First time in MY mud!

A few years back I "built" a mud pit and short trail in my woods. I had a lot of fun with a full size Blazer I built. I figured I could have some fun, and if it broke, I'm only a short walk home and no expensive tow. So far, the Blazer was left in the woods only a few times. Once for a tire that came off the rim. Fixed that in my driveway and replaced it on the truck and drove out. Second time, no go. Smoked the power steering pump in a foot or so of mud. Fun changing that out. (Those are other stories)

Anyhow, I figured I'd give the Toy a try. I had to stay out of the major ruts. (I was alone and the ruts are from 38" Swampers). I'm impressed with her though. She went everywhere I aimed her, LSD and open front.

Here are the pics from today, mostly posing. I need a friend to come out to get some "action" shots.



























I know...pic whore. Nothing too impressive, but the Toy went through that last pit and made it up the bank to the road. Duratracs weren't even aired down, 55psi! The Blazer bounced off trees and was quite heavy, the Toy is quite nimble and light. I'd like to try some of the deeper spots, but there are buried rocks and I got no skids...yet.

I'm gonna have my buddy come back up and wallow it back out and get the ruts filled in. There is some blue clay about a foot down and running water year round in that area. Then some fun can be had!

 

Looks like fun!

 

YUP! I got out of work early and was alittle bored. I can't afford to break anything, so I got lucky THIS time. I'd like to get a few friends together and tear it up alittle next time...or anytime!

 

I hear you about not wanting to break anything! I don't even want to scratch anything; My wife or daughers have given me a few door dings in the garage so I am sure to get past the scratching fear soon enough.

Nice to have your own woods. I can wheel on the seasonal / unimproved dirt roads around here and want to be very respectful of land owners rights.

 

You need to train them better!

To the OP, that looks a like a ton of fun. You are a lucky man to have some land to play on. I hope to have some in the future!

 

Yeah, the fear dies quick after the first ding or scratch. My last Blazer was rust free from Texas with new paint. When I sold it, (as a down payment for the Toy), it had all sorts of dents and scratches from the close quarters in the trees. They only hurt once!

 

Very lucky! It's smaller than I wanted, but it works. There are 4-5 acres of yard and pasture for my wife's 4 horses. There are 6-7 acres of woods bordered by a creek. The woods are mine for hunting and wheeling. The grassy stuff is hers for the horses. She even lets them graze the side yard, great lawn mowers except for the piles of shit, I mean fertilizer everywhere.

I did have an acre or so of thicket-like woods bulldozed for a shooting range (140yd with a backstop) and food plot possibilities. That area got overtaken with jumping standards. I get yelled at if I spin my tires and tear it up...I get yelled at ALOT!

But yes, I consider myself quite Blessed!

 

Jumping standards?

Your property sounds like a REAL man's dream. Except for the horses, never been a fan

 

hells yeah! its been raining off and on here...makes me want to go and gets some dirty!

 

Here's kind of a timeline of the pit progression.

Overgrowth in a wet area. Underground and above ground springs.



Found all this on my fourwheeler. Very wet and swampy, black, stinky mud.







Played in it a little with the Blazer on 37" DCII's.







This spot is thigh deep with rocks, roots and ruts. I tore a valve stem off and lost the bead on a tire. Did field repairs and drove out. At that point, I knew I had a good pit to play in.

















The "trail" into the woods. This is the area that got dozed out. We found clay about a foot down. My friend Roy brought his dozer to wallow it out to let the water from the woods run this way.







Buried and winching for the first time!





And again!













Dozing!









A couple other little wallows.





A little hillclimb to get back to the road.



A small hole just to wet the tires before climbing the rocky bank.





The "trail" in the woods.



Just starting to fill in.



Some of the aftermath of running the woods.









The trees are pretty close leaving the end of the deepest part. Did some panel rearranging. I can't afford to "abuse" the toy, but I do like to play in the mud.

Sorry for the pic whoring and long post, but now y'all know where I get to play!

 

They make my wife happy. If you can keep a woman happy, it's a go. I'm not a horse person either, but I rode once with her and she made it worth it. Without going too far into it, I told her if that would happen every time I got on a horse, I'd be a frikkin' cowboy by the end of the weekend!

The horses are hers...not mine. She does her own fencing, feeding, care etc. I'll help when she needs it, but I don't do horses any more than she builds "toys".

I would help her more if I could eat one of them from time to time. There's alot of red meat on the hoof out there!

The "standards" are just jumps and the posts that hold up the different things to jump over. I don't get it, but again, she doesn't get the driving back and forth in the mud. Silly woman.

 

Damn! Talk about a playground in your back yard

 

Lucky bastards! I really wish there wasnt snow here. I would be out there every weekend!

Nice playground, i have one of those but its a mountain...but theres snow

 

Just so you know. Mud breaks things!











On the '89 Blazer. 10 bolt rear, 4 700r4's, 1 sm465, 2 np205's, 2 241's, powersteering pump, 4 alternators. The list goes on.

 

Looks fun. Now time to bust out the sprinkler and let it sit under the truck for a few hours haha.

Should have bought a deuce and a half apparently.

 

I could spend all day loading pics of the buildup of the Blazer, maybe another thread another day.

Quick list of mods to the Blazer:

Dodge dana 60 Kingpin axle, locked, ORD crossover steering, XJ steering shaft, corp 14bolt FF, locked, disc'd, HAD driveline brake, sm465, 205 case. Blazen off road tube bumper, Milemarker winch, dual batteries with warn isolator, Bilstien shocks all around, Ford shock towers up front, 38s, Harris performance custom chip, Holley t-body, Hedman long tubes, 3" duals, Corbeau suspension seat, Lowrance GPS, cowl induction. etc,etc...

 

Sounds bad ass man.

 

After a couple days of steady drizzle mixed with some snow and sleet, I figured I would drive back in and check out the trails. It's getting soupy and slick out there. Did a lot more churning and burning, still no stucks, but I didn't make the bank on the way out and had to back track to the pasture. The rocks on the bank were pretty slippery. After sliding towards the trees, I figured I'll pussy out of it and back out. That thinking turned me sideways on the bank. I had my pass. side front tire off the ground sliding driver's side down, down the bank. Can you say pucker factor? I only have 59 payments left..

Pics aren't too exciting, but I do like to pic whore so here we go again!



























That's all for now. It's gonna rain for the next few days. Hopefully I can get a buddy to come over and play. He just got a first gen. off road!

More pics to come as playtime ensues.

 

looks like fun