Permanent Rausch Creek thread

Nice. I'm sure they're well built. You guys make nice stuff.

 

I managed to bend my Front skid on 23 Sat. I'll be pulling it, hammering it, and reinforcing this one too.

 

I saw @colinb17 do something smart to do this once. Laid the plate under the front bumper. Hi lift on the dents, hooked it to the bumper and jacked it up. Weight of truck flattened it right out.

 

That's a pretty cool trick. I'll have to look at it.

 

We originally did not reinforce so we could keep cost down and stay competitive.

After my first trip to Rausch with the 3/16" steel I quickly changed that opinion.

So we are working on the changes to make them reinforced. It will raise the price a little bit but I'm okay with that because it is needed. Plus we run sales all the time so in the end you'll still pay less.

 

I bent my cbi trans skid. Had to run it over with already our 7000lb forklift at work to flatten it back out. I then took 3 pieces of angle. Not sure but I think it was 3/16. But may be a shade thinner. And welded them length wise on the hole skid but I flipped the angle so it sits like an upside down V on the skid. It took a few hard hits and full weight of the truck +/- 5500lbs on it. It still bent. Not nearly as bad as before. But I need to climb under just to see how bad I beat up the skids and driveshaft and rear diff.

 

Sp

For sure. If someone actually bashes their skids on rocks like at RC, they'll end up doing it anyway. I'd gladly pay extra to not have to fix my brand new expensive skid plates.

 

So, Sunday morning at RC I made a rookie mistake. I totally missed the black arrow pointing to the mud pit at the beginning of Pole Line. I drove right in expecting it to be rocks with water on top like every other puddle I've driven through at RC.

This video was taken by a girl standing on the other side. Pretty sure the Jeep people were hoping to see a Taco drown lol!

This video starts just after I realized I'd screwed up, almost stopped moving, and threw both lockers on as fast as I could. I really thought I was going to be sitting there with water coming in. You can hear the pebbles stuck between the rotor and backing plate as I come out.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmj58Hgg8C4

Ryan helping me get those pebbles out


Here's @Sub-Zero taking the smarter (baby-ish) side
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jh0F0DcFAw

Here's a Jeep stuck going the other direction minutes after I went through. I felt bad for this guy climbing out the roof so he didn't have to open his door
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QZus4BFHfQo

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPk08wG1W84

 

Your truck didn't look like it skipped a beat.

 

Oh, if she'd captured the whole thing you'd see me slowing down and starting to just spin until I engaged the lockers. If I didn't have them I would've been stuck for sure.

I have mud in my bed from that.

 

@HolyHandGrenade 's heart skipped a beat.

His wife's heart skipped many beats. I think it might have stopped for a brief moment.

 

Karen will always be there with me. The tent is too big alone and none of you guys are cute enough to spoon with.

 

Shout out to Steve @Wheelspinner for leading the 33's cool kids @Subway4X4 @stairgod and @Manual man74 this Saturday, while the 35's went with @HomerTaco.

Steve led us through a great mix of green's and blues. It was a very productive day. This was the most trails we've ever done in a singe day I believe.

We had a great time and were so focused on our wheelin' that we failed to take pics.

Steve kept our rigs relatively safe and sound, except for Jon @stairgod 's torn CV Boot and Sidewall encounter with a rock, on his NEW ST-Maxx's!

 

Steve @Wheelspinner even adopted Ryan and I for a couple of trails after Craig left. Thank you Steve for not judging us too harshly for having 35's!

 

In case you guys couldn't fully visualize what a "banana" shaped skid looks liked.

 

I'm bringing jack stands next time, because...
...I like saving lives.

 

Oh really Tim? Lloyd thinks I am cute enough.

 

They do sit lower and it is actually nice to have some air space between the skid and the diff even when you are not running a diff drop. Of course when you land hard on a boulder that space disappears.

 

You do realize that I have Mobtown skids??

 

With custom one off notching haha. Quickest sawzall work I've ever seen.