DATE: 10/25/2006 11:31:05 / MOOD: ready to wheel

I went to Clayton this past weekend with some friends from Louisiana, laoffroaders.com. This is a copy of the post I made on their site about the trip.

Had a great time in Clayton as usual. This is definetly my favorite place to wheel, that I have been so far. I got in on Friday around 3pm and met up with Matt (blt2rock) and his dad at the statepark campground. We hung out for a little while then Chad(Mihi) and Rusty with his brother, Brandon showed up around 4. We got camp set up then hit the trail.

Friday: We headed to the old land and wheeled 3 stage and rockcreek. We didn't have any issues with 3 stage, it is just a fun trail. After 3 stage we went up rockcreek, everything went fine till we got to the top just at dark. Matt's Sammy buggy died and would not restart. After checking around we determined the alternator went out. Rusty pull started Matt and then Matt headed down the trail baja style, being sure not to let the motor die. Somewhere along the way the battery went low enough that the lights quit working. From there on out Matt's dad was holding the Mag lite to light the way down the trail. We got to the bottom loaded up and went back to camp.

Saturday: Matt took off early to head for Slims shop to see what he could do for him. The rest of us met up with Rickie(lightline), Charlie, and Bob(TJRex) at the Bulldog restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast we headed for green acres and ran Wet n Wild, Jeff's Ledges, and Green Mamba before any further problems. On Green Mamba Rickie was working on a ledge when his rear driveshaft let go. Lucky for him it was just a ujoint and the actual driveshaft was undamaged. We got him up the ledge and changed the joint, then discovered that the centerpin on the driverside leaf spring had broken along with both spring pads weld breaking and pulling away from the axle tube. While this repair was going on Bob was working the same ledge but further to the right where the undercut is worse. He was getting on it pretty good when we heard the pop. It was a driverside Dana 60 rear shaft. Guess he found the limit for the 47" tires. Bob headed back to Slim's to see what he could scrounge up and Chad, Rusty and Myself contiuned to the end of Green Mamba. After we came out of Green Mamba we went back to check on Rickie. Him and Charlie were heading over to SLim's to get his spring pads rewelded. At this point our crew of wheelers was cut down from 7 rigs to 3 rigs, typical Clayton fashion. The 3 remaining rigs headed over to Black Sheep Blvd. Rusty and Myself had to winch the top of Black Sheep has our rear passenger tire had slid under the undercut and was wedged in. Chad was the hero of this obstacle he made a clean run on it and went up unassissted. The rest of Black Sheep is just hardcore rock crawling up the side of the mountain. We were just about to clear the lower section when we heard Matt coming up behind us. Slim had pulled a miracle and retrofitted a GM alternator to work on the Sammy engine, Matt was back rolling. About this time Charlie pulled up also and fell in. As we continued on up the trail, Charlie turned into the trail and immediatly broke both driverside leaf spring center pins. His front axle went about 4 inches forward of where it should have been and the rear went forward till it bottomed out on the nerf bar. He turned around and headed for Slims also. Another 50' and Rusty came to a screeching halt when a rear pinion bearing let go and his pinion was flopping around in the rear axle. He too headed for Slims'. Matt, Chad and Myself continued to the end of Blacksheep without any further problems.
We all congregated at SLim's shop to watch him pull another hat trick. There is not really anywhere in Clayton Ok. to purchase Toyota Landcruisier rear pinion bearings, but has it turns out carrier bearings from a Isuzu truck rear end have the same ID has the LC bearing. The OD was different but Slim machined a sleeve to put behind the race and take up the extra area. There was no guarantee that it would work but it was better than loading up and going home. So we all sat around ate chili drank beer and watched Slim work, exiciting Saturday in Clayton OK!

Sunday: With everyone repaired but Bob, we headed out to Green Acres again. We started up a trail called walk in the park. Everything was going good till Rusty's rearend stopped pulling again. Not sure what the problem was maybe the lockright or the mangled gears? Anyway's it got parked and we continued on till Rickie popped a bead. This is where my story ends, right after we got Rickies bead back on I had to leave to head back to DFW. Someone else will have to take over here and finish the tale......

Carnage list:
Matt- Alternator, but repaired by Slim
Rickie- ujoint, spring pads, center pin
Bob- rear 60 shaft
Charlie- Spring center pins on drivers side. Repaired by Slim
Rusty- pinion bearings and possible locker or gears. Redneck engineering repair by Slim
Update: Chad bent both front leaf springs and busted a front yoke late Sunday afternoon

Great trip!!!!

Frank Etier


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