Rubithon Breakage

[Romer]

Had a great time at The Rubithon.

I had what I would consider minimal damage and have no regrets

First front Swaybar, broken at the mount to the axle

Rear Swaybar link snapped

Drive shaft slightly stripped

Drivers side body seems to have no body damage,maybe a scratch that may or not have been there

Passenger side rear door bumped a rock in the molding with no sheet metal breakage. Snapped a plastic retainer on the inside of the molding that holds it on. I am fixing the clip back on with JD weld tonight and bought all new fasteners to re-attach to door. Should come out fine

Rear flare scratched with a few paint scratches in the body from Cadillac hill where you get real tippy.

No big deal in the body damage department. I'll put the door cladding back on and it will look fine

The armor took some dings, but thats why we buy it. Nothing major

The one item that concerns me is that the inspection showed a lot of oil along the entire underside of the body from the diff back.

Checked the diff fluid and I was down 1.5 qts from when I left.

The spread of the oil looks like possibly pinion seal as its on the top and bottom of the diff on the rear side, plus above the front drive shaft along the body.

Cleaned it up and refilled fluid and let it drip to see if its from the bottom. Then I'll take it for a drive and see.

All in all, not too bad and I have no regrets. It was a blast.

 

[Buckru]

Ken,

Glad to hear you had a great time.
Your attitude toward your damage is great. Kudos to you
How did the LX do on the trail? How does wheeling an 80 on the Con compare to your normal haunts in Colorado?

Buck

 

[Romer]

The 80 did outstanding. There are a lot of places in Colorado with similar obstacles in difficulty. The difference with the Rubicon is that they are one after the other.

Cadillac hill must have gotten more difficult due to erosion. Quite a few of us got dinged on the way out even with the excellent spotting.

Doing it again, I would just take the swaybars off.

 

[Atoyot1031]

Ken,
Looks like from these pics and the others I have seen that you all had a great time!

Nothing major, other than that pinion seal. That could be a PITA!

Your DS reminds me of Holy Cross last year with my mini. I'll have to find the pics. I had to replace mine as I foofed it up pretty good. Yours doesn't look bad. Can you notice it all on the road?
Nick

 

[Romer]

No problem with the Drive shaft on the road. I striped it real good on Chinamans a year ago and it wobbled. Had it rebuilt with a thicker tube.

I did forget to mention that I lost some of the balancing weights on the tires, you could feel that doing 90MPH on the way home

 

[reffug]

I would have thought you would have removed the sways beforehand.......................

So how was a hot shower?

 

[Atoyot1031]

No problem with the Drive shaft on the road. I striped it real good on Chinamans a year ago and it wobbled. Had it rebuilt with a thicker tube.

I did forget to mention that I lost some of the balancing weights on the tires, you could feel that doing 90MPH on the way home

90 with 4.88s and 315s?!? I'd have to have my uncorrected speedo at almost 100!!!

Also with my SC, I think I'd be in the red pretty quick. I guess I really need to get that auxilary fan hooked up like you have.

 

[Romer]

I would have thought you would have removed the sways beforehand.......................

So how was a hot shower?

Shower was great. Supported our whole group of folks. Nice and warm with plenty of pressure

 

[Riad]

Nice!

That's exactly how I broke my sway bars few years ago. I also went flare less due to a similar incident on the rear.

Looks like lot of fun, thanks for sharing..

 

[concretejungle]

thanks for the pics Romer!!

How did the cot-tent do?

I can't believe you wheeled with the sway bars on. I'm also surprised you didn't rip the brake line off when you lost your sway bar.

Others please post up damage pics!!!

 

[mot]

Glad you're back and you had fun!

Did you sleep in your RTT (Did not see it in your pics, but remembering hearing about it either before/after you left) or did you get a motel room?

ANYWAY, glad to see that the damages were kept to minimal!

 

[TCH2FLY]

Great trip!!
An 80 isn't the ideal rig for that trail but certainly capable of making the trip with little or no damage. I came out well .... all things considered. No sheet metal damage but the right side flares took a pounding on Cadillac (see below). I also punched out a driving light due to my own stupidity.

I also noticed a front diff leak when I stopped for fuel in Rock Springs but I can't attribute it to the 'Con.

I will attest to Romer's shower set-up... first class

The 80 did outstanding. There are a lot of places in Colorado with similar obstacles in difficulty. The difference with the Rubicon is that they are one after the other.

I agree completely.

Quite a few of us got dinged on the way out even with the excellent spotting.

Sorry I disagree with the "excellent" portion of that statement. My RR flare damage was due to poor spotting at one of the obstacles. Otherwise, yes the spotting was great.

 

[Romer]

Sorry I disagree with the "excellent" portion of that statement. My RR flare damage was due to poor spotting at one of the obstacles. Otherwise, yes the spotting was great.

I was being diplomatically correct. Mudrak is an excellent spotter. The guy before him was not and so we agree.

He would say and indicate passenger and I would turn passenger and when he stopped moving his hand that way I would stop turning and then we would yell more passenger like I wasn't listening. Thats not how you spot. Thats what set me up to be in a position that I received my damage.

I didn't want anyone to think Mudrak didn't do his job. he saved our bacon.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I'd post damage pics, except I didn't get any.

More seriously, Cadillac has been getting 80s on the rear quarter since the first 80con in 2003. I thought Cadillac was surprisingly tame this year, and the lower rock where Mudrak hangs out was much less dangerous this year than last. The "V" rock (the #2 principle bad spot) used to be worse before some of the divits were filled in with concrete. I nearly rolled there last year in 3 wheel drive.

Specifically to Ken Romer--That diff leak is probably the gasket at the diff housing. Those nuts loosen on a high torque trip like the Rubicon and the diff sifts aroud and tears up the gasket. It happened to Alvaro this year as well. As a first step, put a wrench on all of those nuts and snug them down. Then order a gasket from Dan, and plan on a long day of axle tear down for r&r. It might be your pinion seal, though that is less common.

It was great seeing you guys from Colorado. I wish we had wheeled more together, but I understand your desire to be a cohesive group. Props for making the trip.

 

[TCH2FLY]

I was being dimplomatically correct. Mudrak is an excellent spotter. The guy before him was not and so we agree.

He would say and indicate passenger and I would turn passenger and when he stopped moving his hand that way I would stop turning and then we would yell more passenger like I wasn't listening. Thats not how you spot. Thats what set me up to be in a position that I received my damage.

I didn't want anyone to think Mudrak didn't do his job. he saved our bacon.

Absolutely, I will say Mudrak and 99% of the guys were outstanding (his expertise getting the 40 knuckle fixed can't be overlooked).
I certainly understand the need to move trucks as quickly as possible and ultimately I have to take responsibility for continuing into what I suspected was a poor line.
Just being whiny ... I'm not as diplomatic as you are

 

[Romer]

Specifically to Ken Romer--That diff leak is probably the gasket at the diff housing. Those nuts loosen on a high torque trip like the Rubicon and the diff sifts aroud and tears up the gasket. It happened to Alvero this year as well. As a first step, put a wrench on all of those nuts and snug them down. Then order a gasket from Dan, and plan on a long day of axle tear down for r&r. It might be your pinion seal, though that is less common.

Thanks Andy,
I'll check that. had them loosen up last year and tightened them down. Already have the gasket and axle parts and was going to do a full rebuild this fall/winter.

That would make more sense as the oil is in front and behind the pinion.

Had a great time with you guys. We were talking in camp how we wish we had more time to hang with your guys.

 

[Tools R Us]

... Already have the gasket ...

Toss it! This is exactly why I never use gaskets on them. When stressed the gasket can additionally crush, allowing slight movement, any movement will start the loosening action. Glue it on with pretty much any form in place type sealer, RTV, silicone, the Toyota stuff, etc. This makes for an almost metal to metal connection, much stronger and the adhesive helps in making it even more solid. The only down side is getting them back off, the trick is to remove the nuts and use a jack under the pinion to pop it loose.

 

[TOY350]

Nice pics Romer, my 80 came out similar on the sides. I had previously welded up my front sway bar brackets and they held up. Armor was abused and it worked great. Lost all flares on passenger side and took a small dent on rear quarter going up Cadillac on our early trip out. Have to say these 80's are built tuff I was very impressed.

 

[Clutchee]

Ken when you broke the front sway bar......did it take out the brake line???

Curious.....seems like alot of those happen when the front one breaks

Oh yea, you lucky bastad!

 

[nakman]

Agreed on the spotting up Cadillic hill, the guy who was trying to help us on the "big V" obstacle likely didn't know wagons. I should have tried to go right and put a slider on the right rock and just walk the wedge, but he was pretty certain we all needed to go left and tip our back end into that rock. :rant: I think I took it the worst, of anyone.

Andy was fun hanging with you for sure, you guys are top notch. I'm sure Alvaro filled you in on the ih8mud gone wild episode in the raft on Saturday, man my side hurt from laughing so hard. Looking forward to seeing you again, for sure.

Here's my carnage shot: