Lovely day on the Hammers

[sethmark]

Met up with Tommy and his buddy Quinn last night. After a lovely dinner at Yucca Valley's finest Western Sizzlin' we headed to the lake bed. Up late telling lies and up early to go wheelin. We ran Wrecking Ball first thing. Not as quick as I'd hoped, as Quinn's huge YJ on 40" MT/Rs shorted the fuel pump and took an hour to diagnose that. Wrecking ball is really not that hard anymore. Still a great run, but there's nothing impossible on that one.

Next up was Outer Limits. Took a little while to find it, but damn was it worth it. Obviously that one's been neglected. Everything is sandy, slick and washed out. In that state, it was just awesome entertainment. We took every hard line money could buy and everything went easy pie. What a hoot.

The auto is bad ass off road. Running with 2 sticks, both geared in the 100:1 range, I never struggled for control, whereas they (both accomplished drivers and competitors) sometimes had to look harder for balance on real tippy stuff. There's just no question why all of professional rockcrawling has gone to the auto. So much control, and I can quickly generate wheel speed if I have to. Just push the pedal harder and it'll shift. No braking issues at all. I'm totally psyched.

[Joe Dillard]

Cool deal Seth! One of these days I'll get off my duff & attempt those levels, but I don't think I'm there yet. My rig needs more beef & I wouldn't want to be a thorn.

Just curious, with the high temps we've been experiancing lately, does your Jeep seem to run at about the same temps as before with the 5 speed? I don't recall if you routed the tranny cooling thru the radiator or if aux cooling was your way to help things run cooler.

[sethmark]

Joe,
Any time I'm heading out, you're welcome to ride shotgun.

As for temps, well, I'm running the tranny thru both the radiator and a stacked plate cooler. The engine temps in the desert crawlin' never really moved.

On the freeway, it climbs an extra few degrees on hard hills, but runs normal around town.

Seth

[yellowdog]

pics??????

[sethmark]

Maybe a few. I didn't take any, but I saw a camera out once or twice.

I love pics, but barely care enough anymore to go out of my way to get them....

[Joe Dillard]

Thanks for the offer Seth! I'd certainly like to tag along. Heck, I'd go tomorrow if I had the chance. PM me when you decide to make another run. As a matter of fact.... you can use me for an excuse to tell the wife why you NEED to go again.

[TJRON]

It's great to see someone out there having fun and not spending the day doing trail repairs. It sounds like you've got your rig and driving skills dialed in.
Are you going to compete down the road?

[sethmark]

I would love to compete, but am completely unwilling to destroy the jeep. So the answer is not black and white.

Its certainly built for it, and the entire drivetrain could easily be swapped into a tube buggy and be reasonable competitive. But right now, its just a really happy trail rig.

Now... I need to get ready for next weeks trip. Might check tire pressure

http://www.tommyjeep.com/trips/johns...8-03/index.htm

[Joe Dillard]

Those are sone NICE pics!

[Robert J. Yates]

Originally posted by TJRON
It's great to see someone out there having fun and not spending the day doing trail repairs.

...who would that be spending the day doing trail repairs Ron?

[TJRON]

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
...who would that be spending the day doing trail repairs Ron?

Any one that spends the day doing trail repairs.
I've been there, have you?
Every thing I say is not meant to be mean spirited. It's just nice to see some one who has got it down to the minimum amount of grief.
I know Blaine and Garry can zap through the Hammer Trails like I do Moab. That makes for some really nice days.
I'm sure Seth has learned plenty the hard way with roll overs and trail repairs. He seems to really have it together and is out enjoying himself.
Isn't that the objective?

[cbassett]

Is that trail repairs or repairs on-trail?

I guess not an issue at Hammers, such as the Rubicon and other Sierra trails that require upkeep and bypass blocking, but I was suprised and disappointed to see so much trash (wrappers, soda and beer cans/bottles, etc.) on and around the trails when I was down there in the Spring. Do you guys ever have scheduled trail cleanup runs? It's a must up here, unbelievable- the total disregard that some have.

[Robert J. Yates]

Originally posted by TJRON
Any one that spends the day doing trail repairs.
......and is out enjoying himself.
Isn't that the objective?

I got rid of the BS for you and boiled it down to the reality that most of us face.

[TJRON]

Yes that's the reality but I don't enjoy trail repairs. In fact I don't enjoy repairs at all. It's just a fact of life for me because I enjoy wheeling.

[Robert J. Yates]

While some certainly are repairs, others are reasons to begin with a new set of modifications.

[cbassett]

LOL!

break stuff = repair required
break stuff = upgrade opportunity unveiled

Spin it which ever what you want.

[William]

Broke, etc...

http://www.tommyjeep.com/trips/johns...8-03/index.htm

Is there a shock missing in that picture?

[Robert J. Yates]

Originally posted by cbassett
LOL!

break stuff = repair required
break stuff = upgrade opportunity unveiled

Spin it which ever what you want.

Well, I have to justify the expenditures somehow. So what if I need therapy

Originally posted by cbassett
Is that trail repairs or repairs on-trail?
Do you guys ever have scheduled trail cleanup runs? It's a must up here, unbelievable- the total disregard that some have.

The Benders clean up JV yearly. About two tons of trash from the clean-up last year was still sitting in the middle of the lake bed on the fourth of July. (where the BLM said they wanted it) There are also regular rock destacking events.

Side note.
The same BLM is in the process of starting a fee for use program. Twenty bucks a week or sixty a year. For this they say we will get improved services. BS, they will obtain more staff, vehicles and equipment only to aid in extorting money from the users.
Garry

[cbassett]

Yeah, the same type of thing is being proposed for the Rubicon. I'm not happy about that at all.
There are already County deputies assigned to patrolling the Rubicon, which I am particularly happy about. There are just too many backwoods rednecks and drunken teens on the trail now; glad to see L.E. up there to keep them in check.... they just need to actually show up. I guess they beat the snot out of their quads, so they're in a shop (Seth's favorite cage builder, rumor has it) getting outfitted with armor.

[Robert J. Yates]

While trash on the trail seems to go with the territory anywhere, one of the things that I have always liked about JV was that once you got away from the immediate environs of the dry lake bed/camping spots, it was somewhat non existent. My last trip out there was not one that was infested with trash either and we were on 3 different trails. We did find the ocassional water bottle but really, nothing in the way of serious trail trash.

When were you down Chris? They had some problems in the past with trash left behind after events.

Garry, I am with you on this as well. I would like to know just who the BLM surveyed that indicated to them that improvements were needed. Next thing you know, they will pave the access road

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
Next thing you know, they will pave the access road

It's high on their list. The easier the access the more people will leave money at their tollbooth and isn't that what it's all about?
Garry

[William]

Originally posted by ghall
BS, they will obtain more staff, vehicles and equipment only to aid in extorting money from the users.
Garry

Redundancy and infrastructure. A desk with paper and guildlines. Someone to issue stickers, someone to make statements. Someone to count, another to average.

Pretty ****ing annoying isn't it.

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by ghall
The Benders clean up JV yearly.
Garry

and the rest of us cart out what we find on the trail. I was a little surprised to hear that trash was noticed on the trails. I was looking pretty hard 2 weeks ago and only managed a small bag full in the middle of the small lakebed on the way to Claw. It actually looked like someone's bag had spilled, not intentionally though.

[cbassett]

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
When were you down Chris? They had some problems in the past with trash left behind after events.

First week in April. Cant wait to bring the new rig down!

[sethmark]

Except for the random campfire, the lakebed is pretty damn clean. Trails are spotless. On the RARE occasion I've found a broken u-joint part, but that's about it.

I like JV because its so clean.

[cbassett]

Originally posted by sethmark
Except for the random campfire, the lakebed is pretty damn clean.

Sure it is, the hellacious winds blow everything left behind all the way to 29 Palms!

Trails are spotless. On the RARE occasion I've found a broken u-joint part, but that's about it.

They trails weren't hardly spotless (I love using double negatives!) when I ran them. Sledge was worse by far. The only trash I found on Jack was in the first and last couple hundred feet of the trail. Maybe a can or two on Claw. Relatively speaking, in comparision to Sierra trails, yes, the Hammer trails were spotless.

[Darrell C]

Originally posted by mrblaine
and the rest of us cart out what we find on the trail.

We follow the same philosophy. Pack out everything we pack in, and other folks garbage too. To bad everybody doesn't follow the same thinking.

[TDW]

Originally posted by cbassett
Relatively speaking, in comparision to Sierra trails, yes, the Hammer trails were spotless.

In reference to the Sierra trails though I can say that for the amount of traffic Rubicon sees each summer, it is in great shape overall.

I could not imagine that many people wheelin our areas up here in Oregon and still being able to maintain it.