Our trip to Broketruck Mountain...

Things were a changing under the Jeep recently – I was having issues with the steering system. Those issues have been worked out, and you can check out the revamped steering setup in this issue – it works very well after some careful R&D.

But before that, I had been patiently waiting for new parts all winter. Now the problem with parts that are brand new to the market-they tend to be late. My dilemma was that Moab was coming up fast, and those dates sure weren't going to change.

In fact, the parts were so late, I had to take a whole week off to get the Jeep ready for Moab. I thought I had it licked until I opened the rear diff to change the fluid and saw three broken teeth on the ring gear. Luckily, I had a spare 5.13 ring gear but no pinion. I stuffed the ring gear on the ARB and put in it and rocked the ring gear – yup, we've got some backlash and the teeth don't bind – looks like we're good to go...

So while we avoided telling you of our mistakes with our steering in the article this issue, here's what really happened. I made a serious mistake for the rear steer. You can set up hydraulics two ways, 'closed centre' and 'open centre'. A 'closed centre' system would be employed in an on-demand pump and motor like a portable hydraulic pack. On the other hand, steering systems and pumps need to be 'open centre' so the fluid can circulate continuously.

By my own mistake, I set the rear steer up as 'closed centre'. The day we were loading the Jeep, it was idling in the driveway when, "Squeeeeeeeeeek, bang!" and fluid pours out the bottom of the rear steer pump. Luckily I have two pumps (one for the front, one for the rear) so we straightened the rear tires, cut the belt and drove it onto the trailer figuring we would get a new pump en route to Utah. Keep in mind, we didn't know why it went boom in the first place yet. So off to Moab we go with a broken Jeep.

We were having a hard time booking a condo for Moab this year – I guess condos are getting popular. Each year we book a large unit, pack it full of people and pay $200 each for an entire week. That's a great price for a week with a washer, dryer, kitchen and a pair of bathrooms plus a nice place to wrench.

This year we got stuck pretty far out of town. Very nice cabin at Pack Creek Ranch re: Broketruck cabin- no TV, no phone, no cell coverage, and three guys -now you understand the name? Nice place for a family get-away, but not so nice for a working/wheeling week in Moab. Plus the herd of Turkeys on site woke up way earlier than my hangover would wear off. Plus we had this cat at our cabin that had lost an ear to a Coyote sometime in its past. Damn friendly thing, and very good at mooching food from humans. Along with the Turkeys and Cat we had more Deer than a piece of desert could probably support at any other time than spring. Oh yeah, and a field of gophers.

Well, we had all week, so a-wrenching we would go. A new pump was acquired for $35 plus core in Moab. It is nice to know you don't get ripped off at NAPA during Moab Safari week. It whined too when we put it in, so to beer we went. We decided to block out the rear steer and get on with our week, so to the local 4x4 shop we went to get some tube split so we could block out the ram. Then we went over to the Moab Brewery to wait for the parts – for ah, ... dinner. Later, it was back to the cabin in the woods where we blocked out the ram, drank a few more beers and burnt some meat on the BBQ.

On Tuesday morning, there was an event going on at a BFE park (also covered in this issue). We went to that first, and planned on an R&D wheeling trip after lunch. That afternoon, off we went with the Jeep on trailer towards the trailhead for Gold Bar Rim, which has lots of play areas to test things out.

We made it about a mile before the Jeep died – no power. A very red-neck looking guy came along, chew in one cheek and his other two hanging over both sides of a poor little quad and asked if we needed help. A ride back to the truck and trailer would be nice, so Rob McFadyen hopped on board what small percentage of the seat that was left behind Bubba. Rob had just gotten back to the trailhead when I got the Jeep started and drove it down, making the to-close-for-comfort ride on the quad for nothing. Ah, what are friends for, anyway?!

So we loaded the Jeep on the trailer and headed back to Moab Brewery (partly for Rob to get that butt-crack out of his mind). After, ah...dinner, we went back to the cabin with our Turkeys, Cat and Deer and started into a 40 of Rum. Getting the feel for our Moab week yet?

After waking up at 5 AM to Turkey gobbles again, we greeted Wednesday with one eye open. We sorted out the charging problem, which turned out to be in the welding box. Then we helped Todd set up his booth for his Aqualu body tubs at the trade show, followed by a few beers and we didn't make it much further than the lawn after that. Besides Todd almost roasting the cat as it purred in his hand, it was a relaxing night.

We figured we still had a couple of days to still get some wheeling in.

Thursday came and the trade show was on. Our reasons for going to Moab each year are twofold: get some early spring wheeling in and sell some ads to keep us in business. I talked to Pat at Premier Power Welders and he fixed us up with a new welder box.

We had a great day at the trade show figuring we would get to wheel on Friday... so that night we installed the new welder and had just a couple of beers – no really!

Friday morning we had the Jeep running on the trailer to charge the batteries it was idling nice when all of a sudden it stopped. We took this as a sign from the wheeling gods that Moab week for us was beer drinking and Turkey gobbles at 5AM, and not for wheeling.

To the trade show we went. Ah and you might think things end there. One company was supposed to pick up the Land Cruiser tubs Todd brought for display, but they thought they had to pick them up on Saturday, not Friday. So off to the Moab Brewery we went to wait – and you know, have dinner.

When the guy shows up he notices a bullet hole in his cab-someone had used him for target practice on his way to Moab. Shocked as he was, we had some serious dinner to finish across the street so we loaded him up and sent him on his way – a little more pale than when he came.

A fine week I must say – saved by a nice cabin in the woods, beer and rum and a couple of good travel partners and new friends we met from Montana: see his Jeep feature this issue. Enjoy all our hard work at Moab. If nothing else, we brought back some unique stories and had fun despite the lack of wheeling. Yes, there's always a reason to go to Moab!!!!

Albert Vandervelde
Editor, 4WD Magazine