A KJ On AZ Trails...

[AZKJ]

Corwyyn...

I was over at AZVJC and came across some of your post just prior to and after lifting your KJ. I was wondering what trails you did stock before the lift. Did you ever do the Coves (and the hill), Box Canyon or the Coke Ovens prior to lifting your rig? How about the back way from Lake Pleasant to Crown King or Broken Arrow in Sedona?

I've done them in my TJ with 31" BFG M/T's and skids, but then the TJ has more ground clearance. From my past experience on those trail, I think a stock KJ, even with skids would have a tough time? What do you think?

Inputs from all AZ KJ's also welcome....

 

[desertkj]

I know I have seen KJs do Broken Arrow easily and I also think it would do well at Coke Ovens. The Backway to Crown King intimidates me on my quad at some points, so I'm not sure how the KJ would do. As with anything though, I think it is largely based on the driver's ability.

 

[Corwyyn]

OK, lets see here. Trails I did stock:
Coves/Rolls

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Box Canyon and Martinez Cabin

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Coke Ovens

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Didn't get a chance to do any Sedona stuff until after the lift, but I would say that a stock KJ with skids would be OK, you'll just hear the skids a lot Still haven't done back way to Crown King but I know a couple of guys who did it in stock Libertys. And if you're talking about the hill that leads up out of the coves area to the north (up toward FR143), I did that after my lift but in retrospect it could be done stock - it looked a LOT worse than it was. Coke Ovens was actually the worst trail I did stock; it's just so rocky out that way, on a couple of the sections I was really banging my skids and boulder bars. Oh and I also did Bulldog Canyon stock, boy was that fun

 

[AZKJ]

Thanks... you guys answered my question. Nice pics of your KJ on the trails.

I haven't been back to Crown King since 2003 and the "ledge" was becoming more and more of an obstacle than when I first ran it a few years earlier. How was it when you were there?

Here is a pic (not a good one) of what part of the trail looked like the last time I ran it. We sat there for an hour while two full size pickups, one with and the other without 4WD tried to figure out how they were going to get the 4x4 through while pulling the 2WD through that mess.

After awhile of waiting,my wife, my buddy and his wife and I walked down to where the two trucks and a Jeep were. I'll be the first to tell you my wife is one heck of a spotter. When she tried giving some advice on what line to take, they blew her off very rudely. The idiot in the 2WD pickup had the balls to tell her, "what the hell does a women know about running a trail". Before I could even open my mouth, my buddy jumped in and told the yahoos, "you just might get through the mess your in if you listened to her". After screwing around for a while, the idiots finally asked for help spotting. Instead of me or my buddy helping out, we just stood there. My wife then asked if they were ready to follow directions from a girl. It took some doing, but she got them out of there.

You meet some real winners on that trail....

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[desertkj]

Great story about your wife spotting lol. I bet their foot was pretty well in their mouths afterwords. I have not run CK in quite some time and have heard that some of the more difficult parts have been repaired and more passable. Last time I was up there, I took a bad line and actually rolled my quad. No injuries and no damage, other than my $9 mirror we had just bought the day before. We also have bad luck and seem to hit a lot of quick moving storms up there.