- Joined
- Mar 20, 2005
- Location
- Morganton NC
Mnt City, Callalantee TN 2/8-2/10
I arrived at the camp ground around 4 o’clock Friday after noon. Devon , John and Beth, and Robbie were already there. Don and Darlene had been there but were splitting time between the Hotel, restaurants and camp. Kevin with his Big Orange 4 seater buggy dropped by. They also stayed at the Hotel. Sherman showed up a little later with his new slide in on trailer. Still even later or early Sat morning, Jeremie rode in with his Sammy.
We went on a short night run witch was uneventful except for the graceful roll Devin did in his Toyota. He stood up and walk out of where the windshield used to be. A quick tug from my winch and he was on all 4’s again.
Saturday brought in another big group ready to ride. I lead one big group of about 11 or so rigs. We went up Welder Only Me, Jason, Larry, and Kevin did the Water Fall.
On up to Easy Out, and a few more to that list tried it. Larry and Jason were the only two that crawled it, the rest of us had to use throttle to get over it. I think only one truck had to winch.
From there we rode on up doing all the little side trails till we got to the top of the ridge and made our decent. From there we went over to Amoral and pull cable. Most of the group did Amoral and just a few did pull cable. Jason horseshoed his tie rod, and Larry sheared some bolts off in his front hub. Robbie in his famous 5 was headed up Lil Tellico and almost did a head over heels roll. He was straight up with a tree holding him from going over backwards. From there most everyone went back to camp. Robbie and I decided to try the hill climb off of Welder to the right just before Easy Out. I had gone up it last month and it is pretty much a full throttle hill when wet. It wasn’t as wet this weekend so I thought it would be easier. NOT. Just before I got to the tree root that hangs you up, I heard a loud bang. This was a new break for me. I sheared all the splines off of my rear drive shaft where the slip yoke attaches. Since my doubler install, I had not built a new spare. So with only front wheel drive, I backed down and limped back to camp.
Once at camp I begin my search for a drive shaft. Don had one, but assured me it was a very thin wall tube. Dillon had one I was able to purchase from him. Of course it wasn’t the right length so we cut a section out of mine, and sleeved the whole tube. Drilled a total of 16 holes for plug welds and welded it all up. Ready welder, Air drill, a borrowed grinder from Jeremie, and a few hours later, we had a better than before drive shaft.
Sunday came with fewer rigs, but still a decent group. We went up the opposite side out of camp and ended up near the TOW trail. We went up to TOW and the yellow IFS toy truck broke a front right axle. On over to the towers and the light blue FJ-40 broke a Birfield. From there our group got smaller. Only three of us. One of our group, a new guy wanted to go up welder, so again we took the same trip as on Saturday.
It was snowing on us before we finished the trip Sunday. Very windy. We all made it back, loaded up, thinking of what to do next and of all the good times we had this weekend.
Carnage list goes like this.
Chip, Broken drive shaft.
Devon, busted windshield, and front ring and pinion
Sherman, Blowed motor
Light blue Fj-40, broke birfield
Tan Toyota, broke right IFS axle
Don, Burnt Wires in engine bay
Jason, Bent tie rod
Larry, Sheared bolts in Hub
Chuck Fuel issues
Kevin lost oil pressure in his monster 454 buggy
There may have been more, but this is all I can remember.
Please forgive the lack of names in some places as so many to remember, my brain don’t remember them all.
Special thanks to John for the trail clearing and trail markers.
Link to pics:
http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b107/upnover/Callalantee Feb 08/
I arrived at the camp ground around 4 o’clock Friday after noon. Devon , John and Beth, and Robbie were already there. Don and Darlene had been there but were splitting time between the Hotel, restaurants and camp. Kevin with his Big Orange 4 seater buggy dropped by. They also stayed at the Hotel. Sherman showed up a little later with his new slide in on trailer. Still even later or early Sat morning, Jeremie rode in with his Sammy.
We went on a short night run witch was uneventful except for the graceful roll Devin did in his Toyota. He stood up and walk out of where the windshield used to be. A quick tug from my winch and he was on all 4’s again.
Saturday brought in another big group ready to ride. I lead one big group of about 11 or so rigs. We went up Welder Only Me, Jason, Larry, and Kevin did the Water Fall.
On up to Easy Out, and a few more to that list tried it. Larry and Jason were the only two that crawled it, the rest of us had to use throttle to get over it. I think only one truck had to winch.
From there we rode on up doing all the little side trails till we got to the top of the ridge and made our decent. From there we went over to Amoral and pull cable. Most of the group did Amoral and just a few did pull cable. Jason horseshoed his tie rod, and Larry sheared some bolts off in his front hub. Robbie in his famous 5 was headed up Lil Tellico and almost did a head over heels roll. He was straight up with a tree holding him from going over backwards. From there most everyone went back to camp. Robbie and I decided to try the hill climb off of Welder to the right just before Easy Out. I had gone up it last month and it is pretty much a full throttle hill when wet. It wasn’t as wet this weekend so I thought it would be easier. NOT. Just before I got to the tree root that hangs you up, I heard a loud bang. This was a new break for me. I sheared all the splines off of my rear drive shaft where the slip yoke attaches. Since my doubler install, I had not built a new spare. So with only front wheel drive, I backed down and limped back to camp.
Once at camp I begin my search for a drive shaft. Don had one, but assured me it was a very thin wall tube. Dillon had one I was able to purchase from him. Of course it wasn’t the right length so we cut a section out of mine, and sleeved the whole tube. Drilled a total of 16 holes for plug welds and welded it all up. Ready welder, Air drill, a borrowed grinder from Jeremie, and a few hours later, we had a better than before drive shaft.
Sunday came with fewer rigs, but still a decent group. We went up the opposite side out of camp and ended up near the TOW trail. We went up to TOW and the yellow IFS toy truck broke a front right axle. On over to the towers and the light blue FJ-40 broke a Birfield. From there our group got smaller. Only three of us. One of our group, a new guy wanted to go up welder, so again we took the same trip as on Saturday.
It was snowing on us before we finished the trip Sunday. Very windy. We all made it back, loaded up, thinking of what to do next and of all the good times we had this weekend.
Carnage list goes like this.
Chip, Broken drive shaft.
Devon, busted windshield, and front ring and pinion
Sherman, Blowed motor
Light blue Fj-40, broke birfield
Tan Toyota, broke right IFS axle
Don, Burnt Wires in engine bay
Jason, Bent tie rod
Larry, Sheared bolts in Hub
Chuck Fuel issues
Kevin lost oil pressure in his monster 454 buggy
There may have been more, but this is all I can remember.
Please forgive the lack of names in some places as so many to remember, my brain don’t remember them all.
Special thanks to John for the trail clearing and trail markers.
Link to pics:
http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b107/upnover/Callalantee Feb 08/
