Thanksgiving In Moab (my storybook w/photos)

BlackSheep

baaaaaaaaaad to the bone
Supporting Member
I know there was a lot of people from RME down there this past weekend. I was lucky enough to meet up with a few. I drove down on Thursday morning, but was too beat to run a trail, so I took a nap, then over to Moab Brewery for the traditional thanksgiving dinner.

Friday morning, I met up with YellowBronco (locked EB loaded with his wife Tara and his two cool kids), Rick B (Fullsize Bronco), Klif01 (4 runner) and his buddy Thomas ('98 Tacoma on 33s). We decided on Metal masher, and Rick led the way. The weather was excellent, and our first stop was Rock chucker. I went first, and made it to the top with only a little jockeying while on the first part to get a better line. Once at the top, I realized I had done at least part of it with my e-brake on. I must have applied it just before my attempt, as I began to get out of the jeep, but the other group that was there told me to go ahead. They were sending someone around the back who had a winch.
YellowBronco was next, and had very little trouble with it.
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Next up was Klif. Ahh, but for a rear locker, he would have made it. He gave an excellent attempt, but had to back off after getting up on the first ledge.
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We hung out and had lunch, and chatted with the other group that was there. A bunch of good people, a husband and wife each driving their own rig. The wife was really fun to watch, as was her husband while he spotted her as they drove around the back side of rock chucker. Which is kind of fun by itself.

We headed out towards widowmaker, and had great views of the valley at the rim. As Rick predicted, widowmaker had a rather large puddle at the base, and that did make the obstacle significantly harder. Rick tried first, but his departure angle wouldn't allow him to do much more than get his front tires up the wall a little ways.
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I tried next, but had to back off after I realized I was a bit low on tranny fluid, and the tranny would slip when I got my front wheels up on the top.

Yellow bronco gave it a go, but ended up getting a little sideways two or three times. We realized how much that puddle was working against us at this obstacle. You had no choice but to drive right through it as you lined up for the wall. Yellowbronco backed off to give someone else a shot.

Klif01 came up, and gave a great effort. I think again, if he would have had a rear locker, he would have made it without any assistance. As it was, he made it far enough that with a little pull from 4 guys, he came right up and over.
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Once I got the tranny filled up, I decided to give it another go, but using the strap and those guys for a little protection. Three times (each after repositiong a little more to the left), I got a little too sideways, and thanks to those guys, didn't get anything more than a little air on the p-side front (no damage). Finally, after the third trip towards the side, I decided to take the strap, and Klif brought me right up.

Not to be outdone, Yellowbronco decided to give it another go with the strap as protection. He gave it a great effort, but again, wet tires on slickrock aren't a great combination. Finally, he got a bit sideways, and slightly wedged on the rock at the base, so I pulled him up and over.

The ride out was interesting, and directly into the sun. It became very difficult to see at times, but the day was simply excellent.

We had Pizza at The Poplar Place for dinner. Great pizza.

Saturday, I met up with Bryson (buggified Sami), Ilean (his comp rig), Ogre (newer Ford Ranger on 35s) and Cruiser (passenger/trail *****). We decided to go out and run the proving grounds. I had never seen them, so I was pretty interested in checking them out.

There was no trouble for anyone in the group on lower proving grounds.

Ogre:
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Ilean:
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BlackSheep:
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Didn't get any photos of Bryson on lower, cause he made the obstacles look too easy.

We headed over to middle PG, and this time, Bryson was leading, followed by Ilean, me, and ogre. We came through the first little off camber thing, and stopped for a minute to watch Bryson come up over the first major obstacle. About the time he made it up, we began to wonder what happened to ogre. He was stuck in 2wd in the sand on the other side of the off camber deal.

Turned out, that he blew his front driveshaft (the CV joint - not clear on exactly what happened, maybe Bryson or Ogre can chime in with exact carnage). Anyway, after about 15 minutes of troubleshooting, Bryson finally noticed the front drive line. We winched him up out of his stuck position, and he drove through the off camber obstacle in 2wd (actually 4w low, but without front drive). Ilean and I ran the obstacle, then we all had a great time watching Ogre come out the bypass. He actually made it a lot further than any of us expected, and he made it out on his own power.

Then it was over to the sand hill, where the carnage continued. Ogre jumped his rig and landed so hard, he caused several problems with his rig (and Cruiser got it on video!!) First, his d-side airbag deployed. If that wasn't enough, the entire body shifted forward on the frame enough for the front turnsignals to contact the heavy duty pre-runner bumper. Finally, he was now driving a truck with some serious alignment issues. The wheels were now toed out, and had some serious negative camber. It was still drivable though, so we decided to cruise over and watch Bryson and Ilean run upper PG.

Bryson was next in the carnage line when his engine started making a strange sound. We listed to it, and thought it may be a rod (or rods), so he was out. It was up to Ilean to show us the way on Upper PG.

Ilean lined up on the first obstacle, and pretty much walked it. However, since noone else got to see it, he backed down it and managed to snag his UROC approved kill switch on his driveline......after a few minutes of messing with it, we got it untangled and he gave it a go for the cameras this time.
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As he lined up to make that second attempt, we all heard a nice little pop, but didn't think too much of it. As he approached the second major obstacle, we realized that something was truly amiss. Someone mentioned t-case, someone else mentioned R&P, and as soon as he got on the gas at the second obstacle, we heard the pinion ratchet against the ring gear. That was the end of our day.
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(this is when we heard the R&P ratchet)

I towed Bryson's rig back to his trailer, then we called it a day. Fun while it lasted, but a rather short day with a lot of carnage.

thanks to everyone who I rode with this weekend. It was a great time.

the rest of the photos I took are here:
http://www.shutterfly.com/view/pictures.jsp?aid=67b0de21b33a9587a411

<edit>I may have to swap these photos over to imagestation, as apparantly you need to login to view them. I'll update later. </edit>
 

BlackSheep

baaaaaaaaaad to the bone
Supporting Member
too many photos in the last post....

Ilean and Bryson tried the final waterfall on lower PG, but neither of them was able to really get too far up the wall. However, I did have a chance to shoot a few photos of Bryson's attempt:

<edit> i have been corrected, these photos are from lower proving grounds</edit>
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RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
Sounds like a fun weekend, wish I was there. So it was the REAR axle, right? Finally busted that Toy axle. Silly Carl, toys are for kids. :p
 

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
RockMonkey said:
Sounds like a fun weekend, wish I was there. So it was the REAR axle, right? Finally busted that Toy axle. Silly Carl, toys are for kids. :p

Sure lasted a long time though! :D

Looks like a great trip guys. Hopefully I can make it next year. :(
 

jpest

Anti-Social Networking
Location
West Jordan Utah
Thanks for the trip report. Excellent Photos!
Smart move to take the strap on widow maker. That hill gets more and more difficult each year. Last time I attempted it I made it up, but not without breaking the rear r&p in the D44. :mad: :)
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
RockMonkey said:
Sounds like a fun weekend, wish I was there. So it was the REAR axle, right? Finally busted that Toy axle. Silly Carl, toys are for kids. :p


Yup, it finally gave up. It'll be cheap to fix though (read: free), so that's a bonus.
 

yellowbronco

Cuts Through Grease !!!
Location
Moab
Thanks Blacksheep for the nice pic of the old Bronco :) Apparently I need to name my rig "Ghetto" according to that group we met on Metal Masher. After I lost part of my exhaust on Widowmaker and called it ghetto, they started calling my "immaculate" EB that!! Anyway, MM was very fun, I met tons of RME'ers on the trail and at the motel, all in all very cool :cool:
 

yellowbronco

Cuts Through Grease !!!
Location
Moab
HEY, where did Timmy's T-day trip report go??? :confused: I saw it last night and was going to post this morning and it was gone. :confused:
 

Klif01

Do I bother you?
Location
Denver, CO
yellowbronco said:
HEY, where did Timmy's T-day trip report go??? :confused: I saw it last night and was going to post this morning and it was gone. :confused:

My bad, I saw his was here so I just deleted it. I'm gonna try to get thomas to join rme so he can post all his pictures..he has a few good ones, and some really beautiful ones as well. Gotta love the snow in moab. Makes everything red stand out even more!!
 

bryson

RME Resident Ninja
Supporting Member
Location
West Jordan
Awesome trip...Found out last night that the flywheel on the sami is falling off! :eek: Have no idea how that happened...loctite on the bolts, and torqued to spec...haven't pulled it apart to see if anything is broken though.

Thanks to Blacksheep for the pics and the sweet deal on the room, and thanks to everyone there for making it such a fun trip. :D
 

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
bryson said:
Awesome trip...Found out last night that the flywheel on the sami is falling off! :eek: Have no idea how that happened...loctite on the bolts, and torqued to spec...haven't pulled it apart to see if anything is broken though.

Thanks to Blacksheep for the pics and the sweet deal on the room, and thanks to everyone there for making it such a fun trip. :D
So, was that the only problem with your motor, or is there more?
 

bryson

RME Resident Ninja
Supporting Member
Location
West Jordan
RockMonkey said:
So, was that the only problem with your motor, or is there more?
So far that is all I have found...It actually ran really, really well, with a bunch more power! :D

And no more leaks!
 

bryson

RME Resident Ninja
Supporting Member
Location
West Jordan
Brett said:
Wish that I had had the extra money to ride down with someone. Next year maybe :mad:
Extra money??? By this time next year you will be head of the Bretty Bunch......i.e. lots of kids... :p :rofl:

Kids cost money man...you should check out this website for some ideas...

www.overlyfertilefriends.com

Damn I am funny. :D :bryson:
 
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yellowbronco

Cuts Through Grease !!!
Location
Moab
Klif01 said:
My bad, I saw his was here so I just deleted it. I'm gonna try to get thomas to join rme so he can post all his pictures..he has a few good ones, and some really beautiful ones as well. Gotta love the snow in moab. Makes everything red stand out even more!!
Hey, no worries. :cool: I wonder if Toychris would post those pics again, since I only briefly saw them last night. How was Upper Hell? I'll bet there was a lot of snow. We ended up going up to Hidden Canyon, and I think we may have inadvertantly found the Pickle Trail on the way. Where did you say it was exactly?
 

Klif01

Do I bother you?
Location
Denver, CO
yellowbronco said:
Hey, no worries. :cool: I wonder if Toychris would post those pics again, since I only briefly saw them last night. How was Upper Hell? I'll bet there was a lot of snow. We ended up going up to Hidden Canyon, and I think we may have inadvertantly found the Pickle Trail on the way. Where did you say it was exactly?

I didn't realise he had his pictures posted on there, otherwise I wouldn't have deleted it! The pickle trail. if you are heading out of town, the road on your left BEFORE you get to the airport, its a dirt on, you go down that one for a while, take the first left, then I believe its the third right, it goes up the hill, then starts going back down into a canyon, you pass some really big trees and some campsites and follow that canyon more till it turns into a wash, then the pickle starts as a side canyon!
They aparently didn't even attempt because out there they said there was over a foot of snow!!! So they left, by the time we got back to the hotel and checked out, they were all gone, so we didn't see the group till they passed me on the way back to slc, I definitely drive slow, as many of you would know when you passed my slow ass!
 

Rick B

S.E. Utah Native
Location
Moab
I enjoyed the trip(s) very much. Found some damage to my front bumper today when I washed all the mud off, I think I did it messing around up on Gold Bar Rim Saturday. Needless to say I wasn't having anything to do with the snow on Sunday. I see the rest of you went out & played in it some though.

Your spare tire was pretty ghetto fabbed Yellowbronco, the exhaust was as well. But it works, that's all that really matters. Let me know your email address & I'll send the family photo to you. BTW I've learned a little about the arches we saw Saturday afternoon, I have names for the 3 bigger ones. Also the canyon did end just around the corner from where we were standing at the end of the road. Now I just need to find time to add more of that area to my explorations.

I have a few photos of everyone else too. If anyone wants them PM me with email address, I'm on a dialup connection though so you may get them sent 2 or 3 at a time in several emails over a couple of days. Thanks for posting the photo of me on widowmaker Black Sheep. I've been trying to get one of me on it all year (it's a little too difficult for me to get out & take one myself). Hopefully by next spring I'll have improved my departure angle enough to get the rear tires back on the ground & get the Bronco up that. But by then the hole may be a lot deeper. :)
 

GETBENT

CRASH
Location
UTAH
Klif01 said:
I didn't realise he had his pictures posted on there, otherwise I wouldn't have deleted it! The pickle trail. if you are heading out of town, the road on your left BEFORE you get to the airport, its a dirt on, you go down that one for a while, take the first left, then I believe its the third right, it goes up the hill, then starts going back down into a canyon, you pass some really big trees and some campsites and follow that canyon more till it turns into a wash, then the pickle starts as a side canyon!
They aparently didn't even attempt because out there they said there was over a foot of snow!!! So they left, by the time we got back to the hotel and checked out, they were all gone, so we didn't see the group till they passed me on the way back to slc, I definitely drive slow, as many of you would know when you passed my slow ass!


Hey Tim, sorry if we kind of ditched you guys, I didn't know how to get a hold of you to tell you we weren't going to run Upper. I need to get you cell #. Is your 4 Runner Carburated or do you just like to drive that slow? Glad you and Thomas made it back safe, we'll have to go again, it was fun
 

Klif01

Do I bother you?
Location
Denver, CO
GETBENT said:
Hey Tim, sorry if we kind of ditched you guys, I didn't know how to get a hold of you to tell you we weren't going to run Upper. I need to get you cell #. Is your 4 Runner Carburated or do you just like to drive that slow? Glad you and Thomas made it back safe, we'll have to go again, it was fun


Well, It must be my gearing, combo of the EB crawler camshaft and probably worn out rings that help me go so slow!

I have a powerband of like 600 - 3100ish then after that there is nothing, and at 70 on the speedometer about 65ish actually, I am at 3100 RPMS then 4th gear is like 3100 at 55 so there was no real happy medium I could hit on most of those uphills!

No its not carburated...only the top end is rebuilt though!

BTW my cell didn't work down there, and I broke my cb antena so I couldn't really talk to anyone on that. Its ok, we talked to the guy with the turbo runner and he said you guys already headed out, so we just decided to check out and make our way (slowly) home!
 
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