Trail Report: Hammerdown claims first victim

[aw12345]

Well Fred. Steve and I set out this morning to run the hammerdown trail again. got there at 10.30 was nice weather and aired down to get to business.












Fred took the lead and while he started climbing the first obstacle we heard this loud sickening bang.



That kinda took the fun right out of it so he backed down to a spot where we could figure out which axle shaft had broken.



Once we took it apart it turned out that the damage was even more severe, not only did the axle shaft pretty much explode it shattered the carrier also.
Not good!!
Since I had the needed parts sitting in my garage in Ontario I decided to make the 3 hour round trip to get parts and some more tools to get the silver bullet rolling again.



In the mean time Steve decided to run the trail had a blast with it managed to almost flop twice and nearly went head over on the return trip coming down the last obstacle, He managed to gun it and save the day



By that time I had made it back with all the parts and we reassembled Fred's Jeep with a LSD carrier I had and a spare axle shaft from there it was an uneventfull trip home.

[bullysteve]

i must say this trail is not for the weak hearted , i almost needed to change my under shorts ....for something so quick it gets your heart pounding i even left some purple paint from the roll cage on a rock or two , still had fun and was amazed at how fast fred and art got the jeep back together and on the road home once the parts arrived , this could be fun if they run it on the 21st hint, hint "MIKE"

[pdw]

i must say this trail is not for the weak hearted , i almost needed to change my under shorts ....for something so quick it gets your heart pounding i even left some purple paint from the roll cage on a rock or two , still had fun and was amazed at how fast fred and art got the jeep back together and on the road home once the parts arrived , this could be fun if they run it on the 21st hint, hint "MIKE"

I am very excited about this run!!!!! I'm pumped, and the Jeep is already prepared!!!!!

[womb raider 940]

that sucks. Glad you got it off the trail.

some fun times opening the diff and changing axles huh? breaking stuff sucks.

I need to check this place out eventually

[curtis]

Sorry about the axel fred, time for a rockjock 60. steve are those new krawers on your jeep?

[bullysteve]

sure are curtis , seem to be working good so far !! we keep wheeing like this were all gonna need those 60's yepppppppy

[curtis]

I have heard that krawers grab so good that they are real hard on axels.

[bullysteve]

i heard the same thing , just have to be careful until i get those 60's hehehehe, in the mean time i switched to chromoly shafts already !!

[jkcrazyjim2]

Sorry to hear about the axle.

Hey Steve, those Krawlers look awesome!! Did you stick with 35's?

[aw12345]

Was not just the axle shaft it exploded the one side of the diff carrier also quite a mess

[mkjeepers]

[COLOR="blue"]I was hoping to do the Hammerdown on the 21st. My son and I went out to the trail last week to winch a couple of large rocks onto the 2nd obstacle, "mirror claimer". I ended up winching over the opening obstacle, I got twisted and would have rolled if I backed down, lots of fun.

BTW if you winch on the 1st obstacle use the 2nd rock on the left, the first on moves and will fall onto the trail.

Did I mention I added to the trail, after you leave Box Canyon you exit to the left. Pictured below.[/COLOR]







[COLOR="Blue"] I found another cool trail at Hercules Finger Rock.
It starts in the wash to the left of the rock formation. It's a motorcycle trail that winds through the granite rocks. It's rated Difficult. Reminds me of a Moab style trail. Just stocking up in case the marines take JV.[/COLOR]

[aw12345]

We saw that you had been out there and moved some rocks on the second obstacle, you also chisseled some of that rock of that made it such a hard turn to get around when coming down the second obstacle.
Will have to try that this Saturday, My Jeep didn't even get a single wheel on the trail last Sunday, but we got Fred home under his own power which was well worth the effort

[mkjeepers]

[COLOR="Blue"]Yea I put the "hammerdown" on that rock sticking out. It makes it a little easier now. [/COLOR]

[aw12345]

Looks like you pretty much attacked the first obstacle
like Fred did. Same goes for Gene on the first try, remember we all pretty much got on the left rock to start getting onto the obstacle. Seems like getting on that big rock on the right is not the way to do it.
I think this is pretty much the line we all took the first time around

[bullysteve]

ya mike that first step is were it got my heart pounding as soon as my rear tire got on top the big rock my front slide down and it felt like it was going over in a quick motion and on the second spot fred was spotting me and he forgot to tell me the bottom was going to fall out until it almost flip me over forward again ....... crazy but fun !!