Windrock 5 thru 10 May

[R3]

Tent camping has no power. We are allowed to have a Quiet genset.

I am bringing my  solar setup for power. We can run some things on it. it is only 46 amp hrs of power.

Some of those  deep Vee trails looking like quiet teh challenge... weather depending.  Spotting and tire placement are teh keys to keep from going turtle.  If it is wet clay.... the challenge gets more interesting, but then again  The phrase " remember stupid, you have to drive this home" keeps dancing thru my head.

I think it would be a fun challenge and a good time if it's dry but dont think i would do it when wet or raining.
And those people used up all their luck on that snatch block incident.  :8

This is where  some common sense and a bit of knowledge come into play.  Yes they were extremely lucky no one went to the hospital when that block shot back.  Planning and the right gear  pairing is critical.  Many have those  inexpensive snatch blocks. They have hard sharp edges. DO NOT  use a soft shackle with that type of equipment. The  lead  noted in the end of the video  that that was his mistake and should have used a hard shackle. It also wasn't clear  how they were pulling, It looked like they were trying to pull the passenger side up and the driver side over.... single line. Can't pull the 40s thru a wall of clay. and doubling or tripling up on the high side  with a solid anchor  might have helped, but in the end they  pulled back and rescued the rig which would have been my initial take on recovery.

I did see  that they might have taken better lines  to try to keep the rigs level on the Vee... but then again  arm chair quarterbacking  is just that.

Cheers

 

[R3]

This brings up a great topic, recovery gear. I chose those videos to show what can happen and what we could be looking at.

We have a few months before the trip to get rigs in shape and update our recovery gear.
some things to think about:

Winch line.
- If you are using Synthetic and it is old  discolored then it is time to replace. I replace mine every two years.
- If you are using steel  check it carefully, if there is rust or birdcage  strands, time for a new cable

Tree savers, most of use carry one... might want to think about a second one and a second snatch block.  As the video showed pair you shackle to the the equipment you have chosen

Shackles
- Soft shackles have a service life if yours are old and frayed  might be time to invest in some new ones.
- Hard shackles  Make sure they are in good shape and have a working load rating on them.  If they do not  please  seriously consider  replacing them. Rating should match your winch

High lift Jacks  Please service these!  the climbing pins need to be greased to work safely. Most accident with Hi lift jacks come from  lack of service.

Tow strap or  Kinetic rope.  I carry both and both  have their place.

Recovery gear,  pack so you can access on the trail not under  everythign you have in the back of your Jeep.

Hand held radios  I have two to use  during spotting and recovery  operations.  These are a very nice to have option.


Cheers
Rob

 

[Fearless]

The people in those videos don’t seem to be especially careful. I feel like just backing out and trying another line would have been way safer.

Either way, I think our crew will be smarter.

@40s 50/50 chance of whether or not I’ll have them by then. I want to hear what people are saying about the new Milestars before I pull the trigger.

 

[R3]

Takes all kinds on the trails... If damage is a badge then they earned some badges.

Personally I love the challenge of a good Vee ditch... One small mistake and it gets noisy in a hurry. But then again that is the challenge.

A good group makes the ride. We have some great folks signed up for this run.

Happy Christmas to all.

Rob

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[RVAWJ]

The people in those videos don’t seem to be especially careful. I feel like just backing out and trying another line would have been way safer.

Either way, I think our crew will be smarter.

@40s 50/50 chance of whether or not I’ll have them by then. I want to hear what people are saying about the new Milestars before I pull the trigger.

Are you going to try 40s on the stock axles or are you going to upgraded axles?  If you are staying on the stock axles are you doing chromoly shafts, C gussets, truss, and the bearing style ball joint replacements? 

 

[3VOLVE]

I can get that info. Right now we are reserved for those dates. Will contact them to get the site number... Thinking it might be #20...

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That’s what I thought looking at their site map and some reviews,

-joe

 

[3VOLVE]

This brings up a great topic, recovery gear. I chose those videos to show what can happen and what we could be looking at.

We have a few months before the trip to get rigs in shape and update our recovery gear.
some things to think about:

Winch line.
- If you are using Synthetic and it is old  discolored then it is time to replace. I replace mine every two years.
- If you are using steel  check it carefully, if there is rust or birdcage  strands, time for a new cable

Tree savers, most of use carry one... might want to think about a second one and a second snatch block.  As the video showed pair you shackle to the the equipment you have chosen

Shackles
- Soft shackles have a service life if yours are old and frayed  might be time to invest in some new ones.
- Hard shackles  Make sure they are in good shape and have a working load rating on them.  If they do not  please  seriously consider  replacing them. Rating should match your winch

High lift Jacks  Please service these!  the climbing pins need to be greased to work safely. Most accident with Hi lift jacks come from  lack of service.

Tow strap or  Kinetic rope.  I carry both and both  have their place.

Recovery gear,  pack so you can access on the trail not under  everythign you have in the back of your Jeep.

Hand held radios  I have two to use  during spotting and recovery  operations.  These are a very nice to have option.


Cheers
Rob

I would like to add to this list a high quality first aid kit.  If you have one already, go through it and throw away and replace any outdated items.

-joe

 

[Fearless]

Are you going to try 40s on the stock axles or are you going to upgraded axles?  If you are staying on the stock axles are you doing chromoly shafts, C gussets, truss, and the bearing style ball joint replacements?

For the next year at least, I’m sticking to the 44s. Mine are very reinforced. They can handle it as long as I’m not being dumb (pretending my gladiator is a rock bouncer or something)

 

[RVAWJ]

Are you going to try 40s on the stock axles or are you going to upgraded axles?  If you are staying on the stock axles are you doing chromoly shafts, C gussets, truss, and the bearing style ball joint replacements?

For the next year at least, I’m sticking to the 44s. Mine are very reinforced. They can handle it as long as I’m not being dumb (pretending my gladiator is a rock bouncer or something)

I was wondering what specific upgrades you had since I am swapping in the next week or so to JLU Rubi' axles which are very similar and figured I would let you be the guinea pig on how strong they truly are and what they can handle.  Right now the only upgrade I have on them is an Evo front axle truss and C gussets, since I am mildly concerned about FAD housing strength and figured I would give it a bit of support.  They use a similar FAD system on the RAM HD for a while so I would imagine they have a handle on how to make it strong, but internet speculation points to the FAD as a weak point. When the ball joints go I will probably go to a dynatrac style bearing no-ball ball joint.  I plan on swapping with the FAD operational to see how I like it before considering axle shafts.  That way I know if I want a FAD style axle shaft or a FAD eliminator shaft.  To me the pro to the FAD in my application is that it keeps the drive shaft from turning so I can dial in more caster without driveline vibration.

My unsolicited and perhaps unwanted 2 cents on tires.  For something that is driven on the street and east coast trails IMO the cream of the crop of tires is the Cooper STT Pro and Nitto Trail Grappler.  For trailered non DOT tires the Baja Pro X "Sticky Mickey" seems to be excellent.  From what I can gather, the consensus on the Milestar tires is that they got a good reputation on the dry Moab style slickrock and their better than average road manners but are not ideal for east coast mud and slimy rocks when compared to other competitors.  Choosing tires is the hardest part of a build.  Very few people have the money and time to test a half dozen tires and everybody seems to say that their tires are the best but they rarely have direct experience with other tires to know if the actually are the best.  The folks best equipped to know which tires work, usually are more motivated by sponsorship deals, ad revenue, or what they make the most money selling than actually informing people about the best traction.  The average off road youtuber will tell you the "best tire" is the one they get for free from a sponsor.  In all fairness I would probably agree that a free good tire is better in my book than a great tire that costs me 600 bucks each.  Combine that with no actual data about durometer, rubber compound, or any other actual information and picking tires is all about word of mouth and what tread pattern looks like it works.

 

[Fearless]

Gotcha:

I’m running a FAD skid, the full truss and gusset kit from Artec up front, and the rock krawler truss/Control arm mount on the back. With JTs, we have a thicker rear axle than the JLs due to payload, etc. I have RCAs up front and Chromoly in back. They haven’t arrived yet, but I have Reid knuckles on order and synergy ball joints will be going in those. Since mine is a rubicon, I have the bigger brake kit already in there.

One thing to note about FAD, the stock JL/JT transfer case is setup to expect a FAD. I’m keeping mine for those reasons. No need to introduce too many variables until I’m ready to buy a new transfer case.

Regarding tires: I’ve been through 4 sets. The BFGs, Maxxis Razrs, and the Patagonia. They all had their pluses and minuses.

I actually loved my Patagonias. They are light, handle better than you expect on rocks and they were very affordable. The only problem so far is that they don’t clear mud as well as my RAZRs did. I feel like they do better than the BFGs though.

Coppers, Nitto, and Mickys are probably all great tires. They haven’t made my list yet because they are heavy though. 10-20lbs heavier per tire which can be felt!

When my truck eventually becomes trailer queen, and I go up to 60s I’ll likely join the beadlock gang and run some of the more aggressive tires. Until then. My 26 lb bead grip wheels and 60-80 lb tires rock.

 

[Fearless]

Also, Merry Christmas y’all!

 

[R3]

This brings up a great topic, recovery gear. I chose those videos to show what can happen and what we could be looking at.

We have a few months before the trip to get rigs in shape and update our recovery gear.
some things to think about:

Winch line.
- If you are using Synthetic and it is old  discolored then it is time to replace. I replace mine every two years.
- If you are using steel  check it carefully, if there is rust or birdcage  strands, time for a new cable

Tree savers, most of use carry one... might want to think about a second one and a second snatch block.  As the video showed pair you shackle to the the equipment you have chosen

Shackles
- Soft shackles have a service life if yours are old and frayed  might be time to invest in some new ones.
- Hard shackles  Make sure they are in good shape and have a working load rating on them.  If they do not  please  seriously consider  replacing them. Rating should match your winch

High lift Jacks  Please service these!  the climbing pins need to be greased to work safely. Most accident with Hi lift jacks come from  lack of service.

Tow strap or  Kinetic rope.  I carry both and both  have their place.

Recovery gear,  pack so you can access on the trail not under  everythign you have in the back of your Jeep.

Hand held radios  I have two to use  during spotting and recovery  operations.  These are a very nice to have option.


Cheers
Rob

I would like to add to this list a high quality first aid kit.  If you have one already, go through it and throw away and replace any outdated items.

-joe

Thank you Joe, yes a good PFAK and fire extinguisher should be part of the recovery kit.

Happy Christmas

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[R3]

All,
Updated The original post. take a minute  and look thru it.

Also I am sure  we will be on the trails before  this trip, I would like to set up  a shake down run in April.  Rausch or AOAA or??

Cheers
Rob

 

[Cloving]

Rob,

Windrock is definitely on my Trail List but will be in Moab during early May.  Hope to get a chance to wheel with you again soon.

Chuck

 

[R3]

Rob,

Windrock is definitely on my Trail List but will be in Moab during early May.  Hope to get a chance to wheel with you again soon.

Chuck

Chuck,
Always up for a trail ride.  Maybe a snow run in PA?

Cheers
Rob

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[3VOLVE]

Rob,

Windrock is definitely on my Trail List but will be in Moab during early May.  Hope to get a chance to wheel with you again soon.

Chuck

Chuck,
Always up for a trail ride.  Maybe a snow run in PA?

Cheers
Rob

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

What about Winter Wonderland @ Windrock 2022, Fri, Jan 14, 2022, 12:00 PM –Sun, Jan 16, 2022, 5:00 PM EST, hosted by Venture Unknown?  Tickets are between $15-$60. 

 

[3VOLVE]

My better half has decided to go Airbnb.  Speaking of Airbnb, tons of options within a 3-20-30 minute drive of Windrock.

 

[R3]

Looked at  renting a house  near by. Yes there are a ton of options within 30 minutes of the park.  The camp ground also has cabins for rent.

 

[zuke]

The cabins are really nice, with fully equipped kitchens. We rented one last year when we went, and then everyone came over to the cabin to fix dinner each night. You can have about 6 people hanging out in the one bedroom cabin staring at a map on the table pretty comfortably. You have a porch, picnic table and grill outside. so in decent weather it's plenty for everything except sleeping...

 

[R3]

Do you still have the paper chart ( Map)? be interested in looking at it to see  where things are.