Alpine 14ers

Presidents' Day Weekend - Trip 2!

2012-02-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

With the holiday giving a lot of people the day off, the 14ers got together and went for our second trail run of the weekend. This time we headed South to Rainbow Falls. This trail network is between Deckers and Woodland Park. If you have never been in the area, this is a huge network of trails. There are tons of trials and spur road to explore. Please make sure to abide by all posted signs. All of the trails are very well marked, so you should have no problems knowing if a Jeep is an acceptable vehicle on a specific trail in the area.

We met up at 11am and hit the trail by 11:30. The sun was out, but the temps were definitely not as warm as Saturday. The wind wasn't blowing too hard, but it was bone chilling! The trail was in good shape, with most of the snow pretty packed down by other travelers. The first couple spur roads we took had a fair amount of snow, but nothing really challenging.

The views from this trail were even more incredible that the views from Lefthand.

We played around a bit before finding a couple good rocks to pose on.

The whole trip we were in search of some challenging stuff, and our maps said "Moab Hill" was the most difficult thing in the area. After a fair bit of searching, we finally fell upon Moab Hill. The hill was a few slabs of red granite just like Moab. Although in dry weather this provides great traction, the hill was covered in snow ice and mud, making it very challenging.

After Moab Hill, there was just a lot more snow to bash through. We completed a bunch of loops and had another great day of wheelin. Halfway through the day Vince did back into a tree and damage the driver corner of his JK pretty bad, but in his words, "Oh well. I guess that's wheeling."

Check out all the trip photos here!

Presidents' Day Weekend - Trip 1!

2012-02-21T16:52:00.000-08:00

On super short notice, patrol 14 gathered a few troops and met up with a group of folks from CO4x4, a local off road forum, and headed up to Left Hand Canyon near Boulder. It was a perfect day for winter wheelin! The sun was shining and the temps were warm enough for a t-shirt and no jacket! This trail is very mellow from the staging area all the way to five points. There was not much snow on the ground for this part of the trip, but there was certainly a lot of mud.

Since the conditions were pretty favorable, we decided to head over to Fireman's hill and see what it was like over there. The hill was dry, so we started up the steep climb.

If you have never been to this trail, I highly recommend it! At the top of fireman's hill, there is a wicked rock garden on the left. You can also bypass this garden to the right.

The views from on top are just incredible!

Once we were in the trees and on a northern facing slope, the snow got a lot deeper but we made it down to another fork no problem. At this point we met a small group that had just come up the other direction from five points. they informed us that the slope was very snow packed and very slippery. We opted to turn back the way we came and call it a day.

For the first wheeling trip of 2012, It was a wonderful day and the only damage for the day, was a screw that Ryan found in his tire while airing back up.

Check out more photos from this trip in our album!

Jenny Creek 11/13/11

2011-11-17T15:53:00.000-08:00

It was windy. It was cold. But it was a great day to go snow bashing! Patrol 14 arrived in Rollinsville about 10:30am Sunday morning. After airing down, we headed up Rollins Pass where we would drop off onto Jenny Creek.

It wasn't long before we were greeted with multiple downed trees. The wind was very strong the night before, and this was no surprise. No one had brought a chainsaw nor a bow saw this day, but luckily we had a couple axes. A few of us jumped out and cleared the trail for anyone traveling behind us.

We eventually reached the turn off for Jenny Creek and headed down the narrow slope. The trail was a lot narrower than I remembered , and it certainly took its tole on the plastic windows.

Right before we reached the creek crossing, we were greeted once again by another downed tree. Chad attempted to drive over it and got himself high centered on his diff.

We were able to winch Chad off the log, and then came out the axes. After a long chopping process, we were finally able to move the tree off the trail.

We crossed the creek, met up with 2 fellow Jeepers, and attempted the rock obstacle. With every failed attempt, the rocks became more and more slippery. Chad took a good 8 tries and then moved out of the way for Ryan to attempt. He was almost successful on his first try, but just couldn't get the rear tires over the iced up boulders. He finally opted for the winch. Chad took another few attempts and finally made it up and over. He would be the only one on this day to make it up the obstacle unassisted.

As we continued up the creek, someone mentioned over the radio that they had blown a drive shaft. We get out to inspect, and sure enough, one of the Cherokees and broke the slip yoke on the rear of the t-case. After further inspection, we found that the the Cherokee had actually broken a center pin on the driver side leaf. top of that, the u-bolts weren't tightened down, so the whole set of leafs fanned back to the rear of the wheel well, which in turn pulled the pinion down putting tremendous stress on the drive shaft causing it to snap at the yoke.

We worked for well over an hour on resetting the leafs and getting a new center pin installed. The yoke was trashed and so the Cherokee would have to finish the day in 2wd. The 2 jeepers in front of us had actually turned around and told us that the trail had about 6 trees that were 3'-4' in diameter and that it was no longer passable us we had a chainsaw, which of course we didn't. So we all got turned around and headed back out.

Even with the trail repair, it was a great go for wheein'.

Bill Moore Lake 10/22/11

2011-10-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

With snow about to blanket the state in a couple days, Patrol 14 decided to make one last attempt to reach Bill Moore Lake for the season. The weather was great, with lots of sun all day long. On this day, the group was very diverse with Ryan and Chuck being the only members to attend the run. The other attendees were a group of Ryan's friends in a Toyota, JK, and a small quad sport.

The lower portions of the trail were clear and in great shape.

We were positive we would make it to the lake on this day as w had not seen really any snow on the trail. When we approached the final downhill section of the trail before the lake, we found a Land Rover attempting to come back up a slipper, snowy, slope.

While waiting for the Land Rover, the JK blew a tire and so we blew the ti by switching out the spare. The JK's spare was only a street tire, so we opted to leave it behind as the rest of us trekked down the slope. Thanks to the warm weather, the downhill part was super easy with no sliding. There was however, one narrow slippery spot that grew some hair on your chest. Being a little off camber and downhill, the back ends of the vehicles wanted to crab walk and almost pull you down the treeless slope to your right.

We finally made it down the slope and past the old mud bog area and approached the lake. The wind was whippin' really good, and it was bitter cold.

We got some poser pics, and then put a game plan together to tackle the narrow section again, this time going up hill.

Ryan and Dane had working winches, but Chuck did not. This meant Ryan would go first, winch past the narrow section, drive all the way up the hill, turn around, come back down, and snatch to a tree pulling chuck up. Then, Dane could follow up using his winch. The plan worked to the T, and just took a considerable amount of time.

The final bit of the uphill drive was interesting as it had become very icy since the sun had gone below the peaks. After a few attempts, everyone made it up safely, and it was time to grab the JK and head on down. I am sure we were the last folks in a 4wd to see the lake for the next 7 months.

Ryan's D44 Swap

2011-10-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

It is only a matter of time before every Jeeper decides that what is under their Jeep, just isn't enough. Ryan finally had this epiphany, and after much searching, decided to swap in a pair of Dana 44s from G2.

G2 uses the D44 housing from the Rubicons and throws in a ton of extras: Chromoly axle shafts, the gear set of your choice, lockers of your choice, spicer u joints, spicer ball joints, and of course their famous HD aluminum diff covers. These axles come as a direct swap for the d30/d35 that was already under the Jeep. The only requirement, is that you need to keep both sets of brakes, and the outer knuckles from the d30. And with a 5 year warranty, this was a no brainer.

Ryan opted for ARB air lockers front and rear, 5.13 gears, and also upgraded the rear axle shaft to a 33 spline shaft.

Night 1 was the tear down of the old D35. Disconnect the driveshaft, unbolt all 4 control arms, unbolt the drum brake backing plates, disconnect the lines, and swap the new D44 in it's place...

Everything went smooth with this side, and the Jeep was on it's own weight in no time.

Night 2 Ryan started the tear down of the front D30. First step was to knock off the outer knuckles...

At the end of night 2, the front was completely out, and it was time to say goodbye to the old D30...

Over the next several days, a few steps needed to be completed before the Jeep could stand on all fours again. The front driveshaft needed to be shortened due to the extended pinion length the D44 has compared to the D30. The outer knuckles and pitman needed to be reemed out for the new 1 ton tie rod ends that were part of the new 1 ton steering setup bought from Frank Z at http://www.seriousoffroadproducts.com/. A steering stabilizer mount also needed to be fabricated on the new drag link as it did not come with one.

After one full week of sitting in the garage, some control arm tweaking to adjust the pinions, the Jeep pulled out with a new, stronger set of legs...

A 500 mile break in period is required before the new ARBs can be used, so since no offroading was in Ryan's near future, he made one more modification to the new setup. How about some green accents?

Harold's New Ride

2011-10-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Harold has decided to trade in his new 2010, 4 door JK, for a even newer, 2012 2 door JK.

The Old:

And the NEW:

Labor Day Weekend 2011

2011-09-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I set up camp around Turquoise Lake and then headed up Hagerman Pass towards Basalt. I have never been in the Leadville area for wheelin before, but there are a ton of roads up there. We took Hagerman all the way over (man that is a long drive) but it was a nice drive. My mom was riding with me and I talked her into driving over to Marble and up to Crystal Mill.

We got into Marble about 4pm and headed up the trail. Met one other Jeep on his way out, but that was it. There was a ton of debris on the lower portions of the trail near the river. The heavy winter and high spring runoff looks like if caused a lot of havoc on that trail. No wonder it took forever to open this year.

We reached the mill and I wanted to continue up, but it was getting too late, plus we had to make the trek back to Leadville still.

Eventually we headed down and on the way out, i think 6-8 vehicles passed me going up. Hit the evening rush hour I guess. Two full size trucks passed me, and a Honda Element! I couldn't believe the Honda drove down there. I mean the trail isn't hard to the mill, but it is definitely rough and rocky.

Saturday I made the trek to Halfmoon Creek. Hit the South fork first, and the rock section coming out of the creek I thought was a little hairy. Not too hard, just took careful tire placement. Drove way up top expecting to see the mine and never saw anything. Headed back down, and got some pics at the creek crossing.

Next headed up the north fork towards champion mill. This is an AWESOME PLACE! There are a few cabins before you reach the mill that you can check out, but the mill had to be the biggest mill I had ever seen still standing.

Sunday I headed up to Birdseye Gulch where a few other MHJC members were installing some buck and rail fence at the old mud bog with the remaining money from the restoration grant. We installed about 350 yards of fencing.

Holy Cross 8/20/11

2011-08-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

A couple of us camped out near the trail head on Friday night, and a couple others met up with us Saturday morning for our Holy Cross trail run. In the group this week was Chuck, Chad, Brett, and a handful of XJ boys from NAXJA. Ryan rode along with his brother Chad accpeting the fact that his rig would never survive this trip.

We hit the trail at 10am and had no problems to speak of. At the first major obstacle, most of the boys took the left side wall climb except for Brett who doesn't have lockers. After a couple smashes on the rock sliders, we continued on to French Creek. When we arrive, we were surprised to only see a small group of Samis in front of us. As soon as they cleared, we took our shot at the creek. The first few XJ guys made it up and across with pretty limited effort, and then the next few had some major problems. One guy came down on his exhaust and somehow smashed his downsteam O2 sensor which started giving the Jeep bad readings and caused it to lose significant power. He took a strap, but it still took some time to get him out.

Brett took the far left line and with wet tires and no lockers, was unable to make it out of the creek. We hooked up his winch, but for some reason it wouldn't pull load. We turned a guy around from up top and used his winch to drag Brett out. It was now Chuck's turn, and he got up and out of the creek, but still had to get over the boulder at the shore. Turns out, Chuck hadn't gotten enough damage last week, so he decided to tag one of the rocks on his exit with the passenger door.

Once we got to the city, we waited for the other groups behind us to come up. We started our way down and about half way, Brett realized he had destroyed a u joint. We continued on since the cap remained and we knew we could limp the JK back to our camp. Once again, we had a rough time at the creek. Everyone had a tough time getting out, and Brett was pinned between some big rocks at one point. We took out his winch line again with no hope, but magically it started working this time. Everyone was hung up at some point on our way across the creek. We finally managed to get everyone across and out to the main road. We started the u joint repair by the fire about 9:45pm. Took us awhile to break that joint out, but Brett was on his way back to Denver about 11pm.

It was a super long day for sure.

Check out all the pics here!!

Check out VIDEOS here!!

Wheeler Lake 8/14/11

2011-08-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks since Wheeler Lake was finally clear of snow, so it was time to check it out. The bottom section of the trail is pretty much the same every year as the granite slabs never change. The top half however is different every year. This is expected as bowling ball hill is just a steep incline of lose boulders. You might drive this section one year and have a 2 foot boulder you need to crawl over or around, and the next year, that boulder is gone.

This day we had 6 rigs with us: Ryan, Chuck, Brett, Chad, Vince, an old Land Crusier, and another new XJ friend from Washington State.

All went well in the bottom half, with Chad attempting some hard lines and getting a pretty good wheel stand. As we arrived at the V notch, Ryan took the first attempt and ended up sliding a rear tire into the V and getting high centered on the diff. We attempted to raise the back end and get a rock under the fallen tire as to rais the diff off the rocks, but there was no luck there. So we pulled out the winch, and as soon as the diff was un stuck, Ryan drove right up. Chuck followed and so did Chad. Vince and the land crusier took the easy middle line, while Brett and the XJ truggy took the far left side that has some really big holes. Both made it up just fine after some traction trouble at the start.

When we reached bowling ball hill, it was not nearly as wet as we expected with the high winter snow fall. No problems up this section... So we thought. As were within 100 yards of the lake, the rain started pouring down, and a few of us pulled over to throw our tops (or tarps) on. At this same time Brett noticed something hanging down off Chuck's Jeep. Somehow Chuck had snapped a rear lowercontrol arm. The weld at the bushing had completely failed. We waited out the rain for 20 mins before attempting a trail fix. No one had an on boarder welder so our only option was to use ratched straps to hold the axles as close to center as possible. It did the trick, and we slug paced it down the mountain.

At the V notch, we all took the easy center section except the 2 XJs. Chad took the V down, and the truggy took the far left again (far right looking downhill). The truggy dropped a front tire into a hole and did the biggest wheel stand I have ever seen. Although the Jeep stopped and didn't flop over, we all jumped in to pull the rig down as he continued his decent. We made it back to the main road and Ryan followed Chuck into Breck where they would be waiting for his father in law to arrive with the trailer.

Check out all the photos HERE

Middle St Vrain/Coney Flats 7/24/11

2011-08-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Ryan finally finished installing the 4'' lift and it was time to test it out. Bill was the only other offical member to join the trip. We were also joined by Chad, Brett, and a new XJ friend.

We met in Nederland at 10am where they had a car show going on, and then we headed up to the trail. The day was a mix of sun and clouds all day with a brief shower around lunch time. The trail was pretty muddy in spots, and the water holes weren't any deeper than they normally are.

Great day with no breakage. However I did find a loose track bar bolt at the end of the day while airing up.

Check out all the photos here!