Jim Huff and the Dona Ana Mountains
Editors Note: Four Wheeler Magazine had a great
write- up on the Las Cruces trails in its June 1998 issue as it covered the 1998
Chili Challenge. It was fun to compare their observations with what we
experienced.
Another long day....pretty much everyone either collapsed into bed last night after dinner, and no work was done on the Jeeps
We were supposed to meet Jim Huff - a member of the Las Cruces Four Wheelers and owner of HyTech automotive - at 0700, but didn't get moving until 0800 due to last minute problems. Jim is a lifelong citizen of Las Cruces and has worked on Jeeps for the 25 years. He's hosted numerous groups who come to ride in Las Cruces, and has opened his shop to the likes of the Currie Brothers, Jason Bunch, and others who had competed in past rockcrawling championships in Las Cruces.
"Dona Ana Mountains: Is driving up and down steep
hills your thing? Dona Ana could be your run. While scenic and exciting, it's
probably the most dangerous run offered. Use care. The driving is not the
hardest, but if you do fall over, it's a long way down." - Four Wheeler
magazine, June 1998.
He wanted to take us on a tour of some of the other sites. First was the Dona Anna mountains, a sprawling volcanic range marked by
colossal hills/mountains. There he took us to Hamburger Hill - so called because it describes your fate if your Jeep should loose traction on the steep sides of the mountain and you begin to roll, and roll, and roll........Brian Shipley and I followed Jim up to the summit as the others watched. If you know about the Lions Back obstacle in Moab, this is almost identical. Derry (my copilot) never stopped screaming
expletives during the climb and decent, and our 5-point harnesses were greatly appreciated!
We then made our way to Broad Canyon, stopping to play in an open rock garden briefly
.
Jim took us next to the mouth of the box canyon for a foot
hike into its
depths. This was the place of the rockcrawling championships, as well as the site where the Warn Black Diamond coil conversion YJ had its picture taken flexing on a rock. The canyon walls were sheer vertical, and the soaring mountains on either site were breathtaking. This was the epitome of rock crawling, and we decided to return tomorrow to try our luck.
Afterwards we headed back to town, where Jim opened his shop for us to use. After drooling over his racer Jeep, the
junk heaps of pristine CJ6 , CJ5, and full size Jeep bodies and frames, and his 12 foot lathe and complete fabrication shop, we starting in on the Jeeps.
Bill's exhaust lost an earlier fight with a rock, and he hacked it off just
forward of the muffler and ran open for the rest of the trip. We tried to weld the broken yoke on Bill's
driveshaft, but eventually replaced the slip yoke with one from Brian's CJ7. Brian
had somehow mangled a driveshaft on his Scrambler while playing in Broad Canyon, and
somehow Jim was able to get it repaired and delivered within 12 hours! The star adjuster on one of the rear brakes on Tony's TJ fell apart and destroyed the innards of the brake as he drove on it - luckily Jim happened to have all the replacement parts for it.
Next we trimmed 2" off the rock bars on my Jeep, and noticed that one of the bearing caps was missing from the spare front axle that I used to replace the broken Moser unit. As we pulled the spindle off it became evident that the stub shaft had completely twisted in half, but hadn't fully snapped. Unfortunately the inner and outer shafts were toast, but Jim gave us a old stub shaft that we reloaded onto the wallowed out inner and welded the caps in place. We retrieved the deformed Moser units and were able to press the yokes straight and reinstall it with a new u joint.
At this point Jim asked that we stop and invited us to his house for a BBQ dinner. Accompanied by members of the Las Cruces club, we all sat outside and feasted, before returning to Jim's shop to finish the
repairs. Brian Shipley discovered that his frame had rusted at the broken spring hanger and the whole section had crushed. Jim helped us patch the frame with iron bar stock and
expertly TIG welded it in place. He also straightened and
re-welded a steel wheel that Brian had split on the rocks earlier, and we finally left his shop at midnight. Jim refused any payment for his parts and services, and volunteered to show us some of the Chilli Canyons tomorrow if we had time.
I can't say enough about the great hospitality that everyone has extended to us. They've really set a high standard for all others to strive
for!
Tomorrow, Broad Canyon!
The
Ocala Jeep Club of Florida 
