The plan was to leave at 9:30am, or at least that�s what Danette had in mind. Now first off anyone that knows someone in the group we wheel with knows that plans never seem to work. It�s not that we don�t want them to work. It�s just that there�s always that last minute stuff that you have to work on, well that and people forgetting stuff and last minute gas fills! Chad found a leaking power steering cooler line on his rig which he just by-passed the cooler and ran a normal power steering set-up so he could run his new winch if need be. He also had to get the rear bumper welded on higher so it wouldn�t hit anymore. Mike had to get his �road� bronco geared up and throw some 31�s on her. Greg checked his new rear coil suspension and we were off.....at 11:30 We were heading in the trail when Llyod�s voice came over the CB saying something to the effect of Chad�s rear axle was sliding back and forth. Well that was what was happening. The centre bolt broke off on the passenger side rear spring and was allowing the axle to slide from front to back on the passenger side. Well no one had any bolts so as Lloyd, Mike and Chad headed out the trail in search of bolts, out came the BBQ and by the time they got back with a new bolt and a couple spares, the group was well into the grub.
Well the fix was quite simple it just took a bit. So they rigged up the CJ and we headed out again. The trail was quite wet, which made for some slick situations on rocks and logs in the trail. The scenery was also something to look at and there were quite a few waterfalls. Things rolled on quite well for the rest of the afternoon. And then out of no where we all came up on Mike�s bronco up to the doors swamped in the mud. We all thought he was lost and would be buried in mud if we didn�t get a hook on him soon, but he eventually backed out of it and opened the doors so the water could run out. Mostly everyone played it safe and kept to the right where there�s a rock bottom, which proved to have some good photo opps. And let people show off a bit. Speaking of showing off Greg�s a man that loves to do just that for the camera and this time was no exception. So off he went to the left side to put on a show and that he did, but he eventually got in too deep and couldn�t go either way so the old CJ was called in to extract him from the mess. (He still hasn�t made a comment on getting pulled out by a jeep) We then took a brake while Greg popped one of him rear coils back in place and we were off again.
As we moved on there were lot of places to play and flex our rigs on the trail, stopped every so often to let Brian's YJ cool down. I guess running the trail mostly in 2wd made her hot. I small price to pay for the smile on his face! There where some nice rivers you could either cross or by-pass via a bridge and some good little mud holes off to the side everyone loved to play in. Joel showed off his samurai here as well as Lloyd in his Cherokee as he went crazy for a bit. After this we came to a open field and everyone just drove all around through the barren. Where Chad tore off his exhaust while finding a place to do a little rock crawling, Lloyd followed suit as the others watched them bounce around and get in some tippy situations. After that little escapade Chad caught a motor mount on fire after a backfire in the engine and Greg popped out another coil.
By now it was getting late in the day and we had to get a couple of the rigs to the other end of the trail, so as four of the rigs headed out to the end, Greg/Trevor and Chad hung around with Brian while his rig cooled down. Quickly getting bored Greg and I headed up the trail a few hundred yards to find a old car mike told use about. So this gave Chad the chance he wanted to play with his new 10,500lbs winch, so when Lloyd and Mike came back with Heather and Danette, They ended up finding a car winched into a tree.
We then made our way back to Mike's camp in the dark stopping every so often for the YJ to cool down and another stop was made for Chad to fix another centre bolt on the same side. Eventually the four rigs that where as tired as there occupants made it to the camp kept awake by cb chatter and someone's exhaust. After kicking some people out of the camp we all got settled in, had a couple beer some steaks and most of us hit the sack beat out from the day. All vowed they weren�t looking at their rigs till morning.... Or afternoon as it ended up.
Morning came.......and it went. Come the afternoon everyone was up and around. Danette cooked a great brunch and then off we went to assess the damage done. It was mostly to the Stealth where this time the driver�s side centre bolt broke, but finally we could find out why this was happening, the u-bolts were coming loose dew to flex. Greg also vowed to fix the exhaust that sounded like a tractor and there was only one bolt holding the engine in place on the drivers engine mount. All was fixed up and we hadn�t moved 30 feet and the Sammy spit out its rear drive shaft. 30 minutes and we were on the trail smiling! It had rained all night and the trails were very wet and the water holes were good and deep. The samurai and bronco decided to go trail blazing and couldn�t get anywhere so as Greg was backing up a branch got up into his engine bay and bent up his rad. A 45 min. trail fix led to the rig being able to pull it�s way out and home. After that incident we all decided it would be best to head straight out. The rest of the trail was great and the river crossings were great. All made it out in relatively decent shape and had a great time.
I�d like to thank Mike on behalf of everyone for a great weekend and some great wheeling. I look forward to more great runs with all of you! |
