So I met up with Chris Snell, Rob and Ted from MIT, the usual party goes on up at sand flats up and 'camp kendal', got to meet Frank aka Mongo and saw all the usual suspects again, great to see all the regulars...
I love it here in moab.
MONDAY
We broke a bunch of stuff on my pre-run with Mike Pomp, Jordan from RTE, John with a pretty d110, steve in d2, aj in d90, and rob and dean in d2s:
RRC on dana44/60= broke PS pump, front axle UJ and rear axle shaft he was turning 37's on Rovertracks axles- seems 35's are no worries, but at 37's, just any product can break- that said, I am alwasy impressed by what keith sells..
Dean's D2 busted a rear shaft and had to get towed, AJ and Steve took that on
Jordan's suwheet 109Diesel td4 did the towing of Robs D2, which also suffered a rear shaft
so two trucks were left on trail to get the next day, and the 8 of us broke into two groups of 3 trucks. Let me just say that wheeling a tough trail like Golden Spike, in the dark, and after rain, was an amazing experience to say the least.
I'd do it again minus darkness and rain
I didnt see some ledges-well, its hard to tell the difference between a 4 foot and a 5 foot ledge in pitch black, and man did I set off some gremlins:
I took on a serious bruise to my gas tank skid- wtf may have happened if it wasnt there is a question I dont wanna answer.
Boom.
I managed to keep driveline intact, but left the trail with no rear windows, no alarm, non responsive shift interlock solenoid, non responsive cdl solenoid, no front or rear fogs. talking to guys who know these symptoms, it seems BeCU and grounds are suspect. I dropped each and every fuse and relay and unbolted fuse box to look for evil, found none, put it all back and it works. Was it that I disconnected the power to BeCu and it rebooted?
anyways, after a 14 hour day on the trails, running both hard and easy lines to get a feel, and seeing all the carnage I needed to see.
TUESDAY
I spent the next day with about 6 hours of pulling stuff, and retorqing valve cover bolts, cleaning all the oil that leaked when I was on launch pad, Zuki Hill and Slide rock(aka body snatcher) all these put the rid at a angle of about 45-50 degrees plus, all the oils was at the back of the motor. I lost a bunch, all to spill on wires, harnesses and 02 sensors...
WEDNESDAY
I lead driver training 101 class and took a group of 15 trucks thru Fins and Things, we had two rules:
1-females MUST be drivers
2-no bypasses
I got thanks and hugs, so I gather folks had fun.
The pics of the women and the rovers was HOT. Stay tuned for pics from all this..
THURSDAY
The next day, I needed to take it easy and did a very easy trail run, but well worth the drive for the views, Top Of The World, with some Lr3's and an06 Rangie.
FRIDAY
A mountain bike trip to Porqupine Rim got rained out and I'm napping, cleaning out garbage and gonna go see a movie. I had enough rain wheeling for a lifetime from living in Seattle..
Stay tuned kids..