Almost made it to the Creek…
It was a beautiful spring day, the temps were warm and the sun was shining. We’d recently left Canada during a spring snowstorm, so we were feeling energized for some good weather and climbing at Indian Creek, southwest of Moab in Utah. We stopped at a roadside turn out for a quick “pit” stop feeling pretty good about the day, but this is where it all ended…… the clutch disintegrated when we tried to pull away……shitte!!
What do you do when you’re driving a 10,000+ lb truck and it doesn’t go anymore?! Luckily a State Trooper checked in on us and provided a number for a tow back into Moab. Big thanks to K.L. at Nations Towing – he’s a great guy and we even got to hang out again. It was impressive to see the Mog on the back of his heavy-duty pick-up truck.
The Mog being loaded
We quickly learned that not everyone wants to work on a Mog – no one in town wanted to take on the work. I guess it usually involves tipping the cab and removing the engine – who wouldn’t want to do that on 30+ year old truck?! We committed to doing the work ourselves and were lucky to meet a great guy named Kyle. Kyle is opening a tire shop in Moab and generously let us move the Mog into his parking lot while we did the work.
The Mog in front of the shop
The Unimog cab is designed to tip forward on specially designed tipping mounts, while being supported from above by a hoist (or something similar). Our truck, of course, did not have any of these mounts and we were working in a carpark without access to an A-frame or hoist. Moab is also particularly windy in March. How to solve this problem? We decided to remove the cab altogether. With help from Kyle and his mini-backhoe this turned out to be pretty easy. Kyle also helped us pick the engine with his bobcat.
An appropriate sized jack??
Here’s what our clutch looked like. Much to our dismay, it looked as though a previous owner had done some “work” on the clutch. Note the welded bolt and cutting marks on the surface of the flywheel – WTF?!
Our destroyed clutch disk
We then spent the next two weeks living in the carpark looking and waiting for parts. Overall this was a great experience. We helped out by doing some framing and fab work around the shop and kept an eye on the place at night. Many wonderful people who had heard of our situation and who wanted to help also visited. We met folks from Colorado, Wyoming, Austria, some local folks, and our friends Doug & Nancy hung out as well. One highlight was getting to ride with John Marshall on one of his Unimog tours. The Easter Jeep Safari also occurred while we were there and we got to see many rad vehicles doing rad stuff.
Heading down a rock step on the Mog tour
The Steyr truck owned by the Austrians. It took them 5 years to do the build-up.
A Pinzgauer heading up Potato Salad Hill.
Another real life Mog sighting.
Parade of Jeeps at Easter Jeep Safari
Hanging out in the carpark
Framing in the Tire shop
Dinosaur prints
Chris and his awesome truck
Buggy races during Jeep Safari
After locating a remanufactured clutch disk on local soil, we got the truck making smoke after a long days work and Kyles help. Now to Indian Creek……!