I wanna jump

[rock883]

I am going to my friend's farm this weekend and he has a 4wheeler track that he had built, and there is a small tabletop (I might have him make me a smaller one) that I want to jump. I don't want serious air cause that would hurt, just a foot or so off the ground. Anyways, my question is, what can happen when I jump? I just want to know what bad things can come of just jumping once like that? If stuff in the front suspension (ball joints, steering, springs, etc...) are going to go bad, then forget it, I don't want to pay all that money on stuff like that. But I really want to jump it.

 

[jimbo74]

you CAN potentially total your truck by jumping it. just use your decretion and youll be ok. i have driven on this street that has a dip and i got a foot when i hit it at 25 with no problems but just be smart and youll be ok

 

[01EB5.0]

I pulled air on aset of rail road tracks at about 30 moph before. only the front went up, but you MUST hit it totally perpendicular or else you'll risk rolling it. Also do not turn the wheel or brake hard while your in the air or when you land you'll be in for a suprise!

 

[BlueDogBandit]

hmmmm....

depending on the sharpness of the jump, you could bend or break a number of things. you risk throwing off the alignment of your front end, and maybe bend a rim or bust a tire bead. I also saw a guy crush his fenders from juping a truck that didn't have enough room for tire cary, it slammed the tires into the fenders on landing. I broke a sway bar link bolt when I jumped my truck a Truckhaven. I do have to say that jumpinng is fun...BUT, I won't make a habbit of it, it's way too hard on the truck. Click on my link for a great jumping pic.

 

[Mainfraim]

I "accidentally" went too fast over a railroad track crossing that had a semi-jump to it. Scariest moment I've had in my truck. It came down kind of crooked, and when it hit, I dragged the exhaust. My truck is stock, and as far as I can tell (this was about 6 months ago) it's still okay. I'd just say be careful.

 

[Gopher]

find a nice wash and hit the bump at 50mph.. That will catch ya a little air (thats what i did). I'd be careful with the stock suspension. IF you do jump i would disconnect the sway bars. That way the suspension can work and it wont kill you as much. If any just disconnect the front sway bar.

 

[Alec]

I think the highest I've ever gotten is about 3.5-4 feet. Yup, railroad tracks. I actually didn't get very much above the point that I took off from, but the tracks were about 3' above the roadway on either side of the rise. One of my friends was outside the truck and that was his estimate of how high I was. The landing was ok, no teeth rattled loose. It did screw with my alighnment, though. BTW, the suspension was totally stock at the time. Be prepared to have your alighnment messed up, but if you're careful, you shouldn't break or damage anything.

 

[Cameron]

My first trip to Attica I under-estimated the power of my Sport. I went over a steep hill and got completely airborne. The problem was, the other side of the hill was just as steep. So you can imagine, relative to the ground, my front tires where about 12 feet in the air. Everyone on the other side of the hill thought I totaled my truck for sure. Fortunately, I did nothing but bend the exhaust.

Lower you tire pressure to give you added cushioning.

Personally, I don't recommend intentionally defying gravity but admittedly, it's fun!

 

[sink]

You guys are nuts. More power to you. I had my 4x4 Ranger slightly airborne twice (railroad tracks again). But the heavy Explorer?? You know, if you clear the tabletop right, you'll barely feel a thing. If you come up short- I wouldn't want it. Also, I've had motorcycles, quads, and snowmobiles way up on a regular basis. You generally know how they are gonna fly or can correct with throttle, brake or body weight. Don't go too bonsai until you know how much front-down attitude you can expect. Good luck. Post some pic's if possible. Hope not before and after shots.

 

[Rick]

As you can see from Blayne's photo... Explorers fly pretty darn well!

 

[Orkrist]

I jumped on railroad tracks once when I was in a hurry, maybe the whole thing was 8 inches off the ground. Nothing major, but the stock Explorer suspension was a little supple for it. No damage, but a lot of fun. I wouldn't do it again and I wouold never do it on purpose. Its sooooo much weight and force coming to bear on the vehicle. I did jump my MGB-GT pretty bad once, smashed the exhaust. I ran over some tracks out in the country at 60 + mph and didn't realize how steep it was. I was with a friend, and we had enough time in the air to look at each other with a shocked expression. Jumps, technically, are one car accidents. Beware.

 

[rock883]

Yeah I definately won't make a habbit out of it, because I know it will kill everything in the front. I have cleared the tabletop in a four wheeler (a little yamaha blaster), but I had to hit the thing pretty fast, and I am sort of remembering what the slope was like on it, and I think I am going to have him make me one because it is pretty steep. I want to hit something that is long and low and hit it fast. My sister got a sony digital camera and it has a movie mode on it where you can record 5, 10 or 15 second videos and then upload them to the computer, and one of my friend's is going to be doing that, and another person will take a pic, and another will be recording on a camcorder. I want to get everything!

Hey Blayne, about how fast did you hit that jump? And what was the slope like? was it like I wanted, low and long, or was it short and tall? I probably won't hurt the fender because I have a body lift, and yes I know jumping with a body lift can cause the body to weaken at the body mounts, but I am only doing this once, maybe twice, so it shouldn't hurt. But I want to get about as much air, or more, as Blayne did in that pic, looks sweet.
My only bad air experience was my first time I rode a fourwheeler (after I watched an awesome fourwheeler viedeo where these guys are doing these huge jumps and stuff) well, I decided I would try this one jump and I was doing it fine all day, except for sometimes I would land way down on the nose, so then my friend told me just give it a little gas in midair to torque the quad and then it would level out. Well, I think (I don't remember too well, it happened too fast) I just layed down the throttle, and the thing landed on the grab bar in the back, and me, I landed on my tail bone. The fouwheeler was going for a good 15 feet with its front wheels in the air pulling me along, until my friend came to stop it. Man that hurt. Oh well, I figured I would tell you guys about that. But I will definately get pics, and possibly a video, if someone would tell me how I can put a video on the 'net. Or if someone would liek to put the video on their webpage for a while?? But I will get some pics of this weekend and put them in a photopoint folder. The guy who's farm we are going to has a 93 Chevy Z71 with 9" of lift on 40's. He was going through the creeks up there and the water was up to his bumper, it is awesome looking. Oh well, thanks for the advice guys and the stories.

 

[sink]

Its Mondy- did ya do it???????

 

[fordkrazy]

the thing i would be worried about is if the slope is long enough. if your front tires are in the air before your back tires are on the slope your back end will really jump up. also i would imagine that if you have a stock suspension you will break or bend somthing. trucks that were ment to jump have high ammounts of travel in the suspension and high volume shock absorbers. i wouldnt recomend doing this.

 

[rock883]

Nope, I didn't do it. It was raining all week last week, and there is a creek right next to the track, and the track was covered in water on Friday and I went up on Saturday and it was very very muddy and I probably couldn't have got back there to get enough speed without getting stuck in the mud. We did have a helluva time though. Here are the pics I took from the weekend. Dead Link Removed

 

[BlueDogBandit]

Explorer?

Didn't see one in any of the pictures?

 

[rock883]

I didn't go out in it. In fact I didn't even take it, I took my sister's 97 accord V6. It was just way too muddy anyways , I would have gotten stuck so easily. That and I want to get some gap guards before I go mudding again because I hate having to detail my engine compartment after doing it. And I wanted to get my frame painted before I got mud all over under there. I painted it yesterday. I will finish it up tomorrow in the front. But, we are going again this weekend, except this time I am going up Friday and staying until noon on Sunday. Hopefully it will dry up so we can cross the creek to go up the mountain and jump the 4wheelers on the track better than with all the mud on it. But, the creek was too high for my friend to go through (the one in the black truck with 40's on it) and to give you an idea of how much it had rained, the creek (on Friday) was all the way up on the track, and I have crossed that creek before, and my friend couldn't even cross it last week. Thats how much it had rained. The creek supposedly went down about 6 feet. In one of the pics you can see where the grass on the bank had been pushed down from the water being so high. One guy was going to try and hydroplane across the creek on a 4wheeler. That would have been an interesting sight. Oh well. I may still do a small jump, but I don't know. I just don't want to mess anything up, thats why I hardly even do any muddin because after I went last time is when my clutch started slipping bad and I just replaced the clutch 400 miles ago, and I don't want to have to go through with replacing it again.

 

[rock883]

Well, this weekend, on a spur of the moment thing I jumped the explorer. I went throught he creek at my firned's farm, and then after that I saw the tabletop right there so I turned nailed the gas and went on it and hit it at about 25 or so. I didn't even think I had jumped it , but when I stopped my friend told me I did. So, then I did it again, this time a little faster and we got this jump on video. Then I did it one more time with all the crap out of the rear cargo area and all, and this one was good, landed right on the other side of the tabletop. I know it was a long time since I posted this, but I figured I would tell you guys I finally did it. I didn't get any pics though, just some video. Also, my firned whose dad owns the farm we go to) has a 93 chevy p/u with a 6" susp. 3" body lift and 40" tires also jumped his. That was pretty sweet, too. I got it on video on my digital camera and could put that up somewhere for you guys to download if you tell e how to do that?

 

[Clint]

the last time i jumped my explorer i got like 6 feet of air and i landed smooth with a bounce and the recoil sent my coil flying it poped off the top seat and the whole driver side dropped it scared the **** out of me but 30 minuted later and a cool picture it was on the road again

 

[rock883]

Well, nothing bad happened to mine, except for a big fuse (from the power distribution block under the hood) blew for the fuse panel inside and I was without a horn, blinkers, 4-way flashers, etc... until we got a piece of wire and shoved it in there temporarily. See what happened was I had my cell phone plugged in earlier and I pulled it out and had the cigarette lighter in the tray where I also keep all of my change. Well, after the jump a dime get thrown in the the cigarette lighter outlet and caused it to ground out the plug and blow that fuse.
6 feet is a lot of air. I don't even get that high on the 4-wheelers, my friend does but he's been riding since he was a kid and I just learned.