Went on an awesome trailride today. There was a convoy of 8 vehicles:

-1997 Toyota 4Runner (me)
-1981 Toyota p/u
-1998 Jeep Cherokee
-3 Jeep TJ/YJ's of various years, all in the 90's
-80's Ford Bronco
-80's Chevy Blazer

The trail started up a hill, over & around it. I was concerned I was going to go over the edge, it was looking pretty dangerous. Luckily I had a bit of guidance and managed my way through.

These trails were tight and there were the usual "can be power-polished out" scratches from branches all around.

On the first steep hill our trail leader's Jeep YJ lost 4WD. It wouldn't lock the front hubs (ADD) properly. So Dustin was stuck under his Jeep trying to get it going, while the rest of us continued on with the steep hills.

I was the only one there with a rear-locker which helped even it out as mine was also the only rig which was mostly stock. On one steep incline which I failed to climb twice in 4WD-Lo, I tried a 3rd time & 4th time w/the locker on (4th time was successful).

The next steep incline proved to be too much for my Runner. I got close on the 2nd try, which is where I sustained some light damage on my rear driver-side fender flare (I slid back & sideways into a wooden post). On the 3rd try I slid back at an angle, which lined me up with a wooden post about 2 feet away from my rear bumper. I had no way to get around it, I was in a bad spot now. Electing to cut my losses and prevent further body damage, I asked Randy & Kevin to winch me up. They winched me up with their 9000 lb. winch on the Ford Bronco. My front shackle actually came in handy today. I'm confident I would have made it if I had been given one more try, but I would have never got that chance without more body damage first.

All that were winched up that hill:

-me
-Jeep Cherokee
-Chevy Blazer
-One of the Jeep YJ's (he only had stock tires though)

I was disappointed with that one because I didn't get another run at it on my own. But I don't regret the winch decision as I made it out w/less damage this way.

Wish I could tell you the angle of steepness of the hills, but I haven't got my inclinometer yet.

From that point on the trails got easier. No more crazy steep hills.

It was a great trail day. I'm extremely disappointed that I don't have a single picture to share with you all. I took 50 or so but they just vanished. If you know want to know what happened to my pictures, you can read my "Generic Junk - Never Again" rant in the Off-Topic forum.

Al

 

My fender scratches before cleaning:



My fender scratches after cleaning:



Shackle used to winch me up a hill:



Pics of the minor fender flare damage sustained on the trip. All in all it wasn't too bad as it was caused by a wedged wooden peg to the fender, while I was on an uncontrolled bit of a slide back down a hill. I'm a little disappointed I received any damage at all, but it was my fault.

I might do some touch up on the missing paint later on.

The Jeep Cherokee sustained some damage on this hill too due to the wooden pegs (minor damage as well). His plastic latch area above his rear license plate split in half. Minor damage, easy fix.