Damage summary; one CV boot, 2 broken rear axles, busted front end, blown drive belt and busted my Pelican dry box.
Well I am back overseas at work and have time to give the ride and damage report from my trip 2 weeks ago to Ride Royal Blue. I was looking forward to this trip since I expected the trails to be a mess after the cold winter and all the rain thus making the riding more challenging....boy did I underestimate how much more challenging it would be! We arrived on Friday the 13th after driving 9 hours in steady rain. The first 2 days the rain continued as we rode and the trials were in crazy bad shape. The trails that are normally good enough for 2wd trucks to travel were even bad. Trail 13 had several spots that required 4WD for me and were still too bad, with deep ruts and slick clay, for most stock SxS. I was really enjoying the ground clearence I have since I was since able to easily go where many people had to winch or pull or just could not go. On the second day I developed and creaking sound from the drivers rear axle and upon inspection I found the inner CV boot had split and was full of crap. No problem since I had brought a spare axle so a short time at camp for the change out and off we go again. All was well through Sunday as the rain stopped and the weather turned beautiful although the trails were still a wreck. Monday we went over to the east side of the interstate and tried the trail to the sand mines from the south end which I believe is called the widow maker. We made it but not without having to winch a few times. While getting out to winch my son noticed my large 1740 Pelican case laying upside down far down the mountain behind us! Although it was strapped down the tailgate either was not shut good or popped open while twisting over the rocks. The Pelican case had a nice sized hole busted in the top of it, so I will see how good Pelican stands behind their no questions lifetime warranty soon. Actually for the tumble the case took over solid rock with about a 100 pounds of gear inside the damage was not that bad and the case was still very much serviceable. Continuing up the mountain, on the last steep climb I spun the front tires and made them hop and heard a pop from the front end. I backed down and took a different line and made it and the front end was still pulling with no noise so I just crossed my fingers and continued on the rest of the day with no issues and ended up on the top of the world for sunset. We had that peak to ourselves on that beautiful evening and started a fire and grilled some choice ribeyes while watching the sunset. The view was the best I have seen up there and it was so clear I could actually see and name the big peaks of the smokies seen in the distance. Well after dark, and some excellent star gazing, I had the bright idea to go down the mountain to trail 19 and then around and back over the mountain to camp via trail 28, Fred's Way. We had came up 28 the opposite way to the top of the world on Sunday and it was severely rutted and looked like a 100 people had drug and winched up it over the weekend, we had no trouble with our clearance so I knew going down would not be a problem. What I wanted to show my son was how step this trail was coming up from 19 but did not think we would have a problem...WRONG! As soon as we started up the steep rutted rocky section I has worried at how bad it looked. Normally it is just steep and rocky, fun but not to bad even in a stock machine. This time the ruts were bad and obviously others had been having a bad time attempting it. Well we motored right on up to right at the top and then there was a big rock on the drivers side in the middle of the rut and it had been dug out badly. As soon as my front tire climbed on it and I spun all 4 tires, loud pops from the front end and rear came at the same time. I lost my front end completely and broke the drivers side rear axle I had just installed. Well this is not good! We were is a terrible spot to have a crippled machine, it was at night and we were alone on a very steep very narrow trail near the top. Luckily I was able to slowly back down until I could turn around and then able to limp back to camp with only one axle pulling. This was a bit of a challenge but my superior driving skills came into play and we made it home, lol. Well since I had used my spare rear axle I needed to replace the boot on the one I had pulled. I made a call and was able to run it down to Tommy's Motorsports and they installed a new boot in about 30 minutes while I waited. Back to camp and another quick axle change and we were back in business with a 100% rear drive. Well as soon as I left camp the front end was making terrible noise so we went back and after an hour of cussing and head scratching was able to remove the front driveshaft and this got us going with a nice and quiet front end. We rode the rest of the day with no issue but mainly stuck to easy trails and it was drying out anyway. Well then We we decide to take a fast ride up trail 27 that night, another dumb move! We were flying up the trail and I was enjoying how my suspension was handling it, this made me push it too hard, after catching big air over one of the water bars I blew the belt and broke the same dang axle again! Since I had left all tools and my spare belt at camp we were stuck with a head shaking, long walk back down the mountain to camp....The next morning, with tools and new new belt in had, we hitched a ride up to the Ranger and within a hour were limping back down the mountain to the camp and the trailer. I know this may sound like a nightmare trip but actually it was fantastic, we logged over 200 miles in extremely bad conditions and overcame numerous obstacles along while enjoying amazing scenery and time well sent with my 24 year old son.
Well I am back overseas at work and have time to give the ride and damage report from my trip 2 weeks ago to Ride Royal Blue. I was looking forward to this trip since I expected the trails to be a mess after the cold winter and all the rain thus making the riding more challenging....boy did I underestimate how much more challenging it would be! We arrived on Friday the 13th after driving 9 hours in steady rain. The first 2 days the rain continued as we rode and the trials were in crazy bad shape. The trails that are normally good enough for 2wd trucks to travel were even bad. Trail 13 had several spots that required 4WD for me and were still too bad, with deep ruts and slick clay, for most stock SxS. I was really enjoying the ground clearence I have since I was since able to easily go where many people had to winch or pull or just could not go. On the second day I developed and creaking sound from the drivers rear axle and upon inspection I found the inner CV boot had split and was full of crap. No problem since I had brought a spare axle so a short time at camp for the change out and off we go again. All was well through Sunday as the rain stopped and the weather turned beautiful although the trails were still a wreck. Monday we went over to the east side of the interstate and tried the trail to the sand mines from the south end which I believe is called the widow maker. We made it but not without having to winch a few times. While getting out to winch my son noticed my large 1740 Pelican case laying upside down far down the mountain behind us! Although it was strapped down the tailgate either was not shut good or popped open while twisting over the rocks. The Pelican case had a nice sized hole busted in the top of it, so I will see how good Pelican stands behind their no questions lifetime warranty soon. Actually for the tumble the case took over solid rock with about a 100 pounds of gear inside the damage was not that bad and the case was still very much serviceable. Continuing up the mountain, on the last steep climb I spun the front tires and made them hop and heard a pop from the front end. I backed down and took a different line and made it and the front end was still pulling with no noise so I just crossed my fingers and continued on the rest of the day with no issues and ended up on the top of the world for sunset. We had that peak to ourselves on that beautiful evening and started a fire and grilled some choice ribeyes while watching the sunset. The view was the best I have seen up there and it was so clear I could actually see and name the big peaks of the smokies seen in the distance. Well after dark, and some excellent star gazing, I had the bright idea to go down the mountain to trail 19 and then around and back over the mountain to camp via trail 28, Fred's Way. We had came up 28 the opposite way to the top of the world on Sunday and it was severely rutted and looked like a 100 people had drug and winched up it over the weekend, we had no trouble with our clearance so I knew going down would not be a problem. What I wanted to show my son was how step this trail was coming up from 19 but did not think we would have a problem...WRONG! As soon as we started up the steep rutted rocky section I has worried at how bad it looked. Normally it is just steep and rocky, fun but not to bad even in a stock machine. This time the ruts were bad and obviously others had been having a bad time attempting it. Well we motored right on up to right at the top and then there was a big rock on the drivers side in the middle of the rut and it had been dug out badly. As soon as my front tire climbed on it and I spun all 4 tires, loud pops from the front end and rear came at the same time. I lost my front end completely and broke the drivers side rear axle I had just installed. Well this is not good! We were is a terrible spot to have a crippled machine, it was at night and we were alone on a very steep very narrow trail near the top. Luckily I was able to slowly back down until I could turn around and then able to limp back to camp with only one axle pulling. This was a bit of a challenge but my superior driving skills came into play and we made it home, lol. Well since I had used my spare rear axle I needed to replace the boot on the one I had pulled. I made a call and was able to run it down to Tommy's Motorsports and they installed a new boot in about 30 minutes while I waited. Back to camp and another quick axle change and we were back in business with a 100% rear drive. Well as soon as I left camp the front end was making terrible noise so we went back and after an hour of cussing and head scratching was able to remove the front driveshaft and this got us going with a nice and quiet front end. We rode the rest of the day with no issue but mainly stuck to easy trails and it was drying out anyway. Well then We we decide to take a fast ride up trail 27 that night, another dumb move! We were flying up the trail and I was enjoying how my suspension was handling it, this made me push it too hard, after catching big air over one of the water bars I blew the belt and broke the same dang axle again! Since I had left all tools and my spare belt at camp we were stuck with a head shaking, long walk back down the mountain to camp....The next morning, with tools and new new belt in had, we hitched a ride up to the Ranger and within a hour were limping back down the mountain to the camp and the trailer. I know this may sound like a nightmare trip but actually it was fantastic, we logged over 200 miles in extremely bad conditions and overcame numerous obstacles along while enjoying amazing scenery and time well sent with my 24 year old son.
I knew you were going up there but I thought you'd be gone long before I got there. I rode some Sun, Mon, and Tues - put about 120 miles on the machine but you are right, the mud was horrendous! Rain started coming back in so we threw in towel early. Thinking about a trip to Taylor next fall, maybe we can hook up then--sounds like it would be entertaining watching you drive!
