first trail breakage (had to happen eventually, right?) long post and pics of course

[vortec]

http://www.slide.com/r/y7lz-biP6j-sysO_1eqWi_C1LgSlDNxx?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

my friend and i went to BMRA, saturday, as planned and some people from his jeep club were there (first time either of us had met them). they had mostly ribicons with some mods. his is a stock rubi. they were cool about trying to avoid really tight trails, but in the end, did a crappy job of it. ha. i got through some stuff they couldn't believe i fit through, but i still picked up a decent-sized dent (my first) right under my tail light . not even sure when it happened. i hate that tight stuff.

but the really good part was on the last hill-climb i did that day. we'd done some pretty hairy stuff leading up to it and it was fun, but on the last section, i took the harder line (of course) and had to climb a 2-foot wall/ledge in the middle of a 40-45 degree incline. i should have put it in 4low and crawled it, but instead, i still had it in 4hi, gave it a bit too much gas, spun all 4 tires against the smooth rock and loose dirt, and when the rear grabbed, i destroyed BOTH of my rear u-joints at one time and started sliding backwards, fast, but managed to stop. the jeeps with winches were behind me , so i had to hold the brake, with the engine off (didn't know exactly how much i'd damaged) until they made the climb. one nearly flipped, one's engine cut out and had trouble restarting, one got hung up. 45 minutes later, they wre running two winch lines down to me. after winching with my front wheels lending a hand just off idle, they burned out a winch and had to swap vehicles. we finally got me up, and i drove to a camp area in front wheel drive, took a look and realized the joint to the slip yoke was hanging on but broken, too. so, i wasn't kicking myself anymore for forgetting my one spare u-joint i usually carry, since i needed two from the store, anyway. because of the joints being all trashed and jammed in there, it was a chore to remove them (and they were all asking why i was getting a ball-joint press loan-a-tool. ha.) but i fixed it all by the light of flashlights and headlights and made the 200 mile trip home with no problem.

i'm still no jeep fan, but those jeep people were alright with me. they really busted their butts to drag me up that hill. . a decent day, overall.

 

[resurrected_jimmy]

I'd call that a good day..... looks like a fun place

From your description of breakage I'm guessing you had some axle wrap when you throttle jockeyed it and the rears hooked up

 

[boggerless]

http://www.slide.com/r/y7lz-biP6j-sysO_1eqWi_C1LgSlDNxx?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

my friend and i went to BMRA, saturday, as planned and some people from his jeep club were there (first time either of us had met them). they had mostly ribicons with some mods. his is a stock rubi. they were cool about trying to avoid really tight trails, but in the end, did a crappy job of it. ha. i got through some stuff they couldn't believe i fit through, but i still picked up a decent-sized dent (my first) right under my tail light . not even sure when it happened. i hate that tight stuff.

but the really good part was on the last hill-climb i did that day. we'd done some pretty hairy stuff leading up to it and it was fun, but on the last section, i took the harder line (of course) and had to climb a 2-foot wall/ledge in the middle of a 40-45 degree incline. i should have put it in 4low and crawled it, but instead, i still had it in 4hi, gave it a bit too much gas, spun all 4 tires against the smooth rock and loose dirt, and when the rear grabbed, i destroyed BOTH of my rear u-joints at one time and started sliding backwards, fast, but managed to stop. the jeeps with winches were behind me , so i had to hold the brake, with the engine off (didn't know exactly how much i'd damaged) until they made the climb. one nearly flipped, one's engine cut out and had trouble restarting, one got hung up. 45 minutes later, they wre running two winch lines down to me. after winching with my front wheels lending a hand just off idle, they burned out a winch and had to swap vehicles. we finally got me up, and i drove to a camp area in front wheel drive, took a look and realized the joint to the slip yoke was hanging on but broken, too. so, i wasn't kicking myself anymore for forgetting my one spare u-joint i usually carry, since i needed two from the store, anyway. because of the joints being all trashed and jammed in there, it was a chore to remove them (and they were all asking why i was getting a ball-joint press loan-a-tool. ha.) but i fixed it all by the light of flashlights and headlights and made the 200 mile trip home with no problem.

i'm still no jeep fan, but those jeep people were alright with me. they really busted their butts to drag me up that hill. . a decent day, overall.

sounds like you had fun this weekend also.i hit a few tree;s myself. my fender and door hinge took a beating. but the fourth tree i hit helped straighten the hinge a little. but the ck5 sticker held up fine.

 

[vortec]

I'd call that a good day..... looks like a fun place

From your description of breakage I'm guessing you had some axle wrap when you throttle jockeyed it and the rears hooked up

not my best day, but could have been a lot worse. i was just glad it was the u-joints and not an axle shaft or diff. yeah, probably had axle wrap. when it happened, the truck "jumped", so that must have been the springs popping back, but at first, i thought it was just the back end making it over one of the rocks. apparently not.

they thought my blazer would be holding the group up. instead, i spent a lot of time waiting for them to get out of my way or catch up. they were impressed...until i blew my joints and confirmed that jeeps are the greatest 4x4 known to man .

 

[6.2Blazer]

I can't see the pics here at work, but from your statement of being in 4-hi a large percentage of the breakage might just be do to driving style. You usually have a lot less control in 4-hi and it causes you to hit obstacles a lot harder/faster than with 4-lo and can cause some crazy torque loading and axle wrap due to the high wheel speed.