Paint Creek - Saturday August 18th

[Bluegill]

Anyone up for a trail ride tomorrow? I am surprisingly off work, and got the itch. I'm not particular on which trail - just something fun & somewhat close. Bumpus, Bays, whatever.....Harlan's even a possibility, only I take a different route than Tri-Cities folk do.

Anybody?

[Hilla-GO-Rilla]

kids have soccor this sat... :wink:

[Gordon]

Man, I'm laying low tomorrow. Have wheeled three weeks in a row, then Harlan next week, so I better pass on it.

[SamuraiGuyTN]

I had a post up for Bays on Saturday, but now its for Sunday. I'll see whats going on at home May go both days.

[Bluegill]

Guess it's a solo run then, sorry yall will miss out ;) Doubt I will get to wheel again until the Oct. Harlan run, so I'm taking advantage of this opportunity.

Nick, if I weren't working graveyard shift I'd go Sunday, but I have to get a nap then before my 9:30pm shift starts.

[Bluegill]

Since I couldn't get another rig to tag along, I loaded my son up in the FSJ & we went to Paint Creek. An easy trail, but it does have 3 formidable side obstacles. Sadly the only mud on trail 422 was in the 2 large holes. Vaseline hill was bone dry not "slick as snot" like normal. :( Didn't even spin a tire. On the way back down, my 3yr old grins from ear to ear and says "I weally wike climbin that heel!" to which I exclaimed "Atta-boy, son!" :lol:

Later I half-heartedly tried the huge mudhole, didn't want to break my Jeep (more on that later). But with the 360 a little above idle the front tires climbed halfway up the vertical clay bank. Gave it a little gas & it went up another 2ft, then my rear bumper dug in - climb was over then. :? Gotta improve my departure angle! This was my first "slippery" test of the Baja Claws, and I was very impressed!

Didn't attempt the mudhole immediately above the huge one. That's the same hole that Vince's Yota became completely stuck in, and neither my TJ or Thump's J-10 was able to conquer it. Once I resolve a couple issues with the FSJ, and have another rig present - that hole WILL be conquered. :twisted:

As far as how the big Jeep did - this was the shakedown run with my morphed Jeep/Chevy front driveshaft. I am very pleased with its balance - although it isn't balanced (and I welded everything by eyesight only) - but you'd never be able to tell the difference. 8) BUT, the shaft does have an unexpected issue to fix before the FSJ's next excursion. I rebuilt every moving component in it - including a new centering yoke. Well, apparently the new c-yoke is thicker at the t-case mounting flange than the old one was, because it is binding on the t-case yoke before the axle gets halfway drooped (pass side). Once I realized what was happening, I was worried about flexing the front axle, which the FSJ does very easily. Got to remove the yoke from the t-case & grind about 1/8" clearance on each side.

Other than still needing to tweak the carb & ignition tuning, and the oil pan leak, the blue bomber did fine. Unfortunately as much as I tried to remember the camera, halfway there I realized it was still sitting on the kitchen counter at home. :( One cool thing I discovered while at the trail head - even with 22" of altitude under the Jeep, it's roofline is still lower than a stock four wheel drive Superduty. :smokin:

[Want2Wheel]

Nice to hear that the run was a sucess.

[TiredIronGRB]

I need to take the Xterra to Paint Creek.

[Bluegill]

I need to take the Xterra to Paint Creek.

If UH8MUD, you might not like it. Not as pretty as Horse Creek, but usually not as crowded either & it is a longer trail. Here's a vid of the big mudhole from last November - it's wallowed out more since then.
Paint Creek 11-5-06 :: 100_1274.flv video by thumpszilla - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid78.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/thumpszilla/WHEELIN%20PICS/Paint%20Creek%2011-5-06/100_1274.flv@@AMEPARAM@@vid78@@AMEPARAM@@78@@AMEPA RAM@@j108/thumpszilla/WHEELIN%20PICS/Paint%20Creek%2011-5-06/100_1274

The view from the fire tower is absolutely awesome. I cropped the high res version of this & made it the wallpaper on my desktop:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/thumpszilla/WHEELIN%20PICS/Paint%20Creek%2011-5-06/100_1281Small.jpg

[Alex_J's_TJ]

Man.. I wish I would have checked on here... I definitely would have went with you!! :( Glad it was a success!!