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July 20-21-22 Images and video are here!! Intro: My Rubicon trail trip was sort of a surprise trip. My sister, her husband, and a group of folks from Rangely Colorado, called me from Fernley (20 miles away) to say that they were almost to Reno and that they were headed to Tahoe and the Rubicon trail. She asked me if I would like to join them and I said that it was short notice but that I could not turn down an invite to run the Rubicon trail. In the back of my mind I am already wondering if my jeep and myself are up to the task. My sister and her group were scheduled to arrive at my place on the eve of 07/18/99. They arrived very late as my sister usually does. We all started contemplating and scheduling the trip immediately. The group parked their trucks and trailers and set up camp in my front yard. We scheduled meeting points and discussed camping locations for the night before the actual trip 07/19/99. We decided to attack the trail from the Loon Lake side and we would camp near the trailhead. Some of the other folks (our navigators) from Rangely CO, and Florida, were scheduled to meet us early at the trailhead on 07/20/99. I had to work that Monday so I would have to meet my sister and her clan at the agreed upon camp sight later Monday evening. I drove my jeep from Reno to Loon Lake thinking my sister and the group would already be there. They left early Monday morning and had to drop their trucks and car trailers at the trailhead in Tahoe before they headed over to the Loon Lake side. Well I beat them there somehow and set up camp. I made a make shift sign with a Wendy's hamburger sack and scribbled my sister's name on it with an arrow pointing the way to my camp spot. They showed up around 11:00 p.m. that night cursing the fact that someone in the group had lead them in the wrong direction while searching for Icehouse road. We talked about the trip ahead, they set up camp and we all went to bed under the stars. Day one: The trail begins. Day one began with a bang. We all broke camp and started toward the trailhead which was only 1/2-mile from where we camped. On the way out of camp we spotted a large indigenous rock and we decide it needed climbing'. Everything began without incident. Photos and video were taken and everything was fine until it was my turn to climb the innocent rock. I commenced to run my left tire up the rock making sure that the line I took would position me perfect for maximum air. Photos and video were taken. I put my jeep in gear, started to let out the clutch, and rolled forward instead of backward causing my jeep to straddle the rock violently. The rock was much taller than my rocker panel thus causing the collapse of my previously unscratched rocker panel. I backed off the rock, put the incident behind me and we headed for the trailhead. On the way to the trailhead was another distraction. It was a Willys jeep that had to be seen to be appreciated. The guy that owned the jeep said that he had close to 40,000.00 dollars invested. What a beauty! The jeep had everything you could ever want in a jeep not to mention being stretched to the wheelbase of a CJ7. The pictures of this gorgeous jeep are here. They were taken just after the jeep came off the trail. | Willys pic1 | Willys pic2 | First thing, air down. We all aired our tires down between 15 and 20 psi. A helicopter landed about 200 feet from where we were parked. Two guys got out, jumped in their vehicles, and away they went. From the air down point we started off single file down the trail. The only trail markers were small pieces of flagging ribbon secured to the few trees that were growing there. After the first few hard spots it was evident to me that my sisters husband Josh, Darren, and Dan were going to hit the hardest spots on the trail. Unlike the trailered in vehicles I had to drive my rig home so I decided to restrain the testosterone and stick to most of the bypasses which are bone crushers themselves. Here's a video of some of my aerobatics --Frame Tweaker 428k--. The goal of the day was to make it to Spider Lake to camp. After a few billion rocks, a couple scuffed rims, and right rocker panel ding we made it. Just before the lake was a canyon called "Little Sluice". Everyone, including myself, went on to camp except my sister, her husband and his rig ("Jeeposaurus"), Dan and his awesomely articulating Bronco, and Darren and his CJ7. They decided that they would conquer "Little Sluice" before dark or they might not get another chance. They all made it and I kick myself in the butt for not witnessing it first hand but man was I beat. All I could think about at that time was sleep. Once everyone was back in camp, we all decided that it was bath time so instead of using Ken's onboard hot shower system, one at a time we made our way to the lake in our skivvies and jumped in. The water was around 65 degrees.....Very nice after a long day of muggy trail riding and eating dust. Day two: breakage time. The second morning we broke camp, checked all our vehicles over carefully and hit the trail. Josh, Dan, Darren, and my self took a different trail than the other three vehicles. The idea was to avoid some of the tight turns of the original trail that we came in on. First rock pile we came to was a challenge for my self and Darren. Of course Jeeposaurus walked right up it. Lastly it was Dan's turn. His Bronco has an awesome articulating suspension and normally he walks right over just about anything in his path. Dan gets his front tires over the rock pile and starts up with his back wheels when a loud pop and bang emit from deep within his Bronco's under carriage. I saw parts fly and the drive shaft started spinning wildly and beating the bottom of the body in rapid succession. Upon inspection, we realized that Dan's Bronco was mortally wounded. During a spring wrapping session, a freshly welded spring perch on his brand new high pinion D 44 broke loose. This caused the pumpkin and pinion to shoot skyward. Having done this, the opposite axle tube retained its original position which broke the weld loose where the tube goes into the pumpkin. Broken rear u-joint, spring perch, u-bolts, axle tube weld, and pride. We winched Dan over the rock pile where he removed his rear drive shaft and limped to Ken's jeep which was equipped with an on board welder. Dan had the Bronco back on the trail in less than three hours. Things went relatively uneventful for the next while just the usual extreme wheeling. We came upon a point in the trail where you could either go left around a very deep mud hole or right through the bog. I watched the rest of the jeepers go through the mud hole, flipping mud with little effort. Now it’s my turn. The entrance of the bog had a rather severe hole beneath the water line where jeepers coming from the other direction had gotten stuck while climbing out of the mud hole. I tried to keep my right tire up on a rock while entering the water. This must have been the last straw for my steering box mount because it let go with a very audible crack. I backed up out of the water, we surveyed the damage, and secured the steering box to my frame by running the winch cable around the frame rail and placing the hook between the box and broken bracket. I reeled in the winch and limped through the mud hole where Ken's trusty welder was warming up. We welded the brackets good enough (we thought) to get me to the next camp spot. I secured the winch once again to the box a proceeded down the trail. Well the bracket broke again after a few good wheel-slamming boulders. I was taking it easy I swear! We were about a mile or so from the next camp spot where I had planned on completely removing my steering box brackets, and welding them up real good. I drove my jeep through a ton of rough ass terrain including the "Big Sluice" with a broken steering box mount. --Me in the Big Sluice video 584k--. The jeep would only make right hand turns...no left turns. This was particularly challenging once we got into the more densely wooded area near our next camp spot. We finally made it to our last camp spot at Rubicon Springs close to the tents that were set up for the jamboree goers, which were due to start arriving the next day. I disassembled my steering, ate some grub, stared at the fire for a while, listened to some good jokes, and went to bed. Day three: Last stretch. First thing in the morning we all broke camp, ate some breakfast, and commenced work on my steering box. Josh has driven and worked on "monster trucks" for his dad all of his life so he volunteered to repair my basket of ripped and broken metal brackets. He is used to welding things that have to stay together. I had to drive my jeep for quite some distance with a broken steering mount. This caused nearly every hole in the mount to be either wallowed out or ripped out completely. He also opted to install a steering box brace from the opposite frame rail to my box. This brace is similar to the aftermarket brace available from many different 4x4 parts dealers only it was the Rubicon trail version. We used the handle of Josh's handy man jack for the cross brace and about 1-foot of 1/4" chain to restrain the box. Here is a picture of the brace that Josh created. Box Brace. The rest of the trip including Cadillac hill was pretty uneventful except for Darren's smashed in left front fender that he got while attacking a very deep mud hole and the brown bear we saw at the bottom of the trail. We stopped at a large parking area at the bottom of the trail where the crew had parked all of their trailers a couple of days ago. We lined up our vehicles for pictures and breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that we had made it down with no major incidents. Lastly, The Rubicon trail is the most rigorous trail I have ever been on. Moab has harder trails but they are separated by dirt roads that give you a break in the abuse. The Rubicon is a relentless s.o.b. and I can't wait to get back. I am very pleased at the performance of my jeep. It was rock solid except for the steering box bracket. I have learned where my jeep's weak points are and have already started work that will correct them. Click here for the Trip Gallery Or use the links below !
COPYRIGHT © CHRIS C. AND CALL ENTERPRISES 1999-2000 THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED 02/29/2004 This site is about my Jeep. My goal is to help you to better your Jeep through my experience. Thanks for visiting..... Trailhed.com DISCLAIMER: Any usage or adaptation of any or all of the information provided here or on any or all of my web pages is purely at your own risk. You must take into account your own circumstances and vehicle requirements when attempting to utilize any or all of the information provided on any or all of my web pages. I assume no liability or responsibility for any results, damage, or unforeseen circumstances related in any way to the usage or adaptation of any or all of the aforementioned information. Enjoy |
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