Anyone up for Wheelin in Big Bear Saturday 9/24? (2 Viewers)

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bhicks

bhicks

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I'm heading up to Big Bear for a few days on camping with the new trailer and to get the new (to me) 80 out on the trail to break it in. Will run Gold Mtn. Saturday afternoon around 2:30 and may run John Bull the day before on Friday afternoon. I will have all 3 kids with me so this will be more of a family trip. Totally open to whoever but be aware we will have little ones so may be doing frequent stops on the trail.
 
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Is this a holiday weekend I'm not aware of? I would be taking kids too but I think they have school on Friday?
 
FromTjtoLC said:
Is this a holiday weekend I'm not aware of? I would be taking kids too but I think they have school on Friday?
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Not a holiday weekend. I'm calling in a sick day and making it a 3 day camping/wheelin weekend. I only have one kid at school age and he's at a charter school with Friday off.
 
I would be up for it, but not on Friday. Work plus kids in school.
Saturday should be better with my schedule and I can bring on of my kids with me, my son (10 1/2 yo). My wife and my daughter will not participate no matter what. My wife loves driving the truck, but only on road. Does not want to go off road ever. My daughter has some activities she needs to attend on Saturdays, so she is not in, not that she would get excited about an of road adventure.

I don't know the (off road) area there, so how difficult is it? I don't have sliders or any other armor underneath besides what came stock with the truck. ARB up front, about 2" lift and I could get my 35" tire set on instead of the 33"'s I always use.

Would it be OK if we meet somewhere around there on Saturday?
 
Dragos80 said:
I would be up for it, but not on Friday. Work plus kids in school.
Saturday should be better with my schedule and I can bring on of my kids with me, my son (10 1/2 yo). My wife and my daughter will not participate no matter what. My wife loves driving the truck, but only on road. Does not want to go off road ever. My daughter has some activities she needs to attend on Saturdays, so she is not in, not that she would get excited about an of road adventure.

I don't know the (off road) area there, so how difficult is it? I don't have sliders or any other armor underneath besides what came stock with the truck. ARB up front, about 2" lift and I could get my 35" tire set on instead of the 33"'s I always use.

Would it be OK if we meet somewhere around there on Saturday?
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Let me see if I can rearrange things to go wheelin Saturday. Gold mtn. would be fine with no armor and 33's. It's a medium level trail. John Bull is doable with 33's as long as you have armor. Without armor then 35's and lockers is a must. John Bull would be barely entering the advanced level. It does have some pretty technical stuff but it's not a super long trail. The advanced Hammers trails would be the high end of advanced. I ran those in my old XJ on 37's and D60's and had a hard time. Will never be running any of my 80's through there. Too many things break. If I ran Gold mtn. on Saturday it would have to be in the AM. We have family coming in from out of town Saturday afternoon to camp with us.
 
I may be able to cruise out for this.
I also have a stock truck.

Let us know if these runs are too GAGNARLY for a stock truck. Wouldn't want to inpede the group.
 
Ok. So my inlaws (lame!!) are meeting us at the campground at 9-10am on Saturday. So teh Saturday AM wheelin is out. We are going to hang out for a bit, fish, bar-b-q, and then head out for the trail head. In laws in tow:(. We will be leaving our campsite around 2pm off of 38 and glass road. I can meet anyone at that spot at 2:15 on Saturday or the Gold mtn. trail head around 2:45pm. Will run Gold mtn. and then figure out if John Bull is an option after that. Depending on time and what rigs come along.
 
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bhicks said:
Ok. So my inlaws (lame!!) are meeting us at the campground at 9-10am on Saturday. We are going to hang out for a bit, fish, bar-b-q, and then head out for the trail head. In laws in tow:(. We will be leaving our campsite around 2pm off of 38 and glass road. I can meet anyone at that spot at 2:15 on Saturday or the Gold mtn. trail head around 2:45pm. Will run Gold mtn. and then figure out if John Bull is an option after that. Depending on time and what rigs come along.
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Are we talking zero armor, stock street tires, and no lockers "stock" or some mild build or at least some 32"-33" ATs/Mts with lockers? I ran gold mtn. years ago in my stock (at the time) TJ on street 31's open front and rear. I made it with no damage but struggled a bit and had to use some of the bypasses. Lockers and 35's is more of a scenic drive.
 
I ran gold mtn last weekend in my 100. The waterfall and the long rocky section after weren't bad, but the section after the talus slope right after the sharp right turn was pretty tore up. I got high centered pretty good and had to get tugged off. Tore up my skid plate pretty good and split a CV boot.
 
I got no aftermarket armor underneath. No slider, no skid plates.
Roughly a 2" lift, 33'"s (or 35"s in the shed, which I can swap in at anytime), 3x locked.

I just don't want any rocker panel damage, that's the reason I asked. The wife is not ready yet for a nice set of sliders.
 
Have you run John Bull lately? I went in July and I'm on 37s and the gatekeeper was pretty challenging (everything after that wasnt a big challenge). I think it'd be a struggle on 33's with the 80s wheelbase. The gatekeeper was really tore up from a lot of traffic and there was a fine dry sand that made finding traction difficult. I'd suggest having a winch as a backup plan just in case. I'd love to join you but I don't think I can get Friday off to go wheeling. I have 3 girls 2, 4, and 6 so it would have been nice to wheel with someone in the same boat as me. By the way, what's a good spot to camp up there, where are you camping?

Didn't get any real good pictures but here's a shot at the gatekeeper

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ReformedJeeper said:
Have you run John Bull lately? I went in July and I'm on 37s and the gatekeeper was pretty challenging (everything after that wasnt a big challenge). I think it'd be a struggle on 33's with the 80s wheelbase. The gatekeeper was really tore up from a lot of traffic and there was a fine dry sand that made finding traction difficult. I'd suggest having a winch as a backup plan just in case. I'd love to join you but I don't think I can get Friday off to go wheeling. I have 3 girls 2, 4, and 6 so it would have been nice to wheel with someone in the same boat as me. By the way, what's a good spot to camp up there, where are you camping?

Didn't get any real good pictures but here's a shot at the gatekeeper

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Not sure if you saw my earlier posts. I decided to go Saturday. Will be heading over to Gold Mtn. around 2pm from 7 Oaks campground. Will be on the trail around 2:30-2:45 and done around 4-4:30ish. I will change the title.
 
sdnative said:
I ran gold mtn last weekend in my 100. The waterfall and the long rocky section after weren't bad, but the section after the talus slope right after the sharp right turn was pretty tore up. I got high centered pretty good and had to get tugged off. Tore up my skid plate pretty good and split a CV boot.
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I ran gold mtn. in my 100 and struggled a bit too BUT a 100 isn't an 80. My 100 on about a 2.5" lift and 33's with no lockers (a-trac) had a few spots that I struggled. No winching needed. Just had to adjust and pick better lines. The 80 with the same lift seems to have quite a bit better ground clearance (minus the front diff) and with a front solid axle and front and rear lockers seems to navigate those tight obstacles a lot better than my built 100. I think a stock 80 with lockers wheels pretty comparable to a built 100. Damage should be easily avoided on Gold mtn. with decent choices on picking lines and being patient. I can't say that is the case with John Bull. A stock 80 going through there is almost guaranteed to have some form of damage.
 
Yep. Ran gold mtn plenty of times in my 80 with no issues. Part of the issue was I picked a bad line and the sand was really loose and I kept sliding off the rock into the hole.
 
Gold Mtn is pretty easy and can be done without lockers. The hardest parts are right at the beginning. The rest is meh. If you go, and are into Bristlecone, you won't be disappointed.
 
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