Steering Repair and La Sal Mountain Pass
Well, it’s day 3 of our Moab adventure, and our challenge for the morning is to resolve the steering mess we created last night on the Golden Stairs. Before it got too hot I was able to spread the sand mat and moving blanket out in the driveway and make myself comfortable in my home for the next couple of hours. The steering mess we created with our trail fix of the track bar and hydro assist had to be undone and redone. The track bar needed to lengthen to reset the axle center under the Jeep and the drag link needed a tweak to reset the steering to center. I broke the track bar loose and then ratchet strapped the frame to opposing C to pull everything to center again. Once I was pleased with the measurements I turned the track bar to length and snugged the axle side to keep it in place. With a bent track bar, it is important for the bend to stay as straight above the diff housing as possible to avoid hitting anything else under the vehicle. With both ends in place and bolts through and snugged, I checked the steering. The steering angle was off maybe 1 or 2 degrees so I decided I didn’t want to break the jam nuts loose on the drag link until we got back to Texas. Everything got torqued to spec, double-checked and tools were packed away.
Next on the agenda was to go see Rory Irish at Moab Motorsports. I had a debt to settle with Rory because he saved my ass by bringing his welder out last night and sewed the Jeep back together. I also wanted to strengthen the track bar bracket with a plate gusset along the bottom of the old bracket. The hydro assist was twisting and tweaking the bracket enough to loosen the welds and cause more problems. Hopefully, the gusset will help! Rory came out from the back of the shop and was glad I stopped by to reinforce that bracket. He had one of his shop guys roll the Jeep back and start cleaning the field service work and cut a plate to weld on. About 45 minutes later we were all set with a stronger than before modification and very reasonable bill. I couldn’t, and still can’t, say thank you enough to Rory for coming to the rescue last night and getting us out of a real bind.
We left Moab Motorsports and headed into town for some lunch. What better to eat when in Moab than Quesadilla Mobilla! We stopped at the coolest catering truck in town and grabbed our favorite quesadillas. Since the weather wasn’t so bad we opted to eat under the patio misters and chill for a little while. Cindi woke up with a little bit of a migraine so she ate light and packed out what she didn’t finish. After killing the rumbling tummies we headed back to base camp.
Since the day was only halfway complete I took a look at the map to find some simple trail options to give the front end a test and for us to enjoy more of what Moab had to offer. We settled on the La Sal Mountain Pass with a trailhead about 5 miles south of our house. Since I quickly glanced through the trail options and our choice was close I didn’t have a lot a time to check all the details of the trail, so we were going in pure discovery mode with a trail map. Wow! Just wow! The pass did not disappoint. We started out at the trailhead with high clearance vehicle signs and a quick “pfft” of we got this. Immediately the pass trail goes up with turns and some rocky areas, but mostly narrow park tracks. Did I mention it goes up? This trail seemed like a constant climb, maybe because we went from Spanish Valley at 4,800 feet, to the La Sal Pass at 10,400 feet. The trail changed from sun to shade, from narrow to wide. The temperature continually dropped on the ascent until we reached the low 70s. There were several memorable water crossing that was flowing quite nice with the recent snowmelt and the abundant rains in the area. At the snowmelt creek just beyond the talus slope, we met up with a very kind retired gentleman, Dave, from Seattle, Washington, who was riding solo in a cool little Yamaha 1000 SxS. He was pleased to encounter civilization since he was solo in his machine and uncertain of the trail below the pass. He was fine with tail gunning the remainder of our route upward and we continued on. We were about a quarter-mile from the pass summit and were confronted by thick trees surrounding a decent size snowpack that was roughly 50 yards long, as wide as the trail between the trees, and about 3 feet deep. Cindi asked what we were going to do, and my answer was “go to the pass.” The snow was a blast to drive through and we had no problems pushing through the pack. Dave followed shortly with the pedal to metal and snow flinging off his tires. I will never forget his smile when he reached the end of the snowpack – like a kid playing on the first day of winter snow. Climbing over five thousand feet in elevation in only 9 miles of trail, we were at the crest of the pass. The trail opened into a gorgeous meadow with lots of sunshine and an amazing view of Mount Peale some 2,000 feet above us. We stopped and let the Jeep cool down a bit as we soaked in the tranquil meadow.
Time to descend. We planned to go down the south side of the pass which was a park service gravel road. A very smooth, yet very dusty access road to plenty of lakes, hiking trails, bike paths, and camping areas. Our map for the trip down showed we were going to skirt a high altitude lake called Beaver Lake, so we slowed and turned on a lightly used turnout that headed for the lake. At the end of the 2 tracks, we were presented with a large meadow with a marshy center. The lake size on the map was a complete oversell, but good for a chuckle as we turned around to get back on the park service road. We continued down to the La Sal Creek which was flowing beautifully. Cindi got out to take some pictures of the Jeep in the rushing water of the creek before we continued on down to 2 mile road and on to the highways back to Moab.
After a bumpy start with uncertain maintenance, we had a blast completing the daylight hours hitting the highest mountain pass in Moab and seeing some spectacular mountain scenery. Although we only encountered one other Jeep the entire time we were on the trail, I highly recommend a trip up to La Sal Pass. I also want to extend a HUGE thank you to Moab Freinds for Wheelin’ for their efforts to maintain and preserve the pass trail and keep it in check for OHV visitors. Without groups like this helping maintain trails we would not be able to reach our destination via high clearance pathways.
