Eastern Sierras, Coyote Flats, 8/26-30 (1 Viewer)

[Bud_Dude]

Knowing how to use your high lift jack, safely, and its limitations on your specific vehicle is good to know as well.
I lucked out with my blowout being in the rear where the jack worked, mostly. Many thanks to Tim, Wyatt and Jared for the assist in getting it changed.

I tested my jack in the driveway yesterday and quickly determined that the high lift would have been of no use whatsoever for a front tire blowout. No way to jack from an ARB front bumper without some alternate attachments and too much front travel to get the wheel off the ground when jacking from a slider. Additional gear and tricks will be needed to use the jack on the front of the truck. One trick I saw on the interweb is that of using a ratchet strap to secure the axle to the frame before attempting to jack up, depending on strap strength/stretch this should force the wheel to follow the frame up when jacking on the frame, sliders or bumper. I need to test this and practice before relying on it in the field.

 

[RET2]

Knowing how to use your high lift jack, safely, and its limitations on your specific vehicle is good to know as well.
I lucked out with my blowout being in the rear where the jack worked, mostly. Many thanks to Tim, Wyatt and Jerrod for the assist in getting it changed.

I tested my jack in the driveway yesterday and quickly determined that the high lift would have been of no use whatsoever for a front tire blowout. No way to jack from an ARB front bumper without some alternate attachments and too much front travel to get the wheel off the ground when jacking from a slider. Additional gear and tricks will be needed to use the jack on the front of the truck. One trick I saw on the interweb is that of using a ratchet strap to secure the axle to the frame before attempting to jack up, depending on strap strength/stretch this should force the wheel to follow the frame up when jacking on the frame, sliders or bumper. I need to test this and practice before relying on it in the field.

View attachment 2773906

Don't think that one will buff out.

 

[sdnative]

snapped the icon shock in half

There are a few reports in the 200 section of snapping Icon shocks. Not good.

 

[Justsendit]

Another great trip for the books. There was carnage. The Arctodus got altitude sickness and puked its suspension all over the trail.

View attachment 2772969

Lost another shock??

 

[Bud_Dude]

Don't think that one will buff out.

Most assuredly that will not buff out...
BUT - Discount Tire is replacing the Nitto Terra Grappler tire (purchased by someone else in Poway in Nov 2017) free of charge, except for a $30 fee for a new replacement certificate.

 

[bicycleagent003]

The fjc has been breaking the right rear shock. And by breaking I mean shearing the shaft completely. The first one I attributed to age/use. The second one I assumed something like bad luck. We now know that the real problem was worm out bushings in the control arms.

What happened on this trip was the axle articulated in the wrong angle, snapped the icon shock in half, allowing the axle to extend far enough to drop the spring and bump stop onto the trail while breaking the bead on the tire as it went.
We put the spare on, put the spring back in and secured it with tie downs and duct tape. I limped to camp so I could enjoy a couple days with the group. At camp we re- seated the tire and reinforced the tie-down duct tape zip tie unfuckery to a " meh" confidence level for the trip off the mountain.
The vehicle made it down the mountain and after 7 hours of a magic carpet ride , made it home.

Wow, I'm glad to hear everyone is safe and you got off the mountain okay. That trail down the mountain is kind of hairy steep with some tight turns. There must have been some extra pucker there on the downhill trip. I'm glad it all worked out, and thanks for sharing the info.

 

[jwbc84]

 

[jwbc84]

 

[jwbc84]

It was great seeing all the old faces and meeting some new. It was tight but am glad I could join.

 

[Overlandeffex]

That looked like a super fun time!! Wish we could have made it but needed to finish up drywall and plumbing for the new cabinets this weekend.

 

[custyota]

All but one CA National Forests closed starting tomorrow until Sept 17. Good thing we got our trip in before Labor Day!

All 18 California national forests to close as wildfires intensify

The National Forest Service announced it will close all national forests in California at noon on Tuesday to protect people from fire danger, except one.

www.redding.com

All National Forest (In region 5) are closed as of now.

Glad y'all got to go to Coyote. I will be closing the road here shortly.

Curious if y'all saw any illegal campfires while up there?

 

[Phulcrum]

All National Forest (In region 5) are closed as of now.

Glad y'all got to go to Coyote. I will be closing the road here shortly.

Curious if y'all saw any illegal campfires while up there?

Didn't see any other camp sites. Just vehicles passing through.

 

[elripster]

All National Forest (In region 5) are closed as of now.

Glad y'all got to go to Coyote. I will be closing the road here shortly.

Curious if y'all saw any illegal campfires while up there?

Honestly we saw hardly any people let alone fires. We had our camp area entirely to ourselves. We didn't run into anyone hiking to Hidden Lake. There was again zero evidence of s*** showiness or other poor behavior. I hope this information gets carried forward as I'd hate to see a place like this shutdown over unfounded rumor.

Frank

 

[elripster]

Sorry all for taking so long to post a report, I had to leave the next morning for the ACT show in Long Beach so will get on it when I get home today.

Frank

 

[elripster]

And the moment we have been waiting for...... the trip report.

Unconfined entertainment is fun due to the unpredictability of it. Sometimes it makes it exciting, sometimes scary, but always more interesting. I this case started the trip with what was actually a very easy drive through LA and made great time. We hit a little slowing but nothing like past years. We stopped for an early lunch and gas at Bravo Burgers in Adelanto and made our way to Bishop without incident. Once there we all took of those little things we forgot or had planned to get once there.

We all met up at the air down spot where we were pleasantly surprised to find Jarod or jwbc84. With him we had 7 trucks and started the climb.

The views just get better and better as you climb.

My dad and BMinSD making their way up.

Soon the scenery turned to mountain and then to the high desert of the plateau.

 

[Bud_Dude]

View attachment 2773906

So today Discount Tire replaced my tire boo-boo for no cost thanks to the original buyer of the tires purchasing the fully transferable tire damage 'replacement certificates' back in Nov-2017, nearly four years ago! So, I now have a nice new spare Nitto Terra Grappler; and yes I cheerfully paid the $30ish for a new replacement certificate. It seems these certificates from Discount Tire are more of a tire insurance policy than an warranty, they really did not care how the damage occurred, as long as the tread was 3/32" the tire gets replaced - including free mounting and balancing. I don't think I ever fully appreciated the nature of these certificates before, but saving me nearly $300 for what a new tire with mounting and balancing and tax would have cost... I sure do now! Yay!

 

[elripster]

That is one of the nice things about discount.

 

[Phulcrum]

Where's the rest of the Frank , er , trip report?

 

[elripster]

Got sidetracked, will get back on it tonight.

 

[elripster]

As we were making the climb, as you read above, Bud had a boo boo, a flat, which needed replacing. We decided I'd take half the group to camp and Tim would lead those that stayed back to help bud.

Once at camp we were greeted by loads of deer. This fascinated the kids until the deer moved on.

After some time had passed and my truck had barfed most of it's camping contents onto the dirt to be set up I noted that the other group should have been there by now. I continued to split time between setup and getting the rig ready to head out and see how the other group was doing. Then, Jarod pulls into camp with one message- get Frank. I loaded up my tools and headed down. When I found Arctodus, some of its parts where not in the right place.

Carnage tall was, one right rear shock, the tire was forced off of the bead, and the dust shield was bent into the rotor (minor). Brian and Jarod joined us and we got to work getting the Arctodus operational. We loaded as much cargo as we could into the other trucks. Got the rig secured to Brian's so it wouldn't roll, got the truck in the air, spring and jounce bumper back in, spring lashed to the buckets, a limit strap fashioned out of a ratchet strap and duct tape, spare installed, and truck lowered. It was now ready and able to make the journey to camp which it did without issue.