Colorado/Utah 2002

We love going to Moab but for this trip there was to be some variety. We would be spending a week in Ouray Colorado. Jim had planned the trip as he is usually our leader to the southwest, but at the last  minute he was unable to go. I went out and got a crash course in Colorado fourwheeling in the San Juans. We planned to run the mining roads the area is famous for and would try to get in a little serious wheeling while we were at it. Two long days of highway put us in southwest Colorado. Ouray is south of Grand Junction a couple of hours, as we passed through Grand Junction we noted that the 21 Road is located nearby, reputed to be one of the harder trails in Colorado.

We started out on Poughkeepsie Gulch road, this was listed as the hardest of the mining roads in the area around Ouray. Most of the road was hard gravel but there was a hard area called the Wall. On the way up we stopped at an old mine loading area. It was at about 10,000 ft up and we were discussing the affects of altitude when a couple of us got some attitude about how good of shape we were in. Mike made a bet about how fast he could get up the mine tailings above the loading building. He raced up the loose hillside and beat the time of the bet but was affected by a severe headache the rest of the day.

We were looking for an obsticle called the Wall, we passed it on the way up and ended up on California Pass at about 13,000 ft. We continued up and checked out some other mines and some old school busses that we were amazed they had gotten in to the mine they were at. The road had many sharp turns, it must have been hairy getting them in to the mines.

We had lunch near a small lake and dared each other to jump in, we are all weak, no one went in. As we headed down we found the Wall, there were some folks from Kansas there playing on the rock obsticle. We played around on the rocks for a while, there were a couple of hard lines but we were to make all of them with no damage. It was about this time I noticed that my t-case would not come out of low range. I tried a few times but was unable to get it to shift out of low range, the shifter would not move at first then it popped out but the t-case was still in low range. Lucky for me it was not too far back to town on the highway, with a 4to1 kit 20mph was about top speed back to town.

Back at the campground we removed the pan on my Dana 300 and could see some bent metal on the low range output gear. We pulled out the t-case and tore it down, finding that the gear had spun on the hub crushing the hub onto the output shaft. The kit was a Tera-low kit so off to the phone and they had a gear on the way overnight. Tera was great in standing behind their product and their quick response to save as much of our vacation as possible.

After Brian chased down the UPS guy on main street we got the t-case back together and were off to explore some more mining roads and mountains. After running high mountain passes for a week it was time to move to Moab. Brian was still thinking about the 21 Road, supposed to be among the hardest in Colorado. He proposed that while our wives were driving to Moab with the camping gear we would go run the 21 and they would go on to Moab. Only  Kellee and Andrea were of the mind to let there husbands get away with this. So off Brian and I went. With a stop in Montrose for a new starter for my 4.0l we were on our way.

We were having some fun playing the rocks, this is not the usual terrain we play on, weaving in and out of the canyon bottom.

We were not getting into too much trouble when Brian was trying a harder line and dropped on a large rock. He has major skid plating underneath so when I heard the noise from behind I thought it was the fan shroud. A quick check of the fan found it was not touching. I had Brian start up the jeep and found it had a serious rod knock. The look on Brian's face was one of major shock that his low mileage stroker motor was knocking. Upon close inspection we found that the skid plate had pushed in the oil pan and a rod was hitting the pan. Our only option was to remove the oil pan and pound out the dent. A couple of hours later we were on our way.

We finished the end of the trail and found our way out, Brian seemed to think his jeep was steering a little funny but it was hard to tell on the gravel roads at his normal speed, read high. Once we reached the highway he noticed his steering would not turn all the way but since it was mostly straight we didn't worry about it. He later found the ARB had blown up and would not unlock and the vacuum disconnect was stuck in 4wd. On the way to Moab we found he was leaking oil, turned out to be t-case fluid, his short shaft kit was coming apart. Brian and Andrea were leaving for home the next day so repairs would wait for home. It was a great day on an awsome trail.