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Sundflower Mine (Az) on a Wednesday

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  • Trail Report: Sundflower Mine (Az) on a Wednesday

    Well, a fellow MJR member was out in Az for some work. 4xfiend (Justin) sent us a message and asked if we'd care to show him around a local trail. I was itching to run Lower Terminator again but the misses wasn't settling for that. She had her heart set on Sunflower Mine, a very beautiful trail with every type (less sand) of 4x4 terrain you could want. It's rated difficult. I've made it on 31s with my shackle lift, but it was stressful and exhausting. This time out I was on 35s and 6.5" of lift, Justin on 35s with w 4" lift, and my local buddy Carl on 37s with 6"s lift on his LJ. Once Carl got out of bed and got his guys started on work we were off to the Sunflower Mine Loop.

    We hit the air down pretty late, about 10a. I'm sure I'll have more photos later but I'm in Vegas now and in dire need of a Blackjack table

    Kalah loves to take photos without me knowing, this is on the drive along the shelf headed down into the canyon that houses Sunflower.


    Once you have chewed enough dust for a life time you hit rocks, creeks, water and fun.


    Kalah snapped this with my phone while we were moving along, I think it turned out well. (Justin's TJ)



    No Jeep trip is complete with out a few posers, at least in this case I like the poser








    We stopped for a moment after playing around in the water, at this point we made a crucial error in judgment... We decided that the creek bed to the right of the trail was passable. We had walked all 50 yards of it and thought we could make it. Justin said "I'll go first since I'm already lined up for it". This would cost him an axle and turn signal...

    Justin "already lined up for it"


    I was happy to watch.


    All was going well....


    But then!


    After this we hit only a couple more obstacles and we were out of the trail onto dirt, but the fun doesn't end with the rocks. The dirt shelf road is washed out with lots of frame twisters. The TJ/LJ (ya know, the none hip guys) rolled through with no issues. My YJ with open diffs had to be a bit more choosey on lines but we made it through; well until the last crack but I'll explain that soon.






    After we'd all played in the crack, I decided I should drive the crack; "it's just a notch right?"
    This was taken right before I screwed up (sounds like Hump N Bump again)


    Then I turned passenger about 2 feet too early and this was the result.


    Getting in and out reminded me of a stock car; except my butt was in dirt as I crawled through the window.


    Even with Justin having a busted passenger front axle he was a champ and gave me a pull out. His D44 ARB rear for sure helped out on the loose dirt. We decided we'd had enough fun for the day and headed home. All in all a great day of wheeling. More pics to come soon, but probably after the Superbowl.
    USMC F&AM

  • #2
    looks like fun.. you remind me of Luke Duke sliding out of the General Lee!

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    • #3
      See what square headlights make you do? See? Nice trip. Gotta get over there to join you sometime.
      [CENTER][COLOR=#ff0000]Resistance Off Road
      [/COLOR]Join the Resistance...
      http://www.resistanceoffroad.us[/CENTER]

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      • #4
        Thanks guys. I'm looking forward to playing host sometime.
        USMC F&AM

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        • #5
          Looks like a great trail. Just added that one to the list. Damn, that list is getting long!
          [COLOR=#ff8c00]MYJEEP(crawls)ROCKS(again).com

          I have finally stopped drinking for good.
          Now I drink for evil..... :devil:
          [/COLOR]

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          • #6
            Thanks for posting the report and pics, Chris. Even with the breakage I had a great time with great people. The trail was a lot of fun and had some great scenery. And lots of opportunities for extra credit lines- even if they looked easier than they really were.

            I'll post my pics this weekend when I get back home and to a real computer.
            "The Jeep...is a fitting instrument to transport the free people of a free nation with the respect to which we are entitled and the dignity that we deserve."

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            • #7
              Cool stuff guys

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              • #8
                Looks like fun Chris. I need to go to more places out of this area.
                IN A LAND OF FREEDOM WE ARE HELD HOSTAGE BY THE TYRANNY OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS!!

                Better To Burn Out Than To Rust Out!

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                • #9
                  Art, Curtis; it was a blast! I really (I guess unconsciously) avoided this trail for about 8 months. With the lift I can now say it really is a gorgeous trail. I'll be posting more photos up when I get them. You guys, anyone on here that I've wheeled with, would absolutely have a blast. Specially since you guys would probably make the creek bed that claimed Justin's axle look easy

                  And Mike... Isn't the point of building the stuff out of a Jeep to wheel it? Who cares how long the list is! You should see my list. Just think of all the trails you've ran, and currently have on your list, subtract about 12 and that's my list
                  USMC F&AM

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                  • #10
                    Getting ready for the trip back out to AZ and finally got a minute to post up my pics. Thanks Again, Chris, for the great day out wheeling!

                    A lot of the trail looks like this:


                    Chris on one of the extra credit lines:


                    Sunflower Mine:




                    As I was parking at the mine my brakes went out. Found this:


                    Torn brake line. Here's the fix:

                    The vise grips held the whole day and I installed a new line in my hotel parking lot the next day.

                    This is where I broke:


                    The pic doesn't show it very well, but the rocks are pushing in my sidewall about 2" after I slid into them. We were afraid I'd shred the side wall if I tried to drive, so we decided to try to winch my front end sideways a little.

                    This was the result:


                    After winching it out to a flatter spot we removed the inner axle so I could drive out since I didn't have spares with me.

                    Here's a few pics of the v-notch:








                    And a quick vid of Chris :

                    "The Jeep...is a fitting instrument to transport the free people of a free nation with the respect to which we are entitled and the dignity that we deserve."

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