by shear cliffs. Here's a shot looking to the east up the canyon.

The Tintic Sandstone itself was quite pretty with large and small scale cross bedding and conglomeratic beds. Here's a panorama of the Tintic exposed on the northern side of the canyon.

The pipeline running through the panorama is the Ogden Canyon Conduit, a 75" pipeline with connects the Pineview Dam to several irrigation canals near Ogden city.

After collecting my samples from Ogden Canyon I headed east toward Huntsville, Utah and I am camped at the Andersone Cove Campground.Tomorrow I head north to a sample location within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest near High Creek and on to Helena, Montana.