Due to the time constraints I wasn't able to pull a vacuum and charge the AC with freon, so we went towards Moab without it. My power steering box has been leaking a little bit, but during this trip it started leaking quite a bit of ps fluid. Due for a rebuild pretty soon. I'm not sure if the new tires are just a bad unbalanced batch, which I have read Kenda's don't balance well, but it was not a pleasant long distance drive. I plan to swap over a set of nice riding Duratracks on 16" Toyota wheels from my dad's 40th and see how much better it rides. If it doesn't ride any better I'm going to test the trunion bearings along with the steering stabilizer, and retorque the wheel bearings to see if I can find any issues. If nothing shows any signs of damage, I'll also add more balancing BBs to the tires. Currently they have about 10oz in each one, but I've read about people needing to use 20oz+ to balance these Kendas. I personally think it's mostly the tires which lead to the more rapid demise of the power steering box.
Anyways, this trip was definitely one to remember.
SW Colorado and Moab trip summary
Nearly 2400 problem free miles on my 92 LC in a week.
Passed 375,000 miles on the original drivetrain.
Spotted Clay Croft's (of Expedition Overland) 200 series LC and passed by him somewhere on a hike in Arches National Park.
Hell's Revenge completed with only a small bit of cosmetic damage.
Got to ski a new mountain and ride some epic singletrack on my new to me Yeti SB66.
Day 1
We set out from OKC to Bernalillo, NM. The entire time we faced a strong headwind with 50 mph+ gusts. The cruiser stayed in 3rd gear most of the time doing 60-65 all while shaking like mad with the new tires.
Day 2
We departed Bernalillo for Durango, CO. Once arriving we checked into the hotel, and decided to go ride Phil's World in Cortez, CO. The trails were unbelievable.
Day 3 and 4
We stayed out nights in Durango and our days on the slopes of Purgatory Mountain Resort. I also met a couple other guys in Durango who I had just gotten back from Moab and checked out their trucks. Not sure if they are on here, but if you're reading this you who you are.
Day 5
We packed up our stuff and headed to Moab, Utah. We were not able to check into the place we rented until 4pm so the day was kind of limited in what we could do due to the bikes on the back of the truck. Having never been to Moab before, we set out on a hike to see the Delicate Arch.
While back to the car on a wide area of the trail I thought I saw Clay Croft of Expedition Overland. I told my brother and he was sure but yelled his name. No one turned around and we decided to wait and see if there was a built up 4Runner in the parking lot. When we got down to the lot, a couple spaces over was a nicely set up 200 series with Arb gear, rock warrior wheels, general tires, and 4 maxtrax in ski racks on the roof. Oh and it had Montana plates. We were pretty convinced it was him at that point.
We spent some more time driving around the park and admiring all the sights.
Later that evening we met a local guy in the parking lot of City Market with a nicely built 80. I had a list of about 5 trails I was hoping to do, but after talking to him he said "if you only have time to do one trail, do Hell's Revenge."
Day 6
We woke up early and took the bikes and bike rack of the cruiser and left them in the garage of the place we stayed at. Then we drove up the winding road to the trailhead of Hell's Revenge. Along with the 15 or so Jeeps at the trailhead there was one other 80 series and a Tacoma. We ended up running the trail with them and it was an absolute blast. A little scary at times for the fear of body damage was high in a couple places, but the cruiser handled everything we threw at it. We skipped Hell's Gate, Escalator, a couple of the hot tubs, and the Tip Over challenge as we just weren't comfortable taking those without front and rear lockers or in general.
He ended up having to hook up to my tow hooks to winch himself out. A front locker probably would have enabled his to crawl right out, but Mickey's Hot Tub was a lot smaller and steeper than we anticipated.
Knuckles white, hands clinching the steering wheel, I started creeping towards this steep and rocky descent. With my brake pedal pushed to the floor and my gearing as low as it would go I nerve-rackingly inched forward listening to the alternating sounds of my brakes groaning and tires screeching; I could not stop focusing on my spotter's hand signals as my truck was leaning over 25 degrees to the side going down this near vertical wall of rock. This descent might not look like much, but pictures hardly ever do justice.
The only damage, besides a couple rock chips on the lower doors - which have already been peppered by rocks, was to the passenger rear bumper wing. Fairly early on the trail I came down on a ledge and thought I was dragging a tow hook or the receiver, but upon later inspection I noticed a big spot of bedliner missing. I really expected more bumper damage on this trip, but thankfully it wasn't bad at all. I think my swing out support (2x4) stopped the bumper wing from being pushed up any higher causing structural damage as there is only about a 1/2" gap between the bumper skeleton and 2x4. Granted it wasn't a huge hit, it definitely helped slightly and happened in the most idea spot.
We got off the trail around 1:30 and headed into town to eat at the Moab Brewery. I had been wanting to ride Porcupine Rim, Captain Ahab, and a couple other trails, but with my brother being on a hardtail, we decided to go for a more mellow ride at the Brands trail system about 9 mi north of town.
Deadman's Ridge
