- Location
- West Haven, UT
This was the first time for us to attend EJS - we generally don't like crowds or yahoo drivers on trails with us. But, I've wanted to go back to Moab - we haven't wheeled there since 2014 - not knowing if we'd have a good time or not, we limited our time to Saturday through Monday (23-26 Mar). This was the first time for us to use the truck camper, the new flatbed (and extra boxes), the hitch extension towing, and taking our 1982 scrambler on a trail.
Since buying the scrambler we've worked out most of the bugs - 350 small block, NP208, sniper efi, hydroboost brakes, ARB lockers fr/rear (wagoneer D44 and AMC 20). Suspension is outboarded YJ leafs SOA. 35" BFG KO3's.
We signed up for 7 mile rim (have run it before with our TJ), 3D and Lost World (new trail for 2024)
On 7 mile rim, the jeep worked great up until about 1/4 way in, then the motor just quit. We tried cranking it, but it would not light. I popped the hood and found we had no fuel pressure coming out of the Hyperfuel surge tank (glad I had installed a gauge). Last summer the sniper EFI died and had similar symptoms - no signal to the fuel pump. So I thought we were dead on the trail. The sniper ignition box didn't show a good crank light (should be green). We let a good portion of the group pass us, cooling off the engine and I tried starting it again. This time the fuel pump picked up pressure and the enginre fired up.
We continued down the trail about 10 minutes and it died again. Same problem, no fuel pressure out of the surge tank. I still couldn't get a solid light on the ignition box. We ended up doing the cool, start, run, die thing about 3 more times and decided to turn back.
On the way out, our initial run was about 20 minutes before dying. Then things got worse and it would only run for a few minutes. I could hear the fuel pump running, but it would not prime. The last time it died was on 191 starting down the hill into town. We coasted to a stop on the shoulder right behind a Tic Tac Tow truck picking up another car. He checked on us and gave us a number in case we wanted to get towed back to camp.
At this point I decided to swap in the spare fuel pump I had in back (should have tried that earlier...). I had most of the tools, but not an 11/16 wrench (or adjustable) to remove the lines from the surge tank. The little allen wrench was slow, but did the job. Without removing the lines I had to force the old pump out with a bit of force, but it did come out. The surge tank was full of fuel, so no heat soak or mechanical fuel pump issues. It had to be this pump. The new walbro fuel pump had a longer pickup sock on the bottom - I had to use a pocket knife to cut the line to size. I got it put together and it held a solid 60 psi with no leaks. It ran better than before. Bummer that I didn't try this on the trail (someone would have had the wrench). It ran perfectly the rest of the weekend.
On Monday we ran Lost World - rated a 3. There was really only one semi-difficult ledge climb along a bluff (pics below).
Since buying the scrambler we've worked out most of the bugs - 350 small block, NP208, sniper efi, hydroboost brakes, ARB lockers fr/rear (wagoneer D44 and AMC 20). Suspension is outboarded YJ leafs SOA. 35" BFG KO3's.
We signed up for 7 mile rim (have run it before with our TJ), 3D and Lost World (new trail for 2024)
On 7 mile rim, the jeep worked great up until about 1/4 way in, then the motor just quit. We tried cranking it, but it would not light. I popped the hood and found we had no fuel pressure coming out of the Hyperfuel surge tank (glad I had installed a gauge). Last summer the sniper EFI died and had similar symptoms - no signal to the fuel pump. So I thought we were dead on the trail. The sniper ignition box didn't show a good crank light (should be green). We let a good portion of the group pass us, cooling off the engine and I tried starting it again. This time the fuel pump picked up pressure and the enginre fired up.
We continued down the trail about 10 minutes and it died again. Same problem, no fuel pressure out of the surge tank. I still couldn't get a solid light on the ignition box. We ended up doing the cool, start, run, die thing about 3 more times and decided to turn back.
On the way out, our initial run was about 20 minutes before dying. Then things got worse and it would only run for a few minutes. I could hear the fuel pump running, but it would not prime. The last time it died was on 191 starting down the hill into town. We coasted to a stop on the shoulder right behind a Tic Tac Tow truck picking up another car. He checked on us and gave us a number in case we wanted to get towed back to camp.
At this point I decided to swap in the spare fuel pump I had in back (should have tried that earlier...). I had most of the tools, but not an 11/16 wrench (or adjustable) to remove the lines from the surge tank. The little allen wrench was slow, but did the job. Without removing the lines I had to force the old pump out with a bit of force, but it did come out. The surge tank was full of fuel, so no heat soak or mechanical fuel pump issues. It had to be this pump. The new walbro fuel pump had a longer pickup sock on the bottom - I had to use a pocket knife to cut the line to size. I got it put together and it held a solid 60 psi with no leaks. It ran better than before. Bummer that I didn't try this on the trail (someone would have had the wrench). It ran perfectly the rest of the weekend.
On Monday we ran Lost World - rated a 3. There was really only one semi-difficult ledge climb along a bluff (pics below).
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