This was a freak thing. Nick hit that rock just the wrong way and I wouldn’t have thought it possible unless I saw it. The rock was maybe 3” tall max. Super unlucky. Just needed the CLCC tow service 5 miles to the main road.
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Dec 18th wheeling!
- Thread starter afgman786
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- trail ride
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afgman786
SILVER Star
Diff Kraken
SILVER Star
For the holiday party we need an awards ceremony for members that went above and beyond
@captainva You were a total hero with your tow skills and GX and good equipment. You towed me for about 2 hours. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
@1MOA You, my friend, are also a total badass. Thank you for your skill and knowhow on hooking up your 40 from the back to help my 4runner brake during towing. Thank you for waiting 2 fing hours on the side of a mountain guarding my truck while we looked for cell service and tried to get a tow truck sent. You are a hero. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
@kevin in okinawa You are a hero. Thank you for letting me and my dog occupy your time from 6:30pm until 1am. You saved the day helping to get the tow truck to the right spot when they were having trouble with the location. Super level headed dude. Thank you so so so much for the long ride back to DC in your badass 60 on 37s. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
You guys are unbelievably generous and skilled club members. Very very lucky you guys were there.
I owe y’all some serious holiday gifts.
@captainva You were a total hero with your tow skills and GX and good equipment. You towed me for about 2 hours. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
@1MOA You, my friend, are also a total badass. Thank you for your skill and knowhow on hooking up your 40 from the back to help my 4runner brake during towing. Thank you for waiting 2 fing hours on the side of a mountain guarding my truck while we looked for cell service and tried to get a tow truck sent. You are a hero. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
@kevin in okinawa You are a hero. Thank you for letting me and my dog occupy your time from 6:30pm until 1am. You saved the day helping to get the tow truck to the right spot when they were having trouble with the location. Super level headed dude. Thank you so so so much for the long ride back to DC in your badass 60 on 37s. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
You guys are unbelievably generous and skilled club members. Very very lucky you guys were there.
I owe y’all some serious holiday gifts.
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That's what it's all about. I'm always impressed by the way everyone works together to lend assistance.
davidp14
SILVER Star
Damn. That sucks. Guess I picked a good Saturday to work. Glad you guys figured it out though.
No.pics of the carnage?
No.pics of the carnage?
1MOA
SILVER Star
1MOA
SILVER Star
The person I really feel sorry for was @captainva s wife who was riding with him. I am sure she is looking back asking herself how her husband hooked up with this clustertruck crew.
You don’t owe us anything! I was paying it forward from when @afgman786 pulled me out from hood deep in a mud pit at the cove with 20 jeeps heckling me. Thats why we go with friends.
Haha it’s all good. She had fun and she’s been around me long enough to know this is what I get myself into. She was happy and along for the ride. Sorry I couldn’t stay with you guys at the end of the trail.
Here’s some photos from the trip.
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1MOA
SILVER Star
Couple of things I would throw out there from lessons learned from this.
1 COMMUNICATIONS.
We all had club radios but some would only hear some would only talk it worked out fine but we should really make an effort to have either personal or club radios available for club members even for non club sanctioned rides. Maybe be able to sign a few club radios out a week or so prior to a ride so that literally everyone is on the same page.
On a further note While I was at the mountain at Switzer Lake Rd and Rt 33 waiting I was able to hit the Harrisonburg 2M repeater and was able to talk to people and there was NO cell service there. Pretty sure I could of lined up the tow or called for medical if needed the Hams on the other end were more than helpful. For anyone who has gotten the technician or General licence a good 2M/10M rig in the truck might make a life saving difference if it ever came down to it. I was using the Baofeng handheld at 5 watts and a upgraded antenna but a mobile rig with more power and better antenna would of been much better.
2 LOCATIONS GPS is your buddy. Get a garmin or like device that uses either GPS/GLONASS satellites that is stand alone from cell phones. Where we go cell phones are not working. I have a Garmin GPSMAP 65 series that works well but the screen is small. While out there I did discover that it can wirelessly share it map and data with a cell phone nearby so it can dump your route and location to your friends. On a bad note it EATS batteries like no tomorrow. I burned through 2 top shelf AA batteries in 6 hours so get extra batteries.
3 RECOVERY GEAR
We were lucky in that we had a bunch of recovery gear between the 4 of us. That included straps shackles and the tools to attach them as well. I will say take a look at your rig and see if you have recovery points front and rear to get you or someone else out of a jam if need be.
Other issue was winches. While we did not need to use a winch the people in front of us certainly did. Look at your set up and make sure it's good to go. Watching the recovery effort of others it was apparent they just threw a winch on the front bumper of their TJ and thought it was cool. It was attached with 6 of the 8 bolts it was supposed to have and the cable was a birds nest tangled cable on the reel. They had no idea how to use ( freespool the cable out) or set up for a tow. ( truck in park with no parking brake on passenger in truck texting right behind windshield not paying attention on the phone ) We were able to tell them to put the brake on sit in the driver seat hold the brake down and put the hood up to offer protection if the cable were to break. Gave him a safety mat to put on the cable and walked him through the recovery.
I would suggest taking your recovery gear out and playing with it. I think we made ourselves look good helping them out but it was a wash since we sat there for a good hour while they tried to figure out how to get a RAV4 over a rock.
In Spite of all of the above I had a good time and it was fun to see members I have not seen in a while or ever met in person
1 COMMUNICATIONS.
We all had club radios but some would only hear some would only talk it worked out fine but we should really make an effort to have either personal or club radios available for club members even for non club sanctioned rides. Maybe be able to sign a few club radios out a week or so prior to a ride so that literally everyone is on the same page.
On a further note While I was at the mountain at Switzer Lake Rd and Rt 33 waiting I was able to hit the Harrisonburg 2M repeater and was able to talk to people and there was NO cell service there. Pretty sure I could of lined up the tow or called for medical if needed the Hams on the other end were more than helpful. For anyone who has gotten the technician or General licence a good 2M/10M rig in the truck might make a life saving difference if it ever came down to it. I was using the Baofeng handheld at 5 watts and a upgraded antenna but a mobile rig with more power and better antenna would of been much better.
2 LOCATIONS GPS is your buddy. Get a garmin or like device that uses either GPS/GLONASS satellites that is stand alone from cell phones. Where we go cell phones are not working. I have a Garmin GPSMAP 65 series that works well but the screen is small. While out there I did discover that it can wirelessly share it map and data with a cell phone nearby so it can dump your route and location to your friends. On a bad note it EATS batteries like no tomorrow. I burned through 2 top shelf AA batteries in 6 hours so get extra batteries.
3 RECOVERY GEAR
We were lucky in that we had a bunch of recovery gear between the 4 of us. That included straps shackles and the tools to attach them as well. I will say take a look at your rig and see if you have recovery points front and rear to get you or someone else out of a jam if need be.
Other issue was winches. While we did not need to use a winch the people in front of us certainly did. Look at your set up and make sure it's good to go. Watching the recovery effort of others it was apparent they just threw a winch on the front bumper of their TJ and thought it was cool. It was attached with 6 of the 8 bolts it was supposed to have and the cable was a birds nest tangled cable on the reel. They had no idea how to use ( freespool the cable out) or set up for a tow. ( truck in park with no parking brake on passenger in truck texting right behind windshield not paying attention on the phone ) We were able to tell them to put the brake on sit in the driver seat hold the brake down and put the hood up to offer protection if the cable were to break. Gave him a safety mat to put on the cable and walked him through the recovery.
I would suggest taking your recovery gear out and playing with it. I think we made ourselves look good helping them out but it was a wash since we sat there for a good hour while they tried to figure out how to get a RAV4 over a rock.
In Spite of all of the above I had a good time and it was fun to see members I have not seen in a while or ever met in person
afgman786
SILVER Star
@1MOA well said this is why we go out in pairs. There are club radios that can get loaned out to club members. I believe @Stumpalama has them. I have 3 Bofangs and willing to loan them out of someone needs one. Communications can be the death of a trip.
Diff Kraken
SILVER Star
kevin in okinawa
SILVER Star
We were having a slow-paced good time, until we weren’t. @PRADO3 you’re welcome, this is precisely why we join the club with like-minded fellows. Pool trail resources and know-how, make sure everyone gets home. Not like those clowns in front of us. 
I didn’t think I’d like Flagpole Knob as much as I did. Recommend it, especially for newbies. The single-track trail reminds me of home.
Like 1MOA/Alexi, I spent most of the day happily putting along in 4lo 3rd gear, the trail isn’t overly rocky, meandering along the ridges with views of gorges and cool rocks and stuff everywhere. I really enjoyed the scenic view aspect of this trail. There’s a few technical spots that stock trucks, and apparently rav4s lol, can navigate, and with good spotting, get through without damage. @PRADO3 did a really good job, it’s unfortunate that he had the aforementioned freakish metal fracture
. At the end.
My new baofeng radio doesn’t hear but transmits. I agree with Alexi in that I think I need better mapping ability. I’m letting Santa know about too.
@captainva you did a great job as trail boss.
I didn’t think I’d like Flagpole Knob as much as I did. Recommend it, especially for newbies. The single-track trail reminds me of home.
Like 1MOA/Alexi, I spent most of the day happily putting along in 4lo 3rd gear, the trail isn’t overly rocky, meandering along the ridges with views of gorges and cool rocks and stuff everywhere. I really enjoyed the scenic view aspect of this trail. There’s a few technical spots that stock trucks, and apparently rav4s lol, can navigate, and with good spotting, get through without damage. @PRADO3 did a really good job, it’s unfortunate that he had the aforementioned freakish metal fracture
. At the end.My new baofeng radio doesn’t hear but transmits. I agree with Alexi in that I think I need better mapping ability. I’m letting Santa know about too.
@captainva you did a great job as trail boss.
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Learning how to program the Baofengs, either by CHIRP or manually is also something that we should all strive to accomplish. Hours are wasted at every event prior to departure because the club radio codes aren’t the same as the default presets. I’m as guilty as the next guy but got a good lesson at fall crawl that I hope I have retained. Solving the problem of only being able to Transmit or Receive made me feel pretty good by the time it stuck with me on day 2.
The other option is for everybody to reset the baofengs to factory settings (very easy to do) but that only works if nobody has a club radio or presets already.
It’s literally just one or two minor adjustments to the radio that our great radio gods always publicize on event material but I can understand if it confuses people.
Get familiar with the radio, come to an event or a monthly meeting, and try to talk to others in the group. It should be easy enough for the adjustments to be made to be ready to go for the next trip, even if only on one or two channels.
Hell, to keep it simple, I have two baofengs that I try to keep up to date with CLCC freq’s and two more that I keep stock and packed with a list of FRS and GMRS Channel freq’s so I’m good to go with people who have out-of-the-box radios of any brand. My problem is always having to lend out radios (because I’m a nice guy) and then having to alter them, then getting them mixed up. Ugh.
The other option is for everybody to reset the baofengs to factory settings (very easy to do) but that only works if nobody has a club radio or presets already.
It’s literally just one or two minor adjustments to the radio that our great radio gods always publicize on event material but I can understand if it confuses people.
Get familiar with the radio, come to an event or a monthly meeting, and try to talk to others in the group. It should be easy enough for the adjustments to be made to be ready to go for the next trip, even if only on one or two channels.
Hell, to keep it simple, I have two baofengs that I try to keep up to date with CLCC freq’s and two more that I keep stock and packed with a list of FRS and GMRS Channel freq’s so I’m good to go with people who have out-of-the-box radios of any brand. My problem is always having to lend out radios (because I’m a nice guy) and then having to alter them, then getting them mixed up. Ugh.
kevin in okinawa
SILVER Star
Do one of y’all have the blue tree saver from the tow operation?
Diff Kraken
SILVER Star
Yup, PMd
iptman
SILVER Star
So what actually broke on the 4Runner?
Diff Kraken
SILVER Star
Skid plate did not do it’s job. We’ll find out tomorrow what actually broke but let’s just say it seemed prudent to shut down the engine and not turn it back on until it’s sorted.
