for those who were waiting:
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/
the pics in their entirety.
enjoy.
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/
the pics in their entirety.
enjoy.
Rubicon pics are up at long last
- Thread starter JSQ
- Start date
D
D Chapman
Guest
Out of all the pic's I've ever seen you post, there are the best by far. That looks like a cool ass trip.
But, SPAM?? Shit man, that's just gross.
I've never seen a CV break like that, either. Was it an HD joint of sorts, or just a stocker?
And I still wonder why people buy TJM, ARB, or Bearmach bumpers....
But, SPAM?? Shit man, that's just gross.
I've never seen a CV break like that, either. Was it an HD joint of sorts, or just a stocker?
And I still wonder why people buy TJM, ARB, or Bearmach bumpers....
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/rubicon001 110.jpg
Loco Moco
That's some great chow right there.
Nice pics. Looked like a slightly challenging trail. I wonder if there's enough trail pics for Dan Chapman. I anxiously await his comments.
Loco Moco
That's some great chow right there.Nice pics. Looked like a slightly challenging trail. I wonder if there's enough trail pics for Dan Chapman. I anxiously await his comments.
WOW. Great pics!!! Looks like Craig's truck took quite a bit of damage. How many days on the Rubicon?
D Chapman said:
Well thanks.
The SPAM and chef boyardee are in case of week two.
Koby's got Hawaiian heritage, he brought the SPAM.
The CV was an AEU2522 from GBR.
David was getting some kid rock style help from the "Kid Crawlers" Toy truggy crew (that consists of 8 guys rocking the shit out of your truck back and forth while two 20 year olds shove rocks under spinning tires with their bare hands) and cranked his wheel with the front locked up and bam, that sucker was toast.
When I unbolted the stub axle it just fell of in my hand. lol.
As far as the bumpers.
I hate the TJM front for a lot of reasons.
To me the whole point of a front bumper is to facilitate the use of a winch, and the TJM comes up way short in that department. First it requires a separate tray on the D2, second it has no decent recovery points and third it is very difficult to operate the winch. You have to shove your hands into a bear trap and you can't see what the hell is going on or how the line is stacking up.
So with that in mind, I don't care if it folds up as long as the winch is still working, but it's nice to get a little protection from your bumper too.
That TJM front and Kaymar rear are good for some casual light wheeling, but they are definitely not Rubicon-ready.
On the topic of armor, it was intersting for me to see three different styles of sliders all fold up to some degree. The RTE Corsair edition with wings, the Dreadnoughts and the Mantecs on the 90. My RTEs were the worst, not because they necessarily bent further, but because the nerfs made the door blockage worse. But all in all, they all folded to some degree.
I think it comes back to Kyle's "coke can" theory: no matter how well thought out and how beefy it is, you're still just bolting it to a soft piece of aluminum.
It makes me wonder what I can really do to improve it for my next trip in October.
I may bend the RTEs back down and then run outriggers to the frame, dual mount style. The nerfs sure were nice on those Rubicon pivot turns, so I hate to give them up, but then I like not having to climb through my window.
D
D Chapman
Guest
That's what I really like about the "nurfs" - pivoting on them. The sliders on my truck also have a Nerf, but it's not as wide as the RTE nurfs. Although I have had my sliders tweak a little, they have never tweaked to the point were the door would not open.
Maybe James Gall will post some pic's of how I did his Land Cruiser sliders. They are frame mounted, but I think the same basic design can be made to fit the Rovers.
The GBR CV. If that the ones made by Ashcoft?
Maybe James Gall will post some pic's of how I did his Land Cruiser sliders. They are frame mounted, but I think the same basic design can be made to fit the Rovers.
The GBR CV. If that the ones made by Ashcoft?
Carnage List for the trip:
-Valve stems
-HD AEU 2522 CV
-Disco 1 Motor Mounts
-D2 tie rod
-2 winch lines
-2 snow chains
-TJM bumper
-Kaymar bumper
-D2 headlight
-D2 exhaust
-rotoflex
-Everybody's sliders
-slightly bent rockware droplink
-slightly bent RTE tie rod
-REI POS e-tool shovel
-Safarigard "cowbell" dangling diff guard
-lots of stuff getting scraped up and rattled loose
might remember more.
plenty of work to keep us busy, but nothing major and everyone's trucks got them through the trail.
what more can you ask?
-Valve stems
-HD AEU 2522 CV
-Disco 1 Motor Mounts
-D2 tie rod
-2 winch lines
-2 snow chains
-TJM bumper
-Kaymar bumper
-D2 headlight
-D2 exhaust
-rotoflex
-Everybody's sliders
-slightly bent rockware droplink
-slightly bent RTE tie rod
-REI POS e-tool shovel
-Safarigard "cowbell" dangling diff guard
-lots of stuff getting scraped up and rattled loose
might remember more.
plenty of work to keep us busy, but nothing major and everyone's trucks got them through the trail.
what more can you ask?
Is this the same trail the manufacturers run the stock Jeep Rubicons and the FJ Cruisers through as a proving ground? Do they just do part of the trail?
D
D Chapman
Guest
D
D Chapman
Guest
JamesWyatt said:
I think we learned that it all just comes down to when you do the trail.
We went at the earliest possible non-snow-run date. We still hit snow, but it wasn't end to end as it had been right up until two weeks before.
What we learned from people on the trail is that each winter the trail gets washed out and is regenerated. The spring runs (in this case June is spring) are toughest because there is erosion, boulders move and everything is pretty wet and slick. Whatismore, all summer long the trail gets tons of traffic and with it tons of rockstacking. According to the regulars, by September that shit is a paved road from Jeep Jamboree and everyone else softening it up for 3 months. That's how they get FJ Cruisers and the like through. They basically run a different trail.
We took nearly every legal bypass in June and got our asses kicked.
What is really telling about our run is that we had the smallest tires and most body on the trail by a lot.
The next most mild truck was an FJ40 on 37s and a TJ on 36s. Other than that it was truggies or serious rigs mostly on 40s or thereabouts. Almost entirely trailered rigs.
These things were sick.
It was pretty cool to see trucks like these:
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/rubicon001 234.jpg
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/rubicon001 237.jpg
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/rubicon001 260.jpg
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/IMG_5260.JPG
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/IMG_5268.JPG
on the trail with our dinky little rovers.
Of course we rolled up thinking the Rubicon was a joke and we should just do it before it gets closed or whatever. We also thought our trucks were serious rigs. LOL.
What was so cool was that being around crazy mofos like these guys:
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/rubicon001 232.jpg
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/rubicon/rubicon001 264.jpg
WE were actually considered the most hardcore dudes on the trail.
If you can believe that shit.
These guys looked at us and thought we were absolutely mainiacs for running the trail in the trucks we were in.
Unlike neophyte big dawg junior crawlers who they seem to hate for being wannabes, they looked at us like visitors from a distant planet and extended every hospitality.
These guys all trailer to one end and then camp at Buck Island lake. From there they do day runs to all the hard spots and get their thrash on. That means that as we inched along from end to end they would pass us a couple times each day on their runs to the sluices and hills. They would check in, offer help and cruise along plowing trashcan size boulders out of the way with their diffs and blasting music. We became the talk of the trail and according to the chit chat on Pirate and from what they told me afterwards online, they were keeping tabs on our progress the whole way. "Hey did you see the Land Rover guys when you went to run the sluice?" "Yeah, broke down again about 300 yards from where I saw them yesterday"
For the most part we soldiered along under our own power, but they saved us one day with some welding.
I can't even begin to relate all of the ridiculous shit we saw them do. For one thing, I'm specifically forbidden to do so by their president. What happens on the Rubicon, stays on the Rubicon. At least for the POR.
kellymoe said:Great pics. Despite all the warnings from you and others I may still end up giving it a shot. Nobody ever accused me of being smart.
I don't care what time of year you go, you will be 100% fucked by the downhill to Rubicon Springs if you go in a 130.
Yup, once I saw your photos, I realized that the stock Rubicons and FJ Cruisers would have some "trouble" doing that end-to-end. Reading that Jeep ran the Rubicon Jeeps stock there gave me a false impression of the trail.
What gears are in your vehicles, and did you find them adequate? I did my first off road trails in the D2 a few weeks ago, and felt the stock gearing with 265/75/16 was too tall to keep me from riding the brakes downhill (manual mode, 1st gear). I'd like to feel more engine braking going down steep inclines.
Awesome photos, by the way.
What gears are in your vehicles, and did you find them adequate? I did my first off road trails in the D2 a few weeks ago, and felt the stock gearing with 265/75/16 was too tall to keep me from riding the brakes downhill (manual mode, 1st gear). I'd like to feel more engine braking going down steep inclines.
Awesome photos, by the way.
marc olivares said:
Aaron on the POR board trying to find out why we weren't back:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=481482
"Yes we saw them on Saturday. Cut one of their bumpers off for them. I believe they also had some help with a bent tie rod. Last saw them saturday night heading past Buck Island."
Some rock crawler with rover-like sensibilites looking for us on the EE board:
http://www.expeditionexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=813
"The above Rover guys were the talk of the trail. Nobody could believe they were out there. In a world (The Rubicon)dominated by rock buggies three guys in Land Rovers were the big weekend news of the trail. It was great. "
My post of our pics in the Rubicon forum:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491662
"Glad you had a great time! Yopu have a good group of folks, glad we could assist.
Kevin Carey
POR President"
JSQ said:
Rockware sliders are where it is at... I'm telling you. They are not mounted to the sills so you don't get that bending like that happening. They will move up some to the point where the doors are, but then you open the door, jump on it and it goes right back down to where its supposed to be. Coke can theory... how about don't bolt it to a coke can.
Looks like that was a shit ton of fun.