Off Roading Nice wheeling this weekend

[Todd G]

Monday I did the Phoenix to Crown King run( the hard way ) and tested my Ram to its limit. The trail is really only about 15 miles long and took over 4 hours. Lots of rain lately made it real nasty. I passed a brand new 2003 Ram 1/2 ton 4x4 on the way up and lagged so he could follow mw through the rough spots. Those 1500's are LOW to the ground and he also had nerf bars. I could hear him banging on every big rock. He didn't even have a plate on the thing yet! The funniest thing was the look on his wife's face when they couldn't open the doors because the nerf bars got pushed up in front of the front doors. I'd say at least $3000 in damage for the trip. Ouch. I'm sure someone told him that trail would be a great place to try out his new 4x4.



My truck came through without a scratch but my transfer case is making bad noises again. Me thinks it's time for a rebuild.

 

[_Hyde]

Sounds fun!!

The SO & I travel to AZ twice a year to visit the inlaws and I've been wanting to try that trail for a while now. I've got an 01 2500 QC SWB and no nerf bars or anything else that may inhibit ground clearnance. Currently running 285s also. Do you think I could make it? The uncle has a Jeep GC and he doesn't give one damn about beating it up. BTW, I went through Box Canyon 2 or 3 times in my old truck which was a 96 with 33x12. 50x16. 5s and didn't have too much trouble. Great country out there. Thought about moving out there but housing is more expensive and didn't want to corrupt such a magnificent area with work and responsibility.



Darren

 

[Todd G]

I would think any 3/4 ton could make it without damage. We have a factory lift With your tires no problem, just keep it slow and use a spotter in the really bad areas. Make sure you don't go solo. I know of two people that have died on that trail.

 

[Bob Horrell]

Todd, What kind of noise is the transfer case making? I have a rattling noise under load that I think is coming from the transfer case. The fluid looks like new and the magnet doesn't have any junk on it. When listening to the shifter with a stethascope it sounds pretty noisy. The transmission sounds very quiet by comparison. It is not the snap ring which is protected by the Gear Vendor unit ( but I checked it anyway). Any ideas?

 

[Todd G]

How are you listening to the transfer case? Not moving I guess. Nothing should be making a noise when stopped except maybe the shifter( rattles sometimes ). Could be the oil pump in the case has gone bad. I've had mine apart twice lately and still can't find the source of the banging.

 

[Bob Horrell]

Todd, I use a mechanics stethascope pressed to the shift lever when I am driving. When just cruising, it has normal gear/bearing sounds, but when I start to put it under a load, like pulling a hill with the trailer, it gets real noisy. When I listen to the shift lever on the transmission under these conditions, it barely changes under a load. I also listened to a friends transfer case with my sthethascope and it was much quieter than mine. The sound remained constant whether he loaded it or just cruised. As noisy as it us you would think that the problem would be obvious, but it is not. It really has me baffled.

 

[Todd G]

I assume you're in 2wd. There's not much to the t-case. Could be a bad bearing. There's really only 2, front and back. Maybe those straight-cut gears are a little noisy on yours.