Big Bear... and the aftermath

Well, I will post a longer writeup tomorrow... but for now I'm finally ready to clean up and get some sleep....

Ok... so after leaving off the "diner's group" as we were coming down the freeway, Sequoia would get a crazy wobble on the freeway at about 65mph or so... the wobble came and went as it pleased. It seemed to be related to turns and potholes....

In any case, we pulled over three times: first time, we got the lugnuts.... They were tight and we figured we'll watch it carefully. Next time it was the LCA bracket that got tightened and readjusted a bit. That seemed to help it out a bit but it still didn't cure it. Drivng behind him I was seeing the wheels dance right to left and it looked pretty bad...... so we pulled over again and after looking at it and calling Glenn (only number I could find.... thanks Glenn!!!) Sequoia readjusted the tierod(?) (upper mount). The retainer wire was a major PITA to get out but finally it went out and it seemed to help out a bit, but he was still low on grease in there.... the part that complicated everything he had to ride out to Yucca Valley right after getting home.... so we hobbled over to my place where I had a grease gun with a needle (he has a grease gun at home but no needle).... btw, why does it have to be such a messy job to reload the grease gun?

Anyways, greased that up as well as couple other zerks while at it and AFAIK he's happily on his way (hasn't called me after leaving so I guess all is fine).....

Anyways, run was great! I haven't had a chance to vacuum all those dead leaves and the dust out of the XJ yet..... and I haven't had a chance to crawl under to see what did I bend/break/scrape...... That will happen tomorrow...

Kejtar

OK, I am finally a bit more awake

Day was pretty good altogether. We have all met up at 9am at the discovery center with the exception of Sequoia (not a morning person ) who showed up by 9:40. In order of arrival we had:
Myself in a white XJ, Tim (TBent) and Ethan in a white XJ, Mike Golden in a red XJ, Jay (RyuRabbit) and his kids (Cody and... ?) in a green XJ, Sequoia in a red XJ.

After a short drive and stop for gas for two in the group we have made it to the Gold Mountain trailhead by I think 10am, where we have aired down and disconnected.


Beginning of it was somewhat uneventful with the exception of couple holes ripped out in the road by water. When we got to the split for the alternate and regular we took the alternate for the rock garden . The rock garden was a lot of fun, and as ussual being the sacrificial lamb in the front I showed everyone which rocks you can get stuck on .... I have promptly got stuck on my rear dif (Tim... I am gonna have to get same skid as yours) and as I got off after some manuvering and movement of 3 rocks.... I nailed my front right towhook on a rock (again) and bent it out (AGAIN). I think it's a rock magnet....

The rest of the group got through with a bit of trial and error, as rocks kept shifting after each XJ passed so it was hard to decide to follow the old line (which no longer existed) or going for a new line. Right after us we had a group of consisting of a lifted TJ, Land Rover and Range Rover go through the same obstacle. Being the nice guys that we are, we hung around and lent advice to the Rover guys especially since on of them had rubber rock guards (actually it was just moulding on the edge of the body LOL). They passed through ok, with a lot of skinny pedal work as they seemed to have problesm with traction (I'm talking about the rovers here as the TJ made it all look easy).

In any case, shortly thereafter we run into the VP and Treasurer of SoCal chapter hanging around in the trees Mark Hinkley drove his XJ up along with his son Hunter (?) and Mike R (MJR). We agreed to eat lunch just a bit up the trail and after a bit of a mixup and 4 U-Turns later (couldn't get ahold of each other on the radio ) we finally reassembled again and got some grub.

Interesting to mention is the fact that there was a brand spanking new Grand Cherokee that went through that rock garden sometime after us.... it took a strap from one of the Rovers to get through and afterwards was leaking oil from whole sorts of holes We gotta give him the credit for attempting to use his Jeep like it was meant to be used, but we are dissapointed that he went out on his own a bit unprepared and uninformed (rumors were flying that he wasn't sure what 4 Low was, but since I wasn't present for that conversation I cannot neither confirm nor deny them).

In any case after lunch I have yielded the leader spot to Mark and he took us to John Bull. We all drove through the easy section with ease, but when the hard part started we all gritted our teeth and with some carefull spotting and lots of skinny pedal we went up the first hill. At this point Sequoia and a driver of yet another Rover (don't know the name) decided to take a bypass on the next road over and meet us up at the end of John Bull (Sequoia has no rock rails, still has his skids laying in the garage, and is only on slightly worn 235's. And the Rover.... well, rover wasn't made to take such abuse ).

As we have made our ways through all the obstacles with spotting each other (many thanks go to Mike (MJR) who walked almost the whole length spotting various people). In any case, we finally made our way to the end of the trail and met up with Sequoia and the Rover. After shooting the breeze for a while the group has made it's way over to the gas station many many miles away. I must say that driving on aired down tires while disconnected in Big Bear gave me goosebumps..... The best description that can be given to the experience is to compare it to driving on gummy bears while sitting on a slinky supported seat (and I'm supposed to have the "stiff" front springs...)

Anyways, we had only one major breakdown. It was right before John Bull. Almost since the beginning Jay has been complaining of a knocking sound in his front left wheel which we have been trying to track down almost since the beginning. It has turned out to be a worn out bushing in the stud on the shock. Hed had one poly and I had couple rubber so he has replaced one on each side.

After the air-up part of the group decided to get something to eat before heading on home while some of us decided to head on in direction of home just to find out that some repair is needed...

Kejtar

Glad to see you guys had a good time! I was thinking about you while I had the welding hood down. Jay (rabbit) was at my place doing some maintenance on his rig in preparation for the trail ride, and I was wishing I was doing the same. We'll hopefully see you next time.

Don't forget, we'll be doing some great trails up there Aug 8-10.


Dan

Kejtar said:

In any case, we pulled over three times: first time, we got the lugnuts.... They were tight and we figured we'll watch it carefully. Next time it was the LCA bracket that got tightened and readjusted a bit. That seemed to help it out a bit but it still didn't cure it. Drivng behind him I was seeing the wheels dance right to left and it looked pretty bad...... so we pulled over again and after looking at it and calling Glenn (only number I could find.... thanks Glenn!!!) Sequoia readjusted the tierod(?) (upper mount). The retainer wire was a major PITA to get out but finally it went out and it seemed to help out a bit, but he was still low on grease in there.... the part that complicated everything he had to ride out to Yucca Valley right after getting home.... so we hobbled over to my place where I had a grease gun with a needle (he has a grease gun at home but no needle).... btw, why does it have to be such a messy job to reload the grease gun?

Anyways, greased that up as well as couple other zerks while at it and AFAIK he's happily on his way (hasn't called me after leaving so I guess all is fine).....

Kejtar

Click to expand...

Glad to help. I had just started watching a pay-per-view movie with the wife, when the phone rang.... but helping Jeepers is better than watching a chick-flick any day.
Glenn

OK, I guess that it is going to be up to ME to post the accurate account from Sunday. LOL! No really. it was a GREAT run. But in Remi's (aka WWR) defense, all went on track up Gold Mtn. & up near the top our magnetic trail leader chose the rock garden in lieu of the bypass. The last time I was up on this trail, my XJ was still bone stock and still was running w/o disco's.(I used the bypass @ the garden that day,really)
I can't miss the chance to mention the WJ w/ the dealer plates. Say what we will, but I've never seen a Bummer H2 on even a graded dirt road. I've only seen two H1's while out on the trail, one of them was upside down. Sorry, back to the point.
By the time we were all through the rock garden I thought Rabbit was going to get a face cramp with that grin. Well it was just up the hill that things got dizzy. We met up with Mark & Mike, and MARK was running out in front. In all honesty I cannot blame you know who for leading the rest of us split up into two groups, out of radio contact and Ethan asking why we could see Baldwin lake. It was at this point that Sequoia and I had no choice but to send Ethan hiking back up the trail to the fork looking for an unnamed TJ fender'd GPS tote'n tow hook bender. (this in no way relects on MY ability to follow, I was driving like a bat outa %$@$). Anyway, after 1 1/2 more trails, five consecutive 3 point turns and a lucky right our new trail leader was leading again. I have no idea how with all the mods Mark was running he would have such a defective rear view mirror. But my hat's off to Remi, we may not have had a clue where we were, but that was a sweet trail he so fearlessly led us on for the interum.
We all stopped for lunch on the eventual departure down the back side. We were even so kind as to let a stray Rover dine with us. Not only that, not a one of us mentioned 1776! These guys ARE THE BEST! I'm going to have to recant some of the little details of our adventure, I'm sure. But i'll finish this little tale tomarrow. But one little question. When we got to the first rocks on John Bull, Did anyone else notice how much that guy from the Rover liked to ride in XJ's? But with my typing at the keyboard melting, ribbon spinning velocity of 7 13/100 words per minute, I'll stop hogging all the band width for now.

Tim(T[honest abe] bent)B. :laugh:

yeah... he loved it... he went all the way up John Bull claiming he doesn't want a jeep, but still amazed at how Marks rig handled everything

Remi aka Kejtar

I think he rode up that first hill with everyone. I know he went with Mark, me and Rabbit. But Yea, Marks rig is pretty awsome!

sorry... I meant he went all the way up in Marks rig

Pondering!

Ya ever get to a point and think well that should do it for now (mods) and then somebody shows ya how much more can and should be done! I am new to 4 wheeling in california. I was a wisconsin native, and snow, mud, loose dirt and trees everywhere there wasn't a farm was all we had to worry about. Well, I am hanging with people that do know somethin about wheelin especially in California and its amazing what ya learn. I saw things wheeled over on this trip that I would have never attempted before. They didn't even look passable! I was :scared: to put my rig in that direction and get anywhere near the skinny pedal especially with 32" M/T tires and 3.07 gears. I cant even use 5th gear! Well with this bunch of great guys, they made everything seem possible. They ecouraged me and even assisted me in a trail repair. (shock bushings pulled through front fenders, we were wheeling pretty good)This was my first hardcore run and it will not be my last. However, the view from down here is that I have a long way to go to get that go anywhere rig I thought I was close to!

It was certinaly a good time on my end! Once I got myself there (really, I was only late because of slow drivers, honest!) we all went to that station, blah blah blah (Or I could just quote Remi )...

Anyway, that first garden was fun, a little bit nerve-racking for me as I have no rails and armor (I'm living on borrowed time!), it wasn't just big rocks, it was a lot of little loose rocks (you could barley hear the engines over the sound of rocks shifting!) and big ones, but I got myself through without much trouble. Just so everybody knows, I filmed the TJ and Rovers, so that'll be out of the can pretty soon here.

Anyway, we went though some fun stuff, I hit my diffs, my LCA's, Crossmember, and just about anything else shy of my gas tank under my car (and destroyed yet another light out back!) so I wasn't feeling up to John Bull. That first hill was gnarly, and I just didn't want to do it as I'm at 3" and no rails (I don't think I could've done it without bashing my rockers, unless I got a sudden talent for levitation!), so as Remi said I took the Land Rover (Discovery) back to the other side of 3N10.

That little run wasn't much anything, just slow going, started heading down 3N33 first (which would've taken us to the main road, but it was looking too tight for the rover, them things are big!), turned back and stopped to help out an older gentleman in a buggy find out where he was, passed a Unimog (I'll post pictures !), and then went to our break. I would've liked a little more time before they all got there (couldn've used a nap!), but I couldn't, no big...

Now as for my little issue...

We all drove down the moutain together, when we get to where 330 and 30 split off Remi and I broke off from the group and took 30 into Redlands. Once we got onto I-10 I took it up to about 70 and my front end started to shake. (background: I had minor shaking before, it had recently started, but this time it didn't go away adn was rougher!), asked Remi if he could see it...he did..damn!

Anyway, we stopped and messed around with lugs, then started again. Stopped at the next exit and messed with the drivers side LCA (I had adjusted it a few months ago at the last Big Bear run, so I thought I'd check it), then we headed back out. Stopped at the next exit and that's when we called Glenn. (BIG thanks to Glenn and Remi both, I owe both of you a few beers in Moab!)

Anyway, turns out the problem was the Track Bar. The ball joint on it (on the frame side) is worn to hell, so we tightened it down and hit the road, went to Remi's and put some more grease in it. I didn't have to drive to Yucca Valley that evening (I didn't even get to my house 'til 1a, had to make a stop on the way), but did this morning (it's about 130 miles). Right now I can't go faster than 65mph (that hurts!), be looking for my post on the tech forum!

Sequoia
Driving a little slower than usual...
Pics come soon!

OH YEEAAAH, I had forgot all about that. That was it's own little adventure all by itself! But you know what that asphalt can do to a perfectly layed out plan.LOL
BTW, you two didnt wait till you got to the 10 FWY to hit 70. I was back behind Y'all and ya wasn't doin' no 70.
Glad to hear you got home in one pc.

BENT but not broken

Okay, here's some pictures for you all to look at!

Big Bear Pictures!

Defective rear mirror? What's a rear mirror?

I heard Remi, or is that Wrong Way, drove real fast on the trails so I was just trying to keep out of his way. It's not like I turned off the main trail on some side trail and was hiding. I was parked on the side of the main trail waiting for your leader to drive up and stop for lunch. WW was doing fine until the last little bit, we could here him coming down the trail, when he needed to make a u-turn for some reason. lol I'm glad you guys all ignored all those other trucks heading down the main trail so I could come back and find you guys driving around in circles. lol That RR driver found me just fine parked on the side of the main trail, but I think he had a GPS unit.

Anyhow now that the stories straight, My son Hunter and I had a great time Jeeping with you guys. It was fun just to go up to BB and do a day trip on some basic trails. Haven't done that in a long time, I must do it more often, just wish there wasn't the AP do deal with.

The guy riding with me was actually a Land Cruiser driver, Dave. He was riding in passanger in the RR. He was amazed what low gears can do. I wonder if that WJ is at the dealership today? The RR guys said it was puking out sometype of fluids.

Again had a good time. Hunter had a good time playing with Cody! Thanks

Hope to have a fw pictures up later.

mark
orgs mfg

H2's

T Bent said:

Say what we will, but I've never seen a Bummer H2 on even a graded dirt road. I've only seen two H1's while out on the trail, one of them was upside down.

Click to expand...

Thought this was kind of funny, because about two weeks ago in HV I was playing with a guy in his H2 at the obstacle course and we got into a game of follow the leader. Must say he did make me proud to see him out there getting dirty and using his H2, but when it came his turn to follow me I started doing the obstacles in reverse to which he said "thats extreme" and did not follow any more. Mind you this is the simple stuff on the course not the rock pile.
This weekend I was up at Calamigos Ranch for a company function and HUMMER happened to be having a meet up the road at the ranches "SUV test track". I drove up to check it out as there was 50+ H2's up there and these guys actually thought they were wheelin'. No sooner I got to the first H2, I was challenged by the first guy with comments such as Jeeps Suck, Buy a HUMMER, etc. I asked the Rep if I could go through and check it out of which he denied.
I guess he would have a lot of explaining to do if a $10,000 XJ ran circles around all their $50,000+ sales up there

Joe

Actually I would like to deny any responsibility for the group getting separated from Mark as both at the Y and when we did the U turn I asked everyone else what did they think and none of us had any idea (btw, that turn was more like a Y and we weren;t sure which was the trail which was the turnoff).

All in all, it did give us a fun little excurion back and forth on that little side road.... The downside of that, that I got beat up by those two trees there and they embedded the "sand color dust" INTO the clearcoat.... GRRRR

Kejtar

Here are the few pictures that I got.

http://www.orgsmfg.com/project/bbrun.htm

mark
orgs mfg

Mark... I love this picture : http://www.orgsmfg.com/project/bb005.JPG



Kejtar

Also..can we tell I was tired? http://www.orgsmfg.com/project/bb008.JPG

I didn't even know he had a camera out!

DUH! you were sleeping! :speepin:

And guess what... as we were driving home he claimed front end problems just so that he could take two more naps! Not only he's not a morning person but evenings aren't his thing either

http://home.earthlink.net/~cwptx/bigbear/06.08.2003 - Big Bear 22.jpg