Trip Report

[TORX]

This NWF was one for the record book. I had an absolute blast, and was very sad to see it come to an end. Back to reality tomorrow, but in the meantime here's my report of the adventure.

Headed out Wednesday to meet up with the PDX convoy.

The drive up seemed to go pretty smooth, and the time passed pretty quickly.

After we set up camp Karl, Ken, Rod, Nick, and I headed out for a quick trail run up part of 676.

After winching out we noticed the RR tire lost a bead. Are all fire fighters pyros?

Ken giving the far right line a go at the mud hole obstacle.

 

[TORX]

Thursday:

Being that nobody else had shown up yet the five of us set out on Thursday to pre run the Moderate-2 run for Saturday.

It was a very scenic trail that had some fun spots.

Rod got friendly with a tree.

Karl reported over the radio to watch out for the sheep. I thought he was joking.

The return trip turned out to be an epic run by itself. I think we spent at least 3 hours trying to find a way out. We climbed up and down ridges, hill sides, and trails.

We weren't lost though, we just weren't found.

 

[TORX]

Friday:

With the camp starting to fill up on Thursday, we now had official trail runs scheduled. For me Friday included the 0800 departure on the Epic Run.

Michael decided to push his luck right off the bat.

We spent a good amount of time at the mud hole obstacle on 676.

Alex somehow managed to make it up unassisted.

Lyle gave it a little too much stupid pedal and ended up snapping a passenger side 297.

After that everyone seemed to tone it down and play it safe.

Winch Doctor

With one hand on the wheel and the other on the gnome, Pat got up unassisted as well.

Doug

Michael

Regrouping after finishing Buck Meadows

Going on our 11th hour on the trail.

I pulled into camp a little after 8. The Epic Run turned out to be a really fun, but long day. We didn't complete all of the trails, but I think we covered a pretty good amount of ground considering the set backs and carnage...

-Broke 297x
-Steering box trying to rip through the frame
-Tire/Wheel falling off
-Shock bar pin shearing off
-Numerous bolts working themselves loose
-Rear glass window
-Tail light

Big thanks to Hans and Michael for setting this up.

 

[TORX]

Friday Night:

A few of us made a quick run up to Ravens Roost for the sunset.

Saturday:

:laugh:

After the Epic Run, my plan was to make a quick trip up to the rocks and take it easy for the day. If only I had known what was to come.

Justin on the way to the rocks.

Dave's new rig did awesome.

Rod on the crack.

Moments after this picture I flopped onto the side. I was on my way down the far right easy line. Dropped off a small ledge and next thing I know I'm going over. Big thanks to everyone who helped with getting it back over.

We headed over to the Moon Rocks after and played around a bit.

On the way back down to camp I did it again on Lower Woodpecker. Drivers side tires were strattling the sidehill and grabbed. Next thing I know I'm on my side again. :anon:

Another big thanks to Dave for the quick winch to get me back on all fours. Flopping twice within hours of each other definitely makes you question yourself.

Back at camp later that night the ACRO dinner and raffle were a huge success. Rod had a team challenge planned afterwards and it also turned out to be a lot of fun.

Capton this?

The drive home on Sunday seemed to go by pretty quick as well. The heat wasn't nearly as bad as last year, but it was toasty.

 

[TORX]

Carnage report:

For flopping twice the damage isn't all that bad. In fact the second time didn't do any damage at all. I smashed my A-pillar, lost a mirror, and cracked the top corner of the windshield on the first flop though. I have to agree with Hans though, and say that a NWHBC cage would have prevented all the damage.

My rear diff has also developed a pretty loud howl when coasting. I'm going to crack the cover and take a look, but I'm guessing it's going to need a rebuild.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Great post. looked like a good time. think someone should put together a run sometime this summer.. place looks amazing.

 

[mojojojo]

great report BIG "D" ! awesome pictures as well !

i still am amazed at how lucky both you and your rig were to walk away with very little damage after 2 flops. must be the tires ?

 

[TORX]

My rear diff has also developed a pretty loud howl when coasting. I'm going to crack the cover and take a look, but I'm guessing it's going to need a rebuild.

Just an update, I pulled the axle out from the Jeep today and tore it down. It looks/feels like I toasted the pinion bearings. I'm hoping the ring and pinion aren't going to need to be replaced too. The ring gear does have some decent wear marks on the teeth though. I'm going to have KnA Offroad rebuild it, since my gear guy seems to be MIA.

 

[jeepboy381]

Damn that sucks Dustin, the person who put your gears in must have done something wrong. Hopefully your ring and pinion are still good! When this happened to me my ring and pinion looked fine but they were toast.

 

[TORX]

Damn that sucks Dustin, the person who put your gears in must have done something wrong. Hopefully your ring and pinion are still good! When this happened to me my ring and pinion looked fine but they were toast.

I took the axle out of my Jeep last week, and brought it to Darrell at KnA to have rebuilt. He looked at it while I was there and found that the carrier didn't have enough preload on it. We could move it from side to side by hand. So obviously there was some set up error when the gears were installed. Darrell said it was an easy fix and everything else appeared to look good. Twenty minutes later he had the preload corrected and the backlash within spec (.007). He said this should fix the howling, but the pattern was a little strange. He didn't charge me anything and said to install it and see if it works (stand up guy who backs up his work!).

After getting the axle back under the rig I took it for a test drive with high hopes. Only to hear the familiar howling (not as bad as before), and gears clashing together when coming to a stop.

I drove back out to KnA on Monday to let Darrell know the latest. We both agreed that I could either put some miles on the diff to see if anything changes or do a complete rebuild. I've put almost 200 miles on it and there's no change. From driving around today you can clearly tell something is not right. I'm going to give Darrell a call tomorrow and set up a time for him to do a new gear install on it. :tears:

It's weird though because I had no noise or any issues with the gears for 10,000 miles, and then coming back from the trail it started making some noise. The only thing I can think of is the torque load from playing on the rocks found a weak spot or something.

Also, I discovered that one of my 44 shaft splines are twisted. This just keeps getting better and better. :doh:

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

is it possible its not actually an internal axle problem? you have a twisted shaft.. maybe a bad locker? bent tube? im new to this stuff.. but man that has to suck, as expensive as an axle rebuild is.. damn