Black Friday Wheeling at Rausch?

[joabmc]

It really pains me to say this but I’m out. Have a project right now that is becoming a major PIA. I have to work tomorrow now. Stayed up late last night trying to rectify a problem (which I did) but unfortunately some folks have NO common sense!! Ugh, was really looking forward to this. If anything changes, I’ll be sure to let you know.

 

[dci blair]

I’m still in.

 

[caz]

I'm fine either way.

 

[fireball]

I'm good to meet around 8 and ready to roll at 830.

 

[caz]

I'll be there at 8.

 

[Crusha]

8 it shall be!

 

[Crusha]

Vince @VBRoamer , we’re meeting at 8...

 

[dci blair]

See you fellas at 8. Are we planning on going across the street or just sticking to the usual side?

 

[VBRoamer]

I'll be there for an 8:00 am start.

 

[shmukster]

Boy I envy you guys sure wish I could be joining you. Weather looks to be very good for you. please take a lot of pictures and do a good write-up for us poor souls who can't participate this time!

 

[maxse01]

Not gonna make it. Have fun guys, be safe.

 

[shmukster]

Well I did see a picture of a severely damaged 80 series driveshaft, but other than that where's the stories???? Can't wait to hear all the details!

 

[Crusha]

Well I did see a picture of a severely damaged 80 series driveshaft, but other than that where's the stories???? Can't wait to hear all the details!

Pics and details later today...

 

[caz]

Well, it was a good day, but a longer day than planned. I think we were on the trails by about 8:20.

We had 4 trucks - Crusha, Blair, VBRoamer and myself (with my Rover buddy Dave as passenger). Ben was along and riding with Greg.

It was a beautiful day, but the trails were very wet and muddy. We decided that they did work to the pipeline puddle below the water tower because it was smaller than any of us had seen.

Greg and Ben led the group. I was tail Gunner and as usual didn't pay a lot of attention to the trails. I know we started with J and were on 19b at one point. Otherwise, no clue!

Our first mishap was as Greg tried an innocent enough looking mud hole and got stuck. Blair came around to winch him out and slipped down into a deep rut pulling one of his rear tires about 3' off the ground.

We had Vince pull around and winched Blair back to stable ground and he was then able to winch Greg out. There was another uneventful stuck and winching to get Greg free. The rest of us decided to pass!

We tooled around on some nice little trails in the valley and had a quick lunch around 1:00.

We decided to try a few quick blacks before exiting at 2:30. We should have probably run a few blues instead!

Greg got high centered on a ledge and like a run this spring (with a different 80) his O2 sensor got jammed up into the body and shorted out. This blew the efi fuse, and I should mention he was in the middle of a Creek! After some winching and creative positioning under the truck and in the creek, we got the 02 sensors unhooked and he was on his way.

We winched him forward. About here we realized his rear driveshaft had pretzled in two! We winched him into a good spot and he removed and replaced it.

The rest of us bypassed this rock.

We were heading out now, and around the water tower we realized that Vince was spewing coolant. We decided to make a run for the parking lot because it wasn't overheating.

Thankfully, we made it. Once there we discovered that all of his fan blades were broken off and the radiator had a pretty good hole.

Luckily Vince has Triple A. He called for a tow truck.

We waited around for about an hour - Greg and Vince were waiting when we left. Hopefully all went well!

Andy

 

[maxse01]

Wow, sounds like an eventful day. Sorry I wasn’t there to assist.

I think Greg should start notching his bumper with the number of twisted up drive shafts.

 

[jamarquardt22]

No wonder no pics or report last night. It sounds like @Crusha finally had a reason to install that rear drive shaft that had been floating around his back seat. I hope it went in ok.

 

[dci blair]

Here are a few phone pics.

 

[dci blair]

Some more

 

[dci blair]

And finally

 

[Crusha]

Andy pretty much summed up the day, here are the trails we did.

J1 to J2, down 17 and over to 14 into 13B, then up to 19A. We stopped at black 19, Ben walked it, said we could probably do it with some winching. I decided to bypass it for two reasons. One, to cover more ground, and two, because I seem to recall @shmukster speaking rather unkindly of it.

We then took the right side portion of 19B over to 11 and back up 23 to 11B, up 18a to 18B. Right before where 10 intersects 18a and 18B is where I get seriously stuck in a mudhole.

The whole area around there was very wet and incredibly slick and muddy. Continued on 18B to 10A, left on 11 and started to do black 20 entering at the top. Once again a wet rocky trail, pretty much a creekbed. This is where I got high centered on a rock ledge. I tried to back up and the driveshaft rotated on the ledge and spun the rear of the truck over about two feet, in addition to pretzeling the driveshaft. It took some time to get the truck dislodged and back on flat ground. I initially though I could maybe drive out with just front wheel drive, but no go. It was still slick and rocky. We got the truck to a safe spot, and put in my spare driveshaft. Drove back to the lot and waited with Vince for AA. I think it was about five by the time AA arrived and got Vince loaded up.

It was a long, fun day!

More pics: BLack Friday Rausch Creek 2017