Spring Creek 6/21

[Ace]

Josh and I ran Spring Creek yesterday in our Sammy's, my friend Russ tagged along on his new to him ATV.

1st time for me passed the 1st shelf road. What a great trail. SC is 100% snow free thru cascade creek.

About half way up the trail my brake pedal went to the floor. Stopped and looked, brake fluid was leaking out of the inside of the rear brake drum. Crap, we pulled the wheel and drum and found the front shoe was pulled off the slave cylinder allowing the piston to push out of the slave cyl. Pushed it back in and remounted the shoe/drum wheel and somehow it sealed for me. Still have to figure out why the shoe popped out.

On highway 6 headed up that morning I started hearing a low growl in the sammy (well a new growl :lol:) got to Downieville and the U-joint in the rear drive shaft was hot, not red hot but uncomfortable to hold. After the trail I decided to fix it. Drove to Carquest in Idaho springs in case I needed something and got to work. Luckly, about 3 months ago I bought one of gekocycles u-joint tools. About 2 minutes into pounding the joint out the carquest closed and I was on my own:rolleyes:. Got the plus out and one bearing cap was dry toast. Put the joint back in and headed home but the noise was still there. I'll have to check the intermediate shaft joints and the other driveshaft joint this week.

Sorry, no pics. Josh took some and Russ too, maybe we can post some of them up.

[Gecko Cycles]

Wonder what all happened there?
At least you were still able to have a good time and got it home. Damn those Sammy U-Joints. Hope the tool made it easier. Don't you have a spare shaft?

Someday I will be wheelin again. I'm jones'n real bad.
Gina and I had lots of plans this weekend. Didn't end up camping because of rain and she had a upset tummy if you know what I mean.

Went up 14 to Walden again and almost stopped at the dunes where I had a friend at but the rain was driving hard so I bailed on that. Made it over to Saratoga Hot Springs for a soak in the 110 deg pool. Came back through Walden and took 125 to some dirt road to Grand Lake for a bite to eat and a couple of Margs. Then headed over Trail Ridge and back home. Another long day in the saddle.

[Ace]

Hope the tool made it easier. Don't you have a spare shaft?



Tool worked great. I do carry a spare shaft but it needs some work, splines are rusty and need cleaned. It's also stock length and mine has the TT extended yoke.

Didn't look at it Sunday, I was at dad's for fathers day. Hopefully it's one of the other 3 u joints in the drive train...

We've got to do a run to the dunes. Mid summer the bugs can be really bad, maybe towards fall. Sammys do really well there despite the lack of power. Lightness has advantages.

[Brody]

We've got to do a run to the dunes. Mid summer the bugs can be really bad, maybe towards fall. Sammys do really well there despite the lack of power. Lightness has advantages.

I think we are going to hit the dunes on the way back from the Ellis Jeep Trail. Since this is such a long drive just to run some sand, especially for anyone doing this run coming from the Springs (and I know that we certainly wouldn't do the drive just for this) and since we will be essentially driving right by the dunes, I have mentioned this is all the Ellis stuff I have ever posted.

[Gecko Cycles]

I think I am sealed up and filtered well enough for a dune run. Still have to run the lines for the diff, T-Case and tranny vents. I got these bellows but they are too hard so I am going to do something different and vent them into the engine. Can't do a dune run till that is done for sure.
Sand is your worst enemy and it gets in everywhere.

The Sammy may do OK being I can buzz the hell out of it and these worn out tires I have may be great being the HP is so low and especially at 8500 ft or what ever they are at. I cut my teeth at Dumont Dunes in Calif. I know these dunes are mere goose bumps compared to them but the Sammy for sure wouldn't work for sh!t at Dumont. I do like the idea of having some trees and shade!

My friend Bill has a nitro injected quad that is bad A$$ not to mention his many Sammy based buggies.

[Gecko Cycles]

I'm going to go up and explore Jackson County more There is nothing on trail Damage of the area and I saw tons of jeep roads yesterday. The GF can't go with me. Every rock is a holler at me even if it is softball size. SLOW DOWN, YOUR GOING TO BREAK AN AXLE, I DON'T WANT TO BE BROKE DOWN HERE, ECT ECT. Heaven forbid I kick one up to the under body. I have to stop and make sure nothing is broke. I told her to drive or I'm turning around. She says no and we continue on without a word from me. NO FUN AT ALL. If her F's bounce it is too rough. I do like seeing them jiggle though. LOL.

I have done some wheeling/exploring nothing technical up in WY on the Snowy Range Rd. Tons of great fishing.
The Hot Springs are great, free open 24/7 and camping is free on BLM land and there is plenty of it. Saratoga Lake is only $10 night and has electric. Seldom are there envelopes to put money in so I catch up when there is.

[Haku]

A few pics of the trip the other day...

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p7EXv01tl36ZAUQr3fuBPM35M9F9qXzqm6CINuMWKa_KNwT_ gQn0NZtMGX7E-VtGCU5ds_wfD7-xy4KewNaWilA/1.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pRqmhL7qqpUr7plhpD1SFq1GWPh-eICMEUCqFYXMJBRCBmNMF1uk6XkALa9RkzLaKwTpXnazTRy2Cs vIrakA4yw/2.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pwm1ZZ_fc4Mi39ZXE86GeLjMqO6LGbeansuhTuNgtfjI6ZFG r3JLzmD_zAsHTd4edjWjilkSzQrcl79Q-dAzbDQ/3.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pwm1ZZ_fc4Mj40Ik99m7Cfy4l-d_Ac_-jZBudLKmgdfVbh1XdWU1J3GkMDiXxmBc7xyDXZTYQ5H6IAXFGp HVf-g/4.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1poAAZiFBsY6UjAfH1MFLWytC-0CDVHz3-ltVpoC7s8bAkShmdVQMiGgQOahPgIGy2Wt1hSMpQwvzl-OB1qgZbDg/5.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1phJf1VH9_1d03HaPmIZzRENQ8mfuia27pa_gu9IilLiCUr-Q_-U4YzLHT-ZR1rTfunY2f79A8n0_t0VD6nDTvyA/6.jpg

Definitely had a good time, despite a few issues. They were minor compared to some other trips I've had up there. Glad we got em all figured out and the rest of the trip went well. Rock Garden was fun but doable. Hung out long enough to see some Jeep Buggies come through and not make it up some of the stuff we thought about trying. They were doing it after it rained a bit, so it was pretty slick. Otherwise it was a great trip. Definitely like going down a different way then going up. I have some more pics to post up too.

JH

[Haku]

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1phJf1VH9_1d255bwtTw3iu9DgA_ch9URVrnk6xTBpKiD9n6_ hsyE5xtTgkvfT1uszePqJ8VvHGKLzTiBJkAVPCw/7.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pkUpaqcdccs29Yjdj4ZLvPGXZzlXL-jW4KEqtwTKz_12yp9AwoHs6UcGzHm6_KzrEcK0cOyRP-l-Dj6AI7keoRw/8.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pMdfVo0n5DzFQGCteZ3IahTdkwQyl77g_IYoNoxwEiLezxB2 lEe-RqCl7TOxfyLQnFPtTfLipuW3c5DK1BFAvkQ/9.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pUsbJ8Nqsv7ZSOfGK1viqHxl2fRvKDWV9LKp0oI05JE6pFeX 2AtuNAXHDflritTp_-xEkMoGSfqyWW0a3CF6rSA/10.jpg


http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pr50JDN-MWw7HfIViBbcDzVwBXLuBd7xoKQBr7m8CMLAMniEh1U4StHO4m 7WCyMfsJTCBf8-SsC3y5pXrbvvFjg/11.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pXIkiiuWNgNXzO-x74pcAqZzwgG1vA4y09nHxD92JBVXQv7RMVDzYfvkD3FuGZqfZ UiuGTFPDooAZ8C1fWNldtw/12.jpg

JH

[Haku]

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p80t7FNPH3MJDcJgSpkKai6Fi2-TMD5dC1jGkq1VTqyM8QIS_HrKdTcBNfEQKL2LvtSomwbwmnY8d _YOMcN9uXg/13.jpg

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pFisMOy3EgiSbEnSSJ4dAehJIpwMEKz5VbJsWtraFMoKuaZc oTokFYY0WMP75zCvk7YrfFtEw_FV-tt9ICPoPpw/14.jpg

[Gecko Cycles]

Cool. Whos's dog?
I have never went back down over that first obstacle. Some how Andy and I missed it the last time we went and got turned back.

[Chris]

The dog looks so much like our last one that seeing it would probably bring my wife to tears.

[Gecko Cycles]

I saw a new Toy FJ trash it between those trees with I went with Zukatude. Ripped his mirror off and really banged up his front skid plate. They were JERKS and we eventually let them pass when they were tail gating us and in a huge hurry.

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p80t7FNPH3MJDcJgSpkKai6Fi2-TMD5dC1jGkq1VTqyM8QIS_HrKdTcBNfEQKL2LvtSomwbwmnY8d _YOMcN9uXg/13.jpg

[Gecko Cycles]

Great picts Josh!.
You should really get into photography.

I am so in love with the mountains. Wish I would never have to come down unless it is cold out! LOL.

[Haku]

Cool. Whos's dog?
I have never went back down over that first obstacle. Some how Andy and I missed it the last time we went and got turned back.

Thats Daisy. She is Russ's Australian Cattle dog. Total lover girl if a bit skittish sometimes. I fell on my ass trying to take pictures of the "the wall" and she freaked out and was a bit scared of me the rest of the day. I aquired some bacon treats later and we made friends again from there. Definitely a cool dog though. Half the time she rode with Russ on the ATV, but it started raining and hailing so she got to hang out in Andy's rig for a while too.

JH

[Haku]

I saw a new Toy FJ trash it between those trees with I went with Zukatude. Ripped his mirror off and really banged up his front skid plate. They were JERKS and we eventually let them pass when they were tail gating us and in a huge hurry.



Yeah, its a deceptively hard little obstacle. Andy tried it a bit further to right/passenger side, but the rear diff wouldn't clear it. Move over a foot and he walked right up it. The Jeeps above us (a rubicon and an X I think) were a bit wide eyed and put up. Probably the hardest stuff they had done I imagine. Nice guys though, stopped to offer help when we were pulled over working on Andy's brake issue. We ate lunch right above there, and just as we started to head out a CJ7 long bed with a lift and big tires, and a couple of Tube buggy Jeeps came through. Started to hail and rain right about then, so everything got a bit slicker. The buggies tried the bigger ledge/undercut to the left of Andy in this picture and got up it only with a really good run at it and lots of throttle:

http://dk03fg.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pXIkiiuWNgNXzO-x74pcAqZzwgG1vA4y09nHxD92JBVXQv7RMVDzYfvkD3FuGZqfZ UiuGTFPDooAZ8C1fWNldtw/12.jpg

Definitely some fun stuff in there that will challenge just about any rig.

JH

[Gecko Cycles]

Unfortunately dogs are so dependent and will just cower unnecessarily and may never get over any abuse they encountered previously no matter how minor.
I've adopted abused dogs and never had them recover no matter how much I kissed their a$$ and babied them. I have also got rid of dogs and they recovered fine after my care. My height has something to do with it I'm sure. Who knows. I have GF's ruin good dogs too by letting them get away with things they shouldn't. I am now pet less in this unacceptable society. We used to bring out pets everywhere and now they are like leppers and need to be contained on leashes and left off the job. PROGRESS!

[Gecko Cycles]

Yea that rock garden has good stuff to offer for even 38's. It isn't long though but you can play as much as you want there and still recover to an easier line.

Crawling is a matter of inches really. This is what makes it so fun for the mildly built rigs especially.

[Chris]

Unfortunately dogs are so dependent and will just cower unnecessarily and may never get over any abuse they encountered previously no matter how minor.

Mine was part Cattle dog and part Italian Greyhound which accounts for the looks. Ours was very fearful when my daughter rescued her but needed more time than she had so we took her in. She became quite calm with us after lots of time and affection. Unfortunately she never took to other people and her fear of others increased as the years past to the point she was a danger. Putting her down was one of the hardest things I've done. :(

She's not the first we rescued and I've come to the conclusion you're very lucky if you rescue a dog that doesn't have serious problems that never completely go away.

[Gecko Cycles]

One thing of note is media attention to people and their dog abuse raising dogs that are meant to kill. I have met some really cool Rots and Pits and have also seen them turn on their masters and kids for little reason at all and then have to be put down. Some breeds, sadly, are unpredictable I guess.
I personally didn't have dogs for protection but as companions.

[Gecko Cycles]

Mine was part Cattle dog and part Italian Greyhound which accounts for the looks. Ours was very fearful when my daughter rescued her but needed more time than she had so we took her in. She became quite calm with us after lots of time and affection. Unfortunately she never took to other people and her fear of others increased as the years past to the point she was a danger. Putting her down was one of the hardest things I've done. :(

She's not the first we rescued and I've come to the conclusion you're very lucky if you rescue a dog that doesn't have serious problems that never completely go away.We had a great and supper smart Boarder Collie that was never abused and I got it from 6 wks old. When we had our first son 2 years later and she couldn't handle the change and eventually had to be put down too after the wife seeing the dog in person snap at our infant son even though I had warned her of several instances in the past. Dang that dog was so smart. I felt I could just talk to her and she would understand. She was just not tolerant to the new family member.