I forgot to add this photo in my previous post, "Camping near the Dolores River Overlook Trail"
2017 Kokopelli Expedition team member thread
- Thread starter paflytyer
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Hey RayRay,
This is Matt (ih8mud handle mcfenton13) and I will be joining you this year on the Kokopelli Trail. First, you have a beautiful very 80 series. Over the past few years, we've done a few group trail rides and the 80s are always among the most capable vehicles in the group. With all of the mods. you've made, I have no doubt your 80 won't have any trouble on this trip. Moreover, I noticed in your photos that you have a Quicksilver Livin' Lite tent trailer. From the photos it looks like the 6.0, and judging by the wheels and tires, you have the offroad package. We too have a Livin' Lite tent trailer, the 8.1 (see photo below). We opted for the standard package and then added a 4" lift and went from 12" wheels to 14" wheels with 205/75 tires (and adjusted the spare tire mount to accommodate the larger wheel and tire). We had a 20' Springdale bumper pull for years, but the more we became interested in overlanding/4wd expedition style trips, the less we used the big trailer. The light weight, smaller size and versatility of the Livin' Lite has proved to be exactly what we needed and we've thoroughly enjoyed it.
I was wondering if you were planning to take your trailer along on the trip? We have a site reserved at the Slickrock Campground from Monday May 1st to Sunday May 7th. We were planning on dropping it off Monday night, prior to the Kokopelli, and then returning to Slickrock on Thursday and staying there for the duration of Cruise Moab. As I mentioned in my previous post, while I haven't driven the Kokopelli in its entirety, I've driven sections of it over the years. As for "Top of the World", I can definitely say, that I wouldn't want to drag a trailer up that hill. However, "Top of the World" is an in and out trail and leaving a trailer in a safe place at the start of the trail wouldn't be a problem. However, I don't think that leaving the trailer behind will be an option for many sections, notably, "Rose Garden Hill". However, with your 80 and a smaller lighter trailer, it may indeed by possible. I was just curious to hear about your plans.
I look forward to meeting you soon.
Sincerely,
Matt
Nice to informally meet you Matt. You are correct we do have a livinlite 6.0 with the off-road package and rear deck. Its kind of crazy, the trailer has about as much ground clearance as My truck. My wife and I got it last September and we love it. We have only got to use it once before it got really cold in the Colorado high country. I won't be taking it with me on the Kokopelli trip. I'm still a newb in terms of towing and maneuvering a trailer around. I lack the skills necessary to tow a trailer On a narrow trail. But hopefully I will be able to improve soon and start doing some more remote trailer camping.
I wanted to share this for all of the other 80 series owners if they didn't already know, but in the Nov-Dec 2015 issue of Toyota Trails there was an article on breaking or shearing the knuckle stud bolts off which basically renders your steering useless. One of the incidents actually happened on the kokopelli trail. It looks like a fairly inexpensive kit to buy and somewhat easy to replace in the event the bolts were to shear off. I will be purchasing a kit from my local Toyota parts department so if anyone happens to have this issue on the trail we are taken care of.
1973Guppie
Supporting Vendor
good article, have not seen that. I would add to carry some pb blaster, a torch and some vice grips to get the broken studs out, possibly even a grinder to cut a groove in the top of the stud if it happens to shear off flat with the knuckle.
Seconded. And don't forget to bring a BFH...
and blaster is awesome, but Aero Kroil changed my life. I won't buy any other penetrant
- Thread starter
- #29
The one's from that Kokopelli run sheared off flush with the knuckle. Fortunately, @bluecruiser carries the stud kit with him (and has done this trail repair more than once) and we were able to get back on the trail in about an hour. The studs backed out easily using a punch.... thankfully. Then about 24 hours later, a 40 in our group had a complete knuckle failure. The wheel and hub went rolling down a hill and the brake line wrapped around the axle and snapped. That one took us a little longer to repair. Then about 18 hours after that, another 40 lost a fuel pump and we had to make a gravity feed to the carb using a Gatorade bottle duct taped to the roll bar. You'd be surprised how far a 40 can go on just less than 32 ounces of fuel!
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Hello All,
My name is Michael Jefferson. My partner Susan Walker and I will be joining you on the Kokopelli trail this year. I drive a 2008 Tacoma double cab TRD model which has been pretty heavily modified. We have front (ARB) and rear (Toyota) lockers, a Total Chaos race front suspension with King coilovers with external reservoirs and a custom leaf spring rear with King external reservoir shocks. The differentials have 4.56 ratio gearing. There is an ARB compressor, ARB front bumper with Warn XD9000 winch, some lights on the front bar, a Fab Fours rear bumper with swing out carrier for the spare and Hi Lift jacks, 35X12.5 Cooper Discover ST tires, Lots of skid plates, full strength welded slider bars from Jeremiah Proffitt (with lots of other work!!), CB radio, and so on.
Susan and I did last year's Cruise Moab and had a blast. We live in Moab, and are gradually upscaling our 4WD skills and difficulty levels. This trail sounds like it will be a good learning experience. In Moab we do a lot of mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, and so on. If any of you are into that sort of thing, let us know. We are familiar with most of the trails.
Here is a picture taken at Jeremiah Proffits place in Austin, Colorado last fall. In the second picture, it was all hands under the truck to get it out the door before the snowstorm hit.
We are looking forward to meeting all of you and spending time getting to know you. If anyone is interested in a trip down Lockhart Basin, I am looking for another capable vehicle/driver to join me. Also, if anyone needs logistics support or anything while in Moab, please let us know.
All the best,
Michael
My name is Michael Jefferson. My partner Susan Walker and I will be joining you on the Kokopelli trail this year. I drive a 2008 Tacoma double cab TRD model which has been pretty heavily modified. We have front (ARB) and rear (Toyota) lockers, a Total Chaos race front suspension with King coilovers with external reservoirs and a custom leaf spring rear with King external reservoir shocks. The differentials have 4.56 ratio gearing. There is an ARB compressor, ARB front bumper with Warn XD9000 winch, some lights on the front bar, a Fab Fours rear bumper with swing out carrier for the spare and Hi Lift jacks, 35X12.5 Cooper Discover ST tires, Lots of skid plates, full strength welded slider bars from Jeremiah Proffitt (with lots of other work!!), CB radio, and so on.
Susan and I did last year's Cruise Moab and had a blast. We live in Moab, and are gradually upscaling our 4WD skills and difficulty levels. This trail sounds like it will be a good learning experience. In Moab we do a lot of mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, and so on. If any of you are into that sort of thing, let us know. We are familiar with most of the trails.
Here is a picture taken at Jeremiah Proffits place in Austin, Colorado last fall. In the second picture, it was all hands under the truck to get it out the door before the snowstorm hit.
We are looking forward to meeting all of you and spending time getting to know you. If anyone is interested in a trip down Lockhart Basin, I am looking for another capable vehicle/driver to join me. Also, if anyone needs logistics support or anything while in Moab, please let us know.
All the best,
Michael
Stan, I am a ham, but do not currently have a rig in the truck. The dreaded (for old school hams...) CB radio has worked well for trail use, but I am curious what bands you plan to use on the Kokopelli. 2meters? What rig are you using?
Michael
WD6EHQ
Michael
WD6EHQ
- Thread starter
- #32
I run a Yeasu FT-7800 and have been very happy with it. The faceplate is mounted up front and the unit is mounted inside the glovebox. Since most folks will not have HAM, we'll primarily use CB. @bluecruiser and I will use HAM to keep in touch if we spread out or if he takes a group on one of the more difficult sections while I stay on the main trail. We'll have an assigned 2M frequency by the CM directors and I'll monitor 146.460 most of the time. We'll be up on a few plateaus along the route and you can easily reach out 40+ miles on simplex.
Since I will use CB and HAM a lot while leading trails, I keep one mic (the one I'll use the most) on a seltbelt mic holder that @nakman of Gamiviti sells. These things are great for trips like this. I never fumble for the mic and I don't have to look away from the trail to find it. I can just reach down, key-up and talk. Mic Holders
KØFSH
Introducing myself....Susan Walker, partner of Michael Jefferson (Ferretlegger) and we will be using his newly and heavily modified Tacoma. I am a 4 Runner lover. I have had (and luckily Michael bought from me) a 2006 Sports Edition v8 and my current is a 2016 Trail + with off roading dials and settings I'm learning about. I am frequently given a hard time about my off roading because I don't like to get my car dirty. A scratch???!!!! Oh my. Well I'm kidding, kinda.
I'm looking forward to the trip. I love primitive camping. Mostly. It all sounds very exciting and I can't wait to see the 4Runners.
I'm looking forward to the trip. I love primitive camping. Mostly. It all sounds very exciting and I can't wait to see the 4Runners.
bluecruiser
SILVER Star
Seems like a fun group! Love the participation online. Looking forward to getting started on this year's adventure!
Susan and I have been thrashing around the Moab area for years, and have quite a collection of "the usual suspects" maps. Our offroad and mountain biking activity usually tapers off about halfway up highway 128, and apparently none of our maps cover the Kokopelli trail in detail.
Does anyone have any suggestions about detailed maps which DO cover this area?
Thanks,
Michael
Does anyone have any suggestions about detailed maps which DO cover this area?
Thanks,
Michael
Hi everyone,
My name is John Sarratea and I will be traveling with my wife Heather. This will be my 4th trip to Cruise Moab and my first on the Kokopelli Run. I've ran San Raphael Swell twice, but I have always trailered my 1978 FJ40. I will be bringing my 1988 FJ62 on this trip, and driving it all the way from Reno, NV. I am leaving Reno and taking I80 on Sunday, April 30th and making the trip to the Campground near Rabbit Valley by Monday night. I'm really happy that I will get to make the run this year with everyone. I have cooked with Ross at Rubithon and have only missed three Or four Rubithons since I was 16 years old. My first Rubithon was in 1993 and the FJ40 was my first car and it has gone through a large overhaul over the years.
I will be driving my 1988 FJ62 and it is also set up nicely. It has a 5.3 Vortec and a 4L65E tranny, stock split t-case with 4.0 advance adapters gear set. Many Mudrak "improved" parts, 37" MTR's..... Many of you may recognize this cruiser as it was advertised on IH8MUD and placed on eBay. I bought it from the second owner out of Bishop, CA a couple years ago now. It has too many items to list but is very well equipped. I had to work out a few bugs and now taking it on this expedition. I will be towing a custom built off road trailer made locally by friends at Relentless Fabrication. I hope the trailer is ready and fully completed!! I took the trailer on Rubithon when it was in prototype phase. My daily driver is a 2011 Tundra. I own three Toyotas and my wife has a fairly stock 2013 4Runner limited making it four! I am looking forward to meeting all of you, and sharing the experience of this expedition together,
Cheers and See You All Soon,
John and Heather
Here are a few pics:
My name is John Sarratea and I will be traveling with my wife Heather. This will be my 4th trip to Cruise Moab and my first on the Kokopelli Run. I've ran San Raphael Swell twice, but I have always trailered my 1978 FJ40. I will be bringing my 1988 FJ62 on this trip, and driving it all the way from Reno, NV. I am leaving Reno and taking I80 on Sunday, April 30th and making the trip to the Campground near Rabbit Valley by Monday night. I'm really happy that I will get to make the run this year with everyone. I have cooked with Ross at Rubithon and have only missed three Or four Rubithons since I was 16 years old. My first Rubithon was in 1993 and the FJ40 was my first car and it has gone through a large overhaul over the years.
I will be driving my 1988 FJ62 and it is also set up nicely. It has a 5.3 Vortec and a 4L65E tranny, stock split t-case with 4.0 advance adapters gear set. Many Mudrak "improved" parts, 37" MTR's..... Many of you may recognize this cruiser as it was advertised on IH8MUD and placed on eBay. I bought it from the second owner out of Bishop, CA a couple years ago now. It has too many items to list but is very well equipped. I had to work out a few bugs and now taking it on this expedition. I will be towing a custom built off road trailer made locally by friends at Relentless Fabrication. I hope the trailer is ready and fully completed!! I took the trailer on Rubithon when it was in prototype phase. My daily driver is a 2011 Tundra. I own three Toyotas and my wife has a fairly stock 2013 4Runner limited making it four! I am looking forward to meeting all of you, and sharing the experience of this expedition together,
Cheers and See You All Soon,
John and Heather
Here are a few pics:
- Thread starter
- #38
The Kokopelli mountain bike trail is a project of COMBA. (Colorado Mountain Bike Association) Colorado Mountain Bike Association | Build • Advocate • Educate
The bike portion parallels the vehicle portion in a few areas. We will most likely see a few riders on day one, but it's pretty rare to see them after that.
Kokopelli Trail, Kokopelli Loops | MTB Project
I had sliders on the way (from Hefty Fabworks, in addition to full aluminum skid plates) before your previous post but I just got them installed. Sounds like it was the right decision. I don't, yet, have a rear bumper but I do have a rear tow hitch, which I can confirm, makes an excellent rear rock slider if you don't have an aftermarket bumper.
Sliders... Ugh. OK... I'll get some. Not a fan of the look... But bent door sills dont thrill me either!