Four Wheel Blazer Pop-up, Finally found one
Oilbrnr
Senior Member
Hey, look, easy access to work on that D44.
Oilbrnr
Senior Member
Dude! No! I hope this was at the end of the trip...
Kinda. Last trail day on flat iron Mesa. We were 1/3rd of the way into the trail when I broke it. Wasn't anything hard like the climb in the first pic. Just got bound up on a rock and snapped it. Contrary to what our buddy Larry thinks, I was not hard on the skinny pedal at that moment. 40 year old parts don't help so chrome-moly shafts are on the to do list.Oilbrnr said:
Mighty Dodge Ram
Senior Member
Ugh! Any issues making it home?
ntsqd
Custom User Title
I'm in the same boat with the Bronc-up, 40+ y.o. front axle parts. Its a big chunk of change, but I plan to replace with RCV shafts. It is not just that they're better parts, it more that they have a far, far better warranty. Break $700 Chro-Mo's and you get to buy them again. Break $1200 RCV's and they replace them. At least, that is my understanding.
Nope. Pretty easy to unlock the hubs and push the t-case lever to 2hi and forget about it. That trail did have a couple of different spots to bail out onto a dirt road to get back to the highway or else it would have been a LONG day. We did have to get winched over one shelf but after that we made it to the road in 2wd without issue. There were four more trucks that bailed out with us for various reasons at that point too. Just boogied back to camp and made some lunch out of leftover Fajita's we had in the fridge.Mighty Dodge Ram said:
I'm still looking at options. RCV's are nice, but way out of the budget right now. Even less with the coming 8.1/4500 swap. Right now it's going to get another stock shaft to make it usable and see what the budget allows from there. I want to make at least one last run before winter so that for sure means another stocker.ntsqd said:
As much as I know I don't need a D60 up front, it's looking awful good right now. If only one showed up cheap that might make the decision for me.
Oilbrnr
Senior Member
Larry has three of them stashed inside that Corvair Van...Zoomad said:
ntsqd
Custom User Title
Downside to the front D60 is all of its added unsprung mass that works against the pavement miles ride quality. Gets spendy real fast, but I can see a good argument for 60 outers on a 44.
I did the 8 lug front conversion on my '91 1/2t Sub when I put a 14bff under the rear of it. That was totally worth it for the bigger brakes. Too bad you can't gain some steering joint size in that process.
I did the 8 lug front conversion on my '91 1/2t Sub when I put a 14bff under the rear of it. That was totally worth it for the bigger brakes. Too bad you can't gain some steering joint size in that process.
I wish. If he did I'd already have one. I almost know his stash as well as he does.Oilbrnr said:
I'm with you on the unsprung mass and clearance. It's a good reason for upgraded shafts in the 44. It's probably the direction I go in unless a 60 drops in my lap for really cheap.ntsqd said:
I started the Trip report in the trip report section. First section is up.
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/18861-rimrocker-trail-and-blazer-bash-in-moab/
Need to finish up fixing the axle. Got a spare axle shaft from a co-worker that is more into off-road stuff than I am. I broke it good though. Even nailed the ball joints nicely to the point I have to replace those too.
Knuckle is off and I need to go over to my friend Bill's place to press them off and on.
Going on a final run of the season for an overnighter to Medano Pass and the Great Sand Dunes National park next weekend.
Knuckle is off and I need to go over to my friend Bill's place to press them off and on.
Going on a final run of the season for an overnighter to Medano Pass and the Great Sand Dunes National park next weekend.
CougarCouple
Senior Member
Hi Zoomad
I don’t want to come off like an expert, because I’m not.
I have read that there is a lot more happening to the axle when you break a shaft. Each time you break a something there are unknown stress’s happening. The flexing and twisting the housing goes thru has residual effects. I hear you about funds no debate from me there. My observation on your rig is that the Blazer now has a camper on it, larger tires, and your out playing in the rocks. Yes a D60 is heavy, has less clearance, long term will service you better for what I see as you intended purpose. Or you could go this route. https://www.currieenterprises.com/on-road-products?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt5i0_NL25AIViuNkCh3czw3ZEAAYASAAEgK4DPD_BwE
I don’t want to come off like an expert, because I’m not.
I have read that there is a lot more happening to the axle when you break a shaft. Each time you break a something there are unknown stress’s happening. The flexing and twisting the housing goes thru has residual effects. I hear you about funds no debate from me there. My observation on your rig is that the Blazer now has a camper on it, larger tires, and your out playing in the rocks. Yes a D60 is heavy, has less clearance, long term will service you better for what I see as you intended purpose. Or you could go this route. https://www.currieenterprises.com/on-road-products?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt5i0_NL25AIViuNkCh3czw3ZEAAYASAAEgK4DPD_BwE
No offense taken at all. I'm not against a 60 by any stretch. Just they don't pop up around here for the money I can afford at this point. Even less so considering I'm still acquiring parts for the 8.1/nv4500 swap coming in just a couple of months. Which I fully recognize is only added more stress to the front axle in weight and added power/torque. Hence the stopgap maneuver with chrome-moly shafts.
My Buddy Larry's K10 which I consider the benchmark for what direction my truck is going for also ran a similar D44 with a Big Block, Tru-trac and manual trans ran for 10 years of similar wheeling. Half of that time with the camper on it and he broke 1 stock shaft in that time. That break happened during a snow run prior to the camper going on and getting a little throttle happy in a wide open field.
With the camper on, loaded for a run it tips the scales at over 8,000 pounds. I know they can survive with a little help. Part of the issue is a smart driver, which I consider him to be and me not so much but I'm gaining finesse.
One of the guys I was with over in Moab also has very good experience with a D44 in a K5 on much harder rock crawling trails than I'll ever plan to hit and running 38" tires. He made the switch to chrome-moly shafts and beat the ever loving tar out of them. This was with an ARB air locker in it too. He broke his share of lockout hubs but never a shaft or even a joint. He eventually snapped the center pin in the ARB itself. After calling ARB for the part they were shocked he broke it. An example of how rare it was to break the USA arm of ARB didn't stock the center pin for replacement parts. They had to send for it from Australia to get it for him.
Both examples, eventually each of them ended up swapping in a 60 too. In Larry's case it was a once in a lifetime deal of a new old stock 60 in the crate for a military CUCV truck. $900 for a brand new 60 was too good to pass up for the upgrade so he went for it. The other one went to a 60 because of the truck getting worked harder on more difficult trails.
I'll get one, eventually. I know I won't be getting into any crazy rockcrawling trails on purpose. Maybe Lockhart basin or going to the Doll House in the Maze district, but nothing quite like the constant one obstacle after another kind of trail that the normal Moab Jeep trails have. But the main point is once the fortified shafts are in, I'll still wheel with caution, but will have a set of stockers on hand for the just in case moment.
My Buddy Larry's K10 which I consider the benchmark for what direction my truck is going for also ran a similar D44 with a Big Block, Tru-trac and manual trans ran for 10 years of similar wheeling. Half of that time with the camper on it and he broke 1 stock shaft in that time. That break happened during a snow run prior to the camper going on and getting a little throttle happy in a wide open field.
With the camper on, loaded for a run it tips the scales at over 8,000 pounds. I know they can survive with a little help. Part of the issue is a smart driver, which I consider him to be and me not so much but I'm gaining finesse.
One of the guys I was with over in Moab also has very good experience with a D44 in a K5 on much harder rock crawling trails than I'll ever plan to hit and running 38" tires. He made the switch to chrome-moly shafts and beat the ever loving tar out of them. This was with an ARB air locker in it too. He broke his share of lockout hubs but never a shaft or even a joint. He eventually snapped the center pin in the ARB itself. After calling ARB for the part they were shocked he broke it. An example of how rare it was to break the USA arm of ARB didn't stock the center pin for replacement parts. They had to send for it from Australia to get it for him.
Both examples, eventually each of them ended up swapping in a 60 too. In Larry's case it was a once in a lifetime deal of a new old stock 60 in the crate for a military CUCV truck. $900 for a brand new 60 was too good to pass up for the upgrade so he went for it. The other one went to a 60 because of the truck getting worked harder on more difficult trails.
I'll get one, eventually. I know I won't be getting into any crazy rockcrawling trails on purpose. Maybe Lockhart basin or going to the Doll House in the Maze district, but nothing quite like the constant one obstacle after another kind of trail that the normal Moab Jeep trails have. But the main point is once the fortified shafts are in, I'll still wheel with caution, but will have a set of stockers on hand for the just in case moment.
Made the run over Medano pass into the Great Sand Dunes National Park with my nephew Martin and my friends Bill in the Tacoma and John and his son Tony in the TJ Wrangler. Just to skip to the answer for an obvious question if I broke anything and the answer is no. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
We took off at 9:00 Saturday and made our way over to the trail off of state hwy 69. The trail gains elevation quickly to give a view of the valley we came from. It’s a little peek of the fall color we should get into on the other side.
Medano Pass is a pretty basic trail that most stock pickups can handle. This is an alternative entrance to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Cool thing is if you enter through this you don’t have to pay the park entry fee.
We are probably only a few days early to the peak of the color change, but it’s still very pretty.
The trail comes down quickly into the valley. We broke for lunch early. That’s my nephew Martin on the right and Tony on the left there.
John’s little TJ is still evolving. It’s now sitting on a fresh long arm suspension system. By the looks of how it drove on the trail it’s a hell of an improvement.
Nice to see it on a trail than apart in my driveway for the last week.
It may be a basic trail, but this time of year the views are great.
Here come Bill down to us.
More views.
After crossing Medano creek a bunch of times you can see the dunes come into view.
The trail changes to straight sand at this point. It varies from shallow to deep in spots. Driving on the dunes is not allowed, so this is the closest one can get to doing so.
We took off at 9:00 Saturday and made our way over to the trail off of state hwy 69. The trail gains elevation quickly to give a view of the valley we came from. It’s a little peek of the fall color we should get into on the other side.
Medano Pass is a pretty basic trail that most stock pickups can handle. This is an alternative entrance to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Cool thing is if you enter through this you don’t have to pay the park entry fee.
We are probably only a few days early to the peak of the color change, but it’s still very pretty.
The trail comes down quickly into the valley. We broke for lunch early. That’s my nephew Martin on the right and Tony on the left there.
John’s little TJ is still evolving. It’s now sitting on a fresh long arm suspension system. By the looks of how it drove on the trail it’s a hell of an improvement.
Nice to see it on a trail than apart in my driveway for the last week.
It may be a basic trail, but this time of year the views are great.
Here come Bill down to us.
More views.
After crossing Medano creek a bunch of times you can see the dunes come into view.
The trail changes to straight sand at this point. It varies from shallow to deep in spots. Driving on the dunes is not allowed, so this is the closest one can get to doing so.
We rolled past crowded parking areas with tons of people. Our need to be away from people and sense for adventure started kicking in. The original plan was to come down to the dunes, then back up the trail we came in on to find a campsite. Problem was the time was only around 1:00, even with 30 minutes to get back up to the campsite we would have a lot of daylight to kill.
Bill is normally dead set against setting up camp that early. He throws the follow statement at me: “You know Blanca is just down the road from here.” I respond to Bill that he’s lost his mind. For those that don’t know Blanca peak road is one of the toughest in the state. So Bill, John and I rationalize this idea down to we’ll go as far as we can and turn back when it gets really hairy and then find a campsite to crash at. Bill’s been up here years ago on a quad so he had an idea what we were in for. I had my trail book in the console and the description showed glowing reports for being nasty. Blanca’s main challenges are named Jaws 1, 2, 2 ½, 3 and 4. The main gatekeeper is Jaws 2. That’s spot we feel we probably can’t get over, but what the hell we are going for it.
Keep in mind just getting to this point from the road had us run up a straight mile of annoyingly loose river rock before the trail dives into thick juniper trees.
We gain elevation quickly and at times can look back across the vast San Luis valley.
I’m waiting for some additional pics from my nephew as from the point of the trail sign I had my hands full. Steep climbs with loose rock and tight switchbacks had me putting all my focus on the task at hand. The trail does start making it’s way up a section with more tight Juniper trees where the camper is getting tagged from both sides at the same time.
We made it up a serious climb after a switchback where 3 other trucks stopped. We assumed this was Jaws 1. After looking at other trail reports what we thought was Jaws 2 is actually Jaws 1. Bill reaches it first and radios back for us to come up and check it out with him. We see this mess down the trail from Jaws 1.
That’s a freshly rolled Cherokee. It’s missing the windshield, front driveshaft and bashed on each bumper and every panel. If that’s not a sign of what not to do I don’t know what is.
The survey crew getting into position.
Ok, the guys are on Jaws 1. To the very left is the edge of the shelf that leads to certain doom if you screw up. The idea would be to head up the chute to the right (just over the center of the hood and to the right of Martin) and then hook a hard left on top to go straight over the fin that cuts the trail diagonally. The problem here is that fin has a straight drop on the back side. You can see oil spillage in the center where somebody nailed the rock. We at first though of skirting the whole thing by hanging way left but the rock would force your ride to tilt right at the downhill slope below the shelf.
******
The group decides we’ve pushed our luck enough up to this point we decide to go back down the mountain to find a campsite.
It is beautiful up there though.
We start coming down and get a great look at the San Luis valley and Alamosa below.
*****
Side note from the climb up the trail. We found many trucks/jeeps that went part of the way up the trail and parked to then hike up the rest of the way. This is a pretty narrow trail so parking ends up happening in the corners of switchbacks. The trail is pretty popular for hikers as there are three of Colorado’s 14’ers up there to climb beyond the end of the 4wd trail. One of the trucks we passed was a 2500 Ram was rolling on 20’s with street tread. As one would expect on a rough trail like this, low profile tires and street tread probably aren’t going to last long. Sure enough the left front is flat.
The truck is locked up and nobody is nearby. It’s slightly in the way of navigating the switchback but we press on past it and laugh about the out-of-state plates and being less than prepared for this trail. Further up the road we came across 3 hikers loaded with gear and fishing poles. Bill in the lead ends up talking to them and discovering they are the ones that came up with the Ram. They explained they lacked the jack to get the spare swapped on. It’s at this point we see them loading Bill’s truck with the gear. Seeing this from behind we don’t know what’s being said so I call to Bill on the CB and ask what’s going on. Bill offered to carry the stuff for them as far as we could make it. As rough and slow as the trail is, they keep up with is pretty well on foot. While at Jaws 1 we talk to the guys and let them get the stuff and we asked about the truck and if they would like us to help them out with it since we all had jacks in our trucks. They were more than happy to take us up on the offer.
We get down there and get to work.
I grab my bottle jack and Bill starts taking the lugs loose. John shimmy’s under it to set the jack in place and get the flat off the ground.
We had Martin hop in and make sure the parking brake was on and he was about knocked over by the stench of weed coming out of the truck. It all make sense now.
Spare on I check the cooler to see if there is a cold one we take as payment. Upon further inspection, we’ll let them keep the warm beers floating in who knows what. Yuck!
My trail dog Storm getting a drink while we work on the Ram.
Martin was taking pics through out the trip, this is one.
Since I was leading the way down it was my task to find a campsite for the night. I spot a side trail back into the trees for a natural wind break and pull back there to check it out. We are loosing daylight now so this fits the bill, fairly flat for Bill and the rest of us. Camp gets set up quickly and we get into relax mode.
I’m getting ready to cook some cheesesteak sammiches for the group.
We hang out around our campfire in a can due to the burn restrictions and the sun sets on great day of wheeling.
Bill is normally dead set against setting up camp that early. He throws the follow statement at me: “You know Blanca is just down the road from here.” I respond to Bill that he’s lost his mind. For those that don’t know Blanca peak road is one of the toughest in the state. So Bill, John and I rationalize this idea down to we’ll go as far as we can and turn back when it gets really hairy and then find a campsite to crash at. Bill’s been up here years ago on a quad so he had an idea what we were in for. I had my trail book in the console and the description showed glowing reports for being nasty. Blanca’s main challenges are named Jaws 1, 2, 2 ½, 3 and 4. The main gatekeeper is Jaws 2. That’s spot we feel we probably can’t get over, but what the hell we are going for it.
Keep in mind just getting to this point from the road had us run up a straight mile of annoyingly loose river rock before the trail dives into thick juniper trees.
We gain elevation quickly and at times can look back across the vast San Luis valley.
I’m waiting for some additional pics from my nephew as from the point of the trail sign I had my hands full. Steep climbs with loose rock and tight switchbacks had me putting all my focus on the task at hand. The trail does start making it’s way up a section with more tight Juniper trees where the camper is getting tagged from both sides at the same time.
We made it up a serious climb after a switchback where 3 other trucks stopped. We assumed this was Jaws 1. After looking at other trail reports what we thought was Jaws 2 is actually Jaws 1. Bill reaches it first and radios back for us to come up and check it out with him. We see this mess down the trail from Jaws 1.
That’s a freshly rolled Cherokee. It’s missing the windshield, front driveshaft and bashed on each bumper and every panel. If that’s not a sign of what not to do I don’t know what is.
The survey crew getting into position.
Ok, the guys are on Jaws 1. To the very left is the edge of the shelf that leads to certain doom if you screw up. The idea would be to head up the chute to the right (just over the center of the hood and to the right of Martin) and then hook a hard left on top to go straight over the fin that cuts the trail diagonally. The problem here is that fin has a straight drop on the back side. You can see oil spillage in the center where somebody nailed the rock. We at first though of skirting the whole thing by hanging way left but the rock would force your ride to tilt right at the downhill slope below the shelf.
******
The group decides we’ve pushed our luck enough up to this point we decide to go back down the mountain to find a campsite.
It is beautiful up there though.
We start coming down and get a great look at the San Luis valley and Alamosa below.
*****
Side note from the climb up the trail. We found many trucks/jeeps that went part of the way up the trail and parked to then hike up the rest of the way. This is a pretty narrow trail so parking ends up happening in the corners of switchbacks. The trail is pretty popular for hikers as there are three of Colorado’s 14’ers up there to climb beyond the end of the 4wd trail. One of the trucks we passed was a 2500 Ram was rolling on 20’s with street tread. As one would expect on a rough trail like this, low profile tires and street tread probably aren’t going to last long. Sure enough the left front is flat.
The truck is locked up and nobody is nearby. It’s slightly in the way of navigating the switchback but we press on past it and laugh about the out-of-state plates and being less than prepared for this trail. Further up the road we came across 3 hikers loaded with gear and fishing poles. Bill in the lead ends up talking to them and discovering they are the ones that came up with the Ram. They explained they lacked the jack to get the spare swapped on. It’s at this point we see them loading Bill’s truck with the gear. Seeing this from behind we don’t know what’s being said so I call to Bill on the CB and ask what’s going on. Bill offered to carry the stuff for them as far as we could make it. As rough and slow as the trail is, they keep up with is pretty well on foot. While at Jaws 1 we talk to the guys and let them get the stuff and we asked about the truck and if they would like us to help them out with it since we all had jacks in our trucks. They were more than happy to take us up on the offer.
We get down there and get to work.
I grab my bottle jack and Bill starts taking the lugs loose. John shimmy’s under it to set the jack in place and get the flat off the ground.
We had Martin hop in and make sure the parking brake was on and he was about knocked over by the stench of weed coming out of the truck. It all make sense now.
Spare on I check the cooler to see if there is a cold one we take as payment. Upon further inspection, we’ll let them keep the warm beers floating in who knows what. Yuck!
My trail dog Storm getting a drink while we work on the Ram.
Martin was taking pics through out the trip, this is one.
Since I was leading the way down it was my task to find a campsite for the night. I spot a side trail back into the trees for a natural wind break and pull back there to check it out. We are loosing daylight now so this fits the bill, fairly flat for Bill and the rest of us. Camp gets set up quickly and we get into relax mode.
I’m getting ready to cook some cheesesteak sammiches for the group.
We hang out around our campfire in a can due to the burn restrictions and the sun sets on great day of wheeling.
I got a few of the pics my nephew Martin took from the weekend.
Jaws 1 up close. It’s hard to tell what’s so tough about it from this close up, but the oil spillage on the rock is a clue.
This is the section we thought was Jaws 1. Mainly for the large fin sticking up in the center of the trail in front of my driver’s side tire. Just below here was where 3 other hikers vehicles were parked as they must have felt it was too much to climb further. Admittedly, it was sketchy. You can’t tell how steep this section was it was pretty steep, loose and the added bonus of the sheer drop to the passenger side.
More from the same section.
Coming back down.
We all had a pretty good weekend overall. I cooked breakfast for the group early and we boogied down the rest of the mountain and went to the town of Blanca for fuel and to air up. I had previously found a short cut to avoid coming back over La Veta Pass and having to drive all the way to Walsenburg and then home. We took it and rolled into the driveway by noon and unpacked the truck. No issues other than a couple of puncture wounds on the passenger side of the camper where the Junipers got a little too tight.
Jaws 1 up close. It’s hard to tell what’s so tough about it from this close up, but the oil spillage on the rock is a clue.
This is the section we thought was Jaws 1. Mainly for the large fin sticking up in the center of the trail in front of my driver’s side tire. Just below here was where 3 other hikers vehicles were parked as they must have felt it was too much to climb further. Admittedly, it was sketchy. You can’t tell how steep this section was it was pretty steep, loose and the added bonus of the sheer drop to the passenger side.
More from the same section.
Coming back down.
We all had a pretty good weekend overall. I cooked breakfast for the group early and we boogied down the rest of the mountain and went to the town of Blanca for fuel and to air up. I had previously found a short cut to avoid coming back over La Veta Pass and having to drive all the way to Walsenburg and then home. We took it and rolled into the driveway by noon and unpacked the truck. No issues other than a couple of puncture wounds on the passenger side of the camper where the Junipers got a little too tight.
Mighty Dodge Ram
Senior Member
Fun fun fun!
CougarCouple
Senior Member
Thanks for the trip reports sir. I would like to take the trail out to the dunes sometime. That time of year with the change looks killer. Maybe I can get the wife to go with.
Russ
Russ
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