Rainbow Falls Off-road Area
Bill D
Active Jeeper
- Posts
- 402
- Thanks
- 0
- Location
- COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
- Vehicle(s)
- 1980 CJ5 Renegade. 6-258 engine, Howell FI, T-176 four speed, 300 transfer with Terra Low 4:1 gears, Dana 30 front with ARB air locker, AMC 20 rear with one piece axles and welded axle tubes and an ARB air locker. Both differentials running 3.73:1 R&P's. Onboard air, Warn 8,000lb. Winch- - -
2003 Jeep TJ "Rubicon" with all the Rubicon goodies, Terra-Flex 3" lift, adjustable track bar, sway bar disconnects, LED headlight conversion, Quadratec 9000 winch. - - -
1963 Willys CJ5 with a 134 ci F - head, three speed T90 tranny and a Warn overdrive. - - -
1949 CJ-3A. My latest acquisition and favorite plaything.
Sunday afternoon was beautiful weather so Carol and I decided to get out of the house and test the new front air locker in the Renegade. We are a fairly short drive from northwestern Colorado Springs up Ute Pass to Woodland Park and then 67 highway north to Rainbow Falls. We took a trail that we had been on several weeks prior with a Jeep club here in CS that we belong to. Wish we had taken some video but haven't gotten the Go Pro fully mastered yet. Anyway, this trail follows a ridge for about a mile when it makes an interesting "dive" for the bottom of a fairly heavily wooded gulch. We followed this trail and several others for some distance until we finally arrived at a rock formation known locally as "Moab Rock". This is a layered formation that is made up of knee-high steps with a total rise of 25-30 feet. This was also the first trial of the new 3.73 gears and the ARB air locker that had recently been installed in the "Renegade". I had already done a rear air locker upgrade along with a 4:1 gear change prior to making the 6th Annual Colorado CJ Trail Ride so feel that I am now pretty much "loaded for bear".
I am very much impressed with the performance that the above improvements have made. I can now ease up to one of the 18" steps in low range, 1st gear and without having to make a running start or having to put in a bunch of "skinny pedal", just let it idle up the step.
My next improvement on the CJ5 has to be fuel injection. Now, when I get the Jeep on a fairly steep incline, I start to have problems with the carburetor float and the engine stalling out. In the past several weeks, I have seen several people with CJ's have the same problem whether running 6's or V8's.
After several hours of just enjoying God's creation and AMC's engineering we returned to Colorado Springs via FS351 to FS300 (Rampart Range Road) which dumps us out in the west end of Garden of the Gods Park.
I sure enjoy living in Colorado Springs where so much beauty and great wheeling is so close. In fact, we had so much fun on Sunday, we went back up on Monday.
I have some iPhone video of folks climbing Moab Rock and if I can figure out how to post it, I will.
I am very much impressed with the performance that the above improvements have made. I can now ease up to one of the 18" steps in low range, 1st gear and without having to make a running start or having to put in a bunch of "skinny pedal", just let it idle up the step.
My next improvement on the CJ5 has to be fuel injection. Now, when I get the Jeep on a fairly steep incline, I start to have problems with the carburetor float and the engine stalling out. In the past several weeks, I have seen several people with CJ's have the same problem whether running 6's or V8's.
After several hours of just enjoying God's creation and AMC's engineering we returned to Colorado Springs via FS351 to FS300 (Rampart Range Road) which dumps us out in the west end of Garden of the Gods Park.
I sure enjoy living in Colorado Springs where so much beauty and great wheeling is so close. In fact, we had so much fun on Sunday, we went back up on Monday.
I have some iPhone video of folks climbing Moab Rock and if I can figure out how to post it, I will.
