FINOCJ
April 11th, 2016, 06:10 PM
Made it out to Moab and I still have a running Jeep - but it is making some funny sounds. More to come on that when I get some time to dig into it. I flat tow the old behind my Taco which works really well for my needs. We camped 3 nights at a relatively new campground on the south end of Moab called ATC. The owners opened shop last year just in time for EJS and I guess it was a bit of a disaster, but they have their stuff together now. Our companions arrived early and got us in some good tent sites terraced into the side of the hill instead of the ones out in the gravel lot next to all the RV spots.
Vehicle info: My friend has an early 2000 something TJ Rubicon with a small OME coil spring lift running 255/75/17 which comes out just over 32". Of course my CJ5 is a 1970 with 33x10.5s with a narrow track. We ran Fins-n-Things on Friday and then followed up with Klondike Bluffs and a good chunk of the Copper Ridge trail. Not sure what was going on in town - it was kind of like EJS except for all sorts of ATVs, or whatever you call these modern 4 door side by sides that rally like dune buggies everywhere. Fins was absolutely overrun with ATVs - we'd stop to let a couple of them by (they run way over the 20mph speed limit) and 10 more would come by out of nowhere. It took us 2 hrs to run the southern loop we spent so much time working around them (or they around us maybe)! At least the numbers moderated on the north side. There was some sort of ATV ride on sat at Fallen Peace Officers - so maybe that everyone in town for fri Fins run. I am guessing we had to let over 100 ATvs pass - I think some of them were just lapping the southern loop and kept passing us every 30 min or so.
I've been out to Moab too many times to count - mostly for hiking and MTB and a little 4wd - and this was the second trip with the old CJ. After last year, we decided to step it up a little bit and had no issues on Fins but we didn't run the steep section up Kennys climb. Fins doesn't really have the feel of a trail run - more like a 4wd amusement park including the crowds. I absolutely loved the roller coaster feel but if its always that busy with other people, I'll have to find other trails. The old CJ had no issues - only had one issue with the carb sputtered and dying on a steep climb. And as it always the case on such rock - the great traction allows my non-locked CJ to get traction. Only one approach to a slickrock climb where I took a more challenging entrance that was off angle did I get some tire spin and have to try again. The TJ made everything seem like a easy drive except at some point the right front axle seem to squirt out some diff fluid around the seal on to the knuckle and tire. Did it a couple times but no major issue for the trio - on the list for post trip repair.
On sat was Klondike Bluffs - I have biked this before and thought I remembered a few tricky spots at the beginning in the wash before getting up to the slickrock. Whether I remembered wrong or maybe my perspective has changed but we cruised everything easily. We went there mostly to for my friends to see the dino footprints as well as get a hike into Arches. We were not able to hike to the Arch on Fins due to the extended time we ended up taking. We then headed north along the Copper ridge trail up to HUGE sauropod dino tracks. This easy section gave my wife some good time behind the wheel.
Sun was focused on MTB - we wimped out and didn't do the SR trail and went to some old favorites by Bar M.
photos to follow on next posts....but here is the entire album if anyone wants to look through
http://s1375.photobucket.com/user/jco6560/library/2016%20Moab?sort=9&page=1
Vehicle info: My friend has an early 2000 something TJ Rubicon with a small OME coil spring lift running 255/75/17 which comes out just over 32". Of course my CJ5 is a 1970 with 33x10.5s with a narrow track. We ran Fins-n-Things on Friday and then followed up with Klondike Bluffs and a good chunk of the Copper Ridge trail. Not sure what was going on in town - it was kind of like EJS except for all sorts of ATVs, or whatever you call these modern 4 door side by sides that rally like dune buggies everywhere. Fins was absolutely overrun with ATVs - we'd stop to let a couple of them by (they run way over the 20mph speed limit) and 10 more would come by out of nowhere. It took us 2 hrs to run the southern loop we spent so much time working around them (or they around us maybe)! At least the numbers moderated on the north side. There was some sort of ATV ride on sat at Fallen Peace Officers - so maybe that everyone in town for fri Fins run. I am guessing we had to let over 100 ATvs pass - I think some of them were just lapping the southern loop and kept passing us every 30 min or so.
I've been out to Moab too many times to count - mostly for hiking and MTB and a little 4wd - and this was the second trip with the old CJ. After last year, we decided to step it up a little bit and had no issues on Fins but we didn't run the steep section up Kennys climb. Fins doesn't really have the feel of a trail run - more like a 4wd amusement park including the crowds. I absolutely loved the roller coaster feel but if its always that busy with other people, I'll have to find other trails. The old CJ had no issues - only had one issue with the carb sputtered and dying on a steep climb. And as it always the case on such rock - the great traction allows my non-locked CJ to get traction. Only one approach to a slickrock climb where I took a more challenging entrance that was off angle did I get some tire spin and have to try again. The TJ made everything seem like a easy drive except at some point the right front axle seem to squirt out some diff fluid around the seal on to the knuckle and tire. Did it a couple times but no major issue for the trio - on the list for post trip repair.
On sat was Klondike Bluffs - I have biked this before and thought I remembered a few tricky spots at the beginning in the wash before getting up to the slickrock. Whether I remembered wrong or maybe my perspective has changed but we cruised everything easily. We went there mostly to for my friends to see the dino footprints as well as get a hike into Arches. We were not able to hike to the Arch on Fins due to the extended time we ended up taking. We then headed north along the Copper ridge trail up to HUGE sauropod dino tracks. This easy section gave my wife some good time behind the wheel.
Sun was focused on MTB - we wimped out and didn't do the SR trail and went to some old favorites by Bar M.
photos to follow on next posts....but here is the entire album if anyone wants to look through
http://s1375.photobucket.com/user/jco6560/library/2016%20Moab?sort=9&page=1