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Rubicon and Fordyce Aug 2015

rustyjeep21

rustyjeep21

Member
We finally got the chance to head to the famed Rubicon trail we headed out from the Lake Tahoe side with 5 rigs. 2 CJ7s with SBCs 44/9s 37s locked etc., a YJ 7 with a 4Bt 44/60 open/open 35s, My dads stranger danger ranger jp30/8.8 locked rear 33s and my craptastic Cherokee 30/8.25 locked rear. Great group.

We headed in right as the Jeepers Jamboree was headed out, only 3-4 people yelled at us. we got to see lots of awesome rigs, especially some sweet old iron. We made quick friends with Dave that owns a fab shop in georgetown he used to be the care taker at rubicon springs. We watched the group come up Cadillac Hill and 4 hrs later we were able to head out on our way.
Mark Smith expedition de le americas CJ8

I really love flat fender Willys, watching the parade gave me plenty of motivation to finish mine




After the "parade" we went on our way down the hill and through Rubicon Springs on our way to camp at Buck Island lake.
we all had to get our picture taken on the bridge of course.




Climbing big sluice was really fun, the stranger danger ranger smoked the clutch a bit but we all made it to the lake without incident. around this time the Yj 7 picked up a nickname of "the dude magnet" since everybody we passed had to find out what motor it had.



We made it to Buck Island Lake with plenty of time for a swim. We set up camp and enjoyed watching the bats and fish dine on bugs as the sunset reflected into the lake.


The stars were amazing and i decided to play around with the Go-Pro.

We also sat and watched the moon rise.

After a good nights sleep we packed up and set off to make it to Loon Lake. I was in the lead and missed the bypass around Old Sluice, this is where my fun really began...
 
rustyjeep21

rustyjeep21

Member
Heres old sluice, at the top of the picture is how far i made it. I was doing just fine until i heard a very heartbreaking "BANG".
After some keen observation it was determined either a c-clip broke or the axle shaft broke, seeing as my tire was an extra foot out the driver side.
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Since i was prepared to break everything but a rear axle shaft this seamed to be a somewhat problematic issue. We had a member of the group that had to be in Truckee the next afternoon for work, so time was of the essence. First thing first we decided to secure the jeep with the winch and hi-lift the rear to see if the c-clip broke or the axle shaft. We pulled the axle and sure enough it was sheared right at the splines. A quick brainstorm determined it would be near impossible to drive out with the wheel being held in with a log or jack handle. We had a welder at the tow rigs, but we weren't sure it the axle would clear the bearings with a weld bead at the splines. We decided to send two people in a Jeep towards loon lake to find cell service and call out for parts and delivery from our new friend Dave. Meanwhile i pulled the diff cover and removed the broken shaft and the axle on the passenger side since i figured what a better time to upgrade shafts. Pulling the cross pin on the detroit with 4.56 gears on a pile of rocks really helped me practice swearing. Hours later and one very interesting and long story later(condensed to hiking/ trespassing /friend making/ham radioing/hiking/telephone tree/hiking)our two friends returned with the great news that i had 4 upgraded axle shafts being express delivered to our location, sometime before the next morning. Ohh yeah 4 axle shafts since when they left we hadn't yet determined whether my axle was 27 or 29 spline. Needless to say I had one very large repair bill heading my way.

Waiting on parts.


The parts arrived by buggy sometime north of midnight, no pictures were taken so ill have to paint them with my words. My co pilot Shawn and I headed in the dark to the Jeep with the 27 spline cryo hardend axle shafts (no cro-molly shafts available) we were dreading having to torque the wheel studs in with just a snap on battery powered impact gun. our worries were futile, the old wheel studs ploped right in. They actually had extra space, unfortunately this was not a problem easily fixed with a trip around the corner to AutoZone. After our onlookers brainstormed over some Coors, we decided to wrap the studs with electrical tape and impact them on, this worked on half the studs; Good enough to drive down old sluice and the 1/4 mile back to camp at 2:30 am. In the morning we gathered washers and used them on the remaining loose studs, this worked. we checked the studs at the top and bottom of each hill, they stayed tight.

We were heading back to Tahoe, feeling pretty good about our make shift repair. We came to an obstacle and the "dude magnet" went right up it with no lockers. Seeing as i had a locker and fresh axle shafts the only logical thing to do was bypass the bypass. Apparently my Cherokee had heard me complain about its "compliant" rear spring packs and decided to alleviate my problem by sliding backwards into a rock. The drivers spring retooled itself to have a very negative arch. This lead to a very interesting ride out, rub the tires on every right turn, suspension unloads on all left turns.

The only picture i have of it is on the trailer. FYI don't just throw on some shackle relocates to see if 35s will clear, when its obvious your springs are near death. Later we found out the passenger side had a broken center pin.
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We were back to the trailer and loaded around 3. that gave us about 36 hours till we were scheduled to run Fordyce. Since we paid good money to do Seirra Trek we figured why not fix the cherokee in Reno. After several possible traffic violations we made it to 4 wheel parts just before closing. Lucky for me they had a 3.5 inch XJ Rubicon Express lift that a customer was late to pick up (by 2 months), the salesman was more than happy to sale me the leafs and u bolts. Shawn and i have been huge fans of Roadkil Youtube, so the only logical thing to do was fix our broke down junk in the parking lot that night.

First step was to remove the lug nuts, easy to say not easy to do, none came off with the impact. so i had to whip out the skinny wheel.
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Shawn started loosening bolts and it was looking like we would be to the hotel in no time. Wrong, the spring eye bolt broke on the driver side. A quick trip to Harbor freight for more cutoff wheels and an hour of grinding through the bushing later i found the other end of the bolt. A quick HOT burn with the welder and the bolt was free.

We hauled the Jeep with no rear tires to In-N-Out around 11 o'clock and we were by far the scariest looking people there. At circus circus (the only place with rooms because of Hot August Nights) all the open air spots were full so we had to drive our 7'2" truck and trailer through the 7'3" parking garage. Seeing all the hot rod guys watch us drag our Cb antenna on the roof and trailer on the speed bumps as we rolled coal up the ramps was priceless.

After a quick buffet breakfast and some games with the kids we decided to conquer the easy task of finding wheel studs. I figured les schwab would have a great selection and we found one next to an AutoZone. Slam dunk right, nope. If you are wondering the les schwab guy in Reno will have an aneurysm if you try and work on something in their parking lot. A quick trip to auto zone determined that they are near useless. So i called West Coast Differential and had a come-apart on the guy when he said stock wheel studs would work. After he politely put me on hold he agreed to call the axle manufacture and get some info. 30 minutes later he actually called back and said stock "should work" but if it doesn't try 99 dodge half-ton studs. AutoZone had two of those in stock, however a quick test fit determined the knurl was to long. I decided to call Summit Racing since they had a huge warehouse in Sparks, 2 minutes on the phone and the lady had a part number for me and the good news that they were in stock. They even worked.

A little more parking lot repair


Some Hot August Nights rides that are more my style, at Summit Racing.


On to Fordyce.
 
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rustyjeep21

rustyjeep21

Member
Onward to Fordyce, for Sierra Trek we set up camp at Meadow Lake that is basically at the end of Fordyce trail. The trail is roughly 12 miles, to get from camp to the trail head was roughly 50 miles 20 on dirt . We wanted to be in the front of the group and decided to gas up in Truckee on our way through. Since registration started at 6am this meant leaving camp before 3am. Our determination paid off and we were right on the tail of the trail leader. After a drivers meeting where we were told we would be lucky to get to camp by dark if everything went well, we were on our way.

These fellas were right behind me. Yeah your job sucks. There were 8 rangers and they took turns walking and driving.


Airing down and waiting to go.

Fordyce is flat out awesome, the obstacles are constant and tight. 4 dr JKs were scraping body panels, my cherokee got some new character and there was a full size bronco that closely resembled a crushed beer can by the last hill.


They had the water turned down but the crossings were still plenty deep, i could see how this may be a problem in high water years.





On the way home through Utah.

We did have to bypass winch hill 1, there was a broken jeep right in the squeeze. We had smooth sailing the rest of the way up. We would be past obstacles before the "spotter" could guide us through. We had conquered winch hill 5 by 2:30, that is supposedly a Sierra Trek record. That evening every one knew the "Idaho Guys" so we got some street cred in CA. We had to skip our second trail day and drive home since my younger son got sent to the hospital with walking pneumonia. We are already looking forward to going back. Ive got more pictures that i will add later (photo bucket hates me)

Overall carnage for the trip consisted of:
Cherokee- Axle shaft and leaf springs- RUBICON body damage- FORDYCE
YJ 7- Front leafs bent- RUBICON
Blue CJ 7-Broken front main leaf -FORDYCE
Red CJ 7- Tweaked leaf pack -FORDYCE
Stranger Danger Ranger- Blown out axle bushing, body damage -RUBICON and fried drive shaft U-joint- 25 miles from home (he drove there and back)
 
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R

Redx

New Member
Looks awesome. About how long did it take to complete the trail? It is on my bucket list, and I am hoping I can get my wife to join me on the trip, but that is a whole other story LOL.
 
rustyjeep21

rustyjeep21

Member
Redx said:
Looks awesome. About how long did it take to complete the trail? It is on my bucket list, and I am hoping I can get my wife to join me on the trip, but that is a whole other story LOL.
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You could run from one end to the other in a day with a couple of decent rigs. However it really is worth taking your time. We were on the trail for three days to run from Tahoe to loon lake and back. Next time I would like to take four days.
 
Bart

Bart

Registered User
Location
Arm Utah
Great start to the report. Looking forward to the rest, especially the Fordyce section with those rigs.
 
rustyjeep21

rustyjeep21

Member
Bart said:
Great start to the report. Looking forward to the rest, especially the Fordyce section with those rigs.
Click to expand...
Fordyce is a tough and awesome trail, the Stranger Danger Ranger didn't get to go, and the Dude Magnet stayed in camp. Ill work on getting the picture up in the next day or two.
 
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