dragr1

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, the rain part sucks. It has rained like mad here all morning and unless the day gets better I will have to work on Friday. I have a client in from out of state to look at several pieces of property and we are getting rained out today. So, most likely I will not be there for the ride-but I'm still keeping hope!

Doc279

Look at my posting over on the general 4 runner site - there is a brush guard and Toyota winch on e-bay right now that will bolt directly to my 4 runner.
The questionable thing is that it is only a 3300 lb winch. Is that enough ?
Looks a little small to me - it would give me the platform for a larger winch though. Still have 7 hours to bid higher.

ravencr

Doc, I'd put it this way about the payment on a newer vehicle: The new payment will make your job less enjoyable. Without the payment, you won't have the need to work those additional hours to pay the payment if you don't want to. I've not been around as long as you have, so this is probably nothing new to you, but I have run my own business successfully for 3.5 years, and there's a huge difference between "need to" and "want to". It sounds like you should do this new venture, for sure though. Good luck!

Chris

Doc279

Thanks Chris,

I never make hasty decisions and always pour lots of thought into financial decisions - I am also not afaid to ask lot's of questions.

Initially the business will consist of me only - I have three son's who can help me as need be - you met the youngest at the fall color run. Andrew is a chip off the old block - he reminds me of myself - only he is smarter than I was at 18. Guess I did a good job as a father.
We are best friends and he knows that he can discuss anything with me. He will be my first employee. My wife has a bookkeeping background and will support me either way

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

Alright guys here it is, I'm out. I would love to go, but I gotta work Friday. It looks like yaull will be getting rained on Saturday anyway-60%.

I did get the locker fixed and for now it works much better. The only thing we really did was remove the motor and lock/unlock it a few times and reinstall it. I guess the teeth on the motor were off. But now, if I try to engage it around 5mph-it engages almost immediately. At speeds any higher than that, it takes a few seconds. I'll just make sure I'm going slow when I engage it from now on. I also got the axle seal replaced, but I'm not sure that is all fixed yet. I believe the bearings need replacing, so I'll probably be replacing the seal and bearings soon.

I won't be there for this ride, but we need to plan a ride sometime between Christmas and New Years. Anyone for a ride then? It'll need to be on a weekday though.

Joed4x4

I will see whoever is left Sat Morning, I am heading out of here for Bristol in a few.

Joe

ravencr

So, here's the plan Joe and Doc:

Let's meet at 7 am at Shoneys at 204 S. Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge, TN. We'll eat a quick breakfast and hit the trails by 8 am. It looks like it will be myself, Paul in his buggy, Doc, and Joe, right?

Brett, I'm glad you got most everything working again, and I'm sorry you can't make it on this run. I'm definitely game for a run anytime you guys want to.

Is this plan cool with all you guys?

Chris

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

How did the ride go?

Who has the pics?

ravencr

Hey Brett,
The ride was fun, but wet as hell. Jesse was running a tad late, so Joe and I headed up trail 15 and then planned to meet up with Paul and Jesse at the top of 15 at the big open field area. But, after climbing up the first couple of ledges of 15, we soon found that the rain and mud was just too much to make it any further up trail 15. Paul ended up seeing us as they were going up the road and tried it himself, and again, couldn't make it either in the buggy. After that we headed up the mountain to attempt trail 7. Joe headed up first, me second, and Paul third. WE got almost up to the base of the first ledge, but it was so slick Joe couldn't get any traction to get up to the ledges. So, with him having trouble, I figured I wouldn't even try. So we backed back down, then hit trail 4, then trail 3. On trail 3 there's some awesome ledges at the end of the trail. We all successfully got to the ledges, but the ledges stopped us all, unfortunately. Joe almost rolled, I couldn't make it without a tremendous amount of rock stacking, and Paul, ater trying repeatedly, took the bypass with no luck. After that, we rode trail 13, and then back down trail 2. I feel bad, because we wanted to ride the more challenging stuff like 21, but due to the fact that it was so wet, it would have been impossible to run them, let alone dangerous as hell. I've discovered, thought, that Windrock is really a lot better when dry, and flat out scary at times when wet. I think Joe had a decent time, but wished we had been able to run some of the harder stuff. Sorry Joe! Pics will be on the way soon!

Chris

turboale

Cool cool,
Glad to hear everyone made it out there and back. We will have to have another run out there when its dry and more people so we can have a hardcore group and a group. We had a pretty successful day at mike's. Put new brakes and a new idler arm on dave's truck so now the steering wheel is straght and we got one slider strengthened and moved up an inch. Mike and I are going to do the other side sometime this week. After we did that it was about 6 and everyone was getting hungry so as payment for helping me out we all went to applebees and had dinner. I hadn't been to Applebees in forever and I had forgotten how good it was. Anyway, glad to hear everyone is safe and I just got a call from doc to come pick up his trailer. I have pics from the other day but my laptop is still in the truck so I have no way of resizing them. I want to see yall's pics more though

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

Well, sounds like I didn't miss much of a ride.

When should we plan the trip between Christmas and New Years? I'm game for anyday, but it will have to be a weekday b/c I'll get there on Sunday. If it's wet then, I guess we should go to Tellico?

ravencr

I'll have to check my schedule and get back to you. When are the dates you're going to be up here?

Chris

Doc279

I backed out because it was already wet and with a chance of rain all day
on Saturday - slick as owl sh#t. I also did not get my sliders finished.

I did install new rear brake shoes and installed a new stereo - I need some
speakers now. Let us know when you will be here for sure and we will try to plan a day - I still have several vacation days left.

ravencr

It was actually a great day weather wise, up until aboutr 3:30 pm until it rained off and on the rest of the day. No worries, becuase we'll do it again soon! We ought to get a group together and do the Mini-Moab in Caryville. Joe, you'd love some of the sections on it.

Chris

keisur

I won't be able to make anything until after the new years festivities. haven't seen my wife in a month and a half and she's coming up for christmas. plus I need to do some repairs, to the runner that is.

ravencr

I'll be out of town from January 4-11th skiing in Colorado. What are the dates you're going to be in town Brett?

Chris

ravencr

Here's the pics I have from this trip:

This is Joe attempting Trail 15, which is rated difficult. The wet factor really presented some problems for us on this trail. He probably could have made it after watching some other vehicles go through, but there was a high chance of body damage even so:


Here he is again trying the same spot. We could stradle the ditch, because it was just too slick:


I sure wish I have that kind of flex:


Here's Paul attempting the second set of ledges at the bottom of Trail 15. It was just too high and slick for him to make it up:


Here's Paul getting some sideways action trying to back down the hill:


Here's Joe attempting to climb up Trail 7, which was slicker than snot. We couldn't even getup to the main set of ledges:


Ditto:


Here's me trying to climb up the steep ledges at the end of Trail 3. The gas tank and traction were the culprits as usual:


Here's me resting on my gas tank trying to climb on the second set of ledges with no luck:




Here's me at another angle. We agreed I picked a slightly better line than Joe, but still couldn't make it up without some rock stacking. Joe would have probably made it right up with this line:


See those beautiful rocks they stacked up for me? I finally made it up, which probably could have been prevented with about 6" more of clearance underneath:


Here's a cool pic of Joe and Paul decending off a very high hill climb that was nice and wet:


Here's that same hill:


That's all I got from this trip. I should have some short videos soon.

Chris

keisur

I think I've got it now. what I figure is that non-yota drivers don't take many pics because alot of the pics posted on the SE and this thread are non-yotas. it's all their fault for being photographically challenged. I say, next time, we make them get out and snap a few. I'll be at one of the runs in the furture, just not in the cards for me until I get fully relocated.

Mikeys87

Looks like it was a blast. Sorry i couldnt make it, hopefully next time i can .

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

I'll be arriving late on December 26 (Sunday) and leaving on January 2 (Sunday).