|
Ferremit posted:Do you guys get the Pope Water Tractors over there in the states? I've never seen those in the US but my dad has about 8 antique Kees tractor sprinklers, which you can pick up on ebay for $50-100. They're cast iron, weigh a ton and are badass:  If it runs off it's hose track it will pull as far as it can and dig itself the gently caress into the ground until it bottoms out. I call them my dad's Grapes of Wrath Watering System. They put out a lot of pressure, I can see them being great for cleaning an underside.
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2010 03:27
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 12:18 |
|
|
General_Failure posted:Any tips for cleaning off / out vast amounts of clay mud from everything? It's a constant problem for me. I always heard to just park it over some kind of oscillating/rotating lawn sprinkler for a day - start it on one end and drag the sprinkler a few feet every few hours. Hit the body with a pressure washer at the end.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2014 00:50
|
|
|
Astonishing Wang posted:Big Bear Were you guys exiting out on to 38 around 3-4 pm? I was passing through there around then yesterday and I saw a big group of jeeps rolling out on to the highway, looked like your photos.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2014 18:17
|
|
|
Astonishing Wang posted:Yeah that was probably us! We got lost a couple of times so I think everyone got to see us. What were you driving? Were you up there for some 'froadin too? Nah, I hauled past in my blue BMW coupe enjoying the corners - was up there for my/my GFs birthday, doing the civilized B&B thing. Next time I'll have my XJ lifted enough to do some trails.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2014 18:47
|
|
|
Doccers posted:Got out to the mountains. Man that looks like fun. For the Gopro exterior vehicle mount, l just stuck one of the flat mount bases onto a couple of rectangular extra-strength magnets I got at the hardware store. Didn't bother gluing it or anything. It works fantastically; you can slap it anywhere with ease and adjust camera angles with the little gopro joints (get one of the misc mount kitbags) and thumb screws as you wish. I put some duct tape over the magnets to keep from scratching paint but you won't need that hahah. My favorite angle is low behind the front wheel.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2014 23:54
|
|
|
Trip Report: Joshua Tree National Park or; I'm fuckin' miserable, maaaaan Warning: contains no scenic photos of Joshua Trees A previously planned trip to Saline Valley hot springs in CA fell through due to holiday/work bullshit a couple of weeks ago, but my friend and I were able to get away for a quick overnighter to Babby's First Campground a.k.a Joshua Tree National Park. I've camped in various remote places around Southern California but had never been to JTNP. Everything else within reasonable distance around us was getting rained out and we only had 36 hours so, as the guy I bought the XJ from called it, "J-Tree" it was. The campgrounds are all paved and have very nice toilets, grills and tables - the park had 1.4million visitors in 2012 but there are large parts of it where no one goes. The campsites were pretty well occupied for a stormy night midweek in the offseason (as the yearly visitor #s would imply), but we got a spot around 11AM and went to explore the Black Eagle Mine Road. It starts out in the center of the park off the main road and heads NE about 11 miles. Washboarding most of the way with a few spots of picking your path carefully through rocks, and a couple of sandy areas where I went to 4Hi rather than get out and air down. 4Lo once for a steep washed out exit from a little creekbed. Real easy, and about right for the time we had.  The road exits park boundaries on the East side and enters BLM land. Shortly before the Black Eagle Mine remains, someone has placed a huge boulder in the road blocking further passage - probably whoever owns the old Kaiser steel mine three or four miles down the road. I miiiiiight have been able to get by on the left without rolling 20' into a wash, and I saw someone online who made it past on the right with a longarm TJ on 35"s but we played it safe. The Kaiser mine is private property and is supposedly patrolled anway (fun fact: Kaiser Steel's onsite prepaid medical facilities later became Kaiser Permanente). gently caress you, boulder  Hiked the 100 yards up to the Black Eagle Mine      On the way back down we drove up a road with an old decrepit gate labeled "Jade Mine". Upon further reading when I got home, apparently that gate is supposed to be locked and closed to vehicle traffic. Whoops. It was less than a mile anyway, and I am always careful to avoid going offtrack and damaging anything (old lessons from Dad die hard). It's a small claim at the end of the road, apparently mined for ten years or so by a desert freak who claimed UFOs led him to the spot.  Explosives bunker:  The old tunnel is maybe 40ft into the hillside, and well traveled:   Driving back out I noticed a spot where someone quite recently took a wrong turn, got stuck in a deep sand pit and had to dig out. After we got back to the highway, we went and drove Geology Tour Road in the South end of the park a bit after dark. It's marked one-way and mildly rutty/washboardy, so it was a good time to give my recent suspension upgrade and running lights a try at speed. Everything held together nicely and we made it back to camp and got the fire going. A large group of highschoolers in BMWs had set up at a site about forty yards away, and a couple of guys in an Acura were in the site directly adjacent to us. They all behaved about how I imagined Joshua Tree campsites might play out - the highschoolers were up all night rolling E from the sounds of it, and the two guys next door moaned audibly about how cold they were until we couldn't hold it in any longer and broke up laughing at " I'm freezing my rear end off maaaan, I'm fuckin' miserable...". We quoted that line loudly for an hour or so until they zipped up their tents and were quiet. The highschoolers woke me up about 6AM trying to impersonate a coyote howl, and again at 8AM when someone mobbed loudly past my tent within ten feet. I crawled angrily out in time to observe him climb a rock and take a few morning bong rips:  The Acura bros next to us had a flat tire and asked a park ranger who drove past if she had "any air". She didn't, so I made coffee and watched them learn how to change a tire. After figuring out that you have to loosen the lugs before jacking up the car, they also learned that you probably shouldn't go into the desert without airing up your spare donut - it was flat too. At this point I had a moment of weakness & pity, and suggested to my buddy that we take over my portable compressor & Fix-A-Flat can to help out - he countered that their lovely smouldering fire was permeating our tents and that they were drinking almond milk and deserved whatever happened to them. I felt that was a bit hard-hearted, but at this point a dazed teenage girl stumbled directly through the middle of our camp with no shoes and one sock - that was enough, so we packed up and left everyone to their own devices. There's two unpaved roads out of Joshua Tree that I found in my quick research - Old Dale road to the north, and Berdoo Canyon to the south, which splits off the previously mentioned Geology Tour Road. We took Berdoo Canyon out, which was a pretty nice road most of the way except for one narrow, windy canyon bit over some rocks. We got out to walk it, and found plenty of undercarriage bits: parts of splash guards, plastic trim, and even a few chunks of metal pans and something that looked like a control arm. The old 88 XJ with 3" lift and silly 235 tires walked over it easily with a bit of spotting.  Just around the corner we encountered a soft-top H1 running tours up the canyon. He backed up a bit and let us through:   The rest of the road out was easy, with just a spot or two where I had to slow and watch my diffs.  Once the park boundary ends and you get back to BLM, there's a kind of local-boy approved chaos shooting area - almost a mile of old tires/tv sets/furniture/broken glass surrounded by countless thousands of old shotgun shells and spent brass. I had read about this area previously, and we stopped to try out some new hardware I had brought along. After a box or two of ammo, we left and passed a few early-rising kids with an AR15 and no trigger discipline. We exited out into Indio and got the hell out of that shithole. Notes for Next Time: *Take Berdoo Canyon into the park and avoid $15 entrance fee *Camp out near the Black Eagle Mine in BLM land and avoid $15/night campsite fee + stoner trustafarians *Buy bigger tires *bring cheap blankets + fix-a-flat to sell at markup
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2014 08:15
|
|
|
tuna posted:You learned all of the right lessons. Yeah the park itself was amazing - we came in right after an early AM rain and everything was damned gorgeous. Definitely lives up to it's reputation in many ways. The main highway was empty and we had a blast driving around - the camping situation was absurd, but I thrive on the ridiculousness of humanity so it was all hilarious to me. My friend was a little more aggravated but he's also a hopeless idealist. I purposely chose to exit out Berdoo to see how tough it was, but next time I'm definitely entering that way too. I'm sure I could make it with the rig as-is, with a bit more gas - my open diffs and small tires would hurt but are next on the $$$$ list. The Ranger at the gate on the way in explicitly stated "We only ask to see your pass on entrance and exit" so there's that. Not that $15 is a killer expense, but I have scruples.... Yea, though I drive through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no Germans.... kastein posted:That kind of shooting area is the kind I really try to stay the hell away from... and their behavior is what gives 4x4 owners a bad rap. It's disgusting - I grew up camping and shooting at the same two sites for the first 24 years of my life and if you went to one today, you'd be hard pressed to find a .22 casing much less shattered glass or household appliances. I remember being not much more than toddler size, and my dad giving me a cup to walk around camp and pick up any bits of foil or wrapper before leaving. I went from learning on .22 bolt action to bringing friends and going hog wild with all sorts of stuff, but we always cleaned up the brass. The family land changed hands eventually to some cattle ranchers - our carefully kept campsite was literally bulldozed so RVs could turn around. I remember my dad sadly walking through kicking aside dip cans/budweiser empties/etc, and muttering "Cowboy trash..." That's when I realized you could love offroading/guns/hunting and the middle of nowhere without being an idiot redneck.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2014 03:35
|
|
at that whole situation you described. JT is wonderful but you only have to drive through once to realize how busy it is. You did really get unlucky with the camping though.
|
IOwnCalculus posted:A budget boost is definitely tempting... *six months later* IOC: "so I've got the 4.5" lift on, debating between 33" BFG MT or Mickey MTZs" And yeah, I'd plastidip the bullbar/rails black - cheap and easy. That or leave it and blast narcocorridos on the trail 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 11, 2015 03:31
|
|
|
That's his shock sheared off and resting against the leaf isn't it? 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 29, 2015 17:14
|
|
|
Krakkles posted:Come back, thread! Trip Report MMMMEGAPOST: Black Mountain Wilderness/Opal Mountain or, Somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert... A friend and I did a quick overnighter last weekend, before the Superbowl. We originally planned on going up Lytle Creek, CA but there was rain projected and since that area is essentially one massive flood basin for Mt. Baldy, we figured the FS would close the campsites and we didn't want to deal with that. Instead we drove a bit further and went up 395, up to just past the 58. During my last-minute planning, I noticed a "Boron Federal Prison Camp" on the satellite view that looked totally abandoned so we stopped to see if it was. Well, it was - the place was totally trashed:    The FAA scanning tower at the top of the hill is still in use, and heavily fenced/cameras  Yes, this is a little rag doll tied by a noose to an air handler:  The closest town is Boron, home of the largest borax mine in the world. They used 20-mule teams to haul the mineral back in the day, and we found this excellent mural commemorating that:  We found the mechanic's building, with pretty sweet tool-boards still mostly intact (the rest was riddled with shotgun blasts and garbage):    I am totally going to start a industrial-euro desert rave once a year at this structure at the top of the hill:  We explored some other basements and a few side buildings, but everything of interest(read:copper) was stripped bare and full of trash. We finally found this inscription, and took it as a sign to move on to lesser traveled areas before dark:  Time to head east 17.5 miles into the desert, away from people and into the Black Mountain Wilderness. Twas a dark and stormy evening  Once we entered the lower end of the Black Mountain Canyon road, we stopped to examine some of the first etchings you find in the rocks.  The area is scattered with petroglyphs dating back thousands of years, and more recent ones. "A. Tillman" was one of the early silver ore miners in the area, dating to 1874  JEEPS WOOO  Shortly after that spot, we took a wrong turn and got hopelessly turned around. The area is riddled with well-marked BLM roads, but I hadn't had time to get a good map. We ended up taking a rough old mining road which gradually turned South.... long story short, when we finally admitted defeat and turned on the GPS on my phone we were five miles from where we thought we were, and facing 180 degrees from the heading we wanted. I've spent a lot of time out in the middle of nowhere, but never gotten lost that badly before. Don't gently caress around in the desert, kids - take a map and don't forget your compass like I did. We almost made the stereotypical complete circle, even making classic mistakes such as assuming topographical landmarks were the ones we "saw" on my printed google maps. After a sober moment of laughing at ourselves and re-orienting, we turned back and found a nice spot to camp where I originally hoped to be, up in the mountains off the Opel Mine Road.  My friend takes fire pits seriously:  At this point, the sun began to set and that ten minutes alone was worth the whole trip:    The next morning, the stupid Jeep wouldn't start - we had flogged it through a few shallow puddles in the road the day before, but nothing serious. The bastard just cranked and cranked; wouldn't turn over. After an hour of tinkering and troubleshooting with no luck, the battery started getting lower and we began to grimly contemplate either hiking miles back to the last spot we had cell service, or miles the other direction towards the faint sound of some target shooting we could hear in the distance. It didn't make sense - we had fuel pressure, spark, no water in the airbox, distributor cap was dry, etc.... I decided to crank the fucker one last time until the battery died, and after fifteen long seconds of helpless whining it turned over. We drove it for 30 minutes, turned it off, and it started fine the rest of the day. With great relief we packed up and went to our final destination, Inscription Canyon - this little volcanic cut supposedly has about 1000 petroglyphs from the natives original to the area. Having seen one petroglyph canyon in a desert not too far from here, I had high hopes and it didn't disappoint. The Western end of the canyon:  ART!!!!1      Bighorn Sheep etchings; often sought by CA petroglyph nuts:   This looks like a lazy one, but it seems to be an example of one of my favorite glyphs - a snake depicted crawling out of a crack in the rock:  Sadly, there were some modern defacings and evidence of people chipping away huge chunks of rocks and taking the etchings. The east end of the canyon is easily accessible to any moderate SUV, and although the canyon itself is blocked with a fence it's just too easy to get to. There were tons more petroglyphs and I took tons more photos, but those were some of my favorites. As we were finishing up, a couple of nice Wranglers came by - was good to know we would have been able to get a tow out without too much issue.  The road out (what we originally planned to come in on) was easy, and we were able to figure out where we took a wrong turn. We encountered the group of target shooters, and a group of dirt bikers as well. Took one last stop for lunch, and headed back to LA to settle in for the Superbowl:   There was only one road back to LA.... Interstate 15 - a frantic high-speed burn through Baker, Barstow and Berdoo... The Royal Nonesuch fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Feb 5, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Feb 5, 2015 03:10
|
|
|
Krakkles posted:Bad freakin' rear end! I've driven by Boron but I haven't seen all that. New short term goal! BoostCreep posted:Great quote! Looks like a fun trip. I want to go next time. tuna posted:Awesome trip! I am totally copying this trip, BTW. but probably explore some different areas of Black Mountain itself. Glad you guys enjoyed it - pm me if you have questions on getting in there, but if you're a smart man and have a GPS or a map/compass (unlike me) it's quite easy. It doesn't offer much in the way of hardcore 4x4 flexing action, but I built this old jeep more as a desert explorer anyway so it's perfect for that. Im sure there's some lovely mine roads I missed too. Also: possible SoCal AI 4x4 meetup spot  ?I really dig your vented hood (Death Proof decal too holy poo poo) - I've only ever seen the LeBaron vent mod on XJs. Did you have a fabricator do that?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2015 00:13
|
|
|
Krakkles posted:Thank you! Yeah, it's custom. If you're interested, I can definitely get you a price. Biggest potential downside is it really requires a repaint, but totally worth it. Keeps the engine a lot cooler, looks badass. Yah it looks great. I'm cheap as hell so I've been keeping my eyes open for hood vents in junkyards, but if a lotto scratcher pays off or something I'll hit you up. The paint on my jeep is waaay more shot than my photos make it look, so no shits given there. I was actually pleased to find some We keep mentioning meetups and time keeps moving, but one of these days we'll get it done. I've got JKS disconnects, Spidertrax wheel spacers and 3/4" front body spacers (to level it out) sitting on my desk, waiting for 31s I''m gonna be ordering in the next couple weeks. I wanted to go 33s but I'm too lazy and aesthetic to cut the body, and 31s are cheaper. Once all that is on I'm going to be itching for another, bolder expedition. As a side note, I've been rather pleased with the basic Goodyear Wranglers the Jeep came with - I thought they were pretty much street-oriented budget BFG AT competitors for tire shops to sell to people, but the only problem I've encountered was a nail in town. Plugged the hole and it's still running strong, even though I stopped being careful and started going over sharp rocks without care.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2015 01:42
|
|
|
Krakkles posted:What area are you in? If you're local I'm totally down to help install stuff - most of that should be pretty straightforward to install, actually. I'm in Pasadena, which IIRC is a bit far from you. All that stuff will be easy to put in except the body spacers because gently caress coil springs. I'm waiting on the tires so I can get it all aligned once it's done. That said, the Sun Valley LKQ had a ton of XJs last time I was there so if your area is sparse and you want to find some stuff/install my crap and drink beers we can make it work.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2015 05:13
|
|
|
Krakkles posted:Sun Valley is actually probably closer to me than you (I'm in Northridge). But yes, by all means, I'd love to help you work on it. The coils shouldn't actually be too bad - since you don't (probably) have limit straps, I'd imagine we can drop your coils without much work. Unless the stock suspension doesn't flex enough to drop it? Even if it doesn't, probably unhook the upper link and it should come out, no? Ah, for some reason I thought you were up near Ventura/Oxnard. Cool. I've got 3" coils front and new super-stiff RE 3.5" (more like 4+") leafs in the back, other than that it's stock. I put the coils in last time having never done any suspension poo poo before so it should definitely be easier this time around, and I have some HF strut compressors. Disclosure: We'll have to chisel off my expensive bespoke Gorilla-glued hockey puck bumpstops, and my workspace is Dirt à la Kastein 
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2015 05:45
|
|
|
I'm a tentative yes on the 14th if I can get the day off and have my upgrades done by then. I also have a CB in my jeep.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2015 22:40
|
|
|
Krakkles posted:I'd like to be able to chat over 5-10mi non-line-of-sight, obviously, but I'm not expecting that. I put a Uniden hardmount in the Jeep
|
|
#
¿
Feb 13, 2015 02:59
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:Proof that a WJ is great at holding up more capable rigs while wheeling. That looks like a sweet spot for exploring/camping! Glad you're pushing it a bit unlike almost all the other WJ drivers - put a bit of a lift in there with some bigger tires, get your overnight gear together and have a blast. You'll also be enjoying the quiet ride/air conditioning us junkyard XJ people pretend to not care about
|
|
#
¿
Feb 16, 2015 03:53
|
|
|
tuna posted:Okay! Back from an overnight trip I completely and utterly stole from The Royal Nonesuch. Absolutely shameless. It was a blast. Cool! Glad you enjoyed it - quite the network of roads, eh? We drove by that tree too and wondered how the hell it was surviving right there. I figured it would have been dead from heat or bullet holes by now. I also hit that stupid marked trench, but luckily was going a bit slower and was able to mash the brakes.IIRC that well was a stagecoach stop. Very similar in construction to another well I've seen at an old coach stop in Chuckawalla valley, probably the same dudes hahah.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 17, 2015 01:38
|
|
|
I'm in - day off scheduled, new tires will be on and ready to break in. I gleefully invited my friend, knowing full well his 2014 Tacoma TRD Off-road is still too pretty to scratch (also 2wd). He'll be riding shotgun so I can make fun of him up until my junkyard Jeep flings a UJoint through the fuel line and lights up like a meat fire.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 19, 2015 07:28
|
|
|
Thank you, UPS Man  
|
|
#
¿
Feb 20, 2015 04:16
|
|
|
BoostCreep posted:Hey SoCal people, don't forget this Saturday is our Cleghorn wheeling trip. Come on out and break stuff with us. More info on the Facebook page. I'm super pissed to miss out on this trip due to my stupid freeze plug issues, but had a thought - I'm not familiar with Cleghorn/if it's a round trip, but if anyone has an extra seat and is returning back by the meetup point I'd love to catch a ride. I could meet up with you guys at the Shell station and bring along the camera and GoPro - guaranteed fresh articulation photos for a willing driver
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2015 06:03
|
|
|
I was on the highway early last Saturday morning, running my E46 BMW at speed in the fast lane when I came up fast on an ugly blue Jeep hogging the road - I honked wildly, but he failed to yield and I noted a nasty Death Proof decal on his hood... a sure sign of a freak. I blew past him as his stupid 4.0 bogged down on a slight uphill grade, but he caught up as I was refueling at a Shell station - I tried to escape, but he pinned me in with some other ugly 4x4s and after some negotiation, I agreed to to ride along under the condition that I photographed him and his group being idiots on a old dirt road a mile away. My own Jeep was sidelined with a blown freeze-plug, but they seemed to understand and offered beers - why not? Tuna    Astonishing Wang    Boostcreep    Kastevich    Krakkles    Pictures of the most excellent Honey Badger & assorted Stupid Jeep People       Full album right this way. I tried to get the shots looking right on the first cursory pass, but if any of the participants has a special request let me know and I'll be glad to email you a fullres edit (the album is at 150dpi). Shoutouts: Astonishing Wang - serious thanks for letting me ride along and slap GoPro mounts all over your jeep - footage looks good, coming soon  Krakkles - Award for sickest bespoke bumpers, Snap-On air hose and organizing it all Boostcreep - Award for finessing a largely-stock WJ through with the rest of the trail setups Tuna - The Guy Who Rescued The Gnarliest Rig Everyone Else - enduring hydrolock in the middle of a desert during a historic drought IOwnCalculus posted:Wouldn't the easier route be to line up a lot further right? Cleghorn = no mods no masters, throttle rules mmkay? (we realized late and that drat right side was extremely slippery) jonathan posted:Also, how astonishing was his wang ? 
The Royal Nonesuch fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Mar 16, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2015 06:53
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:I took my extremely mild TJ down some extremely mild trails today. Congrats on the dent, some people pay a lot of money for lesser Trail Rated badges. How do you like the little mini-LED bar - have you used it much at night? Most of the LED bars I see fit firmly into brotruck status, but I've thought about installing some smaller units as backup lights because I had to reverse down a road once after dark and it sucked. I tested the XJ's new cooling system mods and valve job out this weekend with a quick overnighter up a moderate road (CA/San Bernardino NF/Lytle Creek/Coldwater Canyon/last yellowpost campsite). It ran fantastically the whole time, and the temp gauge never got above 210 even after a couple of miles uphill in 4wd on the rocky old mine road. I topped it off before/after the freeway section to get there & got 20mpg too which was cool. The recently purchased swaybar disconnects and 31" Cooper S/T Maxxs made a huge difference from the last time I tried that road - only broke traction once when I crossed a creek with some wet rocks (open diffs). Didn't stop to take any poser photos, but the campsite at the top was nice once we spent 20 minutes cleaning up the goddamn shotgun shells and beer cans left by the last 909 occupants. I found a cut-up CV boot, a pair of needlenose pliers covered in axle grease, many fragments of underbody trim, a few pieces of interior trim (??) and a set of Wrangler soft-top window screens laying by the road... I think some people had a hard time getting up there. 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2015 05:47
|
|
|
It's a month late and while I wanted to do more with it and get the color correction/audio/fades/other bullshit tuned etc, I finally got fed up with boring footage of Jeeps and just threw it up on youtube raw. It was also too long so I ran some of it at 300% speed but whatever. Hot AI SoCal 4x4 Cleghorn Footage Featuring the Sick Setups and Nuanced Narration of: Astonishing Wang (yellow TJ) Tuna (white JK) Krakkles (blue XJ) Boostcreep (gold WJ) Kastevich (white TJ) and the excellent hydrolocked Honey Badger (non-AI friend, black TJ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrLqUIe9K3U
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2015 08:25
|
|
|
mattfl posted:Made a trip up to Windrock Offroad Park last week with a few friends. Great looking photos. The blue-gray Rubicon makes me desperately wish I had enough money to cheat on my oldass XJ because goddamn I love that color.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 16, 2015 01:08
|
|
|
Went out to a favorite spot in the easternmost edge of the Mojave for a one-nighter with a friend. It was cold and windy as hell, but we had a blast. The old Cherokee loved it and handled everything I put it through on some old mining roads. I hadn't really tested the Cooper ST Maxx tires in the sand yet, but they worked fantastic and bit hard - only really had to engage 4Hi for the straight uphill sandy wash exits, and a couple of gravelly uphill skree sections. Had one hairy moment early in the first day when I wasn't paying attention and hit a steep, downhill off-camber corner that looked solid but was really just crusted-over sand... the Jeep went into a slow sideways slide and I felt it wanting to roll (full camp load with firewood etc) so I steered straight downhill and rode the slide ten feet down to the bottom of the wash. Really appreciated the XJ departure angle getting out of that because gently caress - my hitch still bottomed out a couple times turning back and getting out. Would not have been fun with anything longer. Wish I had brought along the gopro and had it running for that one. It was windy as hell during the night; we lashed the tent to the Jeep and still had a snapped pole. The tent was mostly collapsed when I crawled out the next morning. Didn't take many photos, but got a few on the cellphone:   You can actually drive to the top of Opal Mountain (super steep, guessing 4Lo unless you've got engine), but we hiked up the backside  Panorama shot from the top  Found a nice road through an area full of Joshua Trees. Really pretty.  Was nice to get out and find some silence after a Christmas holiday filled with too many relatives 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 28, 2015 07:10
|
|
|
kastein posted:
I'm just over halfway through reading this thread you linked, but congratulations on causing my work performance to suffer on of our busiest days of the year. I kept stopping to obsessively read it on my phone. All I can say is what the gently caress - I'm all for a good adventure but this guy's brass balls are crossing firmly over into brass brain. As far as I can tell he didn't even have a socket set or a tube of RTV, but he brought his wife/girlfriend???? loving crazy, but what a fantastic story. 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2015 07:42
|
|
|
I dunno about your Monrovia, but at the junkyard in my Monrovia skid plates are quite cheap Wouldn't hurt, that's for sure. Good quality offroad/all-terrain tires make such a big difference in adverse conditions, so I gotta suggest those. I had some average level ATs on my jeep and thought they were fine and had some good trips with them. When I finally upgraded to something more aggressive it was like night and day. I don't even have to engage 4wd as much as I did before. Other than that, maybe spend the cash on a Rubbermaid bin filled with good spare parts? Belts/ujoints/radiator hose/spare starter/tirepatch kit/etc.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2016 17:38
|
|
|
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert... Actually, significantly North of Barstow right around Ballarat. Yes, this area was the last known home of the Manson family and my friend and I had always wanted to follow in Bugliosi's footsteps and go investigate. We loaded ten gallons of water/five gallons fuel/3lbs raw meat/36 beers/1 bottle each whisky + tequila/three nights of firewood/two boxes .45ACP & a full assortment of Beach Boys/Beatles/Family Jams albums into my old XJ and fled Los Angeles for the sanity of Death Valley. We topped off the tank in Trona and headed north down into Panamint Valley, where I was able to test out some new (junkyard ZJ) steering components in the Jeep by flooring it down a long grade and pegging out the speedometer at 85mph - she held steady and before too long we were on dirt heading into Ballarat, a worthless little mining supply town largely put on the map because of Charles Manson.  Ballarat is a vaguely living     Take the well-graded road 17 miles south from Ballarat  We came across some old bones  Jeeps like yours have passed this way before and they were nothing....   Seventeen miles south of Ballarat you will find the mouth of Goler Wash - a lovely place to park your pretty new Tacoma  Load up some old Manson tunes for the atmosphValley of Death and I'll find you... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dibxfgOTmrI Keep on driving up the wash - this is the reverse route Inyo County Sheriff's hauled Manson back out after they raided Barker Ranch and arrested him for vandalism/grand theft auto (they had no idea he was involved in the Tate/LaBianca murders at that time). Going off old photos, the route was little more than a 4x4 track up the wash at the time, but it's currently well-maintained by a mining group. The notorious "waterfall" at the entrance has been covered in gravel and is easily done in any SUV.   The canyon walls were lined with cactus sentinels  Winds were roaring through here  Charlie and the gang rocked dune buggies, but lacking the budget provided by stolen credit cards we made due with my old XJ   Yours Truly  you say you've got a real solution; well, you know, we'd all love to see the plan   We came up on the Barker Ranch and  The corner bathroom they allegedly caught Charlie in  Ranch Stuff        Time to get the gently caress out of this weird trashed place:  The sun was setting and we didn't want to camp out at the Ranch because, well, the whole area is a huge Garbage Dump and frankly too gross to camp around https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GC2ubGjkiM The Royal Nonesuch fucked around with this message at 10:08 on Mar 15, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Mar 15, 2016 09:45
|
|
|
We left the Ranch with Garbage Dump playing loudly on the Jeep's stereo and went searching for a spot to camp out that didn't feel like it might have bodies beneath somewhere. Just around the corner and up a road we thought might have a bit of a refuge, we found the actual garbage dump...     The dopest armored Jeep oilpan I ever did see  After realizing there was nothing clean or hip about the Barker Ranch, we went a bit further up the Goler Wash road and found a nice existing spot by the road to set up the fire and cook dinner/get ready for Mengel Pass the next morning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLMrFiVdVYs   Right about sunset the sky got dark and settled in to remind us that this was in fact high desert altitude in winter  About 10PM a huge light rose up to the North and bore down on us with extreme speed - at first I thought perhaps Vegas was exploding, or maybe the last remnants of the Family was heading up for a seance. After watching the Close Encounters Of a Third Kind set roll towards us for a few minutes, it turned out to be a brand-new Rubicon with a huge lightbar setup. It rolled up next to our firepit and a voice yelled "I hope you guys are having a beautiful night!!. It was a couple of guys out of Vegas who had come up Mengel Pass in the dark, and were looking for the Barker Ranch/a place to sleep. They had no tent, no map, and gleefully asked me where the closest place to buy gas was. After instructing them on the Right Path (and insisting they take a photo of my topo map), they took the wrong road up a hill and disappeared, music blasting. They reappeared much as they had left; music blasting and asking for directions as I crawled out of my tent crosseyed the next morning. A storm had definitely settled in around us, and we packed up without breakfast and headed up the road to tackle Mengel Pass. There are three roads considered most difficult in Death Valley National Park: Steel Pass, Lippincott and Mengel Pass. We got up to Mengel in 4Hi with a bit of cautious driving, and stopped at the top where the cairn is. It was cold as gently caress and either sleeting or hailing, depending on your definition of icy rain hitting you sideways. Unfortunately my gopro footage got corrupted somewhere so all I have is photos. The tough section wasn't all that bad; my friend spotted me down and aside from having to stand on the awful XJ brakes in 4lo the whole way we made it without issue. Mengel Pass Cairn in the storm:   Road down...  Looking up at the rough part (hard to show how steep it was)  The old XJ made it down happily  After that it was easy rocky sailing down into Butte Valley     Burros     Coming out down the Warm Springs road a rental Jeep with a nice family pulled aside to let us pass - when we stopped next to them and rolled down our windows to chat about road conditions, they waved frantically and continued past with their windows locked up... at this point we realized we looked crazy and were probably the locals someone had warned them about... Shortly after we got down into Death Valley proper, and checked out the #superbloom #awesome I had seen written/hashtagged in pencil at a prior primitive guestbook.     We exited the Park south, via the Harry Wade road, and found a spot to camp in BLM land between DVNP and Ft. Irwin  The next morning we took a strange road back out to the highway and got to see a last few sights before returning to pavement     In conclusion - as one of the girls said when asked how Manson got a schoolbus to the Ranch : "Charlie flew the bus there." The Royal Nonesuch fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Mar 15, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Mar 15, 2016 09:46
|
|
|
*performs panicky, shallow chest compressions on thread* LIVE drat YOU My coworker is vacationing in Japan and send me photos of mad fresh JDM 4x4 gear:  
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2016 05:11
|
|
|
Joshua Tree Old Dale Mine District/Brooklyn Mine Road and a stock Tacoma 4x4 TRD A friend of mine had been wanting to go drive the Old Dale/Gold Crown road north out of Joshua Tree ever since he got his pretty new 2015 Tacoma TRD 4x4. I studied a few topo maps and decided the route looked boring (if you can find blogs written by beer-gutted middle aged white dudes in $50,000 JKs it's probably dull) so I casually suggested we detour out through the Old Dale mine district/Brooklyn Mine road. Park maps don't show it connecting to the Gold Crown road but after a bit of Google Maps sat photo analysis it all tied together. I also just put a lunchbox Aussie locker in the front axle of my XJ and wanted to give it a try. Joshua Tree is a major destination this time of year what with moderate temperatures and all. You can avoid the $15 entrance fee by coming up Berdoo Canyon out of Indio on the south side of the park. It's a moderate road you could do in 2wd if you have some clearance and know how to pick your way around rocks. There's one obstacle where 4wd is nice but probably not totally necessary... it's not a difficult part per say and you could do it in 2wd with throttle and knowing what you're doing. There are lots of plastic undercarriage bits from people who didn't. My friend navigating the step   From there it's easy cruising up through Geology Tour Road and onto the highway through Joshua Tree. Take it to the East down into Pinto Basin and head North on Old Dale Road:  Once you're on Old Dale, take that first right onto the Brooklyn Mine Road and you're immediately up in a maze of rocky old roads leading every which way and dead-ending at places where turning around sucks - I usually ended up scouting the trails in my XJ to see if he could A) make it up with his clearance B) turn around at the end. I had pre-downloaded topo and satellite maps into GaiaGPS on my iPad and that poo poo was key in figuring out which roads went through etc. My XJ with the new locker was full cheatmode and cruised through everything - I was mostly concerned with his stock BFG Rugged Trail tires but since they were essentially new and we aired them down to 18psi they did fine. He hit his front skidplate several times, and scuffed his trans support crossmember and rear diff (mostly from taking downhill obstacles too fast/suspension compression). The Tacoma departure angle sucks and his trailer hitch scraped a bunch but I told him that would happen before we left. The whole area was scattered with deep vertical mineshafts... normal, simple reversing often needed a spotter just for those (spot the pit!)  Lots of treacherous old places for idiots like us to explore:  We tried but it wouldn't start  Oh god the bank still owns this truck  View to the north  Took this road up and ran across another XJ near the top  I don't trust my parking brake/road is steeper than it looks  We took a side road down into a canyon past an active mining claim, and finally found someplace with enough flat ground to set up camp (Huge panorama photo)  Climbed back out the next day   Overall it was a great road and I can't talk poo poo to my buddy anymore about his virgin Tacoma. Once he got all of his traction control gizmo buttons figured out the truck did very well climbing it's way up loose rocky hills. He definitely had to plan ahead and engage his 4lo & rear locker ahead of time/reverse ten feet/pull forward ten feet/repeat until all the proper lights were on, but with a bit more lift and good tires that truck will be fantastic. All I had to do was put the Jeep in neutral and yank it to 4lo, but he had full climate control and a far smoother ride so it evens out a bit. Final bonus photo showing how a Galaxy Nexus S5 camera chip freaks out when attempting to photograph a mine tunnel looking out towards the light - I was crouching in the entrance; definitely not hovering above. Interestingly we got the same effect in video mode... 
The Royal Nonesuch fucked around with this message at 08:21 on May 3, 2016 |
|
#
¿
May 3, 2016 08:15
|
|
|
Do it. Samurais are super cool - someone on my commute to work recently bought a mint, lifted one on A/Ts and I ogle it every time I drive by. My offroading buddy had one back in the day and loved it for it's ability to squeeze around boulders and things everyone else has to drive over.
|
|
#
¿
May 27, 2016 21:55
|
|
|
That's fuckin' cool! What's the deal with the gate - is it locked/gotta know someone? I love those solar installations in the desert - you can argue they're ugly and ruin the landscape but I dig 'em; it's like living in the future. I camped out once for a few nights in the Chuckawalla Valley waaay out overlooking Chuckawalla State Prison and the solar sites. The Prison glittered at night and the panels glittered by day - it was trippy and thought-provoking as hell and I have been fond of them ever since.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2016 05:47
|
|
|
Paulie posted:
Dude, that's awesome I'm super jealous... can't beat a free set of tires and some pro shots of your rig (which is also p. sweet). After I lifted my Jeep and was still running tires a size or two small, I thought it looked just like it was tiptoing everywhere 
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2016 01:39
|
|
|
Hahah, holy poo poo that runaway could have ended so much worse. As it is, it's just hilarious... isn't it wierd how the first instinct was immediately to try to stop the 2ton rolling metal peice with a human body? I like to think I'd do otherwise but panic is a strange thing. Looks like a fun spot.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2016 04:11
|
|
|
ExecuDork posted:Most of what's in here seems to be for fun, but my only 4x4 experience has been for work. I'm a post-doc working on ecological restoration of peat bogs Hey, great post and please always show us more offroading for work! Honest question: is there a reason you aren't running more aggressive mud tires? I'm purely a desert guy for the most part and don't know poo poo about mud, but I got stuck in sand once with the BFG ATs (I think that's what's in your photos) in a friend's rig and noticed a big difference in traction when I went from similar Goodyear Wranglers to more muddish Cooper S/T Maxxs on my jeep. ATs are a fantastic balance for street and mild offroad but it seems like you'd benefit from more tread. I assume that's the original set or your work budget doesn't allow for MAXXIS MUD RAPTOR SWAMPKINGS.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2016 04:25
|
|
|
This rules. DJ Commie posted:Anyone interested in a SoCal/NorCal AI offroad adventure sometime before it gets too warm. I'm right between SF and LA, on the coast. I have a decently big OHV area just up the road with jeep trails as well as plenty of graded dirt roads an hour away from that in California Valley. I have a private rock field and rallycross course with shootin' possibilities if there's interest as well. I'm down with this idea. Los Padres is a cool area; some nice spots to camp out for a night if it works. I'm running an XJ with 4" lift/31s/front locker so I'm up for anything along those lines. Shooting is great too if you have a spot, I'm happy to bring hardware. In the interest of keeping the thread alive here are some random photos of desert stuff from my last few excursions:      
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2017 07:50
|
|
|
SyHopeful posted:I poo-pooed airing down since I don't do a ton of technical wheeling. Until I did air down, and the resulting improvement in ride shot a compressor and deflator to the top of my must-buy list. Yeah I have a set of Staun deflators, they're great because I wind up airing down more often. So much better than crouching down with a pressure gauge or whatever. I have a viair88p hardwired/mounted with an extra long hose for the reinflating part.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2018 18:58
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 12:18 |
|
|
SyHopeful posted:Nice! How accurate/easy to dial in have you found them? I'm rocking the basic ARB deflator but have the Viair 400P. They're very accurate - I have a nice tire gauge I splurged on years ago so I'm not just guesstimating. Deflate a tire to 15psi or w/e. Screw on one of the deflators, and then slowly tighten down the adjustment ring until you hear air hissing, back off a hair and snug the final locking ring to hold the adjustment. Repeat three more times. Took me less than ten minutes to set them all a few years ago, and I haven't had to adjust them since. There's cheaper ripoff versions but I can't vouch for those.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2018 23:48
|
|