Stories from the 'crawl

[2offroad]

Made it back home, night run weds 4 & 5 were washed out, thurs ran guardrail and schoolbus had a blast, fri ran slickrock more fun, sat ran down upper 2 more fun. in fact i think it illegal in 3 states to have the time i had at the crawl.

[Kudzu]

We made it home about 3 hours ago...Man was it a blast this year. Thanks to all to who came out this year and make plans to do it again next year same time same place....

[Ghost]

I'm home! Had a blast and Had an adventure on the way home! Will tell more later!

[dustyredneck]

i wished yaw wouldnt have gone home sunday morning cause i had to run lower to buy myself. well i guess run half way up then winch past the ledge due to a broke drive shaft. (yellow xj 381450sx)

[35xj]

Just got home, hope everybody else made it OK. Anybody wanna buy a chopped xj tub with a cage? I'll also have a bunch of springs etc for sale. dave.

[Ghost]

Did you talk to Kevin?

[35xj]

Yeah, I got a PM. Did you guy's see the jeep? What do you think the cage/tub is worth? I know the cage was not cheap. Help me out. dave

[Ghost]

It's all realative. Me personally I thought it was a nice cage. I know it had to be pricey but personally I'd not pay mor than $500.00... Don't mean to offend but I'm a cheap bastard!

[Kat]

it was a good weekend. we had a lot of carnage in our group overall, but fun non the less...


thank goodness for on-board welders.

it was nice meeting those of you who i did get to meet. :wave:

[yellowxj]

...went down upper 2 sunday morning with out damage, packed up, and was home by 2:30 am monday morning..hey dustyredneck I saw your yellow xj on the trailer heading out sunday afternoon and would have stayed to watch you if we'd known you were on lower 2...damn....the florida gang had a great time...didnt break anything...a few dents...

[Safari Ary]

Glad to see everyone is getting home safe. I made it home about 9pm last night making pretty good time the entire way, despite the two severe rain storms we passed through. I didn't fair to badly this weekend. I got my brakeline situation taken care of in Murphy. The front brakeline for an '84 Chevy 1-ton makes a great extended brakeline for the XJs.

My carnage list included

1 Mangled exhaust(my jeep now sounds like a f*&#@$ ricer with a fart can
exhaust)
1 Destroyed RE SS brakeline
1 Broken front shock mount
1 Broken rear bumper/tire carrier
2 Mangled front fenders
1 Slightly bullbar
1 Bent TRE(not end itself, not the tie-rod)

All in all not bad, and I'll be back to 100% and ready to run again in a few weeks. It was nice to meet everyone and put faces with names.

Ary

[JasonXJ]

Only 10 hours to get home!!!

Tires I won from NACFest were by the front door when I got home. Wife said the arrived on thursday.. figures. Damn!! 33" BFG MT measure 32.5 and my current 32" worn MTRs measure 30.5". The MTs look HUGE next to my current tires.

Front ring gear was really my only damage except bending the driver door a bit from the tree just before the ring broke. Oh, I also broke my antenna pulling into my garage at home if that counts as carnage.

Pictures coming soon!!!

[Kat]

Glad to see everyone is getting home safe. I made it home about 9pm last night making pretty good time the entire way, despite the two severe rain storms we passed through. I didn't fair to badly this weekend. I got my brakeline situation taken care of in Murphy. The front brakeline for an '84 Chevy 1-ton makes a great extended brakeline for the XJs.


Ary

it was nice meeting you and jennifer.

did you go up and through asheville - winston-greensboro-raleigh? i hit some pretty bad showers too.

[2offroad]

i say carnage counts till you unpack.

[Safari Ary]

it was nice meeting you and jennifer.

did you go up and through asheville - winston-greensboro-raleigh? i hit some pretty bad showers too.

Yup, up 74 to 40 and then up 85 once we hit Durham. The worst showers we hit were between Emporia and Franklin though. Couldn't see 10 yards in front of you and people were passing me at 75 :eek:

You going to camp jeep? I'm not planning to, although I might venture up for a day and see if i can find a way to sneak in :firedevil :D

Ary

[Kat]

You going to camp jeep? I'm not planning to, although I might venture up for a day and see if i can find a way to sneak in :firedevil :D

Ary

not planning on it but i live pretty close to oak ridge so let me know if you do. isn't adam a guide? you could ride with him?

[JnJ]

This thread sucks without pictures!

[yellowxj]

http://img49.exs.cx/img49/8149/tellico04naxja0013.jpg
Heres my first of a few bad lines on guardrail...
http://img49.exs.cx/img49/3433/tellico04naxja0009.jpg
as far as I got on one of the bad lines...front locker would have been handy
http://img49.exs.cx/img49/7955/tellico04naxja00042.jpg
and my uncomfortable adventure on the guardrail bypass....helicopter pad had a dozen rigs lined up so we missed that and rocketed down school bus so fast we missed the hard part????

[Safari Ary]

not planning on it but i live pretty close to oak ridge so let me know if you do. isn't adam a guide? you could ride with him?

Yeah, but I was kinda hoping to sneak my Jeep in too :D One of the guys that works with us is personal friends with the owners of Oak Ridge, so he might be able to get me in. I'll give ya a shout if I head up there.

Ary

[Kat]

and my uncomfortable adventure on the guardrail bypass....helicopter pad had a dozen rigs lined up so we missed that and rocketed down school bus so fast we missed the hard part????

did you break on guardrail? why the bypass?

[yellowxj]

nope didnt break but feared pushing harder than I was would result in a good bounce w/ roll or snapping my tiny axles...another xj on 33's with a winch went up with a few tugs of the winch...we both decided front lockers were a must for next year.
http://img35.exs.cx/img35/525/tellico04naxja0054.jpg
this was on upper 2 IIRC...I went down first and bounced off the wall a few times but dont think I did any new damage...we got the others down with out a scratch

[JnJ]

http://img49.exs.cx/img49/8149/tellico04naxja0013.jpg
Heres my first of a few bad lines on guardrail...
http://img49.exs.cx/img49/3433/tellico04naxja0009.jpg
as far as I got on one of the bad lines...front locker would have been handy
http://img49.exs.cx/img49/7955/tellico04naxja00042.jpg
and my uncomfortable adventure on the guardrail bypass....helicopter pad had a dozen rigs lined up so we missed that and rocketed down school bus so fast we missed the hard part????
Bypass on Guardrail? When was that done?

[Kat]

Bypass on Guardrail? When was that done?

awhile now, at least a year & a half. its gotten a little rougher too (the bypass) , i think the ATVers started it and it finally got wide enough for rigs.

they have fixed the bottom, so its not bad at all now...when we were there in March the bottom of GR was worse than the top...

i dont have any pics of the march trip online but here are some old pics of lower GR
http://homepage.mac.com/nicoleyates/PhotoAlbum61.html


yellowxj-

lockers are good, but with the wheelbase you should have been ok...the bf was running without his front ARB b/c he broke the superior earlier in the week & was running a stock shaft - he didn't have any problems - in fact he even backed down it and went up to the left (where the big ledges are) i was impressed...then again Krawlers make a difference.

[yellowxj]

truth may be that I was just a scared Fl. boy with a tippy rig and no people experienced with GR with us... :roflmao:

[35xj]

It was good to meet you guy's and put faces with the names. Ary, glad you made it home in one piece. The question is, will you guys still like me when the Xj is gone? It'l still have the heart of my XJ in it! dave

[2offroad]

The question is, will you guys still like me when the Xj is gone? dave
I'll still like you :loveu:

[Safari Ary]

It was good to meet you guy's and put faces with the names. Ary, glad you made it home in one piece. The question is, will you guys still like me when the Xj is gone? It'l still have the heart of my XJ in it! dave

Who said we liked you in the first place? :D

Safari "patiently awaiting pictures" Ary :D

[35xj]

Ary, as soon as I figure out how to resize pictures, i'll send em to you. We took 176, so we have some selection. dave

[Lee 94XJ]

Alright, here's my pictures. These are from Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately I missed Thursday's outing. Friday our group took trail 5 to trail 9 (slick rock) and back out 8, 4, and 5. Saturday we came down upper 2 and watched the crazies on lower 2 for a while. Then a few of us went up 6 to 4 and out 5. It was indeed a great time. Thanks especially to Heather and Kevin for all they did to make it happen.

Album 1 (http://community.webshots.com/album/162466140ORRdRC)

Album 2 (http://community.webshots.com/album/162466344CBFTed)

[Safari Ary]

Ary, as soon as I figure out how to resize pictures, i'll send em to you. We took 176, so we have some selection. dave

It's really easy to do in MSPaint, but you have to do it one at a time. Just open the image in paint, then click on the "image" part of the tool bar and somewhere obvious in there you can reduce the size. As for doing a bunch at one time, I don't know how to do that, although I'm sure there's a program for it. Anyway, take your time, I'm in no hurry. I haven't been this high off of 'wheelin in a long time, so the pictures coming in a couple days will just help prolong the buzz :D I'm ITCHIN to go 'wheelin now, hopefully I'll have the Jeep ready to go this weekend and can go somewhere the following weekend.

Ary

[yellowxj]

http://img22.exs.cx/img22/9408/michslickrock4.jpg
my wife had a great time and didnt add any new dents...did rub the rear tires a few times...gotta lift it an inch more and re work the bump stops

[mattk]

Great to see you guys again! That was the most fun I've had at an event in a while. Thanks to Heather and Kevin for making it all possible. Already looking foreward to next year.
mattk

[motorman]

I would have to agree with Matt, Kevin and Heather deserve a lot of credit for all the work and time they put in. Even with out a Jeep there I enjoyed it alot. Looking forward to next year as well.....might buy myself a set of shin guards before I come!

[2offroad]

my wife had a great time
She can't come back and drive anymore, she shamed most of us.
GIRL POWER

[2offroad]

hey guys, this is Mrs. 2offroad. Thought I would add my 2 cents worth. I want to thank Heather and Kevin for making me feel at home. They were wonderful hosts. It was great to put faces with all the names I hear Mark talk about all the time. Looking forward to meet everyone again real soon.

[philsxj]

Hey 2offroad is this you??? If so what trail is it??
http://www.geocities.com/philsxj/2offroad.txt

[2offroad]

yea thats the dragin' wagon, looks like upper 2.

[philsxj]

Impressive!!!!!! I've never been there but I hear that 2 (upper/lower) is pretty tough. Awesome!!!!!!!!!1

[yellowxj]

my buddy chris with the grey florida xj, swampers front, boggers rear, etc.. got home tuesday afternoon after blowing the engine in the rental RV on I75 in mid Ga. sometime monday morning....it took the RV co. 8 hours to get another RV to them...every hour they promised it would be there in another 20 min.... :firedevil: he didnt really mention the cost of renting the RV for 5 or 6 days but I believe it exceeded $1k....the one they sent as a replacement had front end shakes so bad he thought he'd have to stop driving that one too...funny huh?

[roXJeepr]

Dangiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!! I hate that I missed the Crawl this year and missed riding with yall. Looks like MOST everyone had a great time from the pics I've seen.
Oh well, hopefully I'll be ready by the Flog! Yall take care.

Dale

[2offroad]

come out anyway some body will have a seat open, missed you and bigun.

[88greenxj]

ok i got my new tail lights all hooked up saturday they look and work great.thanks again heather and kevin me and my family had a great time

[Ron S]

Well guys I figured out all the problems that need to be dealt with due to an awsome time at the Cherokee Crawl '04. 1.) rear control arm (broke and repaired on lower 2), 2.) rear driveshaft u-joint broke, 3.) rear trackbar bent from rear axle yoke, 4.) wristed control arm mount cracked at weld (ground too much weld off :doh: ), 5.) front upper control arm mount needs to be a solid mount to eliminate axle wrap, 6.) front driveshaft needs to be rebuilt and changed to straight u-joints instead of double cardan style, 7.) front trackbar heims need to be changed to something that will last. For the most part I'm really happy with the newest transformation my Cherokee has undergone.
I had a blast at this years event. I'd like to thank Heather and Kevin for doing a wonderfull job coordinating everything, markwnc for the assistance on lower 2, 2offroad for the winching duties and alternator testing, my man :worship: Matt for the bed and shelter to protect me from the :shiver: "kristalheathers" of the wild Tellico mountains, Ghost for the excitement, anyone I forgot please let me know so I can kick myself in the face.
Chill,
RonS

[2offroad]

the guys from Clemson 4wheeldrive, for droping their tools down lower 2.

[Kat]

here are some of the pics, my buddy chuck took these

the 3rd link belongs to someone who lost their film on the trail - if you reconize those rigs, please let them know their film has been found.

http://community.webshots.com/album/163233104awViJM
http://community.webshots.com/album/163225953dsuIgl
http://community.webshots.com/album/163240771yzdDrM

[Ron S]

Kicking as I type! Mucho thanks to my man from Clemson 4wheel drive for all the assistance (glad you found all your tools bro).
Chill,
Ron S