Rausch Creek it is. Thanks to Andy M for giving me the heads up. Should be a fun day regardless of the color of the trails.
EDIT - Keystone Cruisers Next Club Run Is NOW Saturday 11/16 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Crusha
- Start date
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fireball
SILVER Star
Oh no, sorry to hear that Ric. What happened?!
Great to see everyone and great to get out. I miss not making the monthly club runs. It had been 4 years since the 74 saw dirt. Fun times!
Great to see everyone and great to get out. I miss not making the monthly club runs. It had been 4 years since the 74 saw dirt. Fun times!
Damn I missed a green trail day when you guys ACTUALLY stuck to greens?!
Also curious to know how Ric ended up on a tow truck...
Also curious to know how Ric ended up on a tow truck...
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It was fun. Gentle fun. Saw 1 deer running for its life.
Yeah trail 36 especially is nothing to sneeze at, the steep drop can certainly cause some anxiety...………...
I need to get the H41 into my truck and get back out there. The H42 is doing some weird “grinding.” Seems to only occur in the split second that the clutch pedal is in, and the transmission is in gear. Worried it might be synchros but it’s pretty intermittent. H41 and a skid plate will make me a much happier camper off-road.
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Damn Rick I sold two skid plates yesterday!
Saw them - they were stock ones right? I’m going to build something beefier. Plus, not sure the stockers would work with a V8 conversion.
Yeah it was a goo day on the trails. I rode and navigated with Crusha in the diesel, we had Vince in his Lexus 80 series, Rick in his nice white 4Runner, Aaron in the 200 series, Vince and family in his 100 series, and Ben was tailgating in the BJ74. The parking lot surprisingly was mobbed with Jeeps, I could hardly believe how busy it was a for a cold day in November. Did I say cold? Yes it was pretty darn cold in the morning especially for those of us who had to use the porta-potty!!!! It did warm up as the day went on and actually ended up being quite the nice day.
We decided to try to avoid the most traffic by crossing the road and doing trails in the northeast property. I like that side but the trails aren't quite as clear in my mind as those on the office side of the property. We did nevertheless run into strings of jeeps all day long, worst time of which was when we were coming down the steep part of trail 36 and a string of about a dozen jeeps were headed uphill. Hmmm, a bit of confusion as the jeep drivers weren't paying attention to their trail leader. Eventually we drove around them on a bypass, I wondered all day how they fared going up that seep part of trail 36- I've never seen anyone go up it. The Jeep trail leader told me he'd been up it before and scoffed when I mentioned probably needing a winch- he didn't seem very inclined to use a winch. Good for them.
Rick had an almost "oops" moment on the second drop on that descent. It was a bit wet and a lot of leaves lying on the trail combined with that to make it a bit slippery. Crusha lost his line in that slippery section and Rick really did. Sure got our attention when his truck tipped severely man it was close to going on its side!
Other than that section, none of the trails we did were particularly challenging. Made for a great green/blue trails day and I think everyone had a good time. Rick did experience a problem with his front suspension it looked like it was toeing in considerably and he ended up deciding to let AAA take his truck home. Looking forward to hear exactly what he finds to be the problem. Was great to meet Sebastian, Aaron's partner, and also to meet Chuck's family. A good crew! Hadn't wheeled with Vince in quite awhile and it was good to see him. A lot of parts were swapped between trucks at the end of the day, all in all a great day for the Keystone cruisers!!!!!
We decided to try to avoid the most traffic by crossing the road and doing trails in the northeast property. I like that side but the trails aren't quite as clear in my mind as those on the office side of the property. We did nevertheless run into strings of jeeps all day long, worst time of which was when we were coming down the steep part of trail 36 and a string of about a dozen jeeps were headed uphill. Hmmm, a bit of confusion as the jeep drivers weren't paying attention to their trail leader. Eventually we drove around them on a bypass, I wondered all day how they fared going up that seep part of trail 36- I've never seen anyone go up it. The Jeep trail leader told me he'd been up it before and scoffed when I mentioned probably needing a winch- he didn't seem very inclined to use a winch. Good for them.
Rick had an almost "oops" moment on the second drop on that descent. It was a bit wet and a lot of leaves lying on the trail combined with that to make it a bit slippery. Crusha lost his line in that slippery section and Rick really did. Sure got our attention when his truck tipped severely man it was close to going on its side!
Other than that section, none of the trails we did were particularly challenging. Made for a great green/blue trails day and I think everyone had a good time. Rick did experience a problem with his front suspension it looked like it was toeing in considerably and he ended up deciding to let AAA take his truck home. Looking forward to hear exactly what he finds to be the problem. Was great to meet Sebastian, Aaron's partner, and also to meet Chuck's family. A good crew! Hadn't wheeled with Vince in quite awhile and it was good to see him. A lot of parts were swapped between trucks at the end of the day, all in all a great day for the Keystone cruisers!!!!!
I enjoyed wheeling yesterday with the group and learned a lot for my 1st time on the trails in my 3rd gen 4runner. Thanks again to @Crusha ,@shmukster , and @Pacer for helping me out on the trails. I needed it because I am a rookie and probably damaged my steering going to fast on the trails but it all worked out. My son Ryan loved going out and was happy to see the 4Runner go through the trails and Boy it was a long day and we did not get home in till 8 PM but we were able get the truck back home in the driveway.
I doubt that.
Paging @YotaFun
At some point during the day, Rick's 3rd gen front suspension got very toed in, and looked like it had lots of positive camber.
Looked like it was fighting itself, plowing through the trail.
We found a little play in the inner steering rack, but could not determine what was causing the change in geometry.
Blair mentioned the lower control arm alignment tabs rust away, but I didn't see anything a miss under there.
When I am able to remove the skid plate and jack to front end up I will look at the control arm alignment tabs. I will look to see if I see anything out of the ordinary on the driver side and send an update.
Yup very possible. Remember when we did Anthracite a year ago. I was in my last run on the Anthracite 4Runner. When we took that seat pucker drop the cams on the lower controls arms flattened and I had to do a eye ball alignment to get myself home. I'm surprised you never experienced that problem with the Tacoma.
Yup I bet when you pull the skids you'll see the alignment tabs bent for the essenteics for the lower control arm. What I plan on doing and you should do the same. Hammer the tabs back in place. And then run a bead of weld behind them to hopefully prevent future concerns.
Another tip. After your alignment, clean the truck good and make a scribe mark on each cam. This way if it happens again. You can do a quick parking lot alignment that will get you home if you don't feel like calling AAA or don't have it (like me...)
Thanks Avi! Hopefully someone can help me out do some welding which is on my list to learn.
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I was referring to damage to the steering. Not alignment which could totally happen.
I never hit anything that hard with the taco or 4runner. I never broke a cv either so take that for what it is worth.
I was referring to damage to the steering. Not alignment which could totally happen.
I never hit anything that hard with the taco or 4runner. I never broke a cv either so take that for what it is worth.
Chris your name was mentioned Saturday at Rausch Creek. When are you coming down again from NY for another club wheeling day?????
