Our trip out West with open diffs

[Hip2u77]

If I could offer a piece of advice as someone that's been going to Moab once or twice a year since '06, (In our '07, '12, '14 JK and '18 JLs - All URs) Stick a 2 1/2" lift on to keep your sanity on the rougher trails like Poison Spider. I barely hit anything on our early JKUs with 32s and 2 1/2" lift but turned around last year in our stock '18 JLUR as I kept hitting the undercarriage. Not always hard but enough to make it irritating. That extra 1"-2" of clearance makes a HUGE difference on the trails. I won't go back without a lift. . . well, or our RZR1K which is even more fun on the rocks!

Edit: 35s and 2 1/2" lift is enough to do all but the last 1/3 of the Funtreks Moab book without much, if any, rock stacking.

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[Al13]

I wanted to find a place to dump our pics and videos of our trip out West and thought here would be good as any
The Mrs. and I took three weeks off and drove from Raleigh NC to Flagstaff AZ then Sedona, Moab and Ouray.
The other reason I wanted to post is we all know how wonderful the Rubis are with their locking diffs (we wish we had bought one since we are off roading more than we ever thought we would).
BUT we did all of this with open diffs and the Jeep was still a beast in 4LO. Here are the specs:

2018 Sahara, 3.6L, 8 speed auto, 2" spacer lift, Rubi take off 33s, Rancho shocks, Ace Engineering frame mounted rock rails, JKS discos and we aired down to 18 psi on each trail. We rolled the odometer over 34,000 miles mark on this trip and have only owned it a year and a half.
We are far from this build being completed... chromoly axle shafts, 35s and a rear locker on the wish list next.
The trails we ran are below in the order we did them. We only took bypasses when it was impossible to do an obstacle and honestly I think we only bypassed once or twice. If we could do any of the extra obstacles (Mickey's Bath tub, Hot tub, difficult ledges, etc...) we did. The pic of me in a hole is in Mickey's Bath tub located next to the Hot tub. The pic of me next to the Jeep with a mannequin in it is actually half of Dan Mick's Jeep... the guy Mickey's Hot tub is named after.
The rock waterfall on Poison Spider was the most challenging thing to do with open diffs. I thought it had me beat but my wife realized the passenger rear was getting stuck in a notch. Once we saw that it was onward and upward on the last roughly 4' ledge. I left some rubber and gas tank skid shavings on that waterfall for it to remember me by Unfortunately the video of that last climb got deleted :/
In CO we saw the remnants of about 30 avalanches, Imogene was partially closed because of one.
These pictures and videos don't come close to capturing the sheer beauty of these places but enjoy them anyway

AZ:
Broken Arrow
Schnebly Hill Road (badge trail)

Moab (all badge trails):
Fins-N-Things
Hell's Revenge
Poison Spider Mesa
Top of the World

CO:
Ophir Pass (badge trail)
Last Dollar Road
Yankee Boy Basin
Imogene - We could only do half since an avalanche still had the pass closed up top. (badge trail)
Yankee Girl Basin
- The northern half of the Alpine Loop:
Corkscrew Gulch
Hurricane Pass
California Pass
California Gulch
Engineer Pass (badge trail)
Then drove over to Lake City.

Great pictures and adventure.

 

[pokey02]

Love the pics! Looks like a fantastic road trip.

 

[mgroeger]

Well it's official... we are moving out to Utah.
My wife's health was exponentially better in the dry arid climate so we are heading back in January to see what winter is like and this time we are making a bed in the back of the Jeep and driving straight through. We are selling our flower shop and my company is cool with me working from home. If you know of anyone in the Raleigh NC area looking to buy a small flower shop let me know
This time next year, Lord willing, we will be out there!!!

 

[TexRivers]

Well it's official... we are moving out to Utah.
My wife's health was exponentially better in the dry arid climate so we are heading back in January to see what winter is like and this time we are making a bed in the back of the Jeep and driving straight through. We are selling our flower shop and my company is cool with me working from home. If you know of anyone in the Raleigh NC area looking to buy a small flower shop let me know
This time next year, Lord willing, we will be out there!!!

A huge congratulations. Lucky Boy.

 

[mgroeger]

A huge congratulations. Lucky Boy.

I gotta be honest... that trip made a huge impact on us. It opened our eyes to the beauty of the West but also sort of gave us that f' it attitude like why stay put where we aren't happy and actually in pain. I can't recommend getting out there enough.

 

[TexRivers]

Truly LOVE this thread.

We’re not letting open differentials stop us.

 

[mgroeger]

Truly LOVE this thread.

We’re not letting open differentials stop us.

GO FOR IT!!!!

 

[Thill444]

I gotta be honest... that trip made a huge impact on us. It opened our eyes to the beauty of the West but also sort of gave us that f' it attitude like why stay put where we aren't happy and actually in pain. I can't recommend getting out there enough.

We lived in Utah for 3 years for work and really liked. The only negative thing was the inversions that they get there, it caused problems for my son who had mild asthma. In the winter the inversions can last for many weeks at a time and the air quality is terrible.

 

[mgroeger]

We lived in Utah for 3 years for work and really liked. The only negative thing was the inversions that they get there, it caused problems for my son who had mild asthma. In the winter the inversions can last for many weeks at a time and the air quality is terrible.

Please explain the inversions.

 

[Thill444]

Please explain the inversions.

https://www.ksl.com/article/4645997...-ways-utahs-winter-inversions-are-killing-you

We lived in the Salt Lake Valley where it was especially bad. We did have friends that lived higher up in the mountains above the inversions so where you live in Utah matters. As soon as we moved from Utah my sons asthma went away so I definitely think it affected him. That said we loved it there and my wife has family there and we visit every year. If you ever get a chance to visit Zions National Park it is one of my favorite places to visit.

 

[mgroeger]

https://www.ksl.com/article/4645997...-ways-utahs-winter-inversions-are-killing-you

We lived in the Salt Lake Valley where it was especially bad. We did have friends that lived higher up in the mountains above the inversions so where you live in Utah matters. As soon as we moved from Utah my sons asthma went away so I definitely think it affected him. That said we loved it there and my wife has family there and we visit every year. If you ever get a chance to visit Zions National Park it is one of my favorite places to visit.

Wow, thanks for the info. From what I saw the Moab region is pretty flat and since we will most likely land in Blanding that is a little bit higher at 6,000 above sea level. Sounds like the mid and Northern portions of Utah are the worst.

 

[Thill444]

Wow, thanks for the info. From what I saw the Moab region is pretty flat and since we will most likely land in Blanding that is a little bit higher at 6,000 above sea level. Sounds like the mid and Northern portions of Utah are the worst.

Yes you should be fine there I would think. Good luck on the move you will love it there and it has to be one of the best places in the world to own a Jeep.

 

[Indio]

Truly LOVE this thread.

We’re not letting open differentials stop us.

Amen. My buddy has owned a Rubicon for nearly two years - and has never taken it off-road. I think it's kind of like play acting driving the Rubi around.

I lived in Colorado for 10 years and off-roaded all over in an old CJ and Land Rover (open diffs). Truth is - you have the adventure you are ready for. The thing stopping people from having an adventure is typically not open diffs - rather it's themselves.

(Oh, I threatened to take a hammer and knock dents in my buddy's Rubi, if he doesn't get his act together and go off-road to earn some real dents.)

 

[mgroeger]

Amen. My buddy has owned a Rubicon for nearly two years - and has never taken it off-road. I think it's kind of like play acting driving the Rubi around.

I lived in Colorado for 10 years and off-roaded all over in an old CJ and Land Rover (open diffs). Truth is - you have the adventure you are ready for. The thing stopping people from having an adventure is typically not open diffs - rather it's themselves.

(Oh, I threatened to take a hammer and knock dents in my buddy's Rubi, if he doesn't get his act together and go off-road to earn some real dents.)

You should really smack your friend... hard. I'm a bit of a purist, if you own it... wheel it.

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