Robinhood4x4
03-31-2007, 07:55 PM
I moved out to Arizona several months ago and have finally started getting settled in. A lot of the trails in Ca are right off the blacktop so bumpy high speed dirt road handling isn't a high priority. But here there's miles of washboard before you even get to the trails. So before I went on any trail runs I had to remedy my bottoming out problem. To fix this I sawed off my bumpstop extensions that came in the SAS kit and replaced it with a softer polyurethane bumpstop. Now I have the original hard rubber bumpstop that came with the kit and also a soft poly one in series. This essentially turns it into a dual stage bumpstop. Worked out pretty well, but now I have to move the shocks up because now they bottom out on the really hard hits.
Anyway since I finally got that fixed, I accepted an invite to join the Sonoran Steel crew on a trail run to Martinez Canyon. This is considered a 4 out 5 trail, but I think it got smoothed out a little and it didn't seem that bad. We had about 6-8 4runners, 1 truggy and 2 jeeps. Everybody was pretty well built with front and rear lockers, lifted IFS or solid axles and lots of armor.
We started going through Box Canyon which was a pretty easy trail.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2478%20(Medium).JPG
About a mile later we emerged and continued on to Martinez Canyon. Along the way we came up on the Cabins where we stopped and chatted a little.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2480%20(Medium).JPG
A little later we came upon the rock garden where the real fun started...sort of.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2483%20(Medium).JPG
One of the solid axle 3rd gens ended up inverting his shackle but that was quickly fixed with a crow bar.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2485%20(Medium).JPG
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2488%20(Medium).JPG
After a couple trucks went by it was my turn. I put the key in the ignition and turned. Nothing happened. Great, on my inaugural Arizona trip, my truck decides to die in front of many people I just met. Luckily, a couple of the guys there were mechanics and they jumped right in and figured out my starter died. They had it going within 5 minutes but I couldn't shut off the engine for the rest of the day.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, except for the obstacle called the Luge. It was hyped the whole day as being kinda scary because of the loose dirt and steep angle. Because of my skinny tires I ended up scrapping my driver's side coming down. The rest of the crew had wider tires which kept them out of trouble.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2500%20(Medium).JPG
At least my tail light came out unscathed.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2507%20(Medium).JPG
Overall it was a great trip. I'll need to look into the starter and see if the contacts are bad again. When I got home I shut off the engine and tried to start it. Started up like nothing was wrong.
Thanks everybody for a great trip.
Here's more pics. http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/
This is best viewed with IE so you can see the thumbnails.
Anyway since I finally got that fixed, I accepted an invite to join the Sonoran Steel crew on a trail run to Martinez Canyon. This is considered a 4 out 5 trail, but I think it got smoothed out a little and it didn't seem that bad. We had about 6-8 4runners, 1 truggy and 2 jeeps. Everybody was pretty well built with front and rear lockers, lifted IFS or solid axles and lots of armor.
We started going through Box Canyon which was a pretty easy trail.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2478%20(Medium).JPG
About a mile later we emerged and continued on to Martinez Canyon. Along the way we came up on the Cabins where we stopped and chatted a little.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2480%20(Medium).JPG
A little later we came upon the rock garden where the real fun started...sort of.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2483%20(Medium).JPG
One of the solid axle 3rd gens ended up inverting his shackle but that was quickly fixed with a crow bar.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2485%20(Medium).JPG
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2488%20(Medium).JPG
After a couple trucks went by it was my turn. I put the key in the ignition and turned. Nothing happened. Great, on my inaugural Arizona trip, my truck decides to die in front of many people I just met. Luckily, a couple of the guys there were mechanics and they jumped right in and figured out my starter died. They had it going within 5 minutes but I couldn't shut off the engine for the rest of the day.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, except for the obstacle called the Luge. It was hyped the whole day as being kinda scary because of the loose dirt and steep angle. Because of my skinny tires I ended up scrapping my driver's side coming down. The rest of the crew had wider tires which kept them out of trouble.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2500%20(Medium).JPG
At least my tail light came out unscathed.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/images/IMG_2507%20(Medium).JPG
Overall it was a great trip. I'll need to look into the starter and see if the contacts are bad again. When I got home I shut off the engine and tried to start it. Started up like nothing was wrong.
Thanks everybody for a great trip.
Here's more pics. http://www.robinhood4x4.com/gallery2/martinez-cyn/
This is best viewed with IE so you can see the thumbnails.