Rubicon trip pics from this Saturday

[Big Red]

Seymouj (Jason), a friend of his in a Toyota pickup (David), and I made a 1 day run over the Con on Saturday. The weather was great, but got down in the 20's at night. We finished the trail up by midnight and had a few breakdowns along the way including me breaking the welds on my drag link and having to drill and use a lynch pin to get off the trail and then another pin to slowly make it home. My hydro assist fitting on my ram 1st sprung a leak and then the drag link break was soon to follow. This happened a few miles before Cadillac Hill at about 9 p.m. or so, Jason & Dave were awesome and helped me greatly getting my Jeep off the trail. Jason's idea of the lynch pin was awesome and it saved me from having to leave my Jeep behind. With going as late in the season as we did, anything can happen with the weather, but it looked clear so we made 1 last trip to the Con this year. There were a few people, but it was very quiet and nice, with no dust.

Here are some pics:

Jason:






Me:

 

[Phil]

I think it's nicer as a multi-day run, but any day wheeling is good.

How did the drag link break?

 

[Big Red]

I think it's nicer as a multi-day run, but any day wheeling is good.

How did the drag link break?

Yeah, it is hard doing it in 1 day especially with the day light savings time and not everyone having rock lights. The drag link broke where the nut to thread in the 3/4" heim was welded to the drag link tubing. It came clear off and I was really saying my prayers and hoping to rig up a way to get my Jeep off the trail, let alone home without towing. Jason knew he had his sway bar lynch pins so we put electical tap around the heim thread and then turned to wheel to stick the heim thread into the drag link bar as best we could and then we drilled a hole in the center to run a lynch pin through the drag link and heim thread. This worked and I was able to make it the rest of the way with no ill effects. At the trail head, I noticed that the lynch pin broke so out it came and in came the another 1 that got me home. I checked it when I got home and it is fine as best as I can see without pulling it out all the way. I was really happy I brought my good drill bits, powerful Milwaukee drill and 700 watt power inverter.

Jason did great in his XJ being only on 32's and having dual ARBs. His front ARB stopped working at Buck Island so he did a lot of hard stuff open in the front and made Dave and I look bad. I was the only 1 then locked front and rear via detroits :laugh3:

 

[Mike L]

Jason did great in his XJ being only on 32's and having dual ARBs. His front ARB stopped working at Buck Island so he did a lot of hard stuff open in the front and made Dave and I look bad. I was the only 1 then locked front and rear via detroits :laugh3:

More seat would cure this, eh? hasta

-Mike

 

[Big Red]

More seat would cure this, eh? hasta

-Mike

I had not trouble wheeling. I was just surprised at what a locked 32" tired XJ could do. Kind of makes wheeling the Rubicon challenging again. Oh and by the way, I love my full width axles. I can easily know where my tires are and the width makes me very stable. I haven't gotten to off camber since I went with these axles. But I know there will be that squeeze, 1 of those days, that will make it hard on me too. :laugh3:

 

[seymouj]

I think it's nicer as a multi-day run, but any day wheeling is good.QUOTE]

Agreed. We were planning on camping. We still had plenty of daylight at Buck and decided to go further. Then came the steering issues. By the time those were sorted out it was late and we decided to just push on (in case we needed Sunday to get parts/welding). We missed some nice scenery and it was a long day. Definitely better as a two day trip.

I've been in and out a few times but this was my first time going all the way.
Should that last line be in the den?