The Great Western Loop: Fins And Things

Having off-roaded in Jeeps for over a decade, I was a little apprehensive when I made the decision to switch to a full size truck for my adventures. The extra room and nicer ride were a huge plus, but how well it would actually do on “Jeep trails” was still a mystery to me. I never made it out to Moab with my Jeeps, so there was no way I was going to miss hitting a trail while there in the new Power Wagon. I figured Fins and Things would be a good first trail to introduce both me and the truck to the slick rocks of Utah. With a Trails Offroad rating of 4-6, it was sure to test the mantle of my mostly stock Power Wagon.

Our very early start on the trail meant that we beat most of the heat of the day. It also meant that we had the trial mostly to ourselves. The few SxS that past us were quite surprised to see the Power Wagon not taking any of the bypasses on the trail.

The only modification I’d done to increase the Power Wagon’s offroad chops before going on this trip was to install a set of White Knuckle Off Road’s rock sliders. They did their job quite well in a few spots along the trail.

All in all the Power Wagon did really well on Fins and Things. It could definitely benefit from some larger tires to get the radius arms up a little higher and to help with the breakover angle. A set of 35″ tires are in it’s future to help with those issues. A new rear bumper with a better departure angle is also on the list of things to do to it.

With the trail completed and the temperature climbing steadily, it was time to head back into the high country of Colorado. The cloud dotted sky and snow dotted rolling hills and open meadows was a nice change of scenery from the browns and reddish oranges we had seen over the last several days.

The plan had been to make camp next to one of those high altitude lakes, but we had made such good time that morning that we decided to continue on and look for a campsite down in the Crested Butte area. While searching for a site on a side road I heard a metallic scraping sound coming from the back of the truck. A quick glance around did not reveal anything so my dad walked along beside me as I slowly drove a few feet. He was able to locate where the sound was coming from… the rear drive shaft!

We were not sure what that large metal ring was used for, but it did not appear to be a critical component of the drivetrain. I zip tied it up out of the way and we found a campsite right off the highway that would not stress anything out more than it needed to be.