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Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22, 2016

Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

It was an adventure to say the least. Only TBent and I showed up, by coincidence I pulled into Tommys for dinner while he was still there eating. After airing down in front of the bunkhouse we proceeded to go up Odessa canyon. A new 4dr wrangler jumped inline behind us since they didn't want to do it alone. All was going well until Tim ripped a lower control arm pocket completely off his rig while climbing the waterfall. We decided to abort mission. After removing the dangling arm from the axle, we managed to get him turned around...but not without his rear glass finding the canyon wall in the process. We limped it off the trail minus one LCA and one rear window. Then as we cruised home on the highway, I had a rear tire let go on me somewhere around Victorville. After changing the tire, we all made it home just fine.
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

30kaa03.jpg
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

Duct tape it up and you're good to go. It looks like time for long arms.

Sorry it broke and killed the run. Rear glass? I have a couple of them here from my 89 and 90. If they fit they're free.
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

Yup, an adventure alright.

Amongst other things I did figure out how to use my auxiliary reverse lights as an under the hatch light.

20161022_233408.jpg





And on the drive home it was kinda nice having the equivalent of a roll down rear window. It turned out to be a good thing I decided to roll it back up this morning before I went to bed.

20161023_131144.jpg



Thanks for the offer on the rear glass Scott. I do appreciate the offer but I have a late model, a 2001.

If I'd hit the canyon wall one more inch to the driver's side I would have just put a ding in my rear hatch. Don't ya know: missed it by that much!
 
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Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

I really am surprised that I made it back out of Odessa, very surprised. I don't think I like the way a 3-link performs on the trail; and, I was very disappointed with how braking was affected on the street. Even with light pressure on the pedal at low speed the jeep pulled to the left like crazy.


All in all the damage shouldn't be that hard to repair. I'll have to make sure I terminate any cracks on the body as well as radius any corners before I tack the bracket in place. I may add some backing in a couple of spots that I can tie into before I set the bracket.

I have plenty of assorted steel plate on hand so material won't be an issue. While I'm cutting/bending the material to plate the bracket into place I'll go ahead and make mirror image pieces to reinforce the passenger side.

All in all the removal process was pretty clean:

20161023_131359.jpg



20161023_131629.jpg


I can't help but wonder if my RE LCAs only having a flex joint on one end had anything to do with what happened. For a short arm setup I get a pretty impressive amount of flex.

Or did hitting that hole on 2N49 at speed play a part in it? I hit hard enough to twist the sector shaft in my steering box.
Hmmm...oh well; pay to play!
 
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Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

A couple more angles from the trail:

20161022_221323.jpg



20161022_221230.jpg



20161022_221240.jpg



This one is a bit blurry but it's the only thing I have from this side.
20161022_221359.jpg



Bright side is that the jeep was naturally chocked so it wasn't gonna roll around while I was under it. AND as an added bonus there was plenty of room under it to work on things.

And a heartfelt thank you to John for taking the time to hang out behind me back to the IE. I made better time than I thought I was going to but 60 - 65 was tops for the speedometer. I think that if this had happened up the hill somewhere there would have been no reasonable chance of driving home. Even down shifting to reduce speed caused the left wheel to want to tuck. Kind of like driving on ice; no sudden anything.
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

Nice to see that the inside of that channel is so clean and rust free.

Of course the fuel line is so conveniently located for welding there.
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

Dang! That sucks Tim......

My power steering pump didn't show in time so maybe next time :rattle:
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

mako my day said:
That's nuts. Still wish I could have made it.
Click to expand...

We're going to have a rematch. Probably not till towards the end of the year. I WILL prevail!
:laugh3:
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

Going to tear off the other side too?

:jester:
 
Re: Calico Night Run Saturday Oct. 22

I'd like in on round 2 as well. My rig is almost back up, night wheeling is rad, and going with small groups usually keeps you moving (unless someone breaks of course). ;-)
 
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