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2-3-11
Alanzona
Well, all in all it was a great
day... shorter than I would have
liked, but any day wheelin' is a
good day.
I learned
or had reiterated for me 7
things on Sunday:
1. I have great friends.
2. From here on out, Annihilator
will be known as "Upper
Predator" to trick my jeep.
3. Death Wobble still sucks.
4. Black TJ's from this club
have bad karma on Die Hard (see
Bob for reference)
5. Mike will take his shirt off
with little or no prompting.
6. Despite popular belief, show
tunes do NOT make any situation
an "instant party".
7. ARB air lockers work better
when actually turned on. |
The day did start out
ominous. After Mike
(Skatchkins) arrived at my
house, we piled in the TJ
and headed over to my
other friend Mike's house
(I have a "2 Mike Friend"
limit, so I decided to
take them both with me at
the same time to make
things confusing on the
trail). The TJ (which has
yet to earn a true name)
was running rough, but we
made it to Mike #2's
house. After picking up
Mike #2, the TJ died. Mike
#2 said it was out of gas.
I argued this as I had
just filled it up earlier
in the week and the only
place I had driven was
down to AO. Mike #2 walked
back to his house, got
some gas, put a couple
gallons in my TJ, and it
fired right up. We
proceeded to the QT to
meet up with Geoff and
Shanda, where Mike #2
proceeded to fill up my TJ
the rest of the way,
giving me "I told you so"
looks and attitude.
Someone siphoned off my
gas. Only explanation.
After connecting with
Geoff and Shanda, we all
headed up to Table Mesa to
meet up with Mark (Mark-Buggy),
BellyDoc, and Pyro4X4. The
plan was to run Die Hard,
Predator, Annihilator,
then maybe loop back
through 'Conda depending
upon time. The drive up
was great, kept it around
55 - 60, no Death Wobble,
life is good. Of course,
with no windshield, it was
really cold on the face,
but we're big tough men
and I had not one, but TWO
Mikes with me, so
everything worked out just
fine.
We tooled on a little
further, a couple of
waterfalls and rock
gardens. On one of the
waterfalls, bad Black TJ
karma struck again... this
time snapping the flange
off my inner shaft up
front. It wasn't bound up,
there wasn't any
significant stress on it,
just backing up to take
another line and BAM!
After a quick PowWow, we
pulled the shaft and
decided I was going to
turn around and limp back
out in 3WD. Geoff,
BellyDoc, and Pyro4X4 are
awesome friends and took
that sucker apart like
they had done it
before.
Anyway, Mike #1 was having
a good time hiking around
and Mike #2 was too, but
we had to head home. Here
is where my good friend
Geoff fell on his sword
and offered to follow me
back out and make sure I
got home. It was a good
thing, too. In 3Wd, I
couldn't make it up the
hill out of the canyon. I
kept spinning and digging
in. Geoff went up first,
then came back and
strapped me out. About
half way up the hill, Mike
#2 pointed out the lockers
weren't on and my 1 front
tire with an axle shaft
wasn't actually pulling.
After a pretty good laugh,
I turned on the lockers
and it's AMAZING how much
better a job it does when
there are at least 3
wheels pulling up the
hill. I know Geoff
appreciated it. Once we
got off the trail and
headed home, guess what?
DEATH WOBBLE from hell.
Instead of 55 - 60 MPH, we
had about 25 MPH as top
speed. It's amazing what
not having the hydro
assist ram and only having
one (althrough disengaed)
front axle connected will
do to the drivability of a
rig on 40's with bead
locks. LOL We limped down
the freeway with Geoff and
Shanda riding tail gunner
to keep the big rigs from
squashing me.
In honor of T.C. and
Jellybeans, I wore my
helmet to be safe.
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