I went on my first wheeling trip this weekend since my new build. The 4 to 1 was awesome on the rocks! The torque is amazing, you can release the clutch on anything and it will idle up anything. I found it only stalls if you hit a rock and kind of roll back momentarily. I found you have to actually be on the throttle more to keep it smooth otherwise the Jeep will surge between engine braking/really low lugging and idle, so a nice slow crawl is achieved just off idle. Can't stall the Jeep with the brakes in 1st.
We were suppose to make a run from highway 20 west of highway 16, up through Indian Valley, then west for a bit and head back north, take Love Lady Ridge and pop into Stonyford OHV. A 45 mile unpaved trek on fire roads for a little fun. Well there was a lot of rain and snow and the rangers closed the trails in Stonyford OHV til Sunday. SOOOOO....we winged it and went to Moon Rocks. The weather was awesome, no snow, no rain, just some wind on Friday night that made cooking suck ass but during the day it was windows down and perfect t shirt weather.
Getting a feel for my Jeep. The traction is insane but the rocks are NOT forgiving at all if you F$%! up!
We left Moon Rocks and went exploring up Pyramid Highway just before Pyramid Lake. Its hard to see but there are some wild horses grazing down in the valley.
We found one of many mines in Nevada, this one goes about 150 yards into the mountain side and has a few different dead ends. It was pretty cool.
We found a nice mountain top over looking the lower mountains/valleys with Pyramid Lake in the distance so we stopped for lunch.
We found this one trail off Eagle Canyon Road and it turned out to be a pretty good wheeling spot, I think its Billy Bob??? But I'm not certain. We ran it top to bottom, not sure how long it was mileage wise but but it took us about 4.5 hours just to run the beginning of the "good part" til the end at the paved road. My Jeep did fine being locked front and rear on 33's but I did use the sliders a lot, messed up a lower control arm mount, rashed an axle tube, kissed the t case, smacked my Currie steering just to name a few. No body damage and nothing broke, didn't even get stuck but that was a good time! We had to stack a lot of rocks for my buddies who were open/open and on 31's. My friends ZJ with one locker, front and rear long arms and 36's did fine.
Most of the trail was like this.
My buddy on 4.5 inch long arms and 31's.
My other buddy on 4.5 inch with short arms and 31's.
Some other people have had a bad time on this trail, thats a beefy component.
More of the trail.
We ended up wheeling the most technical parts at night time.
Some poor soul lost his Honda engine...
Last but not least Burger Me on the way home! So good...
Moon Rocks was a blast! There are tons of trails out there, lots of cool stuff to see, the weather was awesome, the nights were perfect, the views and terrain are beautiful AND the Starbucks off Disc Drive had plenty of hot chicks coming and going! It was a win win win! Hope to go back with in a few months and maybe plan a little more organized trip.
