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Thread: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain

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    Default Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    This was a great day with a great group!

    We started off at the base of trail creek road - the original rendezvous point turned out to be a busy touristy location. We had 5 rigs - the 4 rsvp'd members, and Chris's brother in a sweet old ramcharger. The ramcharger unfortunately was suffering carburetor problems from a combination of the steep initial grade and the overall elevation and was forced to turn back after just a few minutes. I hope he gets it sorted out and comes on another run, love to see the old rigs out to play!

    Quick stop for a photo at a mine site on trail creek road:



    We continued up Trail Creek Road, which became surprisingly rocky and eroded given the initial graded quality of the trail. We then transitioned onto South Spring Gulch which offered more of the same action. At the top I suggested we run the top mile of Saxon Mountain, which the crew was game for. There's a nice parking area up there with room for a large number of rigs, with picnic tables and great views. After heading back down, we made our way down Cascade Creek back to 103. This was the most challenging trail of the day, with all the obstacles run downhill it's a nice exercise in tire placement and controlled movement. I think we were all impressed by how Chris in the stock H3 handled the tougher descents.

    It's always a pleasure getting out and wheeling with other enthusiastic folks, thanks all for the great Saturday

    Shared album is here, feel free to add photos/videos of the run.

  2. The Following Member Says Thanks to a1gemmel For This Post:

    RivetDRivet (June 13th, 2022)

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    This was also the last of 7 straight days of wheeling for me, starting from last Sunday's Pickle Gulch run. It's now time to lock my poor Toyota in the garage for a serious maintenance and repair binge...

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    RivetDRivet (June 13th, 2022)

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    a1gemmel previously posted:
    "It's now time to lock my poor Toyota in the garage for a serious maintenance and repair binge..."

    What's on the list?

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Jim previously posted:
    "What's on the list?"

    Clutch throwout bearing... premature failure, it's been screaming since before the Chinaman's run. Can only press my luck so far.
    New clutch while I'm in there.
    Rear transfer case will be rebuilt with all new seals and bearings, and 4.7:1 marlin crawler gears.
    Oil pan gasket needs to be replaced, and the numerous broken/missing studs fixed.
    I knocked my passenger mirror off on a tree, that will need to be replaced.
    Electrical issues - stereo stopped working, and horn is mysteriously intermittent.
    Something in my accessory drive started sounding like a fork in a garbage disposal today, need to track down where that's coming from.
    Front leaf packs need to be greased, starting to be very creaky.
    I'm adding a panhard bar and a swaybar to the front to counter some handling issues.
    And... finally weld in some bump stops. I destroyed a shock from bottoming it out repeatedly.


    I hope I'm in better shape when I'm 41

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    That list will keep you busy for a bit. Bearing, electrical issues, accessory drive seem to be high important items / those that could leave you stranded. Though, what is your accessory drive? Something driven by an engine belt when the engine's running?

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Yeah, meaning generically everything running off belts in the front of the engine. For me that's power steering, 2 alternators (onboard welder), water pump, and fan. One of those is very unhappy. Will likely get into that today.

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Yowza - that'd be a sound worth checking out.

    on board welder. I basically have no need but the idea does tickle the brain.

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Well, mystery solved. This 4 banger rattles so hard it cracked the onboard welder bracket. Weird, not even at a weld. If only I had... A welder.
         

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    Jim (June 12th, 2022)

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Jim previously posted:
    "Yowza - that'd be a sound worth checking out.

    on board welder. I basically have no need but the idea does tickle the brain."

    check out premier welders...I would like to have one of these for the cj
    https://premierpowerwelder.com/shop/...g-system/jeep/
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  13. The Following Member Says Thanks to FINOCJ For This Post:

    Jim (June 12th, 2022)

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    I pieced my setup together for about $300 - alternator, control box and bits, welding leads. There's a write-up on pirate I referenced that I could find again for anyone interested. The premier kit seems like a good avenue if they have an install kit for your specific vehicle, in my case I would have still needed to make a bracket.

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Sweet. A bit steep cost for me "almost never" needing use on a trail.

    I could see (low priority), carrying dedicated battery connect cables to connect two or three batteries (no matter top or side post), some welding cable (use jumper cables??), welding sticks and shield. That'd be lower cost and would not take much space. Most trail runs have three batteries available.

    I posted and didn't see Andrew's post - $300 is certainly down in the ballpark... Hmmm If it's easy to find the post/thread, I'd be curious to see it.

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Tossed some more pictures into the group shared folder. Thanks Andrew for both for putting this together and for helping find our way on the run. Also to Hugh and Mike for all of the great advice and spotting. Didn't realize how gnarly that one stretch was until seeing the video, no way I could have done that on my own. It was a great time and I look forward to seeing everyone again on more runs!

  17. The Following Member Says Thanks to RivetDRivet For This Post:

    a1gemmel (June 13th, 2022)

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    "Hmmm If it's easy to find the post/thread, I'd be curious to see it."

    https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/di...er-obw.631100/

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    Jim (June 13th, 2022)

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Jim previously posted:
    "I could see (low priority), carrying dedicated battery connect cables to connect two or three batteries (no matter top or side post), some welding cable (use jumper cables??), welding sticks and shield. That'd be lower cost and would not take much space. Most trail runs have three batteries available."

    that is what we did for a rubicon repair a few years ago - unfortunately, even with 3 or 4 batteries the welds didn't have much penetration and failed pretty quick. Depending on where the repair is needed, it might have worked, but it the repair would have been questionable even in a garage setting.
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  21. The Following Member Says Thanks to FINOCJ For This Post:

    Jim (June 13th, 2022)

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    Default Re: Trail Creek to Cascade Creek, with a dash of Saxon Mountain



    Off topic for the original thread, but since Jim was discussing on board welding ...friend just added one of these spool gun wire feed welder to his jeep.
    https://buntrailwelder.com/
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

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    Jim (June 25th, 2022)

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