Clayton Christmas Carnage '10 (Rooms and Rides Thread)

[eight]

Kopecki broke on green mamba extension last night. Snapped the solid section of his rear driveshaft clean in two, and then grenaded the upper front dhaft ujoint while shaggin ass up the logging road in front wheel drive.

Reporting from the road via DaveO motorcoach wifi.

I just had to make sure BDR got to pay me back for running to town to get his tire. Towed it with the winch cable and that worked out very well, much easier on the towing vehicle. When it gets to a hard spot let the cable out so the towing vehicle can make it up. Once it's on good ground, winch up. Think next time a tree saver should be added to absorb some shock.

[CheapJeep]

Awesome trip as always, had a blast.

My Trip Rundown
Thrashed day and night getting everything installed and ready, finally had it running and was on my way late Thursday night. Rolled into Clayton early Friday morning and caught some sleep before hitting the trail.

Friday- wheeled with JB, Corey, Chris B., and Chris' Dad on Jeff's Ledges then caught up to Scott, Lynda, Kopecki, and Busa. Hit Green Mamba and part of the Extension before the driveshaft slipped out. It was mid afternoon so I headed back to camp to lengthen/sleeve it while enjoying the rain.

Saturday- headed out with Scott, Lynda, Davido, and Kopecki on the backside towards Gobbler's Knob, en route Scott's Patrol decided it did not want to join. We hit Redneck Millionaire and spent the rest of the day there. I'm not sure if it was having Scott, Dave, and Kopecki spotting or being last in line but somehow I got lucky and was the only rig to make it without pulling winch.

However, near the end of the trail one of the studs holding the spring plate on pulled out allowing the spring to try and come off the axle. This eventually broke the shim bolted to the spring and allowed my new and improved front driveshaft to slip out. Saturday night I fixed the stud and missing shim situation the best I could and added a limiting strap.

Sunday- headed to Redneck Millionaire again with JB, Austin, and Corey. The missing shim didn't help the front driveshaft. I got hung up in the same place that Dave did on Saturday and ended up sheering the upper rod end on my anti wrap bar and ripped the hydro assist ram tabs off of my tie rod. JB made it through pulling winch and Austin made it fine. Corey stayed on a side trail and managed to break something in his rear end. Near the end of the trail I changed the mounting location on the limiting strap so it had hardly any down travel which fixed the problem.

Sunday night JB, Corey, and Austin headed home while Sam and I headed back out and met up with BDR, Kopecki, Karl, Dave, Seth, and Junior on Green Mamba Extension. Kopecki grenaded both of his driveshafts and got a tow back from BDR.

Robbie - front driveshaft too short, antiwrap bar, possible rear spring, ram mount ripped off

Rear spring ended up being ok, just the rod end on the antiwrap.

[KrazyKarl02]

eventually ran into some sort of old logging truck blocking the trail. It was a crewcab, on a shortened maybe frame. Some large man wearing a "HUMMER" shirt was working on it. He was a little creepy, but we stuck around till he got it running.

Friday arrived around 11:00 pm and hung out around the fire. Saturday we hit the trail, Flem with Jimmy, BDR with Junior, and me all by myself. We headed up the mountain and then got lost on the back side of the mountain for the rest of the day. While on the back of the mountain I managed to slide the Klogger into this little situation, while trying to pull the tree down I spit my rear drive shaft out. This is when a large sasquatch of a man came up driving a Bronco. Some how my fuel pump wire came loose and we had to do a trail fix. I manage to spit my rear driveshaft out 2 more times, a total of 3 for the day!

[KrazyKarl02]

There is a Robert Earl Keen song with a line that says, "Silver Eagles ride down streets made of gold", evidently if you had a gold street, but no diesel they will not run (see picture). Also I do not know why Cory's anti-wrap bar bent, with fabrication like this I would think it would be indestructable. Sunday the klogger took it easy. So total Klogger carnage:

- Spit the rear drive shaft out 3 times, but got it back runningish
- Ripped the exhaust off just behind the Y-pipe, and I mean off, I do not know where on the trail it is, but it is for sure not under the truck
- Broke the rear driver's door window
- Destroyed the front pass door, though it still opens!

[DRAGOONRANCH]

I destroyed some evidence, those were included. Sorry.

Why you not e-mail to me first??? I KEEL YOU!!!

[DRAGOONRANCH]

ED, som guy was very disappointed that you were not there. He called himself Srgt Nail and he stopped by looking for you on Friday afternoon.

Msgt Nail is one cool cat that I met through work here and while bull****ting here in the office, he asked why I had a dot marked on the map at Clayton. Come to find out he grew up with Slim and Slim's old lady/girlfriend there in Clayton. I am extra bummed that I missed this trip now. He has that same aura that JB does. I have no doubt that had we made it to Shorty's with him, the poon houdery would have been off the scale!

Friday arrived around 11:00 pm and hung out around the fire. Saturday we hit the trail, Flem with Jimmy, BDR with Junior, and me all by myself. We headed up the mountain and then got lost on the back side of the mountain for the rest of the day. While on the back of the mountain I managed to slide the Klogger into this little situation, while trying to pull the tree down I spit my rear drive shaft out. This is when a large sasquatch of a man came up driving a Bronco. Some how my fuel pump wire came loose and we had to do a trail fix. I manage to spit my rear driveshaft out 2 more times, a total of 3 for the day!

Getting jammed up like that on helicopter hill is what prompted the switch tot he longfields in the beast. Loving the pictures and recaps guys! keep it up!!!

[CheapJeep]

Robbie's driveshaft pulled out maybe 6 times but he swears he did the same trail on Saturday with no problems.
The Bronco did great.
I am such a firm believer in Iroks.
I would like to find a locking transmission dipstick, as at extreme angles, it will pour out.

Never said I made it no problem considering the stud pulled and I broke a shim. I did make it without winching though.

On Sunday I counted 4 times on the front driveshaft. That last time it came apart I moved the limiting strap which worked enough to make the last part of the trail without a pull. It held up that night when I went back out and hit part of the green mamba extension to find the group as well.

I must say that your Bronco kicks ass... Thought you would have had alot more trouble with certain parts of Redneck Millionaire but it went right through.

Lokar makes steelbraided locking dipsticks.

[stx4wheeler]

Robbie which of the two studs did you pull out? I'm thinking I'm going to u-bolt mine or use u-bolts and studs to stop the problem before it happens.

[davido]

Well years of RHPAW showed it's toll on the Cruiser. Circumstances, I didn't do much at all before Friday. I was ill prepared for this trip, so thanks to all who helped fill the gaps over the weekend.

So to start, the battery was dead. New red top. The new yoke had come in on Thursday, but I hadn't even opened it. Ford driveshafts are made with some magic wax-putty-fireproof crap on them. Seth and I finally got the new yoke and shaft on though. The coach is too long to get in the driveway, so we had to drag the trailer over to the Albertson's parking lot to get it attached to the coach. Went back and loaded the cruiser at the top of the block. Living in a cul de sac with a militant HOA is not working in my favor with this setup right now.

Finally, we were full with diesel and hit the road around midnight. We drove straight through, stopping briefly in Stringtown to wet the road and fire up the generator. We rolled in about 5:30AM and hit the sack for a few hours.

Phone call at 9:15, so I was up. After breakfast, noticed new damage before the cruiser was off the trailer. Broken front shackle, unbolted front antiwrap bar, and a small hole on the inside of a tire. Scott aired it up, I put in a plug. Bolted up the antiwrap bar, fueled up and headed to Slims. $20 of Kopecki cash later and I was finally on the trail.

Somewhere along the way, the power steering pump died. I'm beginning to believe that they build these things with time-dissolving parts. Both Scott and I bought those pumps at the same time on a trip a few years ago. They both died within a few hours of driving. Hmm.

So the trail was a PITA the rest of the day with heavily aired down 42s and manual steering. It was not so manuverable, but we made it work. As we left the trail, it sputtered a bit. A hundred yards later we met up with another group. The cruiser was dead. Towed all the way back. Switchbacks with manual steering =/= fun. Thanks for getting me back Lynda and back on the trailer Sam.

Highlight, piling 20 people into the coach and rolling in to STHT in style.
Lowlight, having it die after starting and not coming back to life. In the end it was fuel. I thought about filling it up before we left, but we thought it'd be fine. Suck. So it was low, but I think the parking angle was the final blow.

Thanks to Karl, JR, BDR, and Kopecki for helping on the rescue mission. After struggling with it for a while, someone had a great idea to use the elevation pump from the Onan (Carter Electric Fuel Pump P4600HP). it fired right up once it was plumbed. I learned a LOT about the coach on it's maiden towing voyage. A few lessons were tough ones.

Made it home. Reattached the three rooftop AC covers on the coach. Added a CO alarm. Replaced the fuel filters on the cruiser and it fired right up. Pulled out the shackles. I need some bolts for them. I also ripped off the front mount on my front antiwrap bar, so that needs to be cleaned up and rewelded. I'm guessing with all of that movement, my passenger side spring mounts on the axles have probably loosened up. Hoping to knock out a few of those things in the next couple of days while I still have time and drive. My prep has gotten worse lately, so I need to get that corrected.

All in all, a great trip. Really enjoyed it.

[davido]

Robbie which of the two studs did you pull out? I'm thinking I'm going to u-bolt mine or use u-bolts and studs to stop the problem before it happens.

We need to just make three of them at the same time. I need to replace my bolts also. Here's some info on it:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...t=dana+60+stud

[mudtoy67]

Had a great time!

The drive up Friday was uneventful. It completely slipped my mind that my leave time would put us through Dallas during rush hour...that sucked. Still arrived at a decent time and had a few beers around the campfire.

As was mentioned Saturday I got lost with Karl, Flem, Jimmy, and Junior. We hit Backside Loop in the 3 direction. At one point we saw where a trail intersected the one we were on and didn't think anything about it. Kept going down the hill and found ourselves at the bottom with nowhere to go but Slim's Slope, V.A.J.in A. (which dead ends ), or back the way we came. Going down the mountain was easy, getting back up was a little more work. The Klogger did really well when it wasn't making sweet tree-love in the forest, I could tell Karl really enjoyed the low gearing of the doubler. As always, TTB was unstoppable. Flem's rover did really well also. Good control of the skinny pedal overcame the lack of lockers. Seemed like everytime I turned around to look he had another broken window. Finally made it to the top of the mountain well after dark just in time to hear JB (I think?) on the CB asking if we needed a rescue mission. It was nice to know we hadn't been left to freeze and eat Flem for survival.

Sunday we fixed the bus. There was a lot of head scratching and **** talking. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard while trying to fix something on the side of the road. [kopecki voice] Less talky, more worky. [/kopecki voice] After we got the bus going we scarfed down a gas station pizza and headed out. Junior with me, Seth with Kopecki, and DaveO with Karl. We traveled up Jeff's Ledges from the airstrip, continued on through Green Mamba and GM Extension. No problems on Jeff's Ledges. I hadn't run Green Mamba or the extension before so I was excited to give it a try. Made it halfway up the ledge on Green Mamba. I took the far left line but just couldn't get the XJ to swing to the right of the boulder at the top and ended up high centered. We pulled winch cable, then pulled the tree it was attached to down on Junior. Found a better tree and finally got on top. Popped a tire soon after that. Kopecki ran me back to town to get my spare and we swapped it on. Again Kopecki with the [kopecki voice] Less talky, more worky. [/kopecki voice] Continued up the extension. Made it up out of the hole on that big obstacle near the first exit but then got high centered just above it and had to pull cable. That place was a mess with all the recent logging. Got back to town, had a chicken fried at Che' Bulldog, bs'd around the campfire a bit and hit the sack.

Only carnage for me was the popped tire. This is the third cut sidewall in two trips to Clayton on this set of tires I got from Mike. I think he should offer road hazard. I had replaced my trans crossmember before the trip. It's toast again. I need to finish my hd crossmember and flat skid.

[mudtoy67]

Got a few pics







This is how you catch a Klogger


This is how you free a Klogger. You can kind of see the winch line in the first pic. The tree never cracked in the second pic. After the Klogger was free the tree just stood right back up.





Almost lost the fawking XJ on the way home. This is what was left of the front strap holding it to the trailer. I suspect it broke when we hit a big ass bump in the highway just north of Dallas. It had a nick in it from rubbing on the axle truss, I figured it was small enough to not be a problem. About 5 minutes after the bump some truck pulls up next to us and rolls his window down, motioning at the Jeep. I'm all thinking, "ya thanks, nice jeep I know!". I finally figured out he was saying "STRAP!". Pulled over and the XJ was about 12" from the back of the trailer. Thankfully Karl and Kopecki weren't far behind and Karl let me borrow one of his straps. I WILL be buying 4 new straps and 4 axle straps so I can secure this thing properly in the future. I also need to redo the floor on the trailer and I'll add floor mount d-rings like most car haulers use.

[Sharpe]

Polyperformance has a good selection of overpriced trailer straps.

http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/home.php?cat=800

[redcagepatrol]

these are sweet! they have the axle strap built in.
http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/...mbo-p-691.html

i prefer my method and have two 3/8" shackles on each of my axles.

[eight]

Instead of axle straps, which can get cut, I've been thinking of axle chains. Something like a 3/8" chain about 18" long with rings on both ends.