From: owner-fsj-digest@digest.net (fsj-digest) To: fsj-digest@krusty-motorsports.com Subject: fsj-digest V1 #829 Reply-To: fsj@digest.net Sender: owner-fsj-digest@digest.net Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 16:14:04 -0400 fsj-digest Wednesday, April 26 2000 Volume 01 : Number 829 - edited - MOAB TRIP REPORT Forum for Discussion of Full Sized SJ Series Jeeps Brian Colucci Digest Coordinator Contents: fsj: Moab: Part 1 fsj: Moab: Part 3 fsj: Moab: Part 2 fsj: Moab: Part 4 FSJ Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/jeeps/fsj/ Send submissions to fsj-digest@digest.net Send administrative requests to fsj-digest-request@digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to fsj-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 20:04:36 -0000 From: "Michael Shimniok" Subject: fsj: Moab: Part 1 If fun were proportional to how much you beat up your truck offroad, I'd have had a pretty good time. But that isn't how it works, at least not for me. So I sit here a bit down and depressed thinking of the dents I need to repair and the cracked body mount bracket that I'll have to replace somehow. I was always the kid that took real good care of his toys. Still am--so it pains me to review the dents, dings, and bangs Backhoe took this past weekend. One thing I can say, 4-rated trails absolutely require a 4" lift for your FSJ if you want to come out undamaged. For these types of trails and anything harder, 33's are by all means a minimum. 35's would be a big help. All this has made me rethink wheeling and what I get out of it and why I do it. Prologue With a sizeable laundry list and severely leaking tranny, I decide to ground "Troubled Child" my 86 Grand Wagoneer which is unfortunate because I'd spent the last year doing a lot of work on it--not the right kind--to ready it for the challenge of Moab. Instead I took the 85 GW not yet named at the time. Its own laundry list was simple and mostly non-mechanical. Needed a CB, new tires, some other minor additions, and carb work. Wasn't sure of it's capabilities off-road with the add-a-leafs so in talking to a friend who was going with, decided on the Saturday before we left to put in a locker! I kept this secret weapon... well... secret. Wanted to see what it could do before I shot off my mouth like usual. The Powertrax Lockrite was located at Off Road Limited (Colfax and 225) for $280 out the door and the installation took Norm and I about 4 hours due to some minor oversights on my part. Thanks again Norm for helping out with that!! The night before, of course, I was working on the carb, trying to solve a hesitation/stalling problem. I went thru the carb and made some adjustments including float level and was pretty confident I had it cured. [continued] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 20:07:41 -0000 From: "Michael Shimniok" Subject: fsj: Moab: Part 3 Friday We decide to tackle 4-rated Rose Garden Hill, so named for the ridiculously long, steep, rocky climb which is the only major obstacle on the trail, really. My other two crew members again poke around in the morning and we're late again but only by 10 minutes this time thanks to my prodding. You tell me. How bad is it when I am the one prodding someone else to prevent us being late? We meet Mark Holzhauer in his 72 Wag "Mack", Larry riding with Kevin in a 92 YJ, James Junkin (in a TJ but has an SJ at home), Dave and Mark (TJ), and Glenn (Cherokee WT). We end up getting lost trying to find the trailhead but instead discover a neat alternate trail that presents some nice challenges, especially a super steep decent down loose dirt. Steep enough that a few small things from the back of the truck find their way to the front. After much driving thru a dry creek bed, we come upon the hill. We have two full-size Chevy blazers who have joined in behind us. The hill proves tremendously challenging for the 85 GW but the locker helps out in several spots. The springs articulate far more than I expected. Aside from thrashing severely at one point along the trail, I make it up generally without incident. Unfortunately I have to use a fair amount of momentum to make it up most of the top half. When I say long and steep, I mean this isn't a hill you want to walk up, because you'll be exhausted by the top. Anyway the others made it up fine, Glenn did great except for a minor problem towards the bottom, the TJs didn't even notice a change in terrain from asphalt, and the Blazers both put on a show, one from bouncing and spitting fist-sized rocks at onlookers, the other due to driving skill of the woman behind the wheel. We get to the top, head back down. We get back and decide to run Hell's Revenge. What a mistake on my part. Being that I'm not the expert James and Mark and others are, wheeling takes a lot out of me. Takes lots of concentration. Makes me tired. All that. Well, I did it anyway because apparantly I have something to prove to someone. Hell's Revenge turns quickly into something to be reckoned with. A moderate but tough rocky climb leaves the 85 teetering on 2 wheels in the direction of a 100 foot drop. So. This is what a 4-rated trail is like? Unteetering, we wind our way up to the end of the trail. We reach "Tipover Challenge" a slickrock climb in which the vehicle is prone to tip, and roll as it is going nearly straight up. Kevin tries the other climb instead, and is thwarted after a valiant effort. James wows us all by going up the first time and deftly skirting the line between success and rollover like a tightrope walker. We head home. It's getting late. We get to an area that is basically rock walls both sides, with some rock outcropping along the ground that is apparantly an FSJ-width or less. As I surmount some rocks, suddenly the truck is RACING FORWARD--my foot isn't on the pedal-- apply the brake-- no effect-- rushing towards huge rocks-- neutral-- CRASH!!!-- motor racing-- turn off key!! What th' ?? I'm shocked. What just happened? Like someone stuck their foot on the gas for me. My truck is wedged in between rock. It just got posessed and drove itself there. Am I insane? Am I incompetent? My codrivers act like they think that's the answer. Gee thanks. Confusion and chaos, a dozen people gathered around, each pelting me with questions. Did you do this? That? Was this like this? Or that like that? What happened when? What was that noise? Did this break? How about that? I'm pissed, I'm frustrated, I'm confounded and I try to keep a lid on it as I answer all these questions. I'm only mildly successful keeping my cool. I'm convinced I'm completely idiotic, lost my mind, tromped the gas and crashed into the rocks. But crap, in 15 years of driving I've never goofed that bad, and all that racing I did taught me my left foot from my right just fine, thank you. Am I an idiot? What? Prone to self-doubt like whales are prone to swimming I continue beating on myself some more. Eventually forcing myself to some level of calm to figure out the problem with Mark's help and the help of others, they determine that the throttle housing has pulled out of the grommet on the plate attached to the carb/manifold. In other words, the body/frame twist yanked the accelerator cable, shooting me off into a hell of a predicament. So now my left front is wedged in a tire-sized gap in the rocks, the remains of my left rocker panels are resting on a ledge of rock, the right side is inches from damage. Nowhere to go but back. With the accel cable restored, I carefully back out with the help of ten spotters. A word to the wise: if you're being spotted by ten folks, pick the one guy with the most experience and listen to him and ignore everyone else. I make it back, and we try a slightly new line, as MarkH does a sitting leg press against the truck to keep the rear bumper from grabbing some rock and tearing off. We make it thru, but the accelerate-upon-articulate problem is still present! It makes the remaining very hard obstacles a real challenge, but with more spotting we make it thru. It has been pitch black for more than an hour now, so we are finally getting in our night run. Next night run I do will be over a somewhat easier trail. Like Guanella Pass. :/ It gets kind of old always being the one that gets stuck on the trails. We get lost again and run across unruly teens burning things in the middle of the road. Expecting a riot and Grand Wag tipping and torching, we turn tail and find our way to the right spot. We. No, =I= got lost. I'm getting really pissy at this point, people treating me like I'm a complete idiot, then me fulfilling their soaring expectations like this. Lovely. No more two-runs-in-a-day. Thanks but no thanks. [continued] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 20:06:03 -0000 From: "Michael Shimniok" Subject: fsj: Moab: Part 2 Wednesday Late. Damnit. They're late. Supposed to leave town at 4pm, they show up at my house at 5! These are the two folks riding with me. I should've seen that the trip was already off on the wrong foot. That and them standing around with no sense of urgency to get their asses in gear and roll out of town. Which we finally did by 6:30pm or so. The trip was a long one with too many delays but a good dinner in Dillon at the Cactus Cafe. We arrive in Moab... Thursday ...at 2:30am. Yes. In the morning. Bloody hell. Drove back and forth trying to find a free campsite. Easy to do at 4 in the afternoon like last time. Impossible at 2:30 in the freaking morning. Not to mention it's somewhat hard to see what sites are open in the DARK! We find a crappy little site right next to the road and plop our sleeping bags out in the open. Pitching a tent for 4 hours' sleep is pointless, after all. This was the only night it reached freezing. How fortunate. Later we wake up, the crew knocks around delaying our departure again, and we miss meeting our group for the organized run on Hey Joe Canyon by about 30 minutes. Crap! This is NOT going well at all. We try to trace the route to catch up with the trail group, no dice. At a gas station, we give up, fill up, then find the new Charles Wells book on Moab and find out exactly where the trail is and go chasin' after the group. About 10:30am (1.5 hours after the group had met and left for the trail) we catch the tailgunner along the dusty Hey Joe Canyon. We get hooked into the group, they're cool about us being late. No problem. The canyon turns out not to be particularly scenic, mostly hot and dusty, and we're poking along at a snail's pace. The few obstacles are good to get the blood flowing a bit, but nothing too crazy, mostly just tight clearance spots. The truck has no problem whatsoever with any of the trail. At lunch I chat with a Pinzgauer owner on the trail. Cool. Not much else to do at lunch but eat. We head back. Still hot, dusty, with tedious obstacles and glacial progress. We leave early when they stop and a few others follow us. We are able to find a much better camp, hook up with James, plan the next morning. That evening just as I'm trying for the last time to raise Dave and Mark -- friends of one of my crew -- I see glowing lights approaching. Turns out to be them! We were supposed to meet them at 9pm Wed evening and as you recall we arrived at 2:30am the next morning. Missed them by only 5.5 hours! But here they are having just coincentally passed by for the last time and catching a glimpse of what might've been our rig at the same time I happened to be sitting in the truck trying to raise them. Kind of a weird Moab experience. Things always are chaotic but they always turn out in the end. So we tell him where to meet the next day. [continued] __________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 20:13:30 -0000 From: "Michael Shimniok" Subject: fsj: Moab: Part 4 Saturday Mark's truck was having suspension problems so he rode with Kevin and drove some too. Larry was sleeping in. Dave and Mark had left back to NM. James led the early-riser. We decided to get a jump on the EJS Big Saturday trail runs. My crew only delays us by 10 minutes today. What a miracle. We head up Kane Creek Trail, which I did last year with TC. The trail has washed out even more this year and easily is a 4-rated trial now, regardless of what the books say. The first part of the trail is easy with one major obstacle for full size vehicles: a very steep, narrow ditch that an FSJ with 2" lift and 31" tires WILL NOT PASS THROUGH. Ask me how I know. I can SHOW you how I know. It was ugly. Momentum is NOT your friend in this area. I think maybe TC could've made it, but I don't know. Last year we saw a full size Bronco stuck here, thrashing. Now I kind of know how he felt. At least I was able to back out several times to try new lines. Left, right, angled, nothing worked. As you hammer the front bumper against rock, the back bumper is caught on a ledge, so you can't get the front wheels up on anything to pull you through and the rear wheels just push you into the rock. The trail is otherwise easy. We took a real steep climb that we skipped last year and made it up that easily. That locker, I tell you. Real handy. I think I could've done it without though. Anyway, it's a steep climb then a quick left as you crest or you pitch over the other end of this tall mini-mesa. Finally after many river crossings you reach the climb that curves around a cliff side which features enormous boulders and difficult ascent. It took good spotting from my crew to make it up this, but a few scary moments occurred when I was being sent left, towards the steep drop-off and the throttle cable put down the gas. So I'm fighting the truck trying to play lemming--maybe I should've called it Lemming. I did make it thru the same twisty spot that I got a good pic of TC on last year. I understand the 85 was light on two wheels but pulled thru in spite of it. Got enough articulation to rub the RR tire even with 2.5" of lift in back. Wow. The trail descends to a rocky basin, then up a series of rocky steps. These steps were harder than I remembered last time. I kept trying to find a suitable line to hop up, but there was no hopping to be done. I had to get up lots of momentum and pound and grind my way to the top. We made it but not without lots of horrible noises. But the vehicle held together. I inspected it a bit more trying to diagnose the accelerator problem (I hadn't fully figured it out by then). Found the tire rubbing, and discovered that the LF quarter suffered damage probably in the ditch. Had to pound out the sheet metal to near OEM standards before we could proceed. The remainder of the trail was mostly easy with lots of dips in the creek, and a few very hard mud climbs out of the creek. I was able to do pretty well with this, clawing my way up the edges of the ruts with enough power and momentum. Fun stuff. One final ledge proved incredibly tough. Took James and Kevin over a half-hour to figure out how to ascend, and required plenty of rocks piled up to help out clearance. I took the bypass, a steep climb over a slab of rock which was hard enough and I produced plenty of tire smoke and dust in the process of ascending. We made our way out without incident and I spent some time with Kevin peering at cool mods to his '92 YJ. Hooked up with Mark and Larry and went to view carnage at potato salad hill which was more fun this year than last. Lots of successes and many cool vehicles: long wheelbase Dodge diesel that made it, a grandpa driving a beat up old Ford made it, Dodge power wagon, Willys pickup, all kinds of other rigs, a guy who walked up the hill unfurled a 6'x30' banner saying "TIFFANY WILL YOU MARRY ME" --she said yes. Lots of beer-fueled irresponsibility, and spring break madness. But fun to watch anyway. That nite my crew who I'd loaned my truck to so they could get the car one had driven went touring and left me without food back at camp and were out 3 hours beyond when they were supposed to meet me. Pissed, I went back into town and was able to by chance meet up with Charlie and give him the rundown on vehicle damage. Hopefully he feels better for having spent the money on the lift (and hopefully his wife feels better too--showed her the dents I incurred, too). Ate quick dinner at Wendy's and sat around contemplating packing up and leaving my crew behind as I headed home, but I'm too nice a guy to do that. They rolled in around 9pm and sat around eating dinner. Whatever. Sunday I was going to do the Easter service that morning but was too tired and bummed to get out of bed. The crew dragged ass again and we didn't even get to breakfast until 10:00am and didn't get out of town until about 11:30 or so. By this point I was quite glad to be leaving, was sick of seeing CJs, TJs, YJs, and was sick of pounding my truck against the rocks and so on. We got back into town by 7:30pm and it was all over. Moab has big potential to be a very, very fun time, but sometimes things just don't work out like you want them to and for the most part, they didn't this year. On the upside, there was some superb scenery, several stretches of fun wheeling with the guys, and the truck made it there and back totally without incident. Saw plenty of FSJs this year, far more than last time. And I finally met Mark Taylor at a rest stop in Glenwood Springs. Where I discovered I had cracked a body mount bracket. That explains why the driver door doesn't fit right and why the tranny shift linkage is so askew. Epilogue The damage to the truck isn't outrageous; I didn't lose anything mechanical, the body damage is repairable, and the body mount can be rewelded probably with an everyday 110V household MIG. Maybe a good excuse to get one. I'm still bummed about beating up that truck. I suppose the video will be good at least. I guess it was some stupid machismo thing about not wanting to be defeated by the trail. Well, both the truck and I were soundly victorious never needing a winch or strap once. It scraped the rear bumper a lot, earning the name "Backhoe" from those on the trail with me. The carb was perfectly fine after fixing the float level the night before we left. The CD player was a dream on the road; time to get one for TC and my car. :) Anyway I get into this competition thing a lot and in Moab, during EJS, there's no place for that, because unless you've spent $25,000 or are an expert welder or both, your rig just won't be cool enough to 'win' whatever there is to win. I realized that for me wheeling needs to be more about the fun of a trusty machine and exploring new trails--of challenges conquered soundly, and of getting outside and seeing amazing flora and fauna. I found my limits and I found the limits of Backhoe, but it was a painful lesson and that isn't what vacation is supposed to be all about. But life doesn't care whether you're on vacation or not, so life learned me a thing or two whether I liked it or not. Wished I could rave on about how incredible and fun and great my trip was. It was what it was. There was good and bad to it, more bad than I wanted. It was certainly interesting and adventurous. You should've been on the trail with us if for no other reason than to stare in amazement at my driving... Well, I'm back, and now I have two FSJs to repair... Hm... Hopefully the others had a real fun time out there! [fin] Michael 85 GW "Backhoe" - 360/2150/727/229 - Lockrite - Recurved distributor - - 3" flowmaster - Warn 2" add-a-leafs - 31" BFG AT KO - Cobra 19 - Kenwood CD deck & Speakers ------------------------------ End of fsj-digest V1 #829 *************************