I know this is a bit old and we did do a video highlighting Mel's final run up the Little Sluice but, I never really made an official trip report about our 2nd Rubicon Run for 2012 and thought, better late than never. Anyway, for those of you who are interested, here ya go.
Days after we got back from the 2012 JK-Experience, we were already packing up and getting ready to head up to the Rubicon with Mel from Off Road Evolution. As it turns out, the Little Sluice as we had known it for about 20 years was scheduled to be leveled and Mel wanted to give it one last run before it happen and, we wanted to be there to document it. Here are a few pics from our trip, I hope you enjoy.
After being gone for two and half weeks, we spent just enough time to get some bills paid and, we were back on the road heading up to the Rubicon...
Making a familiar stop for dinner but, I must say it was strange to be there without a few more Jeeps surrounding us...
Thank goodness for pay at the pump. Without it, we'd have been SOL here...
Our original plan was to stay the night in Lone Pine or maybe even Bishop but, with everything booked up all along the 395, we just kept on going till we made it to Tahoe. Only got pulled over once doing 55 in a 35 zone at 4:30 in the morning but the Sheriff was cool and let me off. Here's a shot after we checked in at about 5 AM...
As you can imagine, we slept late but, got up with enough time to strip down, do some shopping and take in the sights. Here's Moby over at Emerald Bay...
Enjoying some tasty brews at the Brewery at South Lake Tahoe before calling it a night...
Mel and little Mel pulled in late that night and just slept in their truck. Here we are giving them a wake up call before sun up...
Heading out to Loon Lake at the crack of dawn...
Oh, it's going to be a lovely day...
Meeting up with a customer of Mel's and getting ready to hit the trail...
All aired down and ready to go...
Dropping into the Granite Bowl...
And, climbing back out...
Moving right along, having some fun and not a care in the world...
Just as I was about to pass a Jeep who had pulled over to let me by, we heard a loug BANG! When we went to see what it might be, this is what we discovered - Not good...
Of all the breaks you can have on the trail, a sector shaft ranks pretty much at the top of the list, maybe second only to a hydrolocked motor. Without it, you're pretty much dead in the water. Looks like it's game over for us..
I was just gonna remove what was dangling, try my best to get back to the trail head and call it a day but, much to my surprise, Mel had one of these with him... A SPARE SECTOR SHAFT!!
If that weren't enough, he also had a grinder with him which he used to help smooth out what remained of the existing sector shaft...
Mel hammering on the broken sector shaft from below as I pryed up from above...
Even with all the right tools, know how and extra hands, it still took us about 3 hours to get this thing pulled without doing too much damage to the seals and bearings and replaced...
As you can see here, this thing had been breaking for a while and just chose this day on this trail to finally let go...
And just like that, we were on the move again...
Mel taking a detour up the Soup Bowl...
Easy as pie...
In spite of all the time we lost getting us back up an running, we still managed to make it out to the Little Sluice with plenty of daylight. Here are a few shots of Mel taking it on for the last time...
Of course, you can watch the whole thing here
After all that, EVO1 just took on a few new scratches...
On to Buck Island Lake...
Ahhh, home for the night...
Tessa wasting no time to do some island hopping while we set up camp...
More pics below...
Days after we got back from the 2012 JK-Experience, we were already packing up and getting ready to head up to the Rubicon with Mel from Off Road Evolution. As it turns out, the Little Sluice as we had known it for about 20 years was scheduled to be leveled and Mel wanted to give it one last run before it happen and, we wanted to be there to document it. Here are a few pics from our trip, I hope you enjoy.
After being gone for two and half weeks, we spent just enough time to get some bills paid and, we were back on the road heading up to the Rubicon...
Making a familiar stop for dinner but, I must say it was strange to be there without a few more Jeeps surrounding us...
Thank goodness for pay at the pump. Without it, we'd have been SOL here...
Our original plan was to stay the night in Lone Pine or maybe even Bishop but, with everything booked up all along the 395, we just kept on going till we made it to Tahoe. Only got pulled over once doing 55 in a 35 zone at 4:30 in the morning but the Sheriff was cool and let me off. Here's a shot after we checked in at about 5 AM...
As you can imagine, we slept late but, got up with enough time to strip down, do some shopping and take in the sights. Here's Moby over at Emerald Bay...
Enjoying some tasty brews at the Brewery at South Lake Tahoe before calling it a night...
Mel and little Mel pulled in late that night and just slept in their truck. Here we are giving them a wake up call before sun up...
Heading out to Loon Lake at the crack of dawn...
Oh, it's going to be a lovely day...
Meeting up with a customer of Mel's and getting ready to hit the trail...
All aired down and ready to go...
Dropping into the Granite Bowl...
And, climbing back out...
Moving right along, having some fun and not a care in the world...
Just as I was about to pass a Jeep who had pulled over to let me by, we heard a loug BANG! When we went to see what it might be, this is what we discovered - Not good...
Of all the breaks you can have on the trail, a sector shaft ranks pretty much at the top of the list, maybe second only to a hydrolocked motor. Without it, you're pretty much dead in the water. Looks like it's game over for us..
I was just gonna remove what was dangling, try my best to get back to the trail head and call it a day but, much to my surprise, Mel had one of these with him... A SPARE SECTOR SHAFT!!
If that weren't enough, he also had a grinder with him which he used to help smooth out what remained of the existing sector shaft...
Mel hammering on the broken sector shaft from below as I pryed up from above...
Even with all the right tools, know how and extra hands, it still took us about 3 hours to get this thing pulled without doing too much damage to the seals and bearings and replaced...
As you can see here, this thing had been breaking for a while and just chose this day on this trail to finally let go...
And just like that, we were on the move again...
Mel taking a detour up the Soup Bowl...
Easy as pie...
In spite of all the time we lost getting us back up an running, we still managed to make it out to the Little Sluice with plenty of daylight. Here are a few shots of Mel taking it on for the last time...
Of course, you can watch the whole thing here
After all that, EVO1 just took on a few new scratches...
On to Buck Island Lake...
Ahhh, home for the night...
Tessa wasting no time to do some island hopping while we set up camp...
More pics below...
