Today was the first day I had any internet access so this is the first day I could post up. I won't have any pics or video to post until i get back home on Sunday and have access to better internet, but I wanted to share some of my adventures thus far..

Friday we pulled out of Rocklin at 8:30 and drove to Wendover, UT. I averaged 13.5mpg with the new hemi. It was amazing over the mountain. My buddy Ken was following with his 4dr JK on 35s and he couldn't keep up on any of the climbs. I never took it off the cruise, a complete transformation from the old V6 that couldn't maintain 65 to truckee.

Saturday we woke up and headed to Moab into a strong head wind up hill the whole way. I literally had the steering wheel turned 10 degrees to drive straight. Again the new Hemi with the cruise at 78mph just purred. Poor Ken couldn't take his Jeep out of Overdrive with out loosing speed. I did notice a whine coming from the engine, not sure what it was we pressed on, all temps were good just whined. When I got to the condo I was lucky enough to be next door to Northridge 4x4, 4wd.com, Screaming Lizards, and Cop 4x4 so I had some people listen to the whine everyone said it was pretty normal and not to worry, so I didn't. I did see a mangled 4 door JK in the driveway next to ours. After talking to the owner I learned he rolled it 1 1/2 times on the first day of the run. It was totaled but still drove.

Sunday was our first trail day, we ran Fins and Things with the EJS group. It was a pretty easy trail but had great views and was our first taste of slick rock. The Jeep is still whining so I'm going to take it into the shop in the morning to get looked at. 4x4 Outpost is the place to take your Jeep when you have an issue in MOAB. They are open 24/7 for the week and bring in extra mechanics to get you fixed quick.

Monday I went to start the Jeep and the return line from the steering box to the cooler blew off and I dumped 2 qts of steering fluid onto the parking lot. The line was secured with a clasp as it is not a pressured line but somehow it slipped off. I had to remove the PSC resevoir and to get access to the hose that came off. The downside of the Hemi is there is no room to work. We filled the steering system with new fluid and headed toward the Outpost to see what the whining was, half way there i lost power steering and upon pulling over noticed i just dropped another 2 quarts of steering fluid on the ground. This time the return from the steering pump to the box snapped right above the flare at the base of the pump. I parked it at the Outpost and the long day of steering trouble shooting began. First we had to take the system completely apart and then track down a replacement hose. I came to find out that the hose was a custom hose that came with the Hemi kit and there wasn't a factory replacement. I thought al hope was lost when I was sharing my woes with the Screaming Lizards gang. They opened up thier trailer of goodies and took some scrap hoses and alternate ends and we rebuilt the hose. Upon putting the entire system back in we realized the return line from the the reservoir to the pump was somewhat pinching in the middle due to the bend and that would cause air to get into the pump and cause problems. So we needed to rebuild this hose and make it longer as well. By this time it was 1am and we were pretty tired so we called it a day.

Tuesday I woke up at 7a the next morning and proceeded to finishing building the new hose and putting they system back together. By 10a everything was back in and we loaded it up with fluid and crossed our fingers and started it up. It worked like a champ and whine was no more. Aparently the return hose was the issue allowing air to get into the pump and cause the whining. The good news was I was able to catch up with the Rock Crawler crew running Metal Masher. It was an awesome trail and we got some great pics and video of the challenges.

Wednesday was our run with the JKOwners on Golden Spike, this group had 50 of the biggest badest Jeeps I have ever seen, there were Hemis 5.7, 6.1, 6.4s, and diesels and supercharged motors and turbos galor. There were 40s and 42s and 44s and crazy lift kits everywhere. I got lots of compliments on the hood and rig. We had quite a bit of carnage on the trail. The Poison Spyder Jeep had its LCA ripped from the frame and it had to be welded back on. My buddy Nate had his track bar snapped in half. Amazingly polyperformance was with us and when thier heard Nate's track bar was a Poly Performance they unbolted thiers from thier Jeep and gave it to him. Now that is customer service, but not to bright! They were expecting the Poison Spyder crew to roll through with the welder. We learned that the PS crew had turned aroudn and were heading back the other way so there was no welder coming. Luckily I had some chains and we used a chain in place of the track bar and some ratchet straps and the winch cable to keep the suspension in place. I have a video I will post later. It limited the articulation but they made it off the trail and drove home. Rebel offroad broke a rear drive shaft and then an axle. Luckily Nate had his stock axles since he had upgraded to cromoly and gave them to Rebel so they could get off the trail. In the middle of the trail they held a raffle for those who came and they gave away money, gift certificates, a set of 37" tires. Nate won 50, his daughter won 50, and his other daughter won 250. The 37" tires were won by a 10 year old.. Everybody thought that was hilarious. All he needs now is a license and a Jeep to put them on. 🙂

Thursday we went to the vendor show where we scored hats and shirts galore. I went by the Poly Performance booth where they were really happy we were there to help them out. Nate went by the Rebel Offroad booth and we learned the Jeep was actually the Jeep of the owner of Axial. He asked Nate what he wanted for the axle shaft. Nate had played with my remote control car the Axial Wraith and asked if they could give him a deal. The deal they gave him was a free Wraith. Its like a 400 dollar remote control car.

Tomorrow's another day.. As soon as I can post pics I will.

Huck