- Joined
- January 17, 2000
- Messages
- 6,793
- Reaction score
- 219
- City, State
- Pinole, CA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2001 F250/XLT Superduty
- Callsign
- KG6MAX
As some people know (and have read in another thread), I attempted tank trap, at Hollister Hills, last memorial day weekend.
Pics are at http://dweeb.lbl.gov/~tdavis/pics, under Tank Trap.
For those that don't what tank trap is, it's a very, very difficult trail. It's rated at triple black diamond at hollister, which means extremely difficult. I would not have attempted it, if I didn't already have body damage on the truck (and we did add to the damage in doing this trail.)
I'd like to thank Ray Lobato, Kevin (Mac), Anthony (Baexploder) for helping get as far as we got. We got about 1/2 way through the trail (4 of the 6 main obstacles).
What stopped us was a combination of bad luck (blew a hub), poor electrical (my winch, battery, and alternator wasn't up to winching so hard, for so long), and lack of good winch points. Tank trap has 6-8ft walls, since it is a ravine that is allowed to go to pot, since it's used for Top Truck competition.
The first obstacle is getting into tank trap - it's got a 3 foot drop off, that you basically power through. After that, about 50 yards up, is the second obstacle. This is again, about 3ft high, 60-90degree ledge you have to crawl over, except with a huge hole that can eat your truck. Repeat again, about 20yards up. The third obstacle had a soft, muddy hole on the drivers side - which I tried to power through. This bounced the front end up into the air - and when it came down, a loud bang was heard, and everyone hit the deck. We quickly found the bang was the warn hub grenading into 5 parts - one on the hub, 3 more we found, and the 5th gone (the knob).
We winched it over that obstacle - and quickly wondered forward, or back? forward at that moment appeared easier. Wrong. The 4th obstacle literally threw the truck's driver side into the wall of the ravine - and into a really soft spot. Having no hub on the passenger side, meant we had to try and winch over it. No go. Using tow straps to extend the cable didn't help - nor did the truck have enough juice (yes, I'm buying an optima, and a 200 amp alternator).
At that point, we realized it was a nogo, and decided to winch back out, and down the trail.
Again, easier said then done. There is no place to turn around - you have to do the trail _backwards_.
We winched down the #3 obstacle and the #2 obstacle - and moved the cable back down the trail. Then I let too much cable out of the winch - and watched it pull all the way out. We spent about 20 minutes figuring out how to get it back on (it's on loose now!).
One more obstacle at this point. Hooking the cable up on the driver's side, to a tree far up the ravine, I started to let out the cable. The truck started going over on it's side. I pulled it back flat, and we talked some more. Try again. This time, I didn't catch it fast enough, and the truck fell on the drivers side. We quickly pulled the cable over to a tree to the right of the truck (about the middle), used the snatch block, hooked up to the right rear bumper tow hook. This allowed the truck to come back on it's wheels, and clear of the obstacle.
After this, it was simply a matter of waiting for the oil to drain out of the cylinders, and backing down.
Everyone was exhausted from this. Everyone learned something from it.
Again, thanks to everyone who helped.
We also have the whole experience on video, and once mac is settled down in San Diego, he plans to collect it all together, and send a copy to rick, for the "Extreme Serious Explorations!" series.
Oh, the damage was:
1) passenger side warn manual hub (warranty replacement!)
2) driver's side mirror ($125 new, about $85 used)
3) more dimples in the driver side door/fender.
4) some power steering fluid lost.
Thanks guys!
Pics are at http://dweeb.lbl.gov/~tdavis/pics, under Tank Trap.
For those that don't what tank trap is, it's a very, very difficult trail. It's rated at triple black diamond at hollister, which means extremely difficult. I would not have attempted it, if I didn't already have body damage on the truck (and we did add to the damage in doing this trail.)
I'd like to thank Ray Lobato, Kevin (Mac), Anthony (Baexploder) for helping get as far as we got. We got about 1/2 way through the trail (4 of the 6 main obstacles).
What stopped us was a combination of bad luck (blew a hub), poor electrical (my winch, battery, and alternator wasn't up to winching so hard, for so long), and lack of good winch points. Tank trap has 6-8ft walls, since it is a ravine that is allowed to go to pot, since it's used for Top Truck competition.
The first obstacle is getting into tank trap - it's got a 3 foot drop off, that you basically power through. After that, about 50 yards up, is the second obstacle. This is again, about 3ft high, 60-90degree ledge you have to crawl over, except with a huge hole that can eat your truck. Repeat again, about 20yards up. The third obstacle had a soft, muddy hole on the drivers side - which I tried to power through. This bounced the front end up into the air - and when it came down, a loud bang was heard, and everyone hit the deck. We quickly found the bang was the warn hub grenading into 5 parts - one on the hub, 3 more we found, and the 5th gone (the knob).
We winched it over that obstacle - and quickly wondered forward, or back? forward at that moment appeared easier. Wrong. The 4th obstacle literally threw the truck's driver side into the wall of the ravine - and into a really soft spot. Having no hub on the passenger side, meant we had to try and winch over it. No go. Using tow straps to extend the cable didn't help - nor did the truck have enough juice (yes, I'm buying an optima, and a 200 amp alternator).
At that point, we realized it was a nogo, and decided to winch back out, and down the trail.
Again, easier said then done. There is no place to turn around - you have to do the trail _backwards_.
We winched down the #3 obstacle and the #2 obstacle - and moved the cable back down the trail. Then I let too much cable out of the winch - and watched it pull all the way out. We spent about 20 minutes figuring out how to get it back on (it's on loose now!).
One more obstacle at this point. Hooking the cable up on the driver's side, to a tree far up the ravine, I started to let out the cable. The truck started going over on it's side. I pulled it back flat, and we talked some more. Try again. This time, I didn't catch it fast enough, and the truck fell on the drivers side. We quickly pulled the cable over to a tree to the right of the truck (about the middle), used the snatch block, hooked up to the right rear bumper tow hook. This allowed the truck to come back on it's wheels, and clear of the obstacle.
After this, it was simply a matter of waiting for the oil to drain out of the cylinders, and backing down.
Everyone was exhausted from this. Everyone learned something from it.
Again, thanks to everyone who helped.
We also have the whole experience on video, and once mac is settled down in San Diego, he plans to collect it all together, and send a copy to rick, for the "Extreme Serious Explorations!" series.
Oh, the damage was:
1) passenger side warn manual hub (warranty replacement!)
2) driver's side mirror ($125 new, about $85 used)
3) more dimples in the driver side door/fender.
4) some power steering fluid lost.
Thanks guys!
