Events/Trails 200s on Hole in the Rock Trail HITR (1 Viewer)

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Low center of gravity is very comforting though on the other two trips, we had 80's (Woody and LandcruiserPhil) with RTT's that got through it. It's a bit more sketchy now than then though.
 
Low center of gravity is very comforting though on the other two trips, we had 80's (Woody and LandcruiserPhil) with RTT's that got through it. It's a bit more sketchy now than then though.

RTT not a problem @smittycrusher had no RTT but 10,000lbs of junk on his RR and easily survived
 
Yes no one melted phil, although i did fall asleep with afrozen bottle of ice water on my chest to cool off. I cracked the lid and as it melted it dripped. I woke up and it was empty and my shirt was dry. Lol first time for that trick
 
Here is a pretty long video of the trail. At 15:40 starts some good commentary on the tricky spot of grey mesa climb.

 
I haven't had time to fully go through the truck to assess any "needs" after 4k miles and hitting Moab, HITR and the San Juans for a week, but here's a quick list of things I'm going to have to address... and the reality is all of it was due to HITR. By comparison, Moab is tame, and the San Juans are really a scenic drive.

1. Tires got trashed... I run KO2 34/10.5/17 which are really closer to 32.5 at best. My rear driver side tire got gashed to the point that I didn't feel comfortable driving home with it. Front passenger has some sidewall gashes as well. Need to look at the insides of the other two. They performed a lot better than expected being short skinnies on some steep climbs and descents but I worked them hard and will need a new set of something. Nitto Ridge Grapplers are top of my list right now. (@SchobTime I'd look at ProComps of course but they have no 17" size that works)
2. RLC Bumper... smacked it hard a lot of times on the trail. At some point I hit the passenger side hard enough to shift the alignment. It's adjustable on that side so I'm going to readjust and drill another hole to ensure that doesn't happen again. No damage.
3. Shock bolt... I installed the Trail Tailor shock guards and they are stout! At some point, probably during the crazy run through HITR, the lower shock bolt loosened and fell out. Just noticed that today.
4. Front Grill... bottom clips broke. Too much bouncing around. No biggie. Time to upgrade to the latest style all the cool kids are running.
5. Plastic Engine Cover... just couldn't take the pressure. One of the mounts broke.

Moral of this story, none of the failures were actually LC related unless you put any importance on the grill and engine cover (which is going in the trash anyway). This trail, run at the speed we ran, is a tough ass trail that relentlessly pounds on the truck.

Others can chime in, but I'd put this trail right about at the top of the list of toughest trails you'd want to run in a modestly built 200.

Who's next :)
 
I haven't had time to fully go through the truck to assess any "needs" after 4k miles and hitting Moab, HITR and the San Juans for a week, but here's a quick list of things I'm going to have to address... and the reality is all of it was due to HITR. By comparison, Moab is tame, and the San Juans are really a scenic drive.

1. Tires got trashed... I run KO2 34/10.5/17 which are really closer to 32.5 at best. My rear driver side tire got gashed to the point that I didn't feel comfortable driving home with it. Front passenger has some sidewall gashes as well. Need to look at the insides of the other two. They performed a lot better than expected being short skinnies on some steep climbs and descents but I worked them hard and will need a new set of something. Nitto Ridge Grapplers are top of my list right now. (@SchobTime I'd look at ProComps of course but they have no 17" size that works)
2. RLC Bumper... smacked it hard a lot of times on the trail. At some point I hit the passenger side hard enough to shift the alignment. It's adjustable on that side so I'm going to readjust and drill another hole to ensure that doesn't happen again. No damage.
3. Shock bolt... I installed the Trail Tailor shock guards and they are stout! At some point, probably during the crazy run through HITR, the lower shock bolt loosened and fell out. Just noticed that today.
4. Front Grill... bottom clips broke. Too much bouncing around. No biggie. Time to upgrade to the latest style all the cool kids are running.
5. Plastic Engine Cover... just couldn't take the pressure. One of the mounts broke.

Moral of this story, none of the failures were actually LC related unless you put any importance on the grill and engine cover (which is going in the trash anyway). This trail, run at the speed we ran, is a tough ass trail that relentlessly pounds on the truck.

Others can chime in, but I'd put this trail right about at the top of the list of toughest trails you'd want to run in a modestly built 200.

Who's next :)
what size tire are looking for @steenh ?ProComp has a 285/70/17 MT2 xtreme
 
285/75/17. A bit bigger than that is what I'm looking for. The lure of joining the ProComp club is strong though :)
 
funny you mention the engine cover, I found mine sitting all cattywompus (spelling???) the clips didnt' break, but it was off its rocker.
and the battery shifted in the mount. the hold down bar knocked off one of the caps. somehow didn't lose much water out of the battery.
Mark hooked me up with some foam padding and gorilla tape. kept everything dry and working fine all the way back to AZ.

and full disclosure, it has worked so well I forgot about it until today...weekend project hunt down a battery cap.
 
285/75/17. A bit bigger than that is what I'm looking for. The lure of joining the ProComp club is strong though :)

That size of Ridge Grappler is a nice happy medium. I run the 18 inch version and have been happy. I have found that the alignment has to be just right to avoid KDSS and wheel well rubbing.
 
That size of Ridge Grappler is a nice happy medium. I run the 18 inch version and have been happy. I have found that the alignment has to be just right to avoid KDSS and wheel well rubbing.

I'm going to give it a shot with maxtrax spacers and see if that solves the issues. DanC runs the setup and doesn't appear to have any issues. Hoping for the same result.
 
I'm going to give it a shot with maxtrax spacers and see if that solves the issues. DanC runs the setup and doesn't appear to have any issues. Hoping for the same result.
Both will yield same results, either you run a spacer with RW or tundra convserion
 
funny you mention the engine cover, I found mine sitting all cattywompus (spelling???) the clips didnt' break, but it was off its rocker.
and the battery shifted in the mount. the hold down bar knocked off one of the caps. somehow didn't lose much water out of the battery.
Mark hooked me up with some foam padding and gorilla tape. kept everything dry and working fine all the way back to AZ.

and full disclosure, it has worked so well I forgot about it until today...weekend project hunt down a battery cap.
Ha my engine cover broke a tab this trip. She wont stay seated. My engine runs 10 degrees cooler now under evry single stress load
 
Here is a pretty long video of the trail. At 15:40 starts some good commentary on the tricky spot of grey mesa climb.



Good video Scott. The sketch climb is made all the more sketchy in a SWB truck vs. the LWB rigs you guys have....

2011 in snow (fun indeed) with my old 80:

DSC_0486.JPG


2010 going up the shelf (picture gives good vantage of angles and sketchiness)

0502001640.jpg


Same stretch in 2009 (bad photo -- phone photo tech sucked then)

0424091557.jpg


And in SWB action....

IMG_1583.JPG


That said, how the heck did that Jeep dude break something on this trail? :meh:
 
There are definitely some spots that the swb would be an advantage on that trail, but like you said, that spot is probably not one of them. I can’t even imagine doing it with any snow on the ground.

I really think that spot is a lot worse than it was on my previous two trips there (2015 & 2016). That shoulder side seems to have gotten lower and softer. I really worry that it will be impassable sooner than later :(. Someone I know has seriously spoken of taking a bunch of bags of quickcrete and Jerry cans full of water to “help” stabilize that area. While I don’t condone doing that, I agree that something needs to be done. You have to get past that part to get to all my favorite parts of that trail.
 
I think it should go it's course. If it falls away and a truck/group needs to build road at that time, so be it and seems to me the best way to address the deterioration of that area.

Makes it way more challenging. :)
I do think that there is a way to go below that road and then climb up the steep hill just past the end of that climb and join back up for the next section (I love that next section as well). If it collapses, I think that would be a perfectly viable option.
 
Shout out to @ACC Toyota as two of the three trucks on this run had a lot of ACC hands and brain power behind the builds. Tremendous shop and a killer asset to the cruiser community.

Smitty
 
Shout out to @ACC Toyota as two of the three trucks on this run had a lot of ACC hands and brain power behind the builds. Tremendous shop and a killer asset to the cruiser community.

Smitty

I'll second that! They are putting in my LRA 24g tank in a couple of weeks.
 

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