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First it was great meeting everyone. An awesome trip to Moab with an awesome group of people. Thanks John(WJ), Tom (ZJ), Christy (ZJ), Cody (ZJ), Steve (XJ) and Corey (TJ). I hope everyone made it home safely!
Friday:
Steel bender & Hells revenge (night)
Sat:
Kane Creek & Moab Rim
Sun:
The Pickle
The only notable carnage is 2 busted upper rear control arms on the TJ, but we were able to drive it out on both occasions. Not much else to add, the pictures do the talkin.
PS, insane car show!!
Last edited by Matt; 05-05-2007 at 03:46 PM.
I have a TON of pictures and even more video, but it's going to take a while to go through everything. A couple more for tonight.
It was a blast! Thanks to all for making it fun.
Looks like an awesome time! We were on I-70 last night wondering if we'd run into you guys, but it looks like you guys were a few hours behind us still.
Me = jealous.
Looks like fun! Wish I could've gone that weekend with you guys!
It's Corey's upper rear CA. I think he bought the joint from blue torch and it broke at their weld.
and it was a great time. Perfect weather, very little traffic on the trails, and great people. Couldn't have asked for more.
Although, the drive home with the jeep at at 235-245* kinda sucked. I had to run the heater to get it to stay around 235. Have I mentioned recently my thoughts about the 4.0?
Last edited by Cody; 04-30-2007 at 01:04 PM.
It was a blast...now does anyone in the Denver had a media blaster I can borrow (time to repaint the bumpers and fix the new fender damage)?
You had to post the pictures and flaunt the good time didnt ya? Wish I could have gone too. This week is the week to get my Jeep back. Yahoo.
Looks like a great time.
Looks like you all had fun. Great weather too!
For me, last weekend brought a whole new meaning to "Trust your spotter!", thanks everyone for the great spots.
I'll try to post the rest of the pics up in a couple days, then start working on some video.
Glad we all made it back safely. SCAMPER had to be brought back to Denver on a friend's trailer though (not the first time).
It was a rather interesting trip as far as little things going wrong. As I was leaving work, I noticed a hissing sound getting louder as I approached my vehicle in the parking lot. It was a bad valve stem I tore up almost 6 months ago on Spring Creek! I had switched out the core on the trail and it had been holding air fine until that day, so I thought the problem had been taken care of. Between Thornton and Boulder I lost 5 psi, so I figured I better have it fixed before I left in town (best to save the spare for something else on the trail).
Later that day I was pulling out of a gas station in Glenwood Springs sounding like I was running a straight pipe so I pulled over to check the exhaust. Sure enough, the bolts holding the two flange together between the cat and the muffler had worked themselves loose again (this is like the third time, and I had just replaced the gasket and tightened those bolts two days prior - should have tacked 'em). Just then I heard a "beep" and looked up to see John, Tom, and the others pulled over in front of me. What timing! John had some bolts and the exhaust was re-attached (making the remainder of the ride a little less deafening).
I rode to Junction with the rest of the MallCrawlin group before stopping for the night at the in-laws' place (my wife and boy had driven ahead). The group was going between 70-80, which I really seemed to be having trouble with - SCAMPER's steering seemed much squishier than usual. The next morning I retorqued the lugs and discovered the ones on the wheel I had just had the valve stem replaced on were literally finger tight! I also checked the steering and was about to measure the toe-in when I noticed that the sway bar link had cracked (I think it was on a bump in Commerce City a couple of days before, coming from the exhaust place) - which would explain why it felt like I was driving a boat down the highway:
After getting things welded up at AOR in Grand Junction, I stopped by the in-laws' for some dinner before heading out the rest of the way to Moab. Just as I was getting ready to leave, my mother-in-law ran into the house and exclaimed "something just exploded in your Jeep, and the cab is filled with smoke!" I went tearing outside, trying to imagine what could have happened. Did things get too hot when we were welding? Did something funky happen with the electrical, did the air bag somehow go off? I started thinking then about any compressed gasses I might have, maybe the extinguisher exploded - who knew! Anyway, when I got to the Jeep, it wasn't in flames, the windows were intact, the cab seemed clear, the airbag wasn't deployed - but there was a hissing sound coming from the back. Knowing that it couldn't be another valve stem , I went to check the CO2 tank. The poor thing was breathing its last breath as I opened the hatch glass (of course I didn't know this at the time, so I was exercising extreme caution as I didn't want it blowing up in my face). The relief valve had released. I weighed the noticeably lighter tank, and sure enough, it was completely empty. Normally the place I take it to empties the last little bit before they fill it - this time they just filled it, and it actually weighed three lbs heavier than it should have - and I didn't empty it out right away like I should have. Live and learn.
The last leg of the trip to Moab was quite pleasant. Now with a sway bar attached, a quieter exhaust, and no fear that my CO2 tank might explode, I was able to cruise a smooth 80 (of course this all had to be done before dark, as my headlights are so yellow and out of focus that they really aren't functional, but that's a story for a different day). I had high hopes that all the wrinkles had been ironed out and that the next day's wheeling would be a (mechanically) uneventful one.
We hit the trail with a group a buddy of mine has been wheeling with for years around 7:30 AM - a couple of Land Cruisers, some TJ's, and some CJ's (and of course me). The later model Cruiser was open, but the driver was experienced. On Poison Spider a power steering hose broke on one of the CJ's - the steering column was rubbing up against it and had wore through. We cut the line, put in a fitting, and tightened down some hose clamps on either end. This lasted for all of two minutes before all the power steering fluid sprayed all over the place again. After cleaning things up, he headed back down the trail with a buddy. They got it replaced in town and met us later just after Double Whammy.
Things went pretty smoothly after that until we got to Double Whammy. The group actually was about to bypass it when I realized what they were doing - so I circled around to show them how it's done in a long wheel-base vehicle. Afterall, I had gone up it with ease during GSW 2005 with the same setup. Anyway, the first two attempts had me sliding sideways, so I tried a different angle. I thought I had the line for sure, but my spotter (one of the guys came over after they saw me flailing around) didn't look too optimistic. Pride got the best of me and I tried it anyway, and ended up bouncing SCAMPER up and down once, twice, then BAM!! - parts went flying out both sides as she quickly settled back on her haunches:
Completely broken-hearted and feeling like a total idiot, I removed the rear drive shaft and capped off the rear of the t-case with a water bottle and some duct tape. I had to be double-strapped through Body Snatcher (an obstacle I had previously refused to go through under my own power because of potential body damage - but it now seemed to be the only option being towed):
About 30 seconds after I got pulled through, one of the guys in our group behind me broke a rear drive shaft going through Body Snatcher, so the '67 Cruiser was left to tow me on his own. Fortunately after we got up a ways, I was able to drive under my own front-wheel power through 90% of the remainder of the trail. I have to say I was worried the whole way thinking about that one last large steep obstacle on Gold Bar Rim (the one where you have to go straight up but then turn right as soon as you get to the top), but I managed to keep my wheels a little to the left with just enough gas to keep me from going sideways to the right PHEW.
On the way back to Moab, the rear started catching, like the Detroit was resetting itself over and over. I started to worry. My friends behind me said that my wheels looked to be wobbling - sure enough, when I rotated my side view mirrors downward, they were wagging back and forth pretty dramatically. That's when I decided I'M TRAILERING THIS THING HOME.
Fortunately one of the guys in the group was gracious enough to let me take his TJ's spot on his trailer. We dropped it off at Hillside today and so far we have discovered two severely bent 8.8 axles. Quick visual inspection of the carrier was promising, but we'll be tearing it apart tomorrow hopefully just to make sure. Other than the grenaded yoke, the drive shaft seems to be just fine so we'll be sending it back to Rocky Mountain Driveline to be rebuilt.
Last edited by SCAMPER ZJ; 05-01-2007 at 02:08 AM.
Damn, what luck you were having! Hope all works out well.
I really need to get out to Moab sometime, looking at all these pics just makes me wanna forget summer school and go to GSW instead.
Stan, glad you got home safe. It seems that the gremlins found you over the weekend. Since both 8.8 shafts are bent, might as well get some stronger ones. John
Thanks for posting pics Matt. And thanks to everyone in our group, you guys were all really awesome. Especially for letting me hang with you guys in my little XJ
Man, tough weekend Stan! Like John said, time for some superiors!
Here's some more pictures:
http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...rue&interval=5
I have a ton of good vid, but that'll take a while to get together, so be patient.
Stan, bummer about the trip. Glad you made it home safe.
Last edited by Matt; 05-02-2007 at 03:15 PM.
After talking with you yesterday I agree the price difference isn't all that much and I might as well since I have it all apart. They're ordered up and should be in tomorrow.
Apparently it was a good thing I busted up the rear bad enough that it needed to be trailered. I got a call yesterday from a friend of mine who stopped over at Hillside and he said they found a number of cracked welds. One of them was in the front where the control arm is welded to the axle. I'm trying to remember how they put it. . .oh yeah, "potentially catastrophic."
Dave, I thought of you when I was trying to hop my way up Double Whammy. . .
Stan,
You found more damage???? Wow, Double Whammy does find the weak links. Glad to hear you are making it stronger and fixing all those "links".
I found a nice line, on Whammy, no hopping, just straight up. I got a few rigs up it at the last GSW. Have to show you, next time we run Spike together.
John
Here's a pic of my only attempt on Double Whammy, did a some hopping and had to give up. A line with no hopping, would be a good thing.
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