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B29 |
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Discussion
Board Winter Run '03 | We all loaded up late on Wednesday July 3, and met in Kenai, at 8:00 am on Thursday the 4th. (Bgreen and Molly in the 76 Chevy, Johnny Wich. and Tina in the CJ-10, Doug Danger and Mark in the 4to1 Sammy) We drove from Kenai to Hatchers Pass Road and found a place to pull off and unloaded the trucks from their trailers, packed all our gear and headed up Purches Creek Trail.
Along the way we met AlaskaXJ on his 3 wheeler, who followed us to the top of the hill to watch the action. After playing in the mud holes on the top, it was getting late so we decided to head back down the mountain and set up camp. On the way down we turned around to play in the washouts and take some video. Doug Danger and the 4to1 Sammy was making attempts at one of the more difficult washouts when he got crossed up and rolled it on to its side. Made for some great pictures! Thanks Doug. After John winched the Sammy back on its wheels, we cleaned up the mess and headed back to Hatchers Pass road and set up camp for the night.
We met up with AlaskaXJ at about 10:30 the next morning, and headed up the B29 trail. After crossing the creek, we were introduced to some great washed out hill climbs. This portion of the trail was allot of fun, and watching the XJ and the Sammy proved quite entertaining. John and I crawled to the top without hardly spinning a tire. Doug and AlaskaXJ were more limited due to their tire size than anything, and both made successful attempts at almost every obstacle they encountered. This was probably my favorite part of the weekend, and would have been a real blast had it been raining. (Not that I'm complaining about the nice weather ;)
After reaching the high country, AlaskaXJ informed us that we could go over the top in 2wd, or around the side and never leave 4wd. We decided that it would be allot more fun to take the hard way around to see the B29 so we took a right where the two trails meet. Easy Decision. This is where the carnage really began for the two smaller rigs. The terrain was wet and swampy, making it suited just right for vehicles with larger, more aggressive, tires. It was amazing to watch the the Samurai and the XJ blast through the mud pits, showing us bigger rigs that being so light weight is a real advantage. AlaskaXJ definitely is not afraid to "Get It"!! We were all surprised to see such a nice truck driven so hard. Way to go! Very fun to watch.
After fighting our way through the nastiest places on the whole trail, I began to discover a few bugs that I did not remedy before leaving town. While driving down an easy section of the trail, I heard a loud pop, and looked down to discover my passenger side lower shackle was hanging loose. After crawling under the truck I discovered the 7/16 bolt had broken at the end of the threads. I had no spare bolts, so Johnny Wich loaned me a spare starter bolt. It wasn't the right size but it was the only bolt we had that was long enough. A bit further down the trail Mark found that my steering box was working its way loose from the frame. I tightened it up, and headed down the trail. At this point, we decided to head back to camp by going out church road, and driving the highway back to pick up our tow rigs and trailers.
AlaskaXJ asked everyone if they had good brakes and lead the way down the mountain. That is some steep stuff! That part of the trail makes me want to finish my exo-cage ASAP! Everyone made it down the steep sections successfully and were headed to the trail head in Full Tilt, when I lost all steering input. I had torn the steering box loose from the frame. Three of the four bolts had pulled completely through the frame so the box was dangling from just one bolt. At this point it was about 2:00 in the morning, and we were all very tired. The wives slept on the side of the trail while me and John tried to fix the frame and bolt the box back on. I hammered the frame back strait as I could, and bolted the box back on using some large washers for backup. We made the repair and worked our way down the trail. When we got to the head we decided that we would putt down the side of the road all the way to the highway, then drive into town, park john and my trucks at the high school, and have Doug take the Sammy to Tina's parents house and pick up their 4 door ford to ferry us all back to the tow rigs. We ended up sleeping at Tina's parents house, after arriving at approximately 7:30 am on Saturday morning. We were on the trail for 14 hours!
All in all it was a very good trip. Everyone pitched in and had a great time. Things got a little stressful toward the end and everyone kept their cool, and were great sports. AlaskaXJ is a great guy to wheel with and allot of fun to watch. Doug and AlaskaXJ hammered their 4x4s on every obstacle and never complained once about being in over their head's. John's CJ-10 was prepared as usual, and had only one freak electrical problem that was fixed in a matter of minutes. I held up progress the most, being the 76's maiden voyage and not being complete. I had a great time and I'm sure that everyone else did as well. Molly and I headed home after getting a shower and a few hours sleep at Tina's parents house. Doug, Mark, Tina, and John, met up with Kurt and his family and headed for Ruby Lake for the rest of the weekend. I'll post pics and quick report when they get back. Bgreen |
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