Return of the "newbie run" Truck Haven

[mounty71]

I just got home to Long Beach, this trip was amazing! We left first thing this morning at about 7:30 because today is my parents wedding anniversary so my dad wanted to get home fairly early. For anyone who didnt hear and wondered whose blue 3rd gen x was there (which btw blew everyone away on the RTI ramp ), it was my dads. Friday morning my dad came down to my place in long beach, we loaded everything from his car into mine, all the unneeded parts sitting in my truck went into his so he could leave his car there, then headed on our way. A few blocks down the road when we got up to about 40mph, my newly installed gears began whining louder than ever before, and not wanting to damage anything, we turned around, switched everything back into the other vehicle, and continued on. It was very disappointing, but it ended up fine. We both found empty seats to ride along with others over the weekend, thanks to R.J., Dannyboy, and Tbars. R.J., i gotta say you are fearless behind the wheel of that navajo, i was holding on for dear life when we went out to run the washes.

It is hard to explain how much fun this weekend was, but simply put, anyone who didn't make it definitely missed out. After this weekend, i have a hole new appreciation for explorers. I have read tons of stories and seen pictures of what obstacles they can tackle, but theres nothing else like being in one as you drop 10 feet down a nearly vertical wall only to climb back up a 10 foot wall, all while the suspension is flexing, the rear bumper is scraping the wall you just went down, and the front bumper is scraping the wall you are going up. And to add to that, there is a group of built Jeeps watching! It was also cool to see everyone pitch in with parts and tools and hard work and suggestions to repair anything that was damaged out on the trail. Everyone's willingness to help is probably the most invaluable result of this forum.

Of course, it was great to meet people that in the past i only knew by their board names and their vehicles. I will hopefully make it out to the thanksgiving run, with my own truck. My dad and i didn't get a chance to take many pictures, but they will be posted up as soon as he sends them to me. I hope everybody made it back home safely after driving through those winds and dust storms.

And colin, i guess we both forgot about the trailer hitch...i didn't remember till this morning after we left. I am going over to Winter's shop tuesday, maybe you could give it to him to give to me. If not, anytime would be fine.

 

[Stic-o]

Good times Good to meet some new faces and all the old buddys

I hope everyone made it out of the wind storm, I started complaing that a producer had casted my truck wrong on the way home...It's Jurassic Park...not TWISTER!!!

 

[zukman]

Great times and good friends! The RTI ramp held up even to a F-350 super duty! here are a few pic's will post RTI scores as soon as I retrieve from laptop.

 

[mounty71]

That picture at the top of trail to the calcite mine was sweet. It was fun to see everyone squeezing into position.

 

[carlover]

Well i made it home. It figures i had the only real carnage for the whole weekend lol. On the way out of the wash i hit a series of whoops and a drop going a bit to fast and did a bit of damage to the front. Snapped the upper and lower ball joints, bent the inner tie rod and smashed up the front fender. Thank you so very much to everyone who helped get the car on the trailer. and i very big thanks to colin and winter for towing the explorer home on the trailer and helping unload and situate it. Im sure when others get home they will have pics, i was a little to pissed at myself to get pics.

Other than that i had the greatest time this weekend. Thanks to cybergasm and tbars for the ridealongs. Thanks to colin for many times showing me what the big dogs can do. It was nice to meet everyone and had one hell of a great time.

 

[carlover]

I did find two cell phone pics of my carnage..

 

[Tbars4]

...i'm not home yet...i am with cyber as i am following him in since he has no shock and lost the coil once this morning....we are in palm desert....as soon as we got on the 10 freeway he lost all power...anyone wishing to help, check the 911 thread thanks....btw, had a blast...

 

[R.J.]

wow what a trip! this was the second time for me going to truck haven, and it was an awesome amazing trip. thanks to everyone on the trip, im pretty sure almost everyone helped me out. an extra thanks to winter and brian, rock ranger, and maniak, and also collin for pulling me and exploderpilot out. the helpfullness and knolwedge of everyone on the trip amazed me like they always do

looking forward to the thanksgiving run.

and for anyone that didn't ask, yes i have paul's old bumper

 

[BKennedy]

Tom Rios left together around 11am in the wind storm. Fought the wind all the way to Santa Ysabel when we saw the smoke from a fresh brush fire. Got to SR-78 turn off and were the first vehicles to be turned around due to the closure. Had to take 76, then to Valley Center, then home on the 15. Did not make it until 4pm. I think thats a new record for longest return from Truckhaven for me. Ususlly takes around two hours.

Had a great time!

 

[Ritsui]

It was a blast as always. Great to finally meet up with the Arizona folks and to see everyone else again .

Also got my 4" lift springs from PCola .

 

[Rick]

Thanks everyone for a great weekend! The turnout was really good, we had about 25 trucks show up in total. It was good to meet new folks and visit with old friends.


My photos are here: http://www.explorerforum.com/thaven_oct_07/

 

[Blee1099]

Wow carlover.. you broke your knuckle?

nevermind.. I see you lost both balljoints..

 

[Rick]

Ahh, and I almost forgot to mention our special visitor Senator Obama... Ok, maybe not, but Izwak showed up

 

[carlover]

Wow carlover.. you broke your knuckle?

nevermind.. I see you lost both balljoints..

Yeah i had to have lost the lower first and then the upper. I dont think it would have been that bad if i had limit straps.

 

[Gopher]

I had a good time other than dealing with my crap suspension. Big thanks to Winter, Matt, Rick, Brian, and Danny for helping me out and fixing the front end. We hit the wind on the way home and it was quite funny watching my dad try and keep that thing in the lane.

Was fun meeting new people and putting faces with names. Hopefully we can get another group out there soon.

I'm calling Baker tomorrow to try and figure this whole thing out.

Oh ya forgot.. Have to thank Paul too for letting us use his generator.

 

[carlover]

Hey gopher if you get everything sorted out and want the engine cage and coilovers and all that let me know and ill give you the number of a guy who does some awesome work.

 

[Burns]

Wow awsome pic Rick.


Looks like yll had a great time even with a few broken parts

 

[FROADER]

We made it home about 6 o'clock, and got things unloaded. I must say, today was quite a day. I'm glad we hadn't left before we found out about carlover's situation. We were able to get it to his house and unloaded without any problems. The wind was a bit crazy, but we made it.

It was good to meet new people and see the usuals, for another great trip to Truck Haven. IZ, it was great to meet you and your brother. It's ok to say how much better the west coast wheeling is. :

I didn't take a lot of pics, because IZ's brother took about 500.
Here are my pics. http://www.explorerforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=3578

Oh, I did get minor damage on the left side. I got the mirror, the front and rear door and some of the rear quarter going up one hill. Oh, and Winter broke my center console armrest...

 

[DB_1]

What a weekend...spent most of the the day catching up on sleep since I didn't get any last night due to the wind, more like the tent smacking me in the face all night because of the wind
I was real impressed with the turnout of this run, it was as good or better than some of the Serious Explorations runs we've had in the past.
I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone this morning but me and my friend John just wanted to get out of the windstorm. Poor guy slept in the back of my truck last night...well tried to anyways.
I hope to have the truck ready for the Thanksgiving run, just hard to find the time to work on it.

 

[cybergasm]

Man what an awesome time i had at Truck Haven was having a great weekend out there. damage was minimal only lost a shock after the bushing pull thru the bracket and that coming back from Calcite Mine.
Truck was running great all weekend. Was nice to do a full Truck Haven run and not just a partial run Thanks to Winter for the driving tips really helped out a lot and made it more enjoyable out there.
I really like the night runs and it was fun playing in the ditches i could have done that all day long and not got tired. it was nice to finally faces to names around here and meet new people. and see some I have seen before. Overall I can hardly wait for the next Truck Haven

Oh yeah the pics posted of the bonfire don't do it enough justice it had to be seen to be believed that thing got so hot i had to move my truck for fear of the plastic melting away and it was a good 50 Ft. away to start

Carlover: no probs with the rides it was nice to have someone along on the trails hopefully you will get your ride back together soon. And no I am not following you and Ritsui again off a ledge at 50 MPH but other than that it all good.

Maniak: A BIG Thank you for helping me get my ride back together after popping the coil spring this AM ya wanna know something the brakes work better now than before the coil spring let go :scratch: think i might have a leaking caliper on the left front need to look into that after i get my junk back home.

Tbars4: A really BIG Thank you for sticking with me out here and helping me get my junk back home don't know what I would have done if I had gone home alone .

well have photos to post up later and more to say but for now i have to find truck and trailer to get my junk back home or maybe a computer from a junkyard would be nice right about now