Holycross 8.5.15

[flashboiler]

Just got back from Holy Cross, finally got to meet Jim Williamson... Great guy. Jim had a little more excitement than he was wanting when he broke the right rear leaf spring after climbing the 1st obstacle. Huge BANG and we had to search for a bit to find the busted spring. Luckily there was a perfect log nearby and Jim had a bucket full of straps.

Jim on the 1st obstacle:



BANG!



Luckily there was a near infinite supply of YJ log suspension components on hand:



ALWAYS carry lots o' straps:



Always park where it's comfortable to work on your rig:



obligatory scary sign warning shot:



Sammy had to drive home...



End of trail sammich:

[Shadowmaker]

So.... did not make it to the top.

Sorry!!

[Chris]

Sorry to see the carnage Jim!

Love the log repair!

[Tom]

Did he drive it home?

[The StRanger]

Sometimes ya gota do what ya gota do !!

[fredrok]

Great pics Andy and outstanding Macgyvering guys!

[Haku]

hahaa....Andy, what is with you and having to be under a rig on Holy Cross doing a improvised trail fix?

Looks like a good time....too bad you all couldn't make it further.

[Jim]

While wholly unfortunate to have a mechanical at the start of the trail on a NICE day, Andy and his buddy Ken were wonderful folks to be on the trail with!

The jeep was on Andy's trailer from the trail back to Louisville (Ken drove the sammy). With due care, it made it back to FoCo as one would want. The log stayed put and never shifted.

All for now, a few pix and write-up in a day or so...

Sincere thanks to Andy and Ken for the help. `sorry the nice day didn't turn out with a full trail trip.

[Java]

that is so awesome. I just added a 3' maple log to my emergency kit.

[newracer]

We got a guy off Moody a few years ago by making a skid out of a log to replace his rear passenger side tire because his axle shaft broke.

[flashboiler]

It didn't look too bad from behind on the road:

[Chris]

Exactly what broke Jim? Spring is my assumption but....

Thanks to everyone that helped, that's one of the things that's great about FR4x4!

[dieseldoc]

Wow Jim sorry to hear about the carnage.
Sounds like time for spring over and shackle reverse.

Glad you got it home safely.

Nice pics

[Shane]

Sorry to here about the breakage Jim, at least there were people around to help out.

[Jim]

Shane previously posted:

[Funrover]

Glad it happened near the bottom, bummer it happened at all

[Robert B]

it is only 3 (i think) springs but still to have all 3 go at one time is extremely rare... if it was never leaning before then you may want to take the rest apart and flex them (careful cause if it snaps pieces will fly) as it seems to be more of over stress on the entire pack maybe age had a part to play in it also. i have seen many single springs snap all the time but for all of them at the same time is interesting..... depending how it acts it may be an axle wrap problem which does cause extreme pressure right at the edges of the spring pad

[Jim]

It was a four leaf spring kit (4.5" lift if memory recalls correctly [I bought the jeep, modified, with no records]).

Upon closer review, the bottom leaf must have been broken (didn't see it at inspection) before the trip - rusty color to the broken area. The upper three leafs gave way on the trail. There are two or three pockets of rusty discoloration that make me wonder if the top two leafs were compromised. The second leaf from the bottom shows clean break coloring.

One or two straps at the front to hold the log to the frame / spring pack. The log was nicely nestled / centered between the U-bolts at the top of the axle. One or two straps at the rear holding the log to the frame / spring pack. One strap to pull the axle to the rear (most compressed spring position) to keep the system from moving up/down or fore/aft.

Hitting bumps on the right rear corner were a bit "firm". The log showed little to no movement. Straps / positioning was checked three or four times and there was no undesirable movement.

I did contemplate driving from Holy Cross to Fort Collins but the sensible way was to take Andy up on the trailer option. Again, my thanks to Andy and Ken.

[carpenle]

Wow Jim, Nice trail fix.

[Brad]

Don't know how I missed this. Glad it happened at the start. I cannot imagine creeping down holy cross on a log fix.