Well guess what. After 10 years of dreaming about Moab back when we first got this group on dodge talk and here on the registry I made it!! But not in my 06 wagon. Instead I drove to and CONQURED Moab in the MAPLE WAGON as it's been declared. A Diesel powerwagon.... yea right. Well yea!!
After years of trial and error the truck was finally ready. And a most amazing experience it was. Learning the limits of traction and break over angles, learning about how just brutally tough these trucks are was awesome!!
So how did it do. Well here we go.
233 gallons of fuel burned total trip
Best mileage 22.4mpg
Worst mpg 12.7
Average off road trail 14.5mpg
Average highway 19.8mpg
Right with that out of the way
So how did the truck do where it counts.
Really frickin well.
The gross amount of torque combined with 4 low and a really low 1st gear allowed me to climb many obstacles carefully yet with ease. Also the engine breaking was nearly the equivalent of the "hill descent" the newer trucks have.
Having the hydro boost brakes allowed me to literally stand on the front wheels at times. Not having to take a run at rocks and ledges really helped preserve drivetrain and keep shock loads down. That and me just being slow.
But how does it compare to a wagon??!?!!
Well it flexes really well and with lockers as long as wheels are down you just climb!
The under armour was nice to know was there If needed but amazingly I left it unscathed
The dor long arms acted as sliders as did the brackets more often than not and took pretty much all of the high Center abuse.
Having a d-ring reciever in the hitch likely saved my bumper and tailgate more times than I can count.
The thuren coils leaves and shocks together kept the truck flex but always in control.
How about that bumper.... well somehow it worked extremely well. The times it did get into stuff it just either slid up along the uprights till the wheels touched or gouged the hell out of the rocks. I literally left a 5" long 1" deep furrow in a rock ledge on one of the trails. The bumper while larger managed to not be a hinderance in any way and protected the truck and it's front end vitals better than I could have imagined.
37's combined with the dor brackets and arms somehow saved me from myself for not having sliders installed.
All in all would I do it differently? Na. It was a total blast. And eventually everyone there got used to the rattle and turbo whine I supplied day in and day out.
Now how about the damage........
Bumper got turned up a little. Loosened the frame bolts and it turned back perfectly. No tweaking or bending.
Rear bumper out side corners got a little scratched up but that's about it.
Dor arms got scratched but no damage
One spot on the rockers in front of rear tire got pushed up a hair
Rear rocker driver side got a little bumped
Stabilizer skid plate took a small amount of the whole front end weight and got bent a tiny bit.
Lots of new rattles but that's not bad
On the way home the thermostat got stuck closed and forced me to turn back and spend another night (so horrible since it was a 10 min fix but many beers later....)
I was being a dick and "accidentally" melted my egt probe in the manifold lol
My Borgson steering shaft got a little loose on the spline connection to the steering box. Some electrical tape later it's all fixed up
All in all I'd say a complete success with very minor damage conditions.
So many obstacles seemed so bad from the driver seat yet the camera just can't capture that feeling. Stuff that looked so steep in person doesn't seem like that on camera.
I had a fantastic time with a wonderful group. I'm sad I wasn't able to meet more of you this trip but I'm already planning next year. And I may have the bastardwagon done by then.
So the diesel wagon exists! And proved itself well. Now here's a ton of pictures
Glad you had a good time. That's what it is all about. Now, you're back in the great white north. 
I also have hill decent, works great. 1st gear Lo range. 
