OlBlueCJ7
June 29th, 2008, 09:16 PM
Had a pretty great run up Storm Mtn yesterday, although it ended up being a long one! I think we had about 10 rigs altogether, sorry I didn't get names of everyone, but it was nice wheeling with everyone.
Normally this is a pretty simple trail, but yesterday it was jinxed. We started off with a TJ that developed a crack in one of his high pressure fuel lines. We were able to do a trail repair on that with a split piece of fuel line scavanged off my rear diff breather tube, and some hose clamps thieved off some Dana 300's. Tested it out, and lo & behold, it help! No drips!
We continued on towards the top of the trail, where several people played around in the rockpile area towards the top, trying different lines on the ledges. Took a breather to enjoy the scenery and take in the awesome view.
On the way down, Jason's truck managed to completely tear the steering box off the frame. We did the best we could the strap & bolt it back into place & repair the rag joint, but we were pretty limited in what we could do. It didn't last very long, so Jason called a friend to run a spare box up to Drake where we could pick it up & then take it up to the trail & fix the truck. We got the second box on as best we could (only two bolts & a ratchet strap), but unfortunately, it too got ripped off, breaking the mounts on the box. At this point, he decided that we'd just have to leave it up there for the night, and come back with a trailer in the morning to pick it up.
Finally a little after 11:00 pm (we started the trail at about 11:00 am), everyone was on their way home. On the way home, I noticed a rough vibration at anything less than about 45 mph. I was too tired to stop & see what was wrong at this point, so I kept driving the 30 miles home. As I pulled into the driveway, I heard something come off the Jeep from underneath. I got the Jeep into the garage, and took a quick peek at the rear driveline:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/mpeterson79/SGg8zgTMA1I/AAAAAAAAAUw/GvCqrGs0Fgw/Storm%20Mtn%202008-18.jpg?imgmax=512
Apparently the straps had loosened around the u-joint, and as I pulled up the driveway, it spit the cap out. Found the cap in the middle of the street, sans needle bearings. Oh well - easy enough fix. Apparently I killed my third set of leaf springs too though - my rear pinion angle is all messed up now. Maybe time to link it! :evil:
All in all a pretty decent day - thanks Peter for setting this up, and thanks to everyone for helping out when trouble arose. The rest of my pictures (not many) are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mpeterson79/StormMountain2008
-Mark
Normally this is a pretty simple trail, but yesterday it was jinxed. We started off with a TJ that developed a crack in one of his high pressure fuel lines. We were able to do a trail repair on that with a split piece of fuel line scavanged off my rear diff breather tube, and some hose clamps thieved off some Dana 300's. Tested it out, and lo & behold, it help! No drips!
We continued on towards the top of the trail, where several people played around in the rockpile area towards the top, trying different lines on the ledges. Took a breather to enjoy the scenery and take in the awesome view.
On the way down, Jason's truck managed to completely tear the steering box off the frame. We did the best we could the strap & bolt it back into place & repair the rag joint, but we were pretty limited in what we could do. It didn't last very long, so Jason called a friend to run a spare box up to Drake where we could pick it up & then take it up to the trail & fix the truck. We got the second box on as best we could (only two bolts & a ratchet strap), but unfortunately, it too got ripped off, breaking the mounts on the box. At this point, he decided that we'd just have to leave it up there for the night, and come back with a trailer in the morning to pick it up.
Finally a little after 11:00 pm (we started the trail at about 11:00 am), everyone was on their way home. On the way home, I noticed a rough vibration at anything less than about 45 mph. I was too tired to stop & see what was wrong at this point, so I kept driving the 30 miles home. As I pulled into the driveway, I heard something come off the Jeep from underneath. I got the Jeep into the garage, and took a quick peek at the rear driveline:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/mpeterson79/SGg8zgTMA1I/AAAAAAAAAUw/GvCqrGs0Fgw/Storm%20Mtn%202008-18.jpg?imgmax=512
Apparently the straps had loosened around the u-joint, and as I pulled up the driveway, it spit the cap out. Found the cap in the middle of the street, sans needle bearings. Oh well - easy enough fix. Apparently I killed my third set of leaf springs too though - my rear pinion angle is all messed up now. Maybe time to link it! :evil:
All in all a pretty decent day - thanks Peter for setting this up, and thanks to everyone for helping out when trouble arose. The rest of my pictures (not many) are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mpeterson79/StormMountain2008
-Mark