Have you been over to Anthracite? I went up last fall with a small group and loved it. I am hoping to make a trip to Pa this fall before the weather gets cold.
Yup, it’s bigger & more spread out but I find the trails to be less interesting, though there are some really good ones. If you plan on heading to Rausch drop me a line, chances are pretty good I’ll be going too… Weather is generally good for wheeling through December; January & February is when the snow/salt hits the most & that’ll sideline me, this past winter was warmer & I made it up every month.
I started this thread but no action on it
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/anthracite-aoaa-rides.11029/
last minute but it's on for tomorrow if anyone's interested; 7:55am at the office & on the trails by 8am
Damn, if my Jeep wasn't in Chicago right now I'd be so down for this. Only two hours away! Have fun out there tomorrow! Rausch is a great time.
What level trail was that?another really fun day with a couple buddies, relentless rain continues to reshape the trails & with the leaves coming down it had all the traction of an icy road, LOTS of laterally sliding, really had to take care to not allow the TJ to be tossed into trees/rocks/berms... some random shots:
was checking my rear bump stops, think I need another inch of extension back there
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anyone else love that tippy feeling
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driver's rear tire was off the ground here, diff & shock mount were grinded into a rock & after 5 or 6 attempts to wiggle free I thought the better of it
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not two minutes later my buddy got jammed up in a similar way right behind me, that's a lifted JK, 35s & lockers, no match for wet leaves & rocks, we got him past that spot & about 100 feet further up had to pull him a second time; as usual the photos do no justice to the grade of this climb
Side note for the LJ fans out there, the only one of the 3 of us that made it up that trail without the winch was my buddy Art in his LJ, 35s & lockers & a lot of will power, & he's a really good driver too
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I love driving sideways, even for no particular reason
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Not sure when the next outing will be, probably a month out; hopefully one of these days I'll be able to drag one of you out there with me
What level trail was that?
Looks like you just need a TT to make that rocky ledge. Maybe just coming at it from an angle would keep you off of your skid plate.It really is, met up with my buddy Chris & had a great day, decided to drop the map & the GPS & just drive around randomly; worked out well but the main plan was to take it easy as I had just installed new springs & control arms yesterday. One thing led to another & we ended up on Trail 5, a pretty hairy black trail. I needed about an inch more clearance underneath & this wouldn't have happened, need that tummy tuck .
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as soon as my front wheels crested it the engine skid hit & I slid laterally & got wedged in between the rock & the stump
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I was jammed all up in there really tight, all 4 wheels spinning. Tied the winch off to a tree about 30 feet in front of me but tied it too low, just pulled the nose down so I ended up climbing the tree & tying it about 10 feet high to get the proper angle, couple jolts with the line & I popped up top
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The ride up this morning was nice, was around 72 with about 95% humidity so no doors or windows wasn't a problem, but I swear Fall arrived while we were there, temp dropped into the low 60s & so did the humidity, glad I brought a hat & jacket for the ride home...
Edit: Just uploaded this video my buddy sent me, shows the angle of the winch line going up into the tree. The second part of the video is the cop-out Jotters hill climb, it's where I test all new modifications, it's the second time I've rolled up it without issue since installing the KM3's, those tires have made a huge difference:
Next ride October 6th
Looks like you just need a TT to make that rocky ledge. Maybe just coming at it from an angle would keep you off of your skid plate.
That’s one limitation I didn’t think of. That’s too bad.no doubt about it, if there's one weakness my TJ has that's it. Fortunately it's a pretty rare instance, can count on one hand the number of times it's stopped me in my tracks like that. I'm loathe to get into that modification however given what I'd need to do to do it correctly, primarily the body lift alone would sentence my rig to a life out in the driveway unable to squeeze into the garage anymore height-wise, as it is I practically have to Crisco the top to fit it in . In the end keeping her out of the elements takes priority over improving the break over angle so when it happens I'll winch, and curse, a lot.
Yes, I've considered reconstructing my garage to yield a taller entry, but then I slapped myself back down to earth :aplastao: