On episode 68 of Dirt Every Day
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 On this Dirt Every Day we're taking a '78 Monster Van to the hills of Oregon for the
00:13 Gambler 500.
00:14 So
00:44 we bought this 1978 van, it's a Dodge Tradesman 200, and it's four-wheel drive because we're
00:51 going to Oregon for the Gambler 500.
00:53 The Gambler 500 is a vehicle race that's based around cheap vehicles, and every year we do
00:58 our Cheap Truck Challenge.
01:00 This year we decided rather than do our own Cheap Truck Challenge, we're going to go to
01:03 the Gambler and compete in something that we could take off-road and go four-wheeling.
01:07 The idea there is that it should be a $500 car, but it's kind of grown into like a 500-mile
01:12 race with a bunch of really wacky machines, and we were running out of time, so rather
01:17 than spend $500, we spent a lot more and got this really awesome van.
01:21 Dave is already in love with it, you can see he doesn't even want to get out of the thing.
01:24 It's got shag carpet, it's got diamond tuck headliner, it's got tinfoil rack and toilet
01:29 paper.
01:30 It's got a bridge!
01:31 It's got a bridge inside!
01:32 It's got a bed.
01:33 This is like straight out of the '70s.
01:36 This is probably where your mom and dad met you.
01:39 We're almost out of budget because we spent so much buying the thing, so we're going to
01:42 take this thing down to the shop, we've got to put bigger tires and wheels on it, we've
01:45 got to go underneath the thing and see what's loose and what's broken, because we've got
01:48 a 500-mile race and we're going to dominate in this thing.
01:53 As you know, I'm a huge fan of four-wheel drive vans, and I love the look of the old
01:57 Dodge vans.
01:58 This one is kind of strange because it seems like it was a four-wheel drive conversion
02:01 at one point, and then the whole front end was redone at another point.
02:04 Kind of a radius arm three-link with a track bar, it has coil springs, it has these aluminum
02:09 steering, drag link and tie rod, so it's actually pretty well built.
02:13 The front axle is a Dana 44, we don't know if it has any sort of locking differential
02:17 in it or not, and under the hood is a Dodge 360.
02:21 From there it's got a Torque Flight 727 transmission and then a 203 transfer case.
02:26 In the back it looks like it's got a Chrysler 8.25 rear end.
02:29 It's got lifted leaf springs, it's got lift blocks, it's got airbags, it's got shocks,
02:35 and it's got traction bars.
02:36 So there's pretty much nothing that can go wrong with the back of this.
02:39 So this is this crazy adapter that we got.
02:42 This part bolts to the axle.
02:45 Please clear that hub.
02:46 Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully.
02:49 Perfect.
02:50 And then this part will bolt to that and we'll get an eight lug pattern.
02:55 Optimally, I would always say if you want to go to eight lug, you should put an eight
02:58 lug axle in.
03:00 You could get an eight lug hub for Dana 44, so that would be another inexpensive route.
03:06 That would be a big undertaking because this thing's unit bearing and no hubs and all that
03:11 stuff.
03:12 And we're going four wheeling in like four days.
03:15 And this is pretty quick.
03:17 We called the guys at Tire Rack, got us some brand new General Grabbers X3s on some American
03:22 Racing Gold rims.
03:23 Because we're going to be catching the gold trophy when we win this rally race in our
03:29 backyard.
03:30 See that?
03:31 That's the van that will be stealing all the girlfriends of all the losers of this race.
03:44 Fred says we haven't, but we've had problems with wheel adapters in the past.
03:47 And usually they revolve around like the lug nut galling up to the stud just to play it
03:52 safe.
03:53 So if we actually have to change a tire on the trail, put a little NICs on there so that
03:57 hopefully if we need to take a wheel back off, the stud doesn't end up spinning in the
04:01 adapter and causing new problems.
04:03 We've got to stop it with new problems and just fix our old problems.
04:07 We're kind of going a little bit rogue on this project because we're not really getting
04:13 too in depth on the build.
04:15 We're just going to take this thing to Oregon and dominate in the woods.
04:18 This Gambler 500 might be 500 miles.
04:21 We're not really even sure about that.
04:23 It's not even a $500 project.
04:25 So basically we're breaking all the rules once again.
04:28 The guy said it was good to go, so it's good to go.
04:30 It's good to go.
04:31 I'm going to check all the fluids, make sure everything will run and drive.
04:52 Why did you put that on backwards, Fred?
04:54 I put it on backwards because when they film the show, they actually film everything in
04:58 reverse and then they run it all through a mirror program that flips it over.
05:03 That's why you look so much better on camera and in real life you're not so good looking.
05:08 I think he did it because it's supposed to look like an ambulance and when we're coming
05:12 up on your six, you better get out of the way because dirt every day is driving through.
05:18 Yeah.
05:19 Yeah.
05:20 Better get out of the way because dirt every day is driving through.
05:23 I like that idea.
05:25 That's a good one.
05:27 Let's go.
05:28 Okay.
05:29 So we put big tires on the van.
05:32 Now it's time to go get some sweet graphics.
05:35 Next stop, Oregon for the Gambler 500.
05:38 You ready, Dave?
05:39 Let's roll.
05:40 Drives way better now.
05:41 Oh yeah.
05:42 Transmission seems to shift better now.
05:43 Did you put any fluid in it?
05:44 No, I put bigger tires on it.
05:45 Oh.
05:46 Oh, the brakes are-
05:47 Really good?
05:48 They work-ish.
05:49 This thing doesn't seem to be doing too well.
05:50 I don't know.
05:51 I don't know.
05:52 This thing doesn't seem to be too big of a pile.
05:54 No, dude.
05:55 This thing's going to be rad.
05:56 Does it do burnouts?
05:57 I'm getting ripped, Fred.
05:58 Here's your tire, Dave.
05:59 Thanks.
06:00 So for this Tire Rack Minute, I want to talk to you guys about big tires.
06:09 I know a lot of you think that big tires are just for exercising, cross-fitting, and getting
06:13 strong, but that's not true.
06:15 There's a reason we run big tires on off-road vehicles because big tires do a lot of things
06:20 for your 4x4.
06:21 It gives you ground clearance.
06:23 By raising the axle up to the middle of the tire, you have more clearance underneath the
06:26 axle when you're rock crawling or going through deep mud.
06:29 Also, it has a larger rolling radius.
06:32 This larger rolling radius lets you crawl over things.
06:35 It fills big holes with all tire.
06:38 Plus another thing we really like about big tires is these large tread voids.
06:42 These General Grabber X3s allow you to have a bigger gap here so you can grab onto mud
06:47 and rocks and give you more traction off-road.
06:49 Basically, big tires are great all around.
06:52 Surely you get big and strong and buff if you work out with these things all day long,
06:56 but that's not really what big tires are for.
06:58 Big tires give you better performance off-road.
07:00 Keep it up, Dave.
07:01 Let's go, man.
07:02 Good morning.
07:32 It's Saturday morning, about 7 a.m.
07:35 We are at the Gambler 500.
07:36 This is the start of this epic off-road adventure rally race contraption disaster that they
07:42 have up here in Portland, Oregon.
07:44 Dave is in the van with our producer.
07:46 He's trying to figure out the GPS system.
07:49 The camera guys are over here nerding up with their camera gear, putting propellers on their
07:52 airplanes and checking F-stops and whatever those guys do.
07:56 Let's go look around a little bit.
07:58 I'm going to show you some of the crazy stuff that they have here.
08:01 These guys already have a rod nuck in this car over here.
08:04 This guy is looking rad.
08:05 Good morning, guys.
08:06 Hey, big fan of the show, man.
08:08 Thank you.
08:09 I love what you do.
08:10 What are you guys racing in?
08:11 Well, we did have the '95 Ford Escort that we turned into a pickup, and we got a rod
08:17 knock in on the way down here.
08:18 You're going to run it, though, right?
08:20 She's done.
08:21 What?
08:22 No, it'll be fine.
08:23 There's lots of Subarus, tons of Miatas, all types of road warrior, Mad Max type stuff,
08:29 and we are packed back in the corner, and the starting gate is way over there.
08:33 So somehow, we have to sneak our way through all of this or stand in line.
08:38 This is a approximately 500-mile race in vehicles ranging from $500 up to who knows what.
08:45 There's all variety of kind of clapped out cool race cars here, Cadillacs, limousines,
08:50 purses, and tons and tons of cool vans.
08:53 Our van is here looking really nice.
08:55 It's right over there.
08:56 We've got a beautiful mural of Dave painted as a wizard on one side and me as Conan.
09:01 They give us a list of coordinates.
09:03 We'll be running some easy courses part of the day, and then later on, we'll get into
09:06 harder stuff.
09:07 A lot of people have recovery vehicles with them, like their buddies following them along.
09:12 We don't really have that.
09:13 We have camera crew, so hopefully, we won't have to drag them out of anything, and they
09:16 won't have to drag us out of anything.
09:17 The van looks awesome.
09:19 We got the bigger tires on it.
09:21 Dave backed it off the trailer today, and the power steering pump was leaking, and something
09:24 about a radiator hose maybe going out.
09:27 I know there's some people here really trying to win the race, but I think the idea of the
09:31 Gambler 500 is go out, have a bunch of fun with a bunch of other people and wacky machines
09:36 all over the town, and find your way to camp tonight and hopefully be in one piece at the
09:41 end of the day.
09:42 I've been looking forward to this for like all year long, coming back up to Portland.
09:46 I was born in Portland, raised up here in Pacific Northwest, and what better way to
09:50 see the country and go through all these scenic places and go off-roading?
09:54 What better way than in this van with all these crazy people?
09:57 Woo!
09:58 All right.
09:59 Come on, little van.
10:00 Don't let us down.
10:01 We have a lot to learn today.
10:02 Most of it involves following this contraption.
10:03 We have no idea what we're doing, but we punched in a couple coordinates.
10:04 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:05 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:06 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:07 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:08 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:09 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:10 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:11 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:12 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:13 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:36 We're going to try to figure out what's going on.
10:56 Are you having fun yet?
10:57 I'm having a blast.
10:58 Yeah.
10:59 I have absolutely no idea where we are.
11:00 I know you don't.
11:01 But I've learned to just follow my nose.
11:02 No, you haven't.
11:03 We're following this thing.
11:04 I've learned to follow this thing.
11:05 I'm going to try to figure out what's going on.
11:06 I've learned to follow the thing that knows.
11:09 There's some guys in the Toyota SR5 wagon for sale.
11:28 That thing's rad.
11:29 Whoa, gosh.
11:30 Whoa.
11:31 Whoa, dang.
11:32 That guy is serious.
11:33 I can't wait to punch him.
11:34 I can't wait to punch in the next coordinates and see where it takes us.
11:38 So do you have to reach the coordinates that we're headed to in order to go to the next
11:42 one?
11:43 Yeah, we got to finish this route.
11:44 Then we go back to our log and we punch it in the next one.
11:47 It's like we got an LTD Bremazin broke down on the left.
11:52 Uh-oh.
11:53 Uh-oh.
11:54 Got it.
11:55 These guys in their four-door JKs might be onto something.
11:58 Is this our spot?
12:01 Is this our turnaround?
12:04 We're in the middle of the woods.
12:07 What's going on, Dave?
12:08 We got to the end of that checkpoint and there's this huge pile up of cars.
12:13 There's broke down stuff over there.
12:14 What's up, guys?
12:15 These guys are coming in hot in this Suzuki Swift.
12:18 So we got to this point because this is what the GPS said to go to?
12:21 Yeah, now we punch in the new one.
12:23 Hi, guys.
12:24 Sweet X. It'll tell us to go somewhere else.
12:26 Oh, sweet.
12:27 Give us five.
12:28 Hey, guys.
12:29 You guys are doing awesome.
12:30 Have fun.
12:31 We aren't broken yet.
12:32 We're just going to have to get back to the car.
12:33 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:34 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:35 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:36 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:37 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:38 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:39 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:40 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:41 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:42 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:43 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:44 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:45 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:46 We're going to have to get back to the car.
12:47 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:02 Tires are down.
13:03 4x4 is locked and loaded.
13:05 GoPros are goping.
13:07 Belt's squealing.
13:09 Let's go up here and see what's on this little track.
13:12 When I first saw this van, I thought, man,
13:15 that van looks like a fun van to take on a dirt bike track.
13:19 You're not going to get it-- oh, gosh.
13:21 I think the spring just fell out.
13:23 Hang on, pal.
13:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:27 Yep.
13:28 Jump!
13:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:32 Yeah, this is what I pictured Bannon was like.
13:37 [LAUGHTER]
13:41 You're not going to get the speed for the whoops now.
13:44 Oh, that's it right there.
13:45 Yeah.
13:46 Woo!
13:49 Oh, jeez.
13:52 This is it right here.
13:55 Oh, jeez.
13:56 You're not really going this fast.
13:58 Oh, jeez.
14:00 All right, throw her in the burp.
14:03 That's where it gets good, right there.
14:06 We lost the whole wardrobe.
14:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:11 Everything fell over.
14:13 Oh, OK.
14:15 What do you want to do, Dave?
14:17 Let's go try out the hill climbs.
14:19 It looks like the rock crawl section's
14:21 not accessible right now.
14:22 So let's try out our southern style hill killer skills.
14:26 Watch out.
14:27 That thing's about tipping over again.
14:29 I'll hold this thing steady.
14:31 You drive.
14:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:36 This looks good.
14:39 How's it feel?
14:41 It's great.
14:43 It doesn't have many low ranges.
14:47 There we go.
14:48 You're going for it, huh?
14:55 Oh, come on.
15:03 I think it's going to get it.
15:05 It's going to get it.
15:06 A little my way.
15:07 Woo-hoo!
15:09 Man!
15:10 That was fantastic.
15:13 She's a big girl.
15:15 Yeah.
15:16 This should really test the articulation
15:18 pretty well through here.
15:20 Yep.
15:21 I think this is teaching us how to build a van.
15:23 Maybe not this van, but our next vans.
15:26 May have lost a brake line.
15:32 You want me to spot you?
15:33 Oh, boy.
15:34 Yeah, you should spot me.
15:36 Because we're losing brakes.
15:38 All right, stop there.
15:42 Hard driver back for like one foot.
15:45 Or you can go forward.
15:46 Remember, I don't have brakes.
15:48 OK.
15:49 Go forward another foot.
15:52 Right there.
15:53 There appears to be an easier route if you
15:59 go hard right right there.
16:01 OK.
16:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
16:06 This brake line was not long enough for all the travel
16:17 that our suspension had because our suspension was super flexy.
16:20 So Dave hitched a ride to town to get a brake line that
16:23 will hopefully work, some brake fluid, brake cleaner.
16:26 But basically, I'm going to start pulling this brake line off.
16:29 We'll put it up on the ground.
16:30 Basically, I'm going to start pulling this brake line off.
16:32 We'll put it all back together, fill it up with brake fluid,
16:35 and try to get to camp before dark, which I think
16:37 we have a half a finger's width of light
16:40 before the sun goes behind the horizon.
16:42 [ENGINE REVVING]
16:48 We made it, Fred.
16:56 This is awesome.
16:58 This is hoodoo.
16:59 Yeah, I didn't know we were camping at a ski resort.
17:02 Or you would have brought your ski pants.
17:04 I would have brought something other than flip flops.
17:06 So tomorrow, we got to get back to Portland
17:09 via some more off-road trails.
17:11 But day one, Gambler 500, Gambler 250 down, 250 to go.
17:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
17:21 [ENGINE REVVING]
17:24 How'd you sleep?
17:33 I was cold.
17:34 I hammocked it up in the trees.
17:36 I slept in the back of this van.
17:38 It was awesome.
17:39 I had some wild dreams.
17:41 So we got to hit up like one or two trails today
17:44 and get across the state back to Portland
17:46 so we can finish this thing up.
17:48 And I got to be on a plane at 6 o'clock.
17:50 There was a big party here last night
17:52 that we kind of saw some of.
17:53 And then there's supposed to be a bigger party at the ending.
17:56 Yeah.
17:57 And apparently, a lot of the people have already left.
17:59 Yeah, we're the last ones here.
18:00 They're in a giant traffic jam somewhere out in the woods.
18:02 We need to go find it.
18:03 All right.
18:04 There's an easy, a medium, and a hard line.
18:06 We're going to go straight to these hard lines
18:08 and see if we can put this van into some situations
18:10 that it shouldn't be in.
18:11 I got maps.
18:12 I got GPS.
18:14 I got all this stuff going.
18:16 We'll probably still get lost because I'm
18:18 terrible at all this stuff.
18:19 [HORN HONKING]
18:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
18:44 Woo!
18:45 Nice.
18:45 What do we got, Dave?
18:49 The guys in the Firebird said this was pretty tough.
18:51 You want me to spot you through it?
18:53 Yeah, you probably should.
18:54 So I think this is our last dirt trail, possibly,
18:57 between here and the end of the day.
18:59 The party.
19:00 We've been doing a lot of kind of cool mountain roads.
19:03 Oregon's awesome--
19:04 It is.
19:05 --to go cruise around in.
19:06 And there's gamblers all over the place.
19:08 We've been seeing cars along the side of the roads
19:10 and all types of little gas stations.
19:12 750 cars entered this thing.
19:15 Pretty nuts.
19:16 And it looks like about 12 have finished.
19:18 All right, let's go rock crawling
19:19 and see what the van will do.
19:20 I'll be up here.
19:21 Come on, Fred.
19:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
19:25 Woo-hoo!
19:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
19:33 There we go.
19:42 You're good.
19:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
19:46 The new brake line you put in is perfect.
19:55 What we needed to put in, it was a locker.
19:59 Short wheelbase is where it's at.
20:00 Yeah.
20:01 I like how it goes up, and then it seems to just keep going up.
20:07 It goes up some more.
20:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]
20:12 Good.
20:21 Yep.
20:26 Nice and easy.
20:27 Nice.
20:32 Come on, little van.
20:34 The 1970s are depending on you.
20:37 There you go.
20:39 [ENGINE RUMBLING]
20:41 It wants it.
20:43 There it is.
20:45 There it is.
20:46 There you go.
20:47 It'll get it.
20:49 Cool.
20:50 Good work, Fred.
20:53 Yeah.
20:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
20:57 I think we could do that.
21:04 Yeah.
21:05 [ENGINE RUMBLING]
21:07 Oh, it wants it.
21:08 It's got it.
21:09 Woo-hoo!
21:10 Yeah.
21:11 Oh, come on.
21:12 [LAUGHTER]
21:14 [ENGINE RUMBLING]
21:16 [LAUGHTER]
21:17 Oh.
21:18 We lost-- we lost our cabinetry.
21:24 It's OK.
21:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
21:28 So far, the van's flexing like a brick.
21:34 The dogs are not really happy about bouncing around in here.
21:37 Dave is being a world-class spotter, as usual.
21:40 We only have a few leaks, like power steering.
21:43 But overall, this van's a perfect rock crawler.
21:46 The van is totally dominating.
21:48 It's proving why we build 4x4s.
21:50 There's quite a few of these dirt cars that are coming through,
21:53 and they're doing good.
21:54 They look cool, but you can't beat true four-wheel drive.
21:58 What'd you think, Fred?
22:01 I think the trails on the Gambler 500
22:04 are pretty well-suited for kind of small, low-budget vehicles.
22:08 Even though the van has a few funny quirks,
22:11 the van is probably a little bit too capable.
22:14 Yeah.
22:15 Some of the stock dirt cars were getting hung up real bad,
22:17 and they were beating the tar out of them.
22:19 But the guys in the, like, lifted dirt cars or the stock 4x4s
22:22 were having a blast.
22:24 I think this is a really cool event.
22:26 I think they had way more people this year than they expected.
22:29 It's kind of refreshing to see if they ever do it again.
22:32 750 cars is a lot of people to organize running through the woods.
22:37 Especially when they started out 3 years ago with, like, 38 cars.
22:40 Yeah.
22:41 So now I think all we got to do is get to Portland and...
22:45 Get to the party.
22:46 Get to the big party.
22:49 [♪♪]
22:52 [car horn honking]
23:00 Oh, yeah!
23:01 We made it back to Portland!
23:03 Gambler 500.
23:04 Party time.
23:05 Dude, that was so much fun.
23:07 I can't believe that there are 700-some vehicle owners
23:11 that want to build crazy stuff like we do.
23:13 I know, and it looks like they all made it back.
23:15 This party's huge.
23:16 I know.
23:17 There were cars broken down on the side of the road the whole day,
23:20 and nobody was ever in a bad mood.
23:22 No.
23:23 Smiles all around.
23:24 They were broke down and smiling and waving and honking.
23:26 It was awesome.
23:27 Gambler 500, if you guys are looking for something wild to do
23:29 with some sort of vehicle that's sitting in your backyard,
23:32 this is the event you've got to come to.
23:34 These are like all of our people.
23:36 It's like all of our brothers and sisters have built some wacky thing
23:39 and come out here in the middle of Oregon.
23:41 No holds barred.
23:42 This is awesome.
23:43 That's it for Dirt Every Day.
23:44 We'll see you guys next time.
23:46 [music]
23:50 Better get out of the way because Dirt Every Day is driving through.
23:54 I like that idea.
23:55 That's a good one.
23:56 Get out of the way.
23:57 Dirt Every Day is driving through.
23:59 [laughter]