Cruisin out of town around 10pm thursday night after loading up the rigs, and switching around a tow rig... finally, we're off.. destination, Moab.
The group consisted of myself(Jason), Robbie (SUPERFLY) in the John Deere Edition '85 4runner, Robbie's Brother Alan and Alan's daughter Marley riding with Rob, Joe Schwendiman in the '99 4runner, and his dad Henry rollin in his '05 H1 with loads of kids..
by the time we were serious about getting on a trail friday, it was around noon. we hit up the City Market for some much needed grub for later in the day... and off towards Prichett Canyon we went.
we cruised along the trail nicely until rob seperated his front driveline on a steep incline... so, we ate lunch and raced the Savage around for awhile..
then we came upon Rocker Knocker.. i know why they named it this.. it'll eat your rockers.
anyways.. joe was the first to attempt it, while Henry went around in the H1... he made the bypass look somewhat easy(the bypass can be harder than Rocker Knocker itself).. joe tried and tried and tried.. then he was reminded by us that he hadn't aired down... so i was up next.. i rallyed up and almost made it afew times, but just couldn't seem to hook up right at the lip of the top ledge... alas, my alternator adjusting bolt came loose, so i had to back down to fix it... turns out the bolt was stripped
.. so i'd be tightening the belt alot.. next rob was up to try the knocker of your rocker obsticle, but wasn't getting anywhere... with the sun going down by this point(4pmish) rob decided to just take the bypass to speed things up... then some guy showed up with a mean toyota pickup. he spotted joe through it and made it look easy... once i had my situation situated, joe took me up the same line and just like that, i was up it... i will forever be grateful for that good man in his incredibly built toyota... he didn't even drive it, just spotted then left.. Joe's guardian angel drives a massive blue toyota pickup
...
around the corner and we were to the rockpile, with the H1 in the lead, rob, then me, then joe bringin up the rear... rob plays on that rock ledge just before the rockpile and nearly rolls it over onto the back of my 4runner, also seperating his d-line again... the H1 has done the rockpile twice in the past, but despite the 39" IROK's, he couldn't seem to get any grip this time around... sliding too far to the left to even back out. it was the 12Klb winch that brought the beast up the pile. i took a far right line and crawled right up.. honestly it didnt seem like an obsticle at all....
just as we lose light completely we are all at the top, and we baja out to the highway... good times... ran pritchett with no major damage... or so it would seem, until we reach pavement.
Finally to paved roads, Rob gets out to check his 4runner, noticing two studs on the drivers-side knuckle sheared off... this isn't the first time this has happend to poor robbie... we all take off for town, to the Pizza Hut... then i notice alot of smoke pouring from Joe's drivers rear wheel.. turns out his wheel bearing is gone, and heating up fast... he limps it into town, all while i'm stopping every 5 minutes to tighten my belt...
and that's it for our trip... wheeling that is.. the next day was spent wrenching trying to get joe and robbie's rigs back on the trail. Joe was forced to give up, and load it up on the trailer. we had a hell of a time trying to drill and tap the knuckle, so we found a guy that agreed to sell us one out of La Sal.. but it'd have to be done on Sunday.. so off went Henry with the H1, and Joe's 4runner, and also Alan with my 4runner(mine was towed due to the output bearing and seal being shot on my tcase.. didn;t trust it to drive home)... so we grabbed another hotel for the night, met up with Mike, the fam, and Mikey and g/f Michelle from Summit Machine for some mexican grub... good times..
sunday rolls around... our buddy with the beat up exo'd '84 4runner is nowhere to be found, and his phone is off... so, we hit up toyota guys around town for a knuckle.. nothing... hit up notajeep, he couldn't help us either... thanks anyways though
... finally went to Bert's Truck and RV repair auto yard.. or whatever that place is called... i suggest all of you go sheck this place out... more so the guy guy that lives there... as he was following us around(which was a sight all in itself) i swear i heard dueling banjos...
it was interesting to say the least... with a knuckle found that might work, and the price being $75, the decision was made to weld it up at the Moab Offroad place before the knuckle hit the ground...
with the knuckle welded, drinks and snacks in hand, we clowly made our way out of town... as we pass the dune that'd be on your left just outside of town robbie suggests that we pull over and bust out the Savage... that was all that was needed to get me and joe into turning the rig around.. so we palyed around the dune for an hour or so until rob broke the axle.. then it was back towards slc for us... a quick stop in greenriver, wellington, and springville to check the knuckle... springville's stop was more to let the heat die down... we were being looked for
...
awesome trip... i finally know what it's like to be stranded in Moab..
-Jason
BTW... Henry's H1 is UNSTOPABLE... he drove over rcks the size of my 4runner..
