glad i have a winch (1 Viewer)

[lt403]

i want to move from miami and live out where the action is

 

[macneill]

Cool pix!

 

[dmc]

Very cool, Did you get some GPS coord so we can all get out there together some day? Also did anyone in WC guess where it was?, I may have missed it due to it being the WCML....
Boomerang is a better name than ricochet?!?
Have fun

First few pics are near Cat Canyon. The others are out by the Deep Creek Range near Ibapah. I have all the gps coord if you want or you can pursuade me to go again fairly easily.
dmc

 

[LIVERUST]

I envy you Dave. I usually have one of my kids or a friend with, which has it's advantages too, but when I went out wheeling last week alone I realized how nice it can be. I really have a huge comfort range but I worry about my passengers all the time. With the top off the 40 I spend too much time worrying if my daughter is too hot or cold or if it's too windy or if the radio is too loud etc.. It was nice to just sit back and relax and crank the tunes and even sing along and not worry about offending anyone. And believe me my singing can offend.
Your living the life man. Keep it up.

troy

 

[concretejungle]

I do what I can to torture those who aren't as lucky as I am. One of my goals of posting these pics is to convince Concretejungle to move out here.
dmc

I'll attest to that ..............oh the envy!

 

[Bad azz Cruiser]

My intent was to spend all 3 days of the long weekend wandering the region West of Delta UT. A 40mph wind made camping less than desirable so I logged one very long day this weekend. About 300miles on dirt with some pavement mixed in for good measure.

I was exploring the mountains around Notch Peak. I found a fairly well traveled road and headed in the general direction I wanted to go so I took it. I came upon a ledge of loose limestone that I was pretty sure but not positive I could get back up. I got out and walked around the corner. The two track continued so I decided to give it a shot. Made it down without issue and continue down the track. About 1/2 mile later it got much worse. Being solo I decided to walk some more. About 200 yards down the wash ended with a 150 foot spill over.

Dejected I turned back toward the pavement. Well the ledge was a bit trickier than expected for various reason. One, my front locker wouldn't engage. Two, my air tank was home in my garage and I was at least 100 miles from the nearest gas station I didn't really want to air down. Three, the bottom of the wash was extremely soft, like pea gravel.
I gave the ledge a few attempts, testing the strength of my Slee sliders. No luck. Instead of getting really stupid I admitted defeat and went for the winch. The PO had never used the winch and I wasn't sure the 9500lb Ramsey Patriot would be enough. Not because I had to but because I could I locked my hand throttle in at 2k RPM and used the brake and winch to slowly pull myself up. Piece of cake extraction. I took some poseur pics while I was out there as well.
dmc

nice pix dmc!
you should consider this compressor its a great little unit!
http://www.yotatech.com/showthread.php?t=54907

 

[bluto]

2nd poseur shot = awesome wallpaper. On fire sunset complemented by the LCs lit up amber - very nice. Also the color of the LC just blends in with the coming dusk. Nice looking Cruiser too.

 

[dmc]

2nd poseur shot = awesome wallpaper. On fire sunset complemented by the LCs lit up amber - very nice. Also the color of the LC just blends in with the coming dusk. Nice looking Cruiser too.

thanks.

you mean like this...

 

[DaktariEd]

Wow! Beautiful photo/wallpaper.
I'm envious and in withdrawl! I need to get out and explore!!

 

[esh]

Glad to hear of someone else that enjoys solo exploring, Dave.

Cheers- Ken

 

[dmc]

Ken, Cascade Cruisers, TLCA #4408
'64 FJ40, '66 FJ454, '76 FJ55, '79 FJ40, '81 BJ42, '82 BJ42, '85 mini stock, '85 mini crawler, '89 FJ62

Ken,

That's a lot of trucks you have in your sig. How did you get them all up to Oregon from Cedar City? I would have loved to see that car transport rolling down the freeway. If they're still down here we should plan a desert trip when you come to pick them up.
dmc

 

[Brentbba]

dmc,

Very nice wallpaper for your computer. Here's what I use on mine!

 

[esh]

Dave, just 1 left in Cedar City- the stock '85 mini.

Current tally-

original trip out, F250 and camper, stock FJ45/V6 vortec/some parts/LC tranny+xfer... trailer rolled, demolished FJ45..

month later, insurance settles

next trip out, F250 on 56' car hauler, towing with F350, grab FJ40, FJ454, FJ55 and Toyloco, and all parts save a couple lwb FJ45 beds, cap for 40 hardtop, rear FF axle
great trip, everything made it fine.

still organizing unpacking but got Toyloco sold to a club member and just took a weekend trip out with the FJ40 (works nicely)

planning on coming back through mid August to get 2 lwb beds, 40's hard top cap, rear FF and stock '85 mini. Still have 70's (early?) rolling frame and tub to deal with (maybe advertise it to be picked up locally? tub is supposedly in great shape).

Plan is to sell F250+camper, Toyloco (sold), and FJ55 (pretty well sold), pay off the rest of my debt and keep the rest.

still asking why i did all that given that I only wanted the stock '85 mini to do scouting trips into the woods.

I'll be down that way in the Aug 10-12 timeframe. Going out to the 3FE Bash in Golden, CO, for the 5-6th, and then a group of us are breaking off for Moab probably around the 10-12. My dad is tentatively driving out in the F250/trailer and we'll drive back home the weekend of the 13th with most the rest of the stuff loaded up... then i'll be ready for a rest!

 

[dmc]

Ken,

Sorry to hear about the accident. Did you come through it okay? Say yes so I don't feel bad about thinking of the stock 45 first. WC will be in the Manti area on the 12th and 13th if the Moab thing doesn't work out. It's only about 45 mins north of I-70. We won't be doing anything really hardcore. Mostly just easy trail riding in terrain that very few of us know.
dmc

 

[esh]

I made it out fine. Just learned not to trust anyone else to load up a trailer. When the bad stuff happened, I was probably slowed down to 25-30mph so the camper and truck didn't get hurt at all, and the pintle hitch probably saved me from really bad things going on.

Woo that sounds like fun. I was at Moab this year and have been through many of the glamor trails in the last 5 years. email me details and I'll see if I can work it in. We're planning on doing something above Denver in the mountains (Red Cone?) for a couple days, then it's off toward SW Utah.

Are any of you running Natl Geographic TOPO! for navigation software?

 

[bh4rnnr]

Ken, give us a shout when your in the Denver area. Dont know yet about runs planned for August, but i'm sure somebody would be up for going. Especialy if you go on a Tuesday . Glad to hear your o.k.

 

[esh]

It's the 3FE Bash... a non-TLCA mini event. Check the mailing list for more info.

 

[jonb96150]

Wasatch Cruisers has monthly runs so I would say 60% of the time I'm with other people. The other 40% I go by myself. I wouldn't necessarily call it wheeling however. Very rarely do I have to put it in 4low. Most the time it's just wandering around on dirt roads exploring places I've never been.

I've been doing it for 10 years and have yet to have any incidents. Luckily I'm still healthy enough that I can always hike to where I can get help. I carry water and hiking shoes with me in the off chance something happens. Honestly I've learned never to do anything extreme by myself. Half the reason I sold the Taco in lieu of the 80 is that I caught myself going way too fast far too often. That is a recipe for disaster because a mistake means a rollover and injury instead of a dent and a long walk.

Over the years I have learned however to at least tell people where I am headed before I go and when to expect me back. 5 years ago I would just up and go. No plan, no communication. I see now that it was folly.

I have no plans to stop exploring by myself. I'm building my 80 to be completely self sufficient as well as my skill set. I find great solace and satisfaction in my little excursions and would prefer not to exchange that for safety of numbers. Self reliance is something I place great value on. In all aspects of life. I'm trying to extend it to my recreation as well.

Man that took a lot of words to just say 'yep.'
dmc

Wow, I could have written that myself. If I only went out w/ friends, as hard as it is to co-ordinate days off that aren't spoken for I would hardly ever get out in the boonies! I am learning to be more cautious after flopping my 4runner and my Pinzgauer on solo trips. Got the 4runner back on its feet in 45 min. as I have a winch on it, but the Pinzgauer took almost 3 hours (in the rain). Yah, I'm a slow learner.

 

[dmc]

Lucikly I've never rolled anything. I'd like to see pics of the self-righting of a Pinz. The worst scenario I've faced alone was digging myself out of a drift for about 5 hours one winter in the Taco. I had plenty of water and took my time so it wasn't that bad.

A lot of people like to discourage wheeling alone but not only is it far easier than organizing a group but the satisfaction is far greater. Different rules and judgement have to be applied but it can still be done safely and effectively with the right rig, preparation and decisions.
dmc

 

[jonb96150]

I did take some pix, but this was about 4 or 5 years ago and it was on a 35mm camera. I used a hi-lift jack, a come-along and two ratchet straps tied onto some willow trees I was next to. A slow process of sequentially tightening up each strap (as none of them were rated for the load) and supporting one end with the hi-lift. Kind of like landing a 50lb fish on 5lb test line! When I finally got the Pinz upright (a rare 710k no less) I smashed the hell out of my thumb when the hi-lift mechanism slid down and got me. It sure felt good when it stopped hurting about a week later. I ended up losing the thumbnail but this was on the second day of a 5 day trip, with no power steering on those old Pinzgauers. I still hate hi-lift jacks and have carried a two stage hydraulic bottle jack (Pinzgauer issue) that goes about 18"-20" instead. But I do carry the hi-lift in rigs that have no winch. But I sure treat them carefully.
Most folks think solo wheelers are crazy, and I guess we are unusual. But like you said, with the right preparation it is not as crazy as it sounds. I am much more careful than I used to be, and I do not want to flop this 80 as it is my dd and my wife will probably divorce me if I roll another rig , so I guess my decision making process is improving finally!