Are you going this year? I’m headed to Moab in October. Finally swapped out the Mopar 2” for the the 3.5” GC this week!! I’m getting closer to being ready. ?This time of the summer has me wanting to get back to Moab.
A few pics from the trail...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HJ5REOo6XbFuakJem6TTw
-Steven
Not sure yet, i'm still waiting for clarification on my work dates for this Fall.Are you going this year? I’m headed to Moab in October. Finally swapped out the Mopar 2” for the the 3.5” GC this week!! I’m getting closer to being ready. ?
Thanks. The Mopar lift did a nice job and took me through some good trails but I can tell already in just a little test drive this MC will be nice! Looking forward to getting some miles on it now. I will be there Oct 25-27. 27th we plan on wheeling and starting our drive home that day.
I think you're going to love the MC lift.
Hi Matt
? That is the Maximus 3 XLP Hoop.
Much appreciatedHi Matt
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HJ5REOo6XbFuakJem6TTw
-Steven
I have the same lift and wheels (mine are bronze) as you. The MC3.5 is great except for when it starts to "corrode" it begins to look like hell. Corrode is a bad choice of words since it's zinc coated, but looks alot like galvanized steel when it starts to age. Makes sense since Zinc coating is a type of galvanization. Mine functions great....just looks like doo doo.Are you going this year? I’m headed to Moab in October. Finally swapped out the Mopar 2” for the the 3.5” GC this week!! I’m getting closer to being ready. ?
Hi Jay. Agree with you, the MC 3.5 GC is a great lift and the zinc finish can show wear, especially from road salt. My Jeep is my daily driver so it get's it share of Midwestern salted roads every year.
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Steven, Question for you on greasing the DS. How do you grease the end coming off the transfer case with the Artec skids? Do you have to pull the transfer case skid off to grease it?Getting a few more mods finished up in preparation for heading off to Moab and EJS. New front Adam's Extreme 1310 front driveshaft installed. Spent some time under the Jeep checking things, greased the drive shaft and front steering linkage. I found a couple of loose bolts on my skids...pays to check things. Felt good getting a wrench in my hand again.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HJ5REOo6XbFuakJem6TTw
-Steven
Steve,?These Aux. lights unexpectedly got us through a really tough night?
At the end of a great week in Moab for EJS it was time to point Rubi East and head home. After looking at the map we decided we would leave Moab around midday and head to Boulder, CO for the night via I70.. I make it a habit of checking weather/radar each day I remember telling my wife that there was front moving in but our timing should keep us well out in front of any weather this particular day as we head east.
This should be a pretty easy day for us, 365mi./6hrs., maybe even stopping in Glenwood Springs for a dip in the Hot Springs. Well.....the best laid plans. When we approached Glenwood Springs, the interstate is closed with the State Troopers diverting us off the East bound/Denver side down through town and back onto the interstate a few miles down the road...hmmm? Ok, back on the interstate and heading towards Boulder again we settle in and are cruising along. We get down and out of beautiful Glenwood Canyon and somewhere before Dotsero we encounter the interstate closed again as we are detoured onto the frontage road...hmmm this isn't looking good. After about 2-3 miles on the frontage road we can see the issue...grass fire that has the interstate closed.
After sitting for 40min or so and listening to the chatter on channel 19 we decide to turn back. We were able to speak with a State Trooper as we were doubling back. He informed us the interstate would most likely be closed all night as the fire had spread into residential area. Asking him about an alternate route to Boulder he told us we could double back down to Rifle, catch R13 through Meeker and then link up to 40 to 9 and down to Silverthorne which gets us back on I70. That's a long way around but doable.
Time to high tail it back the way we came as this looks like it could add 2-2.5hrs onto our day and it's late afternoon already. Ok, here's the rub in all of this. We are heading back towards the weather I mentioned and this takes us up through Steamboat Springs, elevation 6732'. It's starting to lightly rain as we make Rifle and leave the interstate, this could get dicey for us tonight.
By nightfall as we approach Steamboat the rain is mixing with ice. Rubi is doing fine, traction is good and we start up the mountain. About half way up the precipitation turns to full on wet snow. I'm looking for a place to possibly turn around as visibility is dropping rapidly. With no safe place to either pull off and or turn around we are in the throws a blizzard now as we continue to climb the mountain. Somewhere near the summit I realize that both my LED headlamps and fog lights are icing over and we really can't see much. We were both leaning forward trying to spot the roadbed as it is all covered in snow at this point. Running out of visibility, I switch on my A-Pillar/Bumper Aux. LEDS.
I had recently updated my A-Pillar set-up to a white SSC1 pod as the ditch light. The Yellow SSC1 pods I previously had on the A-Pillar mount got moved to the outer third of the front bumper. Here's a pic of the SSC1 installed on the bumper.
This was an easy install as I used one of the factory bolts in the OEM Steel bumper. My thinking was it might be nice to have them light the trail/road ahead and outward.
It turns out that it was these new lights that kept us seeing the road ahead. We ran these for the next hour or so. As we began down the back side of the mountain, my headlights and fogs pretty much useless at this point. The temp was slowly rising and the snow was mixing with ice/rain, making for a little better visibility (we could see the roadbed again). It wasn't until we made the town of Meeker that I was able to pull off and clean the LED headlights and fogs. The Diode Dynamics LED's were warm enough when lit so as to not ice over at the ~35 degrees we were running in.
It's a little ironic to me that I added the SSC1 pods as almost an afterthought, thinking well, I have them why not? It turns out this set of Aux LED's saves the day for us...who knew?
Lessons learned...you can never have too much light....and storms in the Rockies are a different breed and not to be taken lightly. What starts out as a pretty nice day can quickly change to something that can possibly hurt you. Be well
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HJ5REOo6XbFuakJem6TTw
-Steven
Hey Justin!
The amber backlight on the Diode Dynamics is just a little brighter, more intense in color than what is on the Baja Designs LP4's. That said, I think the backlight on the two light brands look great together. Here's a couple of pics that may help.
Ok. Yea I bet that is tricky to find that little needle fitting back there. Good to know though.Hey Justin!
It's tight, but you can reach it with the needle. The skid can be off in a few minutes, but not really necessary.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HJ5REOo6XbFuakJem6TTw
-Steven
