I am not sure who I wnat to follow, but I don't want to be behind Steve, we might take all day to crawl 100 yards.

Great fun is in store. I look forward to small groups and harder trails while shooting the breeze with everyone else at camp.

When is the pre-run scheduled, I am in the hood now!

 

ok now, which Steve?????

 

He's talking about this freak. Ants crawl faster then he can.

 

:pat: no kidding. That is some pretty low gearing. I don't have the dough to put in a crawler case yet, but with an Auto, I gues i don't have to yet.

 

Yeah, I meant Schaefer. I would gladly be in front of him or at least in CB range.

Steve O, looks like you are fully into the tough 3rd Gen stuff, I will hang with you if I have to be behind the other Steve.

Pre-Run?

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much into the 3rd gen now. I had considered going to the 1st gen 4runner and beefing it up, but with all the dough sunk into this green machine, I'll stick with it. One day I'll have a solid axle, one day.

After the broken axle in Moab, I purchased ORS axles, ORS outboard joints and Mecatech boots. My deadline to get all this working is the CO4RJ in August.

I won't be able to make the pre-run, due to work and all, but we can definitely hang. The wife will be driving mostly, and with my spotting, we tend to get a little crazy sometimes. I figure I put skid plates on the thing, I"m gonna use em. That reminds me, I need to beef up the mounting points for the rock skis.......

 

The Colorado boys are in for a show like they have not seen before with Steve Hunt in the lineup. My 252 to 1 should be interesting as well, but I am much more reserved than Hunt or Bathke.

How's that rock stacking supply comin? Stackin Schaefer is headin to town.

 

I found out the wife will be coming with me as well. So you know the deal, she drives and I spot the rough stuff. Hopefully we can give you all a show.

Don't know if you all know, I broke an Outboard axle stub in Moab this last trip. Where the axle threads into the hub, at the clip, the axle snapped. Today, I pulled the axle off or should I say I knocked it off. I'm replacing the entire axles with ORS units, these should be pretty stout for the trail.

I pulled the driver side hub off and found that I broke one alignment pin that assists in aligning the hub body to the flange. I would assume this may have broke on Double Whammy as well. So, more parts to replace. I'll have pics on the site pretty soon.

As for Colorado, its gonnna be one heck of a great wheeling trip. Again, we are going to be trailer queens. But it sure beats riding 4+ hours in tight quarters (in the 4Runner).

 

I think we are looking at 14+ hours in the 4Runner.

Yuch!

 

man, that's a long haul! I just found that aside from breaking the right front outboard stub axle, I broke a left front pin that lines up the manual hub body the the axle flange. More parts to replace. That bump on Double Whammy must have really been a nasty one for the front end.

 

Oh, great. Maybe I should check my manual hub pins, too. Steve, I'll be very interested to see the breakage pattern the next time that you break one of the front outer stub shafts. That's where my Newfield broke on this last trip. Mine is definitely more of a spiral ductile failure than the perpendicular "brittle" break of your stock Toyota axle, but I still don't know if CV Unlimited heat treats their Newfields or if they just have good marketing. The Newfield axles start with the same outer CV and stub shaft manufacturer as the ORS outers that you'll be using, but supposedly prior to any claimed additional heat treating, so it'll be a direct comparison the next time you break one. That'll be interesting.

 

well, I'll tell you what, getting those CV axles off the vehicle has been no picnic. Using a brass drift and hammer (as the instructions state) has been very difficult. Aside from nearly breaking my thumb joint on my left hand (thank you ball ping hammer) I still have not pulled them yet. In the next few days, I'll get out there and break them loose. The non-resuable clip on the inboard joint is pretty diffucult to break loose.

Hopefully, I won't break another joint. Yes, I do hope the ORS units are strong enough to handle the abuse. Especially with the severe angles. Currently, I have the All-Pro 2" spacers on top of stock coils and struts. When I was removing the struts, I saw just how bad the angle was on the outboard joint. Talk about severe! I'm not saying the outboard joint was binding, but it sure wouldn't turn to easily. I'm considering going back to my Performance Products 1" over stock progressive coils on new Rough Country struts, with a 1" spacer on top. I currently have 3/4" spacers on top of the struts, I might add another 1/4" plate to the stack.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the Colorado run!

 

I drove 20 hours last time to get there and then almost 24 to get home with no breaks and a gas leak.

Well worth the trip!

Pre-Run?

 

WHOA! Thats a long trip wondering about stopping and whether you will run out of gas or not....

 

I just thought we were getting worse mileage when my dad took the wheel. The leak was not too bad, but enough to spell the end for the tank.

Towing is a better deal for sure, I am hoping to cruise out in leather this year. Hint, my runner does not have leather seats!

 

So you are going to buy a Harley and use it to tow your 4runner out??? Did you make enough cash working in the N.M. wilderness to buy a tow rig?

 

Pre run is kinda what you are doing this weekend. There deffinatly will be at least a semi official pre run around the end of July.

 

Colorado folks, what's the current fire index like and what are the predictions? I'd like to bring the mini-Weber with me to do some BBQ...

Slowly finishing my mods for some even more serious off-roading and increased the production of skid plates to assure that one will be ready for raffle and given away AT the event.

Mike

 

Last year was extremely dry, so all open fires were banned across the state (including smoking cigarettes outdoors).

After this winter had a slow start, many areas of Colorado are actually at about average for annual precipitation and snowpack. Things are looking excellent right now regarding camp fires.

Here's a current map of Colorado snowpack:
http://www.co.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/data/snmap503.html
We'll be in the upper Arkansas River valley, which is near 100% of normal.

 

See my BEARS SUCK thread. We have to be very careful with food in camp. Its been a wet year compared to the past 3. If it stays wet there will be lots of healthy, hungry bears in the higher and more secluded areas.

We are getting lots of jet strem fluctuation which means rain for a day or two followed by hot for a few days followed by more rain and cool in cycle. If it stays that way campfires and charcoal grilling will be allowed. Last year we had no rain pretty much all spring and summer so the state was a huge kindling pile.