ECJ5ers in Colo

[FINOCJ]

A link to some photos I took during a week of wheeling Colo a bit ago....Trail list was:
Antero
Iron Chest/Grizzly lake
Chinamans (or whatever it is called now)
Holy Cross
Wheeler

My jeep suffered a bit of damage coming down HC, and the yellow jeep broke a leaf spring, but we were able to mostly drive it out with a field repair (we did lower it down the gatekeeper on a winch line)....and another jeep (the beautiful orange, pristine Renegade) did a bit of light rocker damage on Chinaman (and he skipped HC). Overall, we had a great trip, pushed the old iron pretty darn hard, and had a lot of fun watching a series of heavily modded new jeeps winch through French Creek on HC, while we all walked it easily. Between the 5 jeeps all running 33s, we only had one winch pull on HC - and that was me at the gatekeeper. The white flat fender and Yellow CJ5 made all but one obstacle for the entire trip (including the gatekeepers at both HC and Grizzly!)....the one spot that has become a killer for these early jeeps is the v-notch rock on wheeler. The first couple times I ran that with FR4x4, the center line was doable, but the ledge just doesn't seem to be climbable for the 81" wb anymore. The orange Ren took a line a few extra times to try and protect the restoration a bit - and now that its suffered just a bit of damage after the last 4 years, the owner is open to drilling some holes for rock sliders. Also, that jeep is the only one not locked front and rear - just limited slip powerlocs in both ends.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GA3BaHBFbHffBRH56

[Tom]

Nice photos James.

[Jim]

FINOCJ previously posted:

[FINOCJ]

Jim previously posted:

[FINOCJ]

On Chinamans, A pretty ugly frame crack was also found near the end of this day....luckily a friend of bostonbob's we've met lives sorta nearby and lent his garage and some tools for a late night repair...



Here are a couple pics from a friend....mostly Holy Cross:

the gatekeeper:



the second big obstacle:



another of the 2nd obstacle:



maybe the only pic of me - on the runout of the 2nd big obstacle:



the 3rd obstacle - crossing french creek (ps - we all got through this without issue, but then watched a collection of massively built new jeeps (and a CJ8) all winch through it):



its on the way down that the problems started....
Going down the 2nd obstacle - a leaf spring broke here on the yellow jeep:



I did some sheetmetal work:



After field rigging yellow jeep to roll out on the broken spring, we decided to lower it down the gatekeeper on a winch line from the back:



And after some inspection on my jeep - the abuse from quite a few years of beating on it began to show through....some frame cracks developing:
right from the edge of the spring hanger:



at the shock mount weld:



and just for fun, this OEM skid hasn't been straight for a lot of years, but its reached a new level of 'warped':

[FINOCJ]

some short vids:

[TjMike]

What a great trip and awesome photos! Love to see the old Jeeps work the trials.

FINOCJ previously posted: