Im working in Colorado for a couple weeks, I had Sunday off so I decided to take a couple co workers on some trails. I have never been on a trail before, so I researched on here, trails.com and trail damage.com as much as possible during the week. I had a couple of forum members offer for me to tag along with them further south, but I wanted to stay up here by Loveland/Fort Collins, I appreciate the offers though.
I decided to hit Kelly Flats, I watched some videos of Heart Attack Hill and The Chutes, two major obstacles on the trail, and decided not to do the chutes and make my decision on The Hill once I got there.
When I looked at the rout from the hotel I saw one option took me close to another trail I researched, Old Flowers Road. I decided since I have never been on a trail to hit this one on the way to Kelly Flats.
Heading out
I'm glad I did, it was a basic trail, but even on this basic trail we were all amazed at the difference in the ride once I disconnected the sway bar.
Old Flowers Road
My First Ever Flex
We finished the trail and made our way to Kelly Flats. We decided to stop at Kelly Flats Campground and eat lunch before hitting the next trail.
Lunch
I aired down to 18psi, (I only knew to air down because of this forum).
Starting the trail scared the crap out of me, and we hadn't even seen Heart Attack Hill yet!!!! But once I started crawling up the rocks I couldn't believe how easily this Jeep made it seem. Making it through this area gave me the confidence to go up The Hill instead of the bypass. I didn't take the most aggressive lines in the 2 most difficult areas, but this hill is still difficult, especially for a first timer.
We survived Heart Attack Hill!!!!
This is looking back down the hill, you can see the trail a bit from this angle.
More trail shots
On the last half of the trail I made my first mistake. We were going down a jagged rocky hill, I picked the wrong line I guess. We dragged a couple times, but I assumed my factory Hard Rock armor had me covered. We made it to the end of the trail, as I was airing back up I decided to check out my first trail scars underneath the Jeep.
Just under passenger door, no big deal i assume
Then I saw my rear differential (guess that's what it's called, I'm a novice remember) it looked a bit wet on the bottom. I think it is the cover that got bent a bit and started seeping some fluid out. It never dripped to the ground while we were airing up (30 minutes). Here are a couple pics, how bad is this? Do I need to take it to a shop immediately? Can this be put off for a bit? Can I just replace the Cover?
It was overall a great day, and I love my Jeep even more, which I didn't think was possible.
I decided to hit Kelly Flats, I watched some videos of Heart Attack Hill and The Chutes, two major obstacles on the trail, and decided not to do the chutes and make my decision on The Hill once I got there.
When I looked at the rout from the hotel I saw one option took me close to another trail I researched, Old Flowers Road. I decided since I have never been on a trail to hit this one on the way to Kelly Flats.
Heading out
I'm glad I did, it was a basic trail, but even on this basic trail we were all amazed at the difference in the ride once I disconnected the sway bar.
Old Flowers Road
My First Ever Flex
We finished the trail and made our way to Kelly Flats. We decided to stop at Kelly Flats Campground and eat lunch before hitting the next trail.
Lunch
I aired down to 18psi, (I only knew to air down because of this forum).
Starting the trail scared the crap out of me, and we hadn't even seen Heart Attack Hill yet!!!! But once I started crawling up the rocks I couldn't believe how easily this Jeep made it seem. Making it through this area gave me the confidence to go up The Hill instead of the bypass. I didn't take the most aggressive lines in the 2 most difficult areas, but this hill is still difficult, especially for a first timer.
We survived Heart Attack Hill!!!!
This is looking back down the hill, you can see the trail a bit from this angle.
More trail shots
On the last half of the trail I made my first mistake. We were going down a jagged rocky hill, I picked the wrong line I guess. We dragged a couple times, but I assumed my factory Hard Rock armor had me covered. We made it to the end of the trail, as I was airing back up I decided to check out my first trail scars underneath the Jeep.
Just under passenger door, no big deal i assume
Then I saw my rear differential (guess that's what it's called, I'm a novice remember) it looked a bit wet on the bottom. I think it is the cover that got bent a bit and started seeping some fluid out. It never dripped to the ground while we were airing up (30 minutes). Here are a couple pics, how bad is this? Do I need to take it to a shop immediately? Can this be put off for a bit? Can I just replace the Cover?
It was overall a great day, and I love my Jeep even more, which I didn't think was possible.