YellowjeepCj
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2005
- Location
- Clover, SC
Folks, some friends of mine and Beverly and I met in Coralville IA last week to travel on the the Big Horn Mountains in WY for a JJUSA event. On the way we stopped off at Red Lodge MT to run up Bear Tooth Pass and take the Morrison Jeep Trail fron Bear Tooth into Cody, WY on our way to the East Gate of Yellowstone National Park and the Shoshone Guest Ranch.
The Morrison Jeep Trail is about 20-22 miles long and all of the local advice we could obtain said to run it up the Mountain from Clarks Fork Creek to Red Lodge, MT. Well not us, we were going in the opposite direction and chose to run it down the Mountain. The team of myself and Beverly (2013 Wrangler Ruby), Carl and Jo Ann Webster, Oak Hill Ohio (2006 Wrangler Ruby), Randy and Cassie Fogle, Dayton, Oh (2010 Wrangler Ruby) and Mike and Vickie Mower Moline, Ill (2013 Wrangler Ruby).
We had traveled for about 1/2 hour into the trail and "Boom" Carl jumps out of his Jeep to find the axle ujoint deystroyed on the drivers side. Randy had a ujoint to fit so we began the process of changing the joint. Albeit, we did have one of the ears badly out of round. We reassembled the axle and installed into Carl's jeep (1.5 hours yes we had issues removing the old bearing caps). We continued on this trail all day and came to what we thought was the end.....27 sharp switchbacks down into the river valley! These were wide enough for a side by side to make the turns...but a Jeep? We started down 3 to 4 point turns for 27 of these and 2 hours later we arrived at the river. A ten mile ride along the river and we found pavement.
Remember, cell service does not exist in these areas. The next day we inspected Randy's Jeep and found the caps on his front axle joints were a 16th out of the ear. Carl and Randy both decided a set of Chromolly shafts were required to continue on to the Big Horn Jamboree. This was Wednesday last week and checkin for the Jamboree was 5 PM on Thursday near Dayton, WY. I was able to find an errant spot to send a text to my good friend, Jason Watson, he responded immediately and suggested Northridge in Longmount, CO since they were closest to us and another friend from Denver was joining us for the Big Horn JJUSA event and could bring the axles. We borrowed the land line at Shoshone Lodge and called...no dice...no axles in stock and refused to ship assembled....thought we were stuck...but I had bought my JK axles from Chase at ECGS in Raleigh last year before the Rubicon Jamboree. Jason Watson, was kind and had sent the number for ECGS...I called and got Curtis on the phone. I explained our situation...he said the shipping of the assembled axles may be an issue...give him second and he will be right back....he came back on the phone and said no problem they will arrive the Elk View Lodge Friday two day air.
Friday at 6 PM just as we got back from a day of trail riding the axles were delivered!!!! These guys are more than customer oriented they Rock!!!! What a resource to have in NC and part of our community!....
Rest of the story......we loaned both new short side axles to JJUSA participants that broke axles on Friday so they could ride on Saturday...the guides pulled them Saturday night and gave them back to us....what a trip!!!
THANKS CURTIS AND ECGS FOR GREAT SERVICE!!!!
The Morrison Jeep Trail is about 20-22 miles long and all of the local advice we could obtain said to run it up the Mountain from Clarks Fork Creek to Red Lodge, MT. Well not us, we were going in the opposite direction and chose to run it down the Mountain. The team of myself and Beverly (2013 Wrangler Ruby), Carl and Jo Ann Webster, Oak Hill Ohio (2006 Wrangler Ruby), Randy and Cassie Fogle, Dayton, Oh (2010 Wrangler Ruby) and Mike and Vickie Mower Moline, Ill (2013 Wrangler Ruby).
We had traveled for about 1/2 hour into the trail and "Boom" Carl jumps out of his Jeep to find the axle ujoint deystroyed on the drivers side. Randy had a ujoint to fit so we began the process of changing the joint. Albeit, we did have one of the ears badly out of round. We reassembled the axle and installed into Carl's jeep (1.5 hours yes we had issues removing the old bearing caps). We continued on this trail all day and came to what we thought was the end.....27 sharp switchbacks down into the river valley! These were wide enough for a side by side to make the turns...but a Jeep? We started down 3 to 4 point turns for 27 of these and 2 hours later we arrived at the river. A ten mile ride along the river and we found pavement.
Remember, cell service does not exist in these areas. The next day we inspected Randy's Jeep and found the caps on his front axle joints were a 16th out of the ear. Carl and Randy both decided a set of Chromolly shafts were required to continue on to the Big Horn Jamboree. This was Wednesday last week and checkin for the Jamboree was 5 PM on Thursday near Dayton, WY. I was able to find an errant spot to send a text to my good friend, Jason Watson, he responded immediately and suggested Northridge in Longmount, CO since they were closest to us and another friend from Denver was joining us for the Big Horn JJUSA event and could bring the axles. We borrowed the land line at Shoshone Lodge and called...no dice...no axles in stock and refused to ship assembled....thought we were stuck...but I had bought my JK axles from Chase at ECGS in Raleigh last year before the Rubicon Jamboree. Jason Watson, was kind and had sent the number for ECGS...I called and got Curtis on the phone. I explained our situation...he said the shipping of the assembled axles may be an issue...give him second and he will be right back....he came back on the phone and said no problem they will arrive the Elk View Lodge Friday two day air.
Friday at 6 PM just as we got back from a day of trail riding the axles were delivered!!!! These guys are more than customer oriented they Rock!!!! What a resource to have in NC and part of our community!....
Rest of the story......we loaned both new short side axles to JJUSA participants that broke axles on Friday so they could ride on Saturday...the guides pulled them Saturday night and gave them back to us....what a trip!!!
THANKS CURTIS AND ECGS FOR GREAT SERVICE!!!!
