Wow. At 3900# w/ gas and recovery gear I’m 68# over a stock Rubicon? With a winch, armor, Atlas and beadlocked 35s? Those Dana 44 center sections must be heavy.
Woodrow's 97 Green TJ Moderate Build
- Thread starter Woodrow
- Start date
Wow. At 3900# w/ gas and recovery gear I’m 68# over a stock Rubicon? With a winch, armor, Atlas and beadlocked 35s? Those Dana 44 center sections must be heavy.
Did you use a certified scale? The scales at the dump and quarries don't need to have an accurate zero. Just tell the before and after difference
Not sure about certification. However, I did get a weight at 2 scales on the same day (an ODOT scale on the side of Hwy 42 and at a metal recycling place locally). They both read 3900#
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A purely for looks addition:
When I got the Savvy tailgate skin recently, I also got their valance. However, I didn’t like the big gaps it would have left and the pre-drilled screw holes didn’t match the way I had decided to drill the tailgate.
So, I went to the local metal outlet and they cut me a piece of 3/16” 6061 aluminum to my specifications. They did it perfectly. Here is the Savvy piece on top of the new one to show the size difference:
And here is the custom panel installed:
The Savvy part is actually about 1/8 narrower than their tailgate skin and about 1/4” less than the height of the one I had cut. Now at some point, I need to fix the butt crack which actually has an advantage beyond looks; raising the rear of the tank 1 1/4”.
When I got the Savvy tailgate skin recently, I also got their valance. However, I didn’t like the big gaps it would have left and the pre-drilled screw holes didn’t match the way I had decided to drill the tailgate.
So, I went to the local metal outlet and they cut me a piece of 3/16” 6061 aluminum to my specifications. They did it perfectly. Here is the Savvy piece on top of the new one to show the size difference:
And here is the custom panel installed:
Lookin good, it’s the little details that make the biggest impact!
I know what you are saying about "Just for Looks" Woods, but I disagree. I pride myself on never having done anything to the rig for looks alone, but that doesn't mean that I don't take the time to make every functional project look as good as it can. To me, that valance is just the completion of your corner guard project - and that is certainly functional.
Nice work, Brother.
Thanks, man. Like you and a bunch of folks here, I think functional is cool especially if elegantly done, e.g. strength without weight, effective yet clean and simple…
As I sit here and think about it, there are many examples we commonly see here like triangulated 4-link rear control arms, the Swayloc and now using the empty spots in your PDC for aux circuits that you and @Blackjack just mentioned in his build thread to name a few.
Its been a couple of weeks since returning from my 2nd trip to Moab. It was another great trip but what a difference a year makes! More confidence, harder trails and harder obstacles for sure this time. Last year I was a complete Noob and my Jeep, though mildly built with lockers on 33s wasn’t ready for true rock crawling. This year, a little more experience, beadlocked 35s, armor and a 5:1 Atlas significantly altered the situation.
Despite all that, I’m still relatively new to off roading and Jeep building. As such, any and all successes are in large part due to the wealth of knowledge here on WTJF in general and in particular to the members (now friends) that were part of this year’s trip. Its the people that are the icing on the cake:
@Apparition and @Mrs.Apparition were again central to organizing the group this year. They and their kids are so pleasant to hang out with. 2 of the kids wheeled with us again this year (one rode we me for 2 days and I really enjoyed that) and maybe next year @Mrs.Apparition will be able to return to the trail
It was great to see @MagnumV8 again. He’s a quiet, low stress guy and calm in the face of adversity (his jeep had some troubles and it never got under his skin). He was also the best photographer. Taking the time to do this and share with others is really generous. Thank You!
@lBasket showed up again too. He’s a riot, both to talk to and watch wheel. He basically has a stock jeep and somehow follows @Apparition on all these hard lines. Unfortunately, the heat was a bit much for his dog Transfer Case (I mean Atlas
) so he didn’t get to wheel as many days. But I really liked that german shepherd.
@NashvilleTJ, his wife and 2 of their friends were with us this year. What a nice addition to the group they were. Everyone on the forum knows that big yellow LJ. It was super cool to see it in action. It gets wheeled hard. This time around a torn sidewall and front truss failure were proof of antics past and present. Fortunately, @NashvilleTJ ‘s rig is essentially a Snap-On truck on 42s. Mr. Prepared fixed himself and just about everyone else.
@taylormade73 showed up with his wife from Ohio. Despite “THE” Ohio State garb (go BLUE!), they turned out to be more great people and had an awesome black LJ all Savvy’ed out. He is also an excellent spotter. Unfortunately, some PCM/TCM issues kept off them the trail for several days but they did Hells/Fins with us and hung out with the group on several evenings. Also, his wife kept Basket out of trouble a couple of times on off days
@genesmail2001 was a new guy this year. A truss failure on Metal Masher took his Rubicon out on his first day so we only got to see him a little bit. Seemed like a good dude and was a wealth of transmission knowledge having spent 30 years in the field.
We also wheeled with @gogetter and his beastly highlined LJ on tons on the Hells/Fins day. Another forum member you’d be happy to mingle with!
Here’s a group pic at the dinosaur tracks (Hells/Fins day). Left to Right are: @MagnumV8 , @Apparition, myself, @lBasket, @taylormade73, @gogetter, random nice family in JT from Arkansas who were solo and new to Moab wheeling. We offered for them to tag along with us and they were happy to do so and did well. Lastly, there is @NashvilleTJ’s neighbor in his JLUR (He is a retired peace officer and quite the car guy. He’s got a 6.4L hemi he will put in a JK, a built Mustang and a 911 GT2 among others. Point is, nobody gave him any crap about the JL) and of course the man himself in the big yellow jeep.
And here’s a test video from youtube. I signed up for a channel so I could more easily post videos here:
I hope it works. A proud moment; Chewy on Pritchett in one shot!
Lastly a scenery shot. If you can ever take a moment to soak in the surroundings, Moab never disappoints:
If the video works, more wheeling to come in the next day or 2…
Despite all that, I’m still relatively new to off roading and Jeep building. As such, any and all successes are in large part due to the wealth of knowledge here on WTJF in general and in particular to the members (now friends) that were part of this year’s trip. Its the people that are the icing on the cake:
@Apparition and @Mrs.Apparition were again central to organizing the group this year. They and their kids are so pleasant to hang out with. 2 of the kids wheeled with us again this year (one rode we me for 2 days and I really enjoyed that) and maybe next year @Mrs.Apparition will be able to return to the trail
It was great to see @MagnumV8 again. He’s a quiet, low stress guy and calm in the face of adversity (his jeep had some troubles and it never got under his skin). He was also the best photographer. Taking the time to do this and share with others is really generous. Thank You!
@lBasket showed up again too. He’s a riot, both to talk to and watch wheel. He basically has a stock jeep and somehow follows @Apparition on all these hard lines. Unfortunately, the heat was a bit much for his dog Transfer Case (I mean Atlas
) so he didn’t get to wheel as many days. But I really liked that german shepherd.@NashvilleTJ, his wife and 2 of their friends were with us this year. What a nice addition to the group they were. Everyone on the forum knows that big yellow LJ. It was super cool to see it in action. It gets wheeled hard. This time around a torn sidewall and front truss failure were proof of antics past and present. Fortunately, @NashvilleTJ ‘s rig is essentially a Snap-On truck on 42s. Mr. Prepared fixed himself and just about everyone else.
@taylormade73 showed up with his wife from Ohio. Despite “THE” Ohio State garb (go BLUE!), they turned out to be more great people and had an awesome black LJ all Savvy’ed out. He is also an excellent spotter. Unfortunately, some PCM/TCM issues kept off them the trail for several days but they did Hells/Fins with us and hung out with the group on several evenings. Also, his wife kept Basket out of trouble a couple of times on off days
@genesmail2001 was a new guy this year. A truss failure on Metal Masher took his Rubicon out on his first day so we only got to see him a little bit. Seemed like a good dude and was a wealth of transmission knowledge having spent 30 years in the field.
We also wheeled with @gogetter and his beastly highlined LJ on tons on the Hells/Fins day. Another forum member you’d be happy to mingle with!
Here’s a group pic at the dinosaur tracks (Hells/Fins day). Left to Right are: @MagnumV8 , @Apparition, myself, @lBasket, @taylormade73, @gogetter, random nice family in JT from Arkansas who were solo and new to Moab wheeling. We offered for them to tag along with us and they were happy to do so and did well. Lastly, there is @NashvilleTJ’s neighbor in his JLUR (He is a retired peace officer and quite the car guy. He’s got a 6.4L hemi he will put in a JK, a built Mustang and a 911 GT2 among others. Point is, nobody gave him any crap about the JL
) and of course the man himself in the big yellow jeep.And here’s a test video from youtube. I signed up for a channel so I could more easily post videos here:
I hope it works. A proud moment; Chewy on Pritchett in one shot!
If the video works, more wheeling to come in the next day or 2…
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Its been a couple of weeks since returning from my 2nd trip to Moab. It was another great trip but what a difference a year makes! More confidence, harder trails and harder obstacles for sure this time. Last year I was a complete Noob and my Jeep, though mildly built with lockers on 33s wasn’t ready for true rock crawling. This year, a little more experience, beadlocked 35s, armor and a 5:1 Atlas significantly altered the situation.
Despite all that, I’m still relatively new to off roading and Jeep building. As such, any and all successes are in large part due to the wealth of knowledge here on WTJF in general and in particular to the members (now friends) that were part of this year’s trip. Its the people that are the icing on the cake:
@Apparition and @Mrs.Apparition were again central to organizing the group this year. They and their kids are so pleasant to hang out with. 2 of the kids wheeled with us again this year (one rode we me for 2 days and I really enjoyed that) and maybe next year @Mrs.Apparition will be able to return to the trail
View attachment 538212
It was great to see @MagnumV8 again. He’s a quiet, low stress guy and calm in the face of adversity (his jeep had some troubles and it never got under his skin). He was also the best photographer. Taking the time to do this and share with others is really generous. Thank You!
View attachment 538215
@lBasket showed up again too. He’s a riot, both to talk to and watch wheel. He basically has a stock jeep and somehow follows @Apparition on all these hard lines. Unfortunately, the heat was a bit much for his dog Transfer Case (I mean Atlas
View attachment 538216
@NashvilleTJ, his wife and 2 of their friends were with us this year. What a nice addition to the group they were. Everyone on the forum knows that big yellow LJ. It was super cool to see it in action. It gets wheeled hard. This time around a torn sidewall and front truss failure were proof of antics past and present. Fortunately, @NashvilleTJ ‘s rig is essentially a Snap-On truck on 42s. Mr. Prepared fixed himself and just about everyone else.
View attachment 538217
@taylormade73 showed up with his wife from Ohio. Despite “THE” Ohio State garb (go BLUE!), they turned out to be more great people and had an awesome black LJ all Savvy’ed out. He is also an excellent spotter. Unfortunately, some PCM/TCM issues kept off them the trail for several days but they did Hells/Fins with us and hung out with the group on several evenings. Also, his wife kept Basket out of trouble a couple of times on off days
View attachment 538218
@genesmail2001 was a new guy this year. A truss failure on Metal Masher took his Rubicon out on his first day so we only got to see him a little bit. Seemed like a good dude and was a wealth of transmission knowledge having spent 30 years in the field.
View attachment 538220
We also wheeled with @gogetter and his beastly highlined LJ on tons on the Hells/Fins day. Another forum member you’d be happy to mingle with!
View attachment 538221
Here’s a group pic at the dinosaur tracks (Hells/Fins day). Left to Right are: @MagnumV8 , @Apparition, myself, @lBasket, @taylormade73, @gogetter, random nice family in JT from Arkansas who were solo and new to Moab wheeling. We offered for them to tag along with us and they were happy to do so and did well. Lastly, there is @NashvilleTJ’s neighbor in his JLUR (He is a retired peace officer and quite the car guy. He’s got a 6.4L hemi he will put in a JK, a built Mustang and a 911 GT2 among others. Point is, nobody gave him any crap about the JL
View attachment 538222
And here’s a test video from youtube. I signed up for a channel so I could more easily post videos here:
I hope it works. A proud moment; Chewy on Pritchett in one shot!
Lastly a scenery shot. If you can ever take a moment to soak in the surroundings, Moab never disappoints:
View attachment 538203
If the video works, more wheeling to come in the next day or 2…
Awesome on Chewy. I didn’t make that climb. Had to pull line. If I’m not mistaken that’s Jason a few ledges up! I really missed out! Thanks for the vid. I look forward to more.
Its been a couple of weeks since returning from my 2nd trip to Moab. It was another great trip but what a difference a year makes! More confidence, harder trails and harder obstacles for sure this time. Last year I was a complete Noob and my Jeep, though mildly built with lockers on 33s wasn’t ready for true rock crawling. This year, a little more experience, beadlocked 35s, armor and a 5:1 Atlas significantly altered the situation.
Despite all that, I’m still relatively new to off roading and Jeep building. As such, any and all successes are in large part due to the wealth of knowledge here on WTJF in general and in particular to the members (now friends) that were part of this year’s trip. Its the people that are the icing on the cake:
@Apparition and @Mrs.Apparition were again central to organizing the group this year. They and their kids are so pleasant to hang out with. 2 of the kids wheeled with us again this year (one rode we me for 2 days and I really enjoyed that) and maybe next year @Mrs.Apparition will be able to return to the trail
View attachment 538212
It was great to see @MagnumV8 again. He’s a quiet, low stress guy and calm in the face of adversity (his jeep had some troubles and it never got under his skin). He was also the best photographer. Taking the time to do this and share with others is really generous. Thank You!
View attachment 538215
@lBasket showed up again too. He’s a riot, both to talk to and watch wheel. He basically has a stock jeep and somehow follows @Apparition on all these hard lines. Unfortunately, the heat was a bit much for his dog Transfer Case (I mean Atlas
View attachment 538216
@NashvilleTJ, his wife and 2 of their friends were with us this year. What a nice addition to the group they were. Everyone on the forum knows that big yellow LJ. It was super cool to see it in action. It gets wheeled hard. This time around a torn sidewall and front truss failure were proof of antics past and present. Fortunately, @NashvilleTJ ‘s rig is essentially a Snap-On truck on 42s. Mr. Prepared fixed himself and just about everyone else.
View attachment 538217
@taylormade73 showed up with his wife from Ohio. Despite “THE” Ohio State garb (go BLUE!), they turned out to be more great people and had an awesome black LJ all Savvy’ed out. He is also an excellent spotter. Unfortunately, some PCM/TCM issues kept off them the trail for several days but they did Hells/Fins with us and hung out with the group on several evenings. Also, his wife kept Basket out of trouble a couple of times on off days
View attachment 538218
@genesmail2001 was a new guy this year. A truss failure on Metal Masher took his Rubicon out on his first day so we only got to see him a little bit. Seemed like a good dude and was a wealth of transmission knowledge having spent 30 years in the field.
View attachment 538220
We also wheeled with @gogetter and his beastly highlined LJ on tons on the Hells/Fins day. Another forum member you’d be happy to mingle with!
View attachment 538221
Here’s a group pic at the dinosaur tracks (Hells/Fins day). Left to Right are: @MagnumV8 , @Apparition, myself, @lBasket, @taylormade73, @gogetter, random nice family in JT from Arkansas who were solo and new to Moab wheeling. We offered for them to tag along with us and they were happy to do so and did well. Lastly, there is @NashvilleTJ’s neighbor in his JLUR (He is a retired peace officer and quite the car guy. He’s got a 6.4L hemi he will put in a JK, a built Mustang and a 911 GT2 among others. Point is, nobody gave him any crap about the JL
View attachment 538222
And here’s a test video from youtube. I signed up for a channel so I could more easily post videos here:
I hope it works. A proud moment; Chewy on Pritchett in one shot!
Lastly a scenery shot. If you can ever take a moment to soak in the surroundings, Moab never disappoints:
View attachment 538203
If the video works, more wheeling to come in the next day or 2…
Was a great time with a group of great people. Was impressive to see you make it through Pritchett without winching on your first trip through. We wheeled some hard stuff and we we hit the hardlines where possible.
That's me in the straw hat, I spotted Mike up Chewy. And you know the guy way up there in the background.
Its been a couple of weeks since returning from my 2nd trip to Moab. It was another great trip but what a difference a year makes! More confidence, harder trails and harder obstacles for sure this time. Last year I was a complete Noob and my Jeep, though mildly built with lockers on 33s wasn’t ready for true rock crawling. This year, a little more experience, beadlocked 35s, armor and a 5:1 Atlas significantly altered the situation.
Despite all that, I’m still relatively new to off roading and Jeep building. As such, any and all successes are in large part due to the wealth of knowledge here on WTJF in general and in particular to the members (now friends) that were part of this year’s trip. Its the people that are the icing on the cake:
@Apparition and @Mrs.Apparition were again central to organizing the group this year. They and their kids are so pleasant to hang out with. 2 of the kids wheeled with us again this year (one rode we me for 2 days and I really enjoyed that) and maybe next year @Mrs.Apparition will be able to return to the trail
View attachment 538212
It was great to see @MagnumV8 again. He’s a quiet, low stress guy and calm in the face of adversity (his jeep had some troubles and it never got under his skin). He was also the best photographer. Taking the time to do this and share with others is really generous. Thank You!
View attachment 538215
@lBasket showed up again too. He’s a riot, both to talk to and watch wheel. He basically has a stock jeep and somehow follows @Apparition on all these hard lines. Unfortunately, the heat was a bit much for his dog Transfer Case (I mean Atlas
View attachment 538216
@NashvilleTJ, his wife and 2 of their friends were with us this year. What a nice addition to the group they were. Everyone on the forum knows that big yellow LJ. It was super cool to see it in action. It gets wheeled hard. This time around a torn sidewall and front truss failure were proof of antics past and present. Fortunately, @NashvilleTJ ‘s rig is essentially a Snap-On truck on 42s. Mr. Prepared fixed himself and just about everyone else.
View attachment 538217
@taylormade73 showed up with his wife from Ohio. Despite “THE” Ohio State garb (go BLUE!), they turned out to be more great people and had an awesome black LJ all Savvy’ed out. He is also an excellent spotter. Unfortunately, some PCM/TCM issues kept off them the trail for several days but they did Hells/Fins with us and hung out with the group on several evenings. Also, his wife kept Basket out of trouble a couple of times on off days
View attachment 538218
@genesmail2001 was a new guy this year. A truss failure on Metal Masher took his Rubicon out on his first day so we only got to see him a little bit. Seemed like a good dude and was a wealth of transmission knowledge having spent 30 years in the field.
View attachment 538220
We also wheeled with @gogetter and his beastly highlined LJ on tons on the Hells/Fins day. Another forum member you’d be happy to mingle with!
View attachment 538221
Here’s a group pic at the dinosaur tracks (Hells/Fins day). Left to Right are: @MagnumV8 , @Apparition, myself, @lBasket, @taylormade73, @gogetter, random nice family in JT from Arkansas who were solo and new to Moab wheeling. We offered for them to tag along with us and they were happy to do so and did well. Lastly, there is @NashvilleTJ’s neighbor in his JLUR (He is a retired peace officer and quite the car guy. He’s got a 6.4L hemi he will put in a JK, a built Mustang and a 911 GT2 among others. Point is, nobody gave him any crap about the JL
View attachment 538222
And here’s a test video from youtube. I signed up for a channel so I could more easily post videos here:
I hope it works. A proud moment; Chewy on Pritchett in one shot!
Lastly a scenery shot. If you can ever take a moment to soak in the surroundings, Moab never disappoints:
View attachment 538203
If the video works, more wheeling to come in the next day or 2…
Good writeup, Mike. It was great to see you again this year! I'm probably gonna be making the transfer case (dog) joke around my jeep friends from now on
Your jeep kicked ass this year. It's great how you can build such a capable rig in a fairly subtle way. Still retains that stockish look that we all loved to begin with.
This trip is one of my favorite parts of the year every year!! Can't wait to see what you've gotten done next year!
Great write-up as usual. Wish I could have been there. Hopefully next year.
How will you adjust the genright tank with the rear frame raise (adjust the sleeves that go through the frame)?
Genright makes several TJ tanks. This is mine (price went up):
It attaches in the back like the stock tank with 4 bolts to the rear crossmember. In the front though, it uses the tabs to bolt to the frame roughly in line with back of the rear tire. It doesn’t use the stock bolts on the rear shock crossmember. My plan is to raise the rear frame and crossmember, in some form of the usual fashion, and leave front tank attachments where they are. So the tank will pivot up on the front “hinges”. Issues I see are 1) the tank is angled forward-prob not a problem as the fuel pickup is in the front. 2) The fit of the tank is very close to the shock crossmember which will likely need notching to clear the front/top of the tank.
Moab Trip 2024; Saturday June 8.
Arrival and brief run on Steel Bender.
The drive from Oregon was nice. I took this pic climbing up a long grade out of a valley in Eastern Oregon. I love it out there.
But the heat was on the way. My tow rig recently acquired additional gauges (Banks iDash plus independent EGT in the manifold, pre-turbo and trans temp). The iDash plugs into the OBD II port and can display all sorts of things via the ECM. One piece of information I like is density altitude, which goes up with temperature. Recalling physics (which I really enjoy) hotter air has molecules which move faster and are farther apart so its less dense. Some practical applications of this decreased air mass per volume are less lift under your airplane’s wing and less air mass into your engine in hot weather. Effectively, the heat makes it like your at higher altitude.
Temps were in the 90s for most of my drive and density altitude was consistently 3-4K above actual. So density altitude during the drive was often 8-11K. My 6.7 CTD seemed to notice. Although power was improved as compared to before recent mods, being aware of EGTs kept the use of the skinny pedal in check. I drove to keep EGT below 1350 degrees which definitely slowed me down some. Its a bit of a PITA at times bit overall I like knowing what’s going on under the hood in more granular detail. Trans temp was rarely over 160 hauling roughly 8000# (jeep, trailer and gear). Interestingly, trans temp would shoot up to 180-200 when I stopped so I guess the cooler works. Anyhow, my old truck did fine and I made it to the KOA in Moab early afternoon on Saturday and was able to check in early about 26 hours and 1050 miles after leaving home. No family this year, so instead of renting an airBnB, the deluxe cabin was plenty luxurious with a full kitchen, bath and most importantly, AC.
Not long after that, I met up with Ryan, Trevor and Ben.
We were going to head right out on the trail but wound up catching up and shooting the shit for literally hours so a brief Steel Bender run was all we did
The first thing we noticed was how much lower the water was this year. Here’s my rig in the first creek crossing last year:
and this year (going the other direction):
Yeah, its got a 1.25” body lift and 35s this year vs 33s and no BL last time, but still, big difference! We were just playing around and short on daylight so not many pics. This spot was trouble for noob me last year. Somehow, last year, I misjudged the tiny ledge and nearly rolled (or thought I was going to) and Ryan gave me a tug back to safety. Not sure what happened, but seemed OK this time.
Not many people were out on the trail but we did run into a couple of modern jeeps (JT and JL) with families who seemed a little tentative but got out OK. After getting about 45-60min in we realized would be in the dark if we did the whole thing so headed back.
It was obvious to me, even from the brief run, that my Jeep and I were up for bigger things this trip
Arrival and brief run on Steel Bender.
The drive from Oregon was nice. I took this pic climbing up a long grade out of a valley in Eastern Oregon. I love it out there.
But the heat was on the way. My tow rig recently acquired additional gauges (Banks iDash plus independent EGT in the manifold, pre-turbo and trans temp). The iDash plugs into the OBD II port and can display all sorts of things via the ECM. One piece of information I like is density altitude, which goes up with temperature. Recalling physics (which I really enjoy) hotter air has molecules which move faster and are farther apart so its less dense. Some practical applications of this decreased air mass per volume are less lift under your airplane’s wing and less air mass into your engine in hot weather. Effectively, the heat makes it like your at higher altitude.
Temps were in the 90s for most of my drive and density altitude was consistently 3-4K above actual. So density altitude during the drive was often 8-11K. My 6.7 CTD seemed to notice. Although power was improved as compared to before recent mods, being aware of EGTs kept the use of the skinny pedal in check. I drove to keep EGT below 1350 degrees which definitely slowed me down some. Its a bit of a PITA at times bit overall I like knowing what’s going on under the hood in more granular detail. Trans temp was rarely over 160 hauling roughly 8000# (jeep, trailer and gear). Interestingly, trans temp would shoot up to 180-200 when I stopped so I guess the cooler works. Anyhow, my old truck did fine and I made it to the KOA in Moab early afternoon on Saturday and was able to check in early about 26 hours and 1050 miles after leaving home. No family this year, so instead of renting an airBnB, the deluxe cabin was plenty luxurious with a full kitchen, bath and most importantly, AC.
Not long after that, I met up with Ryan, Trevor and Ben.
We were going to head right out on the trail but wound up catching up and shooting the shit for literally hours so a brief Steel Bender run was all we did
The first thing we noticed was how much lower the water was this year. Here’s my rig in the first creek crossing last year:
and this year (going the other direction):
Yeah, its got a 1.25” body lift and 35s this year vs 33s and no BL last time, but still, big difference! We were just playing around and short on daylight so not many pics. This spot was trouble for noob me last year. Somehow, last year, I misjudged the tiny ledge and nearly rolled (or thought I was going to) and Ryan gave me a tug back to safety. Not sure what happened, but seemed OK this time.
Not many people were out on the trail but we did run into a couple of modern jeeps (JT and JL) with families who seemed a little tentative but got out OK. After getting about 45-60min in we realized would be in the dark if we did the whole thing so headed back.
It was obvious to me, even from the brief run, that my Jeep and I were up for bigger things this trip
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Moab Trip 2024; Sunday June 9.
Metal Masher.This was to be the first full day of wheeling and was a trail I hadn’t done. @lBasket reported good memories of a past run. We had a group of 5; Beside myself and Basket, there was @Apparition, @Magnum V8 and a cool new guy from Nevada, @genesmail2001. Driving in, the Gooney Bird is ahead:
At the trailhead:
The first 3 miles are 2 track with some bumps and I think alot of us were in 1 wheel drive. But then the trail really began and we all found things to play on:
Then came the Rock Chucker obstacle. This is a tough one. @Apparition is a good driver and with the extra wheelbase he made it up surprisingly quickly.
I didn’t think it was even reasonable to try with the wheelbase of a TJ and besides it looked sketchy! See that undercut hole behind his passenger front? I could imagine the rear of a TJ falling into that and the rig taking a tumble. But @MagnumV8 looked at me and said “you ready?” So what the heck, might as well put some tires on the thing:
Apparently, as I was see-sawing the wheel back and forth looking for some traction, the rig was pivoting back and forth on the receiver with both rear tires hanging free at times. So @Apparition put a line on a gave me the 6” of pull I needed:
One cool thing about getting up Rock Chucker was a fun bonus loop back to the regular trail (no pics).
Then, just before the Z-turn, @genesmail2001’s Rubicon had a mechanical:
If this doesn’t look familiar, this is a long arm suspension. I don’t know the brand. Several things are wrong here but I think the primary failure was the truss/UCA bracket, which is bolted under the sway bar brackets, bent forward allowing the pinion to rotate up. The rear u-joint tore out of the yoke and the back half of the drive shaft fell out. The shocks are also bent. Although not repairable by us on the trail, removal of the rest of the rear drive shaft allowed him to limp off the trail in front wheel drive with some towing and winching assist by @Apparition.
Once we got to the overlook, @lBasket’s manifold burritos were ready and we had lunch.
Its a pretty spot:
To get the wounded rig back, we had to bail mid way but before doing so, we all went to look at the Widow Maker obstacle:
The consensus was none of us were getting up that today anyway.
No matter, it was a good day.
We were bummed @genesmail2001 wasn’t able to come back out with us later in the week (truss number 1 for the trip…)
Moab Trip 2024; Sunday June 9.
Metal Masher.
This was to be the first full day of wheeling and was a trail I hadn’t done. @lBasket reported good memories of a past run. We had a group of 5; Beside myself and Basket, there was @Apparition, @Magnum V8 and a cool new guy from Nevada, @genesmail2001. Driving in, the Gooney Bird is ahead:
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At the trailhead:
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The first 3 miles are 2 track with some bumps and I think alot of us were in 1 wheel drive. But then the trail really began and we all found things to play on:
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Then came the Rock Chucker obstacle. This is a tough one. @Apparition is a good driver and with the extra wheelbase he made it up surprisingly quickly.
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I didn’t think it was even reasonable to try with the wheelbase of a TJ and besides it looked sketchy! See that undercut hole behind his passenger front? I could imagine the rear of a TJ falling into that and the rig taking a tumble. But @MagnumV8 looked at me and said “you ready?” So what the heck, might as well put some tires on the thing:
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Apparently, as I was see-sawing the wheel back and forth looking for some traction, the rig was pivoting back and forth on the receiver with both rear tires hanging free at times. So @Apparition put a line on a gave me the 6” of pull I needed:
@MagnumV8 and @genesmail2001 needed the same. @lBasket said “that’s stupid” and went around
View attachment 538463
One cool thing about getting up Rock Chucker was a fun bonus loop back to the regular trail (no pics).
Then, just before the Z-turn, @genesmail2001’s Rubicon had a mechanical:
View attachment 538453
If this doesn’t look familiar, this is a long arm suspension. I don’t know the brand. Several things are wrong here but I think the primary failure was the truss/UCA bracket, which is bolted under the sway bar brackets, bent forward allowing the pinion to rotate up. The rear u-joint tore out of the yoke and the back half of the drive shaft fell out. The shocks are also bent. Although not repairable by us on the trail, removal of the rest of the rear drive shaft allowed him to limp off the trail in front wheel drive with some towing and winching assist by @Apparition.
View attachment 538459
Once we got to the overlook, @lBasket’s manifold burritos were ready and we had lunch.
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Its a pretty spot:
View attachment 538468
To get the wounded rig back, we had to bail mid way but before doing so, we all went to look at the Widow Maker obstacle:
View attachment 538420
The consensus was none of us were getting up that today anyway.
No matter, it was a good day.
We were bummed @genesmail2001 wasn’t able to come back out with us later in the week (truss number 1 for the trip…)
You do a great job of narrating the weeks events so far.
That looks like a Full Traction rear axle setup but not 100% sure.
Agree, I enjoy reading and remembering what we did. Looking forward to the rest of the days.
I thought Gene said he had a tereflex lift.
Seconded! Great narration with photos. I really want to get out there one day.