[Jeffro06]

On Saturday August 9 and Sunday August 10th, the Jeeps Gone Wild Offroad Club held a camp over at the Badlands Offroad Park, in Attica Indiana.

I had missed the last outing, and was really looking forward to this get together. It looked as if we would have a pretty large turnout, including current memebers and those looking to join a club.

A buddy and I convoyed down from Rochelle Illinois. Can you call two Jeeps a Convoy? I guess I just did.

Once we arrived at the park we stopped in at the campground to meet up with everyone else.


Here's my Jeep.


This is my buddy, Jay's, Jeep and his son Austin.


A bunch of the Jeeps circling the camp spot.


A few of the tents, at camp central.

Now a few shots of some of the Jeeps that were along for the ride.....


Phil's newly lifted Rubi.


Club President, Mike, airing down.


Zacks Xj, Mike again, and Chad's TJ Sahara.


Girls with a view.


Drivers meeting


Jay on his way to the quarry.

[Jeffro06]

Once in the quarry I tried the infamous step-up...which I have done a few times. On this day it just wasn't meant to be. It was kind of dug out...33's weren't getting the grip needed. Not wanting to break the D35 I opted to move on.

I climbed up the rock wall and made my way along the quarry rim. Once up there it's pretty tame. I went over a little hill, up another, then made a left hander to start down. You should never under estimate things you have done a hundred times.......


It's not supposed to look like that.

I made my turn a bit too tight, which caused me to become quite tippy. A couple of guys jumped on to help counter the lean. When I went to hit reverse I rolled forward and got lodged against a dirt wall...so to speak. I was attempting to back up, which was causing me to get more tippy. Not good. The steering was starting to bind due to the extreme turn angle, pressure from the wall, and the Aussie Locker. This is one place having a selectable would be nice. I tried shifting out of 4 wheel drive to take the pressure off the front tires, but it didn't seem to want to release.

I tried to back up once last time and POP!! Man was it loud.


Time to put the hi-lift to use.

Don't worry we had the Jeep secured to a Grand Cherokee. We also never took our eye off of the entire thing...any slight movement was not treated slightly...lol.


I got busy taking the whole thing apart.


That's not going to be cheap.

I ended up needing upper and lower ball joints and the passenger side short shaft. We gave the Badlands machine shop a call. They ran to a local NAPA that was minutes from closing and got the ball joints for me. They found me a short axle shaft in their warehouse. They also did a little shop work removing some pieces. Here's the cost:

Upper Ball Joint: $37.00
Lower Ball Joint: $37.00
Axle Shaft: $60.00
Labor: $15.00

Fixing the Jeep on a 45 dgree incline while it's strapped to another Jeep..priceless. Yes I used my Mastercard....lol.


This gives you a better idea of how it was hanging.


And this one shows you how it was held there.




The crowd seemed to grow...everyone likes an accident..lol.


Three hours and forty minutes later I was back on the trail and back to picture taking.

That's Zach climbing there. Big Frank is in the built CJ...I owe him a thanks for lending a hand. He pretty much lifted the jeep up when it was time to put the front tire back on. There was noway to jack it up, safely, so we thought why not lift it? Frank made the job a lot easier!

I still owe all the guys a great deal of thanks for the help I got. Even the Badlands shop loaned us a ball joint press, free of charge. I cannot say thank you enough...especially to Zach who did the install.


On our way to the Orange Trail.

[Jeffro06]

The new owners of the Badlands have made some changes. They added a couple of motocross tracks, which meant the entrance to the Orange Trail had to be moved. They also put up some fences, which meant we had to re-learn our way around. We looked like a parade wandering around the parking lot and concession area as we looked for the way to the trail....we found it.


Chad starts to head off on the Orange Trail.


Jay completes a climb.


Fred makes it to the top too.


Mike had to give it two shots, but he made it.


This gives you an idea of the climb we were doing.


I take a peek up the trail.


From time to time things came to a stop.

The Orange Trail always offers some challeges. This day was no different. Since we had a variety of Jeeps with a variety of mods, it was no surprise that we had to give a hand from time to time.


Sometimes a longer wheelbase helps...this wasn't one of those times.


The shorter wheelbase paid off here.

My buddy Jay took my camera to grab a few shots of me on the trail


Here I go up a hill, nice place for a tree.

[Jeffro06]

Here I am going down a hill.

This corner/hill is always fun. It's like a blind right hander. As the driver you reall have a hard time knowing what's going on to the right. Having a passenger is nice...I didn't have one on this day. There's not a real good place for a spotter to stand either.

Once at the bottom of the hill there is a mixture of mud and water. Which has bitten some Jeeps on past runs.


Today was no different.


Team work at it's finest here.

A snatch 'em to the side and one pulling from the front got the Jeep out of trouble. Rolling into that "puddle" would not have been a good day.


Everyone else made it through without falling off the edge.


Here's another helping hand.


Pumpinator power!

That log, uh tree, on the right there was not helping matters. A few tugs and he was free.


A little water anyone?

This water was actually deeper than that photo shows. It almost claimed a jeep or two. The water went over the hood of that Grand Cherokee. I and a few others decided we wouldn't risk the hydro lock.


Did I mention we stopped a few times?


Another quick tug and another happy customer.


Stopped again!

Zach said he wanted to try out his new mudders. They were doing fine until a hidden boulder stopped him. That's Zach with the strap.

[Jeffro06]

A few more decided to see if they could make it through....without help.


Made it.


Needed help.


Needed help.


These two (L-r:Zack and Rod) need help........they couldn't budge the evil boulder....or rock.


They ended up grabbing some mud and flinging at the on lookers.


The on lookers.


Time to get back in the Jeeps and continue on.

We made it off the Orange trail without anyone breaking anything. I think my damage was it for the day actually. Other than a scratch here or a tiny dent there anyway.


Time for some posing.


One last shot before I put the camera away.

After the Orange Trail we headed back to the office area for free food. The Badlands supplied hotdogs, chips and drinks. There were fireworks later, but I didn't campout so I didn't get to see them.

I would have loved to have stayed for a second day of wheeling, but Sunday wheeling with a 200 miles trip home makes for a very bad Monday...lol.

The guys and gals that stayed for day two will have to fill in with what happened on Sunday.

I made it home safe and sound, as did Jay...we were together afterall. We ran into some rain on the way home...at times very heavy.

Did you guys that camped get wet? My safari bikini kept me dry.

Well until next time...thanks for another great time JeepsGoneWild! And another big thank you to everyone that helped, in any way, with my trail repair. That just proved to me that I picked the right club!!

You can see all the photos I took right HERE!

[RockRodHooligan]

I'll have to contribute some from my pics when I get home and can hook up my camera. I know James has some really great pics of how I got so very muddy and wet lol.

Edit: thats me paying in the mud with Zack

[Bennettj13]

Soon as I get them on photobucket I'll post a link.

[GOLDJ33P]

aww.. you didnt post any pics of the toyota that rolled while you were fixing your axle..

[Jeffro06]

Originally Posted by GOLDJ33P

aww.. you didnt post any pics of the toyota that rolled while you were fixing your axle..

I didn't get to see that...anyone else have a photo of that?

And no, he wasn't with us. He was able to drive out though...I saw him while I was in the machine shop.

[IGotADisneyJeep]

Jeff,

Thanks for taking our pictures & the awesome review. We can always count on you for that! I am also happy that we got your jeep up and running so you can wheel with us on the trails. It was a bummer that jay and yourself could not camp out & wheel with us the next day. We had an awesome time camping & wheelings and it would have been great that both of you could have joined us. As long as you came out... It was cool with us. We'll see you sometime soon & keep snapping them pictures for us.

Thank You as always,
Michael
Club President

[Jeffro06]

Originally Posted by IGotADisneyJeep

Jeff,

Thanks for taking our pictures & the awsome review. We can always count on you for that! I am also happy that we got your jeep up and running so you can wheel with us on the trails. It was a bummer that jay and yourself could not camp out & wheel with us the next day. We had and awesome time camping & wheelings and it would have been great that both of you could have joined us. As long as you came out... It was cool with us. We'll see you sometime soon & keep snapping them pictures for us.

Thank You as always,
Michael
Club President

Nobody was happier than I to get my Jeep fixed. I had a blast. Wish I could have stayed over. If I would have been able to get tomorrow off I would probably would have. I'll have to start buying some camping gear for next year.

I actually wish I had taken more pictures.......no really I do.

[CHRRRIS]

Oh man that was you Jeffro?!!? I was just riding around that ledge and spoke with that guy with the hat and glasses, figured it was his Jeep.. I didn't recognize it as yours, but if I would have seen you I would have realized it was you.

Anyways, glad to hear you got that huge mess all fixed up and better yet you got it done in time to do some more wheeling, it happened in time for that NAPA to still be open which closes at 12 on friggin' Saturdays, and you got to drive it home.. Heck, I'd say you didn't even have to pay too much to get out of that.. I'd say you are really lucky lol.

I got a good pic of your Jeep up there, and a pick of the truck after it rolled.

Anyways, it was a good weekend and the trails were no where near as bad as I thought they'd be.. except at the beginning of orange right after the down slope that goes into the muddy/water filled area.. people think they can bog through that stuff then have a hell of a time trying to pull each other out, haha... draws a crowd.. Our club/group left when we heard someone pull out chains to pull a cherokee that had it's rear end 4 feet up off the ground, front end sunk in one of the pits..

As for damage, it was limited mainly to the hard-extreme group of 5 jeeps, which included 5 snapped D35 ring teeth - fixed in the shop and driven home... a D35 shaft and 1 snapped ring tooth while trying a ledge we are almost certain is meant for buggie crawlers only - fixed on site and driven home... and a non-existent clutch after some fun in the water/mud which got towed home on another member's trailer.

Them damn Dana 35s lol.

All in all, it was a good day of wheelin'. I'll get pictures up somewhere.

[QuadraTokn]

Originally Posted by Jeffro95

I didn't get to see that...anyone else have a photo of that?

And no, he wasn't with us. He was able to drive out though...I saw him while I was in the machine shop.

[Contra]

man i wish it were closer to me here in San Antonio
i would love to go to something like that

[Jeffro06]

thank you to everyone that provided any help, at all. I haven't gone down the list name by name though..

Just for the record......THANK YOU FOR THE HELP!

I wish there was a way I could make it up to everyone, maybe someday I'll get the chance.