Lake Isabelle, 11/21/04
 

Myself, Grege (MNBOY) and Dave (Jeep owner) tackled Lake Isabelle today as far as the log bridge. It was a pretty good run, though alot of the rocks were wet and slippery. The jeep, which was open diffed front and back, needed a couple of tugs in the two tougher spots on the trail, but did well overall.

No major carnage, except for a scary situation on the front end of my 4runner. The four bolts on the lower arm that connects to the wheel hub (the four you remove when changing a CV) are apparently known to work themselves loose after a CV change if Locktite isn't used to keep them snug. Well, after rebuilding my CV's before going to Moab, guess what I didn't do? The bolts were fine while in Moab, fine at Tahuya last week, but not so fine on Lake Isabelle. By the time I got to the bottom of the trail, on the left hand side one bolt had fallen out, two had sheared off, and the last remaining bolt was on the verge of breaking off before the stearing felt wobbly enough for me to go under and look what was going on. The right side of the vehicle was fine. A little scary to think of what may have happened if had let loose on the highway. I took one good bolt off the other side, and milked it home with two on one side, and three on the other. Overall, a good lessened learned, and a good day wheeling. Here's a link to the pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/220752726MymLCU

Wheres the link to the pictures david? is it invisible?

You caught me- I was trying to finish loading up the pictures to webshots, link is included now.

Sweet pics david! looks like fun.

Nice pics David , Can I tag along next time

Sweet Pics. Looks like a fun trail.

Thanks guys. You guys can definitely tag along the next time. This was sort of an impromptu trip that was organized at the last second. Its probably one of the more difficult trails I've done in WA (as a non-hardcore wheeler), and I've never gone beyond the bridge where it really gets tough. I'm itching to go further up the trail, but what we did was real fun, and a real challenge for a stocker.

EEEOW David!

Okay, so what you're saying is that I should check the bolts in my lower ball joint... EEEK!


Glad to hear that you got home safe!

Yup, was pretty damn scary to see how close it was to snapping off altogether. I even had locktite in the vehicle that I had bought specifically for those bolts, but it was on the "I'll get around to it eventually" list. On a side note, I think the ball joint is trashed now, at least the boot is torn anyways so it'll need to be replaced.

Thanks for posting the pics, David. This was a really fun day, on a very scenic trail. I keep telling Dave that it seems challenging to drive most of the trails with only three tires on the ground, but he says his flex is fine. I tried not to make a big deal of it when I locked in my front hubs as he was being strapped up that first obstacle.
I was going to post the pics I took of your mechanical problems, but all they really show is you with your head stuck in the wheelwell. Maybe next time you could wait until the whole wheel fell off so it would make for more dramatic pics.

Just for clarification- the "Dave" that Greg mentioned was the guy in the jeep, I want to make sure no one thinks I was getting strapped through anything... :) I've got a few more pics, but only posted the "best of" on webshots.

Nobody would ever think you couldn't get through something on your own power. I keep you two seperate by calling one Dave and the other David, but only the folks on here that can read my mind would know that. When I saw the title to the pics "Greg flexing" I thought you may have gotten a pic of me in the classic muscleman pose with my shirt off, but no such luck. On the positive side, that is more flex than I thought I was getting from the truck. Not bad for the first try with custom springs. Now where did I put all that money for the four-link and coil-overs......

:)
Your vehicle looked pretty good flexing, I think it helped getting crossed up front and back, which probably put some extra oomph into forcing the axles to extend/compress further. Now you just need some lift blocks for the rear springs...

Time to SAS that sucker? :welder:

:) Nah, after Moab, I realized just how much we can do with IFS, I don't think I've reached the point where I could justify doing the swap. Plus, I've got the fj40, my constant guilt trip, waiting for me in the garage. The plan this weekend is to put the stock rims/tires back on the 4runner to get it ready for winter, it'll prevent me from doing any more wheeling trips until I get the LC completed.

Uh...you been listening to Schaeffer too much I think. ;) This here is the PNW, where ya needs to keep *all* wheels on the ground to keep traction. :D
Moab is so dry you just need 1-wheel... ;)

Seriously though, I'm glad you're back on the Cruiser. If you don't finish that project, you'll have to pass the torch back to someone in...er...North Bend, or something. ;)

Jim

I love that trail.

Nice pics too.

Thanks Ben. Its my favorite, just need the courage to go beyond the bridge one of these days!

It was a fun trip that day Mike wasn't able to make it due to hangover

You should have no problem making the last half of that trail. The only thing that would make it easier would be a crawler.

Is this trail low enough to be snow-free?

If so, let's go! :)