If you’ve just arrived in the Junon region and are looking for something engaging in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the “Stuck in a Rut” quest at Gabe’s Ranch is a great thing to do here. This mission includes performing some repairing work for an NPC. Although it’s an optional side quest you can get through, it’s worth tackling early on because it rewards you with some great items including your and your party’s EXP and also a good travel system to help you zip around the game’s world.
So, we’re here with this walkthrough to explain how to complete the Stuck in a Rut in Final Fantasy 7 (FF7) Rebirth by finding all the necessary materials in order to assist Gabe in continuing his business.
How to Complete the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Stuck in a Rut Side Quest
Once you arrive in Junon, head over to Gabe’s Ranch and look for Gabe there; he’s standing on his farm and easy to spot with his unique marks and somewhat weary appearance. That’s where the action kicks off for the Stuck in a Rut quest.
Meet and Talk Gabe at the Chocobo Ranch
After meeting Gabe at the Ranch, have a chat with Gabe to get the action started, this guy owns and runs the place. He’ll tell you that the Ranch’s carriage needs urgent repairs but he doesn’t have the parts to fix it right now, and that’s why his business is in danger. After listening to him, Aerith is willing to help Gabe to fix the carriage for him and she asks you to agree to take on this task.
For that, you’ll need the help of a mountain chocobo, Belle—these birds can go through steep terrains that are otherwise inaccessible. Finding this bird is the first and necessary thing as you have to locate and get some fixing materials from a craftsman for this quest who is on top of the mountain. So, this requires you to trek up the cliffs but only this chocobo can help you to reach these higher spots—she can literally scale high areas.
Find and Wrangle Chocobo Belle
After completing your conversation with Gabe and getting bird location from him, the new World Intel: Birds of the Mountain task begins. You’ll find Belle not too far from the Ranch location as marked in the above map. Catching Belle involves a clever stealth puzzle. Once you reach the bird place, a small cutscene appears showing the Belle location from above; you can only reach there after moving through some chocobos.
You’ll have to use the moving carts to hide yourself from other chocobos until you reach her. You can’t be spotted by any other birds here. Once you go near the first cart, you will spot the handle switches which can let the cart start moving on the track. Turn the switch and walk with the cart beside it to get past the chocobos stealthily.
Once this cart stops after reaching its end track, you will see the second switch so activate it. It will let the other cart come from the other end towards you. Go towards the cart after it stops and throw the collected rock at the switch to turn the handle to allow it to run again.
Once you have reached the other side where the cart stops, hide in the bushes over there to avoid being spotted and throw the rock towards the switch to move the third cart to reach the Belle.
When you get close to her, make sure to change your side with the cart to stay hidden from the last chocobo, and be quick to sneak behind her at the right moment. After reaching Belle, jump on her and interact to make this bird your ride companion, this will also finish the ongoing World Intel mission while giving you 10 Junon region data points and 5 party EXP.
Go to the Wainwright’s Hut and Get the Repair Parts
Once you’ve got Belle and enjoying the ride of your mountain-climbing chocobo, head over to the spot marked on the map above. You’ll come across a big wall with arrows pointing up.
Just guide Belle towards this wall, and she’ll latch on and start climbing. After reaching the top of this cliff wall, there are a few more climbable walls marked with the same arrows. Keep going up by them until you reach the top where you’ll find the Wainwright’s Hut right there. It’s a bit of a climb, but with chocobo’s skills, you’ll be up there in no time.
Inside the hut, you will find the sleeping Wainwright who will first ignore to help you right away. But once you wake him by showing some magic skills, he’ll hand you a rough map pinpointing the materials needed for the carriage repair. These materials are generally located between the Wainwright’s Hut and Gabe’s Ranch. With the help of his map and using chocobo’s smell ability, you need to find the requested dried driftwood.
Material Locations:
- First Part: At the northern side of the location from where you acquired Belle.
- Second Part: Further north, near an abandoned building close to Angler’s Storage.
- Third Part: Located under a large tower, accessible through a fence hole east of Angler’s Storage.
As you’re riding your Chocobo, keep an eye out for a red question mark that pops up overhead. This is a clue that the material you’re looking for is nearby as Belle will sense it with her ability. Go to the highlighted item spot and let chocobo dig the ground to collect the material.
After collecting all three materials, return to the Hut and hand them over to Wainwright. In return, he will perform some parts repair work in the back and you will receive the parts from him for what you came here. After that, it’s just a quick trip back to Gabe to give him those items and wrap up the quest.
FF7 Rebirth Stuck in a Rut Quest Rewards
Completing Stuck in a Rut will earn some great rewards:
- SP for the entire party
- A Chocobo Carriage for travel between Grasslands and Junon, costing 300 Gil per ride
- Gil and an increased relationship with Aerith
- Queensguard Bangle
- 700 EXP for Cloud and 10 Party EXP
That’s all in this guide! If you want more Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth guides, read our Hardest Sell quest walkthrough or check out our guide on FF7 Rebirth Livestock’s Bane quest. We have also covered how to pressure Thunderclaw and Fonadu or you may want to know about defeating Mindflayer.
