Rubicon
========
Newsgroups: rec.autos.4x4
Subject: Re: Rubicon Jeep/Jeepers Jamborees...Odds of serious body damage?
From: joelb@sr.hp.com (Joel Bickford)
Date: 18 Jul 1996 14:53:22 GMT
Jerry Bransford (jerber@pacbell.net) wrote:
> Just curious about the Rubicon and it's reputation as a Jeep-body
> killer (CJ/Wrangler/TJ). What are the *real* odds of serious body or
> suspension damage? 50-50? 90-10? Guaranteed dings? Guaranteed dents
> or gouges? Likelyhood of a busted suspension part?
With 4"-6" of suspension lift, 33" or larger tires, protected rocker panels,
and careful driving techniques, the odds of body damage are small. low
gears and lockers really help too. I know a guy who's been through dozens
of times in his well-equipped shiny CJ with no body damage.
In a nearly stock Jeep with 31" or smaller tires, body damage is quite
likely and you'll scrape and bang a lot underneath. I wouldn't do it. I
watched a stock Wrangler scraping up Walker hill last year and it made me
cringe. Last year on the Jeepers Jamboree there were less than 5% stock
looking vehicles.
The trail is a lot tougher before the Jeepers and Jeep Jamborees. With
hundreds of vehicles going through and moving rocks, the toughest parts get
smoothed out.
I'm going on the 7/25 trip- and possibly the 8/2 trip too!
Joel
--
_____________________________________
Joel Bickford | Santa Rosa, CA
joelb@sr.hp.com | (707) 577-4531
-------
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 11:01:43 -0600
From: Tony Bartlett
Subject: 1st trip to the Rubicon
To: toy4x4@tlca.org
Hi everyone, I just got back from my first trip on the Rubicon. It was
a good trip with only a few problems.
First, it was not a good weekend for Toyota's on the Rubicon. The very
first obstacle there was a solid axle truck with a broken steering arm.
We let him borrow mine to pull off the trail, but I needed it back so I
would have a spare just in case.
Later, we came across an IFS on Phils rock (I think that is the name,
its on the true big sluice) he had broke his link rod (from the pitman
arm to the idler) He was busy pulling it off to have someone weld it.
I was unable to finish all of the true big sluice since there was no way
around his vehicle at the time. We did see him the next day driving out
so everything must have went well with the fix.
I also heard that a truck rolled on the little sluice in the morning,
but I do not know if it was true.
I tried to do the real trail, I was the first one up the little sluice.
I got hung up on my rear transfercase drain plug but that was the only
problem thru the little sluice.
The true big sluice was ok, received my first little dent while dropping
into a water hole I hit the bank while trying to turn and broke my right
front parking light and dented my fender.
I broke another spring center bolt somewhere on the true big sluice.
noticed at camp so fixed it there.
The big sluice was the funnest part of the trail.
on Cadilac hill we came across some old flat fenders that where having
problems. one broke and wanted me to get around him to winch him up to
a clearing. The hill is not very wide and we pushed his vehicle as far
to the left side of the trail as I tried to squeeze by on the right. I
thought I was finally clear (after about ten people helped moving the
back of my truck to the right to help on clearing). After I got around
and parked I was told I drove over the flat fenders fender, whoops.
Sucks that you really could not tell I did anything to his fender and I
ended up getting a small dent on my left rear corner and cracked my tail
light lens.
So, it was fun but was not fun as I thought it would be. Maybe it was
because I was with Jeeps. Next year I might try and make the TLCA run
but it is a long drive (No Jack, not as long as yours) about 11 hours at
the speed limit or 16 hours following your buddies driving there
motorhomes towing there Jeeps. I will also post my milage for people.
I first have to go thru my paperwork to find out what it was.
Enjoy, Tony.
------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 15:44:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: Chris Geiger
Subject: Rubicon 97 trip report (LONG)
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org
My friend Bill Hughes and I left for the Rubicon trail July 9. We planed
to complete the trail in 2 days and maybe run the trail backwards if we
had time. It took us 3 days to run the trail and was much harder than I
expected. I drove my 93 4Runner, lockers front & rear, 4:88 gears, 33"
tires, 4"lift, custom rear bumper and nerf bars. Bill drove his Samurai
with lockers front and rear, GRSII transfer case, P235 tires (aprox 29"),
2" shackle lift, 1" body lift and custom nerf bars. This was the first
time we had run the Rubicon, we each packed food and water for 4 days and
set off. We spent the first night on the large granite slab. We had a
little trouble finding the start of the trail but within an hour were able
to get started. The first day was fun. The trail was not too bad. Bill had
a little trouble with his Samurai being too low to the ground and hit his
transfer skid plate and custom nerf bars more times than I care to count.
I had some troubles with the trail being too narrow at some points. A few
weeks before the trip I "tested" my Smitty Built nerf bars on a local
rocky road above Santa Barbara and found the bars would not protect the
body at all. I removed the bars and had a local welder make me a set of
custom bars from 2" X 2" , 3/8 square tubing and welded them to the frame.
If it was not for these new bars ability to carry the weight of the truck
over rocks I would have turned back in the first mile. By about 2 PM we
arrived at the Little Sluice. I watched as a jeep went through with little
problem, it took him about 5 minutes start to finish. He had 38" tires
lots of lift and lockers front and rear. Next it was Bills turn. We spent
3 hours in this rock pit, but we got him through. I drove up the slab on
the right of the trail to go around the two worst rocks in the Little
Sluice. We decided to call it a day and find a camp spot for the night.
Just a 100 yards or so beyond the Little Sluice was a nice little lily
pond with small fish and ducks so we stayed there for the night, drank
some red wine and thought we new what the Rubicon was all about.
Day 2: little sluice to Rubicon Springs
We started out at about 8 AM on day 2 thinking we were headed for Rubicon
Springs but we quickly got lost. We went on for 1/2 an hour thinking we
were on the trail but it was just a side road that ended at a camp ground.
No problem, we could drive back to where we started but them what? we did
not see any place to turn off up to this point. So we drove back to the
lily pond. There was a group of jeeps that had camped above us and they
were still there at 9 AM when we got back so I went up to were they were
parked to see if that was the trail or if they could point us in the right
direction. As it turns out these guys (and gals) had been running this
trail every year for the last 15 years! They invited us to follow them, so
we got in right behind them. We traveled about 50' from camp when one of
their Jeeps bent its drag link on a rock. Using a winch and bottle jack
they were able to bend it back, sort of. After we drove for about a mile
one of the trailers flipped over on its side. The driver jumps out rolls
it back onto its wheels makes a few jokes and off we go again. These poor
trailers take more abuse on this trail. The jeepers take good care of
their trucks but the trailers are just tied onto the back and left to fend
for themselves. We stopped again to bend the drag link back again but now
it's getting too soft to handle any trail kind of trail work. As it turns
out this guy (Brent Muhlenberg) is a member of the local search and rescue
team and he pulls out a radio to call a member of the team to bring him
some angle iron to reinforce the drag link with. BTW Bill and I found that
our cell phones did not work in the valley. A few miles later the drag
link bends again this time there is no choice but to add some steel to it
with a welder one of the other Jeeps was had. After being on the trail for
a full day and going through the Little Sluice I thought I new what the
Rubicon had to offer, but near the end of the days ride we came to the Big
Sluice. I was just too tired at this point to do a good job on this vary
hard section. Lots of large boulders. I got my 4Runner into a tight spot,
stuck with the body up against a large rock. To save weight I removed my
hi lift jack before this trip big mistake! I ended up borrowing a jack
from one of the Jeeps to move my truck off the rock. Only a small little
scratch remains to remind me of how close I came to ripping the side of my
truck wide open. We continued on to camp at Rubicon springs for the night.
I washed up in the creek, had dinner and then we all gathered around a
camp fire and talked about the days wheeling. Going over my truck I found
that the radio antenna had come loose so I tightened it up with the metric
crescent wrench. That what the only fix I did to my truck all three days!
Day 3: Rubicon Springs to Hwy 89 Exit
We wanted to take a look at the large creek that we had seen in the Rick
Russell video so we went to take a look. Bill crossed it at the shallow
end and I recorded it on video, then he decides to go through the deep
end. Well in the video we saw before running this trail the one Jeep that
did not have 35" tires got stuck, he only had 33" tires. So how do you
think Bill did with a samurai and 29" tires? Like a rock he sank to the
bottom! I pulled him out with the 4Runner. We changed the oil, pulled the
plugs and cranked the engine to blow the water out, put it back to
together and drove back to camp. When we checked the oil again it still
had water in it so we changed it again. We each packed 1 gallon of oil and
now we had none left. We put the used oil (and water) in to Bills our gas
can after dumping the gas into the trucks. We had used so little gas up to
this point that the 5 gallons would not all fit into Bills truck so I help
him out by storing some of his gas in my tank :-), now we had a place to
put the used oil. So off we went to do battle with Cadillac hill.
By the end of the trip I had 2 new small dents and lots of fun. Bill put 4
new dents in his sammy so I think he had more fun than I.
Chris Geiger '93 4Runner http://geiger.mcl.ucsb.edu/offroad.html
------------------------------
Back to the top of this thread
Back to the top of the Trip Report group
Back to the top of the Toy Thread Tree