Stupidity in Small Groups.

Take a group of normal or above intelligence folks, add Jeeps and an off road park, instant stupidity.

I was invited to a birthday bash for one of my fake internet friends at the Badlands Off Road Park in Attica IN. They were there for the weekend and I could only go for one day, I picked Sunday.

Got up at FuckThis0:30 in the morning and made the 3 (ish) hour drive over with the Short Bus on the trailer and apparently go there a bit early.

It seems that the folks I was supposed to me up with got a bit smashed the night before, possibly more than a bit. So they weren't up, moving or answering the phone when I got there. Which was awesome as I have never been to this place and know exactly 1 person there, my Uncle ED, who drove over to ride along for a bit. He's been Jeepin with me once and he's never been here either.

We get the Jeep off the trailer and get it setup for the trails and take off following a couple strangers down the way. After a bit they stopped and I explained the situation and told them I wasn't stalking them.

They said it was no problem and headed into spots that were a bit tighter than I like and I was beginning to wonder if they were wanting to watch me rip the top of my Jeep to shreds.

After about an hour my fake internet friends finally returned my txt's and we met up. They were a bit slow moving and were fixing a driveshaft from the night before. We made proper introductions and started becoming meatspace friends. I was still not sure what kind of trouble I was in though. They looked like normal folks but we all know looks can be deceiving.

Ed ended up having to leave about this time so I ran him back to his truck, boy did he miss a good time. I bet those artificial body parts of his would have needed a lube job by the end of the day.

So we get the driveshaft repaired and head into the park, my Jeep, a purple TJ and a rattle can black Cherokar. The TJ was not as built as mine and the Cherokar is pretty close to mine so I figured if they could make it so could I.

We headed straight for the Quarry section which if you hadn't guessed is filled with rocks, boulders, ledges and stress.


Right off the bat I realize that this place is plumb full of stuff that's a lot more difficult than what I am used to playing on. Good thing I brought the trailer. And spare parts, And the GoPro. Bwaaahhhhaaahhhhaaaa, these guys are my kind of stupid.......

Lucian, in his wife's Purple Tj turned out to be a great coach and spotter and Marc in the XJ was a pretty good crash test dummy. If he could make it up or over something I stood a pretty good chance of making it. There were a couple spots he made that I didn't and couple I made that he didn't.

So here we go,

Was hoping to catch Marc being a super hero gettin up that ledge but he pussed out, so I figured that smaller climb looked like fun. The hooping and hollering you here was Lucian trying to break his rig on a smaller climb.

After clearing that section we headed down and around into a boulder garden. Lucian took the easy road and of course, I had to hit the hard part. Took the hardest hit of the day 5 minutes after we got started. That section was a lot of fun!

Just so you know, every time that hood shakes, its from something other that suspension bottoming out HARD. Lots of grinding and such throughout the day.

Next up was another small climb and that purple thing doesn't have lockers so if/when it gets flexed out it will just spin one front and one rear wheel. I got a giggle or 2 out watching it.

Next up we played in a notch, Marc got a bit hung up going out and ended up stacking rocks to get clear. Made me look like I knew what I was doing since it got easier after he finished.

Then came what I thought was going to be a scary climb but it turned out that once you got the front tires over the top, it was filled with superglue and velcro. Well maybe not but there was a lot of traction on top and it climbed right up it without spinning.  6' straight up was awesome.

Up the hill over the ledge and down the trail to another climb. Lucian and his short wheelbase made it right over that hump, Marc and I with the long wheelbases ended up high centered. Luckily I still had 1 front tire still touching and it was enough to pull me clear. Everything under the Jeep was grinding as I made it off.

Just past that was the one climb I was sure I was going to break something on. Goose it and go drag everything at least twice on the way over. 

Marc got a pic of me here so you can see what it looks like from the outside.

I caught the last part of Marc heaving his rig over,

Another climb, Marc knocked the dust off for me so I made it looks easy(ish).

Marc making it over a decent climb, me failing/pussing out. I could feel broken parts coming if I kept at it.

Good pic from on top,

Marc climbing the steps, me following.

All three of us heading back down that boulder garden on our way out to get some chow.

Another still from the middle of the day, I couldn't resist crawling up on the TJ's tire.

All in all a great day, met some great guys and didn't break anything in spite of my best efforts. I found a new place to play too. I will be going back for sure and will be going wheeling with these folks again. 

Pardon Me,,,

Coming thru......

Wasn't My Intention,,,,,,,,

To start a Jeep Blog but, uhhhh, well, it looks like that may happen. Need to go shootin maybe it'll cure me.....

Anyway, Took my Uncle Larry out on the trails over the weekend and ran Pokey's Run, its the first time I've ran this trail, 3 rated.

He's been in and out of the timber cutting wood with 4x4 trucks but hasn't been out in a Jeep just for fun, He didn't go running for the highway halfway thru so I must have done something right.

The trail itself had some interesting obstacles and a lot of elevation changes that were a blast being dry but I can see that it would be a flog fest when wet.

Right off the bat we hit an off camber v notch and we got hung up on a rock and to get clear of it we had to turn against the camber and I got to thinking we are going to fall over, which is not something on my "that would be awesome" list. About that time I looked over to check on the hitch hiker and realized that the top of the cage on his side was only an inch or so off the ground so falling over wasn't going to be that big a disaster.

Got loose and headed of to the next obstacle and reached up to turn off the camera and I had forgot to turn it on......

Anyway got a bunch of vids of the rest of the day and here they are in no particular order, (just for the record when renaming vids it pays to add a number in order so you can get them back in the right place.)

Fairly steep downhill across a ditch and crawl up the hill between the goal posts. When wet this could be the end of some fairly nice fenders.

The Guy behind us needs tires and has no lockers and struggled a bunch before pulling the winch.

Next up: a nice drive down a creek, not deep enough for a water wall tho.

 

 

 

Gobbler's Gulch. If you watch in the distance you can see the white Cherokee getting all kinds of crossed up and Larry says what are we getting into around the corner and all honesty I didn't know but couldn't wait to find out.

 

 



 

 

Picking the right line and having a lot of flex made that fairly easy, I guess I'm learning a bit.

 

I really need to start playing with the other camera mounts I've added to the Jeep as that one doesn't seem to show how rough or how far the rig is leaning on some of these spots. I can assure you that its more than what it looks like.

 

Eventually we came back around and ran it backwards,

 

 

 

There was a bit of 3 wheel action in there but that's what I built it for, besides 3 wheels is a lot easier on it than 2 wheels.

 

 

Not sure what the next spot was called but as we cleared the notch someone was saying sumpthin about Lucky J and being in an LJ and being named Jay, I thought it was good enough to name the vid.

 

 

 

The poor guy in the jeep we turned to avoid tried to run that notch and slid off the high side and ended up with tree roots sticking in the passenger side so they were in the process of removing everything they could to reduce damage when he tried to winch off. Then the winch cable snapped, followed by the rear tire popping off the bead. Eventually they got him clear and all was well.

 

 

After lunch we turned around and dropped back in the same spot, I killed it right off the bat.

 





 

 

Toward the end I learned another trick, to get around that tree you turn up the hill and allow the Jeep to slide against the steering to get around it without smashing up the top. It feels weird when you do it.

 

Climbed a waterfall, not very full though.

 

 



 

 

Wet and covered in slime that would be funner.....

 

Climbed a hill and found a hole,,,

 



 

 

Don't like flogging it hard so I end up getting a 2nd or 3rd try at some of them and those unannounced drops always make me cringe.

 

 

Almost climbed another a hill 3 times, got it the 4th time. Tried to hit a tree somewhere along the way

 

 



 

 

 

While we were playing on the kiddie trail the big boys were making a new line off to the left and catching some serious air in the process. Next time I'll grab some vids, those guys were having way to much fun.

 

After that we ran thru a puddle, only a couple feet deep, then watched a guy running his daily driver a bit harder than its used to,

 



 

Amazing what a stocker with some tires and a heavy foot are capable of!

 

 

Ran Rooster Hill and took the easy way, of to the right was the hard way and even the buggies were having trouble with it.

 

 



 

 

Getting close to the end of the day and we ran an obstacle that after the 4th try I said the hell with it and backed out. Had me a bit pissed but I wasn't about to tear something up or bounce off god knows how many trees in order to get thru.

 

My Jeep is just long enough to drop into 4 holes at the same time I just couldn't get by so we hit the bypass and waited for everyone else to come around..... 

 

 



 

 

Right before we got to that spot another Jeeper had dropped his phone and I think the white Jeep ran over it, that's what they were picking up out of the mud.

 

 

So we get line to head back over to meet up with the others and I got to thinking,,,,, this looks kinda familiar, OHHHH great, wrong line and we are headed back for more humiliation and possibly broken parts and bent fenders. Oh Joy.

 

Something got screwed up somehow though,, I made it thru without smashing or breaking anything.

 

 

 

 

 

That was pretty much the end of the day and it was a blast! No flipped Jeeps, only a couple flats and a broken drive flange on a buggy, I got out unscathed and my Uncle had a really good time. Success all the way around.

 

 

 

UNTIL,, I got up this morning to this.

 

 

Flat with a nice pair of gashes in the sidewall and it aint fixable...  Oh well, I need new ones anyway.

 

 

I also came up with a name for my fictional Jeep Fab shop and had a buddy waterjet out a plaque.

 

 

 





 

 Sound it out if you don't get it. Its funny, trust me...

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

 





 



 

 

 

 



Winch Fest.

Saturday was the first Jeepin event of the year and it was interesting. Warm, at least for February almost 50 degrees. Had been looking forward to it for almost 4 months and it wasn't what I was hoping for.

We met up with the rest of the club and found out that the only trails open were a 4+ and a 5, both of which were more than I wanted to tackle. I have completely rebuilt/redesigned the front suspension and wasn't wanting to do anything stupid to it right of the bat. Well that went out the window and we got to be stupid almost immediately. My Jeep is a 3+ rig, on a good day it will do a 4 rated trail and this wasn't a good day.

This was a trail builder, trail repair and cut in some new sections. Turns out what we were cutting in was impassable for most of the Jeeps on the trail so I don't feel to bad about ending up on the winch. A LOT.

Da wife got me a Gopro for my birthday and this was the first chance I got to play with it, I did edit out most of the cable pulling.

The first vid I left the winching on there to show what happens when you make it up the hill and catch a bad hop and end up wedged between 2 trees. One in front and another right behind and they were a Jeep and 6" apart. No way to steer out of it, so you use the winch to drag it sideways out of trouble.

That limb that hit the Jeep was loud inside the cab, it sounded like something broke and freaked out both of us. Passenger was a friend of mine that had never been exposed to rednecks in rollover prone vehicles off in the trees. He had a good time and I promised him a more successful trip next time.

This next one was kinda fun but still stressful on me and the equipment. I don't mind running it hard on occasion but I don't like having to do this on every obstacle. If you keep doing stuff like this something is going to break.

When we finally got over the top we had to stop and let the guy in front of us lose his argument with the snotty grease covered hill in front of him. After watching the vid I realized I should have waited until he got winched out of the way before going over that notch. We had a lot of momentum after clearing it that would have helped with our argument with the snotty greasy hill. We lost that one too.

Last vid is what happens when stubbornness and determination get ahold of ya.

One more try I said, next time I say that just kick me in the nuts. It'll be cheaper and less painful in the end. That gravely poppin sound near the end was the passenger side axle shaft u joint exploding. It tried to take the axle shaft with it but while the ears were a bit bent I was able to salvage it. The shafts in this thing are aftermarket chromoly and are not as cheap as stock ones but are a lot stronger.

We were able to remove the broken bits and limp off the trail and make it home so it wasn't horrible but it still sucked. I will have it repaired for the next outing in a couple weeks and I hope to have a better day.

A bad day on the trails beats a good day at work every time though.

Snotta Jeep Blog,, I Think. Mostly. Sorta.

Last wheeling trip of the year for the club. All of our trails are on private property and almost all of them are prime hunting grounds, Pike county is world famous for its deer population, so we have to shut down when the hunters come.

Since the Father's day run I have not missed an event or club run and I have learned a lot and I still have more to learn. I have seen and done things in this toy that defy description. Words cannot begin to get the point across but I'm willing to try.

First off lets cover trail rating, We have trails rated from 1 to 5 based on some sort of national grading scale that I don't fully understand so I follow these basic guidelines.

1: Got a stocker?
2: Got tires and a lift?
3: Got a locker, spare parts/tools and skill?
4: Got the above and a willingness to watch your fenders go away?
5; Got another Jeep cause I think that ones dead.

Lets throw some jeep math at it and see what happens.

A 1 trail is a good way to test a stocker or learn a new/different Jeep.
2 rated trails are twice as hard as a 1, 3 rated twice as hard as a 2 and so on.

So using Jeep math a 4 is at least 346x as difficult as a 1. My numbers could be off a bit though, still not fully versed in Jeep math. Lee is trying to teach me but since some of his fingers are not right it makes arithmetic difficult. He kan't speel either.....

When we got to the meet we were informed that the only trails available were Atlas, a 5 rated trail and Myer's Mayhem, 4 rated. Atlas was out of question, I like my Jeep and can't afford to replace it. It was also to late to puss out and go home so I hitched up my big girl panties and followed the folks out to Myer's.

I had also conned my Evil Step Dad into going along, he had a Jeep once and wheeled it real hard plowing his parking lot..... Essentially he had no idea what he was in for BWaaaaa hhaaaahhhaaaa.

After arriving at the trailhead we started stripping everything off we could so the trail wouldn't have a chance to tear it off for us and I took a picture of the Short Bus for posterity. Pretty good chance it won't look the same afterwards.

 

 

Note that both front fenders are a bit out of kilter, passenger side because TREEEEE! It jumped right out in front of me or me bounced a rock face and landed on it. Your pick.

 

The drivers side was Carl's fault. Follow me into the woods he says,,,, 3 minutes later he says don't follow me, we can't get thru. Oh smurfect, I was doing good to get thru that going forward and now I get to run it in reverse? As payback for that I have decided to just blame Carl for anything and everything that goes wrong from here on out. That's his brown CJ in the background.

 

 

Right before heading into the woods I got a shot of the group.

 

 



In the background you can see Da Bratz in Pop's first Jeep named Half Motor, 4 banger YJ. Also of note is that cute white JK, it looked like this a couple months ago.

This is what happens when  stocker with a inexperienced driver hit a 2+ rated trail with gusto and enthusiasm. Its now sporting a lift, better tires, new metal bumpers and new flairs.

Keep in mind this is my first foray on a 4 trail and I was expecting a surprise or 3. After running Lake Shore (3 rated) during the Blast I figured out that what is considered an obstacle on a 1 is what you drive thru to get to the obstacle on a 3 and I couldn't wait to see what  challenges lay ahead on a  4.

The drop in to the trail was a trip in and of itself, when the Jeep in front of you dropped in it just kinda disappeared. Very tight and steep gully with fendersnatchers on both sides, off camber to one side or the other to help you into the fendersnatchers.

ESD looks at me and says "Holy Crap, I thought I had an idea what this was about but I was way off." We had been on the trail for less than a minute and he was already comparing it to Alice in Wonderland.

We get to the bottom and into a wider spot and go back to watch the other folks make the journey and as I was walking/climbing/trekking back I hear the distinctive sound of plastic cracking. I hollered "That sounds expensive!" 2 minutes in and well,,,,,,

(Pic was taken later in the day)

Most of the trail was tight gullys and off camber stuff filled with mud. And holes. Jeepeaters. Seriously. WOW....


Most of the off camber stuff was along a dirt wall so even if you did get to the tipping point your cage would hit the wall and keep you upright-ish. However there where a bunch of Gotchas and Waitaminutes hanging out of the wall to keep you on your toes.

What will a Waitaminute do for ya?

The bad part of those things is once your on them getting off it will be 'spensive or hard to fix.

So on we went with the ESD grinning like the Cheshire Cat and saying how incredible this is. I played it cool so he wouldn't panic and run screaming for the highway. He didn't need to know I was in way over my head and getting lucky a lot. I also have an awesome piece of machinery to wheel that covers a lot of my mistakes.

As we were headed into a tricky spot I saw a spectator (Christie) watching the festivities so I called her over and handed her my camera and I finally have a few pix of me wheeling and not sitting still!

 

You can see the grin on ESD's face and notice how much the front tire is stuffed in the fender and the rear tire just off the ground.

 

 

A few seconds later,,

 

 

 

 

Other tire stuffed into the bottom of the fender making noises like a card in a bicycle spoke, ESD still smiling.

 

 





 

 

Leveled out and heading on!

 



Stopped and mugging for the camera.

Special thanks to the Random Trail Spectatin Chickie for getting the pix for us!

As we headed into the open spot for lunch we found the Jeepeaters,, what's a Jeepeater do for ya?

That was a spotless ride before today, took 2 winches to get him upright. He made the other side match later in the day but I didn't get pix.

 

That^^^ was definitely Carl's fault....

 

 

 

Da Bratz making it look easy. I swear that Jeep is powered by magic. "You'll never make that trail in that thing." Oh yeah, bet me Buckwheat." Put put put and out they come.

 

JK almost falling in but made it nice and smooth. Although he did have a matching set of flares by the end of the day,,

 

 

 

 

After lunch we headed up the hill and this particular climb has a signpost,

 



 

Named after Pops, last name spelled wrong but I think that was done to aggravate him. Pops was Charles Ater the 3rd, somehow that that got translated into Charles Ator da Turd. I bet he got a kick out of that.

 

So up the hill and down the trail we went, on the next section one obstacle blew a tire of a bead and spit out a driveshaft on the same Jeep. Once we got them clear of the trail the driver was a bit dejected as it should have been a day ender for them, tire wasn't going to be a big deal but the busted U joint and sheared off bolts would have been. You shoulda seen the look on his face when I told him I had straps and bolts. He had a U joint so we got the tire aired up and I climbed under the Jeep with a hammer and chisel and got the sheared bolts out and 15 minutes later were off to more fun.

 

As we dropped into "Slippery When Wet" the call came out on the CB don't come down Carl is busted and we cant get him clear. Walked down and got to thinking this is slippery when dry.

 

Carl's battery had given up so we swapped his battery for the one in Half Motor and got him going but by the time that was done we were out of time for the day so we headed back to the trailhead to reassemble da Short Bus and head out. BUT,, while we done for the day we weren't done for the night. a quick stop at Murphy's house for a bit of weenie roast and out for a night run.

 

First time for me on that. Holy crap, these guys were flying on the trail and we covered a lot of ground compared to what we normally cover on a group run. Night time adds a surreal feeling, a bunch more challenge and we were flat moving on down the creek.

 

Things went well until we heard someone holler "Anyone got a chainsaw?" which of course we didn't. So Murphy and his chauffer turn left and skip over the bank out of the creek to get around the downed tree. The new route was covered in tall grass and rather quickly I heard the mating call of a stuck Jeep. They had found another downed tree hidden by the grass so they backed up and hit it again hopping right over it and into a fairly large stump also hidden in the grass.

 

Oopsie.

 

 

Apparently the easiest way to clean out your rig is to turn it on its side and give it a shake. I prefer a trashcan and a vacuum but I'm new to this, their way may be better.

 

Got it righted and drove up/around the can opener and headed back to Murph's to grab our cast offs and head home.

 

 

It was a great day and we had a blast. I can't wait till February when it starts up again. I will be using the down time to make some improvements to my ride, highline fenders and a revision to the front suspension and axle. what I got is good but I can tell it needs to be better.

 

 

I'll get pix of da Short Bus in the morning and post them up so you can see the damage. It will take a whole 2 minutes to fix.......

 



 

Father's Day, Lets Go Try and Break Sumpthin.

First Father's Day without one, feels odd.

To celebrate I decided to go on the TRJC Father's Day run. Given my track record on breaking Jeeps on level ground in a bit of snow, getting out on the trails should prove painful to my wallet.

Since the red Jeep belongs to my Daughter and I'm waiting for her and the SIL to return so they can help fix it I took Pops other toy.

 

Its an 06 Wrangler Unlimited, 4.0, 6 speed, lifted, lockers, long armed, I could go on for while with this list so lets just say its built for the job. Its even trail rated.....

 

 

The Jeep is up to the task for sure but I had never done this before. This was Pop's hobby and mine seemed to be repairing what he bent or broke. Sad part is I should have asked to go with him but we always knew somewhere down the road it would happen. Screwed the pooch on that one.

 

 

Since it was my first shot at this I figured training wheels would be funny.....

 

 

Now I should mention that we have enough spare parts for the red Jeep to build another one just like it and still have enough spare parts to keep both of em on the trails for years to come. The yeller one? Not so much, in fact I have no spares for it at all, what could possibly go wrong......

 

 

So bright and early we show up at the meetin spot and we were thinking maybe 15-20 Jeeps would be there. Uh yeah, at least 50 were there, some fairly nice ones and a bunch that looked like you needed a tetnus shot, hazmat suit and a weeks worth of antibiotics just to get near it.

 

After the drivers meet we signed up for which trail we wanted and I went for the "baby" trail called Poor Boy. Its rated as a 1+ meant for stockers and mild Jeeps. I should also mention that its rained here every day for the last 2 weeks or so.

 

Now I'm not up on Jeep math but 1+ multiplied by rain to the tenth power equals "I'm glad I wore my brown pants." Of course I didn't do the math until we were on the trail but at least I was wearing camouflage shorts.

 

So we hit the road to the trailhead and really began to wonder just what had we gotten ourselves into. I swear if heard banjos playing I was turning around and heading home.........

 

 

 

 

We get to the trail head and air down the tires borrowing a set of deflators from the guys behind us, knowing that Pops had a set somewhere but I couldn't find em. Also disconnected the front sway bar and put the stinger in the hitch with the attached tow strap, hooked up the winch control and set it on the dash. (Hey at least I looked like I knew what I was doing.)

 

Off to the side of us there was someone offering a sacrifice to something he called the Bead Goddess, muttering please have mercy on me today. I think he has had some issues in the past with tires coming off and filling with mud. I wasn't going to ask as it may have been a sore subject.

 

So off we go to hit the trail. Again I have NO frame of reference for what is about to unfurl and if I would have guess I would have missed it big time. We started out driving thru a grassy field up gentle hills with a puddle here and there and I began to relax a bit and all was good till we plunged into the treeline.

 

 "Uh this don't look promising."

 

 It was then I remembered hearing the trail guide being happy about being the first one up the hill.

 

Then we watched him go up the hill and I looked at the co-pilot and said "baby trail???" and it was game on from there.

 

We got halfway up the hill and it kicked out of four wheel drive so we had to back down the hill, give the stick a HARD yank and apply a liberal amount of the idiot pedal, 2nd gear low range, mash the gas and hope that tree don't jump out to far when we get there.

 

On the second trip up the hill we got hung up on a pair of roots with the rear tire and all forward momentum stopped, let it roll back a bit and hit it again, this time I decided we were going over it or we were going to use the rear tire to saw it off.

 

After that it was a maze of tight turns and even tighter squeezes.

 

 

Most of the pix were taken when someone got stuck or it was break time, no way to get any on the roll.

 

 

That Sahara in the pic below almost did a front flip and for sure was on 2 wheels for a few seconds.

 

 

I am also fairly sure we bent the laws of physics and gravity several times during the day. Some warning signs would have been nice.

 

"Caution 85% grade down next 10 feet"

"Caution 80% grade up on grease over tree roots and rocks next 8 feet"

"When you land, turn hard right, that tree has no safer barrier"  

"Don't check your brakes, its too steep and slick for them to work anyway" 

"Runoff area includes 15' dropoff into creek"

"Max width 75" ahead"

"Road never gets any wider ahead"

"If you thought that was bad, well its too late now"

"Stay in the ruts, bad stuff happens if you get out of the ruts"

 

The last one came to mind as we watched the trail guide get out of the ruts and shoot off into the trees.

 

I have never steered some much to go so short in my life, my arms still wont go over my head.

 

After spending the day on the trail we headed for the car wash.

 

 

 

Followed by a well deserved catered meal and a long ride home.  As we were leaving I heard "Keep the shiny side up" and I didn't quite know how to take it. After playing in the creek for a half hour or so I knew the bottom side was a lot cleaner and shinier than the topside and I'm sure I wanted the shiny side down.

 

 

All in all a really fun day and I will be doing it again and I am so glad Pops had this particular bunch of miscreants and malcontents as friends. Hopefully I have them too.

 

 

I was never on the winch or the strap all day, not braggin just stating fact. Came home with one slightly bent fender, one more plug in a tire and sadly I blew out a training wheel.

 

 

 

 

Go out this morning to grab my sunglasses and what did I find?

 

 



 Deflators. Oh well I got them for next time. And Dad, I understand why you loved it so much.