I have an exclusive because my daughter was the only one who brought a camera, lol.

Now, Alyssa (the aforementioned daughter) was digging the trucks smoother offroad ride and new capabilities so she was in the truck more than out during obstacles and there aren't that many pics of my truck doing stuff it couldn't before.

But it was really way, way more capable. Man, what I've been missing all these years, lol. 4 wheel drive, and having a low range, is just wonderful.


First pic: The Attendees (L to R) -- Mike (Struck); Mike's friend Jim; Me (n3elz); Another Jim; Chris; Bryan (Bryanjints)

Pics 2 to 4: We didn't see any mud, but some strange chemical phenomenon caused the glass on my truck to become opaque. Strange.

Pic 5: After hitting the first hole -- a dumb idea by the way. This was the hole I had to jump into last year to rescue Bryan: a hole no one has made it through in our groups. I had to try. 5" of water in my truck by the time I got out -- but mainly on the drivers side as I was pretty off camber.

 

So here's Mike (Struck) climbing part of one of the rutted trails up Jemima Mount in the Wharton State Forest. Mikes truck is newly built after problems with his old one (also an older Ranger) and this one was not quite complete needing a new clutch and some fender trimming -- but Mike knows how to wheel it in any condition, lol.

 

looks like a great time so far!

 

This is Chris's YJ. It's really nicely built on 33 inch Super Swamper Radials and Chris is without a doubt one of the most dogged and capable wheelers I've rolled with. He drinks too much -- but it doesn't seem to affect his wheeling. In my opinion it'll bite him in the butt one of these days, lol -- but it's his business. I enjoyed wheeling with him and him and his friend Jim were very gracious and generous in their critiques of my offroading and they definitely taught me a thing or two.

 

Bryan's Ranger coming up one of the Jemima trails. Bryan's truck performed well but as the IFS truck it was apparent the limitations of Ranger IFS sometimes -- as we're all aware. Can't be as bad as 2WD IFS like I used to have though, lol.

I used to have to throw myself up those stinking Jemima trails -- but not anymore. I crawled them at low speed in 4LO and it was great -- I can crawl now, whoo hoo!

 

Looks like a lot of fun!

 

My truck climbing one of the Jemima trails on one of the few runs where Alyssa was not in the truck, lol. Nothing special

Last pic is a group shot of some of the trucks.

 

Everyone but me stuck in one of the mudholes along the trail leading away from Jemima mount.

Now, here's where I get to say something I never got to say prior to the SAS: I was the ONLY one who actually drove through the hole unaided!!!

I was so proud. My daughter was in the truck, so no pics.

Chris tried it in his Jeep 3 times but never made it. It wasn't that deep, but the ruts were just deep enough to cause problems, the bottom was soft, and there was a "step" at the exit.

 

Chris and Jim took us to a place they called "Hidden Lakes" which had some fun stuff and mud that was different from some of the rest of Wharton. It had some fun loose sand and dirt climbs and whatnot as well. It was a dusty trip in though.

No cabin filter in Rangers and the dirt came right in the cab and lined the inside of your nose, lol.

 

My truck coming down one of the dirt climbs. It's steeper at the top than it looks. Definitely not inviting when you're at the top, lol -- but hard to resist. With the flex and all my truck is so much more stable now. With the limited travel IFS it had a tendency to tip much more in off camber work.

 

Same spot. Going back up. Made it too. I did everything the Jeep did. Nobody was more surprised than I, lol...

 

Great pics John! I had fun and will definatly be putting the new clutch in very soon, that way I can actually do alittle more next time. lol

I really like the last pic of my truck on Jemima Mount, but (and yes I'll point it out) anyone else notice the fact that I never put the body mount bolts back in the front? Opps! Another addition to the "little" list of things to fix. lol!

Can't wait til the next trip!

 

Okay, some random pics:

1: Bryan's dog Leonard takes his turn at the wheel. He's pretty good -- didn't get stuck once.

2. What my winch looked like after a mudhole Chris, Bryan and I all tried and failed to exit at our desired spot which was very, very steep.

3. Chris's stylish "mud spattered" look after taking on the hole in his open topped Jeep. (Actually, it's just "spray on" mud...lol...no it's not -- don't hit me, Chris!)

4. One of my pieces of damage. The mudhole has some nice rocks and other wierd things in it -- one of them tore off my rock slider.

5. Chris's windshield after the hole: kind of has the movie "Cars" look about it, doesn't it?

 

Some last random pics of Bryan stuck and me winching him out. That's it for pics, sorry. I'll be posting some movies next in another topic after I upload them to Cardomain.

My daughter was trying to save space on her memory card so a few are so low resolution they're kind of hard to see -- but it's all we got. I'll be taking a full movie camera next time and getting some real moving footage.

 

sweet pics

 

great job john the commentary makes it feel like I was there......oopps I was there but good job.

I got home and found a problem. Kinda put a damper to the end of a great day. My rear is leaking. Pretty badly. It is coming from the front seal where the driveshaft attaches.

It really sucks I am going to have to clean it first before I work on it but in order to clean it I need to get to the car wash. I will have to spray it with the hose and check the fluid level before going to the car wash.



John's truck performed flawlessly. He made it through stuff I didn't think was possible with his truck. It will be scary when he really understands how to drive that 4x4. Thats not a knock on him or his skill. I think he is a highly skilled driver but when you 2 wheel it for 5 years you must master a new way to drive when you have 4x4.

His truck is so smooth on the bumps and rough stuff. The cab doesn't feel like it rolls much when you are in it also. He did a great job on the SAS and I think he said he would do it again for me when I am ready.


The dust was severe and I still have dirt plastered inside my nose.

Sorry I didn't have any pics I realized 10 minutes from the Ranger Station I had forgotten my camera.

 

Thanks for the comments on the truck, Bryan and I don't take your driving skill commentary as a knock -- I'm saying it myself, lol. The truck made me a better driver today!

That's why I let you drive it -- somebody who's had a t-bar 4x4 Ranger would appreciate the "feel" of it.

 

Yeah I didn't think you would take it as a knock. I said it more for everyone else I didn't want to offend anyone because they thought I was offending you.

Thanks again for letting my drive it. It was awesome to drive I just spent 30 minutes searching craigslist for Dana 44 axles and/of a donor vehicle.

 

Hey, with regard to your leaking rear: probably the pinion seal and sometimes it means your pinion nut backed off or something. I guess you used a new nut as recommended when you did your gears?

Crush sleeve rears are a pain in the butt.

Strange thing is I had a spare seal with me -- but that does you no good at this point. Hope it's minor.

 

Great pics. I am glad to see and hear that your truck did great with the SAS.

 

Nice John! Glad to see you finally got the freedom of 4 wheel drive! Hopefully I will have my explorer up and running by end of summer so I can finally feel the freedom of 4wd.

 

looks good wish i could have been there

 

That looks fantastic! Great job on your ride there, on all of them actually.. looked fun!!

 

Thanks all.

I just wish we had more pics -- we did a lot yesterday and very little of it is shown here. Oh well.

 

wow! looks like fun!