Page updated: 10/29/2000 07:47 PM
Lake Morena, Southern Cal
Fourth of July Weekend 2000
Written by Al Bsharah
Pictures from Al's, Bud's, and Brad's cameras
It's been over a year since my Jeep has seen the rocks. One full year of being busy with work, life, and upgrades. Man...it doesn't take many minutes back on the trail before you realize how much you really missed it! It felt really good to be back out there again with my friends, it's one of those feelings you just can't explain to people without letting them see it first hand.
A year ago, my Jeep was sprung-under with 2.5" OME springs, a 2" body lift, and 1" from shackles sitting on stock open axles with 33" Thornbirds. Today, my Jeep is sprung-over with the same lift springs, body lift, and maybe 1/2" from shackles sitting on a pair of Dana 60's, ARB's, and 36" TSL Bias'. Talk about learning how to drive ALL over again! Not to mention the rust I had to knock off my hands and feet...
There was a lot at stake today! All the work my friends and I have done on the Jeep was put to the test...and this ain't no easy trail! Three rigs went out: Mine, Bud Boren's, and Brad Kilby's. Matt Osburn rode with me since his D60's are being built, Mark Alligood rode with Bud because his front driveshaft mysteriously disappeared...as did he after the run! Brad had his two boys riding JAFO with him.
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Actually, let me back up for a bit and share some embarrassment. I wanted to test things out to make sure there were no clearance issues with brake-lines, yadayada while flexing. So Matt followed me out to a little rock bed not to far from camp. Things seemed to work just great, right up until the point we were heading back and I decided to climb over one last rock on the way out. Hung up the pumpkin a bit...no big deal right? So I drug it over the rock a little...then Matt goes. "Hmmm, you sure are leakin' a looooot of fluid!" As it turns out, the shop I had put the ARB in the rear managed to leave a very significant lip on the diff-cover that hung well below the diff itself. Why a shop that claims to be a 4WD shop would miss that is beyond me. I won't go into bashing the guy, because that would take an entire report on all the crap I had to go through...not to mention he's ruining his own reputation for himself. So, that off my chest, it was also my own stupidity for not double-checking something like that myself. So I smacked it back flat, took the cover off and re-sealed her up and used the air-grinder to smooth it out before the real run. Definitely glad I found the problem near camp! Except for them damn fire-ants I was crawlin' around with while I was fixing it! |
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So...back to the fun stuff! Matt convinced Bud that there was no brush and only rocks on this trail. Bud doesn't like to wheel anymore and he doesn't like to get his Jeepy Weepy scratched. We even saw his grandson cleaning his battery-powered Jeep with a feather-duster at camp. Ya know where he musta learned that from, and we all know where Bud learned it from! Obstacle number one was a tricky one...All three of us have slightly varying track-widths (Bud-CJ-narrow, Brad-TJ7-stock?, Al-YJ-wide) and this section definitely found faults in all of them in completely different ways!
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Brad went first and got his rear tires wedged between a couple rocks. Good thing he has an automatic or something might have busted there! After realizing what was up, he backed out and climbed up a bit higher on the left side and got through it. |
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I followed Brad's line got up and over the first rock fairly easy, but had some trouble getting past the next couple bumps and had to fight with it a few times until I hit the right line. |
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Bud came through and tried to go high to the right,
but couldn't get any traction on the dirt and roots to keep him
going so he then went after the same line we did.
Unfortunately, the shorter track-width dumped his right side into the
rut instead of keeping him up high. As you can see, he ended
up technically rolling. I mean, the Jeep went, but there was
stuff in the way so it didn't really roll. But it's a roll in
our minds 'cause he'd have been toast if the Earth didn't stop
him! So we winched him to my Jeep so it wouldn't fall over
anymore and he eventually worked his way out of there with one small
casualty.
That's a pretty gnarly area, for sure! |
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The next obstacle was a tough one too...the issue with this is that it's very loose. Lots of dirt and rocks on a very steep hill. Reminds me an awful lot of some of the Kentucky trails I used to run with some friends...In particular "Upper and Lower Staircase" in Daniel Boone National Forest. At the top of the loose rock, there's a very tough navigation that needs to take place due to the large imbedded rocks that WILL hang up your differentials. If you don't get up high enough on the rocks to the right, they'll push your Jeep to the left until you hit your diffs. I've seen one person successfully go up to the left. I tried it myself until I felt the front end of the Jeep lift off and start heading back! I backed off and tried to settle the Jeep down a few times but she kept wanting to go over so I just rode it out and pointed her as close to down as I could until I was stable! Whew! Bud put on one HELL of a show for us on this hill! He fully subscribed to my Kentucky bro's "YA-GOTTA-WANT-IT!" mentality! After struggling a few times, he went balls-out and kabounced his way up! Got it aaaaallll on video too. Half the entertainment was just trying to get everyone of of the way! Now we just gotta steal the camera from him so we can see it...
UPDATE (8/15/00): The video has been captured!
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Bud Wants it REAL bad! (847k Quicktime Movie) |
Anyway, there's only a couple shots because we were too busy trying to get people through the trail!
The next few pictures are from some of the remaining trails and play areas...I'll let them speak for themselves!
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Video of Al (609k Quicktime Movie - this one ends just in time!) |
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Video of Brad (723k Quicktime Movie - good thing we took a video of this one!) |
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Bud Boren also did a pretty damn funny trip report in his typical fashion... You can see the report HERE and the pictures HERE (some of which I stole!)