New to Rocks: How to Traverse Marblehead on Drummond Island—Failure

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ballpark

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Hi All,

This spring I attempted the rock steps called Marblehead at Michigan's Drummond Island. Marblehead is a series of rock 'steps'. I failed. I squared up the wheels with the smallest step (18+inches) and I set my front control arm mounts, touched my front drive shaft, scraped my bell housing and ended up on the front of the skid plate.

I was able to back up, after i first pulled forward to allow room to stack some rocks, lifting my frame up enough to get back up the ledge.

My question is, was my approach incorrect? Could i have taken an angled approach and hung one wheel over the ledge and flexed my way down?

Is this something I can safely tackle, or is it just too much for my 31's?

Thank you!

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I've been there. You might have bitten off more than you can chew on 31's. I went down on the far right, hugging the bushes. The steps aren't as large.

I was on 32's at the time and got hung up on my driveshaft on the way up.
 
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I think some of your issues were the initial line you took, but 31's don't raise you up that much. What size lift are you running? If looks like if you would have moved over to the passenger side 4-5 feet, like less of a ledge. If you continued to work yourself to the right it might have made it down easier, but pictures are always deceiving and hindsight is 20/20. This is where ground clearance is your friend, but rubbing is racing ;)
 
:confused: Kinda hard to show you a better line from my laptop. I would hook up with a good local 4 x 4 club and go on the runs with them and they will show you some options on choosing your line through various obstacles. Once you understand your Jeeps limitations it will be much easier to chose the correct line through the obstacle.
 
Thank you for the feedback. I may just admit defeat. Hoping to go back up there in October.
 
I've never been there but I wouldn't say it's not possible. I could be wrong but one way to find out is to follow someone else with similar sized tires and see what they do. A better way is if that someone has done it before.

All I have left to say is I love that first picture.
 
I went right down what looked to be the hardest part and then after exploring the cave at the bottom straight back up. 35’s and lockers made it easy though.
 
Personally looking at the first picture "I" would not have chosen to go one tire at a time. It's hard to tell from pictures as usually it is worse in real time than it is in a photo. I looks like if you did one front wheel it would really be dipping causing the opposite rear tire tire to come way off the ground. I have seen TJ's tip over doing this. It always better to get out and rethink your approach and what the consequences of your decision could be. It's never a bad thing to get out a stack rocks, always do what you need to be SAFE, and NEVER let your pride get in the way of being SAFE

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Plumber1 said:
It always better to get out and rethink your approach and what the consequences of your decision could be. It's never a bad thing to get out a stack rocks, always do what you need to be SAFE, and NEVER let your pride get in the way of being SAFE
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You are exactly right....
There is nothing wrong with stopping to evaluate the line you want to take and make an educated decision of tire placement in relation to terrain. It's also a matter of knowing your vehicle, driver experience and knowing your (driver and vehicle) limitations.
 
We ran a lj with a 2 inch spacer lift and 31s down there a few years ago. I think you picked a harder line than you needed to.
 
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Drummond island/Marblehead is a lot of fun we went there last fall(our first time going there). My Jeep has a cheapy rough country 4” lift, 35” Ko2’s, an no lockers, I kinda took the same line you did going in Judging by your pictures and didn’t scrape anything and came back up pretty much hugging the bushes on the side with no issue but a lift and 35’s has a lot more ground clearance then what your running I think if you would stayed a little more towards the tree line you would of been fine. Don’t feel bad one the most built jk’s that I was with there snapped his output yoke on his transfer case coming back up Marblehead.
 
Thank you for the info. It took me 30 min of looking before I proceeded. I hung it up almost immediately and being on my own, knew I needed to abort immediately (backup). Getting it back up was a feat as well. Open diffs were the main cause I couldn't get traction. 30 min to think thru backing it up and the help from a guy in a side by side (moral support).

Its good to know about the angled approach. I would immediately loose traction for sure.

I am glad I took it no further... with the exception of busting a sway bar link I had a successful trip!
 
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ballpark said:
Thank you for the info. It took me 30 min of looking before I proceeded. I hung it up almost immediately and being on my own, knew I needed to abort immediately (backup). Getting it back up was a feat as well. Open diffs were the main cause I couldn't get traction. 30 min to think thru backing it up and the help from a guy in a side by side (moral support).

Its good to know about the angled approach. I would immediately loose traction for sure.

I am glad I took it no further... with the exception of busting a sway bar link I had a successful trip!
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Lockers and a tummy tuck if you don’t have one make that child’s play.
 
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