Back from my Trip! JV,Moab,Colorado

[Jim B]

To All that were there.

My first day back and I don't know where to start to catch up with all my boring office work.

I wish to thank everyone's for their help and hospitality at JV when I was there, I will be back. Thank you for showing me a good time, I wish I could return the favor if you guys ever decide to travel East.

As all of you probably well know I had a few mishaps in Moab but fortunately there was no damage. Pulled everything together, did a few fixes and finished out my 3 weeks worth of pounding wheeling trip on all the good stuff. The Independence trail (Patriot) in Colorado was Awesome! has to be on my top 5 list. Upper Hell was just too good and technical to explain. The Hammer and Outer Limit trail was a constant pound leaving you no room to relax. This was all very soothing to me.

Got a bunch of emails to answer from all the arm chair quarterbacks, on my roll and on Tracy's roll. I'll try to answer as soon as possible to all those private emails.

With regards to my roll I'll keep it short and sweet. If you look at the video which is actually playing kind of fast there was no pedal to the metal. The obstacle was crawled up smoothly. Where I failed, was to properly stack at least two more layers of rock giving me more of an angle, if you will notice the rear left tire was caught under the ledge pushing me left and over, did not give me time to bring it down. I should have been more to the right and strapped a cable for safety. I've attempted this obstacles in the past bouncing on it many times with the right line and nothing has happened. I guess it was just one of those days. Unless you were there, wheel on the obstacles that I have wheeled, and know how my vehicle handles... grab some popcorn.

I've wheeled with my rack for 5 years and I'm used to the weight, will try to make something lighter to replace it, I still think my Sx tires are right for me at 6 psi, no more, no less, no matter where I am. I agree with Brad (Hellbender) that my shocks might be a bit soft, I do ok but will be looking into a "possible" replacements so any suggestions are welcome. My 64" width might be a tad too wide for some areas but it did not keep me from doing any particular trail, the fact is that a narrower axle might not work for other obstacles that the wider one will. I'm comfortable with this and from my experience I like my 64" width for "me" much better than the narrower width.

Blaine,
Left you a Currie tie rod with Jason at Tri county to complete the two sets, he was advised that you will be picking it up. Let me know when you get the two new sets from Currie as I have them sold. Re did my steering completely, works like a champ and I should have done this a long time ago. I actually still have alignment after a 3 week beating on the TJ. Btw, thank you for dirtying your gloves on my fixes at JV, it's a shame you did not make any holes on your clothing attire from all the welding as I was looking forward to taking a picture of this. If you are looking for a second pair, forget it

Hellbender, once I get my no damage taking care off I'll be contacting you to get a few details on your air compressor bracket attached to the hood, thanks.

Few observations on my 3 stop wheeling trip:

Saw and heard of another CTM joints go in addition to Garys', just goes to show you that nothing now a day is indestructible (not even 60s). You can break anything.

Two more of the rope winches for a total of 4. Luckily we had two winch lines on the climb out of Upper HellDorado on this other TJ, otherwise the vehicle would have fallen down and backwards. From what I'm seeing I will be staying away from the rope cable and putting up with the cons of the steel cable.

Goodyear Mtr, good traction, but in all 3 of my stops saw a few with sidewall plugs or damage, spoke to the people running them advising me of their sidewall problems here or there. What I did notice, seeing this with my own eyes. The 37"tire on the larger wheel size had thinner sidewall than the 15" wheel size which was much thicker and might actually hold up better due to the added sidewall thickness for the 15" wheel stability. I could be wrong as this one is all speculation on my part but I saw a good friend that had the 37" on a 15" that held up and did outstanding.

These are only observations for discussion and in no way is meant to ruffle anyone's feathers as I only relate and pass on information to what I actually do or see.

If there are any picture links of any of my stops I would appreciate someone forwarding to me.

Ron, good pic of the one on lower HellDorado of me almost going over. If you could please email me the higher resolution version. I have some of you that are really nice doing rocker on Pritchett (step by step) that I will be sending when us working stiffs have everything sorted out. Had a real good time with you and April, I'm glad she keeps you in check as you have also seen how I'm kept in check after the lower Hell obstacle.

Thank's to all of you for one heck of a time!

[brent]

Jim,
glad to hear you made it home safe, sorry I didn't get to moab.

[TJRON]

Jim,
Glad you got back OK. I hope we do it again next year! You and Dolly are a pleasure to hang with and I have never seen better behaved kids, including my own litte angels, when they were that small.
That rope breaking was scary, I think you had to be there to appreciate it.
I also didn't notice the many different type tires being a problem on the rock crawling obstacles we did. It seemed to me auto/stick was the big difference. I know you don't agree but if you have Ray & Jane's tape you can see it for yourself. If you don't have it, I'll send you a copy.
When I get time in the next few days I will put the whole trip on a cd or two and send it to you. The multiple shot of the view on Golden Spike Trail (you had me take) came out real nice!
Again it was a pleasure (as usual) wheelin' and hangin' with your family. Just don't bust my balls so bad next time!
Ron & April

[Scott Hill]

good to hear you made it back with no injuries. hope your widfe and kids had a good time.


it was great to meet you


Scott

[TObject]

Welcome back Jim!

It was a pleasure to wheel with you in Johnson Valley. I think that Jackhammer trail we did on Saturday is the hardest one (amongst the ones I run, at least). Good to hear you had fun the rest of your trip too!

[Jim B]

Guys,

It was great putting faces with names and meeting up again with some of the old.

Ron, we do agree with the automatic advantage. I'm just an old dog that likes pain, won't change and want's to feel like I'm driving the vehicle controlling (or should I say attempting to control) it's every move

[TJRON]

Yeh, I'm going to stick with mine too. I'm getting better with it and 98% of the time I prefer it but that other 2% is when things are critical............
If my stick takes a dump, that's it!

[Hyperman]

Jim, it was nice to meet you and your family. Even with all of the issues, had to be a great vacation. See you next time around.

[Stu Olson]

Originally posted by TJRON
I'm getting better with it and 98% of the time I prefer it but that other 2% is when things are critical............

I saw a post on the local e-mail reflector today....a guy posted a TJ auto tranny for sale.....about 87K miles......$500 I was really tempted....but having just ordered the Warn hub conversion, I thought I should keep my self in check! LOL

[Robert J. Yates]

Gee Stu,
At the rate you are going, your Jeep will look like all of ours

[Stu Olson]

Cool....did you and Blaine, Kat, etc. all get hard tops?

[Robert J. Yates]

Heh, but I can guarantee that you will be removing yours one or another if you come out here in November

[TObject]

[William]

Originally posted by Stu Olson

..a guy posted a TJ auto tranny for sale.....about 87K miles......$500 I was really tempted....

HAHAHAAA..

Just a matter of time I guess.