Just over a week ago I posted a tribute to my wife over in the Off Topic section https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/shes-a-keeper.51089/. She had casually asked if the Jeep was ready for Moab, because she thought it was high time that we went there. We are now booked for the end of June and really looking forward to playing on the slickrock.
This weekend is one of the few that I have not been on call recently, so I decided to head over to an area that is popular with the locals (I have only been living in Albuquerque for 16 years, I don't qualify as a "local"). It is in the valley of the Rio Puerco, about 15 miles west of town. The area features a maze of trails, consisting mostly of sand with numerous sandstone outcroppings. The bikers, quads and side by sides all come for the sand, the Jeepers come for the rocks. I knew that there were a few spots that would help me determine if the Jeep really was ready for Moab, so we grabbed the dog and loaded up for "The Puerco".
After airing down we dropped over the edge of the mesa and took some random sand trails toward the area that had more rocks. You can drive on the sand for miles but you have to stay alert - the sight lines are very short on most of the trails and a lot of folks like to go fast. You don't get much warning of oncoming traffic.
After a while we entered the area known as "Mini Moab". Most of the rocks and obstacles are fairly small but there are a few spots that can be very challenging. They tend to be fairly widely separated - do an obstacle, drive a bit, climb a rock, drive a bit, lather, rinse and repeat.
This spot doesn't look like much in the photo but the angle is a little deceptive. The elevation change is about 60 feet, and I'm about 2/3rds of the way up in this shot, with a tight left turn at the top. Lots of small to medium size rocks all the way up.
We moved over to an area called "Moon Rocks" to play on some sandstone outcrops. I understand that the so-called "slickrock" in Moab is actually rather sticky, which is heartening, but the sandstone here is more than a bit slippery. You can also see that these rocks get a lot of traffic.
After Moon Rocks we crossed over a ridge and descended through a slot into an area of really cool sandstone formations. Too bad people can't stop themselves from carving their names on the rocks. This place isn't a national park, but is it too much to ask folks to treat it like one? Pick up your trash, don't destroy stuff just for the rush and try to leave the place better than you found it.
After a short break we headed home. No real issues with the LJ, although a little work on the brakes might be a good idea. We're thinking that the Jeep is pretty much ready for Moab and maybe, just maybe, we are too.
UPDATE: Well, as it turns out there was one little problem...
When we got home I popped the hood to check for leaks and found that the battery was tilted forward a bit. It turns out that the inner fender support bracket that the battery tray attaches to (supplied by MetalCloak when I bought my Overline front fenders) had broken into three pieces somewhere during the day. As luck would have it the brackets on both sides were identical, so I pulled the left side bracket (having to remove the inner fender and everything attached to it to get the bracket out was a special treat) and swapped it out with the broken right side part. There was enough left of the right side piece to bolt it to the left inner fender and connect it to the tub, there's just no way to put a tray on top any more. No biggie, I didn't have anything there anyway. If that's the only breakage I have to deal with as part of the Moab trip I'll be a happy camper (fingers crossed).
This used to be a single piece of metal. The middle piece is where the battery tray attaches, the top piece bolts to the firewall and the bottom piece bolts to the inner fender and the tub at the bottom of the firewall. The plastic box is the vacuum reservoir for the cruise control, I did have to drill two holes in the other bracket to attach it.
This weekend is one of the few that I have not been on call recently, so I decided to head over to an area that is popular with the locals (I have only been living in Albuquerque for 16 years, I don't qualify as a "local"). It is in the valley of the Rio Puerco, about 15 miles west of town. The area features a maze of trails, consisting mostly of sand with numerous sandstone outcroppings. The bikers, quads and side by sides all come for the sand, the Jeepers come for the rocks. I knew that there were a few spots that would help me determine if the Jeep really was ready for Moab, so we grabbed the dog and loaded up for "The Puerco".
After airing down we dropped over the edge of the mesa and took some random sand trails toward the area that had more rocks. You can drive on the sand for miles but you have to stay alert - the sight lines are very short on most of the trails and a lot of folks like to go fast. You don't get much warning of oncoming traffic.
After a while we entered the area known as "Mini Moab". Most of the rocks and obstacles are fairly small but there are a few spots that can be very challenging. They tend to be fairly widely separated - do an obstacle, drive a bit, climb a rock, drive a bit, lather, rinse and repeat.
This spot doesn't look like much in the photo but the angle is a little deceptive. The elevation change is about 60 feet, and I'm about 2/3rds of the way up in this shot, with a tight left turn at the top. Lots of small to medium size rocks all the way up.
We moved over to an area called "Moon Rocks" to play on some sandstone outcrops. I understand that the so-called "slickrock" in Moab is actually rather sticky, which is heartening, but the sandstone here is more than a bit slippery. You can also see that these rocks get a lot of traffic.
After Moon Rocks we crossed over a ridge and descended through a slot into an area of really cool sandstone formations. Too bad people can't stop themselves from carving their names on the rocks. This place isn't a national park, but is it too much to ask folks to treat it like one? Pick up your trash, don't destroy stuff just for the rush and try to leave the place better than you found it.
After a short break we headed home. No real issues with the LJ, although a little work on the brakes might be a good idea. We're thinking that the Jeep is pretty much ready for Moab and maybe, just maybe, we are too.
UPDATE: Well, as it turns out there was one little problem...
When we got home I popped the hood to check for leaks and found that the battery was tilted forward a bit. It turns out that the inner fender support bracket that the battery tray attaches to (supplied by MetalCloak when I bought my Overline front fenders) had broken into three pieces somewhere during the day. As luck would have it the brackets on both sides were identical, so I pulled the left side bracket (having to remove the inner fender and everything attached to it to get the bracket out was a special treat) and swapped it out with the broken right side part. There was enough left of the right side piece to bolt it to the left inner fender and connect it to the tub, there's just no way to put a tray on top any more. No biggie, I didn't have anything there anyway. If that's the only breakage I have to deal with as part of the Moab trip I'll be a happy camper (fingers crossed).
This used to be a single piece of metal. The middle piece is where the battery tray attaches, the top piece bolts to the firewall and the bottom piece bolts to the inner fender and the tub at the bottom of the firewall. The plastic box is the vacuum reservoir for the cruise control, I did have to drill two holes in the other bracket to attach it.
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