RockMonkey
Suddenly Enthusiastic
Last week I got the rear seat belts mounted, the cage painted (badly) and the interior mostly reinstalled. That went a long way toward making it feel more finished. I still need to install the center console and make some covers for the upper control arms.
Last Saturday we hit Flat Iron Mesa (sort of, we were following a group that seemed to be lost).
There was really only one difficult obstacle, and the Cherokee had no problem climbing it once I got on the right line. I'm a crappy enough driver that it took me a second try to get to the line.
Sunday we hit Pritchett. Holy cow this trail has changed since I last ran it a couple years ago!!! Some of the hardest obstacles were not even obstacles then! The Cherokee climbed it all like a champ. It went up Chewy (one of the obstacles that's gotten way tougher recently) with no problems, and crawled Rocker Knocker with the help of a really good spotter. Only three in our group drove Rocker Knocker (two more winched, and the rest turned around). The obstacle just before Rock Pile is a lot more intersting now too. There's a line to the left (used to be the way to do it) that's probably a little easier, but looks like it gets pretty off-camber. Then there's a line to the right from the bottom that goes up a slippery wall. I think I could have done either line, but wanted to try the slippery wall, so I went to the right. I made it up the climb on the first attempt, and then through the off-camber part with some good spotting. Once we got to Rocker Knocker I attempted to climb it, but every time I got the back tires up on the wall, my transmission slipped and stopped powering the wheels. When I added the tranny cooler a while ago I lost some fluid, but when I checked it it read on the low end of full, so I didn't add any. I think I need to add a quart to it to keep it from slipping on these steep spots. Also, my brand-new winch doesn't work for some reason, and I haven't had a chance yet to take it to get repaired. I think if I had a winch to suck down my front suspension it would have gotten the angle of the tranny low enough it probably wouldn't have slipped. With either issue resolved I'm confident I could have climbed the Rock Pile. My front tires were on top and my back tires on the wall when it started to slip every time.
By this point in the trail there were only two vehicles left, and we needed to catch back up to the rest of the group that headed out before Rocker Knocker, so we turned around and drove out.
Last Saturday we hit Flat Iron Mesa (sort of, we were following a group that seemed to be lost).
There was really only one difficult obstacle, and the Cherokee had no problem climbing it once I got on the right line. I'm a crappy enough driver that it took me a second try to get to the line.Sunday we hit Pritchett. Holy cow this trail has changed since I last ran it a couple years ago!!! Some of the hardest obstacles were not even obstacles then! The Cherokee climbed it all like a champ. It went up Chewy (one of the obstacles that's gotten way tougher recently) with no problems, and crawled Rocker Knocker with the help of a really good spotter. Only three in our group drove Rocker Knocker (two more winched, and the rest turned around). The obstacle just before Rock Pile is a lot more intersting now too. There's a line to the left (used to be the way to do it) that's probably a little easier, but looks like it gets pretty off-camber. Then there's a line to the right from the bottom that goes up a slippery wall. I think I could have done either line, but wanted to try the slippery wall, so I went to the right. I made it up the climb on the first attempt, and then through the off-camber part with some good spotting. Once we got to Rocker Knocker I attempted to climb it, but every time I got the back tires up on the wall, my transmission slipped and stopped powering the wheels. When I added the tranny cooler a while ago I lost some fluid, but when I checked it it read on the low end of full, so I didn't add any. I think I need to add a quart to it to keep it from slipping on these steep spots. Also, my brand-new winch doesn't work for some reason, and I haven't had a chance yet to take it to get repaired. I think if I had a winch to suck down my front suspension it would have gotten the angle of the tranny low enough it probably wouldn't have slipped. With either issue resolved I'm confident I could have climbed the Rock Pile. My front tires were on top and my back tires on the wall when it started to slip every time.
By this point in the trail there were only two vehicles left, and we needed to catch back up to the rest of the group that headed out before Rocker Knocker, so we turned around and drove out.
