ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Thanks a lot Jonny! And I want to say, Thanks, period! It was really cool to hang out with you again man... Even better it was camping, and in spite of the drama and the carnage that went on for some that joined us ... It was still lots of fun. Day trips are great, but I have so much more fun wheeling when I know I don't have to drive right back home the same day. Some great conversations... And I got Faby hookt on the John Sandford books! Haha.

It was great to see you too Richard & Faby.... Always a pleasure to see you guys ...

And everyone that joined us, thank you very much for showing up. I'm sorry about the early on confusion regarding the Meetup... I thought I had made that a little more clear... I feel really bad that people waited at all.

I am hoping to hear from John (He and his so joined us), whom very early on, completely burned up his clutch( it must've just been it's time I suppose... We did a couple steep hills and with him maybe 10 minutes total of driving, it's completely failed. I just can't say what happened exactly) ...

I'm pretty sure I'll hear from Zach, also a member on here, regarding his adventures when we finally left him around 8-9 o'clock I believe? Hehehe what's coming up a pretty steep hill without too much of a mogul effect to it.. And what seems like out of pure coincidence, he had the passenger side upper ball joint just basically blow out of the socket..... Around three hours later of a very dangerous repair on a hill by his buddy James... He rolled down a bit once JonnyBoy had gone and brought back a replacement ball joint ... And well I will let Zack tell you the details as far as how far he got but I don't think it was more than 500 feet when the lower passenger side ball joint blew out on him... Just a really strange one that situation... I am really sorry, again, that happened to you both!

All in all, 8 trucks showed up with a total of 11 people. Much of the day one that being A waiting game do too the above-mentioned carnage... But everyone was really cool and it was a good time anyhow .

Like I said, camping with a lot of fun, and we did get to wheel a bit with some new peeps! Lol...

And, Sunday we went up and explored by Jackson Lake, and as usual, the video above that Johnny took with my phone... It's just not and accurate for trail of how steep that hill was, nor how deep the trench running down around the center of it was. I have a lot more video and photos though, as does John and Richard.... So give us a little time and we'll have it all up. I was actually really beautiful up there that day, and while it got cold at night, the sky was just fantastic! And in just the few minutes that John and I were checking out the stars, and I was taking a few pictures, I think we saw probably 5 shooting stars.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

You do have some bright lights all the way around. Videos and pictures don't show the steepness of hills very accurate at all. Sounds and looks like you had a great time.

Redeth005

Dude I totally agree. Those breakdowns really sucked. They just got very lucky, on the last one that happened in the pitch black, that they had our LED lights. I'm sure the repair would have been much worse to do without proper lighting.

habanero

I dunno Chef, the way you were driving told how steep and the need to deal with the trench carefully. Nicely done.
Just rub that warm temp in, why don't you.... -7 this morning, -28 windchill. Wanna trade?

Redeth005

Lol it was 30 - 35 degrees at night for us that weekend! We are spoiled and accustomed to 60-90 degree weather here in California. So that low qeather we had was super cold for us. (Well at least for me and my girl lol)

jason in tn

I would have took 30-35 at night it was 10 degrees our first night out, the only stuff that didn't freeze was the stuff in the coolers burrr. Looks and sounds like you guys and gals had a good time glad you were able to get out for a bit.

Zpd426

At least I made it to a flat spot! Yes the upper ball joint let loose so the spindle was free to do whatever it wanted. I put it in reverse on the hill thinking I hit a rock and then when I stood on the brake because something was obviously very very wrong I just kept sliding down the hill with no control... Very scary..

What happened was when the spindle layed back it ripped apart the lower ball joint as well. Unfortunately we didn't think to get a spare one immediately.

So the truck is sitting in the middle of a big hill and we have to use a high lift and a bottle jack to get the pressure off the tire so we can use ratchet straps to pull the spindle back to the right place and then shove the ball joint back in. Very scary being under the wheel well and truck at this point.
Secured the broken ball joint with a cut tie down strap and some bailing wire and proceeded to back down the hill. The fix lasted about 50 feet and enough to where I was on semi flat ground.
The upper ball joint arrived and we fixed it with no issues.

It was when we dropped the truck off the jacks we noticed the lower one was destroyed.. So it was fingers crossed that we could get it to the main road.

Made it about 50 feet from the dirt road and then SLAM the truck drops to the ground and my lower arm makes a nice big gouge in the ground... So then we got another ball joint, installed it much easier on the flat and drove to the main road fingers crossed.
Luckily my friend had a free 100 mile tow we used.

So I've decided I'm making my own uniball conversion.. Screw ball joints! What if that happened on the canyon earlier in the day!?

Zpd426

Oh just looked and the failed balljoint was a 555. high quality...

Hey the Blazeland arm got away without a scratch I think... Still have to go through everything.

Redeth005

I'm just happy we all got out of there un-hurt and without any totaled trucks.

Grego92

iTrader: (4)

Wish I could've made it up there to camp with you guys....notice I said "camp" and not wheel'n! hahahaha. I would've waited all cozy around the camp fire for you guys to get back and just listened to the stories for entertainment.

Redeth005

could have easily jumped in the rig with any one of us lol Although your rig would have been able to handle plenty at the spot that we went. My friends stock 86 pickup managed just fine.

aviator

Sounds like you guys had an amazing time...

RBX

Mark & Rich
When you get a chance can you measure the height of your frame...from ground to bottom of frame right before the leaf spring hanger(flat spot). I'm trying to figure out how low i can keep my lift since my rig is sagging.

BTW, stock 85 frame height is 17"(so I've read)
thanks guys

Redeth005

Ill try to do that when I get home. I am barely about to enter work. But I'm not quite sure I understand from where to where u need me to measure. Got a picture maybe?

RBX

So I'm asking for a measurement of ground clearance from the front of the leaf mount in the rear(where the frame flattens) to the ground.
Also, a measurement from in-front of the transfer case mount/cross-member where the frame is still flat before it dips for the IFS.(the picture above is of an 85')

thanks

rustED

iTrader: (2)

hey Mark, looks like you and Richard and friends had another fun wheelin trip, enjoyed the pics and videos! Man that one video showed how bright your LED's are, couldn't see you come back up that hill, lol! Ruby looked like she made easy work of that hill and all those ruts, I'm sure it was a lot steeper harder looking in real life compared to what the video showed!

Redeth005

Well... My 4runner is on 33's so it might be different from Mark's truck. But i took pix anyway. My truck was parked near the gutter of a sidewalk. so there was a slight difference from driver to passenger side.
Top is the driver side the bottom is the passenger.


Driver side:
Front - 25
Rear - 24 & 1/2

Passenger side:
Front - 23 & 3/4
Rear - 23 & 5/8

RBX

Thanks man I appreciate it, I'm aware you are on 33s and I want to get a comparison for mine.
My rear measurement is 24" the front is 25"ish. Just trying to gauge how much lift I have/need.

Sorry for hijacking your thread Mark

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

No sorry needed, but I will say sorry to Richard and everyone about the pictures... No I didn't lose them. But my computer is at a crawl so I had to clear a bunch of video and photos because I only have 13 gigs left on a 500 gig hard drive. I got them all loaded on my PC and I am uploading them for the bucket and YouTube.

Also, of course.......I came home and very suddenly have an abscess molar.... I'm heading for emergency work tomorrow. It is agonizing and I already went and picked up antibiotics right before they closed tonight..... Some GNARLY stuff. Lol..... Plus a special rinse, as she is hoping to have a lillllllll bit of the swelling gone tomorrow. I have a condition that has effected me since I was young.... it causes bone loss that is pretty dramatic in mostly my upper and some in my lower jaw. Whatever end goal I shoot for to repair my mouth as best as possible.....Well, needless to say, it'll be horrible. ... Very sad for me, as I will likely lose yet another tooth. This will lead to a point that I just will have to take the route of massive oral surgery, including dealing with another problem I had growing up.....Underdeveloped upper jaw that left me with an underbite......Which will lead to having to remove a portion of my rear lower jaw and pin it back together. Otherwise, any major procedures would be pointless to a point. I am just a bit overwhelmed with this whole concept. .... But such is life. Until then, I will keep truckin along and getting stuff done!

Tomorrow all the stuff should be loaded to the proper sites... I can bet Richard will do another cool video. Or maybe just a slideshow or something. Some of the video has to be sped up or chopped off but all in all there was some cool stuff and pictures.

Anyway, I am only up at this point because I'm waiting for these pain pills to work. I hate taking them, they make me terribly sick... But at least they'll let me sleep.... I hope! Lol.... I need to rest... I just want to say thanks for the patience. My computer actually slowed me down more than my problems did.

RBX

sorry to hear Mark, good luck with your choppers.