Took the Heep out wheelin today at Azusa Canyon, CA and had a blast. Only a small part of the park was open because the reservoirs are still full of water. Little background of the place, its mostly Mud but theres a couple good rock gardens and some other fun things to play on. Had a blast taking the willys out, climbed a buncha big rocks and hills, and held my own in the big boy rock gardens. There were a few nice Rubis out there and a buncha Yodas. Most of them kept to themselves and didnt want to go out and play.
Carnage was huge today. Early in the mornin I was climbin up one big boulder and my carb decided it didnt want to agree with the angle. Ended up gettin up on it and rolling back when the engine cut out, which caught my rear T-Case Cross Member/skid mount and bent it to stuffin, Which ended up cracking my frame at the mount and doin some good damage to the rear output on the T-Case. But I unbolted it and the day continued.
Little bit later I was climbin up a small hill with a buncha good sized rocks, and forgetting about the absence of my rear skid, ended up bending in the rear output Pinion bearing cap pretty good which gave me a nice ringing for a while till I could get to a good spot to take it off and bend it all back.
Then shortly after this happens, I manage to invert one of my rear shackles when I got the back wheel off the ground and set it down. I looked at it while still strapped in and was thinkin the axle was bent. :teehee: Get out and see its only the shackle and breath a huge sigh of relief.
And the big damage of the day, Was climbin around a big rock garden and doin pretty good. Of course my buddy No Balls'es me into going the long way across so i oblige. Right at the end got high centered on 3 huuuuuuge, very pointy boulders. In wiggling it around trying to get unstuck, putting rocks under the wheels ect, the front DS got lathed in half by the tip of the middle rock. Note to self find more experienced spotters. So I hop under and unbolt it, getting a good look for the first time. The tip of one rock is right under where my Tranny to Tcase adapter is, and the top of the other one it right in front of the tranny cross member, with the rock pile behind me and to my left.
Well im not worried because of course I have my highlift and tow straps, and the V8 ZJ to pull me out. Only to find that some @$$hole Ganked my Highlift and my recovery box the night before. Perfect. So i pull out the bottle jack and start jackin up wheels and puttin rocks under to get some clearance over the center rocks which did next to nothing. So then I hopped in the ZJ and rode around the OHV park in search of recovery gear to borrow. The park ranger, (in his jacked up Rubi) says I cant use his gear, but he would gladly call AAA for me. Yea right. So I drive around until I find a guy with a Brand new jacked up rubi on his first ever wheeling adventure whos more then happy to help out. We head back to the truck and i decide the best way to go will be jack the side up and pull the big rocks out from under it. This works great for the first one. Was very impressed with the 4 low on the grand. The second one was on the left of the T case so it wasnt gonna come out.
Eventually I just decided to hook the strap up to my sliders and fame and yank the Willys sideways. By this time theres a good group of spectators who are very entertained with my antics. To my suprise pullin it sideways actually worked, and only took 3 or 4 good tugs from the heep. The best part was the direction I was pulling happened to be right where the first boulder I tugged out was. So in yankin the willys i ended up driving over the thing and getting up on two wheels, much to the spectators enjoyment. None of them even wanting to attempt to climb the same rock afterwords.
So the Jeeps freed and its time to inspect the damage which wasnt near as bad as I was expecting. Front drive shaft was in half which was no biggie, Tranny pan is super dinged up but somehow didnt get any punctures, and my tranny crossmember is super dented up. Of course in the Grand I had spare DSs and popped a new one on, and got to drive away back to the staging area, one again leaving the other wheelers very amazed.
So in summery. Things broken.
Front DS
Rear output Pinion
Both T-Case Crossmembers
Frame
Tranny Pan
Few mounting bolts here and there
U-Joint straps all around
Leaf Spring skids
Things Im taking away from today
Get Better spotters
Dont get No-Balls'ed into doin stupid stuff
Need a better Carb for offroad or Go Propane
Need to box my outdated C-channel frame
Should go SOA in the near future
Other then that it was a great day out in the sun. Im just glad I always bring trail spares, all the tools I need, Fluids, and good friends to laugh with me at my mistakes. :tea:
And of course. Some pictures. Ill try to get videos uploaded tonight and throw them on You Tube
Playin on the rocks
Some water crossing. Nothing to deep.
Messin around on the hills
Playin in the rock garden
The High Center. The big rock between the wheels is the one we strapped to the ZJ and pulled out.
Stopped and smoked some Cigars on the way back at the top of the canyon
