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131 0002 Ult 05 Z - Photo 9338531

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  • The official start of the 4-Wheel & Off-Road Ultimate Adventure was the Cabazon exit off Interstate 10. Most of the group met here, but a few coming from the east opted to meet us in Phoenix where our first trail day would be. We staged below the dinosaurs, questioned our sanity, and headed out wondering if we had built our 4x4s good enough for this challenge and whose would break first. We didn't have to wait long. Greg's Bronco blew an oil-cooler line in Blythe, hosing him and most of the Bronco down. With the aid of Steve and his CO2-powered air tools, Greg was ready to roll in no time.
The official start of the 4-Wheel & Off-Road Ultimate Adventure was the Cabazon exit off Interstate 10. Most of the group met here, but a few coming from the east opted to meet us in Phoenix where our first trail day would be. We staged below the dinosaurs, questioned our sanity, and headed out wondering if we had built our 4x4s good enough for this challenge and whose would break first. We didn't have to wait long. Greg's Bronco blew an oil-cooler line in Blythe, hosing him and most of the Bronco down. With the aid of Steve and his CO2-powered air tools, Greg was ready to roll in no time.
131 0002 ult 01 z 131 0002 ult 01 z 131 0002 ult 03 z 131 0002 ult 04 z The official start of the 4-Wheel & Off-Road Ultimate Adventure was the Cabazon exit off Interstate 10. Most of the group met here, but a few coming from the east opted to meet us in Phoenix where our first trail day would be. We staged below the dinosaurs, questioned our sanity, and headed out wondering if we had built our 4x4s good enough for this challenge and whose would break first. We didn't have to wait long. Greg's Bronco blew an oil-cooler line in Blythe, hosing him and most of the Bronco down. With the aid of Steve and his CO2-powered air tools, Greg was ready to roll in no time. Day two also had an unplanned roadside stop. Arizona Highway Patrolman D.S. Holweger couldn't resist pulling over the leader of this battered group to offer an official warning that any lifted 4x4 truck on Arizona roadways needs mudflaps, but Jeeps don't--go figure. We'll fix that right away, and we hope officer Holweger put those 4-Wheel & Off-Road license plates and stickers to good use. Tom impressed all of us with the speed and control that the quarter-elliptical Bronco had on the pavement, and it really helped him get into some interesting situations on the trail. The first trail in our adventure was Upper Ajax, and it held a few really fun obstacles for our group. Jon Bundrant chose an incredible line through one obstacle that required the 4Runner to climb up and over a 4-foot-tall boulder while Jon listened to the stereo and enjoyed the cool breeze flowing from the vents. Mr. Ed had his son Keith lead our group in the family CJ-5. Keith kept the rather large group moving right along, and we were all very happy with our great trail hosts.
Upper Ajax offers a few cool boulders to climb, fun waterfalls, and these bumpy off-camber sections. It's a great trail that proved to be a wonderful warmup for the Ultimate Adventure. We had all had enough of 100-plus temperatures so we opted for a scenic two-lane highway out of Phoenix. Highway 60 offered us higher elevation, cooler air, and a neat look into the mining towns of Arizona, which date back to the 1800s. Even though the 'wheeling was very different on all four trails we hit, everyone agreed that Tabasco Twister in Las Cruces was more difficult than Upper Ajax. Jody had made several upgrades to his CJ-5 since the last time we saw him, but the Dana 30 showed its weak parts and spit out a steering joint. Sam claimed he wasn't bored, but the 39.5x18.50 Boggers and Dana 60s sure made everything look easy. He also claimed he doesn't know how to drive, but none of us bought that. We also learned that each vehicle worked really well on at least one trail and not so well on at least one trail. While Dan's YJ was a dream on all the other trails, the Twister was not his. It has a never-ending supply of rocky waterfalls that offers good traction but likes to grab skidplates, mufflers, and anything else in between the axles. Fred was our mid gunner in his CJ-5, which has more history in the area than the trail we were on. There were a few ledges that required a hook for almost everyone except the Toyotas and Sam. Not far into the trail, one of the local CJs suffered a cracked pitman arm. Sam whipped out his Premier Power Welder and several people went to work to reconnect the steering wheel to the front tires. At just about the 1,000-mile mark on our trip, John's Jeep blew out a muffler. A pit stop at a Pep Boys quieted the flatfender back down. In Farmington, you have to get good at judging how much momentum will get you up and over the obstacles rather than upside down. If this photo of Cole attacking a double-whammy obstacle doesn't scare you, it should at least help you share his concerns about Dana 44 internals.
Sean Gregory from Tuffy Security Products joined us to run the Waterfalls trail. His YJ impressed us with the suspension flex the Warn coil-over conversion offered. Harold Off was our gracious trail leader for the day and made sure everyone made it through the trail with plenty of fun. The Toyotas on this Adventure impressed all of us. The combination of wheelbase, width, ground clearance, and gearing worked great. We started referring to Steve's 4Runner as the Snap-On truck because of the incredible number of tools he had. Phil Collard showed us a rather risky alternate that only fellow local Anthony Montoya was up to trying. If you could scale the slick sandstone, you had to carry some power at the top and hope the vehicle didn't slide to either side. We decided we still had one more day of highway and one more trail to do instead. Trent got it over with and was our first breakage in Farmington. He's found the weak link in his Blazer and has complete front axleshafts stacked up like cordwood. John and Cole weren't the only ones making mods to their 4x4s before this trip. Brian had installed new springs and crossover steering from All-Pro and regeared his 4Runner. Everything had worked bitchin' to this point. At the top of that climb, the Toy rolled back a few inches, snagging the front tires. The front suspension was at full droop, and the slight tug at the front tires was enough to pull the front driveshaft apart. And of course, the splines twisted just a tad at the end. Brian filed the slipjoint, shoved everything back together, and motored on. We thought we'd be enjoying the drive until this point, but the cool temperatures, fall colors, and scenery along the Half-Million-Dollar highway from Farmington to Montrose was simply heaven. It was so nice we didn't even mind two 45-minute delays due to construction. In Albuquerque half the tour waited for new tires while Steve found that one of his M.R.T. bead-lock wheels was damaged. Some of the weld-nuts were broken off so he broke out his onboard-welder, followed by a drill and tap to get the wheel ready to go. In Carbondale, we stopped at a defunct gas station to let the drivers regroup. The Toyotas didn't fare too well compared to the V-8-powered 4x4s over the steep hills. We also stocked up on fresh air and gave Drew a chance to reconnect his sway bar, which would have been a big help on the road he just traveled. Die Trying was nasty--that's all there is to it. Every time you surmounted an obstacle something worse appeared in front of you. The trail is only 2 ½ miles long, but it took our group of a dozen vehicles hours to complete the first 100 yards, which was mostly medium-sized boulders strewn across a wash. Rob demonstrated the finesse and driving ability that he had shown the whole week.
John put some miles on his Ramsey winch during the week, but this was the most dramatic situation he put the flatfender in. The ultra-short wheelbase helped make tight turns, but some of the steep inclines he had to climb on this trail were longer than his wheelbase. About half the obstacles didn't offer anything even close to a fullsize line, so Cole was forced up and over rocks that the rocker panels and gas tanks couldn't clear. It wasn't pretty, but at the end of the day, the truck drove back to the hotel and ultimately back to Los Angeles. This trail was hard on sheetmetal and hard on parts. Greg is officially the first person we've seen break a Warn front axleshaft. Rob and Sam were the only two to survive the entire Adventure without noteworthy body damage, while anyone unscathed before Montrose collected a few dents as souvenirs before the end of the trail. Dan and Rob worked all day to pick the good YJ lines, and both scored well. Dan walked the 302-powered, dual-locked Jeep over the trail with extreme precision. We encountered the best obstacles long after nightfall, and all of our flash-bulb batteries died, which is a shame because they were far worse than anything shown here. 131 0002 ult 02 z
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