DHappel

Hopefully I'll sort the D1! Radiator should be in this weekend. I likely won't have the new radius arms built but the current stuff will be fine. Just have to bring lots of bushings!

*edit* Normally the first Sat would be the MORG, but with that also being Mother's Day, I'm going to push this one back one week, so May 14th The plan is to run a 2-fer: For the mild to moderately built trucks, we'll run Signal Peak trail http://4x4trailmaps.com/4x4Trails.php?Trail_ID=82 This is a trail suitable for most Rovers, though for stock I would suggest running the trail 'backward' to the top then back down. If we have anybody interested in that route we can make it happen, but the main plan will be to follow the trail the 'normal' directly starting from the trail head just off I80 at the Eagle Lakes exit. I would recommend 32" AT or MT tires (some sharp rocks), sliders, diff guards, and preferably a rear locker though we can always winch/pull you through the few tough spots if needed. For the more seriously built trucks, we have the option of running Fordyce trail to the first water crossing and back. http://4x4trailmaps.com/4x4Trails.php?Trail_ID=32 For this, I would suggest at a minimum a rear locker, 33" tires, full armor, and a working winch as well as appropriately built running gear and suspension. Though this won't take you to the 'hard' parts of Fordyce, it will still take you to Driveline Hill and Sunrise Hill. Getting back up Sunrise can be a challenge and there is no bypass. Both trails start from the same point: https://goo.gl/maps/5kcxtnaR1usPdbjp7 There is a popular campground just before the trailhead (Indian Springs) however I believe it doesn't officially open until Father's Day. However dispersed camping anywhere along the trail is always open. For those that do want to camp, I would suggesting starting down the Fordyce trail a bit until you find a suitable spot. The first part of the trail is easy enough for stock Rovers. The plan will be to meet at the trailhead at 9:30 and roll out at 10:00. I expect I'll be driving the LR3 and will lead the Signal Peak group, so if we have some people wanting to do the Fordyce run for more challenge we'll need a trail leader. There is some slim chance I'll put the D1 back together before this and if so I may bring it and lead the Fordyce group. As always, we'll run simplex 146.460 for those with radios. I don't believe there is any good repeater coverage in the area. Cell service is fair as I recall. You can always try my cell at 510-825-5056 If you have any question, drop me a PM. - - - Hope to see you out there!

Are you sure that isn't the power plant cooling pond from the Simpsons? It looks like there's a 2 headed dog in the water!

It seems like I haven't done anything Rover related in ages - time to get back on the horse. And what better way to get back in the swing than by hosting a wrenching day to help out a few folks. Currently planning to have Paul's LR4 up for fluids, trans filters, and any mods needed to clear his new larger tires before the big overland Mojave trip. Also planning to do front struts on an RRS for Mario if his parts arrive in time. So the lift will be occupied for most of the day, but there will still be space, tools, and people with (hopefully!) know-how on hand to help you with your project, or just come to hang out, drink a beverage, and maybe learn something. Start 9AM until whenever people leave. Location - Don's shop in Walnut Grove. If you haven't been up here feel free to ping me for the address. "Conveniently Located" between the bay and sac areas so everybody can come by!

Just messing around - I didn't look that close but actually it doesn't look like the Safeway on Laguna in that shot anyway.

I think Eric summed it up pretty well - totally condition-dependent. I've done the whole trail to the top in my LR3 in 45 minutes when it's dry out. Other times I haven't even gotten to the actual trailhead in my Disco on 37s. Far too early to make any predictions yet! I'm planning to be there but I also have a work commitment that's roughly the same time depending on (literally) when and where the ship comes in. I haven't missed one of these runs in years and don't want to start now but that's just the way things are these days.

wish they were closer for me - could be handy.

No I know you're just making things up - there's absolutely nowhere to park a truck and trailer at that Safeway! Saturday I had my trailer behind Vandingo heading up to Placerville to pick up my frame and I circled the lot like 3 times trying to find a spot to park so I could run into AutoZone for some parts for work this week. Saw another gut with a trailer doing the same thing!

noice! After seeing Nick's pic of the S1s on High Rock Trail I feel like a visit is in order.

No joy for me. Work is stupid these days. I'm not even sure if my Rover is still here it's been so long. I'm just hoping I can get out in February for Shaver at this point.

Sadly this looks like the first time I won't make an Annual. This year they've moved fleet week and it overlaps - I have standing commitments to run boats for the weekend. I will however be sending special raffle surprises along in my place. Have fun everybody!

I'm rolling out Wednesday morning taking 80. Not sure on departure time as I haven't even thought about packing as yet and have a full work day tomorrow; don't expect to get home until around 8p. Vandingo is ready to go (other than packing) and got the funky rear diff noise sorted thanks to Scully over the weekend. Just have to do a quick oil change on the diff and maybe the motor on the Disco tonight then load it up Wed morning to get on the road. Chatted with Chuck and looks like he's going to be there early as well. I'll set up camp for the first couple nights at the arena then have a hotel the rest of the time so Michele can do some work while there. We'll do some pre-running of trails before the gig kicks off as Chuck, Lutz, and I are all trail leaders. Let's hope we don't break anything before the event actually starts!

We haven't planned anything specific, although several of us will be out early to run a few trails before everything officially kicks off.

Looks like I can get a 2 bedroom w/loft (king, queen, plus sleeper in loft) that sleeps 6 for about $2500 for the 8 days. Same location, same 2 car garage/etc. May go that route if I don't turn up much interest?

GARR booking time - I'm looking at a condo with 2-car garage and space for another vehicle on the driveway pad. It's a few miles south of downtown Moab pretty close to the arena where the GARR is happening. (probably 5 minutes drive). Says there is trailer parking on the road. 3 bedrooms, so I'd have 2 to spare if somebody is interested in sharing. $2900 for 8 days, 10th-18th Anybody interested? I'll likely need to book soon, like in the next 24 hrs, so let me know! I'll also throw it up on the chats.

I'm finally sorting my travel plans later tonight, but I'll be taking 80 out. Last time I towed via 50 and Vandingo wasn't super happy dragging that load up some of the hills! Plus it's actually faster (though longer) to run 80 if you're in a tow pig like I am.

Got my photos up to the group album here: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNINcOdAvO_LzUKQCmSya-nL6ML1xKQxbnbWcDHa_BXjsalXMtW687D2KNxFMK9tg?key=MWYwWW50M2JIN01JUTAzYWw1OGRNUFlROWZKYzh3 If anybody has their own but hasn't added them please do!

Back home - no major carnage to report. Slick Rock was pretty chewed up at the gauntlet and the stairs so made it pretty fun. Good turnout given how things developed; I think around 20 trucks. I'll work on a full write up later - right now it's time to relax before unpacking things and getting back to 'normal'.

OK - Plan D. We've had to abandon the Rubicon as it's officially closed for the time being. Instead we're going to Slick Rock trail. It's one of the club 'standards'; always fun and gives some of the same terrain and vibe of the Rubicon. Thursday afternoon I'll be at the Utica Reservoir end of Slick Rock (south end) and will camp there to meet people as they come in. There's plenty of room for trailers and tow vehicles here and it's easy access even for a car. Friday morning we'll break into groups and run the trail north to the Silver Creek area and set up camp. We'll have people arriving throughout the morning and into the afternoon, so we'll have people at the Utica entrance until early afternoon at least. For those that want to play, there are several fun obstacles along the way to challenge even buggies, or you can take the easier lines and relax. It will be a fairly short trail day much like our original plan. Saturday morning we head north up the Gauntlet and out the Lake Alpine exit, then we'll head east on highway 4 to the Deer Valley trailhead. We'll wheel north here but the top half of the trail is within the closed area so we'll do this as an out and back, heading back to our previous camp on Slick Rock trail at Silver Creek. This mean you don't have to break down camp for Saturday. Sunday we head back south down Slick Rock to the Utica entrance so those with trailers can load up to head home. Optionally, those who want more challenge can exit north through the Gauntlet to highway 4. Looking at air quality maps it currently shows decent. One step below "good". However that is highly variable depending on which way the wind blows. The Utica entrance to Slick Rock trail is approx 2 hrs south of South Lake Tahoe. Take Spicer Reservoir Rd/forest rt 7N01 south off of Highway 4. https://goo.gl/maps/cb2EwSSY6nfqhjCJ6

The eastern end of the trail is in the Tahoe NF. We had to dig pretty deep on the maps to find exactly where the trail crosses between the two forest areas and it looks like you're in Tahoe NF (although skirting along the boarder) all the way down Cadillac but cross the boarder between it and Rubicon Springs. But at this point we're going to have to move off of the Rubicon all together.

At this point the RTF has formally said the trail is closed. We should be posting our plan D alternative by 11:00. Stay Tuned!

El Dorado NF is officially closed until Sept 30 now. That moves us on to Plan C currently. We'll check on things in the morning to see what happens overnight and post more details in the AM.

Stand by for updates...

I'm sure there's already a thread but I didn't see it... Who's planning to go to the rally in September? I know a few of you are such as myself, Lutz, Robert, Mike, etc. I'm planning to go out early and run a few trails before things kick off, but haven't made any actual plan yet. I need to be booking a hotel/etc pretty soon and thought I'd see what other people had in mind. I don't think the event has a formal campground though I'm sure some will want to camp. I expect Michele will want a hotel though as she will have to work some of the time while we're there. I'll probably make the drive in 2 days, but perhaps one long day if I leave early. I'm thinking I'll leave Friday but possibly a day earlier depending on what Michele's schedule looks like. I'll be trailering out. So ... anybody already have their plans in place?

So no lookout for us; at least the gate for the trail to it was closed. I think Nick and Gustav were thinking of hiking up to it. We got a late start as several people were running behind so we actually left about noon. Of specific interest, we found the gas station in Downieville is closed so the nearest fuel is 30 minutes (about 17 miles) away. There were a bunch of others including some bikes all looking for fuel as we were meeting up. In the end we had about 4 jerry cans between us and topped up most of the crew then Gustav made a run up the hill to fill the now empty cans on the idea that he would be able to catch us on the trail since we'd be moving pretty slowly anyway. All told we had- Don - LR3 Gustav - D90 Mike - D110 Nick - 109 Andrew - D2 Jamie - riding with Andrew Jake - LR3 Rupert - LR3 Plus guests in a G500, FJ40, and X3. The G did come along on the trail (she had a wonderful time) but the FJ and BMW (Gustov's girlfriend and father respectively) hung out at camp. While the FJ could certainly have made the run, the BMW didn't stand a chance. The trail starts just outside of town and heads uphill. It's basically a dirt road all the way up to the fire lookout with no challenges and could be driven in anything. However as we started to climb we first saw a few traces and finally some large patches of snow ranging from just across the road to perhaps 100' long and up to about 2' deep. Given the warm temps it was very soft and slushy for maximum sinking. We quickly ran into another group who had a Chevy Colorado beached in a longer section of snow. He'd made it about 3/4 of the way through but got stuck. One of their jeeps tired to winch him forward but couldn't so they then tried to winch him back with another one and again couldn't do it. Mike and I were confused and asked why they didn't just use a snatch strap to pop him out forward? They didn't have one was why. I lent them mine and despite repeated assurances they had used one before and knew how to do it, the Jeep then proceeded to idle forward and fail to pull out the truck. We then urged him to back up and take a proper run which he kinda-sorta did but did manage enough inertia to get the truck out. Thinking we were then done, we retreated back to our rigs to get going only to find they had promptly gotten another Jeep stuck. This time Mike and Nick in the Defender and Series went up around him and pulled him free. We did have a few trucks struggle through the snow but nothing serious. The G got beached as Gail was completely new to off-road and a bit uncomfortable with the way the truck would slew around in the ruts. I got to drive it a bit and we learned the front locker didn't appear to be engaging though I'm not sure if there was actually a problem or if I just didn't speak German well enough to convince it to do what I wanted (though the center and rear were working). We did have to snatch it at one point but it was just a small pull to get it out of the hole it had dug. Jake got a bit stuck and needed a small pull to get moving. He hadn't aired down yet and was still at street pressure which certainly wasn't helping. He decided to try a set of maxtrax which, as predicted, didn't work. I should point out that these sort of traction boards were originally intended for sand and they work well for that but slick snow usually results in just spinning the tires and melting them. They're better than nothing, but in snow I find a kinetic rope or strap the go-to device. At that point Rupert tried to winch him back only to find his winch wasn't working. Possibly the controller or a fuse. Regardless, Jake only needed a small pull so we used the winch cable as a tow strap (yes, I know....) to pull him about 3' backward. After that we aired him down and he was able to make it up the rest of the way under his own power as did the rest of our group. Once to the top we found the gate blocking us from the fire lookout so we decided to have lunch here along with the other people we'd encountered on the trail. We did hike down the other side (north side) of the ridge to look at conditions and found the drifts were much larger with some around 4' deep and no quick end in sight. While the larger trucks in our group could have done it the less built rigs would have been struggling a lot so we decided this was as good a point as any to head back down. Along the way we hooked up with Gustav & Co. who'd stopped and set up camp just above a mine in a really nice spot. A couple of our group (Nick and ?) also stayed behind to spend the night there as well. So while we didn't expect this to turn into a snow run it did. I guess 6000' will do that for you. We were able to get a few people in the dirt for the first time and had some recovery work to do so everybody got to have a little fun. We didn't get to to the harder part of the trail with the river crossing but there's nothing keeping us from coming back once the snow melts. Perhaps we'll make it a weekend event and hit both this and Sierra Buttes fire lookouts on the same trip. The only issue is now we have a Mercedes* owner who might want to join the club. At least she used to own a D2 and her son is looking at either a RRC or P38 in the future, so they aren't beyond hope. LOL *of note, this was the first time I'd gotten a chance to study a G-class. This was a 2002 G500 with a small lift and 35x12.50x20 tires that has updated plastics to make it look about 10 years newer. It was really interesting to see how it was packaged. Divorced transfer case. The dual exhausts are run on the outside of the frame rails. The front is radius arms similar to a Rover but the swaybar is connected on the arms instead of the axle. Everything is tucked up tight - you could pretty much bolt on a flat plate as a center skid plate. The axles didn't look particularly large and I don't know much about them, but always interesting to check out something new.