well i have a story for you!
So Dusty1 had planned to go out to Arkansas to pick up some parts for the rover, it being memorial day weekend why not make it into an off road adventure?
Well let me tell you we got an adventure alright.
The day starts at 5 am on saturday with my things packed and ready for the adventure that lies ahead.
We get to the meet spot in Little Rock and we get supplies for the trip, burgers and brats and buns. Nothing too exiting happens except for people fighting to buy ribs and burgers- because these run out fast before the game apparently....
picture of the meet up
So we get to the park pay our dues and head back out to get some food head back and set up camp FSU
At the ORV office we were given a map and a highlighted route to take- they saw the rover and told us to keep to the 3-4's as we couldn't do the 5's they had...
so we set off on the first few trails and we were not impressed, they were merely driving trails- though they did have good scenery that's not what we went for. We did stop when the rover was teetering on two wheels as we were finally getting to the good stuff.
Well after that went on some more trails and got a 5 that we went over without any issues- this finishes the first 35 mins of us being there, vid below
Hot Springs ORV Park - YouTube
At this point we are looking to find the difficult stuff, i mean the get out and winch out stuff.
We ended up driving a few mins till we got to a rock hill so why not climb it!
No issues here other than we drove in a circle, came across a jeep who had tried to follow what we had been doing but just wasn't trail rated
We ended up finding a good solid 4 and had to winch out due to a tree root, no biggie. we waited for the jeep that was behind us to try and help him up but he reversed back down the hill- way more than what he could handle.
This ends the second 35 min video Hot Springs ORV Park - YouTube
Now we get to the good stuff- I found some 5's back to back so we head for those!
we hit some small 0-3 trails that looked like driving roads to us, then we find a rock wall that buggies jump on to try to get up top, well we gave it a shot 17:20 and well it was just for buggies so we gave up and headed towards the path of two promising 5's.- take note of all of the down hill and up hill we are doing at this point.
We get to the first section, on the map it said 5 on the outdated trail it said 4- the fun starts at 26:39. we went up the first section just fine no real issues apart for some close tree calls but we got it.
At minute mark 30:00 we come to the second set of trail where we have the route we went on or a bypass- well we went for it as the other trail was cake.
as you can see we start having some difficulty due to the terrain, the rocks were slippery and we had to get the right angle to kee going up but we have it for sure- i mean its not tat steep right and we have done harder obstacles already. last 35 min video Hot Springs ORV Park - YouTube
Now we are back at trying to finish off this last 5 and it looks like we cleared it but had to reverse back out a little to bump it. At 2:08 you can hear something snap after we got the perfect route and we slid back some, we tried to figure out what happened but then we realized we loft something and just decided to bring it back down the hill, as you can now see smoke is billowing front he truck- we are on FIRE! Dusty1 hands a fire extinguisher, i put the fire out and the hood goes up- this is where the go pro dies.
Hot Springs ORV Park broke rover - YouTube
After the video stops rolling and we have the truck chucked and stable we start looking at what just happened, bad angle and we lost the rear end or tcase maybe even the brakes. unsure we take a breather and survey the hill for broken parts and fluid.
Once we were done we found an unknown fluid on the rocks and a fire along with something broken in the rear.
So to re cap- we are on the side of a mountain where we now have to winch our selves back up and down with no help as i couldn't finish my rover so i co piloted in Dusty's rover.
well we had one heck of a time winching up and down that mountain- lucky enough to still have front wheel drive we weren't too screwed!
rover damage
We decide tomorrow will be a better day so we go back to camp FSU to rest and to come up with ways of fixing the rover in the morning i mean who likes driving in FWD only right? specially when you have spare parts.
In the morning we decide that we really cant find whats broke but we do know the fluid on the ground was power steering fluid and that there is an ACE leak somewhere- well thats were the fire came from so 2/3 aint bad right?
We leave Hot springs ORV park and head to Texas! only we only made it to texarkana when something in the front lets go and there is a horrible vibration and this is where things get kicked up a notch.
Called a buddy with a truck and he knows a guy with a trailer so they set out to get us, only this is not where the story ends..
We are going down the road after we load up the rover onto the trailer but since it didnt have ramps we had to use Dusty's sand ladders- they get the job done- alittle bent but get the job done. we start heading down the highway when we see smoke billowing out the rover centered on the trailer shows a flaw in the trailer axle spacing and the fenders so now the fender is cutting into the tire- easy fix move rover forward right? sure its late and we want to go home.
10 minutes later and we shred the rear right tire off the studs
we grab the tire that was on the road think its just bad luck and since we have three other tires what are the odds of another failure right?
Well, haha here is another failure
So at this point on the side of the road we remove the rover from trailer and swap wheel studs side to side to help get the trailer back- Dusty1 spends the night at a hotel and i head home.
as soon as i get home i check out my tow rig that had been hit weeks before and totaled by the insurance. vid below
I work on it and after looking it over it checks out so i head out with a dolly to get Dusty1 and we finally make it back home.
I dropped him off and i went home, no issues other than sleeping the rest of the day away and waking up at 2 am feeling like i was just hit by a bus lolthe truck earned its sticker!
so yeah, Crazy weekend to say the least and if i had to do it all over again, i totally would in a heart beat!
So Dusty1 had planned to go out to Arkansas to pick up some parts for the rover, it being memorial day weekend why not make it into an off road adventure?
Well let me tell you we got an adventure alright.
The day starts at 5 am on saturday with my things packed and ready for the adventure that lies ahead.
We get to the meet spot in Little Rock and we get supplies for the trip, burgers and brats and buns. Nothing too exiting happens except for people fighting to buy ribs and burgers- because these run out fast before the game apparently....
picture of the meet up
So we get to the park pay our dues and head back out to get some food head back and set up camp FSU
At the ORV office we were given a map and a highlighted route to take- they saw the rover and told us to keep to the 3-4's as we couldn't do the 5's they had...
so we set off on the first few trails and we were not impressed, they were merely driving trails- though they did have good scenery that's not what we went for. We did stop when the rover was teetering on two wheels as we were finally getting to the good stuff.
Well after that went on some more trails and got a 5 that we went over without any issues- this finishes the first 35 mins of us being there, vid below
Hot Springs ORV Park - YouTube
At this point we are looking to find the difficult stuff, i mean the get out and winch out stuff.
We ended up driving a few mins till we got to a rock hill so why not climb it!
No issues here other than we drove in a circle, came across a jeep who had tried to follow what we had been doing but just wasn't trail rated
We ended up finding a good solid 4 and had to winch out due to a tree root, no biggie. we waited for the jeep that was behind us to try and help him up but he reversed back down the hill- way more than what he could handle.
This ends the second 35 min video Hot Springs ORV Park - YouTube
Now we get to the good stuff- I found some 5's back to back so we head for those!
we hit some small 0-3 trails that looked like driving roads to us, then we find a rock wall that buggies jump on to try to get up top, well we gave it a shot 17:20 and well it was just for buggies so we gave up and headed towards the path of two promising 5's.- take note of all of the down hill and up hill we are doing at this point.
We get to the first section, on the map it said 5 on the outdated trail it said 4- the fun starts at 26:39. we went up the first section just fine no real issues apart for some close tree calls but we got it.
At minute mark 30:00 we come to the second set of trail where we have the route we went on or a bypass- well we went for it as the other trail was cake.
as you can see we start having some difficulty due to the terrain, the rocks were slippery and we had to get the right angle to kee going up but we have it for sure- i mean its not tat steep right and we have done harder obstacles already. last 35 min video Hot Springs ORV Park - YouTube
Now we are back at trying to finish off this last 5 and it looks like we cleared it but had to reverse back out a little to bump it. At 2:08 you can hear something snap after we got the perfect route and we slid back some, we tried to figure out what happened but then we realized we loft something and just decided to bring it back down the hill, as you can now see smoke is billowing front he truck- we are on FIRE! Dusty1 hands a fire extinguisher, i put the fire out and the hood goes up- this is where the go pro dies.
Hot Springs ORV Park broke rover - YouTube
After the video stops rolling and we have the truck chucked and stable we start looking at what just happened, bad angle and we lost the rear end or tcase maybe even the brakes. unsure we take a breather and survey the hill for broken parts and fluid.
Once we were done we found an unknown fluid on the rocks and a fire along with something broken in the rear.
So to re cap- we are on the side of a mountain where we now have to winch our selves back up and down with no help as i couldn't finish my rover so i co piloted in Dusty's rover.
well we had one heck of a time winching up and down that mountain- lucky enough to still have front wheel drive we weren't too screwed!
rover damage
We decide tomorrow will be a better day so we go back to camp FSU to rest and to come up with ways of fixing the rover in the morning i mean who likes driving in FWD only right? specially when you have spare parts.
In the morning we decide that we really cant find whats broke but we do know the fluid on the ground was power steering fluid and that there is an ACE leak somewhere- well thats were the fire came from so 2/3 aint bad right?
We leave Hot springs ORV park and head to Texas! only we only made it to texarkana when something in the front lets go and there is a horrible vibration and this is where things get kicked up a notch.
Called a buddy with a truck and he knows a guy with a trailer so they set out to get us, only this is not where the story ends..
We are going down the road after we load up the rover onto the trailer but since it didnt have ramps we had to use Dusty's sand ladders- they get the job done- alittle bent but get the job done. we start heading down the highway when we see smoke billowing out the rover centered on the trailer shows a flaw in the trailer axle spacing and the fenders so now the fender is cutting into the tire- easy fix move rover forward right? sure its late and we want to go home.
10 minutes later and we shred the rear right tire off the studs
we grab the tire that was on the road think its just bad luck and since we have three other tires what are the odds of another failure right?
Well, haha here is another failure
So at this point on the side of the road we remove the rover from trailer and swap wheel studs side to side to help get the trailer back- Dusty1 spends the night at a hotel and i head home.
as soon as i get home i check out my tow rig that had been hit weeks before and totaled by the insurance. vid below
I work on it and after looking it over it checks out so i head out with a dolly to get Dusty1 and we finally make it back home.
I dropped him off and i went home, no issues other than sleeping the rest of the day away and waking up at 2 am feeling like i was just hit by a bus lolthe truck earned its sticker!
so yeah, Crazy weekend to say the least and if i had to do it all over again, i totally would in a heart beat!
