The Rube Goldberg Machine Build - 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock
- Thread starter RubeGoldberg
- Start date
RubeGoldberg
Active member
To each their own. Like I said, the TF carrier is a great product, but ultimately I find the AEV to be a beautiful amalgamation of function and form. Plus, I need the extra gas quite often.
RubeGoldberg
Active member
WOW I have been slacking hard on this build thread. I need to win the Powerball so I can quit working and adventure blog full-time. Here's a teaser of what's to come... Both with the Jeep and with another build thread that I'll have to start soon...
DallasJKU
Adventurer
WOW I have been slacking hard on this build thread. I need to win the Powerball so I can quit working and adventure blog full-time. Here's a teaser of what's to come... Both with the Jeep and with another build thread that I'll have to start soon...
You sure have been slacking.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
RubeGoldberg
Active member
The next big Jeep adventure (sorry, still no mods) was to the San Juan mountains in southwest Colorado. A few days spent in Ouray and Telluride is just what the soul needs.
On the way out from Denver, we stopped at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This may actually have been my first (if not, second) National Park, because while I think I've been to Great Smoky Mountains National Park... I am not actually sure I've been within the park boundaries... I know I've been in the area. So, cheers to my first or second National Park! :tearsofjoy:
We ran Black Bear, Imogene, Governor's Basin, Mineral Creek, and then from Mineral Creek ran Engineer to Lake City as we returned home to Denver.
On the way out from Denver, we stopped at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This may actually have been my first (if not, second) National Park, because while I think I've been to Great Smoky Mountains National Park... I am not actually sure I've been within the park boundaries... I know I've been in the area. So, cheers to my first or second National Park! :tearsofjoy:
We ran Black Bear, Imogene, Governor's Basin, Mineral Creek, and then from Mineral Creek ran Engineer to Lake City as we returned home to Denver.
RubeGoldberg
Active member
The next trip in the Jeep was to North Fruita Desert to huck some gnar on the MTB.
Only including this because I love Fruita.
Only including this because I love Fruita.
RubeGoldberg
Active member
The next adventure was to Moab... stay tuned!
RubeGoldberg
Active member
Nice! Enjoy! Moab is too hot for me right now, so I'd personally just spend the extra time exploring more of the San Juans...
DallasJKU
Adventurer
I live in Dallas so Moab will be considered cool since it is close to 100* still here. Fruita looks cool. Might have to check it out as well.
07BlackSpecV
Adventurer
Awesome. Just awesome. Your trip photos make my soul ache. The wife and I spent 10 days bumming around Colorado last summer with our Xterra and if I wasn't already head over heals in love with Northern Michigan I'd be pulling up stakes here in Ohio to move west. Really enjoyed the thread. Keep it up.
RubeGoldberg
Active member
Thanks for following along!
RubeGoldberg
Active member
Alright... Moab trip!
The trip was in late September 2017, and it was my first ever trip to "Jeep Mecca" or "Off-road Mecca," as it is sometimes called.
Day 1 we ran: Poison Spider Mesa -> Golden Spike -> Gold Bar Rim... Otherwise known as "The Trifecta." These trails are rated 6 - 7 in difficulty by Red Rock 4 Wheelers, so my friends were just throwing me into the fire on Day 1! Best part? I forgot I had lockers until Day 2 LOL!
Day 2 we ran: Moab Rim and we were visited by heavy rains, thunder, lightening and hail, and then we ran Hells Revenge and took a little dip in one of the hot tubs.
Day 3 we visited Arches National Park on our way back to Denver. Missed Delicate Arch due to time, so a return trip is required!
The trails were not without drama... On Day 1, just as we cleared The Waterfall obstacle on Gold Bar Rim toward the end of a very long day of wheeling, some guy in an old Ford Bronco rolls up to the obstacle, and without picking any sort of line up the The Waterfall flops on his side. TIME TO BREAK OUT THE WINCH AND GEAR! It doesn't matter what you drive, but it does matter what lines you take!
Day 2's drama was the heavy winds, thunder and lightening, and small bits of hail on Moab Rim during the first attempt at ascending to the top of the rim. Due to lightening strikes on the tail just 30 to 40 feet ahead of us, we turned tail and started a quick descent. During the descent, I got off my line and came down a big step with a bad line. I ended up rolling a bead in the process. At this point, the storm overhead blew away and so we busted out the gear, and - after getting the Jeep stabilized - we used a bottle jack and my ARB Twin compressor to re-set the bead, and on we went!
Here's some Day 1 visuals:
Poison Spider Mesa
Golden Spike, Day 1
Lunchtime views...
The Rube Goldberg Machine going over Golden Crack on Golden Spike headed to Gold Bar Rim!
The Waterfall obstacle on Gold Bar Rim + Recovery of Ford Bronco.
The trip was in late September 2017, and it was my first ever trip to "Jeep Mecca" or "Off-road Mecca," as it is sometimes called.
Day 1 we ran: Poison Spider Mesa -> Golden Spike -> Gold Bar Rim... Otherwise known as "The Trifecta." These trails are rated 6 - 7 in difficulty by Red Rock 4 Wheelers, so my friends were just throwing me into the fire on Day 1! Best part? I forgot I had lockers until Day 2 LOL!
Day 2 we ran: Moab Rim and we were visited by heavy rains, thunder, lightening and hail, and then we ran Hells Revenge and took a little dip in one of the hot tubs.
Day 3 we visited Arches National Park on our way back to Denver. Missed Delicate Arch due to time, so a return trip is required!
The trails were not without drama... On Day 1, just as we cleared The Waterfall obstacle on Gold Bar Rim toward the end of a very long day of wheeling, some guy in an old Ford Bronco rolls up to the obstacle, and without picking any sort of line up the The Waterfall flops on his side. TIME TO BREAK OUT THE WINCH AND GEAR! It doesn't matter what you drive, but it does matter what lines you take!
Day 2's drama was the heavy winds, thunder and lightening, and small bits of hail on Moab Rim during the first attempt at ascending to the top of the rim. Due to lightening strikes on the tail just 30 to 40 feet ahead of us, we turned tail and started a quick descent. During the descent, I got off my line and came down a big step with a bad line. I ended up rolling a bead in the process. At this point, the storm overhead blew away and so we busted out the gear, and - after getting the Jeep stabilized - we used a bottle jack and my ARB Twin compressor to re-set the bead, and on we went!
Here's some Day 1 visuals:
Poison Spider Mesa
Golden Spike, Day 1
Lunchtime views...
The Rube Goldberg Machine going over Golden Crack on Golden Spike headed to Gold Bar Rim!
The Waterfall obstacle on Gold Bar Rim + Recovery of Ford Bronco.
RubeGoldberg
Active member
Some Day 1 Videos:
Poison Spider Mesa
Poison Spider Mesa
Should have hit the "easy button" here on Zuki Hill (Rubcions have front and rear lockers, Jason. There's a button on the dash, Jason.)
That clicking noise is my stock front driveshaft getting pissed after 23,000 miles of lifted, hard, mostly off-road driving. Guess what mod will be written up soon?
Golden Spike!
More fun on Golden Spike, and the ladies trying to explain Moab
Poison Spider Mesa
Poison Spider Mesa
Should have hit the "easy button" here on Zuki Hill (Rubcions have front and rear lockers, Jason. There's a button on the dash, Jason.)
That clicking noise is my stock front driveshaft getting pissed after 23,000 miles of lifted, hard, mostly off-road driving. Guess what mod will be written up soon?
Golden Spike!
More fun on Golden Spike, and the ladies trying to explain Moab
RubeGoldberg
Active member
Moab Day 2 Visuals:
The storm approaches Moab Rim
******* happens. Go prepared.
Hells Revenge, Day 2
Hells Revenge, Day 2
The storm approaches Moab Rim
******* happens. Go prepared.
Hells Revenge, Day 2
Hells Revenge, Day 2