It took me about 2.5 hrs to get up to hillsboro, nh from waltham after work. We hung out Fri nite, eat and someone came up with the brillant idea of some nite wheelin. So we went out at 11pm or so and it was fun, I have never wheeled at nite before and it wasn't too bad. You basically need to see what's directly in front of you and the headlights work just fine. We came to a stretch of rocks that can be difficult and you can roll if you don't pay attention but Jeff (brown jeep) was spotting me through it. Then suddenly there's a spark and I lost power to everything, no lights, no ignition, nothing.... We had flashlights but after trying to find the short we decided to have at it Sat. The next day we drove back to the spot it died on the trail but couldn't fine the problem so we went into town to get a starter solenoid, computer and igtion module because everything was open until noon and I'd have to wait until Tue if I needed any parts. As you imagine, this about the time I started praying, "Lord, help me find the problem and get this jeep started!" (c:

In the first pic you can see all speghtti of wiring from the harness and if you look there's the thick red wire on the air cleaner, that shorted against the exhaust manifold. The other end burnt off the started solenoid, we HAVE LIGHTS! So after hours of working on it we got running!

 

We had lunch then went trail scouting and found some logging roads. From what I understand, a logging company bought about 100 acres and is in the process of stripping much of it with a skidder and will later section off about 10 lots and sell them. It's really a shame to see this first hand. You can see the size of the skidders tracks compared to a jeep in the pic below and when we got to the top, found some great views.

 

Then on Sun we set out to wheel more of Chuck's property and cut some more trails, actually, finally connect 2 of them. Jeff's auto shifter cable broke. We made our best attempt of coming up with some make-shift means of getting it to shift but no dice. So we took his back seat out and put it in the scrambler. This stretch of trail wasn't too bad as I took the easiest "line" though the trail due to going solo. I did have the power steering belt come off and pressure line to the PS pump back out shooting fluid on the manifold with subsequent smoke but other than that it was uneventful. We fired up the chainsaw and started cutting at the point where Mike is sitting on top of the rock. We got close to connecting the other trail but ran out of gas in the chainsaw, back to camp. After heading back, we finished connecting the trails and I give it a try. This is where I noticed the spring perch on the drivers side rear is broken. I then back down the hill, knock into a could trees hitting each side of the windshield frame and cowl (c: 

 

 

Well, somehow with all messing around with the engine wiring it caused the alternator to stop charging the battery. The first battery lasted until londonderry, I pulled over, switched the 2nd battery and drove with just parking lights for a good while to save power. Once I got to Mass, I realized I had enough juice to make it home so I put the headlights on, Praise the Lord, I made it, LOL! 

Anyway, it was a blast. In the last pic you can see the crew, Mike, Chuck and Jeff.
I can't wait to do it again.

 

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