The Fellowship of PNW Tacomas | PDX Area Wheeling

Tried to run Bates Road yesterday but my buddy’s airbags in his gx470 blew about halfway through after the first black Diamond section so we ended up bailing and limping home from there.

It was pretty hilarious though, I pulled up next to him and rolled my window down to say something. His truck went “pop” followed by “pshhhhhhhhhhh” as his back end dropped to the ground.

Driving him down to metal tech to pick up an air bag delete kit and installing today. Will go back for round 2 next week.



Front (his beverage choice... not mine):


Rear:


And a gratuitous, unbroken Tacoma pic

 

Does he have Ironman on the GX?
What were your impressions of Bates Rd, at least the portion you saw?
Sucks about the airbags!

 

Hahahahaha. Man, that sucks...but it sure is funny.

How did Bates Rd look?

 

Yeah he’s running the Ironman kit, he got a killer deal on it about 2 weeks ago and really likes it so far. Luckily he also got the rear springs with it so we just need to get the airbag delete brackets to swap them in. Was funny because 5 min earlier we were talking about doing the rear in the next few weeks.

What we did of bates road was really fun but we only ran 1 short black Diamond section and the rest was gravel to there.

The hard section consisted of steep ups and downs on dry/loose dirt. We both were teetering on 2 wheels in a few spots but it was perfectly manageable. I think part of the difficult rating is because the climbs would be ALOT tougher in the rainy season.



We turned around at the red circle. The fork in the trail right before that was the first difficult section. You can also bypass it on the gravel which is how we limped home. Otherwise it was all gravel to that point... I think most of the fun parts were yet to come but glad he broke before that. The hard section would’ve been a lot more of an effort to get him through rolling on bump stops.

 

that hulk green sure gave it away I was gonna say the same exact thing

 

Yep, y'all dodged a bullet with his airbag blowing sooner rather than later. Nothing like a little extra motivation to put the new rear suspension in. Lol.

 

I guess I’m a master of the obvious. Lol

 

And he’s back in business without that airbag foolishness!

 

Nice!
Going to try Bates Rd again now?

 

Of course. We got business to finish hahaha. Prolly early next week.

Need to get my wedge camper frame painted first.

 

Sweet!
I just might give it a try Saturday. I don’t like taking risk, but the thrill of off roading keeps me going back for more. It’s been too long since I’ve been out.

 

Considering making a trip out to Bates road tomorrow 8/29/2020. My wife has to work and I’m itching to go for a drive. I’m taking both my kids with, so plans could change.
Anyways, if anyone is heading out that way tomorrow morning, let me know.

 

I always seem to have too much to do on weekends. Wish I could join you. Have fun!

 

Once my lift gets installed I’ll be more willing to get out with all this time on my hands......

 

I get it, normally it’s hard. But this weekend looks like my wife could use some quiet time to work and this is my best way to help.
Have a good weekend!

 

For sure! If I don’t go, I’ll probably hold off until we get a group run in.

Might try some forest roads or go up past Sunset Fall east of yacolt.

 

Ended up going up to Lolo pass and exploring. Found there to be quite a bit I missed previously. Brought back a truck load of dust. Once it rains I’m going again, have a filling all the light dirt will be a couple inches of mud. There is also a few steep climbs.
This one I didn’t tackle, but it looks fun! Maybe when I’m on 33” tires.

 

When in doubt, throttle out!

 

It was tempting. I have passed in a few times and it keeps taunting me. The ruts further up could be an issue though.

 

Those ruts will let ya know if you need bigger tires or not.