Well, my brothers, Chris's girlfriend Allison and I took my jeep, and my explorer to Red Mountain for a test. Well it didn't go as planned. We reached the obstacle course after driving from the bottom of the mountain. Not a true test driving up a dirt road. So when we got to the course, we decided we would start off relatively easy by going up a set of "step ups" made out of large cement blocks buried halfway into the hillside. From a distance they seemed relatively easy. Once we started to get closer and approach the first block, it looked more challenging than previously thought. But I pushed on, climbing up the first two ledge no problem, however when my front tires hit the third ledge, the back tires were hitting the second and I couldn't get enough traction to make it up. After a few attempts at backing up just a few inches to get a little more run and a little more throttle (little more throttle, not full throttle), tragedy struck.

My truss over my rear differential wasn't strong enough and bent severely causing my rear axle to rotate which made my drive shaft bind up and break the straps that hold my U-joints in place. Not only did it break the straps, but it broke the bolts off inside. That pretty much ended the day for my jeep. We removed the rear drive line the rest of the way and parked it. We did manage to pile into the explorer and check out more of the course area and discover some really neat trails that we plan on going up (and down) as soon as the vehicles are ready again. Back to the drawing boards I guess. Soon it will be a very trail worthy rig, just not today.

Up till now, all the wheeling we have done with my jeep has been light duty, and really only for testing purposes. We are chomping at the bit, wanting to take the jeeps out to do some real trail testing. This weekend Joe and I took the jeeps up to Hull Mountain for a test run. He and Chris just completed a t-18 swap and wanted to test it. Unfortunately, something broke in the tranny after just starting up the hill and left Joe feeling a bit disappointed. I think it was Karma for leaving Chris in the valley at church and going alone, but I'm not superstitious or anything. :)

So Joe and I decided to take my jeep for a test run. After all we drove all the way up there, might as well do something fun on a Saturday morning. We drove around a few trails but the jeep was having problems idling. Could be the thin air, or just the carb is shot or needs a deep cleaning. We pressed on anyway, determined to have a good time.

We found a deep rut and I instantly got wood and had to try it. I wish I had pictures of this rut because it is a monster. Some areas were at least 6-7 feet deep and the incline was pretty steep to boot. I knew it was going to be difficult even for a jeep running well. My crappy trash bucket was running rough, and the steering box is totally shot to the point of uselessness.

I made two attempts to make the run. One straddling the rut but I fell in and was swallowed alive, and another running right up the middle. Neither attempt was successful. I made another attempt to straddle the cravas and was doing seemingly well for a moment. Then the rear tire started to slip in again. I tried to climb back out but that only made matters worse. The front being 4' higher than the rear, and the rear tires grabbing some traction lifted the front right off the ground and I just knew I was going to roll over backwards. I was happy as hell that I purchased a 4 point harnesses and that I was actually wearing the entire harness and not just the lap belt.

I was lucky enough to catch a break and did not go all the way over. The jeep rolled to the driver side, and the roll cage propped the jeep up against the muddy wall of the rut creating enough resistance to hold me there.

I was laughing up till this point and actually having a great time. Taking a moment to pose for a photo opp. I probably should have stayed strapped in to the jeep but fuel started pouring out of the carb giving me a nice little gasoline shower. I figured I had better get out and see about getting the rubber side back down and stop the fuel from spilling out.

We tried to push it over but since it was still in gear that wasn't going to happen. The granny low was in no way going to let us do that. I hopped back in and fired it up to throw it into reverse and see about backing it out easily. I almost botched it completely when I accidentally grabbed second instead of reverse. Pushing the jeep over backwards even more. (Dumb ass! I know... but everything feels different when your lying on your back looking upwards!?!)

To bring the story to a close, I managed to find reverse and inch the jeep back down to the ground and back to safety. I have to say the adrenalin rush was pretty awesome and look forward many more hairy situations.

I am sure your anxious to see some pictures so here you go.

First post on Nor Cal Jeeps Okay, so I bought the domain norcaljeeps.com now what? Good question. I bought the domain with the intention of making a family blog about Jeeps. I have two younger brothers and we all have Jeeps that we like to take out into the woods and wheel. So unless our plans change or someone offers me 6 figures for this kick ass domain name, thats what you will probably find here for many years to come.

Because we are each into building and modifying Jeeps (or any vehicle for that matter) you may also find "how to" articles, or something tech related. I can almost guarantee that it will be Jeep related. But, if you see us post a random article rest assured there probably wasn't a better place to do it, and there's a good chance you will find it useful in the future.

Introductions

I thought we might start off with a brief introduction and maybe a photo of each of us. This way, if your not a family or friend and your viewing this site, you will have a face to go with a name. Chances are, the only people who will ever look at this site will be family and friends so this exercise may be completely mute but who cares.

Mark

I have a heavily modified 1942 Jeep Willies that I am currently wheeling. I bought it for $1000.00 from a guy on Pirate 4x4. It's an ugly cuss, but on the trail it's not about looking pretty. At least not for me. the vehicle went through a pretty humorous at times transformation and if your interested in that sort of stuff, I suggest checking out my build thread on Pirate 4x4. Basically it's got a pumped Chevy 350 with a sm420, Dana 20, with buggy springs. I plan to go to air shocks down the road.

Chris

The middle child of us three brothers. He's the real mechanic between us, and the only person in the world that I know that can compress valve springs with his bare hands by age 13! WTF I know! Chris just recently acquired a Jeep of his own and has some pretty big plans for it. Until now, Chris has helped everyone else with our builds. He is starting out with a 1976 CJ5 that has a small block chevy 400 and sm465!

Joe

The youngest of the three spearheaded our obsession when he was given a 1975 CJ5 that was pretty beat down. Since then it has been stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up with bullet proof in mind. He's running the most extreme vehicle with a AMC 304 powered Jeep with a Ford T-18 tranny and a tera-low Dana 20 with coil over suspension. Well thats it for now. I hope that we can make this site fun and interesting, please feel free to subscribe to receive future updates.