June 8th -- Return to the Pits -- Hardrock

I had a blast wheeling with you .. You continued to impress me all day
Can't wait til you get some lockers front is cheapest, but rear will do the most justice

I'm wore out .. Will get pics and vids up soon ..but not tonight ..sorry

 

wish i coulda made it. had to work on the z today couldnt spend 4 hours driving back and forth =( pm me on the next one though

 

Yeah, that heat out there was brutal today. It was kicking my butt there at the end (got a nice little sunburn going on ). So I totally understand not wanting to deal with the pics and vids tonight.

I eventually want to have both ends locked. I'll probably do the front first, being the cheapest, but I might do a lunchbox in the rear unless I run across someone with a TRD E-locker rear axle they want to unload cheaply. I noticed when I was wiring my clearance lights that it appears I have the wiring harness for the diff lock switch. Presumably that means the rest of it is there as well. Hopefully anyway.

You know, if I was on 33s, I might not have bottomed out on the top of that one hill at A-pit. But then the fact that I was able to get over it at all just amazed me to begin with.

At any rate, thanks for the praise! You definitely made it easy for me, so I'm glad I made it fun for you. And the truck did a lot better than I thought it would as well. Even in the mud. Still think it would have done everything better with Swampers instead of the BFGs, but it definitely did everything I asked it to do at Hard Rock.

Seeing that Grand Cherokee get stuck in the same place I just walked right through with minimal wheel spin really put what my truck is capable of into perspective.

 

I also want to give some props to Mike for some great spotting when Thomas was busy.

Thanks Mike!

 

Not a problem had a good time wheeling with y'all today and for being your first time out you impressed the hell outta me

 

Today was awesome! I had a great time and can't wait to get a set of better tires. Although the dunlops didn't really let me down though!

 

It was really great meeting and wheelin' with you guys yesterday.

One other thing I found very much note worthy about the trip...I drove all the way up to northern Ocala, wheeled all day, and then drove all the way back to Tampa in pouring rain...and still had just under a quarter tank of gas left when I pulled into my driveway. Wow, how cool is that? I probably would have burned through both tanks and most of another one at least if I had done that with the F250.

 

I burned an entire tank yesterday
Due to having to take my girl home mid day

 

I only burnt about a 1/4 of a tank

 

I was there. I was following a black 4runner with an ARB front bumper. I was up front mainly but it was fun. Cant wait to get a lift and some tires but its going to be a while. I left around 4 on Saturday because my clutch fan was being dumb and I kept running a little hot.

 

U passed us at the loves station that morning .. I thought u were gonna meet us there
Would have liked to meet you
We ended up leaving hardrock around 2 and hit a-pit for a cple hours .. We got bored with hardrock and it was too packed ..like cockroaches scrambling around .. Almost had a cple head ons ..and hardrock is no challenge anymore

 

Hehehe, well, I dunno. I'd have liked to see you try to go up that one hill I went down when you got back. I know you've probably done it before, but it looked REALLY slick that day. Granted, it wasn't technical like that one climb you had to pull me over at A-pit, but oh, well. A challenge is a challenge.

Yer right though. It was pretty crazy. Couldn't even park hardly anywhere to watch the action, or let the trucks cool off without winding up in someone's way every thirty seconds. That many people could have been fun if you could take a bit to watch them wheel, but there really didn't seem to be anywhere to do that without being in someone's way.

I definitely think I wanna go back and explore things there a little more. I'm sure there's a lot of things there I didn't get to see.

Oh, and I was looking at the truck today. If I took any damage going over the one climb at A-pit you high center on, then it's in the same spot as the damage I took on running over the boulder I didn't see at Hard Rock. That's the only sheetmetal damage on the truck. And I discovered half a wheel weight was ground off on my right front. I don't know if that would be enough to cause the vibration I was getting, but I guess it's possible that I could have scraped another one off or shifted them around the wheel. Those new glue-on weights likely wouldn't have that problem.

 

I use the stick on weights for that exact reason
But they don't stand the test of mud very well
Lmk when you want to go again ... We will do it on not such a crowded weekend

 

Didnt know Ill meet up with you guys next time. I installed my CB yesterday so now I can actually communicate on the trails.

 

Rgr.

First I gotta find out what's going on with the truck. I didn't drive it yesterday, but I went to move it to wash the bed out this morning and it was making an awful scraping noise. Gotta get under it and check it out later on, but my first two guesses would be either I managed to take a hit on the dust shield on the front brakes and they are scrubbing on the rotors, or something is bent and dragging on the driveshaft. Doesn't change if I apply the brakes, so I don't think it's the brakes themselves. The weird part is, I didn't hear it happening on the way home Saturday and it's pretty noticeable.

 

Could still be the brakes ... But probly a dust shield ..or a balance weight
Hopefully not a hub

 

The CB helps alot
Problem with hardrock, is the solid rock walls don't allow for reception
So if someone is across the park, typically they can't hear you

Keep an eye out on here for the next meet
Look forward to wheeling with you
Sorry we missed you Saturday

 

Yeah, it's just weird that it didn't start making the noise until it was parked for a day. It could be a rock that came loose from being stuck on the inside of the wheel and is now trapped against the brake caliper or something.

Tomorrow I'm gonna jack it up and spin the front wheels to see if one of them is the source. I doubt it's a hub or a wheel bearing. It's a definite sheet metal scraping sound rather than a grinding-type sound I've normally encountered when roller bearings grenade and I used the 4wd to climb up on some blocks to let the water run out of the bed quicker while spraying it out, so I don't think that's it.

Meh, I'm babbling. Got insomnia and haven't slept since 10 am yesterday.

I'll (hopefully) find out what it is tomorrow when I start looking.

 

My concern was a hub gave up .. Or maybe you had forgot to unlock them ..
Hopefully it's just a small rock that's stuck inbetween dust shield and rotor or on top of caliper
Hope you find it's nothing severe .
Lmk what you find

 

Sounds like you all had a great time. That whole area is fantastic and Thomas is a great guide.

Hopefully it turns out to be an easy quick fix on your truck.

GH