A Million Things To Do Before Moab

Jeez, what's happened lately? Well, we're all trying to throw a million things together for eight days out of the office and in Moab for what some of us consider the best trip of the year. But we're running into a few problems.

April 7, 2006
Jerrod wanted to take his Cherokee for the 4th year in a row (it seems to be his ultimate Moab vehicle, every year making it back and forth under its own power and wheeling there all week). He took care of a lot of problems in the last few months: a serious head job on a warped head with a big pinhole leak was performed by Valley Head Service, a Flowkooler water pump was bolted on, a stereo was ordered to replace the one some guy borrowed out of it when he was also permanently borrowing Jerrod's tools, 6-inch tall coils were added in place of the coil and spacer package the XJ was running, and hydraulic bumpstops were added to save the poor Jeep from Jerrod's abuse. Problem is that the XJ's ignition took a dump, and no one can figure it out yet. Not us, not the Jeep dealer, nor other experts. So now it's currently being thrashed on by the pros at Jeeps R Us to try and get the problem resolved so Jerrod has a ride to Moab. Jerrod's old '75 Dodge, the Lawg, could potentially go but Jerrod got halfway through a Performance Distributors D.U.I. ignition install before his attention span got the better of him and he started 5 other projects. Good thing he has some friends with Jeeps, we think he might need a ride...

Fred was thinking of using his Red Sled (3/4-ton IFS Chevy) to tow out with, but after a funny tranny issue and some thrashing to get an ARB locker in the rear at Off Road Unlimited, he somehow wrangled a diesel Hummer to tow Clampy out to Moab with. That should be a great site to see on the freeway. But Fred isn't in the clear yet. Clampy still needs a new clutch, and it's hemorrhaging fluid from multiple places on the engine. We think Fred will get it together by go-time, and we know his girlfriend will beat him if she misses even a day in Moab, so he's got some pressure on him as well.

1. Jerrod is busy prepping his 5KXJ for Moab, but he's got more work to do than time to do it in. The XJ may not make it out to Moab this year. It would be a first no-show since its purchase a week before Moab four years ago exactly.
2. The head was fixed up by Valley Head Service and reinstalled by Jeeps R Us, but after about 100 miles, the ignition mysteriously cut out. The distributor has been replaced, multiple coils have been tried, the distributor cap has been swapped, even a few different ECUs have been tried. And still nothing. Right now it's Thursday night, and Jrod is supposed to be leaving for Moab tomorrow. Good luck, Jerrod.
3. Fred is busy monkeying around under Clampy right now. The clutch finally went on his 200,000-mile Toyota, and the engine has started to gush its vitals like a bullet wound victim. Clampy is running, but just barely. Fred has some serious wrenching to do before he leaves Saturday morning.
4. Editor Rick Péwé took the staff trailer to get some new Goodyear tires mounted at Just Tires. We were having a lot of problems with the tires that came on it when we bought it, and Goodyear's regroovable trailer tire is about the most heavy duty choice we could find for our trailer. It's a good thing too, because Rick is lugging our Ultimate Adventure Chevy all the way to Moab with our 4x4 of the Year 1/2-ton Dodge.
5. Art Director Alan Huber will not be joining us in Moab this year. Instead, he's going to be testing out his newly rebuilt Grand Cherokee while scouting out trails and some great sites all around Nevada with his family. They're only taking one vehicle, but we're not too worried; Alan's the guy we call when we get in trouble, so we're sure he'll be able to handle the Nevada terrains with little issue, especially with his new winch and Hanson bumper up front.