I went down to Hazleton Pa. Friday night with my buddy Eric as a passenger, we met up with Joe B. and Spare Parts on the expressway and had a nice ride down. When we got into Pa, It was snowing and pretty cold out. The first thing I saw was some frozen road kill on the side of my dually. In the parking lot at the Comfort Inn we met up with three more guys that just joined LIOR club. We all checked in and hit the hopping night life at the hotel's club. I heard some of the worst karaoke ever that night.
Saturday morning, about six of us walked over to a diner for breakfast. It was really cold and icy. Good day for staying home and renting videos. Well, after breakfast we all started our rigs and left them running while towing them over to Paragon. Somewhere between the hotel and the staging area we lost Joe B. Turns out he skidded out and jack knifed his tow rig.
The entrance to the park was the first obstacle, I'd rate it a blue 2. The hill was solid ice and if you were towing, you'd better have 4WD. Well, Joe and Yaron unhitched their Jeeps and had someone drive them up separately for them. It was a slow start to a long day.
People were dribbling in slowly and I got a call from Mark S., He was with a group coming down so we waited for them. After airing down and paying admission fees, We decided to break up into two groups. In all, there were 14 Jeeps and twenty people. An all Jeep ride, That's a first for me with LIOR. Scoutmaster Bob and Howler couldn't make it. I think Howler had the flu? And Doug was sick too. I had to perform my first official duty as V.P.and sort of organize a plan.
Joe B. decided to run the easier trails so he led his first ride that day. And I took the hard core rigs over to upper Whopum.
There was ice and snow everywhere. Not enough for any fun or traction, just enough to raise the ratings of all the trails. So, the first obstacle was a gigantic rock I had never climbed before. I tried straight on and stood overkill up on two wheels. I tried it one more time and my buddy Eric got out. I think I scared him. I went to the right side and had more air than ever before under the left front tire but made it. I went up top and turned around to winch and or assist the rest of the group. We all made it with the exception of Kieth H. He was only locked in the rear. He put up quite the fight at it though and even he said he didn't feel like rolling today. His Jeep was so far over that if he rolled, he wouldn't have even known it.
So, we walked through the rest of Whopum and took Pick Your Poison next. That was a walk in the park but Yaron tried it in three wheel drive and had some trouble. He quickly switched a hub and was running again. So, our goal was to find either M or Q trail. With a few wrong turns and one turn around we made it. Those Paragon maps are tough.
I opted for Q-trail, I already ran M trail before. Q trail isn't very long but does take some time to get through it. I walked right through half of it and stopped for the rest of the group. Mike B. in the eBay YJ, hey that's a great name for his rig, got hung up and broke a drive shaft that we pieced together on his last run. Turns out he had a new one in the Jeep. Would have been much easier changing it in his driveway before the ride? From there it got kinda wacky. It kinda looked like a Jeep junk yard. There were rigs stuck everywhere. Since I had time to kill and nowhere to go, I tried an impossible climb. And after pulling cable twice, I realized it was impossible with 37's.
After Mike B. was fixed the rest of the group made it through. Yaron was trying every possible approach to climb one obstacle and giving it hell. I'm not sure if he ever made it or not. Keith was blasting though with the small block and open front diff. I heard Even was trying not to roll his Jeep for a second time and Mike and the Rat walked through.
Well, this is where the story turns sad, I decided to give it a second run. There were Jeeps still stuck everywhere so I figured I would breeze through it again. I chose a real hard line and bounced Overkill a few times and found out why your supposed to have 3/4" between the electric fan and radiator. I opened the cap and backed out of the trail. And by this time most of the rigs were coming out of the trail too.
I was on the access road and decided to burn up some fuel and put on a little show. I took off down the access road and turned around and put it to the floor. Well, we were flying until around third gear, which comes pretty fast with 5.38's. Then it happened. I hit a mine field. That's what it sounded like. The engine stalled and we coasted up to the group leaving one heck of a trail of pieces. I walked back and picked up mostly transfer case pieces and the remnants of what used to be a driveshaft. Evens CJ was bogging a bit towing my limp rig back to the trailer. I swear he was hitting the puddles on purpose.
After disassembly, I found a broken Atlas transfer case, transmission, engine block, transmission mount, driveshaft,exhaust system and speedometer cable. I called Vic Carol of Advance Adapters and emailed him some photos. He immediately called me back and asked that I send the transfer case back to him. So, I packed up what was left of it and sent it off. Funny thing, It was 28 pounds lighter then when I got it originally. He asked me a million questions and we went over drive line angles and any possible cause to why this would happen. We haven't really come to a definite answer. Well, Vic and Advance Adapters said they would warranty the T-case and without my knowledge he contacted Tom Woods of Tom Woods Drive Shafts in Utah. Tom was super nice and called me. He asked that I send back the drive shafts at his expense and he would make me up two one ones at no charge. Now that's top shelf in my book. Bravo to Advance Adapters and Tom Woods Drive Shafts.
Paragon Adventure Park
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