WOW! it was a beautiful day, but... the trail gods were angry and their wrath was wrought throughout the park. :upset:
21 March 2009 - Rausch Creek trail ride - discussion and pics
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You gonna fill us in or leave us guessing?
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You gonna fill us in or leave us guessing?i have NEVER seen such a high percentage of rigs broken and disabled. i was one of the earliest out - before lunch. :upset:
before me was a broken rear axle on a bad-ass bronco about 30 minutes into the day. (i apologize for not knowing his name.) our DeJA group had started off with about 9 rigs, and we decided to split into 2 smaller groups after the bronco broke.
after randy towed the bronco back to the parking area, he returned in time to find us working on my serpentine belt - my water pump had crapped out and threw the belt when i was climbing winch hill. our one attempt to replace it with a new one was an immediate failure - it threw the belt the instant i started the XJ. so randy towed me back to my trailer.
during the time that we were attempting the trail repair on my junk, multiple groups came past us and EVERY ONE of the groups had at least one rig with a broken axle, broken driveshaft, or some other crippling damage. one group even passed by helping one of their broken rigs get back to the lot, and another one of their rigs broke something as they passed us (on a GREEN trail!)
listening to radio chatter, it sounded as though no one was having any better luck than we were.
i believe that the second DeJA group had their share of troubles *cough*J-Man*cough* (i'm sure someone will fill us in on that), and i know that the remainder of my group had a major engine catastrophe after i left (i'll also leave that for someone else to give us details).
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It was cool to meet up with some of you... FWIW, our group of 4 had no real breakage
only a few minor bugs, after 2 yrs of working on them w/ no wheeling that is to be expected -
Yea it was nice to get out and have a good time. Good seeing the SandS guys, even though it seems all too rare
and my junk is not ready yet. We had a good day. We had J-Man's drive shaft break on Trail 5, but that was it. Oh yea, we had a sidewall cut at the end of the day on TrikPony's Bronco... Dave is the name of the other guy with the Bronco on 37s, small bearing 9 axle though... 
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Display Morei have NEVER seen such a high percentage of rigs broken and disabled. i was one of the earliest out - before lunch. :upset:
before me was a broken rear axle on a bad-ass bronco about 30 minutes into the day. (i apologize for not knowing his name.) our DeJA group had started off with about 9 rigs, and we decided to split into 2 smaller groups after the bronco broke.
after randy towed the bronco back to the parking area, he returned in time to find us working on my serpentine belt - my water pump had crapped out and threw the belt when i was climbing winch hill. our one attempt to replace it with a new one was an immediate failure - it threw the belt the instant i started the XJ. so randy towed me back to my trailer.
during the time that we were attempting the trail repair on my junk, multiple groups came past us and EVERY ONE of the groups had at least one rig with a broken axle, broken driveshaft, or some other crippling damage. one group even passed by helping one of their broken rigs get back to the lot, and another one of their rigs broke something as they passed us (on a GREEN trail!)
listening to radio chatter, it sounded as though no one was having any better luck than we were.
i believe that the second DeJA group had their share of troubles *cough*J-Man*cough* (i'm sure someone will fill us in on that), and i know that the remainder of my group had a major engine catastrophe after i left (i'll also leave that for someone else to give us details).
Continued.....Sometime in winch hill I bent my tierod. Through out the day it had become worse to the point that my stearing wheel is now 180* upside down. My alighnment is non-existant. I now have a death wobble at anything over 30mph. Also my stearing box is leaking worse, and all tierod connections are loose and falling appart.
After towing John back we played on the Comp course for a few minutes. After that it was to the pole line. We came up around back and went down the line. So far nothing major. Big Red, B, and Shorebird headed to the south property to meet with the other group. We did boot hill and the blue/black trail behind it. We then headed for Lake Christy. This is where the story begins. 
Randy attempted to go to the left side of the lake. It was deep and rutted out(just a FYI, if it rains I wouldnt go throught w/o snorkle). I went to the right side, climbed the hill and through the right side. Big Red followed. He took in a whole lotta water in the air intake. His engine Hydro-locked. I went back into the lake and towed him out. After using a windex squeeze nozel and tube to suck the water out of the intake we pulled all the plugs and cycled the engine. The #1 clyinder was full of water. That was drained out. We were able to limp him out and up the hill. Just to add more insult while climbing the hill a stump had stuck into the bead of the tire and he began to leak air. We were able to pull the stump out and reseal the tire. We decided to head back the Comp course just in case... ...it was too late. About 5 minutes while running on flat ground a loud bang followed by a 
...and then silence. There is now a large hole in the front of big reds engine block... Randy towed him out to the main enterence. And then the other story starts. Ill let Big Red or randy share that... Just a FYI to all. AAA will not tow a jeep from RC. -
cant wait for whatever pics/videos come out of this one....sounds like a rough day on the trails
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Working on that as you type. Give me 5...
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really nice weather, though
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Thats all I got for now...
Big Red Has realy good ones...Please post them when ya can (or email them to me.) -
To use AAA at RC I think you need to get your jeep out of the park and on the blacktop. Cant remember who it was that called them all the time
anyway had fun today. After getting home I hosed the jeep off and found a crack in the LCA mount at the frame Its fixable, should be ready for next month.and yes I twisted another drive shaft
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Maybe this thread should be labeled "21 March 2009 - Rausch Creek trail ride - discussion and pics"
Anyway
Me and Donnie also went out on Green/Blue trails. Had a fairly uneventful day except for when
Donnie insists on washing his Jeep.
During a light hill climb Donnie decides its such a nice day he would like to get out and play.
Horseshoes anyone??
While looking for a place to have lunch I find a nice clearing to get stuck in.
Lunch anyone??
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wow, alot of excitement in the other group, makes my 4" sidewall gash pretty lame. Thanks for letting a "non-Jeeper" tag along. Fun time.
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Maybe this thread should be labeled "21 March 2009 - Rausch Creek trail ride - discussion and pics"but that IS the title of the thread... who would be so lame as to still be using last year's date?
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It was cool to meet up with some of you... FWIW, our group of 4 had no real breakage only a few minor bugs, after 2 yrs of working on them w/ no wheeling that is to be expected
Cool seeing you guys too. Good group of guys you have there.
wow, alot of excitement in the other group, makes my 4" sidewall gash pretty lame. Thanks for letting a "non-Jeeper" tag along. Fun time.
Yeah. I thought it was kind of a mild day (as far as breakages) for our group until you blew out that tire. Sorry for holding you up all day while we "played". That is one bad ass Bronco.Here are some pics: (All are clickable to enlarge.)
JeepSahara down in the hole.
Solomi making it look easy as usual.
For those of you in the comp letting J-man spot for you....you are screwed!!!
J-Man climbing out of Lake Christie. This turned out to be a nasty little spot.
Me coming down Trail 5
Group shot while we mess with BigReds submarine.
Thanks everyone for another great run.
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What to add, Hm mm? It was a beautiful day. It was great to see such a large DeJa group. We started out together and passed through the comp course where we all kinda split up and tried a few obstacles. I wish I had some pics of Billy's Jeep, awesome flex! We hit 1c as a group where Dave's Bronco busted an axle and Branden screwed up his alignment. Note to those interested in Jeep 101: This was a Black obstacle. At this point we split the group. I followed the Bronco back to his trailer and Dave jumped in with me. John covered the serpentine belt failure which could just as well have happend at the mall. Branden, Andy, and I ran a neat little loop off trail 1 while John attempted a repair. The rig that John said broke on a green actually broke before that on a Black, just finished it off driving back. After saying goodbye to John and company we headed to the South property and ran trail 25 (Green) to Boot Hill (Black), no problems. We headed to lake Christy. A little too much speed in the lake (not rocks this time) along with the location of the XJ airbox intake lead to his demise. I'm waiting to hear how he and Sam made out. AAA was sending a tow truck from about 35 miles away. I wanted to wait until they were loaded up, but they cut me loose so I could get home before midnight. See You All at RCcomp and Jeep 101.
Randy
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Well i made it back to Blairsville
Before the loud bang, the day was going pretty good for me, trying some new stuff and playing around on the comp coarse.
Unfortunately 4.0's do not like to drink water, and after a long cleaning out of my intake, pulling out the spark plugs, and spraying out the distributor we got it running, back to what seemed to be normal. Then i had to make it back across the side of the lake to get out which was less eventful. After about 15 to 20 minutes of green trail riding the internals decided it was time to become externals, leaving a nice massive hole in the block and a gash through the oil pan.
Needless to say that was the end of my trail driving. Randy pulled me the rest of the way to the parking lot. Where my girlfriends AAA night mares began, Because they said this happened off roading they would not come to pic it up, and then hung up on her. So after rolling most of the way down to the Exxon, she tried AAA again, with the same answer and with an even faster hang up. So I called AAA very angry and pissed off, and about 30 minutes of conversation later there was a tow truck on the way. 2 hours latter a truck actually showed up. Now the jeep is at a friends house in Newark, and im back in PA with my moms Rav4. It was a very long day with lots of fun before the big splash followed by a bang. Thanks to all that helped me out, I know i made you late getting home.
Hope all is well for the others
Andy
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