The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Exploring Upper Desert, San Diego County Jan, 2016

I decided to take my family out to nature and explore some on MLK holiday weekend. It had been raining on and off for a few days, then rain for three solid days before finally ending. On Saturday it was sunny for our adventure.

I took them out to the transition zone between upper and lower desert. We spent time at the Desert View Tower, then explored the caves. We ate our lunches on the tailgate.

My children loved exploring. They know the area pretty well now and they like the owners dogs on the property. The dogs like my kids because they get fed.

After lunch I aired down the tires and we departed to go find a trail. Because the ground was so waterlogged I decided to chose a trail that more on the mild side and stay out of the slippery rocks.

A view from In-Ko-Pah Mountains​

I had two main goals for this little outing. First was to show my wife where I had camped with our girls solo, on the last day of July in 2015, and second to revisit a large ant colony that the kids and I discovered by accident on our previous trip.
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A view from our old campsite


My 6-year old climbed up this steep rocky outcrop.
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In 2015 she fee solo climbed it a few months before turning 5 years old, and it scared the crap out of me because, I was up there taking photos, and I assumed she would stay down below where the tent was. I recall that I turned around and was like holy f*** what are you doing here?!? She has a gift for agility, balance, strength and determination.

At this location, which is BLM, my wife was not at all pleased with the debris (trash) left by former campers, and she asked for a trash bag which I provided and we removed about 7-lbs of trash. To all the people who go out and use BLM land and break beer bottles... I hope and pray you get arrested. This place really wasn't that bad by my standards. I've seen places 100x worse. But still, trash is trash. We moved on and traveled the meandering trail until we came upon a clearing that was signed for anthropological artifacts.

To the person who shoots BLM signs. Contact me.
I'll provide a lobotomy free of charge.​

I pulled out and we searched. I found several ancient grinding moteros. These are great. They give clues to the native peoples past practice and show how the land was used for substance many years ago. This area was incredibly flat in a large area. It's drop dead gorgeous for camping, although the site was signed for no overnight camping. But the point is, one can visualize how the land was used as a layover campsite during travels.

There is a nearby rock pile which we all climbed up and explored looking for petroglyphs or other evidence of native american artifacts. My youngest daughter wanted a stick to be like her older sister which had one made of bamboo. I searched and found one from a local dead shrub, and made it nice and smooth for her. She was pleased.

My wife reading the map.
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I decided it was time to take a step back and let my wife do what I do. I mean she should be able to do just about everything I do as far as I'm concerned. So I gave her the map. She found where we were and where we had been without too much difficultly.

From here we departed south and the trail went into a steep ravine. I was slightly concerned about the moisture content given the hard plentiful 3-days of rain. There was a wash in the ravine and lots of loose sand. A 4-pack of heeps (nice folks ) had wheeled this trail earlier in the day and I could see their tire tracks, so I felt confident I wasn't driving into quicksand.

There is a short rock crawling section climbing out of the wash. My wife was like oh hell no, the kids were like, oh yeah, lets do it. I shifted into 4-LO and crawled up, letting A-TRAC do it's thing. It was sloppy fun! The trail had a few more rocky protrusions. It's not a well traveled trail, so some undergrowth on the trail. Eventually the trail reaches another wash, much larger. Trail splits three ways, I made a hard left leading to the ant colony location.

When we arrived I surveyed the area quickly on foot and the ant colony was sealed up. Most likely due to the rain. In 2015 I had accidentally driven over their home and parked right over it. They were pissed and were attacking the truck when my daughter told me about it. Being lower the ground, sometimes kids see things better. lol

Ant colony from 2015
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With nothing to see here, I turned the truck in the direction of our trail exit. We were hungry and I was being told I needed to feed people.

At a certain point I decided it would be good if wife drove the truck. She didn't want to at first, but the kids pressured her into it! Good kids!

Wife drives the truck now.

As previously mentioned,
She managed to find every mud hole
and puddle there was. . .
She drove faster at each one!
Apparently she likes mudding.
There is mud on the roof!



Between the time the windshield was covered in mud,
and subsequently cleared by the wipers,
I tried pushing as hard as I could with my feet on the floor boards,
trying to press a brake pedal that did not exist!







It is sometimes shocking to see just how much water is in the compressed air on very humid days. I've decided to make a simple and modular water separator for my OBA.

I'll be installing mud flaps soon. As soon as they get here. I ordered them yesterday.

A beautiful sunset on the way home. It's about 60 minute drive home.

A funny short story about our dinner. Usually we can agree on what food want as a family but it wasn't happening. So here is what happened. Now back in our neighborhood, I dropped my wife off at the mediterranean restaurant, I phoned in an order to the taco shop, went through jack-in-the-box drive through for my youngest kid, [who gave her order as follows: Nuggets, french fires, ketchup, white sauce, and freezing water!, lol] then picked up my and my oldest kids order at taco shop, then picked up my wife at the mediterranean place, then go home where we all ate happily at our dinner table! lol It worked great!

After I put the kids to bed I spent a half hour hosing mud off the truck. Very sticky stuff! From here on out I'm going to treat the frame, wheel wells with some fluid film.​

 

This is very nice. I am from San Diego myself. My cousin and I have been looking at small trails I would be able to hit if you have recommendations. My only concern is the 4x2 as we both own TRD sports so wouldn't want to get stuck anywhere. Just looking for something scenic.

 

Thanks.

There are a billion places to explore in SD/Imperial Counties. We're very lucky. Pine Valley Forest Service land, south of I-8 is good. Otay Mountain by the border. Also, check out this BLM publicatio Eastern San Diego Routes. Hundreds of places in the desert. Just go east with a map and check stuff out. Good to go in a group too, if someone needs a tug.

 

This should help:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trails-for-2wd.411173/

 

Not yet. If I have to separate the UBJ to install, I'm not going to mess with it until it's absolutely necessary. Had Scott shipped them to me 3 weeks prior, they'd be on my truck since at that time I had already taken the whole front end apart. I'll monitor your thread to see when you put them on. And I should have them in hand later today or tomorrow, gotta pick them up from my P.O. Box place.

 

I wheeled a 2x4 ranger for years. Owning a 2x4 is all about recovery techniques. Can go just about anywhere, just takes a little more time . Winch and/or come-a-long and your golden!

 

Going to talk for a minute about tire valve caps.

Valve caps play an important role in tire care. Not only do they keep debris out, they are the last line of defense to prevent pressure loss due to faulty valve cores. In the last 12-months I've had two valve cores go bad on me when airing down tires. One in Death Valley, and another the the Bishop Volcanic Tablelands. I've replaced them both on the spot after I could not get them to reseal.

I visually inspected each one and can't seem to find anything wrong with them. What I should do, but haven't done yet, is compare side-by-side with a good one. I suspect they went bad due to sand particles ingress into the valve. However, I am religious about replacing the caps, so contamination seems unlikely. Just not sure, and it's a mystery to me.

Their replacements seem to work fine though.

• I'm running Denso TPMS valve stems bought brand new in 2016.
• 
  Replacement valve cores are Xtra seal ones, bought at home store.

Below is a comparison of three that I had in my possession.


Left to right,
Dorman, Schrader Automotove, Generic


The Dorman has what appears to be red substance, maybe silicone to seal the valve, the Schrader Automotove has black rubber, and the generic doesn't have shit, will not seal.


50-pack of the Dorman on left that my wife bought me.
The 50-pack was inspired by @DVexile 's 100-pack.
With so many, easy to hand out to other 4-wheelers.
I keep them in the center console for easy access.
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I was curious about the ability of the caps to seal, I conducted a test using the Schrader Automotove brand with black rubber, with a leaky valve core. I left the leaky core in, and put the cap on tight. It worked. It held air in. About 24 hours later, same pressure in tire. I have not tried the Dorman yet, but will.

Several months ago, a friend from this forum sent me some of those captured valve stem caps which are really nice. I still have the brass ones and will use them if I ever swap to brass. The plastic ones, I passed to a friend who happened to be missing all four caps! They were used well.

I know there is a popular movement right now for the Colby valves. Those look very promising.

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They are installed from outside the wheel, and say they are 20x stronger than standard valves. However, they don't say exactly what it is that they are comparing it to.

I like TPMS and will keep them for now. I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach on the Colby see how these shake out over time.

It's awefully tempting to pickup one for an emergency set. There are some trails I like where it's nothing but rocks and rocks for miles, and I think that's where the greatest danger is for valve stems.

Dorman part 609-130

 

Thanks again for the Schooling! Please post the Doorman Part# at your convenience if possible. Thanks.

 

https://www.sierraexpeditions.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=200

I run these little guys for valve stem caps (@G.T. as well)

They have little leashes in case you forget to put a cap on, also a o-ring on the inside that creates a very good seal. Never had an issue with one being stuck on, never lost one after forgetting to put it back on, accidentally lost a valve core and the cap was able to hold the pressure while I looked for the core and grabbed the tool so I didn't loose all my tire pressure.

Worth the money imo

 

Sure, here you go. 609-130

Very cool. That's great to hear they held air in with no core. Thanks!

NoLoss Valve Caps. I have a brass set on standby for if/when I swap to brass stems, like the Colby. Thanks to a friend.

 

The O. Ghost Ship Hi-Lift Foot shoe

• Tread Depth on tire measured to 8/32"
• Rough cut by @GHOST SHIP , I Cut to fit
• Held together with M8 Class 10.9 hardware
• Bolt heads counter sunk in rubber
• M8 Hex Flange Prevailing torque lock nuts
• Adds about 1lb of weight of Hi-lift jack.

Cut to fit


Counter sunk bolt heads, and ruff cut fitted to foot.
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This home made accessory makes using the Hi-Lift 1000x safer on concrete, asphalt or any other flat hard surface, IMO.

Cutting, drilling or otherwise working with vulcanized rubber with steel belts is nasty business. For some reason I found it extremely enjoyable.

Thanks @GHOST SHIP for liberating the hunk of tire, and sending it to me, and advice on cutting it.

 

Excellent!

 

Now what do I do with my extra 99 generic, no seal valve caps? LOL.

I'll order the Dorman Caps asap.

Edit: Just ordered.

 

You got it, bud. I can't take all the credit for the idea. @geekhouse23 mentioned it in his thread and I even sent him a piece of the same tire for his hi-lift so in a way, I'm creating my own Infinity Stones out of my old mud terrain. I wonder what would happen if they were put together again?

 

Sweet, put the Dorman's in my Amazon cart and will swap out for my el-cheapo caps! Anyone want 99 crappy valve caps?

 

Pay Them Forward to your Favorite Tire Installer.

 

That's a good "heads up". I don't think I even have caps on right now, and I don't know why.

 

What did you get to eat?

 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QN2SZQK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

That'll add at least 4 or 5 HP per tire for sure!