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Sunday Stories
- Thread starter Bent77
- Start date
The Wedge - Buena Vista, CO
For land use and political reasons, I was at one point a member of the board of one of Colorado’s largest 4x clubs during the early 2000s.
While we did good work keeping trails open and working grants to help with other trails, I had joined with a good friend of mine who was already a member.
Formed into over a dozen "patrols", each patrol could invite whom ever from the main club to be in their patrol.
We used it more as a filter to recruit the crazier dumb bastards willing to thrash their junk to go wheel with us.
On Halloween of 2005, a group of us totaling 7-8 rigs went down to Buena Vista to run the "Carnage" trail.
Its nasty enough to have a sign in front of it warning you "Big tires and Lockers Required" sort of a thing.
We dropped in about 10 am, hoping to let the light glazing of snow melt off.
There’s several decent spots on that trail, one of which about 1/3 the way, is referred to as "the Wedge".
Two good-sized rocks with a V notch for passage (see above)
Somehow that day I managed to get shuffled into the middle of the group, ahead of a CJ-7.
Driver of said CJ we shall call "J".
J was known to be of a rather significant breed of tightwad not able to perform his own vehicle preparation work beyond an oil change.
His right foot never understood that though, and was often said to be playing the drum solo from Moby Dick
I made it over in decent fashion. J romped and stomped his way to the Wedge, bouncing off of it and back several times.
The CJ suffered some minor mechanical issues. By minor I mean he never tied the battery down with anything more than a bungee cord.
The battery came loose and stomped the crap out of the distributor cap, lights out.
No way around it, the CJ would have to go up the trail to get back out.
We winched it over using the battery in the CJ, but it was crapping out fast due to the motor not running.
At this point it was already late afternoon, and we were running out of daylight.
Someone produced a chain about 20 foot long, so I hooked one end to the K5, the other to the front of the CJ.
Off we went at a snails pace.
I tried to be nice. But at about 6 PM, and listening to J bitch about how I was dragging him over rocks to fast, I started to lose my patience.
Still only half ways up the trail.
The bolts had fallen out of the steering box on the CJ. No steering.
Another chain was used to triangulate to the high steer arms on the CJ, the only point on that POS on the front to chain to make it steer.
I started back up the trail for quite a ways.
At damn near dark 30, POS CJ gets pretty well double whammied.
I bumped it a few times, no dice. At this point, I decided the CJ was going to move.
I backed up to gain a little slack.
Now I didn’t know this at the time, but wheels will make sparks on rocks, too.
I dropped it into 2nd gear and dumped the clutch at about 3500 RPM.
Things flew, like sparks, rocks, logs, Jeeps parts. You know, stuff. That managed to bounce us about 100 yards up the trail to the exit.
The exit to the left, a nice steep rock face, or right, a sheer rock wall.
Winch out for all of us. Slow pulling getting a good running vehicle out, it took us several hours to move the runners over the ledge.
It was cold that night, not sure how low, but I was wearing Carhardtts.
Finally dipped an empty pop can into the fuel cell and pulled out some gas to start a fire with all the wet wood.
After turning around, chained the rear axle of the K5 to a tree, and ran all but three wraps out on the winch
Took 4 winch cables to drag Dead Jeep over the ledge.
By this point, the high steer arms, tie rod, drag link, frame, window frame, and front axle tube was bent on the CJ.
J was crying up a storm how we damaged his Jeep.
Several offers were made to burn the Jeep at that point, but we were at the top finally.
We made it down the return to the lot where we had thankfully parked a trailer with a truck and camper. Lit the little furnace and crawled into the sack at 3:45 am.
For land use and political reasons, I was at one point a member of the board of one of Colorado’s largest 4x clubs during the early 2000s.
While we did good work keeping trails open and working grants to help with other trails, I had joined with a good friend of mine who was already a member.
Formed into over a dozen "patrols", each patrol could invite whom ever from the main club to be in their patrol.
We used it more as a filter to recruit the crazier dumb bastards willing to thrash their junk to go wheel with us.
On Halloween of 2005, a group of us totaling 7-8 rigs went down to Buena Vista to run the "Carnage" trail.
Its nasty enough to have a sign in front of it warning you "Big tires and Lockers Required" sort of a thing.
We dropped in about 10 am, hoping to let the light glazing of snow melt off.
There’s several decent spots on that trail, one of which about 1/3 the way, is referred to as "the Wedge".
Two good-sized rocks with a V notch for passage (see above)
Somehow that day I managed to get shuffled into the middle of the group, ahead of a CJ-7.
Driver of said CJ we shall call "J".
J was known to be of a rather significant breed of tightwad not able to perform his own vehicle preparation work beyond an oil change.
His right foot never understood that though, and was often said to be playing the drum solo from Moby Dick
I made it over in decent fashion. J romped and stomped his way to the Wedge, bouncing off of it and back several times.
The CJ suffered some minor mechanical issues. By minor I mean he never tied the battery down with anything more than a bungee cord.
The battery came loose and stomped the crap out of the distributor cap, lights out.
No way around it, the CJ would have to go up the trail to get back out.
We winched it over using the battery in the CJ, but it was crapping out fast due to the motor not running.
At this point it was already late afternoon, and we were running out of daylight.
Someone produced a chain about 20 foot long, so I hooked one end to the K5, the other to the front of the CJ.
Off we went at a snails pace.
I tried to be nice. But at about 6 PM, and listening to J bitch about how I was dragging him over rocks to fast, I started to lose my patience.
Still only half ways up the trail.
The bolts had fallen out of the steering box on the CJ. No steering.
Another chain was used to triangulate to the high steer arms on the CJ, the only point on that POS on the front to chain to make it steer.
I started back up the trail for quite a ways.
At damn near dark 30, POS CJ gets pretty well double whammied.
I bumped it a few times, no dice. At this point, I decided the CJ was going to move.
I backed up to gain a little slack.
Now I didn’t know this at the time, but wheels will make sparks on rocks, too.
I dropped it into 2nd gear and dumped the clutch at about 3500 RPM.
Things flew, like sparks, rocks, logs, Jeeps parts. You know, stuff. That managed to bounce us about 100 yards up the trail to the exit.
The exit to the left, a nice steep rock face, or right, a sheer rock wall.
Winch out for all of us. Slow pulling getting a good running vehicle out, it took us several hours to move the runners over the ledge.
It was cold that night, not sure how low, but I was wearing Carhardtts.
Finally dipped an empty pop can into the fuel cell and pulled out some gas to start a fire with all the wet wood.
After turning around, chained the rear axle of the K5 to a tree, and ran all but three wraps out on the winch
Took 4 winch cables to drag Dead Jeep over the ledge.
By this point, the high steer arms, tie rod, drag link, frame, window frame, and front axle tube was bent on the CJ.
J was crying up a storm how we damaged his Jeep.
Several offers were made to burn the Jeep at that point, but we were at the top finally.
We made it down the return to the lot where we had thankfully parked a trailer with a truck and camper. Lit the little furnace and crawled into the sack at 3:45 am.
This one time at band camp.............
MEANSTREAK K30
1/2 ton status
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2016
- Posts
- 180
- Reaction score
- 18
LOL...
I have more stories about that guy in the CJ, it's pretty awesome. I finally made a trophy to hand out at the Patrol Christmas party. Took a mangled rod and piston from one of the drag motors and screwed it to a piece of oak. Called it the Dipsh!t of the Year trophy. He still has it...
Gee, and I thought that I had bought a cherry one owner!
LMAO!
But my driving is like giving it partial retirement! Cuz here it sits on 21 Rd waiting for a broken Jeep to get drug out by the lead K30.
LMAO!
But my driving is like giving it partial retirement! Cuz here it sits on 21 Rd waiting for a broken Jeep to get drug out by the lead K30.
I know, but how can I give you crap if I don't let my memory fail .. more.....
Lol!
Lol!
wetoolowdingbangow
1/2 ton status
I like this. More more!
Ahhh, you bought the famous K5... when we came off Metal Masher during bb15 I didn't run out of gas.... I never tightened the negative post on the battery from the thrash fest to get to Moab...
Next day I ran another trail and just like metal masher I was having surging problems coming off the trail.
I'll make sure to top your tank off during bb16
I made a trophy one time out of a big wrench probably 2-1/2' long and called it "The tool award".........It went to a guy named J too. 
Undoubtedly the same guy. He was a major tool...I made a trophy one time out of a big wrench probably 2-1/2' long and called it "The tool award".........It went to a guy named J too.
I had a 78 K20 rust wagon I was using for a plow truck for a couple years. Bought it for the T400/203/14bff drivetrain and it was barely running and no brakes, mouse nests throughout and stunk so bad you couldn't drive with the windows up.
After rebuilding the quad and throwing a Performer manifold and major tuneup on it getting the brakelines and m/c replaced, I tore out the interior, and heater core and bleached the floors and heater box, replaced the bench seat with a mouse piss free one and we were ready to plow.
At that point in time I was taking my daughter to her Moms house as a snowstorm was getting a good roll going. We had about 8" on the roads by 8pm and traffic was nil as word was out to get home and stay there. Well I had a plow route to get ahead of so I was going out to earn a double that night. It was a whiteout for a good part of the drive into town and took us about 30 minutes to get there.
So I drop my daughter off, which was about 15mi from my home, and started hearing a squeak from a front ujoint. Figured I could get home and change it out before I went plowing for the next 10-12 hours.
Not to be... Turned a corner and pow went the ujoint taking the shaft ears with it (remember this is a 203) So had to call a wrecker to come tow me home...but not with the plow on it, so called a buddy to haul the plow in his truck.
It's now 10pm and about 12" on the mostly barren roads. The tow truck was a 2wd 3500HD and the front wheels were so light on the ground with my K20 in tow that a simple turn required very slow speed and little throttle just to get some steering traction and took us another hour to go 12 miles to my house. Why you wonder? Well with 12+ inches on the ground and pretty much whiteout conditions we ran very slowly just to make sure we stayed on the road. I had called my brother (from a phone booth as I didn't own a cell phone yet) so he was to make his way to my house and plow me out. It took him a while to get there as well and he hit a downed tree across the road on the way but didn't appear to hurt anything as the plow hit it first. We get to my house first so we need to get the K20 into my shop which has the Corvette tucked away for the winter. So since I have no plow so we end up shoveling about 50 feet from the shop to the garage attached to the house by hand....3 of us including the tow truck driver. We were at it for about 30 minutes when my brother showed and he finished plowing enough to move the Vette out of the shop. It took another 15-20 min to maneuver the K20 into the shop (remember the front axle is locked up) as the deep snow and lack of steering made it a challenge. About midnight we closed the door on the shop, the K20 was inside and we all decided to have a beer and reflect on the last 4 hours. The tow truck driver charged me $45 and I was stunned, I gave him the $70 I had in my wallet and told him it wasn't enough, and he said this was the best call he's had in months. My buddy lead the way back to town for the tow truck and my brother and I crashed for a couple hours til the storm blew over leaving 16-18" of dense snow. I borrowed my brothers truck at 4am and hurriedly plowed the two businesses on my route leaving many tails but at least the majority of it was removed as I had to get back to my place and get my brothers truck back to him so he could start his route.
I started tearing the front axle apart to replace the drivers side axle assembly and at 2pm a junkyard had opened up and I went and picked one up and had it ready to plow by 7pm.
Now to get everyone plowed out took about 15hrs netting me much less than my expected double when the night started some 40 hours earlier.
After rebuilding the quad and throwing a Performer manifold and major tuneup on it getting the brakelines and m/c replaced, I tore out the interior, and heater core and bleached the floors and heater box, replaced the bench seat with a mouse piss free one and we were ready to plow.
At that point in time I was taking my daughter to her Moms house as a snowstorm was getting a good roll going. We had about 8" on the roads by 8pm and traffic was nil as word was out to get home and stay there. Well I had a plow route to get ahead of so I was going out to earn a double that night. It was a whiteout for a good part of the drive into town and took us about 30 minutes to get there.
So I drop my daughter off, which was about 15mi from my home, and started hearing a squeak from a front ujoint. Figured I could get home and change it out before I went plowing for the next 10-12 hours.
Not to be... Turned a corner and pow went the ujoint taking the shaft ears with it (remember this is a 203) So had to call a wrecker to come tow me home...but not with the plow on it, so called a buddy to haul the plow in his truck.
It's now 10pm and about 12" on the mostly barren roads. The tow truck was a 2wd 3500HD and the front wheels were so light on the ground with my K20 in tow that a simple turn required very slow speed and little throttle just to get some steering traction and took us another hour to go 12 miles to my house. Why you wonder? Well with 12+ inches on the ground and pretty much whiteout conditions we ran very slowly just to make sure we stayed on the road. I had called my brother (from a phone booth as I didn't own a cell phone yet) so he was to make his way to my house and plow me out. It took him a while to get there as well and he hit a downed tree across the road on the way but didn't appear to hurt anything as the plow hit it first. We get to my house first so we need to get the K20 into my shop which has the Corvette tucked away for the winter. So since I have no plow so we end up shoveling about 50 feet from the shop to the garage attached to the house by hand....3 of us including the tow truck driver. We were at it for about 30 minutes when my brother showed and he finished plowing enough to move the Vette out of the shop. It took another 15-20 min to maneuver the K20 into the shop (remember the front axle is locked up) as the deep snow and lack of steering made it a challenge. About midnight we closed the door on the shop, the K20 was inside and we all decided to have a beer and reflect on the last 4 hours. The tow truck driver charged me $45 and I was stunned, I gave him the $70 I had in my wallet and told him it wasn't enough, and he said this was the best call he's had in months. My buddy lead the way back to town for the tow truck and my brother and I crashed for a couple hours til the storm blew over leaving 16-18" of dense snow. I borrowed my brothers truck at 4am and hurriedly plowed the two businesses on my route leaving many tails but at least the majority of it was removed as I had to get back to my place and get my brothers truck back to him so he could start his route.
I started tearing the front axle apart to replace the drivers side axle assembly and at 2pm a junkyard had opened up and I went and picked one up and had it ready to plow by 7pm.
Now to get everyone plowed out took about 15hrs netting me much less than my expected double when the night started some 40 hours earlier.
Oh these are GREAT!!!! Haaaaa!!! Last trip to Moab (ejs 09) was quite an adventure... Came off nightshifts and stayed up all day finishing up some things on my rig ang getting my tow rig and trailer ready to go. My buddy was going with but couldn't get the day off so we weren't able to leave until about 5pm. First couple hours went good. Then we hit a snowstorm. Nothing too bad but still enough to slow us down. Needed a new sleeping bag so we stopped at the coleman outlet store in Loveland CO. Walked around the truck and everything was good to go still! Wasn't worried too much bout it as it was an 07 5.9 cummins. Only a couple years old with 50k on it. Paid cash and as the cashier counted my change out she was hesitant and said "your change is six dollars and... oh my... sixty six cents". Yikes... Headed out to the truck and noticed a puddle under it. No biggie. Just snow melting off and that orange hue is just from the lights in the parking lot right? WRONG... Water pump was toast and pouring coolant out! Called my friend from Loveland and asked him where the parts store was. Made it almost to the parts store before the temp started to come up. Went in got the new pump and coolant and BAM!!! From the time we pulled in got the parts listened to the guy tell us about his 8 second nitrous powered daily driver to the time we pulled out... 45 minutes. SWEET. Miss my cummins. Had plenty of fuel but I knew the further south we were the higher the price would be. Squeezed into the last and smallest gas station that had a diesel pump. Another walk around revealed NO STINKIN TAIL LIGHTS!!! Checked fuses trailer wires replaced bulbs even went as far as digging into the harness on my truck! Half hour later I remembered the trailer light fuse under the hood. Sho-nuff! Fixed it! Hit the interstate and made it about 2 miles before the next episode... Suddenly there was a horrible vibration. Both of us looked at each other and said "u-joint". Great... By now the parts store is closed! Pulling onto the shoulder I bumped the throttle for an unknown reason and immediately ruled out the u-joint. Where my exhaust 90'd into my bed (yes I had a stack. It was cool) it had come undone and was blasting up into the bottom of my bed. 10 minutes later back on the road! Things are going great now! Bout to drop down off vail pass NO TRAILER BRAKES! Crap! Oh well not a big deal. Wasn't too heavy anyway. It'll be fine. NOPE! Blizzard! Can't see! Ford Explorer pulling a u-haul trailer sliding sideways in front of me! As he hit the shoulder it straightens out and we both continue on. Phwew... From then on it was ok. Came up on a wreck in glenwood canyon but it was being handled so we carried on. Roll into beautiful Moab Utah at 5am. Friends were already there with my tent set up so all we have to do is park and go to sleep. Yeah right! Slickrock cg is packed! Get blocked in and have to back up halfway through the parking lot at 5:15am in my noisy truck. By now I'm over it. Park in the middle of the road and go crash. 7am rolls around and I can't sleep! Hear my friend grumbling a little and ask if he's asleep. Nope wide awake! Let's go play! The list continues after that... Broke a lower link, got pulled over for expired tags, got wedged on the frame slider at area BFE, maxed out my daily limit on my debit card, bout brawled with some guys at the cg... My friends peed in my stack. <--- payback for the year before. It was an adventure for sure but out of the 6 times I've been to Moab it was by far the best trip.
wetoolowdingbangow
1/2 ton status
Some of us are visual learners. Pics dammit!
Jimmy James and the Blue Flames?
This story won’t "paint" me in a very flattering light, but its part of the saga.
This is the second of the two-part story about J and his magic jeep.
After the Buena Vista tour in October, the mangled Heep, the much broken CJ-7, needed a ton of work.
J got estimates from a few shops to do all of the repairs including an engine swap to a 4L from the 4.2 carby motor.
Not willing to drop the money to have a shop do it, the CJ ended up in my driveway on a Time and Parts arrangement to perform the repairs in late January.
After work and one long weekend later, I had swapped in the new 4L, worked out the bugs and had it running.
Repaired the frame, engineered a removable brace for the steering box that clamped on the way too long sector shaft extension.
Additionally, I corrected his battery tie-down issue by building a frame for the battery, complete with a removable tie-down system. I "might" have accidentally welded the bolts on the battery tie-down.
Also agitated him by literally throwing away every bolt I removed, making him spring for fresh grade 8 bolts.
The Patrol that J was in for the Jeep club made an annual pilgrimage to Moab in Mid April each year.
I had decided at this point, I was not going for whatever lame reason.
Sadly so, it appears as I missed one of the greatest shows on Earth.
With the new fuel injected motor, other assorted repairs and upgrades done over the winter, the CJ was flying. Literally it seems as on one of the obstacles Rusty Nail.
Upon having some difficulty getting it to go, he held it to the floor, bouncing the poor CJ off the rocks, with "Blue Flames and Carnage from Chief Yellowpan" being spewed upon the unsuspecting landscapes.
Seems this is not good on little Dana transfer cases, as this one pooped a little.
Maybe a lot, as it rendered it useless. The CJ lost the front drive, and was limped off the trail. Back in Denver,
J had decided that poor assembly and not abuse must assuredly cause type of failure.
As he was more irritated by the previous builder, Aaron (Dana T case specialist by the way) than he was at me for welding in his battery and painting his oil pan yellow, I ended up with a scattered Dana case on my bench.
In the ensuing week while waiting for him to bring me all of the parts, J called me multiple time to complain about the Aaron.
Now Aaron is still a good friend of mine.
I blame him for much of my lack of discretion and getting into 4 wheeling.
In my own build thread, it is his Bridgeport that I prepped both sets of D44 knuckles I’ve used in the last 15 years.
Soooo, the constant bad mouthing got a little thin.
At this point, I took the Dana case and cleaned it. Like no other.
Like a mother cat cleaning kittens?
No, like and obsessed engine builder in the throws of passion.
Spotless. No grease, no paint what so ever on the out side of the case.
Then I painted it.
Not just any paint, but that fun special powdery kinda paint that you can’t paint over very well.
Inverted utility marking paint:
Oddly enough, he broke this T-case in the exact same spot, on the same trail, driving the same way.
The black paint that he had tried to cover it with seemed to just shed off, leaving a busted CJ with a yellow oil pan and broken pink transfer case.
This story won’t "paint" me in a very flattering light, but its part of the saga.
This is the second of the two-part story about J and his magic jeep.
After the Buena Vista tour in October, the mangled Heep, the much broken CJ-7, needed a ton of work.
J got estimates from a few shops to do all of the repairs including an engine swap to a 4L from the 4.2 carby motor.
Not willing to drop the money to have a shop do it, the CJ ended up in my driveway on a Time and Parts arrangement to perform the repairs in late January.
After work and one long weekend later, I had swapped in the new 4L, worked out the bugs and had it running.
Repaired the frame, engineered a removable brace for the steering box that clamped on the way too long sector shaft extension.
Additionally, I corrected his battery tie-down issue by building a frame for the battery, complete with a removable tie-down system. I "might" have accidentally welded the bolts on the battery tie-down.
Also agitated him by literally throwing away every bolt I removed, making him spring for fresh grade 8 bolts.
The Patrol that J was in for the Jeep club made an annual pilgrimage to Moab in Mid April each year.
I had decided at this point, I was not going for whatever lame reason.
Sadly so, it appears as I missed one of the greatest shows on Earth.
With the new fuel injected motor, other assorted repairs and upgrades done over the winter, the CJ was flying. Literally it seems as on one of the obstacles Rusty Nail.
Upon having some difficulty getting it to go, he held it to the floor, bouncing the poor CJ off the rocks, with "Blue Flames and Carnage from Chief Yellowpan" being spewed upon the unsuspecting landscapes.
Seems this is not good on little Dana transfer cases, as this one pooped a little.
Maybe a lot, as it rendered it useless. The CJ lost the front drive, and was limped off the trail. Back in Denver,
J had decided that poor assembly and not abuse must assuredly cause type of failure.
As he was more irritated by the previous builder, Aaron (Dana T case specialist by the way) than he was at me for welding in his battery and painting his oil pan yellow, I ended up with a scattered Dana case on my bench.
In the ensuing week while waiting for him to bring me all of the parts, J called me multiple time to complain about the Aaron.
Now Aaron is still a good friend of mine.
I blame him for much of my lack of discretion and getting into 4 wheeling.
In my own build thread, it is his Bridgeport that I prepped both sets of D44 knuckles I’ve used in the last 15 years.
Soooo, the constant bad mouthing got a little thin.
At this point, I took the Dana case and cleaned it. Like no other.
Like a mother cat cleaning kittens?
No, like and obsessed engine builder in the throws of passion.
Spotless. No grease, no paint what so ever on the out side of the case.
Then I painted it.
Not just any paint, but that fun special powdery kinda paint that you can’t paint over very well.
Inverted utility marking paint:
Oddly enough, he broke this T-case in the exact same spot, on the same trail, driving the same way.
The black paint that he had tried to cover it with seemed to just shed off, leaving a busted CJ with a yellow oil pan and broken pink transfer case.
Guys named Aaron are usually pretty awesome. Just sayin
