Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator

My TJ's Backyard

TJMexico

TJ Enthusiast
Original poster
Supporting Member
Joined
May 26, 2025
Messages
281
Location
NW Mexico
A lot of you fellows keep your Jeep as a hobby, kind of a big boy's toy, and y'all take it out on weekends to find rough trails to run for kicks. That's cool, and I hope you all enjoy it.

For me, my Jeep is more of a tool that I use to get to where I need to go, where my work takes me. I'm in the mountains of Southern Sonora, about ten hours in from the border. It's beautiful country. There are a couple of villages up in the big mountains where I have had invitations to visit for ages but my 2wd pickup just would not do. I have a 200cc enduro bike and have taken that up a time or two, and could make the trip by mule, but I wanted to be able to go on four wheels for various reasons (bringing my wife one of those as she won't get on the back of a motorcycle or a mule). Motorcycles and mules are fun but they have their limitations, and at 61 years of age, I'd rather not be running those trails on a bike by myself. The destinations are about 20 to 25 mile from home and it can take two to three hours to get there with the Jeep. I could do it in twice that time by mule, about six hours they tell me. The motorcycle is not much faster due to the rough road conditions.

One of the families that I visit are grandparents of an 11 year old boy who was dying from a severe heart defect and my wife and I were able, by God's grace and goodness, to get him connected with the medical attention and eventual surgery that saved his life. Pawpaw is most grateful and has actually gifted me a plot of land to build a little adobe house on.

So this was my impetus for getting a Jeep. I am grateful for the help I've had from this forum along the way and for the help I know I'll receive in the future. I need to keep La Negrita in good shape as she'll be my lifeline for this work I'm doing. She's nothing real special; mostly just stock save the 3" lift and the 31" tires, but she gets me where I want to go.

I thought I share a few photos of a recent trip up into the hills. It's beautiful country. We are just coming out of a multi-year drought, so the countryside is GREEN GREEN GREEN like it has not been for quite a while. La Negrita appears in almost all of the photos (this being a Jeep forum and all), but the countryside is the real star of the show.

Here ya go...

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Looks like beautiful country. Let's see some videos of this 2 to 3 hour trail!

Here ya go!

The first two-thirds of the road are like you see in the photos. This is the last third to the second village. You turn off of the main road and drive up a narrow valley, crossing the creek that runs down it. I think I note in the video that you cross that same creek almost 30 times to get to the village about 5 miles up the valley.

I have a few other videos of the main road I'll try to post as I get them uploaded to my Google Drive.

I carry a machete and a full compliment of tools on trail for whatever eventuality presents itself. This last trip the road was blocked by a 4wd F-150. His engine was running, but he couldn't shift it out of park. I took a look and it was obvious that the linkage between his column shifter and the tranny was broken. I crawled up under the truck with a wrench and shifted it into drive. He was most grateful.
 
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Beautiful country. My son has a place in Puerto Lobos. Before the highway was completed we used a primitive road about 50 miles from Caborca to Puerto Lobos. After the highway was completed we got electricity.
 
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Looks like beautiful country. Let's see some videos of this 2 to 3 hour trail!
Here are a couple more videos of the road.

There are a few spots on the road that the engineers figured would be particularly subject to washouts, so they paved a few stretches, from 30 or 40 yards to maybe close to 100 yards, usually where there's a steep stretch or a where it bends through a gully. This is one such spot; the stretch before me goes down a small piece to keep the road from being washed out at this point.

Then, Deadman's Pass is the highest point on this particular trail.
 
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I’m surprised to see a saguaro along with all that lush vegetation.

That's not a saguaro. It's called echo (the "ch" pronounced like in chair). There's a similar one that's just a very little bit daintier that's called a pitaya. That one produces a scrumptious fruit in season.

There are lots and lots of echos and pitayas in the region.
 
Beautiful country. My son has a place in Puerto Lobos. Before the highway was completed we used a primitive road about 50 miles from Caborca to Puerto Lobos. After the highway was completed we got electricity.

This road is only a couple of years old. I was afraid we'd see some rock slides and washouts soon, but it's held up through the rains until now.

I was just talking with a friend about that road. When it was finished, some of the residents further back complained because it's so narrow. They actually went to the state capitol to file a complaint. The road had been cut by a local engineer in our municipio (county) and they thought he didn't know what he was doing.

An engineer from the state capitol came to check it out and told them that he was amazed what they'd accomplished. He said the he would not have even attempted it and the local engineer had nearly performed a miracle.

Just goes to show what you can do if you don't know that you can't do it!
 
I've mentioned before, I'm your neighbor to the North up in Cochise County, Arizona. That's beautiful country down there.

The few times I've driven to Texas, we take 82 through Patagonia and Sonita then 90 past Coronado. You ain't far off.
 
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Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator