Cinnamon and Engineer Pass Colorado

CGman · **Posted:** Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:18 pm

Am I stupid and lucky or do we underestimate our beloved CRDs? I can tell you I was more than a little hesitant to take the Italian Princess on a brutal journey, but I decided that it was now or never. The journey to get here was half the fun with our vacation taking us across all the major passes in SW Colorado with the Jeep being towed on a car trailer. Only damage was that I think I lost a couple of skid plate bolts. PS - I wouldn't advise going in between the two passes in wet weather

The ONLY Jeep Liberty I saw on the trails today was mine.

View going up Cinnamon Pass

View going up Engineer Pass

PS - my non-scientific poll would say 45% Wranglers, 45% UTV/ATV and 10% other vehicles on this trip. And BTW, the turbo was dying above 12,000 ft if you let the RPMs fall below 1500...I was keeping it in 4Lo and first gear the last couple of miles up Engineer mostly to keep the boost up.

thermorex · **Posted:** Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:04 am

Very nice pics. Are you locked at all?

CGman · **Posted:** Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:10 am

thermorex wrote:

Very nice pics. Are you locked at all?

Completely stock on the drivetrain, even the TC is still the original :SOMBRERO:

Traction wasn't really a problem since it wasn't raining and there isn't much mud. Biggest issues on these two trails is good ground clearance and good gearing and tires to allow you to get up and down the steep inclines.

The amount of people on weekends must be pretty awful too since it's a one-lane trail for the hardest parts with traffic going both ways.

thermorex · **Posted:** Fri Jul 28, 2017 12:35 pm

CGman wrote:

thermorex wrote:

Very nice pics. Are you locked at all?

Completely stock on the drivetrain, even the TC is still the original :SOMBRERO:

Traction wasn't really a problem since it wasn't raining and there isn't much mud. Biggest issues on these two trails is good ground clearance and good gearing and tires to allow you to get up and down the steep inclines.

The amount of people on weekends must be pretty awful too since it's a one-lane trail for the hardest parts with traffic going both ways.

One of the perks of mountains and people with time available, the track is full... Lol. At least you can do this, where I live, in Cleveland, I need to go to WV and that's not even close to the rockies. Can you add some details regarding the temperatures you had? Coolant, oil, transmission? Not sure if you have all this info available, but if not, then add more pics so I'll be more envious, lol.

Sergio del Castillo · **Posted:** Fri Jul 28, 2017 1:07 pm

CGman,
That is a fantastic trail. In the summer of 2010 we climbed Engineer Pass as a spur of the moment. We were in Silverton, CO, and decided to visit Aminas Fork ghost town. Being there, on a blink of an eye, we modified our plans and headed up to Engineer Pass, my wife wanted to step on the permanent ice at the top of the mountain, which she did. Then headed down through the Alpine road towards the Million Dollar Hwy heading towards Ouray. My 05CRD, completely stock except for air lockers, front and rear, and Skid Row skid plates, made it up without a glitch in full time 4wd, and air down the four season tires. We encounter very little traffic, and with the exception of a group of fools in a pickup truck that did not follow the rules of the trail of giving priority to the uphill traffic, we have no mayor problems, other than banging the hell of the bottom on some rocky sections, and getting to be bottom of the road with the temperature gauge needle showing less that the one quarter mark. The thermostat failed open.

This shows the capability of these bellowed CRD's in stock form. Even a couple of folks, in what appeared to be a lightly modified CJ, made room for us to pass as we could travel faster than they could. We had a fantastic time and took good number of pictures of the wild life on the sides of the road. We were lucky that no opposite traffic was coming up the Alpine road because there are very few places for two vehicles to cross each other.

Glad that you enjoyed your trip.

CGman · **Posted:** Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:32 pm

I have some video if you guys have any good ideas of where to post that won't have me hacked by mobsters in the next week...

A couple of more notes:

Temps - the only temperature I was watching was the coolant temp, and it never went above normal, outside temps were mostly in the 50's. It never smelled hot when I stopped for pictures, but the electric fan was running sometimes...but I also must admit I didn't turn the engine off the whole 5 hour trip (I don't trust the CPS and I ran the battery down earlier in the week leaving the dome lights on) Brake heat wasn't a problem either because I was using engine braking quite extensively.

Drivetrain - flawless, even with me downshifting in 4LO one time that about put us through our seatbelts. With the BFGs I'm not sure I felt the wheels slip at all, except maybe one time climbing a large rock formation at a sharp angle.

Lift/armor - never hit the front bumper or any of the skid plates except maybe the fuel tank skid (although I think it was the hitch) when entering a couple of step climbs. It would have been a much different story without the ARB bumper and the 1.5 in lift.

Engine - as I mentioned before, keeping the boost up at the top of the mountain was an issue...it's a little disconcerning when you step on the gas when you're stopped on the edge of a cliff and nothing happens...I felt like I couldn't take it out of 1st gear in 4LO at 12,xxx ft because as soon as it shifted the power dropped to nothing... I guess that's why you get different gears when you do this all the time.

Cinnamon and Engineer Pass Colorado

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