Went to the Rubicon this past weekend. What a trip.
Hit the trailhead at 10 or 11. Hit the first obstacle at gate keeper and broke the other main leaf. Pulled out my spare and the centering pin was the wrong size. Wandered around for a while trying to find someone with a drill and some bits. Finally found a guy after half of the people out there were asleep. Drilled it out. Brought it back. Put the leaf back together. Went to put ubolts on and the threads on it were jacked. Found a new ubolt and stripped the nut on it. Got a new nut and when we were tightening down the ubolts I guess the centering pin popped out of the hole. Tightened it down not knowing this and caved in my spring perch. Went to bed at 5:15am.
Woke up in the morning and slapped it all back together (basically with no centering pin) and wheeled to spider and did soup bowl on the way. Got to the box and busted the high pressure steering hose. Bypassed it at the pump and wheeled out Sunday with no power steering. I still don't know how I didn't break both of my thumbs.
Then when we woke up Sunday morning my friend in a cj7 found out he cracked his frame. So out came the batteries, jumper cables, and 6013 welding rod and we welded it back together. Twice.
Overall it was still a fantastic trip and if anything got me re-motivated to keep wrenching and wheeling. Funny how that works.
Now to fix the perch, buy/install new leaf springs, fix the hose, replace all the bushings up front, replace the power steering box, replace the front ujoint, and just do an overall prep for Cantina in 2 weeks!
Compilation of a selfie with my broken jeep, a shot of where I broke, and the broken spring
Soup bowl
Camp near the box
My buddy mike welding up his frame
Another "successful" Rubicon trip in the books!
Sorry about the Instagram pics. It's all I got this trip.
Hit the trailhead at 10 or 11. Hit the first obstacle at gate keeper and broke the other main leaf. Pulled out my spare and the centering pin was the wrong size. Wandered around for a while trying to find someone with a drill and some bits. Finally found a guy after half of the people out there were asleep. Drilled it out. Brought it back. Put the leaf back together. Went to put ubolts on and the threads on it were jacked. Found a new ubolt and stripped the nut on it. Got a new nut and when we were tightening down the ubolts I guess the centering pin popped out of the hole. Tightened it down not knowing this and caved in my spring perch. Went to bed at 5:15am.
Woke up in the morning and slapped it all back together (basically with no centering pin) and wheeled to spider and did soup bowl on the way. Got to the box and busted the high pressure steering hose. Bypassed it at the pump and wheeled out Sunday with no power steering. I still don't know how I didn't break both of my thumbs.
Then when we woke up Sunday morning my friend in a cj7 found out he cracked his frame. So out came the batteries, jumper cables, and 6013 welding rod and we welded it back together. Twice.
Overall it was still a fantastic trip and if anything got me re-motivated to keep wrenching and wheeling. Funny how that works.
Now to fix the perch, buy/install new leaf springs, fix the hose, replace all the bushings up front, replace the power steering box, replace the front ujoint, and just do an overall prep for Cantina in 2 weeks!
Compilation of a selfie with my broken jeep, a shot of where I broke, and the broken spring

Soup bowl

Camp near the box

My buddy mike welding up his frame

Another "successful" Rubicon trip in the books!

Sorry about the Instagram pics. It's all I got this trip.