Fun new video of rock crawling in Johnson Valley

Jerry Bransford said:
This is a bunch of local friends I enjoy wheeling with doing a trail called Clawhammer in Johnson Valley California. While Clawhammer isn't in the top half of the most difficult trails in JV, it's definitely still a very challenging trail for even very well set up rigs. It has been a couple years ago since doing it and this video got me wanting to do again soon, hopefully in November when another JV run is scheduled.

P.S. Some will remember Marianne in her cowgirl hat in this video, she's the one I posted a few pics of here when she broke a Dana 35 axle shaft. The Dana 35 is gone and she's on 37's now with some new beefy f/r axles.

Anyway this very well done video from a couple weeks ago shows what rock crawling can be like here in the deserts of SoCal. Enjoy! :)

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great video thanks for sharing!
 
Jerry Bransford said:
This is a bunch of local friends I enjoy wheeling with doing a trail called Clawhammer in Johnson Valley California. While Clawhammer isn't in the top half of the most difficult trails in JV, it's definitely still a very challenging trail for even very well set up rigs. It has been a couple years ago since doing it and this video got me wanting to do again soon, hopefully in November when another JV run is scheduled.

P.S. Some will remember Marianne in her cowgirl hat in this video, she's the one I posted a few pics of here when she broke a Dana 35 axle shaft. The Dana 35 is gone and she's on 37's now with some new beefy f/r axles.

Anyway this very well done video from a couple weeks ago shows what rock crawling can be like here in the deserts of SoCal. Enjoy! :)
Click to expand...

Great video! Thanks for sharing. So as a relative newb to TJs and a complete newb to rock crawling, can you answer a perhaps sensitive question for me?

What was the reason the JK failed to negotiate the obstacles? It seemed like a well built Jeep to me. If there that big of a difference between the TJs and JKs from a spec standpoint (weight, wheel base, etc) or is that member just less experienced than the other folks in the video? No doubt he could go places that I couldn't, so please understand this isn't asked with any negativity. Just wondering that if he swapped Jeeps could he have made it or could one of the other drivers done better in his. Trying to get a feel of how much experience over-comes equipment.

As an example, in my younger motorcycling days, I could regularly beat newer litre bikes guys on a tight track with my 600. I assume it is the same with this?
 
The orange 4-door JK? I wasn't there but I have wheeled with him several times. I'd have to say from looking at the video again a couple things in no particular order... his tire air pressure looked too high (should have been at or close to 8 psi, I'm guessing he was at 10-12 psi)) so his tires were spinning a lot, plus his longer 4-door wheelbase caused his undercarriage to drag on the rocks more which is called having a poor breakover angle. Plus inexperience on that difficult of a trail. He is the one by the way who put the video together, he's a talented videographer.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
The orange 4-door JK? I wasn't there but I have wheeled with him several times. I'd have to say from looking at the video again a couple things in no particular order... his tire air pressure looked too high (should have been at or close to 8 psi, I'm guessing he was at 10-12 psi)) so his tires were spinning a lot, plus his longer 4-door wheelbase caused his undercarriage to drag on the rocks more which is called having a poor breakover angle. Plus inexperience on that difficult of a trail. He is the one by the way who put the video together, he's a talented videographer.
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Thanks for the insight. Please understand I am in no way trying to make light of his skills- I wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as him (although I would love to try someday). My off-road experience is limited mostly to military vehicles and we tended to avoid driving them in environments that extreme (HMMWVs are great for what they are but have many limitations). I was just trying to get an understanding of how much of his problems were caused by inherent short-comings of the JK vs experience. Sounds like a mix of both. BTW- when you see him, tell him the video was great and I will keep an eye out for more!
 
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