Dusy Ershim Labor day weekend.

[zachandandy]

Planning to drive down Thursday Aug. 30th after work and camp at the trailhead near chicken rock. As usual my brother-in-law has made things difficult. He won't be down until Friday night. We will end up hanging out at courtright res. Friday waiting for him. This is our first trip on the Dusy, can it be run in 3 days reasonably? All 4 jeeps in our group are on 35's minimum. My xj is locked front and rear, wifes wj has vari-lock limited slips front and rear, Bro's wagoneer is locked front, open rear, and mother-in-laws jk is open open. We ran the rubicon Memorial day weekend with no problems aside from my tcase, which has been replaced. Is it possible, or should I tell him to either get Friday off work or try and catch up?

 

[NorCalChris]

Some friends invited me up the same weekend. Hopefully I can make it. I've never ran Dusy. It'd be cool to meet up and do some wheeling together.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Dusy sounds so fun. why did you pic fordyce weekend?!!! argh

 

[zachandandy]

With my work schedule, holiday weekends are the only time I can wheel more than a daytrip kind of run. I left the option of either Fordyce or Dusy up to the rest of my group, and they voted Dusy. Looks like Fordyce will have to wait til next year for me.

Chris, it would be great to meet up and do some wheeling. We are running south to North, hope to see you up there. Still got a laundry list of things to do to the jeep. Need to figure out a fan/tranny cooler set up after a failed attempt of fitting my be cool radiator in the xj, build some sort of a box for my winch solenoid since I ran it over, would like to change out the front seats as the factory seat is like sandpaper. Looks like front bumper, frame stiffeners, and oba won't happen until after the trip.

 

[DaveNJeep]

Two years ago we took 3.5 days to complete the trail. Three of us took our time, drove down Friday and camped at Chicken rock and finally came off the trail late Monday. Believe it or not, then one of us broke down! On the way down the hill of all places!

Don't take the Dusy for granted, it will beat your rig like no other. If for any reason it's like running the Con back to back to back. BUT, it's great! We ran into 4 other rigs all weekend (not including Chicken Rock, but that's near the campground).

Don't worry about it being a holiday weekend, it won't be crowded.

 

[NorCalChris]

Its ok. My jeep is still not driveable haha.

 

[zachandandy]

Definately not taking it for granted, driving down Thursday after work. I figure we will only get about 4 hours in to the trail Friday after waiting for the last jeep to show. How long does it take to get to Thompson hill from chicken rock?

 

[DaveNJeep]

If I remember right about 3-6 hours depending on many things of course. However it took us nearly two hours to get three rigs to the top! Just past the top is some decent camping so that's where we stayed our first night, and believe me we were ready to stop.

 

[DaveNJeep]

One more thing, I HIGHLY recommend making your final night camping at Dusy Lake. A nice place to stop indeed. The camp sites are awesome and have tables, etc. Good fishing too. After days on the trail we literally dove into the lake with clothes, shoes on and it felt awesome!

 

[zachandandy]

Finally got the exhaust and cooling systems back together. Drove the jeep the 76 miles to work today and so far so good. The welded dif is definately not the best option for street driving, but this will probably be the only time I drive it to work. The tranny cooler/fan mounted in the cargo area is a little loud, but driving on the freeway with the doors off requires a high volume setting on the stereo anyway. Can't wait to experience the dusy for the first time.

 

[zachandandy]

2 days away from our first ever Dusy trip. Cannot wait. Leaving Thursday after work. Probably hit the trailhead at courtwright about 8pm and set up camp near there. Waiting in that area until Friday afternoon for my brother-in-law. Hoping to make Thompson lake by Friday night. That should leave us time for fishing and relaxing each morning before moving on. Plan to finish the trail Monday afternoon. My white xj, wifes brown wj, Mother-in laws red jk,and bro's blue wagoneer. Feel free to stop and introduce yourself if you see us on the trail.

 

[Skipper51]

How did everyone do on Dusty Ershim?

 

[Jeep450r]

Yeah man, you better post some pics!

 

[zachandandy]

Didn't get much for pics with all the damage, but it really is amazing up there. Labor day is the busiest weekend for the Dusy, and aside from our 4 rigs, we saw maybe a dozen others. Welded up a control arm for a guy who had an engine driven welder he didn't know how to use, doing what I can for the positive karma. Didn't work as the trail god's shit on me anyway. Here's what I got for pics.

Courtright reservoir

Thompson Lake

At the trailhead

Maxon Dome and the new damage to the wife's liftgate. She also broke out the passanger window, bent her tierod, and some more body damage.

and my front axle shaft minus the splined portion.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

i love that your wife wheels a well built WJ

 

[zachandandy]

That wj is amazing. Stock cv axle shafts, stock aluminum 44 in the rear, walked Thompson hill. She got high centered on a rock near the top after she broke out the passenger window. I think that was more frustration than anything else. We finally leave my jeep and head up and she's stuck.

 

[zachandandy]

Thanks josh for the rear driveline. New chromoly Yukon shafts should be here today, steering box is ready. Still need to drill out my spare pitman arm in case the other 1 won't come of the broke sector shaft. Borrowed a 3600 watt generator from work so I can use my hf 90 amp mig to fix the frame enough to get her home. Like the wife said "at least we get to go camping 2 weekend in a row". Picking up a buddies car trailer tonight. Leaving after work tomorrow, Saturday is going to be a long day.

 

[the_weirdo]

How'd the recovery effort go?

 

[zachandandy]

Rough to say the least.

The obvious damage that got her left in the woods.

And the horror I found when I removed the broken steering box

Unitbody was split top and bottom, half inch gap on the inside and cracking on the outside.

Plated over the inside and welded the cracks in the bottom.

welded the cracks on the outside

Plated the bottom of the rail

And plated the outside all the way back to the trackbar mount. Went to hook up the power steering lines and realized that the fittings are different between the 2 boxes. 8 miles of hard wheeling with no powersteering? I woudn't recommend it. Broke the steering shaft twice fighting the wheel. Welded it up and finally got her to the trail head. Steeringwheel spun catching my right hand,which may be broken. Now need a new steering shaft if anybody's got one laying around?

 

[blondejoncherokee]

you mean the shaft from the column to the steering box? Yah i got a bunch.