April Big Bear Run

[Stic-o]

Sorry I never made it up guys. I wish I would have instead of going to that bacholer party on saturday night. That was just NASTY! The strippers had flab and sagging ****.. It was Just Nasty! Glad to hear you guys had a good time. Sorry to hear about your truck Jefe, But at least you didn't roll it!

 

[jobunn]

Good to hear you made it back just fine Jefe. Luckily the weather was cooperating.

My brother shot a video of you breaking your knuckle. Good video but he needs to get the audio working. I'll get it to you when he figures it out.

 

[Jefe]

My brother shot a video of you breaking your knuckle.

Sweet. Not that it was all that impressive

 

[410Fortune]

WOW!!!

After all that...you wait till Sunday to blow up the knuckle.
WHats wrong with you not bringing a spare?
Glad you made it home and have such a support staff to get you home!

Lets see thos pictures!

Bill and I hit the "Blizzard" on the way home, it was quite humurous! 4" of snow and it was pretty icy in spots, there was an 8 car fender bender on our way down and they were requiring chains on the way up the hill! hahahaha
We stayed aired down till the bottom of the hill, try to get through that traffic nightmare as quick as possible.
I found I peeled open my rear diff cover and it was leaking slowly for who knows how long, finally all spilled out Sat night, nice puddle Sun morning.

Nice wheeling with you guys, skidplates are in order as well as 35's!

I am curious Jefe, how did you break that knuckle? wedged between a rock or what?
Your new tie rod too beffy for the knuckles?

hahaha oh man...
I got 3 pics and short video, will post later tonight

My total carnage:
Nice tree "mark" on the drivers side and small dent
Peeled lip on stock metal diff cover
various under carriage scrapes

New trans works great! After doing those water crossings I am sure glad I put the breather on it before this run! hahaha!

Post that picture of the beast parked on the large boulder
Next time you need to change your oil, just do it right there!

 

[DB_1]

Wow Jefe,
when you break you break big! Did you have your front locker engaged when you broke the knuckle or how did it happen? I really hated to miss this run but we'll have to get another one going soon.

 

[BKennedy]

Jefe took the hardest line, as usual, and when he was backing up from in between two big rocks, it went pop. Very unimpressive. No real pressure on it, it just went. We figured it must have been stress fractured for awhile for it to pop when it did. The knuckle is very thin in the place where it broke. It should be a few inches thick and is less than one inch.

I didn't do any damage to the truck, just bent up the trailer step on a rock backing up.

Saturday was one of the best wheelin times I have ever had; Everyone knew what they were doing (no spotting necessary), all modified rigs, great scenery and snow!

 

[410Fortune]

Brian,

Hahaha well I must say rock gardens of that caliber I do not have much experience on! and being on 33's didnt help! I got her in an awekward spot twice if I remember but was able to wiggle my way out eventually
I really enjoyed Saturday, I felt right at home with the snow and scenery, very much like wheeling in Colorado!!!

 

[Jefe]

Brian emailed me some pics:
Big Bear pics

Cool pic Brian

Wow Jefe,
when you break you break big! Did you have your front locker engaged when you broke the knuckle or how did it happen?

I didn't engage the locker all weekend.

 

[Stic-o]

Ahhhhh... a little duck tape would fix that right up! I'm so jealous now! :frustrate That looked like so much fun!

Saturday was one of the best wheelin times I have ever had; Everyone knew what they were doing (no spotting necessary), all modified rigs, great scenery and snow!

Well Maybe it was better off for you guys that I didn't come Dam 31's!

 

[Ken Cooke]

Everyone in our group had a wonderful time Saturday. Combine rocks w/snow and ice, and things always get interesting. Sorry we held you guys up on the trail (John Bull). If you stuck around, Mario from Adventure Trailers LLC would have fixed you all some hot coco out of his trick propane setup attached to his trailer.

On Sunday, a Rubicon Owner totalled his Rubicon on the drive up. Black Ice. He is fine, and his g/f sustained no injuries. The couple live in Riverside, so, I drove them back home that day.

We clicked over 300 photos, and they are on Rubicon Owners of California under 'Big Bear Extreme Post Run Pics'. I'll see you again soon!

-Ken

p.s. - Ranger X, do you remember this Yellow TJ??? His rig dominated all day, and he wasn't even a Rubicon!

 

[colpepper]

Saturday was an excellent day of wheelin'. Thanks for letting a Jeep hang with you Ford guys. On our way out Jeff and I were on the White Mountain Trail and the weather got nasty. The wind was blowing 40-50 mph and blowing snow all over the place. We had 50-60ft visibility sometimes. It was awesome. We ran on dirt all the way to Hesperia, when we finally hit pavement it was coming up on 7 o'clock. Big Dave you missed a good one.

 

[BKennedy]

I noticed Jefe did not post the picture I sent him of his weld job.

Tim, you can wheel with us anytime. Your okay, for a Jeeper. We let Brother of Jefe along, so what the heck!

 

[410Fortune]

Colpepper...

Man I wish we took that road home! The windy drive down by Big Bear Lake was PACKED full of people trying not to slide off the road.
Reminds me of Colorado

Nice wheeling with you too! I had a 2000 TJ Sahara with 32's, 4.10, L/S and D44's for a short time, those things wheel like a SOB Its hard keeping up with the joneses.

WHat did the EB have under the hood? EFI 5.8L or 5.0L?

 

[DB_1]

Man, I always miss the good stuff...can't wait to get back on the trails. I STILL haven't gotten my damn alternator...grrrr.

Jefe, looks like you might have to upgrade to D60 outers or find a way to beef up those knuckles huh?

410, I thought you'd like it up there in the mtn. terrain...glad the guys broke you in on some of the better trails.

 

[Stic-o]

Ok so it sounds like everyone had a great time, but maybe we sould think about a return to big bear, Maybe in the summer.....and I would go this time....Really!

 

[BKennedy]

We had 50-60ft visibility sometimes. It was awesome.

Spoken like a true off-roader.

Dave, you missed a good one.

Lets plan a day trip to run the mountain from east to west when they open Deep Creek. Gold Mtn, John Bull, Holcomb Creek, Deep Creek, all in one day. Oh, Yeah!!

I did find some minor damage, blew out a bushing on the steering system. I noticed it was drifting more than normal on the way home.

 

[410Fortune]

Brian, so the bushings on the idler arm are toasted?

I wish Superlift would have made the ball joint/tie rod end (where it attaches to the pitman arm) easily replace-able. Seems to me that a tie rod end would work just as well if it was threaded. Also the bushing could be a real bearing or rod end too!

How often does the bushing wear out? I bought my kit used and it seemed in good shape.

 

[Jefe]

Jefe, looks like you might have to upgrade to D60 outers or find a way to beef up those knuckles huh?

hehe, I wish. EVERYONE makes beafier D60 knuckles. . but I couldn't find one beefed up D44 knuckle w/o high steer only. I though about going to high steer while I'm at it so I could at least put on a heavy duty arm, but I'm pretty sure I can't clear a high steer draglink under the frame at full compression. For now I've got a couple of 3/4 ton chevy knuckles coming off ebay for $100 to replace these SJ/CJ knuckles. This kills all chances of getting a few more mods in before Moab, with the trailer rental, new parts, and car rental for the next week. Not to mention seriously thinking about trailering up to Moab.

 

[Martyr]

Saturday RUN

Hey Guys,

Thought we saw alot of you on Saturday just west of Holckum camp ground. We were in a group of 3, a Samari, stock 2000 explore 4x4 green, and a 91' stock EB
4x4 white & tan. Iwas the idot, standing out in the middle of the road to see if I recognized you guys from Truck Haven. Ken Cooke, I think your group pased us down the road a bit when we had stopped for lunch, after the water crossing. It was snowing good and I saw a whole lot of Jeeps go by. I was in the green camofloge jacket waving. Was that your group ?
We did not go with the rest of you,because we knew we would probably hold every one up, although we wound up on class 5 trails and went home over Gold Mountain. Put some nice dinks in my Explorer climbing over rocks. It was my wifes, but she told me it is mine now, I have to buy her another one!
Let me know if it was any of you! We had a great time! Look forward to the next Run may-be I will have new tires( I have only 31" want to go to 34"or 35") & 6 inch lift by then.

Martyr

 

[410Fortune]

Hey yes that was us that came through there, we were headed to a trail, which turned out to be closed, so we drove around ALOT and finally ended up doing Holcome Creek backwards.

Always nice to see Explorer's wheeling, even stock they are very capable rigs.
I got a nice dent or two last weekend too, dont feel bad, it only gets worse from here on out