Rally Status: Chris Doty announced that rally plans are nearing completion.  Details include:

Staging Area for our morning muster will be the same as in 2005, in the “I Love Leadville” area known as Poverty Flats.  Permission was kindly granted by the owner, with no fee.  The suggestion has been made is that we invite him to our banquet as a guest.  The club is to provide him with a case of beer and proof of insurance, indemnifying the owner against all claims.  As there are no facilities, the club will provide 2 port-a-potties.

Vendor Night will be in the Ice Palace Park behind the Leadville mining museum. Permission has been granted with no fee.  The park will be available from noon to 10pm. Please note that this is a public park, it cannot be completely shut off to the public.  Requirements: A donation should be made to the Lake County Recreation Department.  Club is to supply 2 additional port-a-potties placed next to the bathrooms. In case it is requested we will have a copy of insurance on hand.

Free Camping: Permission has been granted for camping with no fee. Located 15 miles south of Leadville, this open space allows for primitive camping, with no water, electricity or toilets.

The club will provide 2 port-a-potties appropriate to the population.  We have been asked to have each camper complete a land use survey.  The owner is a developer and wants to use the info to further his causes.  In case it is requested, we will have a copy of our insurance available.

Dogs are welcome, but with caution. This is ranch property, which means “rancher rules” apply: any dog harassing cattle or causing harm to cattle could be exterminated and its owner held liable.  Bottom line: keep your dog contained.

Directions to camping area: 15 miles south of Leadville on Highway 24 South.  Take Highway (or Road) 82 for approximately half of a mile, across two cattle crossings, pick the north crossing at the “Sawatch Range Realty” sign.

We hope to have the area marked before the rally begins.  A club camping coordinator will need to be appointed.

The suggestion was made that we invite owner to our banquet as a guest.  This will provide an opportunity to extend our thanks and turn in the survey sheets.

Thanks to Rob Colombin, JC Crouse and Mile Pomponio for providing details from their recent Leadville recon trip.

Volunteers are needed to handle rally tasks other than trail leading.  So far Jesse Adams and Mike Jablonski have offered to help.  If you would like to help with this, please advise Chris Doty or Paul Donohue.

Trail Leaders’ get together is scheduled for July 25.  For details please contact Chris Doty and/or Jim Hall.

Summer BBQ Picnic: Wendy Vaughn reports that plans have been finalized.  Location is Pioneer Park in Arvada, near Ralston Road & Garrison Street, on August 30, 2009 from 2:00 to 6:00 PM. The club will provide meats and soft drinks.  So that we don’t all bring the same side dishes, Wendy has signed us up at:  http://www.luckypotluck.com/potluck/SolihullSocietysSummerPicnic

Graham Jackson made a short presentation on guidelines and rules for convoy.  His version is much different than my old copy of convoy rules which includes armored escorts and Huey gunships overhead.

The meeting concluded followed by the traditional small gatherings around various Land Rovers in the parking lot.

Submitted by Paul Donohue Club Secretary

An executive meeting preceded the general meeting to deal with administrative matters.

The meeting was called to order by our club president Karen Kreutzer.

In order to provide adequate means of preparing the club newsletter, we agreed to update the club computer and software.

Content is needed for our newsletter.  Please contact Tate Crumbley with any interesting stories you might have, past or present.

Content is also  needed for our website Photo gallery. Instructions are needed on how to upload pictures.

Transfer of Club Treasurer responsibilities and materials was accomplished from Jenny Burris, our outgoing treasurer, turning things over to Graham Jackson, our new treasurer.

We resolved that Trail Leaders’ area and Calendar on our website need to be updated.  If a volunteer is interested in helping the club with these tasks, please contact Karen.

Volunteers for Trail Leading need to sign up with Jim Hall.

Trail leader training was discussed, questioning the need and/or availbility for a Bill Burke class this year.  At minimum, our current trial leaders will have a get together before the rally to “refresh” our memories about what we are trying to accomplish.

John Crouse announced that the Stay the Trail organization will be at our rally in July.

We will renew our membership in Tread Lightly and continue to abide by their responsible guidelines.

Wendy is working on the plans for our Summer BBQ but was unable to attend due to an unauthorized illness.  Stay tuned for the announcement!

Meeting turnout was excellent with 34 people including several new members and a few guests.

We were treated to an outstanding slide and video presentation by Graham and Connie Jackson from their overland adventure from London to Capetown by Land Rover.

The crew at El Señor Sol likes to close by 9:00. In the future we must keep to a tighter schedule. If the weather permits, we can adjourn to the parking lot as was done in years past.

Submitted by Paul Donohue, Club Secretary

For information and news about the rally, go to http://www.landrovernationalrally.org

If you don’t have an email address or don’t wish to register online, you can download the pdf registration form

We are looking forward to seeing you in Leadville this summer!

Trails were posted in chronological order, but may get out of order as people post, and that trail moves to the top. I will try to keep the upcoming trail on top.

The first trail of the year is Chinaman Gulch, by Buena Vista on March 21st. This trail looked to be clear of snow the last time I drove by the area.

A Solihull Society club meeting was held on January 27, 2009 at Pints Pub in Denver.

The meeting was called to order by Karen Kreutzer, club president and chief cat herder.

Topics discussed included:

The treasurer position remains open. If any member is interested in helping the club fill this vital office, please contact Karen.

We agreed that the club needs to locate and employ a CPA to assist with the club’s books and make sure all reporting is done correctly and on time.

A volunteer has been found to take over the position of newsletter editor, Tate Crumbley.

Our new secretary is Paul Donohue who will also handle membership.

Dates for future meetings are being identified, and will be posted on the club website.

The 2009 Rally will be held in and around Leadville from July 28 to August 2.

Chris Doty has volunteered for the vital position of Rally Coordinator.

Mike McUne will be assisting by handling Rally registrations.

Jim Hall will be coordinating trails.

Wendy Vaughn has offered to work on permits for the rally and coordinate the annual BBQ.  Date and location are still to be determined.

We still need a volunteer to handle supplies, like t-shirts and gear for the rally.  John Crouse has offered to help with this task.

The suggestion was made that CPR classes for trail leaders would be a good idea.  Neal Haver offered to look into this matter and report back to us.

After talking to many fellow roverholics (Yes, I mean you Paul!), I decided to take the leap and get an old Range to use as a heavy trail rig. My goal was just to find a truck in good condition and running for the most part. After look around, mainly on the west coast, I did find some very worthy trucks. After working out the details of the purchase with my wife, I decided to by a 93’ LWB. Initially, I did not believe I was going to buy anything that still had the stock suspension in it. Amazingly enough, the truck still had the working EAS system in it. The bags did not look replaced as they were very worn. So, on June 11th, I towed the truck back home. Before I towed the truck home, I had already ordered the 3” lift kit from Rovertym, and the EAS conversion parts needed. The guys at Rovertym really know what they are doing. When I called them, I simply told them what I bought and what I wanted to do. They created the list of everything I needed, but I added the rear drag links. They let me know that the springs were on backorder. They could arrive at any time, but could take up to 6 weeks to come in.

After towing it home, I did some minor fixes. I drove the truck with the stock EAS for a total of five days. After taking the truck to see Jeff at JC’s Rovers, an airbag was pinched while looking at the rear drive shaft. The very next day, Rovertym called and said that everything was in and the parts would show up in a couple of days. I set my dates for the install and offered beer and pizza for anyone willing to show up. Only Larry Grubs did. Thanks for the help that night!

OK, so I tried to find a list of things to do and the order to do them. So, I had to try to collate the ones that I did find. The first thing to make sure you have enough tools to do this. Four jack stands are very helpful. A high lift floor jack. Gloves. A hammer. Air tools. An air hammer with a very sharp flat chisel, or a saws all. PB Blaster penetrating oil. A various amounts of tools and wrenches. If you can, spray the bolts on your axles for your anti-sway bars. The shock mounts in the rear. The rear shock lower mounts. If your are replacing the rear drag links, spray the bolts on both ends. If you are replacing the radius arms up front, those too. Letting those sit for a couple of hours will help a lot during this process. You should do this process to both sides at the same time. It will help during the process.

Start by deactivating the EAS system. If the bags are in working order, set the suspension to access mode to deflate the bags. Next, remove the air suspension fuse and the 30amp compressor fuse. Remove the two relays under the passenger seat. Remove the side cover revealing the LCD error display. Remove the green and yellow relays next to the screen.

First thing to do is to start on the rear axle. Lift the rear of the truck off the ground has high as you can and secure with two of your jack stands. Remove the rear tires and put them out of your way. Support the rear axle with the other two jack stands. Remove the rear shocks. Now, if you are replacing the rear drag links, do this now. Also, remove the air ride sensors. Unplug the cable just forward of the wheel well. If you are not, you will have a difficult time later with the axle hanging down further and getting the bolt out of the rubber mount. Put in the new drag links if you are putting them in. Don’t tighten the bolts. You will need the slack for the springs. Remove the stock shock mounts. Save the bolts for these. Remove the air bag with the two clips that slide out from the top, and the nuts that secure it on the bottom. And finally, remove the anti-sway bar. Place the new spring seat on the bottom and secure it with the bolts provided. Next, lower the axle down so you can fit the spring in. If you are putting cones in your truck, put those it the springs and mount them. If you are putting in retainers, attach those after the cones in place. Spring compressors may be need.

Your brake lines will most likely be stretched to the max. You can replace them now if you want to. If you are only putting on the 3” lift, you can run the stock lines for a short time as long as you don’t do any articulations. Next, after you tighten up the bolts on the springs and the drag links, now its time to put in the new shocks. Using an air hammer or a saws-all, remove the cups that house the rubber bushings for the old shocks. They are just tack welded on and should not be very difficult to remove.

After you have removed them, put on the new shock adapter. Also mount the upper shock mount with the hardware from the old mount. Carefully place the shock on the lower mount. If you bought the Rancho option, set the shocks to one and unscrew them. They will slowly expand and then slip them onto the mount. Bolt them together. You are all done. After this, you might need to then jack up the truck under the axle so you can get the tires on. Here in the finished product.

Now onto the front. The rear axle has a lot more steps than the rear. Start by supporting the truck in the exact same way as the rear. Jack the truck up using two jack stands. Support the axle with the other two jack stands. Remove the anti-sway bar. If you are replacing the radius arms, do this now. I did not replace those yet, so I am unsure of any issues to avoid. Remove the old shocks and air bags in the same way you removed the rear. Remove the height sensors the same way as the rear. The connector is just behind the front wheel well. Put in the new spring seats. There are no spring retainers for the front, you will not need them. If you do not replace the brake lines now, you will need to compress springs to get them in. You can again run the truck on the stock lines as long as you don’t articulate. Tighten up up all the bolts. Mount back the tires back on and go wheeling. Here is the finished product.

On the weekend of June 23-24 several club members met to pre run some trails in the Grand Junction area. Jim (66 Series IIa) and Pete (70 Series IIa) linked up on I70 outside of Denver and drove over the ‘hill’ to Grand Junction. After dinner they met up with Neil (96 Disco) near the Bangs Canyon trail head. The three discovered that overnight camping was not allowed at the trail head so followed the Billings Canyon trail about a mile and a have until they found a good spot to set up for the night.
In the morning the three went to Starbucks to meet up with anyone else that wanted to run some trails. Gem (2002 D-II) arrived and after waiting for a while to ensure that no one else was coming the four trucks made their way towards the Colorado National Monument and the mornings first trail.

After crossing the bridge over the CO River there are plenty of signs marking the way to the Monument. At the first turn there is a gas station that had the lowest priced gas/diesel in town. They also have a quarter operated air pump. This is also on the way to the Bangs Canyon OHV area.
The entrance to the CO National Monument is just a few miles further down the road. At the Ranger Station you need to pay $10 per vehicle if you are going to be stopping in the park, but it’s free if you are passing straight through. We just went straight through but for the Rally we will be stopping at all of the scenic overlooks. On the far side of the park is West Glade road, two lane gravel. A short distance down this is the entrance to the trail with a sign Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Area. Turn right here.

There is a large parking area with a map board explaining about the area, this is a good spot to air down a little, 20-25psi should be fine. There are a few areas on the trail that have some small rocks and a couple loose gravel climbs. Airing down isn’t really needed for these areas, but it does help to smooth out the bumps. The signs posted here explain how the canyon is two different trails. One that follows the rim prior to August 15th and the second follows the canyon after August 15th. So we had to take the upper trail, while for the Rally we will be using the lower. The lower is going to be the more difficult of the two, but still only rates a 4 and is passable by any stock Rover.
When the upper and lower trails meet back together you are now at the beginning of Rattle Snake Canyon trail itself. The trail follows on a finger point of land sticking out into the canyon. About half way down the trail there is a pull off on the right. As long as everyone parks tight there will be enough room to get a dozen trucks off the main trail. This pull off is on the canyon rim and has some great views.

At the end of he trail is a large parking lot. There is a hiking trail that leads ½ mile out to a point with good views of the arches. This area is second only to Arches National Park in Utah as far as number of arches, but it does involve a short hike to get to them. It is not a rugged trail but people should still be wearing sneakers or boots. And make sure to have sunscreen, brimmed hat, and at least a liter of water. Oh and don’t forget to bring your camera.

Since our goal was to scout and map as many trails for the Rally as possible we elected not to hike out to the view point. So we mounted up and headed back to the trail head. At the trail head instead of turning left to go back into the park we turned right and followed Glade around the southern edge of the park and then turned on Park Rd which led us to the Bangs Canyon OHV area. After a short lunch at the large parking lot, with no shade, we headed out on Tabeguache trail. This trail basically runs due south to the border of the OHV area.

Very shortly the trail turns to bare rock with trail markers painted in white on the face of the rock. Follow the marks until you come to a V painted in the rock and take the right hand trail. This leads down a series of easy steps and finally to a wide open rock area. There are a number of steep steps on the left side of the trail here and we stopped for a while so people could take turns climbing them.

After this the trail continues down hill and turns to the east. It does a 180 on a point over looking the Rough Canyon Falls. Only there was no water running on the day we were there so not much to see.
Just past the falls the trail climbs south. Approximately ½ mile down the trail will be the turn off to the east to the Rough Canyon trail. Continue another mile and half on Tabeguache and you will come to the turn off to the east for Bangs Canyon. Another 3.7 miles and you come to a T intersection. At the intersection the trail will continue east for 8 miles. The BLM map available online shows this trail dead ending at private land just short of highway 141. However the map posted at the trail head showed this trail going all the way to the main road. Due to the time of day we elected to turn around and backtrack to the canyon trail head. We need to contact BLM prior to the rally and determine if the trail goes through or not.
Tabeguache Trail featured some nice large rocks, steep climbs, and the ledges area. I would agree with the 7 rating. It does have a number of tight areas were the tree branches have grown out into the trail. Neal with his roof top tent was able to make it through but this trail can leave some pin striping on vehicles.

Back at the trail head Gem headed home for the evening and Neal, Jim, and Pete headed into town to find some dinner. After dinner the three headed back to Bangs Canyon OHV and did about 90% of the Billings Bypass Loop before finding a spot for the night to set up camp. The three found a good area to set up camp with a nice view of the lights from Grand Junction.
The Billings Bypass Loop is a 6 rated trail that goes around Billings Canyon itself. Taking the loop clockwise will present the most challenge. There is a steep step at one point and then some rocky climbs. The trail also goes out to a dead end overlooking the Colorado River.

The next morning after a quick breakfast at the Black Bear the three linked back up with Gem and his wife Fara and headed east towards Coal Canyon. You must drive through the coal plant to reach the trail head, but otherwise the area is very easy to find. Coal Canyon is part of the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range. The area is crisscrossed with a network of trails and it is a multi-use area, with horses, motocross bikes, atvs, mountain bikers, and wheelers using the area. The group followed Coal Creek for about 2-3 miles before stopping. So far it was pretty boring and Pete was considering throwing in the towel. Jim ran over to talk to a group of motocrossers that informed him that the area does become more difficult and that the dry wash is a valid trail. So the group continued on. They found a couple nice obstacles in the wash then took a turn to the south. The path climbed up onto the cliff tops overlooking Palisade and the Colorado River. The trail dropped back down to the canyon floor and then climbed back up to an even higher cliff top. This will make an excellent spot for lunch. Dropping back down to the canyon floor the group continued further up the canyon. Alternating between the trail and the dry wash a couple more obstacles were encountered. There are sections of the trail that got tight and pin stripes are unavoidable. The hardest obstacles encountered are all bypassable, though all four Rovers were able to get through them. This trail is very enjoyable, but it really needs to be prerun for the Rally so that the Trail Leader knows which areas of the wash are blocked in order to avoid having to back track. Pete needed to head back to the Springs so the group turned around and headed back out. The way out is straight forward and quick. The group was able to make it back to the highway right at an hour. For the Rally a good plan is to just go as far as you can get by 2:30 and then turn around and head out. This will leave enough time to make it back to Montrose.

Everyone enjoyed the weekend. Some fun trails and great company. Plans are already being made for the next trip West for more preruns.

On June 3rd, 18 trucks made the trek north to run Kelly Flats. The vehicle make-up varied from stock to heavily modified trucks consisting of 9 Discovery Is and Discovery IIs, 3 Defenders, 3 Range Rover Classics, 2 LR3s and 1 Jeep. The weather was great and the scenery superb. Multiple lines were tried as the truck proceeded up Heart Attack hill without real incident. The real entertainment of the day started when everyone rolled up to the Chutes. Anthony in his D90 ST made quick work of the obstacle with only minor body damage. Next up was Kyle in his ‘customized’ RRC. Kyle quickly showed his energetic and enthusiastic driving style. The line chosen, ‘careful’ spotting by Ali, along with ample skinny pedal resulted in Kyle landing on his side. The truck was put back on it’s wheel with a strap and manual labor. A little winch action was required to properly orient the RRC Special, but after that Kyle proceeded through the rest of the obstacle with spirits non-the-less dampened. [Considering Kyle’s recent propensity to do acrobatics with his truck and the nice job he did fabricating the roll cage of this soft top RRC, one has to wonder how long it will take for him to make a complete external skeleton for the truck and stop typing up wanted ads each week on the forum for body panels.] Next up was Ali and his RRC. He chose a more delicate style of driving to negotiate his way through the obstacle. With just a little rock-to-metal contact he was through. Garbs was next and made it look easy with the short wheel-base of his D90 SW with 37” MTRs and rugged sliders. Scott in his DiscoII climbed up the first part of the obstacle with a nice wheel-stand and subsequent soft positioning of the truck’s front wheels back on the ground. He made it through with just a little rubbing (“Rubbin’s racing”- Days of Thunder) to the driver’s rear quarter panel. Last up was Jimmy in his highly modified DI. With the right line and ample use of his sliders he too was through with just a little ‘rubbin’. The rest of the contingent having taken the by-pass with their vehicles took a seat in the rocks to enjoy the show. Everyone had a great time, and served as a reminder that anyone interested in running trails with the club should come on out and enjoy themselves, regardless of their type of Rover, modifications, and driving experience.

Running Kelly Flats today was popular (16 trucks) and interesting!! Trip Report to follow….

Chinaman Gulch – Trip Report

I knew it was a bad sign when I drove past the bent up gate that signaled the left turn up to the Chinaman Gulch trailhead. Ordinarily not a big deal but I was the trail leader and I was leading 7 trucks including 2 defenders, 4 discos and 1 P38 RR and if Jim Hall had shown with his Series we would’ve had the spectrum of the Rover line. Jimmy had gone ahead of us and radioed for us to go back to the gate to get back on track. Chinaman’s reputation was that of a difficult trail with some challenging and notorious obstacles such as the waterfall, whale’s tail and rock pile. Fortunately, all the Rovers were driven by experienced members and had the necessary modifications.

From past experience I knew the trail could take a long time to complete but I felt confident with the relatively small, capable group we had that it would go fast. After airing down and assigning a tail gunner we spotted a group of Nissans approaching us to begin their air down. The Nissan trail leader called on the CB that both groups were on channel 4 and we should move. I suggested they go to 20 and we quickly lined up to start ahead of their group and get the jump on the trail.

A group’s ability to complete a trail quickly is affected by the least capable truck in your group, unexpected field repairs, trail traffic OR navigation errors. Shortly after our orderly start Mark’s Defender pulled over after the rock pinch at the beginning and opened his hood. I thought “uh oh” here is our first setback but it was a simple air filter issue and we were back in action fast. We continued on at a brisk pace easily moving through some rocky sections. At one of the breaks I commented to Jimmy who had done the trail two weeks previously that it seemed weird we hadn’t hit the first obstacle yet…

A brief time late I came across a steep obstacle that didn’t seem familiar but I decided to press on and realized quickly it was steeper and rougher than I thought. WHAMM!! I came down hard on my right rear bumper on a large rock. Fortunately, several of our group had stopped at the top and dismounted and I could hear the ohhhh! As I hit hard. I slowly made I it down and checked out the damage – whoa! I bent up my right rear bumper like a crooked smile. The rear door was jammed shut and my bumper looked beyond repair. Jimmy commented that he was suspicious but now confident that we were running the trail backwards as he remembered this was the last major obstacle before the end. Looking back at it from the bottom memories from past trips to the gulch came to mind and I realized he was right. *&%%, I made a mistake and missed a right turn at the beginning. Chinaman runs counterclockwise, everyone knows this but I had lost my concentration and went left. I was crestfallen and was trying to think of what to do next, someone called out “what now trail leader” with a little bit of deserved cynicism in his voice.

We decided to hold the group at the top and have them turn around while the three trucks that came down turned around and came back up the obstacle and backtrack to run the trail properly. At this point I knew the timing was all screwed up and we would behind the Nissan’s. We worked together to come up with a plan and broke for lunch before going at the trail the right way. I checked my watch it was noon and we were starting essentially from the beginning.

I decided my self – imposed punishment would be to take all the bypasses for the rest of the trail to save some of the time we lost. Quickly we came up on the rock pile with several jeeps that had just finished playing and looked upon us with a skeptical eye. First up was Jimmy, a former jeeper with a reputation for pushing his truck. The jeep guys came up to watch and see if we could handle it. One of them made the comment “those D90’s should have no problem but those others?” and then proceeded to spot Jimmy’s D1 through the difficult left side successfully when he commented “I have new respect for the Discovery”. Next up was Mike B. in his open diff D2 he used more of the easier right side but also got through. Pretty soon Anthony’s Defender and Jeff’s P38 made it through with Mike’s MIT D2 clearing from the rear. A really good showing from the group on a hard obstacle modded up jeeps sometimes struggle with.

Next up was the Whale’s Tail and I headed for the easier right side to clear quickly. This was a fun obstacle and I’d seen others practically do handstands to try and climb up the harder left side. Jimmy decided to take the middle approach and came up without problem. He was followed by Mike B. who’s work of the skinny pedal again made proof positive that driver skill trumps lockers. The rest took the middle approach but we weren’t sure how the P38 would do but with some careful spotting it also made it through unscathed. Last was the tailgunner MIT truck which made a few attempts at the middle before making through.

Next is the Stairs, this is a tricky obstacle that requires that the driver hugs tight to the right side as close to a obviously abused tree as possible. My last time here I used two foot breaking to work my through with competent spotting and came diagonal back across the grain. Most of our group used more of a straight approach from the tree with some adjustments but all made it through with some spotting.

The final obstacle is the chute which some of us had already run from the opposite direction. No bypass here so it’s your challenge to get through. By this time we were catching up with the Nissans but the day was also nearly over. I’d done the end of this trail in the dark on my last visit and no matter how many lights you have on your rig there are many things you just can’t see so I did not want recreate the night wheeling. IMHO, this is the hardest obstacle on the trail with large rocks on the left side and a canyon that you must work by bringing up high on the right and then just at the right moment break left so you don’t fall in the notch. I tried hard to get over it but I kept sliding down and coming too close to my side so in desperation with the day wearing down with the group behind me I decided to winch out. We hooked up a tree strap but when the winch didn’t have the strength to finish the job we rigged a snatch block for a double line pull that did the job. The rest of the group did much better than I and despite some struggle make it up without a problem. Mike’s MIT truck needed some coaxing to avoid the notch but also made it through.

It’s 5:00 and the homestretch but the Nissan’s are taking their time with and we waited several times for them to get through. On one of our breaks we checked out Carnage BV and we all agreed we won’t be doing that anytime soon. Finally, we made it all the way down and despite our wrong turn at the beginning agreed we had a great time. No one had any meaningful damage except my bumper.