We made a small group in order to get little Ashlyn Connor into the whole wheeling experience, so we only had four rigs in our group.
Scott and Suzzy - Green YJ Locked/Locked on 38.5" tires
Chip Woods - Silver TJ Open/Open on 33" tires
Ryan and Ashlyn Connor - White YJ Locked/Locked on 37" tires
Jeff Eppolite - Green Beta TJ Locked/Locked on 37" tires
We left camp, after waiting for Ryan to finally be ready and headed toward the V-Trail. We got there with no problem and started the trail. About half of the way up, Chip got to a spot where he couldn't get traction. I was spotting him and he was almost over it when his rig slid to the right and met a rock with his tire while his rim went above it and busted his bead. He had to back up a little to make a safe place to jack the vehicle and we were able to re-seat the bead. We continued along until we got to the hill climb loop at the top of the trail. At that point I was going over a log and noticed that my rear end was not climbing the log. After a quick look under the rig, I not only noticed that the rear drive shaft was not connected, but the pinion was pointed straight up toward the tub. Both spring perches had broken welds and the axle was just spinning in the U-Bolts. After much wasted time trying to get the pinion back where it
should be, we got is strapped to the back and winched to the front to keep it moving until we got back to camp. Once we got back, Ryan was willing and able to use the welding kit that Charles Galpin made along with donor batteries from Chip Woods, Pete Soski, and myself. I would like to say that while all of this was going on, Jeff Eppolite took it upon himself to take John Crowe (from another group), load his rig onto Jeff's trailer and driver it all the way back to Woodbridge. Back to the repair stuff, we got everything welded and bolted back together and were ready to go beat it up some more.
This time out, we still only had four rigs, but since Jeff wasn't back yet, Pete Soski (Black YJ Open/Open 33" on 33" tires). We headed to the first trail that we found. I thought it was Horseshoe, but it ended up being the Boulder Trail and continued into the Death Valley Trail. There were a couple of inclinse that challenged the open guys, and Pete had to pull cable twice, but other than that we all made it out relatively unscathed. From this point we just headed back to camp since 7pm was approaching and dinner was waiting.
I just want to throw out mad props to both Jeff Eppolite for getting John Crowe home, and Ryan Connor for getting my broke crap welded back together. There is a lot to be said about our club and our member's willingness to help people in need. OCC rocks!
Scott LeLacheur
Scott and Suzzy - Green YJ Locked/Locked on 38.5" tires
Chip Woods - Silver TJ Open/Open on 33" tires
Ryan and Ashlyn Connor - White YJ Locked/Locked on 37" tires
Jeff Eppolite - Green Beta TJ Locked/Locked on 37" tires
We left camp, after waiting for Ryan to finally be ready and headed toward the V-Trail. We got there with no problem and started the trail. About half of the way up, Chip got to a spot where he couldn't get traction. I was spotting him and he was almost over it when his rig slid to the right and met a rock with his tire while his rim went above it and busted his bead. He had to back up a little to make a safe place to jack the vehicle and we were able to re-seat the bead. We continued along until we got to the hill climb loop at the top of the trail. At that point I was going over a log and noticed that my rear end was not climbing the log. After a quick look under the rig, I not only noticed that the rear drive shaft was not connected, but the pinion was pointed straight up toward the tub. Both spring perches had broken welds and the axle was just spinning in the U-Bolts. After much wasted time trying to get the pinion back where it
should be, we got is strapped to the back and winched to the front to keep it moving until we got back to camp. Once we got back, Ryan was willing and able to use the welding kit that Charles Galpin made along with donor batteries from Chip Woods, Pete Soski, and myself. I would like to say that while all of this was going on, Jeff Eppolite took it upon himself to take John Crowe (from another group), load his rig onto Jeff's trailer and driver it all the way back to Woodbridge. Back to the repair stuff, we got everything welded and bolted back together and were ready to go beat it up some more.
This time out, we still only had four rigs, but since Jeff wasn't back yet, Pete Soski (Black YJ Open/Open 33" on 33" tires). We headed to the first trail that we found. I thought it was Horseshoe, but it ended up being the Boulder Trail and continued into the Death Valley Trail. There were a couple of inclinse that challenged the open guys, and Pete had to pull cable twice, but other than that we all made it out relatively unscathed. From this point we just headed back to camp since 7pm was approaching and dinner was waiting.
I just want to throw out mad props to both Jeff Eppolite for getting John Crowe home, and Ryan Connor for getting my broke crap welded back together. There is a lot to be said about our club and our member's willingness to help people in need. OCC rocks!
Scott LeLacheur