Do yourself a favor Dave, before you leave gather all the fellas that made this trip possible and take a group pic with that beautiful Moab background. Later on you'll be glad you have a pic like that.
Zim here on Kerts login:
I've got a pic on my cell, that I can't seem to figure out how to upload to the thread, but Adam can handle it, so yeah, he's been gracious enough to put em up...I'll send more tomorrow and see if he can put em up.
I got one of 5-6 trucks up on Gold Bar Rim, and its pretty cool...Blazinzuk, Russell, KGBlazer, Chris Perry, and a couple I can't remember right now.
Kert has been putting a bunch up of the wholetrip in the BB11 section, check those out too.''
The Maiden has performed pretty good, the only casualties were minor in the whole scope of the build....that makes me pretty happy. We are still fighting a death wobble, and I will put another shim in the kingpins when I get home for a quick fix, then probably go with a bronze bushing and hydro assist in the future.
The axle seal/bearing is working fine now. the ring and pinion looked real good, and the temps are about equal on both sides of the axle now. and no leaks.
The minor brake leak has fixed itself thankfully. and the problem with the serpentine belt was taken care of with a shorter belt. All was good today except the driver...I needed to be winched up Chewy (on Pritchett), then back down as we decided to turn around due to possible problems with Russells t/c....it was a butt puckering trip up and down Chewy, Eric makes it look easy but for the rest of us....it was a huge challenge. We were in a second group going through Pritchett, and we were pretty much noobs compared to the first group. My thanks and appreciation to Eric for leading us through it, and helping Me especially taking a good line, and helping me to feel confident enough to give it a try.
Later in the after noon we played on a small climb and had some fun before we left Pritchett....then we went to potato salad hill...Eric of course made it look easy, then Chris Perry took it on without issure then Keith made it up, but having problems with a carb'd engine, I give it a shot, and after the third time, I decided I didn't need to get into something beyond my driving capability, so I backed down. I too was having carb problems....Potato salad is pretty steep at the top, and I would start spinning, then have trouble with fuel delivery, the engine would die, and then I had a hard time with brakes to hold it, with no engine power to the hydro boost.
Overall Moab and BB11 was a dream come true for me and my build. I thank so many once again for their help, and for Kert to make the trip with me, and help me with mechanical issues as well as driving on the trail.
The maiden is an awesome truck I think, and I am very happy with it.
We head out tomorrow when we get all packed up and I should be back home by late Wed night. til then later brothers, and just gotta say, you really need to make this trip some year...its an awesome adventure, and seems like there is a seat available in a rig if you don't or can't bring your own.