la0d0g's rig

Yes

 

Damn..

 

HOW

 

Rain + granite + sandy shit + big drops =

 

Photo dump. Most of these are poser pics but I included the jeep flop. Once of the guys that was with us was taking go pro footage and said he was going to put a vid together so hopefully that has some more action in it.

Group shot at the top of Cadillac Hill before getting to Rubicon Springs where we camped the first night






Rubicon Springs camp




Starting up Old Sluice on day two














Had to get some droop to pop one of the leafs back in




Bucks Lake


Flop at the top of the granite slabs




Everyone was fine and the jeep was good to go minus some damage to the hood and roll bar


Getting towards the end of the trail (we ran it in reverse). This is right before you hit Little Sluice


At the end of the trail before the gate keeper


Had to hit up Uncle Toms Cabin for a cold one before saying goodbye and hitting the road

 

Badass trip! It's awesome to see a Taco make it through, especially one that's still IFS. When you say return the Taco to normal do you mean bang out all the dents and stuff? Or blow the build apart entirely?

 

Thanks! Normal = get an alignment and bang out the dents

 

Yeah, it'll take a couple weeks to piece it back together, I start tomorrow. It was totally worth it though, great trip with great people.

Then I'll focus on fixing up the old school toy.

 

Yup, RIVIVE THE MULE BUILD!!! haha I love my 4Runner, is running a lot better these days and I'm getting a bit more time to work on it.

Sucks to see the damage to your truck, but awesome to see you made it through all of that.

 

There were 8 or 9 trucks in our group. Thursday we headed out from Tahoe around 1p and pulled into Rubicon springs a little after 5p. It was a short distance but we stopped a bunch for people to air down and take photos (some people didn't want to air down at the trail head because it was pouring rain at that time). Friday we departed a little before 9a and pulled into the Auburn Jeep Club's property, which is about 1.5-2 miles from the end of the trail, at 6:30p. This included coming out of Rubicon Springs and up old sluice which took us almost 3 hours getting all the trucks through. Only two of the jeeps out of our convoy didn't have to winch. We also had to spend some time putting the Jeep right side up after the flop On Sunday it took about 1.5 hours from the camp to the end of the trail because we were supporting a jeep towing a trailer that had lost his lockers.

So about 15 hours total with all the shenanigans and bullshit.

 

Yeah, definitely have a laundry list of stuff I'd like to do before next year's trip. Hi steer, lockers, some comfort items like seats and booming stereo, love to get some molys in there, beadlocks and new tires oh man that's a good amount of stuff... I better start small and fix the alternator first

Glad to hear the T4R is rocking

 

Time to start the repair list because I'm one of those people that likes to check things off a list.

• Remove LCA skids, paint, and reinstall with new hardware
• Get alignment
• Pull out the push in part of the bumper
• Fix bumper weld
• Fix or replace driver's side fender
• Paint doors
• Check diff for leaks and fluid level
• Push out passenger bedside dent
• Prep and paint sliders
• Put tire rack back in the center of bed
• Repair flare brackets and reinstall front and back driver's side

This weekend I fixed all the brackets on the flares and JB welded them back on. Had to improvise on the last bracket in the rear since I lost it on the trail. I used a modified hose clamp. This morning I got out and re-centered the tire rack in the bed, removed the LCA skids, and cleaned up the diff so I can monitor for leaks over the coming days.

 

Is there anything you can do for that big ding on the driver side slider, or you just going to roll with it?

 

I think I'll just roll with it. My sliders already had a few good dents in them from other trips and I figure that is what they are for anyway. If I had a money tree I would consider grinding it off and getting a new one but I have way too many things I'd rather spend my time and money on

 

Well last night I reinspected the diff after cleaning it all off and sure as shit there was some new liquid on it with a drip waiting to drop so I'm pretty sure when I smacked my diff I broke the bottom part of the seal. I don't think its super bad since there wasn't a puddle underneath it Guess I'll be tearing that apart sometime this weekend

 

It will be the one and only time I roll it with IFS. Next will be SFA

 

I saw J last night and we were reminiscing about our trip. Good times!