Farmington NM - Maiden Voyage (Black Friday)

[benjy]

For Thanksgiving vacation, Kami and I loaded up the trailer and headed out for our Jeep's maiden voyage. We had this trip planned with yellowbronco and broncomama for a few months. I wanted to have it finished a week prior to this trip so we could run her out to little moab for a quick shakedown (deep inside I always knew that wasn't going to happen). I ended up spending black friday at carquest picking up some last minute parts for the Jeep and the tow rig (got there right as the doors opened at 7:30 ) Then we loaded up the families to head down to Farmington.

The cool thing I found about Farmington was that the trails were pretty short, and we ran quite a few in 2 days. The pictures below were taken from both days, and the only trail names I remember are: Lower rim trail, Arch trail, Rjs, Waterfall trail, and the Anasazi Refigerator.

 

[benjy]

 

[benjy]

The only carnage was on an obstacle called the Anasazi icebox (IIRC). It is basically an intersection of 2 cliffs, with a massive void between them, seen here as I was getting lined up.

And here you can see, my back end should have been a few feet to the driver's side.

The passenger rear dragged the front end to the right, which got me in a bad spot on the obstacle, forcing me to back down.

When backing down, the front driver side ended up on the other side of the crack, and flopped us on the passenger side. Hindsight is 20/20

I was slightly disappointed that we got body damage so quick, before it was even finished, but... c'est la vie

 

[benjy]

We only had a few minor issues, all of which we were able to work around. First was an issue with a leaky pinion seal on the front end (installation error – my bad). This caused some gear oil leakage throughout the first day. While repairing the seal on Saturday morning, I noticed a serious issue with the passenger side axle end lower control arm bracket. One side had only been tacked in. Again, my bad. I felt I combed through the rig pretty well, but obviously this was a huge oversight. After breaking the tack welds, the other end of the bracket retained the control arm while slowly bending out. This was a serious issue that I initially thought would bring an abrupt halt to our trip. Chris made some phone calls, and got the number for a local 4x4 shop in Farmington. We ended up hooking up with Shane at Off Again 4x4, and he dropped everything he was doing and torqued down the pinion nut, and fully welded the control arm bracket. I owe Shane big time, he saved our trip!!! The other two issues were a coolant overflow leak, and the back tires rubbing the tub at full stuff. Neither of which were major enough to address immediately.

It was a great experience for both of us to get the jeep back on the trail. It sure is nice having such a supportive spouse :greg:

 

[benjy]

And here are a couple videos.

[YOUTUBE]ymHyu4RNAs4[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]ORQqm7S0MaE[/YOUTUBE]

 

[chadschoon]

Looks good man. Good work. Way to get that roll out of the way so soon

 

[Badbuggy]

Looks great. And a fun time too.

 

[Maddoggie1]

You're not the only one that owes Shane, we get out there every year from Tenn. and always stop by to say hi to Shane.
Matter of fact there is alot of good people in Farmington.

 

[jevyguy]

Awesome!!! So where do the dogs ride now?

Glad your trip didn't come grinding to a hault after the lower control arm issue.

 

[Bart]

The rig looks like it worked well and you've got to expect those little problems after such an intensive build. Congrats. You guys are making me miss my buggy.

 

[ChestonScout]

Looks great!

 

[benjy]

Awesome!!! So where do the dogs ride now?

Glad your trip didn't come grinding to a hault after the lower control arm issue.

There is enough room between the front seats and the fuel cell, but they slide all over the place. I'm trying to figure out something different to do. I may end up moving the fuel cell behind the seats so we can still use the tailgate. Not sure at this point. And... Rainey is getting so old I doubt she'll be coming with us much longer.

The rig looks like it worked well and you've got to expect those little problems after such an intensive build. Congrats. You guys are making me miss my buggy.

There's only one way to fix that Bart

 

[Herzog]

Very cool Ben! Looks like you both had an awesome time. Look like it works very well.

 

[4554x4]

Nice job!

Looks like you can compete at WEROCK instead of Judge now!

 

[benjy]

Looks like you can compete at WEROCK instead of Judge now!

I'll shoot big rich an email and see if he'll let me compete in mod stock... we're practically still a full bodied TJ 112" WB would be tons of fun on those courses

 

[YOUKNOW]

Looks good! I like what you have done! I'll send my TJ right over.

 

[BroncoMama]

Ben and Kamilie--I salute you!! Not only did Kami give up having a husband since August, but they both took a really bad situation, turned it around, and built a kick ass rig. That thing performed flawlessly! Ben did an amazing job building her and all those late nights in the garage more than paid themselves off last weekend.


Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.....

 

[benjy]

Thanks Tara! I only went through half of the pics from the weekend


I also didnt post pics of LJ, she performed flawlessly as well :greg:

 

[sunshine]

Cool build. I hope that my re-build comes out half as good. I have followed you thread for a while and hope I can stay as focused on it as you and Kami. Hope to see you on the trail.

 

[rholbrook]

What, no fishing pictures? Your that close to the San Juan and you never sneaked out for a few minutes? Did you eat at Rubio's? I love the Farmington area.