Family haulin'

CreeperSleeper · 06-23-09, 09:47 AM

I wish I could have gone with ya, Mike... Now let's see those pics!

boots4 · 06-25-09, 09:57 AM

I ran out of time to get a 16" rim while in Portland so I had a day to search for one while I was in CA. After hitting a couple places and searching on craigslist I ended up at a toyota specialty yard in Rancho Cordova and that cost me. I needed the rim and was done looking so I grabbed this for $75.

I should have bartered but I just grabbed it and ran. At least I now have a full sized spare. I pulled out the tire and spoons and got it mounted.

boots4 · 06-25-09, 10:21 AM

I uploaded a few first day pics last night so expect this report to come in a few installments.

The

and I decided to meet up with the other Portland folk the night before at Loon lake and we're glad we did. Ice House road was longer and slower than we thought. We made it to the dam and saw our fellow campers.

While on the granite after we were settled in I heard a familiar sound as another 4bt came to life from this fj80. So naturally we ended up chatting and looking at each other's rigs. It was fun having another cummins in our group.

My wife liked the jeep quote and Pighead's rig.

The next morning was tech inspection and line up.

With that over we started the trail at Loon Lake. I slotted myself after CaliCruiser and stuck with Dirtgypsy and PortFJ62.

There were plenty of spotters and the run was well guided. Cruiserdrew (Andy) did and excellent job and really did make the trail enjoyable. I took the drive to survive suggestion to heart and decided to take it easy and enjoy the experience.

Dirtgypsy clearing a rock.

Fantasic scenery

Starting on the slabs

Coming down off a ledge I knicked my tailpipe. Dirtgypsy came off the same ledge and pinched his pipe shut. Skillful use of some vice grips opened that thing.

PortFJ62 getting some pucker exercise.

More to come.

Tapage · 06-25-09, 03:22 PM

Keep the pics coming .. thanks !

Any vid chance for us .. ?

boots4 · 06-25-09, 03:38 PM

Going up Walker hill

Every spotter has a different style but they all helped us get through the tuffer parts.

I got hung up on that rock on the left but a little more fuel pulled me over. I moved it to the middle of the trail so the crew ended up pushing it to the side so others wouldn't take out something underneath.

I've got a couple of nice scrapes on my sliders and quarter protection but no body damage the whole trip.

We got separated from the guys in front for a short time.

I was glad I had some strong brakes. They helped me keep control when going down stuff like this.

The trail is just obstacle after obstacle. Slow going but fun.

Found the chain at the little sluice being spotted down million dollar hill.

My turn down million dollar hill. I did get some pucker exercise as I started down the hill.

Here's Dirtgypsy coming down.

Scenery shots

PortFJ60 coming down million dollar hill. I made sure I was near a tree I could dart behind if need be.

The mosquitos were crazy! They would keep up with any walking speed and drill in for some blood quickly. I worked in alaska for a summer and this season at rubicon had that beat! Repellent was a must.

boots4 · 06-25-09, 03:52 PM

The Rubicon has a variety of everything.

It helps being comfortable with some leaning. I never felt in danger of tipping over but take a wrong or challenging line and that could easily happen.

I got to use stupid low a lot this trip. Hard to beat the control of an auto with stupid low.

Portland group

There must be little Gnomes with power tools living in the rocks because Matt's diff plug was spun out without damaging the threads. Another plug was installed, the contaminated soil was removed and we where back to wheeling.

The weather couldn't have been any better. Blue skies with rolling clouds in the 70s (F). I grew up in the valley and the skies typically had a layer of smog so it was nice to be in California and smell the clean air of the Sierra's. At least if you were in front of me it was like that

.

That about wraps up the first day.

GLTHFJ60 · 06-26-09, 07:41 AM

I'm downloading so many of these pics. Excellent report this this far.

Who takes all these pictures?

boots4 · 06-26-09, 08:25 AM

My sweet

. She took most of these pics in one hand while taking video in the other! Quite a few turned out pretty good.

Tapage · 06-26-09, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boots4

My sweet

. She took most of these pics in one hand while taking video in the other! Quite a few turned out pretty good.

and looks she walk the hole track with couple of fellows mosquitos ..

boots4 · 06-26-09, 04:36 PM

The arm pic was actually PortFJ62's wife. She likes sweets so the Mosquitos really liked her.

boots4 · 06-26-09, 04:41 PM

Here are a few more 1st day pics I liked.

PortFJ62 flexing

boots4 · 06-26-09, 05:20 PM

Day 2

After watching a video on our little DVD player we hopped into bed. I brought an underpowered inverter that couldn't power my air pump for our matress so I sucked some juice from Matt's rig. The next morning we ate breakfast, packed up and got back on the trail. I was excited to hit the rocks again.

Buck Island Lake

The 60's got to lead the run this time.

Cold diesel in the morning makes for a good anti-mosquito fog.

Beautiful scenery to look at as you bash into more rocks.

Heading down Old Sluice (?). Dora was holding up great and had given me no issues. As I continued down I got a call to stop and had a spotter looking under the rig. I worried for a minute thinking I broke/slashed/screwed something up. Some spectators saw my overloads on the rear packs splayed out and thought I broke a leaf and they were digging into the tires. With repeated flexing my overloads rotate out but get stopped by the Ubolts and are a couple inches away from the tires so from their angle it might look like it's rubbing. I was greatful that fellow wheelers were watching out for others on the trail. I had (and still do) planned to put some retainers on the overloads but ran out of time before the trip. I typically just BFH them back into position after a run. I think this is common for the chevy 63's running overloads since I saw others with the chevys doing the same thing.

Then going over this rock I got a chance to test out my fresh skid plate. After I slid off it I got out to check and the slapped on plates weren't bent so my patch work helded up fine to the weight of the rig. I'll still redo them but glad I got something on there.

I beleive this is on the bump stop if not extremely close.

Portland Crew on the bridge leading to Rubicon Springs

The mud pit. Only one guy tried it and when we saw the other side was taped off the group went around.

Many pulled one wheel stands here but I was a little to far over and got flex instead.

Camping at the springs

The second day took half as long and once we got settled with the tent up it was nice to relax. I even got in the chilly water to wash off. We ate dinner, chatted, watched another movie, and tried going to bed. Once the heavy metal music was turned off at 3am it was easier to fall asleep. I'd like to run the trail again but I think I'll camp away from the slabs next time. That ends day 2.

boots4 · 07-01-09, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brokenparts

did you manage to sell the bumper?

I never did ask you how much you wanted for it. Are you selling the winch with it? I can put a sign on it for when I go mall crawling. Whenever you need it back just let me know since we've got more tube to bend anyways.

brokenparts · 07-01-09, 10:12 PM

hahahaha... I was just kidding about selling the bumper (although it is for sale without the winch). I'll let cha settle back into the groove and maybe shoot for another bend day in the next week or two.

redcorn · 07-02-09, 07:01 AM

Nice pics.
The Con spoils you with the whole shebang......
scenic wheeling with great people and lifetime memories.

How much for the bumper Zach?
Shoot me a PM

boots4 · 07-02-09, 09:12 AM

I've been slacking here finishing up the trip report. Still haven't broken up the videos yet. Anyways, the 3rd day out or Friday was a relaxing day. We all hung out, chatted, and got ready for the dinner and raffle that night. To pass some of the time Cruiserdrew lead a ~hour hike to a swimming hole that feeds into Rubicon springs. As we got deeper into the hills the mosquitos got more dense. Everyone was being sucked on and they didn't seem to care about repellent. We got to the hole and just as the shirt came off a nice breeze picked up making the plunge into the 50 degree water more challenging. Andy just cruised right in making it look deceptively easy. Others got in and Clint slid in like he takes cold showers every morning. I decided to gain the "full experience" and go for it. Once the body was numb there was nothing to it but the first minute in the water had the body telling the mind that he was a idiot.

The goal was to swim across and dunk your head under the waterfall. I swam over and did just that. Once out of the water I didn't feel any mosquito bites and recently as it's finally warming up in Portland I've felt the desire to take a dip in some springs again. Must be some weird endorphin rush. I'm glad I did it.

The dinner was good and there was even some left over for seconds. There were some great prizes at the raffle that went home with other winners. We walked back to camp, had a fire swapping stories, and eventually tried to sleep. We were catching a group up cadillac hill in the morning at 8am. Day three over.

boots4 · 07-03-09, 10:43 AM

Time to finish up the trip pics.

Saturday we woke up, ate and packed it all back in. I think we were all ready to go. A hot shower sounded great. Cruiserdrew was leaving and we wanted to be part of his group to get up Cadillac hill. The mosquitos were awake and the trail was slick.

Here's a one wheel stand on cadillac with counter balance. A winch was pulled to keep him on the ground.

Andy came back down and he said he didn't have any magic but that he'd spot me through.

Magic or not, he's done the trail several times so his experience was plenty of magic for me to negogiate the obstacle without much problem.

Climbing

Up at top. We stopped a couple times to keep Matt's rig from melting on the way up. My single fan (still don't have the second rewired yet) kept my temps in check. I pretty much left the fan on high for the whole trip. Portland crew for a photo op.

There were still plenty of fun spots on the way down but we could pick up the pace some.

We got actually little higher than this.

There were several water crossings as we got closer to the staging area.

Once we got to the staging area an army of $50 compressors fired up. It was better than surround sound. I checked for loose bolts and was happy to find none. I pounded my overloads back into position and checked my fluids. We would be driving back to my parents place and leave for Portland on Monday. Interstingly the trip back to Portland was smoother. I guess Dora needed to be worked on the 'con.

It was a fun group to wheel with. Left to Right: Jim (Clints brother), Clint, Andy, Andy's son, Me, Matt, Dylan.

Great trail, great weather, and great company. Looking forward to another big trip.

boots4 · 07-03-09, 10:51 AM

Oh yeah, here's my weak carnage. Just some scrapes on the sliders. Certainly would have been worst if I didn't have them though.

brokenparts · 07-03-09, 11:08 AM

nice pics Mike!

Tapage · 07-03-09, 12:21 PM

thanks for all pics and report Mike .. just awesome trip !

GLTHFJ60 · 07-03-09, 11:39 PM

Sweet. Makes me wish I was on the West Coast so I could add to the 60 group!

boots4 · 07-09-09, 12:24 PM

Been working on the yard, helping out family, etc. I did get some more done on the anitwrap bar.

I thought I was going to reuse the original shackle bolts (19mm) I have laying around but they ended up not being long enough due to the thick plates so I hunted for some at the local hardware store. Ended up going to 3/4" bolts, buying a 3/4" drill and clearanced the bushings to fit the bolt and drilled the plate with my neighbor's press. I made them work but suggest just buying bolts and bushing that already work together.

I bolted the axle mounts to one of the links and fit it to the axle (trimming, grinding, measuring). Once it was tacked on I put in the other link and started looking at positioning and clearance.

After I got it where I wanted it I burned in the axle mount. I also finished up the bar and got a quick shot of paint on it. I went to the steel yard and pick up some material for the crossmember but didn't get started on that yet. I think the 2" johnny joint will be the weak point in the system so it should hold up pretty well.

brokenparts · 07-09-09, 03:27 PM

looks good mike. I'll let cha build mine now.

boots4 · 07-09-09, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brokenparts

looks good mike. I'll let cha build mine now.

I definitely own you some time on your rig!

brokenparts · 07-09-09, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boots4

I definitely own you some time on your rig!

hahahaha, I should probably figure out my pinion angle for my rear axle is going to land first.

I'm hoping to get Big Blue onto all fours by Sunday night though.

boots4 · 07-15-09, 07:11 PM

Got my antiwrap bar done minus paint. I went to the steel yard and grabbed a scrap piece of .250 wall 2"x2" tube to make the crossmember out of. I cut some reliefs in it where I routed it under the exhaust and over the rear driveshaft and then welded it to the frame. Mostly installed the Johnny Joint and put together a shackle that would accomodate the different widths of the JJoint and the bushing. From there I could decide where to put the crossmember bushing to get some angle on the shackle. I measured and got out the cardboard to try out some ideas.

Duplicated the shape in steel and boxed them together.

Then I welded on the bushing sleeve.

I still needed to put in the outer washer in the JJoint and I had to take off my bar to make it easier. I compressed it enough to get the snap ring in its groove.

Here you can see the crossmember and where I trimmed it. I cut pieces from that same pipe I have that I used for the corners of the rear bumper.

Attached to the crossmember. The shackle is crude but it should work. I decided on about 10 degrees of slope on the shackle and think it will clear when articulating. I'll have to watch it next wheeling trip to see if it works out.

Here it is. I'll paint the crossmember with rustbullet like the inner frame and paint the antiwrap bar black like the axle. I'll probably look into boxing some of the axle mount as well.

Impressions:

I've only driven it to work this morning and maybe I'm wanting there to be a difference but it seemed to feel a little more planted on acceleration. It also seemed like the minor clunking I got from shifting was further reduced and just feels a little more solid. I'll get some more mile on it and see what it's like when wheeling.

Tapage · 07-15-09, 08:17 PM

I need to work in a crossmember like yours .. tought it will be in the middle of my straight exhaust ..

brokenparts · 07-16-09, 09:47 AM

nice work Mike... I'll pencil you in for the trac-bar and the Hydroboost brakes now.

boots4 · 07-16-09, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brokenparts

nice work Mike... I'll pencil you in for the trac-bar and the Hydroboost brakes now.

Sounds good to me. Did you get big blue on the ground?

brokenparts · 07-16-09, 09:10 PM

not quite... angle grinder died, plasma died, wife left later than expected tabo the beach. I did get all the scab plates and frame side brackets welded up though.

sounds like I'm going to have to have the hydroboost unit sent out to vanco to have it re-worked for "high flow" due the full hydro and 1405psc pump...

I'm done hi-jacking your thread now.