Holy Cross (Fri 10/2)

[FINOCJ]

Jim, Gerald and I completed Holy Cross today....I just got home after a long round trip day in the cj. Jim and Gerald are staying the night, with plans to run McAllister/Ptarmigan gulches loop, but that might be dependent on finding a part. Jim broke a u-bolt and the center pin on the front driver side leaf spring on the way down - somewhere near or in the French Creek crossing. Without the center pin, the axle was sliding forward and back on the leaf spring, and it didn't take long trying to baby it down for the front drive shaft to over extend and pull apart. Jim disconnected the drive shaft at the TC yoke, ratchet strapped the axle to the front bumper to help stablilze it, and drove down the rest of the way in 2wd....

In terms of the other events, it was a pretty mellow day. We only saw one other jeep, and 2 motocross riders. We drove all the way up to the base of Cleveland rock past the old city, and then returned to the city for lunch. Other the Jim's suspension/axle work, the only other issue was me - I had to winch the first big obstacle just past the exit junction - I think its called The Notch on Trails Offroad. We had no other trouble including mostly clean lines up Steep Rock, through French Creek, and up Tippy Tree. There was also a challenging spot just pas the city, pretty close to Cleveland Rock....One thing that I think really helped us was the trail was very dry - even cleveland rock was completely dry without any mud puddle at the bottom.

I'll see if I can get some pics posted soon....

[FINOCJ]

At the trailhead:


Here is Jim with some nice color on the entrance climb up to the 'exit' junction...


Jim climbing up 'Steep Rock' - this is the second big obstacle


Jim climbing up Tippy Tree:


Gerald taking the hard line on an unnamed obstacle above the city, just before Cleveland Rock:

[FINOCJ]

If you look close, you can see the left Ubolt is broken off adjacent to the spring pack...


Here you can see the axle has slid back about 4-5"....the axle should be centered over the hole you see in the leaf spring, and a centering pin/bolt should be in there....My guess is the ubolt broke first (right above the nut), and that allowed the axle to start sliding around and eventually sheared the pin off....


The back/long section of the front drive shaft over-extended and pulled out of the front section and was just hanging down:

[FINOCJ]

A few more photos....
Jim coming down 'Steep Rock' - this was just after strapping the axle forward to the front shackle to keep it from getting pushed back. I was quite surprised that the strap held going down this steep down step, as the most of the weight of the jeep is on the front axle with the ground trying to push it back. One thing that helped is as the arch in the spring compresses and the tire stuffs up - the axle moves up and forward with the classic front shackle set-up on old jeeps - and that can actually release a bit of the tension on the strap, and as the axle droops, it pulls on the strap and helps keep the axle forward.


Gerald coming down the Notch....


One of the two buildings still standing at the old Holy Cross City...

[Jim]

I'm back to the keyboard - pix and such to process quickly.

Many thanks to Gerald and James for assistance in the task. New U-Bolt and center pin (1/4-20 bolt + nylock nut put to use) installed this morning. A trek to Gypsum for the parts.


Once tended (though we (more so "I")) / I didn't think about re-attaching the front driveshaft (was NOT on my radar). That was until... we could have put it to use.

We drove into Minturn for some BBQ then Gerald brought up - what way are you thinking of heading back? In the end we drove the ~6 miles south/up to Red Cliff (stopping a a couple vista points for the mine buildings) for Shrine Pass. We drove Shrine Pass (we also walked the same 100 yards of the closed connector trail) but then decided to take a dead-end spur. I would have had a very difficult time getting up a couple steps rocks w/o the front wheels helping - so I parked the jeep and jumped in with Gerald. It was narrow and pinstripey. Perhaps 30 minutes to the end then we walked a couple min to a so/so vista spot - and headed down and out. At the Vail pass rest stop we aired up and parted ways. We aired down for Shrine Pass and I would do so again. Where were some sections of embedded rock that must make low clearance cars drive with care.

I took some pix of the "work" in progress. I graciously made use of Gerald's impact and cut-off tools, pry bar and assorted jack and wrenches - they made the task quite easy. There was no difficult spot to fight - just check off the steps until it was complete.

[Rocrawlr]

I had a great time on Friday at Holy Cross with Jim and James as well as Saturday helping Jim get his YJ fixed up and checking out Shrine Pass and a side trail on the way back to I-70. Pictures and video to follow.

[Rocrawlr]

Jim crawling up Steep Rock

[Rocrawlr]

James crossing French Creek with ease

[Jim]

Let's see if these vids work...

[Steve-O]

Wow, looks like a great trail! Interesting to read about your on-the-trail fix. I need to throw my ratchet straps into my "uh-oh" kit...

[Jim]

Highlight photos posted here with a full photo set at this link:
www.JimWilliamson.net/automobile/2020-10-02--trail--holy-cross-and-shrine-pass/


The connector trail that's closed / locked








Camp Hale

[Jim]

Holy Cross














Cleveland Rock - left line
(thanks for the typo notice!)




right line

[newracer]

Looks as if you guys had a great trip. Wish I could have made it. Thanks for the report.

[Jim]

Holy Cross...














Mine area

[Jim]

Broken U-Bolt issue















Shrine Pass & spur

[Jim]

Steve-O previously posted:

[Jim]

This was in Red Cliff - what is it? The hood has me questioning.

Willys? old Toyota?

[FINOCJ]

Cj3b....the longest produced cj

[newracer]

Did anyone try Cleveland Rock?

[Java]

A useful thing to carrry for breakage is a piece of chain and some bolts / washers / nuts that fit it. You wrap the chain around the things you want to keep together and put the bolts through the links and tighten it up. Works sometimes.