Moab EJS 2006 Report & Pics

[redrock_4x4]

Moab EJS 2006

Moab was fun as always. This year the whether was really nice for Easter which was unexpected, seeing as the weather in Salt Lake had been really poor for several weeks leading up to this trip. When I left Moab to come home on Sunday it was actually mid to high 70’s, and Monday morning it was snowing in Salt Lake. Go figure.

Initially I was hoping to go for the whole week, but my Jeep took a lot longer than expected with all the last minute mods going on so we got into town on Wednesday.

Thursday we dropped by the vendors show for a bit and then ran Hell Revenge. Good fun and we actually ran into the guys from NBC sports out there. Of course they had to interview the ladies in our group . Our mechanic Frank also got into a lengthy conversation with the camera guys which turned into a fairly lengthy interview. Hopefully it makes it to air as he did a great job! I believe they said to expect this on air either May 14th or May 16th.

Pics from Thursday:

Here’s the Jeep / NBC Crew and our women :

Trail shots:

My girlfriend’s learning how to drive, watch out!

Continued...

 

[redrock_4x4]

Friday we went to the vendor’s show for a bit longer and it was nice to put some faces to names. It was also cool to see the new Rock N Lock demo. Although it wasn’t functional, it looks really nice. I’m glad to see this concept will be brought to market at a little lower price point too; I know we’ll be running one on my girlfriends TJ and I may even switch to one on mine. Steve at Full Traction seems to be a pretty good guy too, it was nice to sit down and chat with him for awhile.

After the show we headed out to Metal Masher, but there were cops on ATV’s at the turn off towards Gemini Bridges and they appeared to be blocking the trail. There was already a decent traffic jam waiting to get through, and we heard a few other people talking to them complaining the trail was jammed up and they didn’t recommend anyone go up there so we decided to do Gold Bar Rim. That was fun for me, as there are a few little ledges and stuff for me to play around on mainly before the turn to Rusty Nail. My buddy / new employee Chris broke his white TJ at the top of the overlook just before we were turning around to come back down. It was an interesting failure, as he was hopping a bit on a pretty decent ledge when we heard a loud boom. To me it sounded like it came from the Dana 35, but his rear drive shaft blew apart at the CV joint and fell to the ground so we figured that’s all it was. He was able to make it all the way back out in front wheel drive except for one climb.

The next morning we went to Tom Wood’s to get his driveshaft repaired with a new CV assembly and once we bolted it back up and his 35 started popping horribly. We pulled the diff cover and the spider gears were completely blown up, with huge chunks floating around in there. His Jeep was done for this trip. That’s what you get for wheeling an open Dana 35 w/ 35” tires. It took a lot to break it though, he was hopping pretty good. I was also glad to see the shafts didn’t go first, which I figured would be pretty hard to do w/o a locker.

Thanks to Tom Wood’s for getting the shaft repaired so quickly. They had it done in a couple of hours, and it really was very cheap. I’m sad to hear their shop in Moab is closing; it’s really nice they’re down there to help out. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Moab Powertrain, it is run by Tom Wood’s and they will basically give you a space to work on your vehicle and lend you the tools if you break. They don’t make money off that portion of the business; it’s more of a good will thing than anything. They do sell parts obviously and they can make up a drive shaft, or even custom axle shafts in the shop. It was a really nice thing they were doing. Tom is really a great guy!

Pics from Friday:

 

[redrock_4x4]

More pics from Friday:

BOOM!

She didn’t want to drive this one but she made it!

Saturday we headed out to Fins N Things and my clutch went out shortly after we started the trail. That threw me for a loop; of all the things I thought could fail the clutch wasn’t one of them. I have 25k miles on my Jeep and I’ve never once smoked the clutch. I never really ride it or anything off road. I was rolling down a small obstacle with the clutch in, and once I stopped on the sand road below I let the clutch out in 1st and I couldn’t move. It was just gone. All we can assume, is the turbo took its toll on the clutch long before this trip. I tend to be a fairly aggressive driver too which probably doesn’t help . Anyhow I got towed back to town and loaded up on the trailer just fine.

Broken

All in all it was a very easy trip this time, as we had several mildly built Jeep’s in our group. It was pretty fun for me to go do the easy trails again and to help others out, but I really would have liked to get a run in on Pritchett or Rusty Nail while I was there . I’m hoping to make the JU trip, it will be a last minute call for us but if I get my clutch in this week I should be there.

I must say with all the work we’ve done recently my Jeep is a new animal once again. The RE 3 link has changed the way the Jeep climbs and flexes quite a bit IMO. There just seems to be more weight up front while climbing, perhaps that’s due to an increase in Anti Squat or it’s just a feel issue for me, but the Jeep climbs better. That may also have a lot to do with the RE Monotube shocks I went to before this trip. I had run Doetsch Tech for years and never really had a complaint. The RE Monotubes are hands down a far better shock. I couldn’t believe how much better they drove on road and off. To put things into perspective, after mounting my tires they were at 35 psi, and my Jeep still drove softer on road over potholes and such than with the DT3’s and the tires at 23 psi! Off road rock crawling I definitely had more traction than in the past, but that’s probably due to a combination of the shocks and the 3 link.

Only downside is I noticed the rear end wants to sway just a bit more than before, and it felt a bit lighter when off camber. It didn’t prove to be an issue, as I was able to carry my driver’s side tire off the ground very predictably in a few spots, so I think mainly it’s an issue of feel. Perhaps a stiffer rear sway bar, or an Anti Rock, would be nice to add out back though. The nice thing about the increased sway in the rear is that the rear suspension wants to flex easier. I’m sure the sway isn’t a problem, it’s just a side effect of eliminating the track bar and the bind associated and I’ll get used to it.

The 35” MT/R’s are awesome! I don’t miss my 36’s one bit, and it’s nice to be back to the MT/R’s. I’ve run them before but I just don’t recall them being this good. They stick like crazy on the rocks, they just plain work. The Champion bead locks also allowed me to air down a little more with the MT/R’s than I had in the past. I tried 6 psi one day and they were incredibly sticky but the sidewall would also roll quite a bit when turning. I tried 8 the next day, and ended up liking 7 the best.

The 35”s combined with the new changes allowed me to make a few obstacles I previously was only able to make on 36’s, which made me happy as I thought I’d be losing a lot by going back to 35’s. It’s nice not have to worry about breaking anymore, I definitely drive the Jeep more aggressively w/ 35”s.

The only other really functional mod was the Edge Trail Jammer kit, which I went to after having a turbo on my Jeep. The turbo was removed for a # of reasons which I don’t wish to get into on this thread, but to sum things up business factors played a huge role in my decision to remove their kit. If anyone is interested I am selling my turbo and I’ll be glad to fill you in on the whole story if you shoot me a PM or an email.

With that said I really thought I’d be disappointed going back to the stock engine after having the turbo but the Edge kit really does do a little bit. It gave me what I was after. My Jeep isn’t as fast as it was by any means, but it’s not stock either. I’m really happy with the Edge kit.

I think it’s finally safe to say my Jeep is pretty much done. Other than maintenance, I can’t see us making any major changes in the future. The suspension, drive train, tires, cage, body armor, etc are all set. I may do a stroker in the future, and there are some little things here and there, but it shouldn’t be down for months at a time anymore. I’ve toyed around with it enough to know I really appreciate having it reliable, and that’s where I’m keeping it. I can also hop in and drive it to Moab for a week now, and drive it back home or just run around town if I want in it, which is a nice feeling. It’s no longer a trailer queen if I don’t want it to be. Besides I’ve decided I’d like to build a buggy of some sort next for the really fun stuff :redgrin:

Enjoy the pics! Here’s a link to all of them. I will have more up towards the end of the week as well:

http://www.redrock4x4.com/gallery/moab_ejs_06/

 

[RedRockUT]

Sweet pics!

 

[Cherokeester]

Nice pics and report as well. Thanks a lot for sharing!

 

[Greg]

Excellent EJS report! Tom Woods always taked care of his customers, that's cool you had so little down-time thanks to Tom.