Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

Yesssss! Awesome Brett! Though that idiot in the red totally fucked up James' part of that one.

I would have to agree with you on that one. Honestly I think the off camber ledge, the entrance and going back up cliffhanger gave us the most problems. Awesome shots Brett!

Just don't almost roll on Moab Rim being an idiot taking a section without a spotter.

I have so many photos to go through, hopefully I can get them done in like a month. Got a ton of good ones of you and Ryan since I wheeled with you guys a ton between Kokopelli and Cliffhanger.

 

How was moab rim? kinda bummed I didn't do it

 

You were supposed to put Mike in this shot like 4 times!

Glad you got your truck home. Again sorry about the trailer not working out.

 

Holy crap the iconic "cliff hanger" obstacle has changed. Lower sections look a lot more dug out.

 

Cliffhanger is definitely a stressful trail. Lots of off camber situations where a flop would turn into a barrel roll down a cliff!

 

Getting up wasn't bad, though the one guy who just had a rear locker had one tire way up to get up the first crack section. He definitely got tippy. And that's on 35's as well. The other second gen on 35's blew a CV on the way down and I almost rolled. (again dumb line with no spotter) Regardless though to get down z-turn and the crack ledge I wouldn't go down without belly's. It's the only way to go down square. After the first 1/2 mile or so it's kinda fucking boring. Oh and we saw a jeep seconds from flopping and were able to all run up and push it back over.

*EDIT* Sorry for the mini thread jack Brett!

 

we were watching for you guys from the top of poison spider. glad you guys all made it with minimal damage! looking forward to pictures!

end thread jack.

 

Thread jack away! There's not going to be any building go on in here until March or so.

Washed the truck, touched up the armor, and parked it in the backyard. Took a closer picture of the leaf, although you can't tell much.



Also, slowly getting to the custom, rock-brushed finish on my wheels.

 

Poor taco.... banished to the back yard. All too familiar lol

 

Yeah, that's where it lived all of last winter. I'll make sure to brush the snow off once in a while.


And I exerted enough effort to toss together a few more pics.

Kokopelli camp by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

Cliffhanger 3 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

Cliffhanger 4 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

 

only decent picture I got

 

Well, one good thing about breaking my leafs is that it really helped solidify the value of having two vehicles. Was also thinking about it in Moab, and I was continually impressed on how my rig performed on everything from the Kokopelli to challenging trails. Between that, and a little excitement about getting some nice, custom leafs, means this thing will be sticking around for at least one more season.

List for next spring:

• Get new leafs, probably Alcan, cycle, adjust shock mounts/bumps as necessary
• New seats - thought about hopping on the Wet Okole GB, but seems my money would be better spent on different seats
• Sound deadening
• Finally get my act together on limit straps in the front - possibly get the coilovers rebuilt as they have two hard seasons on them
• Wheel it a bunch more

TOTW 1 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

 

For sure, wet okoles are an expensive cover for cheap little seats. Both my previous seat swaps combined have cost less than a set of wet okoles and both were very comfortable.

 

Good plan!

 

This! Glad you are keeping it a little longer at least.

 

Got a couple non DSLR photos for you here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5LejbE

IMG_8021 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_8121 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

Few updates:

Bought a Sparco R100 from Brandon I'll be modifying to fit whenever I get around to picking it up.

Clamped the leafs Old Brett style. I'll be driving it a couple miles to a buddies house to get it weighed soon.


Made some brackets and installed some mudflaps I've had for a while. Tired of mud in the taillights, under the bed, and in the bumper. Might get ripped off first time out but we'll see.








Oh, and put a deposit down on a Go-Fast Camper.

 

And a couple more Moab pics I just got around to.

Steelbender 1 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

Steelbender 2 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

Anticline by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

 

I'll be doing this soon also, though I was thinking of building the mounts in a quick disconnect manner. Or go full rice and get some Subie vape-life style Rally Armor mud flaps

 

I don't even have those on my Subie. If you do get those, however, it's a requirement that they're bright red.


Welded tabs to the frame and bumper with nuts welded on them, so two quick bolts per side and I can remove the mudflaps. Only after I had them all installed, did I realize it would have been better with some clevis pins or something for quick detachment.