Moab Utah, site of the annual rock crawling and trailride trip by Dodgers from everywhere. (In this case only two...Digger Dan Garrett and Myself) Plus Russ Erickson with his slightly modified Scout, and a few Red-Rock Jeepers! I can only assume that we are out doing the other Dodgers that had shown up in the past..they missed out on a GREAT run! I had my 1942 Dodge WC-63 1 1/2 ton 6x6 truck and Digger had his trusty 1952 Dodge M-37 3/4 ton truck. Our trucks were stock except for the lock-right locking differentials I had installed in the two rear axles of the 6x6 and the locker in Digger's rear axle. Plus, our tires are not the original military issue. I run Buckshot Radial Mudders and Digger had some very used 16.5 diameter Hummer tires and custom rims on his rig. Other than that, the trucks have the original 6 cylinder motors and drive trains! The stock Braden MU-2 winch on the 6x6 was used a bit to extricate ourselves as well as pull a dead Jeep Cherokee out of the mire! The first trail run we made was the infamous Pritchett canyon trail..Digger and I made it all the way through, unfortunately due to excitement of the moment..my digital camera was lost somewhere along the trail! I hope someone out there can send some pictures for posting. I also pulled a full size Jeep Cherokee ( with damaged transmission) through the last four obstacles and towed it the 32+ miles back to town (19 miles on rough trail!) It is also believed that I am the first person to drive a 6x6 through the Pritchett Canyon, Upper and lower Golden Spike, Rusty Nail, and Gold Bar Rim trails! I broke only one axle on the 6x6 the first day! (Quickly replaced with spare on hand) And Digger broke the short rear axle on Hell's Gateway (A new prtion of the Hell's Revenge trail) Otherwise no other problems were incurred with the vintage Dodges! Russ' Scout did superb! As well as the others from the Jeep group! A great time was had by all!! So far all I have posted are the pictures Digger and I shot with Digger's camera. 12-01-05 I had to close the guestbook due to spammers, sorry!
Date(s): April 9, 2005. Album by John Eickhof. Photos by John, Digger, Russ, Denise. 1 - 54 of 54 Total. 6757 Visits.
1 heading out for the Gold Bar Rim and the Rusty Nail trails...Digger heads over some small steps.
2 Russ climbs the first obstacle on the Rusty Nail...the Scout makes it with no trouble.
3 Digger is next..unfortunately, the obstacle has changed and his wheelbase is not optimum for it so he had to go the bypass..
4 I try it next..the 6x6 has no problem except that the gears are too high and the old 6x6 would power out..the transfer case is 1.5:1 ratio and is not as low geared as Digger's M37.
5 here Digger is on the 'bypass' this year the bypass is worse than the obstacle!
6 it took a couple tries but he made it!
7 I followed along and made it with no trouble.
8 both of us are now past the bypass..the next obstacle awaits...
9 here'tis... the second obstacle on the Rusty Nail...a vertical wall...Digger could not make it without a strap from the Jeepers. in fact Chad was the only one who made it up. the others had to be strapped...
10 now with a helping hand ...or strap...
11 and he's up!!!
12 now it's my turn... I made it this far and it was strap time!
13 the front set of rear wheels are off the ground!
14 finally on top and it is lunch time!
15 a nice view with the Utah desert background...
16 the next obstacle is rather unique...you drop off a rock ledge 6 feet then through a narrow rock slide between rocks! the rock wall on the right is about 8-9 feet high...
17 here's looking from the bottom..Digger is starting down..
18 he drops off the first ledge..now into the squeeze..
19 tricky driving!
20 slow going...
21 easy does it...
22 getting close to the end..
23 the last drop...
24 now it's my turn...
25 getting lined up...
26 the drop....
27 down...
28 close clearance..the dump bed ended up being a slight hinderence..but I made it through with no damage!
29 I barely clear the last rock!
30 Russ crosses the Golden Crack on the Golden Spike Trail...
31 Digger crosses effortlessly!
32 then Digger heads back across uphill.. he hesitates as his locker appears to not be working...
33 my turn going back through uphill..
34 a sharp climb...no problem
35 the lockers push me on through..
36 Digger quickly pulls the driver rear axle out to check and see if it is damaged...it is fine..the lock-right may have burped or is damaged..
37 after we finished the Spike, and Rusty Nail we head back to the highway.. here I am approaching the 'Gooney Bird'
38 along the cliffs above highway 191 north of Moab
39 Heading on through the Poison Spider..along the flats...a beautiful day!
40 Russ' pet snake found one of Digger's left over ciggy butts!
41 Here's a great shot of a DOG and his MAN! (Bo and Digger that is!)
42 Before we could even get the camers out..Digger had already gone through the 'launching pad' on the upeer Golden Spike Trail (off the Poison Spider) So we yelled to him to do it again! so here he is coming back through!!
43 the locker makse all the difference! He never chirped a tire both times through!!
44 Digger was having fun!!
45 So..now we are in position and Digger heads back into the 'pad'...
46 and right on up! The slope is approx 110 percent or 48 degrees!
47 even at the top where most vehicles will loose traction..the locker pushes Digger on through!
48 Now...Denise is going to try it!! She has only been off roading the last day or so in Russ' Scout!!
49 The 'Pad' will intimidate even the most experienced driver!! Denise tried three time to climb it with no success due to the carburetor float sending too much gas into the engine and stalling out!!
50 You sure can't say she didn't give it hell though!!!
51 Even Russ could not get the truck all the way up...Digger ended up strapping him over!
52 With the 6x6, I was not worried about traction..but I was unsure if it would have the stamina (horsepower) to make it to the top...
53 so I put the pedal to the metal at the bottom...all 85 HP on line!
54 right over the top..nary a chirp from a tire!!!
