another moab 2011 trip report..

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

friday the 15th, 2:30a.. me and my buddy hit the road

Got to Bridge of the gods.. and started overheating.. yeah.. a whole whopping 25 miles out of 1000, and im overheating:fuse:

we burped the system and gave it another go, Found that with my high speed fan on i could maintain 70mph at 215* so i just lived with it..

my steering was white knuckle, so i called les schwab of La grande, while i was in Pendleton, and scheduled an appointment..

They insisted my steering was spot on, Other then a slightly wallowed out RE trac bar bushing everything looked good..
I knew it was not alright, so in their own parking lot me and a buddy diagnosed that my Pinion was too high and my caster was terrible, So we loosed up the lower arms up front and pushed them 1.5" forward.. Whataya know.. i can do 70mph with 1 finger now.. THANKS Les schwab.. for nothing..

with two problems now muted, we continued on to boise
Got passed by some more portland guys

once we left boise we immediately were met with Not-so-open-arms

we stayed the night saturday in twin falls.. got up and headed out at 7am.. the mountainous ranges we were passing over was really pushing my 6100lb jeep to its limits

after fueling up in salt lake city, i diagnosed a new problem, I forgot to put a hose-clamp on the larger filler tube when i did my fuel pump a few months back.. so when you top it off it starts to drip

One thing that bugged me during this whole trip, was the fact this was my 'Shake down run' and yet, the only problems i had were frivolous..

79* outside and we were pushing close to triple digit speeds, we were really doing good
but then, 40 miles out, i just could not keep the water temps below 230* The thermostat gave out and i was tired of waiting.. (no nick, this was not your strap. :skull2: not sure why its so twisted tho!)

so after some research, it sounded like my radiator was bad, and it took the thermostat with it, after $250 my cooling system was back to living the good life..

The first night in, we ate at Pasta Jays, after 2 days of Fast food, the quality difference was much needed!



(part 1 of 3)

 

[jonesinxj]

Dang Scott, Sounds like you had a very rough start... Cant wait to see the rest of your report

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

the first day of wheeling for us was monday, we had heard Fins N things was a great start, after buying the $30 trail book, we made our way up to the trail head.

All i have to say is, this trail is perfect for first timers.. it starts off slow going, but then leads you up to a 3 way obstacle.. all 3 ways look very intimidating, but once down, you feel like a pansy for requesting a spotter:firedevil

with nothing broken and almost a full tank of fuel, we made our way back to camp..

after putting the kids to bed, the 4 of us tested out the new shotglass with some Fillet Mignon and tater saled:guitar:

the next days trail would be "Top of the world"
All i have to say is WOW.. what a day! 35 miles each way to the trail head, and then the trail is like 20 miles long itself.. We forgot to bring lunch, so our "snack supply" at the end of the day was running thin!
my buddy broke his factory CV drive shaft, so that took a half hour to repair,

XJ on the way down was pretty well built

As we got on the highway i heard a "Pop".. found out i had spit the pass side U-joint cap, Brand new 760x Joint from six stats 3 weeks ago! dang it!

after replacing the shaft, weds was the only day to check out Hells revenge..

I did not get many pictures of hells revenge, I was having to much fun torturing my passengers, HR is a pucker factor trail for the novice, and a roller coaster for those afraid of heights..

heres a couple of videos, the first one was the first time i was able to do a section of trail that my buddy couldnt, im locked now and he is not
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=213293532032026&comments

Then i went into the last of the 3 "tubs" on hells revenge, I was all for it but my wife was not, so of course, breaking my driveshaft and pinion yoke were going to be part of murphys plan..

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=213290392032340&comments


after the guys with warn, winched me out. I yanked the shaft and finished the trail in 2Lo :scottm:

part 2 of 3

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

the next day, i met up with dustin (torx) he was awesome enough to have a spare Yoke, so i was good to go again, after testing out the new shaft and yoke, i discovered severely bent UCA's up front, my RC drop brackets called for stock length UCA's so i never thought to replace them..

also gained a new neighbor at camp, who liked to pick fun at our jeeps, but he was equally happy to get dished on in return so it made for a fun night

after replacing the arms thursday, we rented a RZR-s and decided to run Kane Creek.. friday

by the time we got to the trail, the phones and camera's were all dead.. only one pic i got

lets just say, What a fun trail.. its about 20miles long and takes you in and out of the creek.. I decided to let my buddy drive my rig, and i drove the RZR.. he picked a terrible line on the hardest part of the trail, and i ended up having to wrap a strap around a boulder 25 feet up, to winch up the trail.. I do not suggest running this trail if your passengers are afraid of heights..

we finished the night with dinner at ZAX pizza and called it a night ..saturday came sooner then i wanted, I had a blast in moab, and plan to go back next year, Although i have decided i need a slightly higher credit limit on the card:flamemad: we packed up, cleaned the rzr and hit the road, No hotel stay was planned for the trip home.

made it 25 miles out of moab and both axle shafts spit the caps.. 75mph BANG BANG.. I was all out of shafts so i had to make due with 1000 miles on stub shafts.. with a missing drive shaft (didnt want fluid to get sprayed out the tubes)

got into salt lake city, topped off the tank and grabbed some food

made portland around 10am.. so it was about an 18 hour drive for us

 

[jonesinxj]

Videos not working:wave1:

 

[BoringDave]

All you guys are crazy driving your junk 1000 miles wheel the crap out of it and hope you get home.

Dave

 

[AwesomeXJ]

Nice pics Scott. Glad you guys had a good time.

 

[BigDog]

Looks like you had a great time and not only were you lucky to make it there but looks like you were lucky to make it back as well lol.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Very nice, glad you managed through the issues and cmpleted the trip. Firs timeout there?

Where'd you camp...Slickrock?

 

[AwesomeXJ]

hey Scott, what did you get the ticket for?

 

[BigDog]

Come on it's Scott I'm pretty sure it had something to do with speed seeing how he stated that they were driving near triple digits lol

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

No ticket, In idaho they require fender flares AND mudflaps.. but a wise man once said, The best thing about driving through idaho is, you eventually leave idaho!

we were actually doing 85mph when the cop pulled us over, No mention of speed tho! I'm sure it has something to do with the 75mph Speedlimit..

 

[BigDog]

lol You got lucky my good friend you got lucky.

 

[Bna0atb]

Looks like you guys had fun. We were camped in the corner with the red and black Cherokee's. Are you breaking u joints due to a quadratrac transfer case? My neighbor has that problem with his WJ. We did Moab Rim on Saturday and wow what a trail. Check it out next year.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Looks like you guys had fun. We were camped in the corner with the red and black Cherokee's. Are you breaking u joints due to a quadratrac transfer case? My neighbor has that problem with his WJ. We did Moab Rim on Saturday and wow what a trail. Check it out next year.

got a picture of your jeep? I'm breaking U-joints because i have not installed full circle clips in stock u-joint shafts, as soon as the "bill" for this trip is paid down, I will be ordering Chormoly shafts and Joints with full circle clips..

My rig has a 231j T-case

 

[Bna0atb]

Cool. I haven't had that problem before and after my new shaft were installed.

 

[TORX]

It just wouldn't be an nw-xj-scott trip report with out a little carnage and wrenching.

got a picture of your jeep? I'm breaking U-joints because i have not installed full circle clips in stock u-joint shafts, as soon as the "bill" for this trip is paid down, I will be ordering Chormoly shafts and Joints with full circle clips..

I wouldn't waste your money on alloys until you start breaking u-joint trunnions or snapping the ears off shafts. Either clearance your stock shafts for full circle clips, or put that Hobart to use and tack each cap on.

Are you sure you put the half circle clips on? You shouldn't lose caps that easily.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

It just wouldn't be an nw-xj-scott trip report with out a little carnage and wrenching.

I wouldn't waste your money on alloys until you start breaking u-joint trunnions or snapping the ears off shafts. Either clearance your stock shafts for full circle clips, or put that Hobart to use and tack each cap on.

Are you sure you put the half circle clips on? You shouldn't lose caps that easily.

to be honest, I dropped the shafts off at Six states, Had them isntall 760x joints, and when i got them back, there were NO clips at all.. Unlike a Driveshaft Joint, i didnt even see where you could put a clip on the stock shafts, so i figured Just ordering alloys would be easier due to the groove for the clips already being in the ears

 

[TORX]

to be honest, I dropped the shafts off at Six states, Had them isntall 760x joints, and when i got them back, there were NO clips at all.. Unlike a Driveshaft Joint, i didnt even see where you could put a clip on the stock shafts, so i figured Just ordering alloys would be easier due to the groove for the clips already being in the ears

Axle shaft u-joints use a half circle clips on the insides of the ears to retain the caps (not on the outside of the cap like a drive shaft). If six states installed them I would think they would have installed the clips. I just find it odd you lost caps so easily.

Here's a pic of some stock shafts I modified for full circle clips. Alloys come pre machined for these.

 

[BPB]

damn now im gonna be late to work.... thanks scott!!!!!