Ty added a little extra pucker factor by hanging more to the edge down low, but pulls it back and crawls up.
Don takes his turn and manages to roll his left front tire right over the point of a rock near the top and Larry and I are almost certain the tire was going to blow through. Don’s spare was already on the ground so we couldn’t afford another flat. But he makes it without damage.
We figured this was as good a time as any to break for lunch so we all assembled some sammiches and got our grub on. Once our bellies were full I plopped down and pulled the hub to inspect. I had a spare set of hubs on hand, so I wasn’t too worried. Then I got the hub off and it was found to be in solid working order. No damage. Hmm. Sum Ting Wong. I noticed the end of the axle shaft was a little loose. For some reason I tried to rotate the end of the axle and it spun free. Uh-oh. I showed the guys and we all agreed I managed to break the stub axle. Great. We are barely half way out of this trail and I’m lacking a front axle.
Oh and the moderate rating from this point forward was questionable at best. It was a rough, steep rocky climb. At this point we were off the grid, as cell coverage wasn’t reaching into the canyon we were in.
The group decides to let Ian and I boogie ahead to get as much distance covered as we can before we need help. Once we get cell coverage we’d start making outbound calls looking for parts, but the general idea would be we would head back to Moab. This way we could lick our wounds, replace slashed tires and get the part I need. We’d fix at the campground on Kane Creek and reset our plans.
Larry gets a call out to Stephen Watson at ORD who gives him a couple of contacts to reach out to. Larry radios up to us the contacts and one of them happens to be Extreme 4x4 tours in Moab. I follow this guy in Instagram and am able to fire off a message in IG to him with my phone number to call me. About 10 minutes down the trail I get his call. I tell him what I am looking for and he’s out of D44 spares, but he suggested calling Moab 4x4 outpost. He did ask where we were at and what we were driving. He was impressed by us taking 5 full-size trucks into this area. I called Moab 4x4 Outpost and the guys are stocked. They had new in the box Dana/Spicer parts on the shelf. The price wasn’t far off what I could have bought them for at work either. I radio back the good news and the new plan is put into action.
We reached I-70 in short order. Ian and I air up and hit the road to make sure we can get to the shop in time before they close. Bill and Jenn and Don made plans to hit a tire store in town and Larry, Lynne, Ty and Jodi would secure the campsite while we ran our errands.
We made it back to Moab with time to spare. Moab 4x4 outpost is a cool place with Jeeps, tube buggies and hot rods strewn about it was a place worthy of exploring on it’s own. They were busy for a Tuesday too. We weren’t the only knuckleheads to break stuff I guess.
Getting done at the shop our campsite was actually not to far away and right on the Colorado River just outside of town. Kane Creek is primitive camping, but the group site we got was right next to the shower house.
