SALINE/DEATH VALLEY

[Jaycee]

A picture tells a thousand words... Some might say it was epic..lolView attachment 81492

Man o man, that pic is having me rethink my tool and recovery gear. Glad you were able to get it back up and running

 

[A-Aron]

Man o man, that pic is having me rethink my tool and recovery gear. Glad you were able to get it back up and running

That Yukon is 20yrs old and was towing a trailer when the axle snapped. 200k miles.. 5th Gen Toyota.. take your normal kit. Plus, you'll be going down.. not up.. thx gravity!

 

[Superduty]

A-aron,

Did you leave dv and go hunt down a complete rear end?

 

[A-Aron]

Jaycee,

Did you leave dv and go hunt down a complete rear end?

Yeah, we took my rig down to Ridgecrest and snagged one from the salvage yard, they stayed late to get it pulled for us and left it out front after we paid them online. We caught 3-4 hrs of sleep and went back up to swap the rear end. We weren't sure if there were metal bits in the diff or not so we figured the whole rear end would be the safest bet.

 

[Superduty]

Did you guys have jack stands?

Fortunate they had a matching rear end in stock.

Makes for an excellent campfire story for many years to come. Glad it all worked out. Quite the adventure to say the least.

 

[A-Aron]

I travel with one jack stand at least, but we had to stop at Walmart to get gear oil and picked up another set for safety. Plug was stuck so we had to fill it through the breather hole.. what a mess!

 

[Supernaut]

I’m glad you guys made it out of there okay. I sure as heck couldn’t swap out an axel somewhere on the North Pass like that. What a nightmare.

 

[v_man]

I'm trying to imagine how you break a rear axle in Dedeckera canyon. Maybe something in the rear was compromised already and the light 4wheeling in Dedeckera exposed the weakness?

 

[A-Aron]

We had our trailers...but yes, that axle may have been compromised at an earlier date.

 

[SashaLee]

Plan extra time from the crater to the racetrack.. rumor has it.. worst road in North America.. washboard... Sounds fun though, you'll make up time from Lippincott to warm springs, it's been grated recently. Going down Dedeckera.. stay left, stay left, stay right, crank to left, swing wide left.. ez pz. Took me 1.5 hrs from warm springs in daytime to Dedeckera.. but I didn't stop for Marble bath. Sand isn't bad either at Eureka, just stay steady. After that, just watch for ice in North pass by the rock fall area, I hit black ice with my trailer and did a 180 deg spin at 11pm.. kids slept through it.

I just did that run in December. Couldn't make it over the pass due to ice then on the way back to the crater on Racetrack I hit a boulder with my LCA. I'm still recovering from the crash. Headed to the body shop this week to rehang the driver door. Go slow on this road!

 

[A-Aron]

Posted KML routes and Waypoints here for anyone interested in Death Valley!!!
https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/death-valley-off-road-kml-routes-and-waypoints.21751/