Alright, beat the dent out of my LJ's drivers door from the inside with a block of wood. Window goes up and down again so that's nice. Pressure tested my kids cooling system and replaced a bad clamp, also pulled a screw out of his tire and plugged it until he can get it patched tomorrow. Porta-potty needed new batteries. Truck and trailer unloaded, will finish fixing the Jeep later. Blew out both front bump stops and lost an axle seal. Guess I get to take the front carrier out again.... Yay!
We start this adventure Friday night with a quick run to preview a couple of the trails, gasiorv brought a friend with a Samurai who I'm pretty sure is a licensed stunt driver. Ten minutes later the Sami is on its side. It was dark and I had to hike down a steep hill to get to them. Left my phone in the Jeep. No pictures.
Saturday morning we headed out....
On the trail Rocker Knocker the gatekeeper is a little spicy.
@gasiorv got a little off the line and into a tough spot. His buddy Drew was on the ball with the winch work all weekend.
@Mrholland and company have a beautiful LJ, and was able to spot like a pro. They made a clean entry.
Of course the Sami had to be different and take the option line. Body damage is of zero consequence to Drew. He plowed through with tires in the air.
Next up was Rattler Waterfall. I smashed my door in and climbed it like a show off. Only my 3rd time up this trail. Its almost 100% you will damage something doing this obstacle.
gasiorv was up next. TJ wheel base puts you nose to the sky to climb this one. You can see in the pictures its about a 5 foot almost vertical ledge way off camber with a rock wall on your left you lean into. Its challenging for short wheelbase rigs to say the least.
Mrholland split from the group and would reconnect with us at the top of the trail. The JK in the group really showed an advantage on this obstacle with the long wheel base. I didn't get a picture of him getting up, but the next ledge got him.
Slick ledges spaced just the right distance made it a rough climb. The JK snapped a front shaft right at the root. Weird break, the ears were fine. I think it was the angry grill that caused it.
Later on we found a couple of SxS at the base of what I would call a rock bouncer trail. gasiorv's buddy Drew stopped to talk to them and told me they said "If we helped them air up a tire they would give us a good show" (he was not telling the truth, they never said that). We obliged and so did they.
About 90% up the trail the SxS lost traction, turned sideways and teetered for a moment before cartwheeling back down the hill at us. Pieces flying off and Fireball airplane bottles raining down from up the steep hill. The SxS came to rest upside down. We all jumped into action to assess injuries and recover. The driver was virtual unhurt. We turned them over, reset a bead on one tire, added some engine oil and beat the transmission back into action with a 5lb hammer. All was well except his driver door would no longer latch. I nicknamed them Homeboy, and Homeboys-Homeboy. We ran into them several more times that day. Never got their names, but they appreciated the help.
Homeboy pictured front, Homeboys-Homeboy behind the SxS with the bald head....
Check out those patriotic Crocs. He has them locked in too. Might have saved his life.
Couple other dickheads in SXS's showed up and threw a massive dickhead SxS tantrum as we were blocking the trail during the recovery. When I got back to my camper I found them camped next to me, lol. It was pretty funny how they acted.
Mason was struggling with this ledge when his radiator fan decided to start enlarging his shroud. We found a couple missing fasteners and I had some that fit the bill. That was just part of the issue. We believe the trans mount came apart. His motor mounts are suspect as well.
I got one picture of the night run. No ideal why I took it or what trail it was.