Sempertoy
Explorer
Well, I just finished my second annual Moab trip and it was a blast! I took a few pics and have a sweet video of hells gate that I will post up. The following is a day by day account of my trip.
Day 1. I left San Antonio at 0700 and headed west on the 10. The first couple hundred miles were pretty uneventful. I had a good audio book and I was settled in for a long drive. I got to bakersfield Texas (in the middle of nowhere) got out to fill up and saw this!
I don't know how this happened. I can only take the blame myself as I am the one who just put everything back together as well as doing a rear axle rebuild. I guess I must have over torqued the nuts? But I lost a dowel pin and all 6 hub studs were broken off. So what did I do? I immediately got on the horn with cruiser dan in Albuquerque to see what he had in stock. He had the hub studs and all hardware, but didn't have the dowels so those would have to be ordered and Wouldn't be there until the next afternoon. So I had him order them and then I called my wife. I was very seriously contemplating turning around and just calling off the trip. She encouraged me to press on, and worst case scenario, I could spend the time in Moab just hiking instead of off-roading. So I pulled the rear drive shaft, put the front back on and headed for Albuquerque. This is my trail fix to keep the diff fluid in the diff and not coming out of the open shaft.
I found a HEB morning shake bottle in the trash and it fit perfectly. I used some RTV around the edges to keep it sealed and wedged some sticks in there to jam it in place.
I got to my hotel around 10 pm that night and went to bed.
Day 2. I woke up early and went straight to the dealership to see what they thought the damage was. Long story short, I spent about 6 hours in the waiting room while the extracted the broken studs and put the new ones in. $425 later, I was on the open road again!
On the road
Someone headed to expo?? Montana plates.
I got to Moab at about 1030 that night and got camp set up. I had intended to stop in Roswell as well as 4 corners but I didn't get on the road until after 3 pm. It sure was chilly in Moab when I finally got in!
Day 3. Very interesting morning. I woke up at about 0600 because it was so bright! I got up, showered, and got the rest of camp set up and got all my wheeling gear secured inside the cruiser.
I headed into town to get some gas and small supplies. As I was driving down the road, I passed a woman walking in the opposite direction. It took a minute for it to register in my head that she was holding her head and was covered in blood! So I hurried and turned around to see if she needed help. I pulled up to ask her from across the road if she was ok and she headed right towards me. She was probably in her mid 60's, frail build and like I said, covered in blood. She said that she had been walking and tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk and lost her balance. She had a gash over her right eye that was about an inch long and very deep. She said that they were staying at a hotel close by, so I got out, helped her in my car and drove her to the hotel. When we got to the room her husband was shocked to see her in that condition and I relayed what she had told me. I went out to get my first aid kit and as I came back and put on my rubber gloves he asked me if I was first aid trained. I said kind of and told him that I had taken a combat life saving class before I deployed and that seemed to satisfy him. We got her cleaned and bandaged, then they took her to the emergency room. When I left I realized I had used my only pair of rubber gloves so I went straight to the store, bought a box and put two pair in each of my first aid kits. I think this good deed helped keep me safe the rest of my trip.
After I fueled up I headed to Sand Flats recreation area to drive Fins n things. This is one of my favorite trails and I think its a great warm up once you get to Moab. The rock there is so sticky and it takes some getting used to.
It was about 0930 by now and I had the place to myself!
I went back to pick up my friend and we did the trail again. He has never been off-roading and loved this experience.
to be continued....
Day 1. I left San Antonio at 0700 and headed west on the 10. The first couple hundred miles were pretty uneventful. I had a good audio book and I was settled in for a long drive. I got to bakersfield Texas (in the middle of nowhere) got out to fill up and saw this!
I don't know how this happened. I can only take the blame myself as I am the one who just put everything back together as well as doing a rear axle rebuild. I guess I must have over torqued the nuts? But I lost a dowel pin and all 6 hub studs were broken off. So what did I do? I immediately got on the horn with cruiser dan in Albuquerque to see what he had in stock. He had the hub studs and all hardware, but didn't have the dowels so those would have to be ordered and Wouldn't be there until the next afternoon. So I had him order them and then I called my wife. I was very seriously contemplating turning around and just calling off the trip. She encouraged me to press on, and worst case scenario, I could spend the time in Moab just hiking instead of off-roading. So I pulled the rear drive shaft, put the front back on and headed for Albuquerque. This is my trail fix to keep the diff fluid in the diff and not coming out of the open shaft.
I found a HEB morning shake bottle in the trash and it fit perfectly. I used some RTV around the edges to keep it sealed and wedged some sticks in there to jam it in place.
I got to my hotel around 10 pm that night and went to bed.
Day 2. I woke up early and went straight to the dealership to see what they thought the damage was. Long story short, I spent about 6 hours in the waiting room while the extracted the broken studs and put the new ones in. $425 later, I was on the open road again!
On the road
Someone headed to expo?? Montana plates.
I got to Moab at about 1030 that night and got camp set up. I had intended to stop in Roswell as well as 4 corners but I didn't get on the road until after 3 pm. It sure was chilly in Moab when I finally got in!
Day 3. Very interesting morning. I woke up at about 0600 because it was so bright! I got up, showered, and got the rest of camp set up and got all my wheeling gear secured inside the cruiser.
I headed into town to get some gas and small supplies. As I was driving down the road, I passed a woman walking in the opposite direction. It took a minute for it to register in my head that she was holding her head and was covered in blood! So I hurried and turned around to see if she needed help. I pulled up to ask her from across the road if she was ok and she headed right towards me. She was probably in her mid 60's, frail build and like I said, covered in blood. She said that she had been walking and tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk and lost her balance. She had a gash over her right eye that was about an inch long and very deep. She said that they were staying at a hotel close by, so I got out, helped her in my car and drove her to the hotel. When we got to the room her husband was shocked to see her in that condition and I relayed what she had told me. I went out to get my first aid kit and as I came back and put on my rubber gloves he asked me if I was first aid trained. I said kind of and told him that I had taken a combat life saving class before I deployed and that seemed to satisfy him. We got her cleaned and bandaged, then they took her to the emergency room. When I left I realized I had used my only pair of rubber gloves so I went straight to the store, bought a box and put two pair in each of my first aid kits. I think this good deed helped keep me safe the rest of my trip.
After I fueled up I headed to Sand Flats recreation area to drive Fins n things. This is one of my favorite trails and I think its a great warm up once you get to Moab. The rock there is so sticky and it takes some getting used to.
It was about 0930 by now and I had the place to myself!
I went back to pick up my friend and we did the trail again. He has never been off-roading and loved this experience.
to be continued....
