NM Adventure Series

Up by my uncles house on Sangre De Cristo - Gutierrez Canyon Open Space. Pretty trails and since it is now an open space city of Abq cleaned it up a lot

 

Sounds pretty nice. I'll have to check it out. Thanks

 

I'm looking at the map online now. Looks like the TH is near the Ale Republic Brewery in Cedar Crest. Is that where you start from when you ride there?

 

Let me look on google maps exactly where we start. It's further up the road than Ale Republic.

 

We start near this area since that is where my Uncle is-
130-152 Sangre De Cristo Cir, Cedar Crest, NM 87008

But yes you are correct you can start from down there near Ale Reublic!

 

Sweet! Thanks man. I'll definitely check it out. I don't mind a MTB ride that ends at a Brewery...

 

@pigger > "That ain't good."

You got that right, amigo. Still a good day on the trail with you.

 

I wrote this up on T4R.org, and it seems fitting to post here as well:

A friend and I got together to explore a place called Mills Canyon, which is located in the Canadian River Gorge north of Roy, NM. This is a remote and desolate part of the state, and the nearest town with any services, Las Vegas, is two hours away.

The trail in and out of the canyon is for the most part fairly tame, just rocky. There are six river crossings as you work downstream on the canyon bottom, the deepest of which is maybe 2.5 feet, all with stable rocky bottoms. The entrance to the 4th river crossing heading downstream had been severely eroded and was impassible, and there was a newer crossing 20 yards downstream. It required descending a fairly steep bank of sandy soil covered in grass, small cut stumps, and lots of sticks/vegetation. From there you had to bank left and upriver through a riffle about 18 inches deep. No big deal.

We made it to the end of the trail, dead ending at an awesome sandstone bluff, took a break, and turned around. The rig was acting normal, and everything was going well until we got back to that 4th crossing. I had the rig in 4low with the rear end locked and the front open. I hit it nice and easy the first time, but the wet tires just weren’t grabbing on the wet, muddy, grassy slope. So, I give it a little more throttle and try again. I lost forward momentum the second time and backed off the throttle, then BAM!!!

I had a look and could see the inner CV cup dangling off the diff, so I knew right away I had snapped the stub shaft off in the driver side of the front diff. The tulip joint was intact, but had lost the boot and the outer joint was still intact. At this point I had to either reverse back upstream and across the river to dry ground or try and make it up the hill to figure things out. My friend was behind me in his vehicle, across the river, with no way to pass.

Since we had to go across one way or another, I decided to do my best to make it up. At this point I locked the front to give me 3WD again and tried twice to make it up. It just wasn’t happening and I could hear a nasty grinding/popping coming from the broken inner joint with every rotation of the tire. Out came the winch line and I hooked up to the only semi solid vegetation around, a scrubby bushy tree with several trunks about 6 inches in diameter. Fortunately the tree held (although it was nearly pulled over when tension was on the line) and I worked my way up the slope a foot at a time.

My rig was stopped in a sand pit, now across the river, unable to make forward progress. My friend was driving a regular cab 1st gen Tacoma. He came across the river and hit the hill with a fair amount of speed, and lots of wheel spin, and thankfully made it up on the first try. Once across he pulled me out of the sand to solid ground and we started to evaluate the situation.

The first problem we identified was that I had no spare CV axles on board. Remember, I wasn’t expecting this to be a very challenging trail. No matter, with the stub shaft stuck in the diff, there was no way I could install a new CV axle anyway. Unfortunately, I could not keep driving with the inner cup wedged against the diff, grinding metal on metal with each tire rotation. We still had three river crossings and the canyon exit in front of us, for a total of 8-9 miles of trail. There was about an hour of daylight remaining at this point.

Next problem… I left my 35mm CV axle nut socket at home, in my CV kit with my spare axles. So now I had no way to pull what was left of the axle from the spindle. I cut the boot off the outer joint and tried to drive the axle shaft out of the rzeppa joint with no luck. There was no way to apply enough force to overcome the c-clip inside the outer joint. After some thought, I pulled the four LBJ mounting bolts, which gave me enough room to remove the inner cup and what was left of the stub shaft, leaving just the outer joint, axle shaft, and the now naked tulip joint still connected to the rig. This would allow the axle and the tulip to rotate with the wheel without the cup grinding away at the diff. We used bungee cords to secure the axle shaft into the “V” of the LCA so that it wouldn’t flop around and tear up the power steering line, coilover, and LCA.

I was able to limp the rig the rest of the way out of the canyon, and through the remaining river crossings, in 2WD with the axle shaft clanking around on the LCA the whole time. The sad part of the drive out was that my front diff was now completely lacking a seal on the driver side, and I submerged it in muddy river water three times, effectively filling the diff with sediment and water.

At the top of the canyon we found some campers and asked their permission to leave the rig with them at their camp overnight. They obliged and were happy to keep an eye on it for me until morning. My friend gave me ride back to my in-laws house near Las Vegas, two hours away, then headed back to ABQ.

Day 2

I did some research overnight about how to separate and dismantle a rzeppa joint, which looked fairly difficult given the hidden c-clip. My only chance of getting the rig back home was to separate the outer cup and axle stub from the axle shaft, making a “2wd kit”, which would necessitate separating the axle from the rzeppa joint. I could then use the outer cup and axle stub to hold the wheel bearing together for the drive home. The ADD would separate the passenger side CV axle from the diff, and last I would have to pull the front driveshaft to fully isolate the diff.

To add insult to injury, I had a full “2wd kit” ready to go… at home, in my garage. I was able to contact a very knowledgeable friend to get his take on separating the outer joint from the shaft. He confirmed that it would be a fight, and suggested several methods of cutting the bearing cage apart to allow for disassembly of the joint. I was not encouraged hearing this from someone who knows broken CVs better than anyone.

My father in law and I gathered some cutting tools and supplies, and went into Las Vegas to buy a 35mm socket. The plan was to get back to the rig and try to disassemble the outer joint on site. If the plan failed, I would have to drive back to ABQ to either pick up my existing 2WD kit, or work on the remains of the broken axle to make another at my in laws house.

On arrival, the rig was still in one piece, for which I was thankful. Using my new 35mm socket, I quickly got the remains of the axle pulled off the rig. I had one idea on how to secure the axle such that we could beat the rzeppa joint off the axle shaft, if it didn’t work we would be out of luck. I flipped one of the D-rings on my rear bumper outward, then used a second D-ring to collar the axle below the tulip joint and connected the second D-ring to the first, capturing the axle with the rzeppa hanging downward. We bent the outer joint to one side to expose the cage/star of the rzeppa joint, crossed my fingers, and wailed on it with a 2lb sledge. On the third strike, the c-clip shattered and the joint and outer cup fell to the ground. WHEW!

After that, it was a matter of working the bearings out of the rzeppa, removing the cage & race, and then putting the truck back together in 2WD mode. The only other concern was the bearing in the ADD tube at the other end where the passenger side CV axle is inserted. That bearing was now riding in contaminated gear oil, and there was a chance that it would become unhappy, overheat, and seize. To account for this, I kept the speed down and pulled over every 10 miles at first, then every 20-25 miles afterward to check the temperature of the ADD tube where the pass side bearing resides. To my relief, the bearing did not get hot or make any noise the whole way home. The ADD tube got warm to the touch, but never hot.

At this point I need to pull the diff and figure out whether or not the housing is trashed to the point that it will no longer seal on the driver side. Either way, it will be going back to ECGS for a rebuild as it has been filled with water and sediment and I would not trust any number of drain and fills to get it back into running condition. Hopefully there is no damage to the gears or the ARB air locker and they can just clean it and re-assemble, which might require a new housing if mine is too far gone.

That’s the story for now. Good times.

 

Now for the fun pictures, before all the broken 4Runner stuff…

First view of the canyon, looking north toward the orchard from the east entrance road…



Just checkin’ on the folks over in the bunkhouse…



This was once a fine two story hotel…











Pigger, getting some depth at the second crossing…



The 4th crossing as it looked on the way in…



5th and 6th crossings… Pigger says “Look ma, no hands!”





We climbed the sandstone cliff at the end of the trail to find a nice vantage point and take a break…



















Things were going great on the way out. We were even thinking of checking out the west exit…





Until…

 

Holy shit. So glad you were able to figure it out and limp it back on the second day. Beautiful scenery, looked like a blast until the mishap.

 

Anyone know what the placitas road conditions are like on the back side of sandias. I wanna go play around in the snow. Anyone interested in joining? Thinking tomorrow afternoon.

 

I was glad to get it back in the garage, too. It was still a good day, and that kind of thing is just part of life when you take up this hobby.

I wouldn't expect too much snow back there, maybe 6 inches in places and probably lots of mud. Normally I'd be interested, but I have a broken rig to deal with.

 

As I always say: Adventures suck while you're having them.

I've wanted to go to Mills Canyon since I read about it several years ago in New Mexico Magazine. Now I still want to see it, just not sure I want to take my purty truck with only 25K on the clock. Thanks for the great pics and the entertaining, if a tad harrowing, story!

 

I had a great time wheeling with you, Nick! Sorry your rig broke, but we dealt with it. Let's hit the trail again when you're ready.

 

She's getting fixed up, and she'll be better than ever when she pulls out of the garage. Someday I'll have to redeem myself on that river crossing.

Me and my 5 yo have been playing with the toy trucks, btw. We built a huge ramp setup and raced them the other day.

@syswalla , it's worth the drive. The hard stuff is all optional, and two legs, some water, and a backpack would get you to some really cool spots.

 

@cglasco , did you guys make it back out there to camp?

 

This makes me sad. I’m moving to ABQ in 2 months and I’ve already heard problems about theft and auto theft . On the other hand I’m looking for apartments with garages for a Off-road I’m buying this week. I also had them install the glass breakage sensor.

 

Yes,we did! It was a small group, just three of us.
Do you know what they are doing with the big tractors that were parked before water crossing 2?

 

I don't recall any big tractors from when we were there, but maybe I missed them.