05/05/12 Archers and First Double Black Diamond

Did a run with some Wrangler Forum folks on 5/5. I ran my first double black diamond called The Rock Garden. It was short but gnarly. Hope to have some video/pictures to post later.

Recovery Clinic 4/14/12

Attended a winching/recovery clinic that was led by a guy who is a Jeep Jamboree trail guy. He is professionally trained in recovery techniques and was a great instructor. What do 7 Jeep Wranglers do after a clinic, they go wheeling of course. We even had a couple of on trail events that had us using our new found knowledge.

Here's a shot from the section of trail that caused 2 rigs to get into "situations".

This trail use to be a motorcycle/quad trail. It was newly designated for 4x4s also. It is steep, tight, and technical. I had to rely on my spotter and for a majority of the trail I couldn't even see what I was navigating through. Spotter would say passenger, and you have to just steer towards the passenger side. Often you could feel the obstacles, mostly large tree stumps, but you really had to depend on your spotter. It is pretty spooky when your spotter isn't there and you can feel yourself teetering with two wheels in the air. That only happened to me once, but it got my attention. =8-o Good times!

Here's some new pics from Tom who was on the trip.

March 25th TSF Run

The March 25th run was interesting. Snow made things very difficult and a lot of time was spent watching others get unstuck. The winches were very busy all day long. At one point "We got a roll over." came over the CB. And then a prolonged silence. The tension in the group I was in was palpable. As I guessed, the person that made that call was immediately out and providing assistance. It turned out that it wasn't serious, no one was hurt, and it was more of a flop-over than a roll-over.

All I can say is that my Jeep did awesome and I didn't get stuck. My hi-lift jack was used on 4 seperate occassions and I had to use my tow strups to get a couple of rigs out of a deep hole. I took a lot of pictures.

Long cold day today

Well, I am almost ready for the 25th. Spent the day in the snow, cold, rain, barely warm sun, and then snow again (I'm tired). Started tearing the Jeep apart, ok it FELT like I was, to finish the CB install. Got the wires all ran, wired it into my power distribution system (I built it, and I will call it a system if I want to), started the Jeep, slowly turned on the CB power, and.... nothing. WTH?

Stared at it for a while, put it back in the Dodge and yes the CB still works. Hmmm? Eventually I realized that I hadn't wired the relay to power THE SYSTEM. It was a relief when I figured it out. Will add the last wire tomorrow.

Having an AC outlet in the Jeep is very nice. Made soldering super easy. I guess I don't have any excuses for not wiring in my offroad and rock lights. I went to 4 auto parts store looking for switches that will fit my Rugged Ridge switch panel, but I guess I will have to order switches to fit it.

I don't feel like leaving the couch, but I gotta go make a ceviche I bought fixins for.

BrianH

Upcoming Events

First wheeling adventure with the club is next weekend. Can't wait! I am signed up for a winching class on April 15th. That should be interesting. The guy running it is limiting each group to 8 rigs. That should make it very up close and personal. Really looking forward to that as I have never used a winch.

Big Dog Customs texted me today to tell me that the metal for my bumper arrived on Friday and he will start building my front bumper on Monday. I'm guessing it won't be ready for the run next weekend, aut at least he will be starting it. BDC does all kinds of work of vehicles. Lifts, brakes, stereo installs, you name it he does it. If you'd like contact info for a good trustworthy mechanic/fabricator let me know and I will get you in contact with him. He's a small operation looking to build up to storefront shop.

Still working on the CB install. I either need to come up with a way to route some wires or I am going to have to remove more trim. I'd rather not remove the trim, so a trip to Ace Hardware is on the agenda for tomorrow. I'm thinking one of those small but long plastic garden stakes might work.

I thought this was supposed to be fun!

Just had what feels like an epic fail while working on installing my CB. Drilled a hole in the dash, and then discovered while there is room for the parts behind the dash, it is a REAL, for this forum I will use the word Pain, to get the lock washers and nuts on the screws! After more time than I care to admit, I finally got the nuts on. While having my arm jammed into the dash, at an awkward angle and rubbing against some kind of metal support, I lost grip on the socket I was holding in my fingers. Instead of rolling out on to the floor like the washers and nuts did, on MANY occasions, I'm pretty sure it took another route into the center console. You can imagine the colorful words that were used gosh darn it. Did I mention that manipulating my fingers into a position where I could barely do what needed to be done was uncomfortable and there wasn't enough room for all the needed fingers?

So tomorrow, I take out the dash. Should make tightening down the screws easier.

Removing the dash will make the install easier, and if it is warm enough I will Dynamat my dash speakers - that's a big if. Should make running the power wires into the engine compartment easier, and if I am going to the trouble I will look into doing some of the shortwave radio install as well. Hmm, guess I could run some power wires to yet nonexistent switches. I better get up early if I really think I can do all that during the daylight. I NEED A WARM SHOP.

And this electrical stuff is supposed to be what I'm good at. lol

Cheers!

You might be a redneck...

if you mod your Jeep bumper with a hand wood saw.

Finished bumper:

It's only temporary while BDC creates a bumper to my specifications. I must say that my cuts were pretty good and straight.