280k miles and the front diff finally said goodbye 👋🏼
Unfortunately, it didn’t happened doing some cool obstacle. I was cruising down the highway at 65 when I heard two loud clunks in quick succession.
Then I noticed a continuous clicking noise that sped up and slowed down with the wheel speed. I quickly pulled off to make sure nothing was leaking or had fallen off and didn’t notice anything.
It took a few more test drives to figure out it was coming from the front end, but we were hoping it was just the drive shaft.
Once back at camp, we started to tear things apart and noticed the front diff bushing was basically gone. Now I know why it would always clunk at stop signs lol. Oops. I’m sure this was a contributing factor.
Big thanks to everyone who lent tools and helped out, especially @rustyota_tx who drew a schematic of the diff to show me how to best isolate the ring gear.
I told myself that if anything broke that weekend, I shouldn’t be worried because the folks at @cruise_moab are all so nice and willing to pitch in. That was beyond true and I am so thankful.
From there, we set off on removing the front hubs and driveshaft to isolate the front diff from any movement. Face reveal too I guess.
Then I drove 6 hours home with the center locked in 2wd with zero issues. Averaged 15.2 mpg but hard to tell if that was from less resistance or slightly lower speeds.
Now it’s on to get it all fixed, and boy are lockers and gears expensive. Either way, I’ll be back out on the trails eventually.
This was a great learning opportunity and I’m happy it happened when it did, but I hope it never happens again.
Crawling through the week 🐌
I can’t remember who was holding the camera for these, so whoever it was, thanks for the cool action shots! 😆
I was quite focused on my line through yet another little tippy bit of Maob Rim.
Fun day on Steel Bender!
I got some redemption on a couple of obstacles, and tried a new section of trail with a few interesting sections. Lots of cool rigs and talented drivers out there to kick off the weekend for @cruise_moab !
I think this is becoming one of my favorite trails in the area (aside from the Flat Pass offshoot)
#toyota #landcruiser100 #cruisemoab #lexus
Is the front travel in the room with us? 😆
The V8 and Gibson muffler certainly makes up for everything else lacking in the desert racer department.
I hadn’t driven in sand or dunes before this so it was a lot of fun learning how the rig behaves over whoops and dunes…and how easy it is to get stuck. I understand the appeal now!
I’m gonna need a bigger can of touch up paint 😆
This obstacle on Steel Bender/Flat Pass was technically the bypass to a much larger and steeper drop off, but maneuvering into the right line made for a very off-camber experience.
At least gravity took over and slid me into the rock once all my tires were on the ground.
As always, video makes it look boring and I could have taken my Subaru down the same thing just fine 🤦🏼♂️
These Nissan kids always trying to get a photo with the real superstar 😆
Gotta get through all these photos before my phone fills up with epic @cruise_moab content bc there’s no way I’ll be posting bad photos from a month ago when I’ve got videos of me going off the drop on Steel Bender and up the side of Moab Rim!
Alice is ready for the trek in a week! Ended up not doing the brakes because they aren’t thAt bad yet and I didn’t want to mess up the front hubs and deal with fixing things last minute. Just gotta fill the cooler with ice and I’m on my way!
Reach out if you’re convoying from Denver on Wednesday! I’ll try to keep a radio handy
