Peak Putters - Cowiche Mill Snow Run (Feb 23rd, 2013)

Pics and reports of past Ahtanum runs
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commando14
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Peak Putters - Cowiche Mill Snow Run (Feb 23rd, 2013)

Postby commando14 » Sun Feb 24, 2013 1:21 pm

On Saturday a group of us headed up to find some snow on Cowiche Mill Rd. We had 8 rigs in attendance, including Steve with Curtis riding shotgun, Lee, Lee's brother Bill, Mike, Lance, my dad's buddy Frank, my dad, and myself. We found the snow and also found some crazy winds which made seeing difficult at times and made us want to stay inside the rigs. It was cold and we had some carnage but it was still a good day of wheeling. My Dodge (tow rig) also crapped out in Yakima last night.. had to leave it there and come all the way home and drive my dad's truck back up there and used my trailer to pull it home... long night.

I didn't get too many pictures because it was too windy and cold and I was enjoying the heater in the Cherokee :D


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I was busting trail and slid off the road... there was a little bit of fresh snow on top that was powder and the wind was making some big drifts:

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I made a full throttle run at this drift and it was like hitting a brick wall.. there was no climbing or winching over this one:

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So we started digging a trench to go around it, this reminded me a little of digging trenches back in the day on our runs to the Blues. We eventually dug enough to get past this spot:

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We came to a point where the road split, the way we wanted to go was too drifted in and had a pretty big climb, pretty much the end of the line. So we were turning around to go try the other road.. during the turn around process Lee has his lockers on a broke the ears off the outer axle shaft. The inner axle was pulled and Lee was left with 3 wheel drive.

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On the way back down Lee had more bad luck and lost the lug nuts and the wheel came off. We think all the snow and ice that was packed around the disc and the wheel melted and caused the wheel to loosen enough for the lug nuts to back off. Lee checked them again after driving a bit and they were loose again.

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Last edited by commando14 on Sat Nov 08, 2014 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

79chevy39.5's
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Postby 79chevy39.5's » Sun Feb 24, 2013 1:44 pm

definatly looks like a day for full cabs, know what went wrong with your truck?

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commando14
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Postby commando14 » Sun Feb 24, 2013 1:48 pm

79chevy39.5's wrote:definatly looks like a day for full cabs, know what went wrong with your truck?

Not sure yet... I lost all power driving through Yakima and was able to coast into a parking lot. It doesn't want to idle, will start if I give it some gas but runs very rough, and some knocking/pinging noises coming from the passenger side. I've also had an exhaust leak on that side for awhile so hard to tell what noises are coming from where. I did some research and apparently broken valve springs are a common problem on the early ('03/'04) Hemis.. mine is an '03. I'm going to pull the valve cover off and see if that's it.. I just hope there was no major damage done.

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Postby 79chevy39.5's » Sun Feb 24, 2013 2:07 pm

ouch sounds about on par, plan on fixing it yourself?

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commando14
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Postby commando14 » Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:00 pm

79chevy39.5's wrote:ouch sounds about on par, plan on fixing it yourself?


Yea.. I pulled the cover off and sure enough the valve spring on cylinder #6 is broke. I've read that the '03's commonly break valve springs on cylinder #6 and 8. Hopefully I can just replace it and all will be ok.

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Postby 79chevy39.5's » Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:44 pm

the 6.1 exhaust spring seems to be a popular upgrade, i have leakdown stuff if you need a hand keeping the valve up when repairing, will you be replacing all springs or just the broken one?

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Postby OldGreen » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:09 pm

I always just pack the spark plug hole with nylon rope and turn the motor over by hand. . . :lol:

Call me a redneck. . .

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Postby iaccocca » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:21 pm

Like David said, it was a fun day, even with the carnage. David got the worst of that one; by 3:00 AM I had been in my comfy bed quite some time. It was cold and the wind was miserable. Good day to have a good heater.

The 1st Peak Putter Pause (PPP)...
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Roy in search of his hat (he found it.)
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The wind was not just blowing the powder, but the crust as well.
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After team 4-door JK (Lance and Mike) made the 1st knoll and the YJ (Frank) got a guided tour around said knoll by Roy we started rolling again.


This view out the windshield assured me I was about to be tugged through this spot myself. I was right.
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After Mike winched through here the others behind us took advantage of our experience and found the right line and drove through.

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A fun little hill climb that took a little more work for some than others. (I imagine the majority of the work was done ahead of us by David in his Cherokee.)

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This PPP = Peak Putter Parking lot

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Nothing to see here. Just turning around...

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As luck would have it, Roy and I were just discussing the inherent weakness of the Rubicon front axle shafts. I had no intention of putting on a demonstration.

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After we converted my 4x4 to a tripod I found a comfy spot under a tree to enjoy my lunch and watched others play on the hill; periodically chasing around with my Super Yanker.

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On the way down the hill I got do one of the comedy routines of one of my favorite comedians, Ron White. If you know the bit you know the line, "It fell off, it fell off, it fell the F*&* off."

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Thank God it fell off in the slow going snow, not down below where I was testing out my new shocks.

Exciting airing up photos...

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Something missing?

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Thanks everybody that help me get the Jeep put back together and street-able and to all for helping limp it back to pavement. I was able to drive it home. For those that don't know (insert PSA here) if you have to pull a front shaft on this style front axle be sure to put the stub shaft back in place, it is integral to the front wheel bearing.
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.
N7EEL WROD249
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SPR
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Postby SPR » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:34 pm

Nice pictures. Here are a few that I took...
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I don't Text (at least not very well), I eat Blackberrys, and I only Twitter after sex...

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:55 pm

Unfortunately, the only way to repair this bum stub shaft is to replace both front axle shaft assemblies with complete chromoly ones. Oh well, like I've been telling the wife, that is the only way. :wink:
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.
N7EEL WROD249
8-) Image 8-)

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Postby 79chevy39.5's » Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:19 pm

Rcvs for the ultimate win

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Yrjan
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Postby Yrjan » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:25 pm

<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4zEQn0BO-FE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4zEQn0BO-FE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>[/youtube]

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:45 pm

Kewl!
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.
N7EEL WROD249
8-) Image 8-)

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iaccocca
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Postby iaccocca » Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:43 pm

Mike, is there particular software that you are using to make that video?
Okay, we're a little crazy to have a Duramax for a daily driver. But if we go off our meds, we might wind up in a Prius.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.
N7EEL WROD249
8-) Image 8-)

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Yrjan
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Postby Yrjan » Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:43 pm

It's iMovie. We bought a Mac a month or so ago and Lance hooked us up with some pirated software. =)

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Postby Beep Beep » Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:04 pm

Great photos. Looks like a fun run. Just a little colder than ours.


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