- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I got a invite to join @Bart on Coyote for his test run after all the changes to his killer Jeep, along for the trip was Matt @UPNO4 in his clean & capable LJ , Jeff @drtsqrl in his Sami Buggy, Jared in a killer YJ and Chris in a well built JLU on 40's. I ran the trail 2 weeks earlier and was looking forward to a 2nd chance to play around on it with the TJ.
We started in and were making good progress, with Coyote being Coyote... rocks rolling around underneath, axles getting hung up and having to reposition. The JLU was long & wide, needing some assistance here & there along the way.
We opted for the hard line to the right early on in the trail ( Cactus Canyon? ) and it proved challenging. I started out taking the far right and getting really tippy, but the line worked... then at the top, went far left and got tippy again, but didn't get hung up.
At one point on one of the tight squeezes, the rocks push you into a large boulder on the drivers side and with the placement of rocks as you exit, it was nearly impossible to avoid. A couple guys were helping the JLU thru, but the rear end got pushed into the boulder and the taillight was removed and the corner sheetmetal and flares took some damage.
Everyone cruised thru some of the tighter obstacles for the most part, then we got to the Z Turn. Just getting in to the obstacle was challenging, some big boulders right in the center of the trail, smaller ones placed right where they'd hang you up and sand/dirt in the bottom of the wash creating little traction when you got hung up. The JLU opted to wisely take the bypass, but even that was a challenge and the winch was deployed to pull it up and over the large rocks. The rest of the group tackled the Z Turn one at a time, some using a front dig and others simply driving thru, taking a backup, etc. Matt was ahead of me and ended up stopped just as he excited, so I headed in and ended up parked damn near underneath him. It was a funny sight, the roof of my TJ was about the same height as the bottom of his tires!
We noticed the JLU was having some steering issues, the track bar bracket is connected to the hydro assist at the axle and it was starting to tear the bracket off, pushing the track bar into the triple bypass shock shaft.
A few more challenges, then we reached the top and headed down... it was pretty uneventful, a little spotting here & there and we we're off the trail by 12:30! Matt ended up towing Chris' JLU back to town and the truck and trailer Chris used to haul the JLU to Moab, the track bar bracket didn't come apart fortunately so back for repairs!
It was great to wheel with all you guys, it's been YEARS since I've been on the trail with Jeff... and a long time since I've wheeled a hard trail with the rest of the group. It was a great day!!
We started in and were making good progress, with Coyote being Coyote... rocks rolling around underneath, axles getting hung up and having to reposition. The JLU was long & wide, needing some assistance here & there along the way.
We opted for the hard line to the right early on in the trail ( Cactus Canyon? ) and it proved challenging. I started out taking the far right and getting really tippy, but the line worked... then at the top, went far left and got tippy again, but didn't get hung up.
At one point on one of the tight squeezes, the rocks push you into a large boulder on the drivers side and with the placement of rocks as you exit, it was nearly impossible to avoid. A couple guys were helping the JLU thru, but the rear end got pushed into the boulder and the taillight was removed and the corner sheetmetal and flares took some damage.
Everyone cruised thru some of the tighter obstacles for the most part, then we got to the Z Turn. Just getting in to the obstacle was challenging, some big boulders right in the center of the trail, smaller ones placed right where they'd hang you up and sand/dirt in the bottom of the wash creating little traction when you got hung up. The JLU opted to wisely take the bypass, but even that was a challenge and the winch was deployed to pull it up and over the large rocks. The rest of the group tackled the Z Turn one at a time, some using a front dig and others simply driving thru, taking a backup, etc. Matt was ahead of me and ended up stopped just as he excited, so I headed in and ended up parked damn near underneath him. It was a funny sight, the roof of my TJ was about the same height as the bottom of his tires!
We noticed the JLU was having some steering issues, the track bar bracket is connected to the hydro assist at the axle and it was starting to tear the bracket off, pushing the track bar into the triple bypass shock shaft.
A few more challenges, then we reached the top and headed down... it was pretty uneventful, a little spotting here & there and we we're off the trail by 12:30! Matt ended up towing Chris' JLU back to town and the truck and trailer Chris used to haul the JLU to Moab, the track bar bracket didn't come apart fortunately so back for repairs!
It was great to wheel with all you guys, it's been YEARS since I've been on the trail with Jeff... and a long time since I've wheeled a hard trail with the rest of the group. It was a great day!!
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