Moab pics from the Washington crew

Here's some of mine. If you have some, post up!

Getting ready to go the day before. Just finished building some tube doors at my friend Devin's shop.


On the road Monday morning after a staying at a sketchy Motel 6 in south SLC. Heading into the canyon east of Provo.


Somewhere between Price and Moab. Still a couple hours to go.


You know you're getting close when you see red rock. We're dropping into the valley just before crossing over the Colorado river and into Moab. Arches National park is to the left.


Home sweet home. Cabins 8, 9, and 10 were the Washington headquarters for Moab '08

Disclaimer: The rest of my pictures are mostly on the trail. For some reason, its much less intimidating in pictures than really being there. Everything seems much steeper and crazy in person.

We were unpacked and ready to do something Monday afternoon, so Matt lead a trip up Moab rim to watch the sunset. My first encounter with slickrock, and cliffs that drop off to a sudden and sure death was a little intimidating, but exhilarating at the same time. You also have to concentrate on picking your line because the scenery is so distracting and beautiful.


Unfortunately, these are some of the few photos I got of Doug's(Fubar) rig the whole week. A Charlie Foxtrot of misdiagnosed transfercase problems left him without a ride most of the week.





The group moving along.


Hans covering his now beardless amish chin as he drives over this obstacle.





"I can see my house from here". Looking down into Moab.


Arches National park as seen from Moab rim trail.


Sunset on Monday.

Looks good Jeremy! I really wish I could have gone...

-Alex

Tuesday.

Matt, Doug, Michael, and Devin and I, ran "Hells Revenge" with a group of about 16 other Naxja members.

"Hells Gate".





After the "Hot tubs" we moved on to "Escalator".

Matt taking a little rest on his side in the hole half way up Esclator. You can barely climb up this hill on your feet, its incredibly steep. After a couple attempts, he got the right line and drove through it.


I tried it a couple times and had to get winched out of the hole. Michael made it look easy on his first try, and Doug's T-case pooped out on him right after he cleared the hole, and rolled back in. He had to be winched out.

Great shots. Maybe a summer trip will come up sometime, that way I dont have to worry about school and can go .

-Lyle

OD-XJ said:

Hans covering his now beardless amish chin as he drives over this obstacle.

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I love that pic Jeremy. I will have to get you to email it to me.

We also ran "Potato Salad Hill" after Hell's revenge. I don't have any pictures of this because I was too busy breaking my Jeep. It doesn't look bad, but there isn't much traction there due to loose rocks and sand and the spacing of the ledges make it hard to crawl up. Applying some throttle at the right moment was the trick, but I had some horrible wheel hop, and backed off the throttle. This led to sliding all the way to the bottom of the hill. Sliding down a 50 degree slope with no control over your vehicle was terrifying! After doing that twice and not peeing my pants, I was determined to conquer this obstacle. So I hit the top ledge a little harder and exploded my rear U-joint and yoke. More carnage was found later back at camp, but more on that later. Fter removing the rear D shaft, and with Matt's jeep as an anchor, I winched up the last ledge. As an added kick in the crotch, Michael again made an obstacle look easy and gingerly crawled his was to the top. Damn automatics! Embarrassed, I drove back to camp in front wheel drive. I was able to pick-up a u-joint in town on the way back to camp.

While under the Jeep to repair the drive shaft, I noticed my rear springs were bent in an S shape. Closer inspection revealed a cracked main leaf on the drivers side. I thought I was done for the next day, but another Naxja member in camp happened to have a spare set of springs he wanted to sell about an hour away at his condo. I cannot remember his name, but if he reads this, I am extremely grateful to him! Fifty bucks later, I was able to replace the leaf packs that night with Devin's help, a few beers, and encouragement from the NW crew. I also noticed the u-joint yoke on my rear axle had lost an ear the holds the joint centered. Determined to wheel the next day, Andy(porchpuppy) from the Cali group hooked me up with a tack weld to hold the joint in. Thanks Andy! I then pumped more grease in to help it live longer.

XJourney said:

I love that pic Jeremy. I will have to get you to email it to me.

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Sure. I have another one of you in the same spot holding your "Amish bicep" out the window.

Wednesday's Pritchet Canyon run.

Wayne leading are group up the first obstacle. We had to wait here for about an hour watching a couple 'Yota guys fail at several attempts to winch up a truggy.


Me getting stupid.


Devin gittin' it on the rock pile obstacle.


Maybe he broke my second pair of springs?


End of the trail.


Also the end of another set of springs that I turned into esses, and another rear ujoint died. I pulled into camp riding on my bump stops and a chirping joint. It was late when we got back, and relaxing and having a beer sounded better than another wrenchfest in the dark. So we waited until the next morning to tear the Jeep apart. We talked to Steve at Moab 4x4 Outpost about our dilemma, and he offered to let us take some old wrangler leaf packs out of the scrap pile behind his shop. We also grabbed some full size leafs that we later used on the top of our "new" packs to help fight axle wrap. After buying a few tools and a grinder, we got started building our third set of leaf springs. Devin was extremely helpful, and basically built the last set of springs by himself while I fixed the driveshaft again, and replaced the pinion yoke.

Devin fine tuning the anti-wrap leaf.


By the end of the day we were running again, and took it to Moab 4x4 outpost to have the front spring clamps welded closed. they were too short, and we were afraid that they my spread apart, so Eric at M4O welded a short piece of strap across the top of the clamps


Sitting in M4O's shop. Very nice facility. besides the mechanical shop, they also have full fabrication area.


We never had any issues with our "heavy-duty" bastard pack for the rest of the week. Unfortunately we missed out on the Big Dog run at area BFE on Thursday, but will of course read the article about it in CRAWL magazine.

Those lower quarter panel guards look pretty good.

-Alex

Bruno™;244081452 said:

Great shots. Maybe a summer trip will come up sometime, that way I dont have to worry about school and can go .

-Lyle

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Believe me...it's HOT in the summer. So hot that there's almost no one in town. But I believe there is a senior year summer road trip in order? :dunno: I know I plan on one.

I'm loving these Moab shots though.
~Scott

Senior year summer trip? Come on guys.... MEXICO!

-Alex

Friday we ran Metal Masher. It was mostly very scenic, but there were a few challenging obstacles.



Pete Trasborg from JP taking some shots of Michael's Jeep. Shhh....Don't tell Matt




Some of the NW crew and Wayne(WayneXJ) on the edge of a cliff.


More scenery. Its a loooonngg way to the bottom.






Highway 191 at the bottom. My hat is down there somewhere.

The last difficult obstacle on the Metal Masher trail was "Widow Maker". Basically a 10 foot vertical wall, it can be a challenge. Wayne was the first to try and broke on his first attempt when he stayed in the throttle a little too long. He blew up his rear CV joint and the short side front axle.

Michael and I giving it a try. I was close to making it a couple times, but we both needed a tug from a couple guys on top with a strap to our bumpers, to climb our way up.





On Saturday, just Matt, Doug, and Devin and I ran Kane creek. While Doug's Jeep was at M4O, the owner Steve loaned Doug his personal Jeep, a nicely modified YJ. We had a great time and enjoyed more spectacular scenery.



-Jeremy

Ba-Riedo said:

Senior year summer trip? Come on guys.... MEXICO!

-Alex

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You need to drink to enjoy Mexico...and neither Lyle or I drink. :skull1:

~Scott

Muddy Beast said:

You need to drink to enjoy Mexico...and neither Lyle or I drink. :skull1:

~Scott

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Doesn't matter your lega.....or ya i forgot, your underage!:laugh::laugh::laugh:


Keil

If you guys want to have a high school girl talk about drinking, start your own thread.

Seriously.

Great pictures! Looks like yall had a blast!

I was not implying that you need to drink in mexico to have fun, the beaches there are great and you can get quads and do alot of fun stuff...

-Alex

Do you have any pics of the broken parts Jermey??

Keil