Schoolbus Canyon? 9/24 or 25

[Zebaru]

Gettin tired of spending all my time building... How about something fun and easy for those of us that remain less than hardcore? (The hardcore are of course welcome, but would find this remarkably boring...)

We talked about a run up to find/run schoolbus canyon, but as far as I know, we've never actually done one. I'm still not entirely sure where it is, but I can take a good guess...

I would like to wander up there this weekend (9/24 or 25), and see what I can find. Anybody else interested in going? The location is something like 40 miles north of Fernley on the far side of lake Winnemucca. The terrain around the dry lake is fine for stockers, and, although I have never been up the canyon, based on the pictures I have seen, it seems pretty laid back as well.

If there is interest, we can work out the when/where specifics...

Travis

[NevadaXJ]

I'm game. I would also like to place a cache out in that area if time permits.

[Jibs]

I'd like to get the Brat out for a run. I have to work weekends, but I may be able to call in I guess. :) I'll see when we get times and dates goin.

[86xjfor8]

Sounds like fun will just depend on time and date

[kairo]

Sounds fun! What day were you thinking of? I'll try and manage it.

[EricsXJ]

I can't tell you for sure if I'll make it until later in the week, but I am thinking of going if its on Saturday.

Here's the area - a pic from last time we went, but found ourselves in a different canyon that lead to the Nightingale Mines.

http://www.ericsxj.com/pyramid/pyramid1214.jpg

[Zebaru]

So how about meeting at the Love's truckstop in Fernley at 10:00AM Saturday?

I would like to accomodate as many people as possible here, so let me know if that works. I have the entire weekend free, so either day works fine for me. I think it is in our interest to start no later than mid-morning since this will take half a day at least.

Travis

[86xjfor8]

that day and time work for me

[Connect]

Saturday sounds good, I'm down for canyons but if we find a mine by chance we should check it out (ghost town stuff is so sweet)

[NevadaXJ]

I can be there at 10 as well, sounds like a plan.

[kairo]

me 3.

UH-OH, the XJs are going wheeling :eek: :eek: :eek:

[NevadaXJ]

me 3.

UH-OH, the XJs are going wheeling :eek: :eek: :eek:

Oh, you mean I am supposed to bring the Jeep? I was gonna bring the BMW.... :ne_nau:

[86xjfor8]

A buddy of mine gave me some info on a site that shows pics and a some what detailed discription if anyone is interested. www.4wheelnoffroad.com when you are on the main page click on the 4X4 club link and you will see a list of different runs and school bus canyon is in there

[Zebaru]

That article was what originally gave us the idea way back when (I think...).

Now that I have re-read that, it looks like there is alot of opportunity to get out and explore in the area. We can spend all day out there wandering up various canyons if we want. I am always up for checking out mines, old building ruins, and that sort of thing.

I will put my maps together, and try to figure out where they went, so I at least have a starting point for our trip. I will bring my GPS so even if we don't know where we are going, we will know where we went, and can use that to make a better trip next time.

I am looking forward to this one...

Travis

[BigNorm]

I may be able to swing this one. Love's truck stop at 10:00. I'll bring my POS xj. lol

[cutthroat]

SSHHHHH Icksnay on giving the nearby location of the "mystery" canyonhay. Spoons going to get fired up again and threads will be closed. :yup:

[Connect]

Is love's the one on the north side of 80 in fern?

This looks like quite an adventure if we do even half of what that trip did. Looks like lunch and some spare gas :)

[Zebaru]

Yes - Love's is on the North side of I-80 in Fernley.

The updated list:

me (Zebaru)
Connect
NexadaXJ
Kairo
EricsXJ

For those that have said they are going, please post up if you change your mind, run into problems, etc... I will check Saturday morning before I leave my house (like 9:45 since I live in Fernley), and that way we won't have to wait around for people who aren't going to show.

I'm guessing 100 - 150 miles for this trip. I don't think bringing extra gas will be necessary. We probably should all plan to bring a lunch, whatever other food will be necessary to keep us going into the evening - and plenty of water.

Travis

[BigNorm]

Take me off the list. I forgot I made a previous engagement. :(

[EricsXJ]

Go ahead and add me to the list. :)

[86xjfor8]

Sorry guys I have to cancel I have a family emergency that came up that I got to take care of I hope to hit the next one with you though have fun

[Connect]

Still good, installing my cb today/tommorrow. rubber ducky, out!

[kairo]

Oh yah, that reminds me. . .
Do any of you going on the run tomorrow have a CB antenna tuner you could bring? I just put a new CB in myself, and it's not playing nicely with my antenna.

thanks

[Connect]

No, maybe in storage but... :(

[NevadaXJ]

Is this area that was are going to on the reservation? If so we will need day passes....

[kairo]

Is this truck stop pretty easy to find off of 80? I dont drive up that way much.

JOHN...If you want, I could meet you at wally world tomorrow and we could cruise over there as a convoy

[BigNorm]

First offramp into Ferntucky.

[EricsXJ]

Kairo - I have an SWR meter I can bring. Show up about 15 minutes early and we'll get you tuned. Hopefully you have a Firestick?

NevadaXJ - We'll only pass through the reservation. No permit needed.

[kairo]

Kairo - I have an SWR meter I can bring. Show up about 15 minutes early and we'll get you tuned. Hopefully you have a Firestick?

Awesome! Yah, firestick (I'm pretty sure)

[Jibs]

yeah I can't make it, I gotta work. sorry guys again, I can't make it out.

[NevadaXJ]

JOHN...If you want, I could meet you at wally world tomorrow and we could cruise over there as a convoy

Negative, Fernley is much quicker for me to just go to Silver Springs and cut up towards 80..... and there is NO WAY I am going any where near VC with the bikes in town.

[Connect]

Lol, I'm so glad to get out of town, Not such a big fan of street vibes...

First exit in ferntucky (fernley), I believe its the one on the north side of 80 (Take a left off the off-ramp)

Hope I can get my cb to work, got an antenna but the meter isn't work and there's no sound coming out.

See ya'll tommorrow morning at 10

[Jibs]

So how was it? Pics?

[kairo]

JUST got home. eating dinner, then post pics. It was fun, we met another guy from the forum (who hasent even signed up) did a little rock crawling, blasted some trails at 60+mph, and watched travis blow up his limited slip and get winched out of a canyon :D

[kairo]

So, my brother only decided to take like 20 pictures, and they were all of that one rock section. And none of Travis cause, well, he just scooted up before we could get the camera out. . .

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out10.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out9.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out8.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out7.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out6.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out5.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out4.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out3.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out2.jpg

http://kairo.reno4x4.com/images/canyon/out1.jpg

[EricsXJ]

Had a fun time - got to explore a new trail and meet friends, old and new.

There were some pretty cool canyons up there!

[kairo]

Eric did you hear me say coming down 80 that half my grille flew off? It was only a matter of time, all the plastic was cracked :rofl2:

[EricsXJ]

No I didn't. :eek:

First we were going along at a good 70 mph - then we passed that first semi and I looked at the speedo and it was at 80! The Jeep drives good right now, but I don't like going past 70 unless I need to. I backed off and you kept going...

[Zebaru]

Well the good news is that it isn't the T-case like I thought. When that L/S blew, it apparently took a couple of teeth off the pinion. The clicking was from the bad teeth meshing with the ring gear (and not liking it). It actualy binds up a little each time those bad teeth pass, and I think that is why it sounded like it was coming from the t-case - especially when I was coasting.

A little background since it has only been mentioned in passing. I went down a little gulley that I should not have, squeezed past a big rock that pretty much prevented me from going back, and basically came to an impassable area that made me need to get out. The walls were pretty steep and just loose dirt, but I didn't have alot of options so I just tried to climb out the side, and managed to get really crossed up (John should have some pictures) and was stuck. I took a winch from Kim and was a little gas happy (shocking!) and apparently busted the rear L/S (as we later found out).

There were some bad noises coming from my rig after that, but I still was unsure where it was coming from. We got back out to the poweline road, and after a couple of miles of hearing a horrible clicking noise, I decided to stop and pull my rear cover and check it out. When I did, I found large pieces of metal that used to be part of the L/S gears wedged below the ring gear. I pulled all the metal pieces out, cleaned things up, put the cover back on, filled it up, got going and... the noise had not gone away.

I then limped back out at about 25mph, and picked it up to about 40 on the highway. The noise was horrible, but I got home fine. Everyone waited and drove slow with me all the way back to Fernley. When I got home, I cleaned up my garage, pulled the Jeep in, and took a good look and found the bad pinion teeth.

Great trip. This is a great run for stockers and close to stockers, and I think we need to make it a point to run out there again sometime. Now I just have to decide what type of L/S or locker I am going to put back in... (doing my research right now)

Travis

[kairo]

Now I just have to decide what type of L/S or locker I am going to put back in... (doing my research right now)

Travis

Weld that bad boy!

or spool it since you dont drive it on road that much

[Connect]

maybe if you send that worm gear back to the manufacture they will warranty it? If it's fixable that is.

Overall awesome run, got back last night and was too tired to even post. I think it came to like 100 miles overall (including highway) The canyons were sweet, rockcrawling was fun. No damage on me except some scratches and rubbage :P

At the schoolbus's John found out his bumper was pulling his body panels apart, so trailfix #1 of the day was john and Eric pulling off his bumper while everyone pulled out their tools and lended a hand. Bumper off, we took a minute to eat something before heading up the road into the big canyon of the day, about a mile up the road we ran into the only big obstacle of the day, the granite rockcrawl. Although I was probably the only one who would have suffered any damage going through, it wasn't difficult at all. Pictures above.

After the waterfall we came to a Y and decided to take the wrong route up a small skinny canyon that proved to have some very jeep-eating rocks up ahead, so we decided to turn around which was very enjoyable in itself, and head down to the Y. Took the left route up which became pretty sandy, and had a canyon for kairo to play in for a minute before continuin on with travis back in the front. Further up the road we came to another Y, now the left side seemed very unused and rugged so of course Travis took that while the rest of us took the right trail. Pretty soon travis ran into a big rock and some virgin trail, where he used his right pedal very cautiously ;) to continue on, eventually coming to an unpassable part of the canyon that ran right next to the real road. Watching him try and climb out of the canyon was probably a highlight of the trip, almost getting out once, then somehow getting criss-crossed on the canyon walls (John has alot of pics) Kim in his clean YJ was the only person with a winch so we volunteered him to do the pulling. After alot of winching he managed to get him out, unhook him, and while travis was trying to get straight on the trail came a loud snap from his rearend and his engine died. So begun trail fix #2 after much diagnosing later down the trail.


After travis pulled his cover and cleaned it out, got his cover got on, the front 3 (Kairo, Kim and me) flew down the road at about 45 leaving travis eric and john in the back, somehow they took the wrong right turn and we lost contact. We waited for about 30 minutes before I went up to the top of a hill to try and contact them and see what happened, but when I got there I could only recieve their signal (Travis was saying something about this definatly not being the right trail, because he saw no nightengale mine stuff) I had no idea where he was so I turned around to tell Kairo and Kim what I heard. Just when I got back to them I heard a faint CB signal from travis saying he found the sign that pointed them in the right direction. So us 3 in front pulled down to the main road and waited again (I kept hearing travis chit chatting so I figured everything was fine. So we pulled over on the main road and I eventually backtracked until I came across Travis. Approaching 7:30 the sun was headin down. By the time we got to the paved highway, everyone stopped and waited for eric and john to show up, now dark out, where we hooked up and headed home.

Me and John stopped at loves where I found out their free air doesn't work, so I got some peanuts and a soda andhelped john get his LP back on.

5 Xj's 1 YJ all lifted. Stock vehicles probably could do it if they avoided the canyon's and washes, or took the powerline road.

John get on those pics!

[NevadaXJ]

John get on those pics!

Okay, pics are up at http://www.leavethepavement.com/4x4/

Enjoy!

[Connect]

Sweet, Nice pics.

[BigNorm]

Nice pics. Looks like you all had fun. I'll have to bring the big rig next time.

[Zebaru]

From those pictures, it sure doesn't look like I should have gotten stuck there does it? I figure that a rig like Eric's would have gotten out given that it was my departure and breakover that were really killing me and 3" + 31's doesn't really do wonders for either of those. Maybe if I was locked I would have gotten out anyway...

Oh well. I really doubt that I could get any waranty of any kind on that diff since I am at least the second owner, it is of unknown age, and I don't even know for sure who the manufacturer is. Pitures of the carnage to show up later today...

Travis

[Connect]

If you hadn't gotten crossed up you probably could of gotten out, you almost made it out once, but that soft sandy stuff doesn't help much. I would say M/T's might of gotten you out, or just dug you alot deeper. Eric's rig could of gotten out cause he's floating 35's with alot more clearence, and lockers.

[EricsXJ]

I don't know if I could have made it up that soft embankment even with f&r lockers, but at least with lockers I could have kept doing a 26-point turn until I was facing the other way. :disagree:

Limited slips are good, but like we saw in this case, once a tire comes completely off the ground, all traction is lost and its the same as if you had open diffs. That being said, that is the first time I've seen Travis stuck due to no traction.

[Zebaru]

It actually isn't that uncommon for me to lose total traction when I am really crossed up. I had to back up several times on the Rubicon and slightly alter my line because of it. This was just the first time that I couldn't go either forward or back.

If I was a little more adept at the throttle/brake manouver, I might have been able to get the high traction side to grab. With a manual, that means alot of clutch slipping, and since we had a guy with a winch, I figured that I might as well do it the 'easy' way.

Travis

[kairo]

you guys who went on this run may want to check your pinions. I never really thought about it, and I was under my jeep the other day and noticed it was leaking like crazy out of the rear pinion. I assume it was an after effect of blasting down the washboard roads at 65mph New seal was like $6

[BigNorm]

you guys who went on this run may want to check your pinions. I never really thought about it, and I was under my jeep the other day and noticed it was leaking like crazy out of the rear pinion. I assume it was an after effect of blasting down the washboard roads at 65mph New seal was like $6
Air down! :) More likely it was yon rock! :nervous:

[Connect]

I aired down to 20, best decision of the day haha :)

[BigNorm]

10 psi is my favorite!

[Connect]

Your a little late on the comment their BigNorm, but It's ok :)

[BigNorm]

I've been on vacation the last 5 days. :)

[Connect]

Wheelin vacation or mexican beach vacation?