Well, while I was feeling guilty about getting in on the group buy for the TJM bumper, I got my money's worth last night. While offroading in the Cascades with other Washington folks last night (it was I called the first unofficial WA.4ROC run), I tried going through a "tank eater" that would have destroyed the stock bumper. Without the extra clearance up front I would have been toast. Mark (MPULVER) was nice enough to take pics. On the climb back out, I was ploughing dirt with the tire carrier (time for a roof rack), and was scrapping a bit up front. This would have easily curled the chrome bumper under, and wrecked the plastic valence.

First pic- "Crap, what have I gottem myself into?"

 

The aftermath, any less of a bumper would have looked a lot worse! Only a bit of cosmetic damage to the bumper...

 

wow that thing is brand new! I can't believe you scratched it up allready!




I can't wait for mine!

 

Yeah- it looks worse than it is though, most of the white stuff is rock dust. Nothing a little black paint won't fix...

 

Wow, that is impressive!

Todd

 

How much would it have cost me to replace the chrome bumper?

 

was there no other way of dropping in on that hole?

or was that just the "fun" way?

 

The scrapping occured on the way out, dropping in was fine other than dragging on the rear bumper/tire carrier. The angle on the way out was just too steep. In 4-lo, with the rear locked, I was having a tough time getting out, mostly due to the dragging. A friend suggested a slightly different line that got my front end up a little higher, and then I just climbed right out!

 

See this link for all the picts. from that run.

http://www.midiwall.com/4Runner/dirt...3_Tinkham.html

 

Awesome Dave! You are lucky to have a locker. That looks like a tough spot to be stuck in.
I did some wheeling and scratched up my TJM a little after having it on less than 8 hours. I definitely felt bad @ss driving through the brush with that bumper on.

 

Well don't you get a TJM so you can mess it up like that? Now it looks tough hehe

 

What rating is that trail section? I was looking at the rating scale link on the upcoming August jam and was wondering where that fits in. Is there a site with photo examples of the trail ratings? Glad you got out with only a scrape, that looked pretty exciting.

 

Yeah, but... that's what it's there for!

I'll tell ya', standing there watching David plow out of there _really_ sold me on why people replace the front bumper. Before seeing him in there, I thought about giving it a shot as well, but as soon as I saw him starting to plow dirt, I wasn't ready to trash my stock chrome for the fun!


Nice drivin' David!

 

Thanks for the kudos!

BT17R, as far as the Yotajam this summer, from what I understand, there are a number of different trails of varying difficulty that can be attempted. And based on the people I've wheeled with out here, there is no pressure to try anything you're not ready for, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Certain runs are harder in one direction than the other, there are also bypasses in spots to get around nasty spots you don't want to try.

 

MadChemist nice pics. I'm counting the days until I get back to the great NorthWest!! Let's see 86 days to go.

 

Are you going to be back for good? We'll have to go out wheeling for sure!

 

One more of Marks pictures, just to point out that it was on the way out of this hole that the damage occurred. By taking the line to the right, getting my right tire up on that rock gave me enough traction to cruise right out.

 

I was going to head over and stay on your side of the water tonight--maybe I should take the 4Runner and rip the bumper off the rest of the way then I can really get the TJM

There is a road I think the next exit after Tinkham that goes way up next to a river(about 1000' below you)---is that where this is?

FROSTY

 

If you take the first Tinkham exit, you can keep driving east parallel to I-90, where it reconnects at exit 49? There may be exits in between, but I can't remember. The pics are on a spur that heads south from Tinkham Rd. shortly after you pass the Tinkham campground.

 

Dude that looks like so much fun. I miss the PNW so much, and these pics just make me want to come back that much more!

That bumper rocks!