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10-15-2006, 10:54 PM
We just pulled back into town. Freaking awesome trip. Some pics are up already, gonna work on the rest tomorrow since I'm freaking beat right now.
We went to Arches Thursday, had never been there before so that was cool. Got a talking to from a Park Ranger for baja'ing the tow rig. Oops. Friday we ran Spike with Rocky Mountain Pinzgauers. Those things are way cool. There was even a 6x6 with us. We hit Crack by 1:00 and were making pretty good time. No issues really at crack, but at Double Whammy one of the 4x Pinz's well, destroyed everything. I still haven't figured a possible comparable break that could happen on a Jeep axle. It was bad, and spent the night on the trail, but they should've gotten it off yesterday. They tried winching it to the back of the 6x6 but with all of the ledges still left it just wasn't going to work. Basically the outer portion of the front right axle broke. Not the shaft, the axle. It would be the rough equivalent of us blowing a u-joint, which took out the ball joints, taking out the knuckle AND inner C, as well as blowing up every suspension mount on that corner, and then multiply it by 10 as the replacement parts are several THOUSAND dollars. They were going to grab the parts off one of the other Pinz's that was trailered out there, as this guy still had to drive his home!!!!
Saturday the weather got a little crappier so we stuck to some easy stuff. We ran Porcupine Rim in the fog. That was pretty cool. Pretty easy trail, but one I definitely want to do when the weather is better as what we saw as far as scenery was pretty spectacular. On the way out we had a guy blow up his front driveshaft and then in the process of trying to get up the "obstacle" he blew his d-shaft on he blew a bead. Yeah. Fun. Especially with no places to jack with a Hi-Lift and no spare tire. It's just a good thing it wasn't me down there in the mud with a bottle jack trying to get it going again. In the rain. And mud. And cold. Suckage. Then at the top we noticed that the same rig had BOTH front LCA axle side mounts completely bent with VERY little metal holding them on still. Not a good day for that rig . . .
So those of us who's rigs were still working ran over to Cliffhanger to check it out and see if the massive rains over the last few weeks helped clear out some of the obstacles. The stairs are back to normal, the ledge is getting close, and the obstacle right after the creek is almost 100%. We didn't go in any further as it was starting to rain even harder now and it was already 6:00 so we went back to town and drank beer. yay.
John decided to run Gemini Bridges today on their way out of town and on his way out ended up breaking his front trackbar bracket off his axle. Happened in the parking lot there. PERFECT place for that to happen!!! Unfortunately we were already in CO by then, but luckily John was able to find some help in town and got it all welded back up and should be home shortly.
So carnage totals:
3 Pinz Guys:
Nothing
Remaining Pinz Guy:
Ouch, Big fucking OUCH
John:
Trackbar bracket
Mark:
washer fluid bottle
Ken:
nothing?
Name Withheld to Avoid Embarrassment:
Front Driveshaft (CV style)
Blown Bead
BOTH LCA axle side mounts
One pair of jeans ruined in mud
Me:
One of the little clippy things that holds the visors to the roof
Had a great trip, pics will be up soon!
10-16-2006, 12:06 AM
wait till you see the pictures from HITR
Ever been surrounded by waterfalls in the desert 12 hours of trail away from ANYTHING?
Besides the ultimate coolness that is flashflooding, what else did I learn on my trip? The 4.0 motor sucks even more than I thought it did. How any of you guys put up with the amazing piece of shit that is the 4.0 is incredible to me.
Cody
10-16-2006, 12:14 AM
Can't say that I have, and can't say I ever want to!!Originally Posted by Cody
Ever been surrounded by waterfalls in the desert 12 hours of trail away from ANYTHING?
10-16-2006, 12:23 AM
Thats from my camera phone
It's only a little scary when the 18" deep flood crossing becomes 40" deep on the way home
Last edited by Cody; 10-16-2006 at 12:36 AM.
10-16-2006, 12:27 AM
Damn!
We didn't hit too much water in Moab. The beginning of Hells was apparently flooded pretty good, but I guess they pumped it out Friday. Definitely saw lots of evidence of flooding, but on Cliffhanger the cross of Kane Creek was maybe 3" deep.
10-16-2006, 01:07 AM
Decided to go ahead and upload some of the pics:
Water damage on Spider just after the Wedgie
Coming up the obstacle in the wash on Spike
One of the many ledges on Spike
One of the Pinz's coming up a ledge
One of the Pinz's coming down a ledge. It was really interesting to see how meticulous they had to be going down ledges. There were several times where they got REAAAALLY light in the back and came close to flopping. They had to be super careful on stuff we don't even think about.
Pam bringing the ZJ down the same ledge
It was sure as shit fun watching them go across the crack!!!
Pam couldn't let the Pinz guys be the only ones throwing tires!
A shrine to the Jeep Gods we found right after Crack
I actually managed to not get any pics of the carnage the Pinz had on Double Whammy but it sure made an interesting noise!! I'm sure someone else has some pics though. And I wish I had some of the 6x6 going up some of the obstacles, but he was leading the group and I was towards the back, by the time I could get up to the obstacle to take a pic he already made it up!!
10-16-2006, 01:13 AM
Rest of the pics are here: http://www.mallcrawlin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9847
And I did have more carnage than the visor clips, my the threads on my FireStik stripped out and the antenna won't stay in the spring anymore. I'm so glad I trailered it out there. With the kind of carnage I had there was no way it was driveable!!
10-16-2006, 10:58 AM
Mark also bent his drag link, real bad, crossing the crack.
I'm glad my track bar bracket let go in the parking lot, it made the welding easier. I'm going to see if Clayton has a beefy one for the axle mount.
It would have been bad if it broke on I-70, on the way home, in Glenwood Canyon.
All in all a great weekend. When are we going back?
10-16-2006, 11:40 AM
I'm glad I had a spare for you. Would have been hell getting it off the trail.
Any word on the Pinz's? That front hub carnage was wicked.
Note: Aluminum gear reduction hubs explode if you hop on Double Whammy!
10-16-2006, 11:44 AM
Got a PM from Mike this morning, said that Douwe got his rig off yesterday and should've made it home in one piece. He probably left in between us from what it sounded like. They disassembled Paul's rig after getting it on the trailer, and went in with the parts. Mike said to make sure I pass on a big thank you from all of them and that they really enjoyed wheeling with us and that we need to hit a trail again together.
10-16-2006, 07:57 PM
The bracket is suppose to be a higher. The top, bottom and left side welds broke. Just a little tab left on the bottom right side.
Jane drove to Gemini Bridges and back. She said the steering was starting to feel funny as we came down that high cliff road on the way back to the parking lot. We started to hear some clicking noises too.
I'm betting the bracket slowly let loose during the weekend's wheeling trip.
It's not that exciting to look at until you imagine jumping on the road out of Moab and speeding up to 70mph.
Called a welding friend of Mark and Tom's and he stick welded so I could get home. I'm going to make something beefy to replace the bracket.
Last edited by JohnBoulderCO; 10-16-2006 at 07:59 PM.
10-16-2006, 08:23 PM
Well now you can get to the back side of the track bar bolt. Should be a lot easier.
10-16-2006, 09:17 PM
Hmmmm, I think I'll stick with my lowly 33" tires!
I'm glad you caught it in Moab!
10-17-2006, 09:26 AM
Dave...that link is to this postRest of the pics are here: http://www.mallcrawlin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9847
And I did have more carnage than the visor clips, my the threads on my FireStik stripped out and the antenna won't stay in the spring anymore. I'm so glad I trailered it out there. With the kind of carnage I had there was no way it was driveable!!
10-17-2006, 09:56 AM
D'oh! That's what happens when I do this crap late at night after a long day!Dave...that link is to this post
http://www.mallcrawlin.com/wheelinpics/moaboct2006/
that should work bettter
10-17-2006, 02:11 PM
Is it regeared for your 35" tires, or are you on 3.55s or even 3.73s still? I have yet to have a power issue with the 4.0, but then I regeared before I went to larger tires and will again before the jump to 33s, hopefully before GSW07.
Cool pictures so far. This HitR leg is on my shorter list of trails to do, then I will have them both done. Did you hike out to Powell, with the heavy weather and all? -Todd
10-18-2006, 04:43 AM
Hummm? Why don't I remember this ledge John? Did we not drop off this ledge?
10-18-2006, 08:17 AM
Yes, we did. It is one in the series of ledges, heading down hill, just before you get to the Crack. The Grands walked down it, no big deal. The Pinz's got a major pucker factor with this ledge.
10-18-2006, 12:13 PM
For some reason Mallcrawlin was out of my mind recently.. I was in Moab at the same time as you guys for mountain biking. Going back Nov 18-21 for the Kokapelli trail, the Spike of mtn biking... 3 days, 114 miles.
Looks like you guys had a great time!
10-18-2006, 01:58 PM
Geared at 4.56 and still totally gutless. On big hills I have to slow down to like 45 to get over them and it's almost impossible for it to hold 65-70 mph without hunting for gears unless it's down hill.....then there is the design....which is a joke. took me 4 hours to remove and reinstall a CPS sensor held on with 2 small bolts. I couldn't keep up with the two XJ's with 4.0's and 33's (one with 3.55's and 1 with 4.88's) and I understand that my rig weighs probably 1000 lbs more. When my motor runs it idles smooth, doesn't burn oil, passed emmissions perfectly, and doesn't have particularly high miles so I have a hard time believeing something major is wrong. But it is frustrating when my friends xj on 33's and 3.55's can pull my rig over hills at 45 mph but my rig can barely pull itself over the same hill much faster.
We didn't make the trip down to the lake. When we finally made it to the end of the trail it was a monsoon, and we were 24 hours late getting started due to repeated problems with my motor eating coils and having to be towed into BF utah towns to find parts.
Cody
10-24-2006, 02:18 AM
Cody:
Welcome to the 4.0 litre world. Invest in a 50 shot of nitrous like I did...
You get that 8.8 in?
Chad
10-24-2006, 02:20 AM
Picture whore....
10-24-2006, 10:12 AM
Maybe 33"+ is the magic point that 4.0's stop working well even with regearing. On the passes between here and Denver on I-70 I end up doing them anywhere between 53-60mph and once it drops into 2nd gear I just hold it there and do the passes in the 55mph range, at least on the ZJ. The WJ is better, but then it has a newer motor. I guess I'll keep my 31s for DD work and swap the 33s on for Moab and other harder trail trips.
Still looking for more HitR pictures... do you have more?
10-24-2006, 10:31 AM
53-60 on the passes? When I drove the ZJ out to GSW in June I could still pull 80 up the passes, if I wanted to do it. Gets kinda scary at those speeds, but the rig's got it in her. I pulled a solid 80mph the whole way up Vail pass eastbound. V8 and 3.73's with 33's.
10-25-2006, 12:58 PM
Thus the difference between the 8's and the 6's (1.2L). I could drive it faster, but I really don't see the need to wrap it up that much. I did on a few of the trips over to the Front Range for soccer games and it just seemed like I was pushing the engine. Once I get the spare 4.0 rebuilt and it is ready to swap into the ZJ... I am thinking that 4.10s will help as well. The wife's WJ can pull the passes faster if pushed and without too much work but with almost 170k on the ZJ's odo...
But we digress from Moab trip reporting and more pictures of Moab...
I'm really feeling the need for a trip in November. Maybe the weekend after Thanksgiving, maybe sooner. Housing should be cheap too.
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