Apr 1, 2005    The Official Newsletter of the New Mexico 4-Wheelers    www.nm4w.org

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The meeting was held at Heights Cumberland Church.  President Leon called the meeting to order promptly at 7:04 pm.  Our gracious hosts for the evening were Pat & Sue Brady--thank you for the drinks and snacks!!!  Mark Werkmeister made the motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes from the February meeting.

Member (and/or family units) Present:  Joe Abbate, Glenn Bontly, Pat & Sue Brady, Rich Capener, Bill Cline, Mike Cook, Kevin Cox, Nancy Crowley, Ryan Eklund, Arne Gjerning, Steve Hemphill, Richard & Melinda Hunt, Tom Hurt, Bill Jacobs, Jeffrey Jacobson, Daniel Juarez, Leon & Marcia Duggar, Chet & Courtney Markham, Jerry Marx, Cliff Meier, Dixon Patrick, Chuck & Ethyl May Peeples, Jeff & Lauri Rector, Stella Sierra, Carlos & Laurye Tanner, Bob Telepak, Paul & Mary Thompson, Dave Trappett, Craig & Mary Turpin, Mark Werkmeister, Whistons (All of them), and Mark Wolf.

Guests Present: Gary Markel – ’85 CJ7; Eric Capener (Cupcake’s nephew) – ’05 Rubi; Jay Penn ‘ 85 Toyota; Justin Simenson ’05 Rubi; Tony Royball ’73 Ford; Phil Rodacy – ‘03 Rubi; Bryan Gauntt ’84 Toyota; Cody & Molly Dimmitt – ’02 TJ; Robert Hohlfelder – Sidekick.

Sheriff – Jeff Rector:  Leon again made Jeff explain the points.  Again we got to listen to Jeff whine about having to do it.  And Jeff still doesn’t know why we do points.  With the occurrence of the Chile Challenge since the last meeting, there were lots of fines:  Jack Sierra forgot his keys—he could start his Jeep okay, but couldn’t unlock gas cap or the storage box with his welding equipment (and of course Mike Cook needed welding the 1^st day).  And then on Friday, Jack broke a U-Joint & knocked out his ball joints (good thing he has a late curfew--it was 11:30 before he got back to the fairgrounds).  Mike Cook broke his front spring hangar.  Mark Werkmeister’s license plate on “The Itch” expired 10/03 (thank you Donna for pointing that out).  Also, Mark “got lost” while leading Habernero Falls (Glenn presented him with a little compass, since Glenn knows from experience that a GPS doesn’t always keep you from getting lost).  Finally, he had a leak in his tranny cooler hose on Friday.  Frank Whiston’s license plate expired in 2004, but he does have the new sticker in his glove box (thank you again Donna).  Pat Brady (yes, Pat Brady) broke a shackle.  Paul Thompson had one too many beers (or maybe he just drank one too fast) and ended up falling down out of his chair and onto the his trailer deck.  Rich Capener’s track bar came loose.  Wolfie lost some of his nuts (on the rear tires of his truck that is).  Glenn Bontly lost a side marker light; doesn’t know where or when, so that’s called littering.  Jeff admitted that he had just a few problems: frame cracked, bent tie rod, lost a brake hose, and did quite a bit of body damage (including his dash board!).  Thanks to all of the people that kept Jeff posted of what was going on at the Chile Challenge. 

Treasurer – Susan Miller:  Lauri Rector reported for Susan a balance is $1,630.04 as of 3/9/05.

Historian:  Rich Capener:  Asked for pictures.

Trip Chairman – Jason Lavy:  Mark Wolf filled in for him.  Winter Quarterly – very wet!!!  Good turnout by the NM4W’s.  Leon & Marcia Duggar and their helpers all did a very good job with the raffle.  Ticket sales were down.  Jennifer Werkmeister sold $600+ tickets alone to the people in line for the dinners on Friday and Saturday night.  Wolfie wants to know how Marcia won the winch.  Pat was pulling names and Jeff was pulling the prizes.  How much did she have to pay them??? 

Spring Quarterly will be hosted by Texas A&M Off-Road and is set for April 15, 16 & 17 in Katemcy Rocks in Mason, TX (about 2 hrs west of Austin).

Summer Quarterly will hosted by a new member of SWFWDA & will held at the Superlift Park in Hot Springs, AR.  Date to be set somewhere around 7/4/05.  Look for details forthcoming soon after the Spring quarterly.

Fall Quarterly will be hosted by FWD-FWD.  Details have not been set.

Glenn Bontly will lead the Tank Trap on March 12, 2005.  Meet at the Conoco at 550 & 528 at 9:00 am.  Bring the usual stuff. 

Auge’s 4X4 101 – Work days are set for April 2^nd and April 9^th.  Pat Brady needs a good turn out for both work days.  Bring shovels, hammers, gloves.  Starts at 9:00 am.  Two tracks will be built this year and will be somewhat more permanent than in the past.  Actual event is set for April 16^th.  Chuck had fliers for members to take to pass out to local 4X4 shops.  He would like for the person that has the club banner to be sure to bring it.  He’d also like for the club members to put a parts list on their vehicle while it is at Augies.  Augies is providing large rocks, backhoe, skid loader, water, railroad ties & rebar for the courses.  He is also having someone come in & cook hot dogs for lunch on the day of the event. 

After Auge’s is done and cleaned up, Mark Werkmeister is leading a trip to Gordy’s Hill down in Socorro.  We will have a pot luck dinner at the staging area Saturday evening and then on Sunday, he will lead a run showing us the features of the area & possible future trails.  This will be an easy-to-moderate run, just so that we can get a look at the area.  First work days will be sometime in May, dates TBD.  Bring gloves, pry bars, tree trimming utensils and water.  Directions are on the members only page.

Please refer to the members only page for other runs in April & September. 

Bob Telepak mentioned that the AZ desert (south of Phoenix) is in full bloom for the next 2-3 weeks.  Best show in many years due to the very wet winter they have had.  It would be worth it to go.

Environmental Affairs – Bob Norton:  Wolfie filled in for him.  Look at the BLM website.  We need to send letters to let them know the trails that we want to keep open.

Secretary – Don Miller:  Lauri Rector filled in for Don this evening.  Can you tell?

Program Director – Jerry Marx:  New club clothing was in for the specific orders.  Additional items were also being sold:  T-Shirts for $9, Long Sleeve T’s for $14, hats for $15, sweatshirts for $17.  XXL sizes are $2 more than the price shown here for the item.  Jerry also explained the 50/50 raffle.  I think Pat Brady won???

Old Business:  None

New Business: Pat Brady received a letter from 4WD Hardware; they want to set up an account that would pay us cash money at the end of the year.  Participants would receive a 10% discount on catalog items except tires and rims.  The club would receive a rebate at the end of the year based on the amount that participating club members spend.  A list of club members would have to be provided to them.  Volunteers would be needed to manage this.  Need to think about this before the next meeting. 

Glenn Bontly brought up a good fund raising idea.  He got this idea from a calendar that was on the “free stuff” table at the Chile Challenge.  It was called the “Obnoxious Weed” calendar.  He would like for our club to put together a calendar named “Obnoxious People”.  He suggests that Pat Brady’s picture could be on the cover. 

No new members were voted in.  It isn’t because there aren’t any guests that aren’t eligible yet.  Or, that the eligible guests were not present at the meeting.  No, it was because I just didn’t print out the guest list for us to know who had enough points.  I really apologize to these guests for this, but I did save you some on dues.  Jeff really is a much better VP than what I make him out to be. 

Leon managed to adjourn the meeting without having to have his own little whining session.  He’s maturing so nicely.  But, I don’t know what time it was when it was adjourned – sometime before 11:00 pm I think.

Hello all.  Well, it has been a long time since I have submitted a Presidents Report to Glenn, and I apologize.  We have had a lot of runs and a lot of fun in the past few months.  The Chile Challenge was a big hit this year.  Over $9,100 raised in the raffle.  I need to thank every one that help with the raffle: Marcia, Jeff and Lauri Rector, Glenn, Rich, Pat and Sue, Dave, Mark and Jennifer Werkmeister (Jennifer sold over 650 tickets at the event).  THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!  I am looking forward to the Augies 4x4 101 event, a trip down to Socorro, and a run to just north of Arizona, (see the members only page).  We have a lot of runs planed for this spring and I hope to see all of you out there.

Like many four-wheelers, Cliff Meier loves the backcountry and uses his 4WD vehicle to access it.  But unlike most four-wheelers, he also accesses the backcountry astride his horse.  As part of the Backcountry Horsemen, he and others perform public service work for the Forest Service and BLM.  They clear hiking trails in wilderness areas and perform special projects for the agencies.  Once they even disassembled and packed out a WWII practice bomb that was found in the Sandia Wilderness Area by a hiker.

Cliff and Jeanne (pronounced Jeannie) Meier became NM4W members in March 2004.  They learned about the current incarnation of the group from the Internet.  Cliff knew there was a club in Albuquerque because in the early 1980’s (when he owned a Scout) he attended a 4WD club meeting at a bank building on Eubank.  However, that group talked mostly about having fun breaking stuff, so Cliff never went back.  He and Jeanne both appreciate that the current-day NM4W club is family-oriented and offers many levels of four-wheeling.

Cliff and Jeanne met when attending New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.  Jeanne was raised in Deming, but also lived in Mexico City and Celaya, Mexico as a child.  After Mexico, the family moved to Arkansas and then to Roswell, where she graduated high school.  Cliff was born in Sioux City, Iowa, but moved around a lot since his father was career Air Force.

After graduating NMSU (Jeanne in Economics and Cliff in Mechanical Engineering), Cliff went into the Air Force.  He helped launch test rockets and was stationed in Florida, California, Utah, and Kirtland AFB.  After 20 years in the Air Force, he retired with the rank of Lt Col and became a government contractor.  He’s been a Project Manager at Honeywell for six years and works on various military avionics involving cockpit displays and auto-pilot systems.

Jeanne works for a company named ACS as a COBOL Computer Programmer.  “I’m obsolete and trying to keep employed until my retirement,” says Jeanne.  Her current assignment is working with Blue Cross Blue Shield of NM programs.  She enjoyed being a stay-at-home mother when their two sons were growing up.  She’s also done clerical and real estate work.  She and Cliff both hope to retire in spring 2006.

Their family includes two sons, Ron (and wife K’lyn), who live in Durango, and Chris (and wife Annette), who live in Albuquerque.  Their oldest grandson, Brett, 13, has accompanied them on several four-wheeling trips.  He likes the hard trails, but also seems to enjoy just being a kid in the outdoors.  Their other grandchildren are Madalen (age 4), Gavin (age 2½), and 18‑month old Breken. 

Jeanne’s favorite pastime is being Grandma.  She also enjoys computer games (especially Free Cell), yard work, reading, and traveling.  B.F. (Before Horses), Cliff did auto-cross and restored European sports cars.  He also enjoys reading adventure tales and four-wheeling magazines (aren’t these the same thing?).  Together, the Meiers attend plays and four-wheeling events.  And there’s always something to tend to on their seven-acre spread in the East Mountains, including horses, Misty and LF. While Cliff has ridden horses for 20 years, Jeanne is content to feed and pet.

In addition to Backcountry Horsemen, Cliff volunteers with the Bernalillo County Mounted Search & Rescue and the State Search and Rescue.  He and Erwin Greven also serve on the Torrance County Sheriff’s Department Reserve.  Their role has evolved from directing traffic to serving as regular enforcement officers, weapons and all.  Their shifts are usually Tuesdays from 6-10 pm and Saturdays from 6-12 pm.

Cliff has modified his 2002 Tracker with a 2” suspension lift, 2” body lift, ARB locker in the rear, 30” BFG All-Terrains (“big tires for a Tracker” notes Cliff), rocker rails, and 5.12 gears.  Since the Tracker is his daily driver, Cliff feels done with the modifications.  Anything more would require the radical step of cutting up the body, something he’s reluctant to do.

Cliff’s favorite trail is Imogene Pass in southern Colorado, while Jeanne is partial to the 3-D trail in Moab.  Jeanne, Cliff, and Brett will attend the 2005 Moab Easter Jeep Safari, their third consecutive year for that big event.  Closer to home, Cliff enjoyed the Box Canyon Trail at the 2005 Chile Challenge and looks forward to the new trails at the Socorro BLM land.  He’s content to run moderate trails because “they’re comparable to a hard trail for a Jeep.”

Jeanne doesn’t like heights or shelf roads, so Imogene Pass is out of the question.  She clarifies that the problem is not shelf roads themselves, but rather STOPPING ON SHELF ROADS!!!  At the November Caballo run, she was maintaining her composure, until the group stopped in the middle of the Palomas Gap to look and gab.  It sounds as if my dearly beloved husband, Mark (the trail leader), would’ve been dead meat if she’d gotten a hold of him.

Cliff and Jeanne have also enjoyed four-wheeling runs to the Jemez and the Santa Fe National Forest.  Cliff hopes someone will lead La Bajada Hill, so he can learn the route and perhaps lead it himself.  So whether it’s via horseback or Tracker, Cliff is always ready to head to the backcountry.  And if there aren’t drop-offs, Jeanne will be there too.

I'll just sum up my experience at this years Chile Challenge by saying I had a BLAST!  I brought along my fiancée, Betsy, as well as our friends Brian and his fiancée Sarah.  We opted to camp out at the local Holiday Inn, rather than try to keep dry at the fairgrounds.  We still had plenty of time to meet people and swap stories, but next year we hope to stay where the party's at, so to speak.

Brian and I spent the better part of last spring building his rig, a black 1984 Toyota Extra Cab pickup, and this was his truck’s first major outing. We'd done some day trips, but nothing as far away or as fun as the Chile Challenge.  We set up his truck pretty much the same as mine, with lockers front and rear, dual transfer cases, and crossover steering.  We bobbed the bed of his truck 12", and added some homebuilt bumpers and sliders just before the event.  Brian’s truck still has the original (read: worn out) 200,000 mile engine in it, as we didn't have time to build his new hotrod 22RE and complete the fuel injection swap on his rig.  We were both worried about the engine, but it proved its Toyota reliability by getting him home without any trouble.

This was my second time to the event, and I was attending with high hopes after last year’s electrical gremlins in my rig.  I had just completed the fuel injection conversion on my truck before last year’s event, and hadn't worked all the kinks out before hitting the road.  After having to drive my rig to Las Cruces last year, and battling intermittent misfiring problems the whole weekend, I decided to invest in a trailer and tow rig.  I managed to find a really clean '92 Ford F250 diesel, and bought a nice 16' trailer to haul my Toy on.  With a tow rig at my disposal, I decided it was time to get some "big boy" tires and ditched my old 33's in favor of a set of 37" MT/R's.  With the new upgrades to my truck, I was thrilled to leave work behind for a few days and go have some fun.

We were only in Las Cruces for Friday and Saturday, but were blessed with decent weather and good trails. Friday we ran Off Broadway with too many Jeeps, and Saturday we ran Broad Canyon.  Saturday’s more "diverse" group of vehicles proved to be much more entertaining than all the Jeeps on Friday, and we were all treated to Jeff Rector’s body damage on the trail.  I even managed to tip my truck to the passenger side on Broad Canyon while driving over a small rock formation.  I guess those 4.5" backspaced wheels will have to go, they're just too narrow!

Aside from discovering the shortcomings of my cheapo Discount Tires steel wheels, and a little body damage for both myself and Brian, there were no major breaks or problems this year.  I guess we weren't wheeling hard enough, but there’s always next year.  I look forward to the coming year’s events with the club and hope to see everyone on the trail this summer.  Mark Werkmeister’s prospects with the Gordy's Hill area sound promising and hopefully we can help develop that into a great place to go wheeling.

To the best of my knowledge, it’s been nearly 2 years since we’ve been on the Tank Trap Trail.  The reason is because portions of the trail appeared to traverse a “closed” area on the Santa Fe National Forest map.  I recently purchased a new map, however, and the “closed” area is now less restrictive than on my old map.  I carefully plotted the GPS points that I had previously saved for this trail, and confirmed that the entire trail is now on unrestricted land!  So I promptly scheduled a ride for Saturday, 12 Mar.

I remember once when Jeff & Lauri led this trail, that we had trouble finding the trailhead.  So Friday afternoon, the day before the ride, the weather was so nice, I decided to take the afternoon off from work to see if I could pinpoint the trailhead, thereby saving me from another humiliating fine for getting lost (again).  :o)  Anyway, after lunch, I headed up to Santa Fe and off onto the dirt roads that lead back to the trail.  After a short time bouncing around on the badly rutted road, my steering started feeling sloppy.  But it couldn’t be that damn track bar again; I just finished fixing it!  After pounding through another few potholes, I realized that the Jeep’s heading wasn’t necessarily corresponding to my steering inputs.  So I figured this would be a good time to stop to see what was going on.

I immediately noticed that the axle end of the track bar/steering stabilizer bracket was just sort of dangling.  The bracket had literally torn apart from the axle.  Not having an on-board welder, or any other means of fixing the breakage, all I could think about was having to call Paul Thompson again to come rescue me.  No longer worried about being fined at this point, I was starting to hear the dull clanking of a cowbell in my head. 

Contemplating my various repair options (duct tape, bailing wire, or ratchet straps), I started trying to figure how to get out of another bad situation I had gotten myself into.  I ended up pulling the bracket as tight as I could against its former mounting location and securing it with a couple of ratchet straps.  It worked, but only if I maintained a speed of less than 10 or 15 mph.  Anything higher resulted in a violent death wobble.  At that speed, it would have taken me 4 - 6 hours to get home.  That would have been okay, but after talking to Susan, we decided that she would hook up the trailer to the big white truck, and come retrieve me and the broken Jeep.

Susan has only driven the BWT a couple of times, but she’s never had to hook up the trailer or tow anything.  So after telling her where to find the correct receiver hitch, I explained that she would now have to try to back the big beast up exactly underneath the trailer tongue with no one there to help guide her!  After plugging in the lights and brakes, she was on her way up Highway 14, periodically reminding herself to “turn wide”.

While waiting for my rescuer to arrive, I thought about having to send out a short-notice e-mail to cancel the ride.  But I knew not everyone would get the word, and then I’d get another fine for the trail leader not showing up for his ride.  This was quickly turning into a “lose-lose” situation for me.  Perhaps someone else who was planning to go on the ride was familiar enough with the trail to lead it in my place.  And then I remember Marcia telling me that she might go.  So I called to see if she would be willing to “co-lead” the ride with me the next day.  Yes!  Problem solved.  Susan & I successfully recovered back to the house at a reasonable hour that evening.

Saturday morning, 12 vehicles met at the Conoco Station:  Marcia Duggar, Rich & Eric Capener (in Eric’s brand new 2005 “Impact Orange” Rubicon), Bill Cline, Eric Finch, Ed & Lyn Kausche, Jerry & Barbara Marx, Patrick Dixon, Paul & Mary Thompson, and guests Gary Markel, Don Tyler, and Charlie Downing.  I led everyone up to Santa Fe, parked my truck in a safe location, and then jumped into Marcia’s passenger seat with my GPS.  After airing down, we made our way all the way out and up to the trailhead; found it with no problems (after everything I went through the day before).  We dropped down into the streambed and surveyed the first obstacle.  The water tank was especially deep after all the rain we’d received during the past couple of months.  In order to enter the trail, you have to drive up and over a very off-camber section of rock, around the tank.  For me, at least, this is a terrifying experience.  And I have the stains on my seat covers to prove it!  Everyone helped to get all the vehicles through with minimal trouble.

The day turned out to be excellent!  The temps were in the low 70’s, the sun shone on us all day long, and there was no wind!  We slowly crept along the trail, which is basically a series of large rocks, but complicated on this particular trip by the large bodies of water we found throughout the trail.  There was a lot of banging and crunching of skid plates, as well as several uses of winches and straps.  It took us almost 6 hours to drive the 2-mile trail, but in the end, we all made it through with no significant damage.  Thank you, Marcia, for chauffeuring me around all day.  I had a good time even though I didn’t have my Jeep!

When Glenn announced we were going to do Tank trap, I remembered last time we drove that trail and that it was a lot of fun.  So Saturday morning, I kissed my honey bye and left to meet up with the group.  The drive out didn't seem to bad, though my jeep began having carb trouble that morning.

We left the Conoco Station a little after 9 am, and I found that my CB had died sometime since I'd last used it.  But with the 12 Jeeps that were in the group, it was easy to follow.  We hit the air-down location after about an hour, and I proceeded to air down to 13½ psi in the front and 15 in the rear.  I also noted that I'd forgotten to put my onboard air tank back in the Jeep the night before.  We headed out to the trailhead, which was a little dusty, but warm.  That was nice, considering the cold winter we'd just come through.  After a short while, we approached the first major obstacle, the Dam.  The Dam had a couple deep puddles before it, and rocks and mud on the left side, where the only crossing is available.  We lined up and watched Glenn and Paul Thompson spot people over the rocks.  When crossing the Dam, you have to drive up a rocky slope that's around 20 degrees off-camber, slanted to the right and above a deep fetid pool of nasty green stagnant water collected at the base of the dam.  Needless to say, the last thing you want to do is roll or slide off these rocks!  After watching a few Jeeps expertly tackle this obstacle, it was my turn.

I jumped back in my Jeep, romped through the shallow pools, and began up the rocks.  I had been having trouble with my idle all morning and this was no exception (seems the last time I had driven this trail, I had the same trouble).  My engine kept stalling while trying to climb, and the stops and starts I made kept sliding my Jeep more and more toward the edge, but between the spotters and the 4 guys hanging on to keep me from rolling off, they got me through.  That's one obstacle that gets your heart racing and blood pumping every time.  The guys with lockers definitely had an easier time.

From there, we proceeded over quite a lot of rocks to a place where there was a large pool of water (which was about 2 ft deep).  Little did I know there was a huge rock rolling about just under the surface.  It seemed each Jeep that went through found that rock in a different position.  After the pool, there was a rocky slope, but after I'd passed, I'd watched for the Jeep behind me, and ... watched...  Knowing the guy in the blue Jeep had lockers, I began to wonder why he was taking so long, so I hopped out and walked back to see.  I found them playing to the right of where I had ascended on an area that could almost be described at a crevasse.  You could almost change your oil in that pit they were straddling.  I watched as they maneuvered over it, only slightly crushing the metal on their passenger side rocker panel.  Ironically, he had rocker protection on his driver side, but not the passenger side.  Shortly after he made it through, we were all on our way to the next obstacle, a rocky field known as the Rock Garden.  There was a Jeep Cherokee already high centered and we had to use its winch to get it pulled out.  Most people took a different route, but this time when it was my turn, I came up on the path others with lockers had gone.  I dropped my front tire off the rocks into the water, because I wasn't watching my spotter like I was supposed to.  I got high centered myself and had to be strapped off the rocks by one of the guys who just drove through the water. 

All in all, aside from my stupid carb trouble, we had a great day.  I even got sun burnt, mildly, but still.  Next time I drive the Tank Trap, I hope to have my new axles and lockers installed, and should be much more prepared.

A man bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for her birthday.  His friend said, "I thought she wanted one of those 4-wheel drive vehicles." "She did," replied the husband, "but where in the world was I going to find a fake Jeep!"   :o)

Beth and I had plans to try to have a baby soon and were considering another vehicle to four-wheel in, since our Ford Ranger is not infant friendly.  The thought of needing a different vehicle someday to accommodate a family had been in the back of my mind since we got married.  What to choose?  I knew I wanted a vehicle that would perform at least as well as our Ranger, but would also like to not have to worry so much about body damage.  CJ’s, YJ’s, and TJ’s seem to have the body as out-of-the-way of any vehicle that comes from the factory, but the interior room is very tight.  In March of 2004, the new Wrangler Unlimited showed up on the lots of Albuquerque.  I went down to have a look after work the day that I got word that they were in.  When Beth got home, I had a silver one in the driveway and I was rolling around under it on the creeper.  She said “what did you do?”  I quickly explained that I had it out for a test drive and that was all.  She drove it back to the dealership, we did all of the paperwork and it was ours.

Now the gears start turning as to how to enhance its capabilities.  My game plan was to add the body protection before I did performance enhancements that would allow me to get into a position to do body damage.  I thought to myself that they make everything that you can imagine for these things.  That became more of a problem for me than I had imagined--TOO MANY CHOICES!  I had not really paid that much attention to Jeeps in the past to see what others had done to theirs.  I spent a month alone deciding which aftermarket front bumper to buy.  I had to be able to use a tow bar with it. 

The family took a trip to the Jemez Mountains over the Memorial Day holiday.  We toured the Indian ruins up neat Holiday Mesa and I got hung up on a whoop-de-do that my Dad went right over in his stock ’01 TJ.  Ok, the wheelbase and factory low stature had to be fixed!  As a short-term fix, I bought adjustable coil spacers, because I figured that I could retain them when I decided to get more lift. 

Now it was already July and the baby was well on her way.  We attended MHJC’s All-4-Fun in Georgetown Colorado.  We took the Ranger, because I had just spent the winter building a tube bed and wanted to do some of the harder trails that they had to offer.  Chances were that it would be the last time we would be at this type of event where the Ranger could accommodate us.  I was able to check out all kinds of Jeeps at the event.  I finally decided on a bumper, tire carrier, and rocker guards upon return from that trip. 

Ok, so all of the protection stuff is out of the way, now I start thinking about suspension and drive train.  I had decided that I wanted some sort of long arm suspension.  So far, what manufacturers had to offer in long arm kits for the Unlimited appeared to be quick modifications to the standard TJ kits.  The picture shows what I came up with for suspension.  This requires a lot of fabrication work, but I feel that it should suit my desires.  It consists of Currie J arms front and rear, triangulated rear upper control arms, and Skyjacker coil springs.  With a lift of over 4”, I knew that driveline modifications could be required.  I also had plans of installing a Klune-V 4:1 gear reduction box between the transmission and the factory transfer case.  This would definitely require new drive shafts.  Rather than changing the driveline twice,   I decided that it would be most cost effective to do all of this at the same time.  The Klune-V is 6 ½” long, and the slip yolk eliminator is 4” shorter than factory, so my rear driveshaft will have to be about 2½” shorter.  This should not be a problem, since I have 10 more inches than a standard TJ.

All of the parts are in and I am getting started on installing it and a guy offers me a high pinion Dana 44 front axle assembly to me.  This is more like the axle that comes on the Rubicon’s, but the way that the gears are cut in this design, it is actually stronger than the Rubicon low pinion Dana 44.  He made me a deal that I could not refuse, so now I have another dimension to this project.  It did not have the gear ratio that I wanted, and the stock gears are too tall, so now I needed to do the gears and lockers at this time as well.  Well, this vehicle is living up to the acronym that is its name…JEEP…Just Empty Every Pocket!  At this point I ordered Detroit Electrac selectable lockers and 4.88 gears for both differentials.

Stay tuned for the next write up on the install of all of this stuff.

Turns out I needed my rest, setting on my behind Monday & Tuesday while the NM State Police thought it best to lock in/out all East Mountain Residents (plus travelers) from the I-40/Old Route 66 Travelways. Finally mobile, Wednesday morning just a few miles from home, the upper radiator hose split wide open in a 4 inch long slit.  A few hours later, after hitch hiking and help from workplace personnel, hose replacement, and other measures: overheating was not resolved (It is a real BITCH, excuse the language, to get coolant into all but the latest model Cherokee XJ's, BTW).  Limping into town, driving a bit/coasting downhill a lot, it was later realized that fluids were leaking from a point in the radiator.

Thursday started not much better.  I hiked down the hill in the cold to the borrowed company Chevy HD Van parked just off the county road.  (The XJ was left inside the store for safekeeping awaiting resolution of the overheating and leak problems).  Surprise, a rear tire was flat on the van.  Some time required to remove snow, lower the spare tire, raise the vehicle, fight off the overly tight mega number of wheel bolts (8, 10, dunno did not count the number... just too many in any case).  Finally, ready to head to town, nearly another 30 minutes was required to move the van from its parking spot some 12-15 feet of slippery surface onto the county road.  Talk about crappy traction.  I ache so much just thinking about the nearly 1¾ hours from start to finish of the process to finally get underway this morning!

Later, the Cherokee made it to a radiator shop where the verdict was a split in the radiator.  So, some 300 plus dollars later, the Cherokee now sports a new radiator (all metal, none of that plastic end cap crap), a new thermostat just for maintenance sake, and a new long over due serpentine belt.  These costs not including the new upper hose and fluids put in Wednesday.

A lesson here... either top off your 4x4 whenever required with the now available 50/50 anti-freeze/water mixtures, rather than water.... or be sure to pull a hose (required in the XJ) or the radiator cap before winter and check the coolant's lowest temperature value.  Such neglect has cost me this week when the cooling system froze up due to unexpected cold weather.  Moriarty claimed to register 13 degrees below zero Wednesday morning, dunno what it reached here.  But too cold in any case.

Wow!!  I want to THANK everyone for the overwhelming response I received from my request for input for this month’s issue!  I even got a President’s Report from Leon!!!  ;o)  Anyway, even after shrinking the font just a little bit, I still couldn’t fit everything.  So if you submitted something and it didn’t make it to print this month, it will be top priority for next month!!

Aluminum Cans: Our club saves and recycles aluminum cans.  Money from the sale of cans goes into our club treasury.  Please bring your crushed aluminum cans to each meeting, and somebody will take them to the recycling center.

To Our Guests: If you attend a club meeting or event and provide us with your e-mail address, you will be added to our guest e-mail list, and will receive monthly notifications of when the Trail Tales newsletter is posted on our Club web site.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the New Mexico 4-Wheelers, please contact one of our officers for membership requirements, or visit our web site at www.nm4w.org/join-the-club.htm.

Trail Tales on the Web Site: In a continuing effort help save natural resources and to control costs, you are encouraged to read the Trail Tales newsletter on the Club Web Site in lieu of receiving a hard copy in the mail.  Around the first of each month, the current issue of Trail Tales is posted at www.nm4w.org/newsletters.htm and an e-mail notification is sent to all club members.  In addition, a minimum of 2 years of back issues of our newsletter is also available on the web site.  So if you want to help “save some trees”, please send an e-mail to TrailTales@nm4w.org stating that you do not need to receive the hard copy of the newsletter.  Thanks for your participation in this program.

Submission Due Date: The Trail Tales is published on the first of each month.  Submissions for each issue must be received by the Editor not later than the 25^th of the prior month.  Submissions can be sent to TrailTales@nm4w.org, or Trail Tales, 21 Rattlesnake Ridge, Tijeras, NM 87059.

Please see the Events Schedule Page

Trail Tales
21 Rattlesnake Ridge
Tijeras, NM 87059-7440

TrailTales@nm4w.org