Moab trip report July 16th

tweakeyjeep

Soccer Mom
Location
Sandy
Well...

I left pretty late on the night of the 16th. We were waiting for my cousin to get ready and make it down. He had to change the diff fluid and ran short. By the time we got on the road it was midnight. It is a four hour drive and we pulled into our campsite at about 4 am.

The sun woke us up at about 10 (luckily we had some nice trees to block the sun) and we headed out for Cliffhanger. As we started to go down the first obstacle a man and his wife and kids took pictures of us, he had a '69 FJ-40, but was on vacation passing through, he hated driving his Buick in Moab rather than the Yota.

We headed to the creek crossing (A flash flood occured a few years back and flipped a Land Rover D90) it was completely dry. We crossed the dry creek bed and went up the very first "Main" obstacle on Cliffhanger. My Cousin Brandon was leading the pack in his 1993 Jeep YJ Wrangler with Dana 60's F&R with Eaton E-Lockers and 4.88 gears, sprung over with 37" Krawlers. He went right up it no problems...

I was up next. I had turned on my ARB and I was waiting for the stupid compressor as I was rolling up to the obstacle. My diff hit a rock and my jeep stalled. When I turned it back on my ARB wasn't working. We found it was the fuse for the compressor under the hood, changed it for a new one, and it worked fine. Engaged my locker, and I started going up the obstacle, one of my 35's slipped and it slid me into a rock on the driver side. All I have to say is good thing I have rock sliders!!! I scratched my rock slider from front to back!

Then my brother Steve went up it in his 1999 Jeep Cherokee XJ with an 8" Coil Conversion and Long Arms up front. He made it look like it was a speed bump.

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We then continued on the trail. It just kept going along with small minor obstacles everywhere. Finally we found a spot to play at. There was a crack that led down into a huge hole, almost like a crater. My cousin guided me into it. It was such a tight fit that Once the front tires started to climb out of it the back tires were barely getting into it.

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As I started to climb out, I blew another fuse for my locker. My CB stopped working and my stereo, and my ARB. This time it was one under the dash. The accessories which is a 20 amp fuse. I then changed it and tried to pull out of it again. I started to crab over sideways inside of this mini crater and again blew that same fuse. I then put in a 25 (ran out of 20's) and that seemed to solve the problem (temporarily of course until I can find the source of the short in the ARB Compressor) I then started to climb and got hung up on my U-Bolts... As I cranked the tire to gain more traction the tire folded so much that the tread was on top off the leaf spring and the sidewall was rubbing into my sway bar disconnects.

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I just kept on the gas and it finally popped the u-bolts loose from the rock and I got out of there. We then played in that area for a bit trying to go up and down different parts and lines.

We then headed on up the trail. There was a huge rock that I hit my diff on and it made me crab walk again as I tried getting over it. When I got over it, I then came up to another pretty tough obstacle. My cousin put me on the hard line and as I started climbing, I got really tippy. I just kept on the gas and it leveled out and we kept on going.

After that obstacle I heard a weird clanking sound coming from my jeep. I thought that a bolt holding a shock had come loose and the shock was wobbling a bit. Checked my shocks and they were fine, then I noticed this:

Don't do This! Especially with MonoLeafs! I seriously thought I was going to snap that leaf. It had bent the leaf and the shackle was flush up against the frame. I had to flex out my Jeep and we used a crowbar to level it down as I backed down slowly... Crazy! I then parked my jeep because I didn't want to put wear and tear on that leaf.

As we rode on we came up near the end where the biggest main obstacle is. My cousin first started to climb up and made it up the first part just fine. When he started to climb the second part he took it too wide.

Of course the rock tagged his fender!

Can you see his paint??

So after he made it up, my brother went up, no problems.

It was about 110 degrees and we were all dying of heat, so we headed back down. Picked up my Jeep, and started to get out of there. We were about halfway down when my brother called on the CB to stop. He could feel a lot of movement in the front axle. We found out both his upper and lower control arm mounts on the pass. side wear tearing from the axle.

So, we took it extremely slow all the way back. We had made it to the 3rd to last obstacle until the lower control arm had finally broken free from the axle.

So, we tied it up to the frame and hooked up my tow rope to him. He put it in 2wd and I assisted him up the remaining 3 obstacles. Now that was tough. I had my locker locked, and I would hold the brake while maintaining enough gas not to stall, but just enough clutch to keep some forward momentum... Sometimes I would get too much and start bouncing in place... We finally got him out of there, and when my cousin started to come up the last obstacle bounced really really hard, and broke the leaf spring mount on the front end (shackle reversal)

We took Brandon's Jeep to a shop and they fixed it in 30 min. We borrowed some ratchet straps from the shop. Tied the axle to the front bumper and drove it very very slowly to the shop. It is still down there getting fixed.

It was an awesome trip.

You all missed out!
 

Cody

Random Quote Generator
Supporting Member
Location
Gastown
That pic with him in front of his jeep is my new avatar on a different board! Thanks dude.

Cody
 
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pokeyYJ

Guest
Somehow I am not even surprised that Steve's lower control arm brackett broke, considering that I noticed it was bent last time we ran Rattlesnake.
 

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
I'd like to enter this post as evidence number 799346 that ARBs suck. Do you use your front shackles to attach a tow bar for flat towing your Jeep? If not, turn them around so the triangle points backwards and you won't be able to invert your shackles anymore.
Nice trip report.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
RockMonkey said:
I'd like to enter this post as evidence number 799346 that ARBs suck...

Very sketchy evidence... and again proves my point "Installer Error"...

I blew another fuse for my locker. My CB stopped working and my stereo, and my ARB. This time it was one under the dash. The accessories which is a 20 amp fuse.

There is ZERO reason to run the ARB compressor through two fuses, the OEM 30 Amp under the hood, and then another 20 (then 25) Amp under the dash. Too much resistance (redundant fuses) as well as too much draw (other items on the same fuse ie: CB & Radio which I'm sure were in use). The main ARB power wire (red) should hook directly to the battery, just as their instructions indicate.

The ARB system utilizes a relay (the hole purpose of the relay is to prevent your from having to wire it the way you did, you just set the automotive engineering field back 30 years, before the advent of the relay)... with the switching source a 12V ignition wire... so we the redundant fuse, which is most likely the source of the failure?

:D My ARB works great... always has... zero complaints out of ALL my customers too.... :D
 

Cody

Random Quote Generator
Supporting Member
Location
Gastown
My spool works great too. Never had to worry about it leaking, ratcheting, not engaging, or breaking. Even if it did break I could cary a 4 spare spools and still save money on an ARB.

But ARB's do sound cool :D

Cody
 

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
Yeah, they sound cool until the crappy compressors start to fail. Then they sound like Brett trying to play hockey.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Cody said:
My spool works great too. Never had to worry about it leaking, ratcheting, not engaging, or breaking. Even if it did break I could cary a 4 spare spools and still save money on an ARB.

But ARB's do sound cool :D

Cody

Apples and oranges...

I ran a lincoln locked axle years ago... never leaked, never ratcheted, never had engagment problems, never broke... Does it replace a ARB... nope...
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
RockMonkey said:
Yeah, they sound cool until the crappy compressors start to fail. Then they sound like Brett trying to play hockey.

I bet ARB is still laughing... they were able to send you all the junk they had in stock... Glad its never came my way... over 100 lockers sold (just in the past 2 years, shave been ARB dealer since 95') ... ZERO breaks...

I actually have had my compressor fail, but that was after 3 years of flawless use (and I use it to inflate tires often) and it was submerged in muddy water (Brett witnesed the mayhem)... It acutally still worked, but I could hear the piston making noise... took it apart and pulled a teaspoon of sand out... Off to ARB to have it replaced... $23 later I have a rebuilt compressor...

Still laughing... :rofl:
 
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pokeyYJ

Guest
Never had problems with my ARB's, no leaks, no breakage, no problems!

I don't use an ARB compress because I had a Range Rover Air suspension compressor available, and it has a slightly longer duty cycle than the ARB.

I bet that 99% of the failures from ARB's are improper installation and not cleaning the filter on the compressor.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Cody said:
Wow, I've never seen Kurt so protective/defensive before.


Sure you have... read any of my landuse threads... ;)

Not being protective... just stating the facts...

I have NEVER witnesed a ARB break nor had a broken one come my way...

MBryson had problems with his... turned out to be a bent D30 housing (which ARB has an entire survice bulletin regarding) Other than that I have whats left of a broken D44 locker, but the pinion broke and sent the broken peice into the locker housing... it just needs a new side cover and it will work...
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Andy said:
I'm with Kurt on this one, I have installed hundreds and never had problems.
ARBs rule :D

Andy

I bet you guys have sold/installed thousands in the past 10 years... I know Darrell was getting them from you prior to becoming an ARB dealer in the early 90's... :D
 

DevinB

I like traffic lights
Location
Down Or'm
I don't want to beat a dead horse or sound like a enviro-nazi, but playing around off the trail, like you described doing, is what gets trails closed. Stuff like that gets the greenies all worked up and wanting to close more areas. Please try to stick to the main trail and tread lightly. As we already know, Moab is becoming a hotbed for these tree-huggers and unlike you or I, they have financial backing to buy land and ban crawlers. Look at Upper Helldorado.
Other than that, sounds like a cool trip. That trail is awesome, even though that final obstacle leaving the trail as you get to the dirt road has claimed one of my axles. Sounds like you had a few problems of your own... :(
Devin
 

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
Yep. Get yer facts straight, and come back. Jeremy from BFE films owns Upper Helldorado. It is very much open.
 
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