GSW 2010 Recap

[4wheeln ZJ]

I use a front center limiting strap with about 1" of slack. It absolutely makes a big difference on climbs. Winch works too, maybe even better, but I don't have a good way to route the winch to make that work.

Do you have any pictures of your limiting strap set up ? I plan on installing one this weekend.
thanks mike

[MoonWorks]

Great pics guys! Some of the climbs out there are unreal. We just don't have stuff like that here on the east coast. And the climbs we do have, are wet, jagged and generally always require full throttle. See ya'll walk sections like that are just rediculous.

[BigDaveZJ]

We left Monday morning at 9:00 am, and only made it to just north of Rifle CO, before the diesel started to lose power. We were 15 miles north of Rifle heading up the hill, when the power just went away. It was not getting enough fuel. We had to back it down the 2 lane road about 100 yards, with cars coming at us and cars trying to get around us from behind. When we finally got it to a shop to have them figure it out. It looks like the high pressure oil pump. Hopefully we can get it running in the morning. We only made it about 3 hours before getting laid up. So wish us luck!

Are you guys back up and running again?

[CrawlerReady]

Hey - I never heard how BTR turned out. Any drama?

Behind the Rocks went great! No problems what-so-ever. 5 of us in all. Ted, Stan, Darrick, Pat and I. We hit every obstacle and strapped everyone down White-Knuckle.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Im sorry, I had to post this one

Whatev, this photo is SO 2006.



(Bonus points for spotting the mystery guest).

Great pics guys, wish I could've made it! I'd like to make it next year, maybe with a SAS'd WK.

[BigDaveZJ]

Do I get a bonus point?

[JohnBoulderCO]

I'll split the bonus point with you.

[JohnBoulderCO]

Not long after leaving Moab the temp went up to 230. Then it would jump in an instant to 258*. Back off the throttle & it would drop back down to 230*....

I tried nursing it with the throttle at around 2k rpm when all of this started but after the fan swap I deside to let it stay at the almost pegged spot & it finally did over heat & boil over....

While coasting down hill tward Idaho Springs the damm thing Vapor locks when it's at it's coolest all day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What The Fuck!!!!! It vapor locked 3 times the rest of the way home....

The normal 6 hour drive ended up being 9 hours.

After all that, do you still want to bolt on the super charger to make more power and heat?

[go4x4it]

It's a mod on my list to be done before next GSW. The ratchet strap takes too much time.

Anyway thanks for trail leading Tyler. I only saw you get unnerved twice - once after the WJ rolled on Rim, and that time when the giant lizard started eyeing your ZJ when we were eating lunch in that cave on Behind the Rocks. You did great, and I had a lot of fun wheeling with you!

Hahaha That pic is epic!!

[CrawlerReady]

HAHA Nice Stan!!!!! I was hoping someone got some footage of that....I was terrified to say the least!

[ArloGuthroJeep]

How is your jeep leaning up hill? Is dave sitting on the right side?

[ROLLWJ]

Are you guys back up and running again?

Thanks for asking Dave, I was just going to post that we got back at 1:00 pm today, our time. That is about 30 hours late and about $2300 lighter in my pocket. The high pressure oil pump failed. This is what activates the injectors so we had virtually no power. The truck actually stalled at the off ramp to the shop in Silt.
T&G auto repair, actually did a great job. They sent a mobile unit out to the truck since we had the 42' gooseneck on it. We were able to drive the truck back almost to the shop, then they went back up with their truck to pick up the trailer with the Jeeps on it.

Scott, that would have been cool to see you. We were actually stuck at the top of the hill until after 6:00pm. We left the shop about 4:00 pm Tuesday, and drove through the night to get home. This went quite well, and fortunately very uneventful!

I will post some more pics as I get time to go through them.

Thanks for all the concern, I really do appreciate it!!!!!!

[BigDaveZJ]

That HPOP can be a PITA. The lines on mine have been leaking for 6+ months now, I need to dive back in there and get them taken care of. Good to hear you're back though!

[go4x4it]

x2. Glad to hear you finally made it home.

[CrawlerReady]

x3! Glad to hear you guys finally made it back home!

[Shinobi]

ya glad u guys made it home so whats the plan now for the wj

[JohnBoulderCO]

Yep, glad you made it back home safe. Time to swap all the good stuff onto a WJ shell.

[BigDaveZJ]

Yep, glad you made it back home safe. Time to swap all the good stuff onto a WJ shell.

Meh. Not all that hard to cut the roof off and weld a new one back on.

[JohnBoulderCO]

Meh. Not all that hard to cut the roof off and weld a new one back on.

Yep, internal cage and new roof, that would be another way to go.

That lizard pic keeps cracking me up, each time I see it.

[Sudz]

anywho here are my pics ...

photo from last year - the staging area has been paved?

[JohnBoulderCO]

Yep, good eyes.
Now let us know which Jeeps are present in both pics.
Don't forget to find Waldo.

[downtowncb]

I think this might be a good starting point for next year's shirt:

Sounds good to me

Did I hear that somebody got video of that?

My dad was shooting videos of a bunch of us right there, I'll look through them and see what he has.

Josh & Kanin, you guys did a great job with these photos. Again, thank you guys for putting on an awesome event. I'm so glad that after 4 years of wanting to go I was finally able to attend and make a ton of new friends.

[Colorado 5.9]

After all that, do you still want to bolt on the super charger to make more power and heat?

Yep! There's something wrong & when I figure it out it will be fine. The water pump has over 60k on it & it could be cavitating do to worn impellers. I'll try a new Flowcooler pump first after I make sure both fans I have are working right with both speeds. It could be one of the two sensors that control the High & low of the fan. They are located in the uper & lower rad hoses. Checked the relays & they are OK.

I know of a dozen of more 5.9's across the country with SC's & they have no cooling problems. Half of them don't even have cooling methods for the SC's such as meth injection or intercoolers. It all depends on the tune.

[ROLLWJ]

Thanks for the best wishes, it was a long expensive, but very fun, trip.

ya glad u guys made it home so whats the plan now for the wj

I have not decided yet, at this point I am leaning toward just buying another to swap all my parts onto.

I did not even consider putting a roof on it, that may be a possibility, but I am not exactly a body guy. Plus that may still take a complete donor rig to get enough good parts to put it back together.

I still like the hybrid buggy thing, like yours Tyler. I still am not sure that will fit my lifestyle with camping and trail riding with the kids, not to mention some highway driving.

So give it a couple weeks, and I hope to have a plan. I may actually try to do a build thread on it. I think that it may be an interesting build. I can say this with certainty, it will have a cage in it. I do not want to ever have to worry about the safety of my friends and family that ride with me, at least not that much. I will keep you all posted.

Darrick

[SCAMPER ZJ]

HAHA Nice Stan!!!!! I was hoping someone got some footage of that....I was terrified to say the least!

I'm just glad I was able to snap the pic before he rambled on back into his cave - and that he didn't spy your Chips A'Hoy!

GREMLINS

My troubles started AFTER I got back from Moab Rim. It's hard for me to complain too much though, because it always seemed to happen in a parking lot. After the pizza party we went to get ice cream at the Moab Diner. After finishing off a chocholate malt, I hopped back in the Jeep and CLICK - it wouldn't start. I hit the starter with a hammer, and checked the wires and fuses. Nothing. No problem, I just walked over to behind the Red Stone and grabbed my truck and trailer. Hooked up the winch to the front of the trailer and pulled myself up. That's when we noticed I had a flat tire on the trailer. OK, no problem, I had some Fix-a-Flat and CO2. Couldn't find the source of the leak, but figured I'd find it in the morning. Went to start the truck. No go, battery dead. WHAT THE HECK??! So I pulled out the long jumper cables from the Jeep - 5 ft too short - D'OH! Fortunately I had another set in the truck, so I strung them together and got it started.

The next morning the tire had lost a little pressure. Still couldn't find the source, so we aired up and headed out of town. It lost about 20psi from Moab to GJ, so I put a second can of Fix-a-Flat in it and aired up with the CO2. (Why didn't I put the spare on? Seems it was flat too.) I kept my side view mirror on it and figured we'd need to air up in Glenwood. Well, by Parachute it was looking low and when I checked it, it had dropped from 80 to 30psi!! This time I found the nail, and did the repair with the kit I won at the banquet. Problem solved.

IT WASN'T OVER. A faint infrequent rub-grind sound I noticed around Grand Junction suddenly became a louder more frequent grinding as we went over Vail Pass. I had just had the bearings done, and new brakes and rotors, so I couldn't figure out what it was. Then the ABS light when on. I pulled over at the first Frisco exit and the wheel was so hot it almost burned my hand. Smelled like burning brakes, too. I noticed the rotor was shiny only on the inner 2/3 and thought maybe something had gotten between the brakes and the rotor. So I pulled the caliper (during which we had our one and only cloud burst for about 5 minutes) and found the springs weren't keeping the brakes off. I didn't didn't see anything else. I put it back on after bending the springs some, and hoped for the best. NO GO. Lance looked out his window and reported that the wheel was WOBBLING. I couldn't deny it any more - it was those blasted bearings.

We found a local who directed us to the NAPA on main street. Wouldn't you know it, they had closed 15 minutes earlier! Fortunately Lance found a guy behind the shop. He said there was a Car Quest 5 miles away that was still open, and he knew the number. (We're pretty sure he was a NAPA employee, but whatever.) I called, and they had the hub assembly in stock for $394. Unfortunately, they were just getting ready to close too, and they didn't have a delivery driver. I had a broken truck and broken Jeep, so I begged the guy to swing by on his way home. He agreed, and took a credit card over the phone. 30 minutes later when he arrived, we had the truck up on a bottle jack and the hub assembly off. He dropped off the part, took his money, and ran. MAN DID WE LUCK OUT!!

Moments after the Car Quest delivery in the NAPA parking lot.


Bearing dust.


We spent the next two hours breaking loose four bolts off of the old hub assembly to re-use on the new one. I also broke a (non-critical) spring clip, but we found a way to make it work. It got us home safely.

Note the light post in the background. The base served as our vice when removing the rusty bolts from the old hub assembly.


Today I put in a new starter (Jeep starts fine now) and two new batteries in the F250 (it starts fine now too).

CARNAGE

Only carnage I found was a bent lower control arm (which I am going to straighten and sleeve this time instead of replacing), and I somehow bent the Currie Anti-Rock (presumably on White Knuckle when I dropped 5 feet) so that my driver's side tire now rubs the heim joint when I turn passenger. Oh, and I hit my sliders so hard the rocker panel on the driver's side buckled some. C'est dommage!

Unnamed obstacle on Behind the Rocks GSW 2010.