HARDROCK RIDE AND CAMP WEEKEND

It was really fun to get back into what Florida calls offroading. I wish you guys could hit a few trails in Oregon. I really think it would blow your mind what your rigs can actually do.

 

It depends on where the clearance issue is. If it's the same clearance issue we have fitting steelies (that don't come from Wheeler's), then yeah, your 1.25" wheel spacers should take care of the problem. But I dunno why a 17" wheel wouldn't have the same problem in that case. If it's because the wheel simply won't fit around the brake caliper, then that's a whole different issue. However, you had 16" wheels on it before, so it's clearly a problem with that particular wheel if that's the case.

At any rate, it's just my personal opinion because I know that some guys that do serious rock crawling run aluminum wheels, but I think if you're going to play on the rocks, steel wheels are better anyway. Sure, you could still bend them and scrape them up, but they won't get chewed up nearly as bad as an aluminum wheel, and they are cheaper to replace when you do destroy one.

 

Yeah, I think I'd like hitting some real trails. Nothing too crazy like Moab or something where you're wheelin' a couple feet a away from the edge of certain death if you fall off the cliff, but something with actual rocks. The Rubicon looked fun in videos I seen of it. Maybe Uhwarrie (sp?) as well, which I don't think is too terribly far from here. If I had a way to get my truck back home if I broke it seriously, I'd definitely go to a big TW Uhwarrie meet. Of course, I'd have to have more armor and at least a rear plate bumper before I made a trip like that.

Not that I don't think Florida is challenging for my current skill level, but I'd like to see some of the beautiful country in those places, as well as experience the real thing in actual mountains instead of just old lime rock quarries.

So were you guys going to check out the March 15th thing in Bellevue?

 

Belleview

 

What-eva...

I could have just said that crazy place where Mike lives.

 

The only thing crazy around here are the village idiots / old people

 

...and guys that attack Hardrock and the Pits in their Prerunners...

 

who is this guy you speak of

 

Prerunners rock. well we usually don't do rocks...but we Rock!!!

 

I've had mine at hardrock twice and before they closed A-pit I was out there just about every weekend it done good but I need to take it easier on it so it probably won't see to much trails for a while

 

Yeah, that's about where my head is at. It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that maybe I should pass on any more wheelin' until I take care of some outstanding maintenance issues (the clutch primarily). Plus I'm considering taking my sway bar off. I already took it loose to do some experimenting and it's like I feared. I'm going to have some ugly clearance issues on my front fenders when turning. So, right now I'm trying to decide if I should hook the sway bar back up, or trim the fenders. Currently, I'm leaning toward trimming the fenders, but who knows how many times I'll change my mind before I actually get motivated to go out there and do it.

 

I would pull the sway-bar. When I was IFS I removed mine, it flexed better and made virtually no difference on the road.

GH

 

agreed, when i took mine off, it took a little getting used to, but by then end of the first drive without it, feels like it did with the SB on. and plus, I like how much the truck rolls to the side when I take a corner

 

It does make a big difference in flex, my experimenting has showed me. Which translates into more capability, something I didn't fully appreciate until I experienced it. With the sway bar on, I couldn't go up that embankment in the parking lot behind my house. It'd go up until the weight was off the inside rear tire and I'd lose traction and be stopped. Without the sway bar, if I carry even the slightest momentum, it'll still spin, but it'll keep going until I'm up it.

The question I'm struggling with is whether or not I want to hack up my fenders. Shouldn't even really be a question. I should just do it, but...I dunno.

 

Staying IFS I don't think you'll have to hack anything, well maybe the cab mount, but my only point of reference is a different platform so your mileage may vary.

GH

 

No, testing has shown that the front tires will definitely take a full lug-depth bite out of the aft corner of the fenders if I leave the sway bar off. That's enough to either mangle the fender of tear the lugs off the tire...or both in the worst case. And that's without being fully stuffed. Don't forget, I'm running 13.50s so the problem is likely a little worse than if I was running a narrower tire.

As for my testing method, I put a cinder block under one front tire and another under the opposite side rear tire and drove the truck up on them. Wasn't enough to fully stuff the tires, I still had a few inches of up-travel before I was on the bumps, but it definitely showed me where the problem areas were going to be.