Today was one of those weird days when things just don’t seem to go right.
We started the morning packing up early and going into Moab and picking up the replacement shock for the FJ. The shop had found a Rancho that was the same length and had about the same travel as the EMU shock that was busted. The only problem is that the ring on the bottom of the Rancho is much smaller than the EMU shock. The shop was able to find a bushing with a little larger opening and it was out to the parking lot for repairs.
I carry a full set of tools and book with all the torque setting for the FJ suspension. Getting the old shock off was no problem. However, getting the replacement on was not easy. The bushing was too small for the mounting stud. I ended up borrowing a longer bolt from another spot on the FJ and used a washer to press the shock on to the mount. With patience and persistence this finally worked and the shock was in place. I torque the bolts, cleaned up and we were on our way again.
Our objective for the day was to complete the Kokopelli trail section from Dewey Bridge to around the bottom of Rose Garden Hill. We drove back east along the Colorado and started up the Entrada Ranch Road.
When we got to the turn off for Top of The World we decided to give it a try with the trailer in tow. It was slow going as we climbed the trail. The trailer did not present any problems. However, we decided to stop about ¼ mile short of the top and have lunch there. We then turned around and headed back down.
Back on the Entrada Ranch Road we continued to follow the Kokopelli trail. The trail climbs towards the Manti-la Sal mountains. As we were driving we had an interesting scare. The receiver hitch for the trailer fell out and we were then dragging the hitch down the road. Lesson learned is to start using a bolt a lock nut as a hitch pin. I had another hitch pin in the gear box so it was not problem to fix the hitch and continue on down the road.
After all that had happened we decided that we did not want to tempt our luck on Rose Garden Hill so we headed back down and camped next to the Dewey Bridge.
On the way down we did try a side road looking for a camp site and came across to men and a stuck truck. Needless to say they were very thankful when we pulled them out.