Wish I was gunna be there too. Have a safe trip and take LOTS of pictures.
Nashville TJ's Build - Continued
- Thread starter NashvilleTJ
- Start date
OP
It's a sad day when you wash off the red dust...
OK, I have now 'followed' your thread... happy?
Not saying I actually read it mind you...
Watching this thing (and you I suppose) drive DOWN chewie was something to see....
Not saying I actually read it mind you...
Watching this thing (and you I suppose) drive DOWN chewie was something to see....
OP
Well, I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had not been my last obstacle on Pritchett...
Brianj5600
TJ Expert
Brianj5600
TJ Expert
The driveway is definitely the best place to break down. I had a water pump start leaking the day before leaving for Delores, CO with the family. I also had a control arm fail backing out of the driveway. Very lucky it didn't fail on one of the cloverleafs with big rock walls we have around here.
B00mb00m
The Church of Cutting Brakes of Atlas-Front Digs
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Soo... does this mean you need some help with tons, coilovers and V8? I'm here to assist.OK, I have now 'followed' your thread... happy?
Not saying I actually read it mind you...
Watching this thing (and you I suppose) drive DOWN chewie was something to see....
Eventually maybeSoo... does this mean you need some help with tons, coilovers and V8? I'm here to assist.
First I have to finish figuring out what parts to order for Hydro assist, then get that installed, then seats/rubicrawler... those purchases have been approved by my long term strategic accounting dept.Do you know how to install the PSC + Blaines kit Hydro assist? if so, by all means come on over!
B00mb00m
The Church of Cutting Brakes of Atlas-Front Digs
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
I did the PSC on my own rig but I have cross-over JK steering. Holler when you get it, I'd be happy to help, in fact i like to work on other peoples jeeps!Eventually maybe
Do you know how to install the PSC + Blaines kit Hydro assist? if so, by all means come on over!
OP
Back from Moab, and it was a great trip. Met a bunch of folks from the forum. To those I was able to meet and wheel with, it was great to put some faces with some names. I had a blast wheelin' with you all.
On Monday we hit Hell's Revenge, but the first stop was Baby Lions Back.
We passed the actual Lion's Back on the way - and it definitely looked scary.
The Hell's trail is not terribly technical, but it has a few cool optional tracks - this is going down Hell's Gate:
And back up the other side:
And finally, the iconic Escalator:
On Monday we hit Hell's Revenge, but the first stop was Baby Lions Back.
We passed the actual Lion's Back on the way - and it definitely looked scary.
The Hell's trail is not terribly technical, but it has a few cool optional tracks - this is going down Hell's Gate:
And back up the other side:
And finally, the iconic Escalator:
OP
On Tuesday we were planning to do Moab Rim, but it was raining. You do not want to do Moab Rim when it is wet - you could easily slide off the cliff into the Colorado River many hundreds of feet down. Instead, my brother and I spent the day going through Arches National Park, and Dead Horse Point National Park. Still a good day.
On Wednesday - it was Pritchett Canyon. I've done Pritchett before, but nobody else in the group had done so, so I was the trail leader. I was looking forward to Pritchett - it is the main reason I went to Moab this year. It was great - for a while.
It's a beautiful canyon, but it's rated a 9 for a reason. Even the trail between the obstacles is tough. Here is a ledge that does not even have a name (that I know of), but was a challenge with a real chance of an off camber roll over to the right.
I successfully spotted everyone down - here is me going first:
Immediately after the ledge was the first obstacle, called Chewy. Here is my brother Dave doing an introduction:
Chewy is no joke. We watched a group of Bronco's - and this happened to their trail leader:
We watched a bunch of crazy-built Bronco's have to winch up Chewy. The pics and vids don't do it justice - it's steep, slick, and off camber. In other words, crazy fun.
And this is me coming up - if only I would have remembered my lockers, I'd have crawled it the first time...
After I got up, I spotted everyone else in the group. All but one had to winch - and then we got to the last guy. He was a tagalong friend of one of the forum members in a 4 door JK - and had no business at all being on Pritchett. I was spotting him up the first ledge, and said very clearly "take it easy or you are going to break something. OK, now crawl...""
He did not. He hammered it and broke badly. Folded his two lower control arms into a V, and broke the rear driveshaft. After assessing the situation, we developed a plan of attack. Long story short, I went and got my rig and came back down Chewy - which trust me, is no small task. We ratchet strapped the rear axle in place, removed the rear driveshaft, and then I towed him back to the trail head with my brother driving his rig in front wheel drive. Again, trust me when I say that getting out of Pritchett this way was a huge challenge - lot's of difficult obstacles to tow him through. We then followed him back to his house safely. The rest of the group was able to continue on.
By then it was late enough in the day that we had to miss the rest of Pritchett. As you can imagine, I was quite pissed. This did not have to happen, but, we got him home - without even so much as an offer to by me a beer.
On Wednesday - it was Pritchett Canyon. I've done Pritchett before, but nobody else in the group had done so, so I was the trail leader. I was looking forward to Pritchett - it is the main reason I went to Moab this year. It was great - for a while.
It's a beautiful canyon, but it's rated a 9 for a reason. Even the trail between the obstacles is tough. Here is a ledge that does not even have a name (that I know of), but was a challenge with a real chance of an off camber roll over to the right.
I successfully spotted everyone down - here is me going first:
Immediately after the ledge was the first obstacle, called Chewy. Here is my brother Dave doing an introduction:
Chewy is no joke. We watched a group of Bronco's - and this happened to their trail leader:
We watched a bunch of crazy-built Bronco's have to winch up Chewy. The pics and vids don't do it justice - it's steep, slick, and off camber. In other words, crazy fun.
And this is me coming up - if only I would have remembered my lockers, I'd have crawled it the first time...
After I got up, I spotted everyone else in the group. All but one had to winch - and then we got to the last guy. He was a tagalong friend of one of the forum members in a 4 door JK - and had no business at all being on Pritchett. I was spotting him up the first ledge, and said very clearly "take it easy or you are going to break something. OK, now crawl...""
He did not. He hammered it and broke badly. Folded his two lower control arms into a V, and broke the rear driveshaft. After assessing the situation, we developed a plan of attack. Long story short, I went and got my rig and came back down Chewy - which trust me, is no small task. We ratchet strapped the rear axle in place, removed the rear driveshaft, and then I towed him back to the trail head with my brother driving his rig in front wheel drive. Again, trust me when I say that getting out of Pritchett this way was a huge challenge - lot's of difficult obstacles to tow him through. We then followed him back to his house safely. The rest of the group was able to continue on.
By then it was late enough in the day that we had to miss the rest of Pritchett. As you can imagine, I was quite pissed. This did not have to happen, but, we got him home - without even so much as an offer to by me a beer.
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OP
On Wednesday, we were with a group that did Poison Spider, Golden Spike, and Gold Bar Rim. Here are a few random videos of a few obstacles:
And here is the exit to Golden Spike. I would have normally tried the buggy line to the left (@Dino - KX6D was trying to talk me into it), but we had a long line of other rigs behind us and we were anxious to keep moving - it had already been a very long day. That's the reason for my comment on the video...
And here is the exit to Golden Spike. I would have normally tried the buggy line to the left (@Dino - KX6D was trying to talk me into it), but we had a long line of other rigs behind us and we were anxious to keep moving - it had already been a very long day. That's the reason for my comment on the video...
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OP
An iconic obstacle on Golden Spike is the Golden Crack. Here is a video that Dino - our fearless trail leader - took of me coming through:
And here is the rest of the story. This is a picture my brother took at that same moment. Look closely and you can see @Dino - KX6D laying in the crack taking the video. I had no idea that he was there. My brother said that he had to pull up his legs when my front tire dropped in. You can't argue with commitment!
And here is the rest of the story. This is a picture my brother took at that same moment. Look closely and you can see @Dino - KX6D laying in the crack taking the video. I had no idea that he was there. My brother said that he had to pull up his legs when my front tire dropped in. You can't argue with commitment!
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OP
On Friday, we did Metal Masher, and after the fiasco on Pritchett MM turned out to be the most fun day. Lot's of cool obstacles - and one very crazy obstacle.
Here are a few videos along the trail.
Here are a few videos along the trail.
OP
You can't talk about Metal Masher, without talking about The Widowmaker. I and three other brave souls bypassed the bypass, and headed up to visit this crazy obstacle. Just to get there, you had to traverse what I called The Widowmaker Gatekeeper. Here is what it looks like from the bottom. Note that it is a scary dropoff to the right at the top.
And here is me coming up. As usual, the video does not do it justice. That big ledge you see at the top is just the first thing to get over. It becomes a nasty off-camber leaning toward the cliff. This is a serious obstacle.
We were able to spot Ryan (@Apparition), Dave (@DaveF) and Toby (@SecondChanceTJ) up the gatekeeper. Coming up to this they all said, "So, this is Widowmaker???"
The actual Widowmaker is just around the corner to the left at the top.
And here is me coming up. As usual, the video does not do it justice. That big ledge you see at the top is just the first thing to get over. It becomes a nasty off-camber leaning toward the cliff. This is a serious obstacle.
We were able to spot Ryan (@Apparition), Dave (@DaveF) and Toby (@SecondChanceTJ) up the gatekeeper. Coming up to this they all said, "So, this is Widowmaker???"
The actual Widowmaker is just around the corner to the left at the top.
OP
And then, The Widowmaker. Here is my brother with an introduction:
You walk up a hill to the Widowmaker, making it look even more ominous... It's pretty intimidating standing at the bottom looking up.
And here is my few attempts at it. I even used my suck-down winch, and was still much too light in the front. I obviously did not make it up, but we put on a nice show.
In this last try you can hear me sucking down the suck-down even more in desperation.
Didn't make it up - but it was still crazy fun.
You walk up a hill to the Widowmaker, making it look even more ominous... It's pretty intimidating standing at the bottom looking up.
And here is my few attempts at it. I even used my suck-down winch, and was still much too light in the front. I obviously did not make it up, but we put on a nice show.
In this last try you can hear me sucking down the suck-down even more in desperation.
Didn't make it up - but it was still crazy fun.
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OP
Metal Masher also has a nice ride along the cliff. Makes for a beautiful view - and some butterflies in the stomach...
B00mb00m
The Church of Cutting Brakes of Atlas-Front Digs
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Do i need to be the one to say this, "typical JK owner." I wish you would've videoed going through the obstacles with the JK! You're kicking ass on the Moab obstacles.
OP
It was a great trip. The rig performed well, and no breakage at all.
I can't say as much for the trailer.
First day on the trip out - just west of Denver as we were getting into the Rockies:
First day on the trip back - just as we were getting back into Colorado:
But the trailer was not through. First thing on the second day of the return trip while getting fuel just outside of Kansas City - I see this:
Hard to see, but both outside shackles failed and were hanging on by a thread. On the verge of coming completely loose:
So it was time to pull out the heavy duty fab tools (which I had not yet even seen on this trip!):
I carry steel for just this purpose, so I laid out a couple new shackles on 1/4" bar stock:
Many of you know that I have a welder on the rig, but it also puts out 115 AC.
Drilled a few holes:
Cut them to length:
And installed. I also checked the other side and sure enough, one of the shackles was cracked, but had not yet failed. I pulled out the welder and made a quick repair there:
Decent enough weld, but it was so tight I could not get in there to knock off the slag.
No more problems after that. The final 500 miles went smoothly - although I did drive just a bit slower...
I can't say as much for the trailer.
First day on the trip out - just west of Denver as we were getting into the Rockies:
First day on the trip back - just as we were getting back into Colorado:
But the trailer was not through. First thing on the second day of the return trip while getting fuel just outside of Kansas City - I see this:
Hard to see, but both outside shackles failed and were hanging on by a thread. On the verge of coming completely loose:
So it was time to pull out the heavy duty fab tools (which I had not yet even seen on this trip!):
I carry steel for just this purpose, so I laid out a couple new shackles on 1/4" bar stock:
Many of you know that I have a welder on the rig, but it also puts out 115 AC.
Drilled a few holes:
Cut them to length:
And installed. I also checked the other side and sure enough, one of the shackles was cracked, but had not yet failed. I pulled out the welder and made a quick repair there:
Decent enough weld, but it was so tight I could not get in there to knock off the slag.
No more problems after that. The final 500 miles went smoothly - although I did drive just a bit slower...