Silverwood 2N17X short run 08/04

[sam 15]

A few of us got together and ran 2N17X, Mike (malachi), Kevin (1bad fnz) in his FJ and his son Scott and his family in his TJ, Maxwell (max 7) and me. I had a rider with me, Gary who is looking to buy an 02 or newer Rubi. This was planed to be a short run, only 1/2 day quicky, mainly due to Mike's ongoing grudge, Pilot Fuelbreak. I'll let Mike chime in on on the outcome.....Anyway for such a short run, it wasn't trouble free, unfortunately. Maxwell had an axle problem, it only took about 25 min. and a little sweat to get rollin again.....3 wheel drive not 4.....Keven ran into a problem with his electric fuel pump, but popped in a spare and was also rollin again in no time. Here's a few pic's, as usual, I didn't get a whole lot, and with the lag in the shutter missed the wheels in the air shots...old tech camrea...

Shot of the group at the notch


Mike at the notch


Kevin at the rock cluster


Scott at the rock cluster


Maxwell at thr rock cluster just before his axle went


Broken ujoint and stub shaft


A look at the stub shaft

[RAT]

Food for the Rock Gods. The trail has been fed...



I know Mr. Green won the fight. There's no way he didn't make, and make it look easy.
Great pics. Keep 'em coming.

Rat

[Mike]

2N17X Grudge Match Results!

What a great day with a great group! Lots of challenges and some amazing driving. The weather was partly cloudy to start and cleared as the day went on. We had 5 rigs on the run and ... uh, what's that? Oh...the grudge match...uh...well, technically Mr. Green made it up with the wheels down. :doh

Okay darn it, I got stuck! Couldn't go up or down. Maxwell strapped me up. There! I said it! I prefer to think of it as a draw; to be re-fought again at a later time.

I'll explain what happened, but first let's talk about the hard work that the Victor Valley 4-Wheelers put into this trail. The first hill has had the illegal bypass closed off and the gatekeeper rock has had some work done to it:


Kodiak Spirit asked for details about rigs and results, so for the rigs:
Malachi = 99 TJ, 2" suspension lift, 31.5 tires, 4.56 gears, locked front & back
Scott = TJ, 4" lift, 35" tires, stock gears and totally open.
1BadFNZ (Kevin) = Bad A$$ Toy Land Cruiser, 38" tires, V8 engine, limited slips, 4.10 gears, tuff as nails!
Max7 (Maxwell) = 06 Rubicon, 2" lift, tummy tuck, 33" tires, locked.
sam 15 (Rick) = TJ, I didn't ask, but I am sure that he can fill in the details. Best guess, 4+ lift, 35" tires, probably locked.

As for results, all of us cleared the gatekeeper going straight up the middle. The folks that tried the left line had troubles:


I did the extra credit at the top and made it with only a little spinning. Maxwell did it as well with a little goose of the skinny petal.

As for the Hill, Maxwell made it up with some darn good driving and lots of spinning. I, on the other hand, had some trouble about mid-way due to picking a line through the deep, loose dirt. After backing down, I made it to the rocks with little trouble, but got hung up on my gas tank. I have a 23 Gallon, custom built tank that is an inch lower than a standard tank. After a couple of tries at different lines (one that almost worked), I had dug in deep enough that I was left high centered on the tank. Forward or backward, wheels spinny but no go'ey!:


Maxwell strapped me up the hill. The first 3 seconds had both of us spinning tires but with a turn of the wheel, Mr. Green caught traction and popped up over the rocks. So THERE Mr. Hill!

In all honesty, I can say that my Jeep has traveled up the middle path. I can say that my Jeep has traveled down the path too, but we won't talk about that. :zip:

Rick (sam 15) took on the hill next and his attack was the most successful. But I can honestly say that I have never seen a Jeep "hopscotch" up a trail until now. See for yourself:


As we climbed the trail, there were beautiful views of Lake Silverwood. The lake was very busy:


The rest of the climb was fun but there were no changed features to tell of. But on the last hill, Maxwell had to take the tough line (what a waste of words, everyone who knows him, knows that he ONLY takes the tough lines), but with not so good results at first:


He had better luck on a line slightly to the right:


We then headed over to the V-Notch just below Pilot Rock. Scott challenged the Rock Cluster and did well, but a good bit of rock stacking was needed to get him through:


Not to be outdone by his son, Kevin challenged the Rock Cluster as well with similar results:


When Maxwell tried it, he was at the toughest point when his driver-side U-Joint exploded. He pulled the axle and stuffed the housing with rags. After a short delay, he was back in business but only in three wheel drive. Kevin made him display his handy-work at the point he broke it:


That didn't stop him. Maxwell still did the V-Notch in 3-wheel drive. The line almost gave him the same results as Paul B recently:


Mawell didn't break his window, but he scratched the glass and the hardtop.

Kevin and Scott took some hard lines on the V-Notch and both ended up with some great air shots, but no luck at the climb:



So Scott, remember = open diffs!, tries a different line. With some excellent pedal control he... well, again, see for yourself:


Okay MtbikBob! You really DON'T need lockers!

Like Son, Like Father, Kevin tried the same line with great results:


By this time, we had been out on the trail longer than the window of time that I had available. So we headed back down 2N17X. I hadn't driven this trail in the opposite direction before. It takes on a whole new aspect. I really enjoyed it:


At the HILL, we chose to take the Bypass due to the time constraints. I'll have to go back and let Mr. Green challenge the Hill again at another time.

Unfortunately, at the bottom of the bypass is when Kevin's fuel pump died. I hated to leave the group, but I was pressed for time. But I do have a great shot of the Hill with all the work that the VV4W's did. Nice Job!:


I'm glad that everyone made it home okay. I REALLY appreciate everyone coming out to make sure that Mr. Green didn't get into too much trouble. Thank you to everyone that went for an excellent day of wheelin'!

All my pics can be viewed at this link:
http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q...-4-07/?start=0

[Mike]

Food for the Rock Gods. The trail has been fed...



I know Mr. Green won the fight. There's no way he didn't make, and make it look easy.
Great pics. Keep 'em coming.

Rat

I wish you were there bro! Even though Mr. Green got hung up, it was a Great day. As all days of wheelin' are, of course!

[Max7]

What a great day!

HEY...you guys ready?


















If I just throw this magic dust down.... I'll climb right up!






What an awsome day! Thanks to everyone for the support with the axle removal. Anybody got a stock Rubi stub?

[Paul B]

Awesome report, thanks for the feedback on the trail repairs. Glad to hear we didn't make the center hill TOO EASY. Nice driving through the v-notch with open diffs. That was a great looking line.

[Schmo]

Sweet pics/clips!

Mike - Glad to hear that Mr Green was able to redeem himself! You're too humble . . . "I prefer to think of it as a draw; to be re-fought again at a later time". That's BS . . . you made it up with the rubber side down . . . that counts as a win in my book, whether you needed a tug or not! You don't call a KO victory a draw if the winner gets knocked down . . . it's all about the getting up and going at it again!

[Britain]

Cool run!!. LAst time there I snapped a bolt to the track bar. Rick helped me replace that bolt!

[miguelitojeep97]

who needs lockers right? that was some good driving bud!

[1 Bad F N Z]

Hey Mike, had a good time, playing on the rocks with you guys. Love the picture of throwing the magic dust, to get over the rocks. Scott and I had a good laugh at that. The video of Scott taking the different line was cool. I'm surprise that none of us saw the different line thru the V-notch. Always can learn something new. Needless to say nothing got done to the Camaro this weekend.Scott and I went on the Jeep run Sunday and I managed to get him stuck, and strapped at the rock garden on the Holcholm trail. That made my day. Had a good time, and enjoyed your company. See you later, Kevin.

[Materdaddy]

Scott, that's some of the best driving w/ open diffs I've ever seen! Good work!

[dirtman13]

Scott, that's some of the best driving w/ open diffs I've ever seen! Good work!

:omg:
I didn't realize he was open. He did some great driving on Sunday.

Nice pics and report guys.

[1 Bad F N Z]

LOL