Rubithon Breakage

[Cruiserdrew]

Even Mrs. Cruiserdan took off her flares and covered the holes with pink elephants (or was that just the DTs?).

I agree with Pighead, except I'm not laughing at my fellow 80 owners. The flares need to go. In the end, they cause more damage and are like damage multipliers for the rear quarters.

The lack of mechanical breakage by the Colorado boys and the wagon run was fairly impressisve. A few dents here and there are pretty normal, just look at La Cabra.

 

[Romer]

You 80 guys make me laugh....gluing your plastic pieces back onto your rig...

The flares need to go. In the end, they cause more damage and are like damage multipliers for the rear quarters.

Yeah yeah yeah. So I wheeled the Rubicon and didn't loose any flares. I have wheeled Moab and didn't loose any flares, I have wheeled Colorado and didn't loose any flares (we won't mention Flat Nasty - I hate Tree's)

The peice that came off was door cladding and the clip broke. The door cladding is actually extra prtoection. I would likely have had a mark there if not for the door cladding.

Besides, I drive a Lexus and it just wouldn't be right pulling up to the polo club flareless. Seriously, if for less than $20 I can keep my truck looking great, whats wrong with that? I went to the con expecting major damage, If I wiould have ripped a flare or dented the truck bad, I would have shrugged my shoulders and left it alone.

Several have mentioned I shouldn't have spent the $18 and wore it like a badge of Honor

Badge of Honor my ass. . . I think it speaks louder that I wheel my truck hard and it still looks the way it does.

 

[4WD Toyota Owner Magazine]

It was an awesome trip and I can't speak enough about how great the wagon run was, Andy Pollock is the MAN as a leader, Alvaro and all his great food, chocolote, wine etc, then the Rising Sun group on day two was superlative--thanks to all!!

Sway bars: ever since Bill Burke chastised me four years ago for keeping mine on, I've taken them off for Rubicon and boy am I glad I did. I warned a couple of people early (out of Loon on the bowl area) to take 'em off...later, they were indeed mashed.

Spotting on Cadillac: totally agree with Romer.

I have a ton of killer pics of y'all and will post plenty up when I get back from Los Angeles where I am now. I have Romer in action, Nakman on three outside of Buck, Pollock, CDan, tons of people. I won't be back to the office until Monday night though.

Huge cheers to everyone for a great Rubithon. And lest i forget, to Tony Twiddy, a real gentleman and great organizer!

Dave

 

[Newps]

I am torn on which logic is best for the sway bars on the Rubicon. One argument is there are some situations that you get really off camber. Sway bars should help you stay more in control with less body roll, i.e. less possible body damage. The other logic is, it’s a nasty trail where an 80 sometimes has only one line though an obstacle. More then likely a rock will try and rip them off because you can not adjust your line, what happened to Romer. I have wheeled my rig all over the place and never had more then a few scrapes on my rear sway bar. Maybe I have been lucky or taken good lines. I have never been on the Rubicon so I do not know what this trail and lines looks like. Maybe Andy or Alvaro can chime in if they run them or have run them on the Rubicon. What were the benefits and/or drawbacks? I will remove them and all my flares before I hit it.

 

[TCH2FLY]

Several have mentioned I shouldn't have spent the $18 and wore it like a badge of Honor

Badge of Honor my ass. . . I think it speaks louder that I wheel my truck hard and it still looks the way it does.

 

[Pighead]

Well, Romer, if you can wheel the 'Con, and escape with just the damage that you can cover with 20 bucks at the dealer...that in itself is a badge of honor. Testifying to your skill as a driver and your rig's built-in ability. (and as to your fenderflares making me laugh...it's more of a good-natured chuckle than a real LOL or a neener-neener)
Those of us with less ability and lesser rigs will continue to insist that these Rubithon dents are indeed a badge of honor. I had some rear fenderflare damage...(I'd already removed the fronts, they were easy with a cut-off wheel. the rears are hard)...I borrowed a sledge at Buck and pounded it out of the way of the tire. Looks great. The tree at the bottom of Cadillac folded my driverside rain gutter down so far that I couldn't open my door...so I borrowed a sledge at the top and pounded it back out of the way. Looks great. Moral of the story is that I should carry my own sledge. But these are dents you don't get around town. You can't do this kind of bodydamage at the mall. It's better than a dashplaque.

 

[nakman]

Swaybars: Our first night camped at Buck Island, out of 6 80's in the club three of them had swaybar damage. So we all took ours off that night and the next morning for the balance of the run, some removed just one, some (including me) removed both. Difference on the trail the next day was huge- the truck felt like a hot marsmellow, super floppy and squishy. I guess we got used to it, but there's no question there's more body roll, even on the 1200 miles back home, with the swaybars still straped to the roof rack. I'm probably a worst case though, since I have a big heavy Con-Fer rack, full of crap, so that inside I had room for three guys and a dog.

Now, would there be a point where the difference in rolling or not rolling is dependent on sway bar or not sway bar? Geez maybe, but you're splitting hairs... there are too many other variables (location of vehicle weight, momentum, etc., etc.) to consider, for example on the way home it started raining so I stopped and took a big canvas bag down from the roof and shoved it into the back seat, the difference was felt immediately, almost like I just bolted up a sway bar.

Dave, that was fun posing up on three wheels for you guys, can't wait to see the picture! there's nothing quite like 30 people all yelling "WOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" to get your adrenaline flowing.

 

[Newps]

Nakman:

I agree with you that weight placement plays a huge roll in the overall stability and potential body movement of your rig. I was looking at some of the 80’s with a ton of crap stuffed inside and strapped to the top. When you have three passengers and dog you have to carry a lot of tuff, understood. When I hit it nothing will be on top and my spare will not be on the back but inside as far forward as possible. It will only be me and my boy we travel light. Whenever I go wheeling I try and cut any unnecessary weight I can. Yes an 80 is a heavy pig but you do not need to make it even more so.

Thanks for the feed back on the sway bars. I will just need to get used to driving a warm marshmallow on the Rubicon.

 

[landtank]

Not having run the Con but having sway bar issues here is my assessment.

The brackets on the front axle are just to flimsy and when you flex the axle to it's limits they let go.

The rear seems to be a different story. Once you lift the truck you need to drop that front link. When you stuff a rear tire that dropped link is now lower than the lower trailing arm and it drags on whatever you are going over. I went out last weekend and put the truck through some rough stuff and my new rear links showed that they were making contact with rocks and had globs of dirt embedded in them.

I originally had thought that the rear link damage was from the stress of the sway bar on the link when the axle was flexed. Just some food for thought.

 

[PabloVTA]

slightly striped....

DOH@!&%$#*@!!!

:whoops:
And I owe Rick some dent removal work, and I'm thinking a new set of seat bottoms too....man, that trail gets your attention in a hurry!

X2 on the Cdan part number machine....he'd look over an engine bay and rattle off part numbers and prices like an auctioneer. Amazing. Wish I had that on video.

 

[TCH2FLY]

I removed the front only. It had been on my mind from the beginning especially because of the possiblity of brake line damage. I decided to leave them on until I saw the other guys breaking.

I did not run a loaded rack and most of my heavier items were low. The on-trail handling was not too bad with rear only but on the road it had some nasty sway when I tried some evasive manuevers ... kinda scary actually.

I do not run L shocks and wonder if that might have limited my droop enough to prevent damage the first day (or maybe just my extraordinary driving ability)

I do intend to strengthen the front swaybar mounts on the axle.


Regarding the flares. The herculiner stood up very well to a few minor brushes with rocks and trees. The integrity of the flares was fine until the weight of the truck was on them. If I had been 1" to the left the liner would have taken all the abuse and the flares would not have cracked through.
I will repair and keep my flares.

 

[Romer]

II will repair and keep my flares.

 

[calstyl2]

I think the flares are more of an issue for you CO folks with snow............, they are a pain in the butt here.......well were

 

[concretejungle]

i'm flareless, but i will be the first to admit, when we go on a long, muddy trail ride, my truck is usually 10 times as muddy over the entire body as the guys with flares.

 

[4WD Toyota Owner Magazine]

Last year I left both sways back near Icehouse and had to drive down the Tahoe road, then up over Emerald Bay, then down again (yikes) then down the 50 to Icehouse and with no sways, holy crap, that's freaky.

This year I only had the front, didn't even put on the rear at all for the trip down from Washington, and it drove great. Granted, in an emergency the lack of a rear bar might well be a factor. Anyway, when we got to Robbs we took off the front (being careful not to lose the metal tube bushings that go inside the lower front attachment points, inside the rubber bushing) and kept it in the truck.

Yeah, the truck does lean more, which is a little hairy on Cadillac and a couple other places for sure. The pro side is of course better articulation and lack of breakage of the part(s). I'd prefer to keep them on, but they broke on me when Bill Burke was with me, so off they came...this year, that breakage repeated itself with other attendees. I vote 100% take them off, you can make the trip without them just fine. This is my second year doing so. FWIW, YMMV.

Nak, PM me yur email and I'll send some pics Monday, at least one of which I'm gonna publish

Damn, the Con is fun. See you all next year!

 

[alvarorb]

Romer,

I drove through the same rock and got a little kiss from the rock on my rear quarter panel as well. I had no spotter. I was more worried about keeping the truck leveled than anything else.

The next obstacle to that one is a very nasty one. With not too much room for error.

I think you guys did great. Very little body damage. Good job.

Next time we'll have to cook together.

Regards

Alvaro

 

[TOY350]

I ran both front and rear swaybars. My fronts have drop blocks and I reinforced the mounting tabs with welds. The rears have no spacers and work fine. I can tuck front and rear wheels deep into the fenders to the point of rubbing and I'm on 33's with J's and L's. Maybe I was just lucky that they didn't bust

I am sourcing a set of passenger side flares to be put back on. They actually saved me from damage on the front (it came off and stayed on rock creating a nice surface to slide my door across) but created damage on the rear at Cadillac. I think I would have been leaning on sheet metal without them on Cadillac though. I like the flares and they do help with the mud.

 

[concretejungle]

we need more pictures of broken and dented stuff!!!

 

[chappysfj40]

slightly striped....

DOH@!&%$#*@!!!

:whoops:
And I owe Rick some dent removal work, and I'm thinking a new set of seat bottoms too....man, that trail gets your attention in a hurry!

X2 on the Cdan part number machine....he'd look over an engine bay and rattle off part numbers and prices like an auctioneer. Amazing. Wish I had that on video.

did you do this pablo???? did you hurts poor ricks truck. lololo cheers

 

[Bluetribal]

Say goodbye to those shiny chrome wheels.

-B-

Hahahah, they are even shinnyerrrrr now that I replaced that missing center cap on the back.... They funny thing is that every trip I have been on the other guys have scratched up their painted rims, brand new $$$$ after market rims. But my stock chromies always come out sparking! I have to have a little BLING on a truck as BLAHHH as mine.

See, that scares me and is why I don't like overnight trails. Tough to get off the trail when people are stealing your rims.