Red Rover

Yeah... unfortunately I just put Karin on the plane and totally forgot to DL the pictures from her camera last night. So those'll have to wait till later tonight/tomorrow.

To add to John's Wall of Carnage:
-2 tires (1 after we left you guys and headed back and the other was in evidence this morning in the driveway...)
-tail-pipe modification/removal (I was a bit worried about the sound my truck was making as we were on our way home until I remembered that!)
-Partial removal of that nasty paint on my rock sliders
-We have yet to determine the cause of the "3 wheel drive" incident but are still thinking that the 1/2 shaft is now two 1/4 shafts....

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'99 DII l 4.6L swap l Locked, stocked and ready to rock!
"I'd rather have BD than VD!"

ROCTaco

wish I could have made this run; it's been a long time sicne I've been to Martinez (only there one time). I'll keep an eye out for the next run in that area, should have the truggy ready soon.

westy44runner

I am happy to hear you guys made it back safely in the Rover. I will be interested to hear the status on the rear axle and diff. Do those vehicles have 3rd members?

Good run yesterday, thanks everyone for coming out.

I will get photos up later today.

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'86 Toy Flatbed with a few modifications

Red Rover

Yeah... 3rd and 1/2-shafts. We tried pulling the Driver-rear setup earlier but when the set nut wouldn't come off we got to thinking that the job would be a little more entailed than could be cleared up in a Sunday afternoon. So I'm thinking that I'm going to have the shop that put my ARB in take it all out (just in case they jacked something up); that and the fact that if the axle did disintegrate then there is probably a lot of junk in the axle housing that we don't want to mess with.

On another note though... we took off the 2 flats and one tire that had a huge nail to a little shop that looked like they specialized in import tuners and happened to be run by a couple of kids that MIGHT have been 18. We asked them to swap/plug/balance the tires and said we'd be back after we got a beer. (As always beer on a Sunday is mighty refreshing!) Well... when we got back to the shop one of the kids was missing and his buddy said that the other had been working on one of the tires, had it pop him in the face, and wound up going to the hospital missing a couple of teeth and sporting a new gash in the side of his face... Yeah, that's going to cost him a lot more than the $35 I paid! Tires look good though.

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'99 DII l 4.6L swap l Locked, stocked and ready to rock!
"I'd rather have BD than VD!"

AZ4ME

Sounds like you guys had a good time. Sorry I had to miss it.

So the only damage was to the Rover and Jon's 4runner? How was the trail harder?

Let see some good pics.

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-Brian
'88 4Runner
'00 4Runner

Elvota

Well, I crushed my license plate again... any points for that?

Some parts were harder, some easier. The first obstacle for example was filled in with sand, and seemed about 2 or 3 feet lower. The J-Turn on the other hand was a mess, most likely impassable by most. No one tried it this time, but that might have been from the heat or all the wasps waiting there.

Overall, just seemed like more exposed rocks and looser bigger boulders.

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1990 4Runner | V6 3.4 | 5spd | 240 someoddthousand miles | SR5 | SAS | RLS | 35's | ARB | TJM | 217 to 1 | W8000

- four wheels | three sticks | two hands | one trail -

111db

Ben was taking loads of pics - I didn't have a camera so I'm looking forward to seeing them as well.

The rain really changed things around on Elvis, and on what we saw of Martinez as well. At least from the only time I was there before. I honestly have a new respect for the rain and what it can do to trail conditions. The only thing that was easier was the squeeze as it was filled in a little more, I pretty much sailed right through with no spotter this time. Everything else seemed to have the smaller debris washed away, so basically all the rocks and obstacles seemed "bigger". The waterfall after the squeeze was taller and undercut on the right side of the hard line. Westy suggested the middle line for me, but I thought I'd give the left line a shot anyway... <buzzer> WRONG. I think the angle is now sharper than the waterfall at Miners Revenge. A couple attempts there are where I actually dented the Irbis bumper and bent the tire carrier up. After Elvota winched me over (thanks!) and I turned the corner, a huge rock monster jumped out of the sand and lifted my truck by the muffler & rear link. I was going nowhere. My hi-lift got its first workout. Wasn't the last time I needed pulled out... the rock garden was brutal (for me). We turned around right after the rock garden as it was getting late in the day.

Nobody else besides me and Grady had any damage that I know of.

Wish you could have made it, Brian.

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Jon
97 4Runner 3.4 * 4.88's * ARB Lockers F/R * ARB compressor * Sonoran Steel numba 1 * 285 BFG AT/KO * TJM 17 * BudBuilt Skids * Stubbs Sliders & BBQ sauce * Irbis out back * Various Electronic Gadgets

BLKNBLU

Been there. Done that. Bring us something fresh. No points for you! (in my best soup Nazi voice)

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86 Runner, BFG 31's, custom Sonoran Steel rear bumper, 4Crawler 1" body lift, rock sliders from Richard Stubbs, Downey 3" lift rear leaf springs, SDORI ball joint spacers, rear Lockright

AZ4ME

So you guys only made it through the rock garden at the beginning of Martinez and then turned back? What time did you get to Martinez then? Long day on Elvis?

Ya, no points. We've all seen that many times. I'm surprised it's still in one piece.

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-Brian
'88 4Runner
'00 4Runner

Red Rover

Here we go with some pics guys... Sorry I'm not too big on the commentary.

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'99 DII l 4.6L swap l Locked, stocked and ready to rock!
"I'd rather have BD than VD!"

Red Rover

(Notice the lack of "Tug" pictures)

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'99 DII l 4.6L swap l Locked, stocked and ready to rock!
"I'd rather have BD than VD!"

wormhole

So who lost the wheel? That trail must of changed alot since I took my 4runner on it. Jon was that a stock link you bent?



Hopefully, I'll be joining back up you guys for another run in the not to distance future. Just need to get a suspension problem worked out, water pump gasket replaced, fiqure out the mysterious fuel problem that occurs at random and fix an a/c condenser leak fixed, bend both skids back into place or just by another vehicle.

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2000 Toyota 4runner auto, 4x4, elocker, budbuilt skid, Sonoran Steel 7.2, 265/75/16 Yokohoma Geolanders AT-S

Just call me "T"

Sold: 1996 Toyota 4runner, auto, 4x4, Bud Built front skid, Stubb Welding Sliders, SS #3, hella 500's and elocked rear axle

westy44runner

That was from the tire carrier on Jon's rear bumper. When he lined up for the waterfall after the squeeze, the tire on the carrier was dragging on the ground, it was that steep, and bending the plate it mounted against. We had to remove the tire so he could go forward/reverse.

Elvis is more washed out than ever before and most of the obstacles are taller and some are extremely flooded out after the rains.

The best move of the day goes to Jon, when he happened to find the largest boulder in an otherwise smooth open wash and drive straight over it

But that was just the beginning, after he realized his rear axle was sitting on a rather large rock, he was able to find a little traction and with the help of that 3.4 he nearly pulled a 180 while still sitting on top of this rock. It really was great That poor link...you almost spun around off the rock.

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'86 Toy Flatbed with a few modifications

westy44runner

It was a long day on Elvis. We didn't arrive at Martinez until later in the afternoon. It was 5pm when we were at the top of the rock garden. We turned around there and headed back. That was a good choice.

Ben has many photos and I will try to get them from him to post up soon.

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'86 Toy Flatbed with a few modifications

Elvota

Man, you judges are tougher than those over there in Bejing. I had to take it off this time and flatten it with a sledghammer when I got home. That's gotta be worth a couple points.

No problem Jon. Was kinda fun seeing what that winch could do... plus good practice for us all. In regards to that rock, it's not that you weren't going anywhere, just going the wrong way. Pretty amazing not more damage occurred. Hail the 3rd Gen.

We ended up tugging another group of guys out of the sand before we got back to the asphalt. My rear bumper has been thoroughly tested at this point.



Since I don't see Schaefer posting up... have we all assumed the propane held up all the way home? If not, my guess is one very confused AAA guy showed up to try and help.

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1990 4Runner | V6 3.4 | 5spd | 240 someoddthousand miles | SR5 | SAS | RLS | 35's | ARB | TJM | 217 to 1 | W8000

- four wheels | three sticks | two hands | one trail -

sschaefer3

I made it back, but that new engine does burn a lot more fuel. I am worried it will run out going to get filled up which is only like 3 miles away.

The second tank is really empty. Which did not happen before even going to superior and back. I think this motor does have more power though. But that is never a lot when your talking about an 81-84 22R.

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Steve Schaefer
WWW.SonoranSteel.Com
Suspension Lift Kits * Rock Sliders * Straight Axle Conversions * 4Runner/FJC Rubicon Express Lower Links * Accessories * Daystar Products Dealer * TJM Bull Bar Dealer * Deaver Leaf Spring Dealer * Tokico & Bilstein Shock Dealer * ViAir Dealer * Total Chaos Dealer * and like everyone else a Trail Gear Dealer

Elvota