R100S/6 Side Hack Tug Progress

Monday March 9th. I worked on the bike part of the day. Properly routed the wiring harness, installed the turn signals & tail light. Bolted up the luggage rack. The wiring diagrams I have aren't worth a crap so I'll have to do a little research for better drawings. Received the old solo seat purchased on EBay. The mount is for a /5 short wheel base so I'll have to fabricate a mounting plate to fit this frame. Shouldn't be too big a job. I'm more concerned about getting wiring figured out more than anything.
It is starting to take shape. A lot of details left but there is no hurry to complete the job. All of the main components are in place.

Monday ; Got the fenders and battery box installed. Sat the tank and seat on for this photo. I'm a little burned out since it has been in the 80's and 90's every day. We will depart on a Motorcycle / Sidecar trip tomorrow for 5 days or so. I'll post photos of the trip when we return. Adios for now.

Sunday March 1; Today the transmission was installed. Used a kick start 5 speed which came with my 74 R90/6 which had the sidecar hooked to it. It has a damaged flange at the output shaft so I never sold it. It should work just fine. The 1974 year model 5 speeds were known to be a little weak. I have three more transmissions, all which will work on this bike so if there is a problem I'll just swap it out.
I had to swap out the handle bars to the /6 bars as the R100 bars (slightly larger diameter) wouldn't accept the /6 controls. The /6 bars are in poor shape with a lot of pitting in the chrome. They'll have to do for now.

I installed the headlight and pulled in the wiring harness. I'll be studying wiring diagrams to figure out the wiring of a /6 harness to a R100 engine. I got the fenders primed / painted and clear coated today. They will go on tomorrow. The bike will look pretty complete by the end of the day tomorrow. The wiring will need to be addressed and the engine top end will have to come off. The actual firing up of the bike will happen down the line after I find a reasonable machine shop. I had a top end done in Bozeman last year for only $90.00. Maybe I'll get to Bozeman again.(?)

Saturday Feb. 28th; Got the engine degreased, cleaned up and installed today, had to change the center stand to the R100 stand as the R90 stand would not clear the larger oil pan. Might get the transmission installed tomorrow and maybe install the wiring harness.

Spent the last two days cleaning, priming, painting the frames, front end, and all lower parts. Ended up down to the bare frame to complete the clean up. Had to swap one rear tire and installed an R75/5 rear rim to match the alloy front rim. Will need to mount up a different front tire also as this one is worn out. Luckily I have a pair of decent tires I had saved with 30% tread left or so. Had to re drill the front fender to match up with the fender mounts. The previous fender had been modified to clear the shocks and frame but this fender fit perfectly with out any cutting. The handle bars are very wide bars which I dislike. I think I will hack about 3" off each end to make them fit me better. The wiring and cables would not be long enough to fit these bars.

So this is the R90/6 frame with the R100S leading link front end and 32/10 final drive. I was able to use the four R100S shock absorbers too. They were the best of the 8 shocks I have on hand. I cleaned and greased the front steering head bearings before installation. They looked and felt good dry but feel like they have a "flat" spot on them after greasing and installation. (?)

I hope to set the engine in the frame tomorrow but have quite a bit of cleaning to do on the engine before installing. The engine upper end will need the cylinders / heads reconditioned but it is easier for me to work on the engine in the frame. I received a nice pair of R100 Bing Carbs yesterday via EBay. They look like new. I am going to list all my extra (6) carbs on EBay tonight since I can't see that I'll need them at this point.

BMW R100S/6 Side Car Tug

After carefully looking over this 1974 BMW R90/6 I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't put forth the effort to get it running as is. The bike has sat for 7 years or so and had a little cylinder surface rust. The left spark plug is partially stripped and the final drive has a bad thread on one of the drain plugs. I began tearing it down yesterday to prepare it for its' new life. Due to the amount of grease and dirt on the frame it will go done to the bare frame for clean up, priming and painting. We've had 80 degree weather the past few days so working out side is great. Unfortunantly I've ome down with a cold so am not working too fast. A few hours work yesterday saw the engine and transmission come out of the frame.

Today the rest of the bike came apart and she is now down to the frame. I removed the swing arm and the u-joint looks good and the swing arm is in good condition, other than a small dent in the cross frame. It won't be too obvious when assembled. I cleaned up the sub frame, sanded all rough and surface rust spots. I gave it some good coats of primer and a couple good coats of satin black paint. I rigged a little "paint booth" outside out of a huge box to contain any overspray and keep the dust out of things. The swing arm came out real nice and pretty. The rest of the frame will go through the same treatment now that it is bare. I've found a couple of little weld repair spots that need to be addressed first. Under the passenger foot braces there are two little spots which typically crack on most all frames, plus a broken weld on the rear sub frame. I will hunt down a welder tomorrow to "glue" these spots. After that I will go after the remaining cleaning, priming and painting.

The swing arm was hung in the shed out of harms way after the paint dried. This old blue tank will likely end up on EBay I imagine. It needs a repair on the reverse side.

Here are most of the large remains of the two bikes. I'll be making another trip to the dump eventually as some of these parts are damaged and beyond hope. The blue fenders will become black and go on the new rat bike. I will use a minimum of chrome on the bike. I want to build this bike as basic and simple as possible.
The leading link front end will also be taken mostly apart so I can prime / paint it also. I will pull the wheels apart and check, clean and lube the wheel bearings as long as they are in good shape. I'll have to come up with some new seals though. Two of the steering head bearings / races look real good so I'll clean and regrease them for reuse on the earls front. The front wheel is an alloy wheel so I'll use a rear alloy wheel I have on hand so we'll have a match. I see a pair of "Lester " Aluminum wheels on EBay right now but they normally bring pretty high dollars. I also have the pair of chrome /6 steel wheels which could be used also. I did win a pair of 40MM Bing carbureators today on EBay so I won't have to attempt to salvage the ones I have. The old ones look real bad as water / fuel have been in them and a lot of corrosion has taken place.

Now if I could mate these two engines together I would have....let's see....1878 cc 's of engine. That would be a hell of a lot of horse power! It has probably been done by some gear head at some point in time.
I'm not sure what this bike would be called. A cross from a R100S and an R90/6. So with the 1000 cc engine we could call it a R100S/6 ?

R100S BMW Side Car ---R90/6 BMW Side Car preparation

This photo shows the frame reinforcement done on the R100S frame. This also traps the battery in the frame. There is also a down tube which attaches to the lower main loop frame. This allows for a stable upper , rear sidecar attachment point. The lower mounts attach to a large I-Beam which sits parallel to the main frame. Very ingenious set up. Below you can see the vertical reinforcement tube and the upper rear attachment point. The frame is thoroughly tweaked and I don't think it is repairable. I decided to go ahead and tear the bike down today. I will talk to a neighbor who welds and ask him if he could weld the extra tubes onto the R90/6 frame if I cut them out of the R100S frame. On the other hand I may just utilize the lower I-Beam sub frame as the lower mounts are the weak points on my present side car set up. The upper mounts would then simply clamp to the frame as they do now. This would also get away from the "entrapment" of the battery. I don't really want to pull the rear fender and tire each time I need to remove the battery. I noticed that a small weld is broken on the cross brace on the rear of the /6. Nearly all BMW's of this design suffer from this same problem. I have purchased 4 different /6's over the years and without exception every on had the same broken weld.

Below you can see the stock R90/6 frame without the reinforcement tubes. I gave the old R90 a few kicks in an attempt to start it but didn't get much result. A whimper now and then was all. I will stop the attempt and probably remove the engine from the frame. I am nearly sure that the cylinders have some surface rust and will require a hone job to get it into running order. I would like to keep the top end for a 900cc spare for the Black Hag.

The previous owner modified the front fender to clear the shocks. They pretty much butchered the fender and cut way more off than necessary. I will end up cutting a bit off the Blue fender but hope to do a much cleaner job.

The R100S BMW was torn down pretty quickly today. I removed parts starting from the rear and moved forward. The axle was bent and took a bit of work to remove. I removed the final drive (a 32/10) and it appears to be in very good condition. With the frame reinforcing , the battery is trapped in the frame. This means that with this set up a person must remove the rear fender and wheel to remove the battery. I removed the carbs, air boxes and then the transmission before removing the engine. The left side carb had rust leading into the intake port so the engine will definitely need to have the top ends removed for a cylinder hone at the least. The engine oil had no debris in it and the final drive / transmission oils were very clean. The transmission out put splines were showing recent lubrication so I think the transmission was rebuilt right before the bike was crashed. (the previous owner said the transmission was fresh) The shock absorbers all look usable and there are quite a few good pieces from the R100.

Down to the bare bones pretty quickly. I started the tear down at around 10:00AM and stopped at 5:00PM. I was able to remove all wiring without cutting anything. I see someone had changed the starter relay to what appears to be an automotive type relay. There were also a few wires added here and there so who knows if it is any good at all. I got down to removing the front end and have found that the head bearing shaft is pretty much stuck. I will use penetrating oil and let it soak until it gives. The throttle control was shot and the gears are stripped in the mechanism.

Next I will begin tearing down the R90/6 to prepare it for the frame reinforcing, engine swap, front end swap and transmission. I think I'll use one of the 1974 kick start 5 speeds as I have two of them now.

I had never pulled an engine without first removing the heads and cylinders. Surprisingly it was not difficult at all to remove the engine as a unit. I did remove the transmission 1st.

I received the old BMW Cop Tank back from Mexico today also. I installed the aluminum fuel cap, the tool box lid and lock, and the new BMW roundels. I was going to install the knee pads but don't have the proper glue. I have two sets of knee pads and neither fit that well. I may just order a new pair. I also bid and won another Tuetonic QSL 1000 Mile Solo Seat on EBay yesterday. I limited my bid to $130.00 and won it. The last one I found was over $350.00 so I am happy with that purchase. I will figure out a way to mount it, although all the center reinforcing tubes would crowd the mounting of the seat. All the more reason not to use the extra tubes on the new setup. I'll figure something out down the line.

This new sidecar tug project will not be completed any time soon. It will take a lot more time and effort to get it into any sort of running condition. My present goal is to get everything mounted into the new frame and then go from there. I would like to detail / paint and really clean things up as I go. This Cop Tank will be the tank for use on this bike. The Heinrich Tank I have will not work with the under fuel tank master cylinder that the /6 uses.

Parts Pawning / BMW R100S Crash Victim Obtained

I've spent the past few days working on the old Blue R90/6. Attempting to get it running. Was able to build two functioning carbs. out of four I had on hand. The Old Blue bike got real close to firing today but didn't quite fire up. Got a few grunts out of it though. I finally ran out of time.
I've been running a couple of EBay auctions recently and have a customer in Tennessee buying quite a few BMW parts. I sent out a shipment nearly every day last week. I had about 17 EBay auctions week before last and moved a lot of pars from the Green Toasted bike.
I had a pick up load of odds and ends of parts which I didn't have room for. Two frames, two extra engines in various stages of disrepair, old seats, mufflers, boxes of misc. parts. Most were not really good EBay items due to size and condition. I ran a "Craigslist" ad three days ago and had a buyer come up from Tucson this morning. He took the whole load home with him. That really helped me clear up some space as my little shed is getting quite crowded.
We head back to Las Vegas tomorrow for work. I will pick up the 1979 R100S around noon and have a place to store it for the week at a contractors yard. ( outfit that worked with us at LakeMead). Today's truckload sale nearly paid for the R100S so I am happy about that. I am not sure what I will do with the two "new" BMW acquisitions but will likely build another bike of some sort out of the two of them. We'll see how much damage the R100S sustained and decide which platform we will build on.
Tuesday 17Th. We came to Las Vegas for work today and had time to pick up the R100S. The bike was crashed 15 years ago and has been hauled all over the western U.S. as the owner moved about. The side car preparation on this bike was extensive. It has a very wide set of handle bars definitely with the side car in mind. Also has a heavy I-Beam sub frame attached on the lower frame motor mounts and a series of tubes welded into the main frame for the upper rear attachment point. Someone had a real good plan when setting up this bike, definitely not their first set up. The leading link front suspension looks good and has no apparent damage. The main frame only shows damage at the lower right. The swing arm is tweaked and the right lower passenger foot peg section of the frame is seriously bent and the factory weld has cracked. I think the only way to go on with this project is to remove the additional frame sections which were installed and attach them to a new frame. I will get a few more opinions on that scenario. Quite often frames subjected to serious impacts are tweaked in such a way that the problems are not really visible. One would hate to try to repair this rear frame only to find the rig dog-tracking after assembly. The bike is a real eye sore and has had a rough 15 year retirement from the looks of it. Hopefully I can help it find a new life someday. I was able to store the bike/trailer securely in a shop building in Henderson until Friday AM when I'll haul it out.
The rig was originally set up in the Bay Area by a side hack builder who was well known in that area. The Blue 1974 R90/6 will end up being the "donor" bike for this project. The main frame will be reinforced, the engine removed and the R100S engine installed. I am not sure of my transmission choice but apparently the tranny on the R100S was rebuilt right before it was crashed. I have two other kick start 5 speeds and a 4 speed tranny so there is no shortage of gear boxes. The front suspension will be replaced with the leading link unit. Between the two bikes and all the spares I have I should be able to come up with a pretty good Tug.

The Past Years BMW R Bike "Barn Finds"

1979 BMW R100S [$$$] This bike was carrying a right hand side car and took a hit on the sidecar side, damaging the rear framework. I committed to purchase this bike today. I am seriously thinking about building a bike from the ground up. Using the (Blue bike below) R90/6 frame and the R100S Engine / Transmission with the leading link suspension. This should be a very good combination with the twin disc brakes. My goal this winter would be to get the R90/6 engine & front end removed and the R100S front end & engine installed into the frame. The R90/6 engine/transmission could then be sold or used as a spare for the black bike. I have a 6.2 Gallon Police Touring Tank in Mexico right now being repainted in Black. The paint is done but they needed to buff it out again. I will paint all the blue bodywork black on the /6. I worked on the /6 bike today and found that the engine is stuck. Meaning that there is probably some surface rust in the cylinders. I've filled the cylinders with Marvel Oil and will let it soak. The engine oil looks real clean so suspect the engine lower end should be fine with 40k or so miles on the clock. I hope that the R100S engine is good as it sits. (?) The seller said that the transmission was rebuilt right before the accident.

1974 R90/6 Touring Tank [$$] Has been sitting for 6 years or so. Was running when parked. (That's what they all say!) Needs a lot of TLC. I may put a little effort into getting this one running since it is pretty much complete and hasn't been molested too bad. Unoriginal paint. Only missing a few minor items but boy was it greasy / dirty. In the next few days this one will be examined and hopefully pass the muster to avoid the butcher / dismantler.

1973 BMW R75/5 Toaster Tank [$$]. This poor girl took a major left side lay down which apparently removed the left cylinder. Upon getting it home I found that there was hardly a part that a previous owner didn't mess with. Things were welded to the frame, holes drilled here and there, a trailer hitch, and a lot of "personalizing touches" which pretty much ruined the bike. Ended up that the frame was tweaked so it came apart and became EBay fodder. I've kept the 4 speed transmission for a spare if ever needed.

1971 BMW R75/5 Touring Tank [$]. This bike was represented over the phone as "restoration begun" project bike. In reality it was a mess of mixed up parts in boxes and missing parts too numerous to list. There were parts from Asian bikes, Harley's and even some Jaguar car pieces included. The seller had no idea what they were selling. This poor old girl was pieced out as EBay fodder also. It did have very nice original painted / striped fenders. The engine parts showed little or no wear so I don't know why someone would have taken it apart. Considering what you see here in this photo, surprisingly this bike brought in more income/profit than any bike I've ever salvaged.

1975 R60/6 Heinrich Tank [$]. This bike is my luckiest purchase. Although the bike was not worth restoring as it had been sitting out for many years in the Montana climate, it did come with one of the rarest fuel tanks in the BMW world. After restoraton this Heinrich tank went onto my present sidecar rig. I pulled a few odd parts off this one for EBay and the chassis went to a fellow looking for a parts bike. We were all happy.

Another 1974 R90/6 Sport Tank [$$$$]. This bike was purchased for the sidecar, which is now living on our current driver. The bike was pretty much complete except someone had done some messing with the ignition wiring. The bike was parted out. I ended up keeping the drive train. The 900cc engine top end now lives on my present bike and the lower end of engine & transmission have been kept as a spare. A bike collector in Montana purchased the titled rolling chassis for a project he was assembling.

AZ. Road Trip Day 3

Saturday morning was cool, about 45 degrees. I was on the road at 7:30AM. This is the northern end of Roosevelt Lake. It appears they have gotten plenty of moisture since the low lying brush areas are all under water. There were some early fisherman out amongst the trees and bushes in their boats. Looked somewhat treacherous since there are so many snags just below the surface. I stopped at a grocery store with a Deli and had some coffee and a huge fresh made breakfast burrito. I wasn't yet sure of my route for today but the weather report was looking rather grim in the north, chance of snow / rain in the south later in the day. I decided that I had better head to the south as snow didn't sound too good to me.

Just before the junction I came across a group of riders at the side of the road, including 3 or 4 BMW's. Visited with a couple of the guys for a few minutes but all in all they were not a very friendly bunch. They were more into their fancy high dollar gear, GPS's and fancy new bikes to spend much time talking to a guy in leathers, on a 36 year old bike & sidecar. So piss on'em, and away I went. Headed south towards Phoenix and hopefully away from bad weather. The road south was a very good divided highway with some fantastic views.

Off in the distance here you can see the Superstition Mountains. The pointy peak in the middle is "Weavers Needle". This is where the infamous lost Dutchmans' gold mine is supposed to be. I had never been on this section of road before and was really impressed with the road and the country. Was a great morning ride. I ended up coming into Phoenix north east corner and traveling south through town for over an hour to get through.

I passed up this BMW dealer in Chandler so u-turned and returned as I was out of BMW oil which I am using in the bike. I've been buying it in Montana and having it shipped. Really expensive stuff at around $11.50 per quart. The old beemer had a view of all his new BMW relatives while I was at the store. Nice shop there but everything was priced sky high. Some nice riding jackets were on sale, from $599.00 reduced to $499.00. I should have bought two at that price.......NOT. I got some directions from one of the mechanics at the dealer and found I was right on the route I had figured. I left the Phoenix area and went as far south as the road went. Turned into an Indian Reservation and headed west for 30 miles or so. I was struck by the unbelievable condition of the homes on the res. You wouldn't think anyone could live in such squalor. Poor is one thing, but many of these places used their yards to dump their daily house hold garbage. Biggest messes I have ever seen. Pretty sad. I passed a cemetery which had big mounds over each site and white washed wooded crosses. Almost looked like the poor departed were just laid on the ground and a bucket of dirt was placed on top of them. I thought of poking into one of the mounds to see if I was right but decided that it wasn't a very good idea. I ended up on a very lightly traveled back road over to Gila Bend. One of my maps shows that it's a gravel road but there was pavement all the way. I got to witness a tug plane pulling a glider up into the sky. Tried to photo it but it didn't turn out well. The wind was blowing out of the south at around 25 to 30 MPH all the way. Started hitting rain about half way to Yuma. Pulled under an overpass for a few minutes while a downpour was occurring. Got a little wet but not bad.

About 25 miles from home I was faced with this scene. There is a big range of mountains amongst all those black clouds between me and home. I sat here for 1/2 hour or so hoping that it might pass but no way. It was swirling around and I could see the water roaring down a mile or two up the road. Finally decided to go for it. Put on the rain gear and tarped the sidehack (and my computer) as best I could and away I went. It was a gully washer as I went through Wellton and there was a lot of water standing on the roads. Eventually I had to get back on the Interstate but the rain subsided just long enough for me to get home fairly dry. As I passed over the Fortuna Wash it was roaring with dirty brown water. In 15 years down here we have never seen it run with anything. I wanted to go down and photograph it but more black clouds were heading my way so home I went. Had just enough time to unload the bike and throw everything into the trailer before the rain poured again. All in all I was happy I cut the trip a little short and came home. The weather was real crappy that night and the next day where I had planned on being. Oh well it's Winter.

AZ. Road Trip Day 2

Friday morning was calm as the blasting wind quit about at sunrise. The weather was perfect for riding. The view below is looking back towards the previous nights campsite. There is a gravel back road which cuts over to Patagonia but I wasn't willing to risk running on gravel as a flat tire would be a real problem. I stopped in Green Valley for coffee and a bit of breakfast. Then on to Nogalas AZ. Nogalas is situated right on the Mexican border and is a very busy town. A lot of border traffic and trucks everywhere. I fueled up there and headed north.

Thirty miles north of Nogalas I was in a little canyon area and the scene below caught my eye. Turned around to check it out.You see a lot of little shrines along the road in the south. The Mexican folk down there are serious about setting up and maintaining these shrines. This one is a bit more elaborate. It was carved into the rock and then had a steel gate installed. I walked up and it was chock full of religious items, candles and little items.

This tells about the origin of the shrine and a little history about it.
Patagonia AZ. appears to be a quiet little town.

I headed north and was planning on turning just past Tuscon. Had to run the freeway for a few miles. They had about 4 or 5 exits closed going through town and before I knew it I had passed my turn by 20 miles. Pulled off at Pichaco Peak and refigured my route. Ended up going through Florence AZ. which is a major prison town. They have a number of prisons and it appears to be the main industry. Darian and I have both worked in prisons at one time and neither of us think we would want to make a career of that. I ended up in Superior AZ. for a food stop and a break. Found a little C-Store that had a Mexican Deli which was good (and cheap). Decided to head up towards Miami / Globe AZ. and camp up at Roosevelt Lake.

This is one of many bridges between Superior and Miami. It is a great road with canyons, tunnels, and fantastic scenery. There was a lot of truck traffic though. This used to be a big mining area.

There is a lot of rugged country in this area of AZ.

I was cruising up the road and I glanced over and saw this massive rear tire. Had to u-turn and go back to check it out. Visited with the builder of these monsters. The one on the right has a chevy 427, supercharged with 8 carburetors. Scary! The one next to it is a 350 chevy. The seats are at about a 45 degree angle and about 4" wide. Pretty spooky. Think I'll pass on one of these.


This is one with a 383 motor he is building for a customer. No front brakes! Next to it is the beginning of another one. He builds them with 2 - speed auto transmissions. He showed me a photo of one he built in the 70's with 2 - small block chevy motors grafted together.

Made it to Roosevelt lake by 4:30 PM in time to get set up before dark. The coyotes were going crazy for an hour or so. This place has a huge campground with very few people. I tried to pay but a sign said you had to pay for a pass at the local stores / businesses. I wasn't about to drive back 20 miles to do that. No one ever came around and I was out of there by 7:30 the next morning so had my 2nd night of free camping.

AZ. Road Trip Day 1

Left Yuma Thursday AM and headed east to Gila Bend then south to Ajo AZ. A wonderful day with no wind and a temperature of 85 degrees. This shows a massive series of waste berms from the past mining days of Ajo. These piles went on for a few miles and were at least 100' tall. I didn't stop to see the hole they came out of but it must be quite a hole. I don't know what they mined here but they moved a lot of material to get to it.

There are miles and miles of Saguaro "forests" all over this part of Arizona. Saw a lot of interesting rock formations. Just out of the frame there were some rock formations but they were all defaced with gang symbols, initials, names , etc.

This is an interesting looking church in Ajo. There are a lot of older buildings in town which have been maintained and / or restored. I have been through here before but forgot how big of a town it is. Seems to be a lot of winter visitors here. Leaving Ajo I went east through miles and miles of Indian Reservation lands. A few tiny rundown towns which had there share of rundown houses.

Had many views like this one of miles and miles of open desert. A lot of things grow here, most have thorns, spines , needles and things that nearly jump out and stick you.
I think this is a Cholla, a real nasty fellow. Brush against this guy and you'll be picking out thorns for a while.

Out in the middle of nowhere I came across a carnival in the process of setting up. This was 30 miles from anything that even looked like a town (?) It must have been for some kind of county fair or something. It's probably too hot in the summer for a fair so they do it in the winter. Seems odd seeing a carny set up with cactus and the such around.

I made it to Green Valley AZ. (which is 40 miles north of the Mex. border) by night fall. Years ago I had camped up in Madera Canyon which is a 16 mile ride up into the mountains. I found a dispersed campsite, not where I had stayed before, and decided to give it a try. I ended up on a dirt road and had to cross a creek after going down a steep hill. I made it through and picked my way through big rocks in the road for a couple of miles. Nice little campsite on an old foundation slab or something. Had a great view for miles into the valley. Even had internet service so I could check my latest e mails and eBay sales results. That tree made a huge amount of racket during the 40 -50 MPH winds in the night.
Finally found a decent little camp site from where I took this sunset photo. The wind kicked ferociously during the night. Had to have hit 40 - 50 MPH. My tent, which is a stout one, was bending over and hitting me in the head. I finally moved my bike in front for a wind break in the middle of the night. At about 3:00 AM I heard some loud strange sounds and peeked out to find a large herd of cows had moved into my campsite. Or maybe I was in their campsite? Once I realized the source of the ruckus we all got along fine for the rest of the night. I awoke to find my tent full of dust and sand, just like camping in California desert! I had to really get a run at the creek going out so I could make it up the hill on the other side. I nearly tipped the rig over on a side hill with the sidecar on the uphill side. I never thought much about it going in as the hack was on the low side. This side hack rig is definitely not for any serious off road use. Or maybe it is the operator?