Well, that was a fun weekend. Thanks to all that made it happen. Bansil and team Turtle for being the driving force on this one, ehess for the Thai noodle feast and being my brake man, Joe Darlington for dragging my dead weight up the mountain, and everyone else for making the event what it was.

I didn't get in till 7:00 Friday morning, after catching a couple hours sleep at a rest stop in NC. The first trail on the menu was Welder which was a blast. After watching Blevcom21 (aka Samurai Jack) and Joe D hit the waterfall, I gave it a shot. I had the winch hooked up just in case, but thanks to some excellent spotting from Doug, I only needed it for a few inches when my open front couldn't grab hold. We proceeded up to the crevice, and played around there for a while before heading back for lunch, and so Anubis and his friend could head out. On the crevice, Rodeo guy, produced a nice POP, which appeared to be his front limited slip. When we got turned around to head back, Smiley was kind enough to point out that Mike only had one lug nut remaining on the drivers side of his new 9" rear end <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />. Once the spares were on, we headed back to camp. The night run was a leisurely trip up the green trail, and we loaded up some firewood for the night.

My new drivetrain was working flawlessly until it let loose. The trans never got above 180 on the trail, and was shifting nicely. The gears are great, and I was getting the hang of the shifter. We had just finished a long hill climb on the Red trail when it let loose. Mark (Wareagle) was riding along, and I was trying to get the front diff in neutral. It wouldn't pop out of gear, so I rolled forward, it popped out, and then the racket started. I looked down to see a shower of ATF. The top two bolts that hold the T-case adapter to the trans were out, and one was just sitting on the adapter. The lower left bolt was still in the hole, but just fell out when I grabbed it. I can't get to the last one with the front driveshaft in place, but I think it's still there. Both bolts were fine, but had aluminum threads wrapped around them from where the pulled out. I thought that I lock-tighted those, but it looks like they might have backed out part way, and then ripped the threads the rest of the way. There is no seal on the rear of the transmission, so I lost everything. The shifter is a cable setup, so it shouldn't put any pressure on the case when I'm pulling on it.

The top two bolts are in a flange on the transmission and the adapter, so I'm going to drill those out, and use a nut and bolt. The bottom two I will probably drill and tap, to a larger bolt. Copious amounts of red lock-tite will be used <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Of course the break happened in the middle of the trail, at the top of the hill. Smiley pulled me most of the way up to a level area where I could let the other trucks by. I had to winch the last bit on battery, since I couldn't crank the engine, but the Optima lasted longer than I expected, and got me where I needed to go. Joe D hooked up a strap and lugged me up the next hill. We hit some loose stuff, and he ended up winching us both up. For the down hill sections, we had ehess's trooper strapped to the rear to act as brake man. Between the two of them, and me standing on the brake pedal, we made it back to camp without incident.

My pics should be up tonight. I got a couple on welder, but my batteries didn't last <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />Andre