River Shiver RECON / LJ78 3rd test run

[crushers]

Once again yesterday the 2 tone Brown LJ78 headed for the woods for a day of testing and wheeling.
The truck is still bone stock on winter street tires. fresh off the train 2 weeks ago.
The little truck fires up with out being plugged in at -18C, although it does like being plugged in better. in goes Crusier the dog and it is off to breaky to meet up with the guys for the RECON run. We ended up with 3 truck, 3 people and 3 winches. perfect.
once we hit the icy gravel we locked in and cruised on the the trail head.
there was Kevin in the FJ45
Carlo a newbie in his untested FJ40
and of course Vruiser and i in the LJ78. the temp was a ablamy -16C when we left the city, -19C when we started at the trail head.

 

[crushers]

we are scouting the trail for the Local TLCA even the RIVER SHIVER. testing the ice conditions, checking how the snow is laying, what kind of terrain changes had happened over the summer months before the boys start coming in from all over to play in the mountains in the month of Febuary.
we took the back way into the Cabin Creek trail to give Carlo his first taste of decending and climbing the snow covered hills. I was voted trail leader so off i went int he LJ78, H range, 4WD, no locker engaged and it had no problem. one thing i noticed with this truck you do not need Low range very often at all. only the steepest of hills and or if the tires get wedged is when i feel the need.
It climbed the hill easily and then up came Carlo with no problem but i love the look on a newbi's face when they finally see what a cruiser can do.
of course what goes up must come down and the steep down was right ahead of us.
as you can see the river is freezing over well. by Feb this will be one big sheet of ice. one of the funnest (is that a word??) things you can do is go booting up a frozen river cruising around the bends, getting air off the small water falls and just letting loose for a few minutes.

 

[crushers]

up one side

 

[crushers]

at the top

 

[crushers]

and down the other...

it doesn't look too steep in the pics but come feb when this hill has a few more inches of snow and a frozen top section it can turn into a tobbogan ride to the bottom...
the top 30 feet has a habit of thawing and freezing again, thankfully there is a bypass if it is needed.

 

[crushers]

Cruiser just wanted to keep going, he loves the mountains to stretch his legs.
the sunroof in the LJ78, you can still enjoy looking at the snow on the trees with out having to feel the brisk air. the best of both worlds.

the day was beautiful, a bit nippy at times but with the sun beating down on the mountain tops it would be hard to beat staying in the city....

and on we go

 

[crushers]

out of the nedow and up and down the hill again. there was a hidden wahout to be navigated on the way down. in Feb this section gets a good amount of snow laying on the north face which makes for a scenic but challenging trail.
sad to say but when you are the one taking the pics yo do not get many of your own rig...

 

[crushers]

weaving through the woods. the virgin trail is a great reward for braving the chilly day. the emps went from -19C to +3C back to -13C through out our run...

 

[crushers]

this was the first time i used low range and the rear elec locker. up to now i never felt a need for more power but the crisscross of the ruts caused a loss of traction.
note the 6 feet where the frotn tire never touched the ground. i backed up, engaged low range, turn the dial for the rear locker and "crabed" my way up and out on the RHS...
to say i was impressed is an understatement.

 

[crushers]

now this is also where Carlo learned a great deal about tire placement. he is running open front and rear so tire placement becomes very important. we could have pulled him up at any time but it was more important for him to learn. after about 20 minutes of trying different routes he finally just picked the right line and up he went.
you can see how twisted the ruts are.
Carlo with the thumbs down as he got stuck again..

 

[crushers]

this was the second time i needed low range and the locker. there is a small 1 1/2 foot lip at the top of hill as you can just make out at the bottom of the first shot. it took me a few minutes of trying to get my tires to grab and climb over, i hind sight i shoudl have stayed in High range. a low overhanging tree just barely missed the sunroof as i drove under.

i took the LH side while Carlo made short work coming straingt up and over.
Kevin with the biggest tires and the locker in the rear had a fair amount fo trouble with this as well.
the trails can be decieving when covered with a dusting of snow.
this trail usually takes about 2 hours in the summer, 3 hours on a day like today and it took us 11 hours a few years back in Feb. the deep snow, erroded water crossings and fridget temps kept us working our way to the end. the hills here can change litterally in just a couple hours.

 

[crushers]

a nice shot through the trees
stopped, the ice gave way and down i went, into reverse and backed right back out. Kevin came down a different route and smashed up the ice and i just drove through. ice can be decieving, it can be a couple inches thick or several and when you have a dusting of snow covering the different colours it can surprise you. this is the one time i could have used a small lift and a bit bigger tires. actually i am thinking that one of these on 33s might just be the ticket. it would make using Low range more effective, better departure angle which sucks in any wagon and give it a more outback look...

 

[crushers]

slippery rocks and a short running lane can make for an interesting climb...

end of the day over looking the country we played in today.
breaky at 8 and back home in time for supper, cool run guys.
thanks

 

[crushers]

one sleepy boy..
thanks for following along...

 

[harveya]

Great pictures, I'm gonna have to move to Canada

 

[crushers]

lots of wheeling and lots of land to live on...
when i came out here from Ontario 25 years ago to visit my sister for 2 weeks i made a trip to the mountains. at the end of 2 weeks i went back home, packed my life in the trunk and drove back out arriving here with $35 in my pocket. the mountains can really have such a overwhelming adiction...
i am sure you would be a welcome addition.

 

[harveya]

Been to Canada a few times but only to Toronto and Montreal. When I first came to Canada, Nortel was everyone's favorite company and you got treated as royalty when you came through the airport once they knew you were Nortel. Last time I came to Toronto everyone seemed to have lost a packet on Nortel shares and I felt like a leper. Still I don't work for Nortel anymore so I guess I'm welcome again. Was going to try to emigrate to Arizona but the Americans don't want the brits for some reason - not sure why, we are almost human. Canada was always the first choice but the cold weather put my wife off a bit, mind you she's coming round to the idea now - the UK is going to the dogs now, going to have to leave before the government makes us all bankrupt.

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

beautiful, thank you Wayne!
Jan

 

[light_duty]

i am sure you would be a welcome addition.

Not least for your expertise in matters 2L-TE!

--

Wayne, I'd love to come wheeling with you guys sometime, as long as you don't mind schooling another total newbie.

Fianlly, this may be a stupid question, but is there any way to retrofit an electric locker onto my 78 without swapping out the rear end? If only I'd known then what know now, I'd have held out for a truck with the locker option.

Robin

 

[harveya]

Not least for your expertise in matters 2L-TE!

--

Wayne, I'd love to come wheeling with you guys sometime, as long as you don't mind schooling another total newbie.

Fianlly, this may be a stupid question, but is there any way to retrofit an electric locker onto my 78 without swapping out the rear end? If only I'd known then what know now, I'd have held out for a truck with the locker option.

Robin

Robin.

That's the job for me then, changing cylinder heads on 2LTs - got it down to about 5 hours now (toyota rate it as an 8 hour job), might even make some money at it.

With regards to the Locker, Think you can do it by changing the Diff assembly, pretty sure the axle housing is the same - need the locker, switch and I think it has a locker ECU unit off one with a locker, probably cheaper to fit an air locker though by the time you get the bits unless you can find a scrapper with the bits you need (which is probably unlikely).