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Moab 2007 Photos & Trip Report

wow so you did have a few issues, thank goodness they were minor!

And that P0708 keeps coming back. I think my rad overflow is leaking and the sensor is getting moisture in it.

Edit: Actually, that P0708 would explain my trans issue, DTRS is messed up.
 



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Hello all! Matt here. My co-pilot Brian and I had a blast in Moab! It was the first time for both of us to wheel out west and it was really a good experience. The terrain is MUCH different in Texas.

For those of you who don't know me I'm kinda new to the group but I've read the forums for a long time. I parked my full size Bronco and got into explorers about 4 years ago when I happened along my current one at a junk yard. It was completely stock and only had a bad transmission. So I rebuilt it and started making minor modifications to it whenever I could. Just like all the rest of you! Lol! The biggest mods so far is the Dana 44 and 9" out of a 78 Bronco. This was only the third time out on the trail with the new axles so I'm still a bit cautious. The first time out, I broke two axles in the rear. They were 28 spline at the time but I quickly updated them to 31's and installed a spool. The front is still open..........for now. ;)

I met up with Mike (Msupertek) awhile back at Gilmer OHV park. When I found out he and jim were going to Moab, Brian and I decided it would be a good time to go so we would have someone to caravan with. I'm really glad that we went! It was great meeting all of you and Moab is like nothing else I've done. I wish I could've met everyone there but time is limited. For those that I did get to know, y'all are awesome! Thanks for all of the excellent spotting and letting me pick your brain about stuff you've done to your sploders.

The explorer exceeded all of my expectations on the trail and the only thing I broke that I know of was my custom engine cross member. Also my fuel pump was making strange noises every now and then just taunting me! I bought a spare but thankfully it kept on working. Other than that I think I did ok. I wish I could say the same for the trip home! On the way home Brians truck had a blowout and ruined his bed side. We hobbled to Amarillo Tx where we got two new tires but they sucked and we had to go back and get another brand. Then as we were leaving we found that the front left tire was going bad also! We already had spent 6 hours in Amarillo so on went the spare again and it was home or bust! Luckily the outcome was home. Lol!

Anyway, I hope I can meet some of you guys again. I feel like I've made some new friends. I hope to do more trails out west in the future as time and money permit. Thanks to Mike and Jim for letting me tag along and stay at the campsite! Oh and for transporting my butt all over to get the truck and trailer to pick up my exploder at all the trail heads!

What size tire does Matt run?

PIC00045.jpg

37/12.50s I picked them up at a garage sale for $40 for the set!! The number one best purchase for that thing so far!

Matt
 






What size tire does Matt run?

PIC00045.jpg


Matt is running 37x12.50 R15..... They are pretty big atleast bigger then mine:D

Matt is also part of the explorer forum (someone asked earlier) his name on the board is 91Xploder...;)
 












Well I got in early yesterday but I've been sicker than hell with this flu crud/ head cold I've had all weekend... it's worse now than it was in Moab, so thankfully I had a BLAST when I was there:thumbsup: I had so much fun on Fri and Sat, thanks to Gerald and Mike for leading us.

Testament to those who help out on the trail when you break stuff: When I bent my tie rod not only did Mike (MrBoyle) do almost all the work to try to straighten it, but when I couldn't get the part in town (and would be stuck till Tues in Moab :eek: ) he gladly offered to go all the way to Grand Junction, pick up the part and return on Sunday to help me install it so I could get home ok :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Thankfully, for some unknown reason :)D uh, Johnstone, aka Aquaman...) Evan (MountaineerGreen) had 4 spares!!!!! Not to mention he wouldn't take anything for them (I'll figure out how to make it up to you and Amber) after calling around we confirmed they are the same part as on the Sport Trac... and Josh (edit; goliath) spent a bunch of time teaching and working with me how to replace and doing an 'in-the-field' allignment so I could get home alright. All you guys ROCK!!! you all and a few others helped me a ton... and I got home just fine :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Now I gotta figure out a way of passing off my pictures so I can get them viewable to y' all. :salute:

ps: I'll be back in Moab next year to conquer the rest of Fins :D :p:
 






Forgot to mention that besides the inner tie rod that Evan gave me... he gave me a spare one in case I did wheel Sunday after he left... that way I had a spare:)
 






Well I got in early yesterday but I've been sicker than hell with this flu crud/ head cold I've had all weekend... it's worse now than it was in Moab, so thankfully I had a BLAST when I was there:thumbsup: I had so much fun on Fri and Sat, thanks to Gerald and Mike for leading us.

Testament to those who help out on the trail when you break stuff: When I bent my tie rod not only did Mike (MrBoyle) do almost all the work to try to straighten it, but when I couldn't get the part in town (and would be stuck till Tues in Moab :eek: ) he gladly offered to go all the way to Grand Junction, pick up the part and return on Sunday to help me install it so I could get home ok :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Thankfully, for some unknown reason :)D uh, Johnstone, aka Aquaman...) Evan (MountaineerGreen) had 4 spares!!!!! Not to mention he wouldn't take anything for them (I'll figure out how to make it up to you and Amber) after calling around we confirmed they are the same part as on the Sport Trac... and Josh (Offroader_69_me) spent a bunch of time teaching and working with me how to replace and doing an 'in-the-field' allignment so I could get home alright. All you guys ROCK!!! you all and a few others helped me a ton... and I got home just fine :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Now I gotta figure out a way of passing off my pictures so I can get them viewable to y' all. :salute:

ps: I'll be back in Moab next year to conquer the rest of Fins :D :p:

Josh (Offroader_69_me) close... my site handle is goliath.
You are very welcome. Learn everything you can about your truck. If you wheel it you will be working on it. :D

Anytime I see someone broke down i try to help. I never know when I will need help on the trail, and usually when i break something, its MAJOR carnage.

Case in point... my transmission died in nevada and i drove my truck home jammed in 4th gear 500 miles. Its sitting in the garage very broken now:(
Time to start wrenching!
 






Well another year of Moab down the drain, it was great to see the old faces, expecially those I hadn't seen in a few years... Tom, Jamie, Mike all you guys who hide out this time of year!, and put faces to the names of new people!

I made it home a couple of hours ago, TOWING rules, no need to worry about breakage, plus such a comfortable ride back, it was 38 degrees on top of Wolf Creek Pass, and spitting a little snow, kinda weird since that time yesterday was pushing the 90's in Moab.

That damn escalator beat me again, but this time didn't get any glass just a little paint. I think I made it about two feet further than last year before I fell in the big hole, which saved the window.

THanks to all who made it another great trip, I will try to post some pics soon!
 






I had a blast. Thanks to everyone who set up the event. I met a lot of new people. :thumbsup:

Fridays run was steelbender, and it lived up to its name once again. LT's bronco had one crazy looking front end after one of the obstacles. That V8 has some power! :D

Trail running with gerald and tom saturday and sunday was awesome. I will wheel with you guys anytime! On Flat Iron Mesa Saturday I nearly flopped my truck again. A certain someone says they have a picture of it with one front wheel 4 feet in the air. I will believe it when i see it. It did feel pretty high though. On sunday we ran Poison Spider Mesa. The broncos we rolled with saturday and sunday were all built really cool and were fun to run with.

Several minor things failed on my rig this year that annoyed me while running the trails. But the major carnage happened on the way home. My 5 speed manual transmissing failed AGAIN. It jammed in 4th gear outside of wendover nevada. i unjammed it, but the damage is done. all gears are screeching and scraping but 4th gear. the bearings are shot. So I drove it home in 4th gear across nevada at 65MPH. THAT SUCKED.:( :( :( :(

The truck has 197000 miles on it and i am considering scrapping it and rebuilding on a newer truck.:salute:

Pictures to come later.

later,
joshua (goliath)
 






Well, I am back, the 1500 mile trip was a long one.

I had a great time meeting everyone, and wheeling what time I got to. Its time for more suspension mods and testing.

I'd like to thank the guys who ran with me the first day for their patience. Its not every day someone breaks stuff twice within half a mile. :eek:

Gerald was especially helpful, pointing out things of interest and leading the run. It was like a paid tour guide, he was so knowledgeable! His spare parts came in handy too :D

I will upload pictures tomorrow, I have only been home a few hours and just got the truck unloaded.

:salute:
 






Josh (Offroader_69_me) close... my site handle is goliath.
You are very welcome. Learn everything you can about your truck. If you wheel it you will be working on it. :D

Anytime I see someone broke down i try to help. I never know when I will need help on the trail, and usually when i break something, its MAJOR carnage.

Case in point... my transmission died in nevada and i drove my truck home jammed in 4th gear 500 miles. Its sitting in the garage very broken now:(
Time to start wrenching!

Sorry Josh... I fixed it. I know Marshall is Offroader_69_me... I don't know why I couldn't think of your handle :confused: I'll blame it on the flu. ;)
 












I have an a%^load of pictures and some good video's, I will be compressing and uploading for a couple of days

But for now here's a long mpg Julee took from inside the truck as we attempted and made the Hells Gate obstacle on the Hells revenge trail.

Thanks Jeff for the great spotting if you notice when Jeff walks to the other side of the obstacle to get me over the next hump is when I slipped off the wall:

(right click, save as)
http://www.fortuneelevatorconsultants.com/moab07/410hellsgateincab.mpg

We slipped off the wall and lifted a tire, it was all very exciting.
Funny thing about Hells Gate is once you go down the entrance you have no choice but to climb out, something I was unaware of as we decided to attempt the obstacle...but I am glad I did


More to come........
 






I made the drive sunday night/ monday morning,

flew past jefe about 200 miles from vegas sunday night, but he didnt have his cb on, least not on 1 or 19.

Kim made it to lubbock safely.


Kim and I had a blast riding with Mike and Marshall Friday, and wheeling with Brian on Saturday and sunday

I'll get my pics uploaded the next day or two.
 






Well, I got a visit from the Moab curse again on my way home yesterday... I made my flight from Denver, but due to heavy thunderstorms, the plane was delayed 40 minutes for take-off. Which made me miss my connecting flight in Georgia :rolleyes: I got home around 3am.

It was great to see everyone again, make new friends and to see ones I haven't been able to talk to in a while. ;) Msupertek, it was a blast to hang out with a fellow Ford Tech on the trail, and Alma is a freakin' hoot. Jeff... you and Eric are just crazy, lol. (Explorer polo!!) I fixed my souvenir from the carnival with some duct tape- next year I'm bringing it with me in case you two get out of hand :D Tilt, thanks for letting me ride with you all weekend: I hope you've learned your lesson about moderating the skinny pedal, dear. Fins & things was really fun and so was SteelBender, even if we did run it twice in one day AND get lost, lol. I hope Brian was able to clean his pants after the incident with his truck almost rolling over down the ledge with Matt's truck still on the trailer :eek: Goliath, don't scrap your truck! I'd give you my spare M50d if I were closer. Your Mom was hysterical: thank you for not letting her return the favor when LT mooned you guys after dinner :D Rick, I'm sorry you couldn't make it... I had one of the very last maps of Paragon for you!

It's fairly busy at work today (and I have to face the crappy fact of how much I hate living on the East Coast after being out west, which doesn't help any. Most of the time I can pretend to like it here but once a year I face the ugly truth :() so I'll load some of my pictures tonight. Can't wait for next year!! :bounce:
 






Douglas (Becker69?) I still have your map!

I still have your map, sorry!:eek:

Please Pm me your address and I'll either mail the map to you or send ya $10 if that will cover it... Thnx for loaning it to me let me know what you want to do thnx:salute:

To all, this was a great trip, I know I didn't speak to everyone a lot however everybody was great... It was nice to see you all again and nice to meet all the new peeps, the time I was there was definitely not enough. I am already looking forward to going out there with everyone again and wheelin. Gerald I think you did an awesome job of getting everybody together in groups and all so that no one was left to wheel alone. Thnx everyone for such a great time....

By the way I'll have a Moab video ready very soon. I'll post some of my pics later on. see ya!:D
 






I'm curious, why is he going along with the glass 'lift-gate' open?? No working a/c or like me, don't like a/c? :)
 












glass open = airflow
Moab is HOT
 



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The BII is going to be torn down and will likely miss a bunch of this summer. out comes the sawzall and the check book.....I am going solid axle and some sort of chop top....if there is enough left over I'll get an Atlas t case under this sucker too.....this was the second time in Moab I had to run with 3wd and well I need more travel and wheelbase to keep up with the big dawgs

Lemme know if you need help! Ft. Collins won't be that far away :D
 






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