Topic: Jose Basin this Sunday Morning (Aug 27th) :: VIDEOS POSTED!

[BigMike]

Hey Guys,

Bevin and I are going to meet at the gas station in Prather at 7am Sunday morning, and then head up 168 to Jose Basin.

Bevin and I have never been there and we are just looking for something close and simple that doesn't require too much gas.

We were thinking to start the day early and just spend maybe 2-3 hrs there and just get back around lunch time or whatever.

I have no idea what to do there, so we are just going to drive around until we see some rocks to play on.

Let me know if you would like to join us. I'm not trying to put together a huge run or anything, but a couple of rigs from the forum would be cool to run with

[BigMike [OP]]

Here is the Google Map for Prather, 30.3 miles from my front door:
Click here for Map of Prather, CA

There is only one gas station and it is right at the intersection of HWY168 and Auberry Road.

Here is a map of the Jose Basin Area, well, as far as I know I think it is:
Approx. area of Jose Basin, I guess?

[MiniSimp]

Hmmmm, I would, but 140 miles is just a tad too far for me right now.
I think you should go to The Rim, it's only 39 miles away from me.

[Reynolds]

Won't be able to make it but a little off topic question...

What size are Bevin's tires? They look good 

[snowshoebrue]

i'd go but i am rolling up to donner to watch werock.

[BigMike [OP]]

What size are Bevin's tires? They look good 

He's got 37x12.50x15 InterCo TrUxS, and I'm running 37x13.50x15 Pitbull Rockers.

That's cool that you guys are busy, I know I posted this late in the week. We are just gonna run up there and play around for a while. Hopefully we can get some sweet shots

Here's a shot of Bevin on Red Mtn Trail before Coyote Lakes Trail. He has picked up his rear bumper and his front is on order Just got the Rock Sliders installed the previous day He used them twice

And let me tell ya, just as with my 3RZ, his 2004 3RZ is dang near impossible to stall out in double low

[papa mike]

i would love to go  but still building up mine   i will see you in the store  very soon  for some  parts

[BigMike [OP]]

[BigMike [OP]]

Hey guys

Can someone draw me a map of how to get there? heh

I remember seeing one but I searched and could not find it.

Also, how do I get to "5 Dollar Rock" ? How can I identify it? Anyone have pictures of it?

Do I have to go up the 4-Lanes, or would it be better to take Auberry Road up? I can drive Auberry road blind folded as it was my 3rd favorite road with the MR2. I can jam up it in the truck, but I just don't know where Jose Basin is? If Jose Basin is closer to the top of the 4-lanes, then I will just take the 4-lanes. But if its not that far up, then maybe I will take Auberry road


Any help is appriciated!
Mike

[BigMike [OP]]

Ok guys

TURBO thinks he might be coming with us, and he knows the area, and he told me about this one area near the power lines.

Look at this map. It shows the top of the 4-lanes at the lower right of the map, where Auberry Road, Tollhouse Road, and HWY168 (4-lanes) intersect. TURBO says to make a left onto Auberry road and then make the first right near the power lines. Then a ways down the hill we will come up to a moderately hard spot.

So can someone tell me where $5 rock is TURBO thinks it is on the other side of the basin but we don't know for sure

The red circle shows the first right turn that TURBO is talking about

Mike

[BigMike [OP]]

Ok.

Looks like Steve from the shop might be joining us. So right now it'll be Bevin, TURBO, Steve, and myself, meeting at the gas station in Prather at 7am this Sunday.

CJ drew me a really nice map on how to get there. He recommends that I take Auburrey road through Auburrey and then turn off at the Mono Wind Casino left turn. I know exactly where that is as I have driven past it many many times. CJ even drew on the map where $5 and $10 rocks are at.

Man I can't wait! Gonna be SA-WEET!!

[BigMike [OP]]

Ok, slight change in plans. We will be meeting at the new Shell gas station just below Milerton Lake (Friant Dam) at 7am, so we will be rolling through Prather around 7:30-ish and we do not plan on stopping. I will make a quick check at the gas station and if I don't see any rigs then we are just gonna blow by and head on up.

Pics to follow
BigMike

[BigMike [OP]]

The ROCKERs Rock'n out at Jose Basin Baby!!!!!!!!!

DUDE! These tires freak'n GET IT AWN BABY!!!!

We had a GRRREAT TIME out there today!

We started a bit earlier than we had planned and met up at around 6:30am at the Shell station at Millerton Lake. I ran across town and picked up my good buddy Kyle, who is a seasoned veteran of Jose Basin and acted as our tour guide. He drives a clean '88 Nissan Pathfinder with Marlin Crawler Rock Sliders, and I've been trying to convert him over from the dark side. I think he'll give in someday, especially after what he experienced today. He has never rode or wheeled with any real Rock Crawler Yotas, just a bunch of back country warriors or whatnot. They are a bunch of good guys, but they prefer "3rd gear hammer-down" to "crawl it and pick a great line".

So when I invited him to tag along, he was pretty excited to ride with me

Here is the first bridge crossing on Jose Basin Road. It was a great day as you can tell

Bevin was sporting his new "Marlin Crawler" stickers on his bed, and they looked great with his hood sticker too

I removed both my doors, my sun roof, and my tailgate. I wanted to see what it is like to comute long distance on the highways with everything off. Its not all that bad, aside from not having any side mirrors. But I don't think I would want to do that for 6 hours on my way to Rubicon. Especially at 5:45am when I left my house, it was a bit chilly

[BigMike [OP]]

Here are a couple more pics of our rigs when we aired down.

I ran 5psi in the front and 4 in the rear, and Bevin *thought* he was at 7, but later in the day the warmer weather pumped his tires up to 10! When I checked mine, they were all at about 6.

These pics are just before we aired down.

[Rockdiver]

All I see is Pavement    Show me some rocks

[BigMike [OP]]

Well.... I am having trouble with my AVI to DivX file converter right now. We took a bunch of movies today and I wanted to put them up.

Anyways, I will just continue with the picture show.

This is the first obstacle we came across. Just some rocks to the right side of the trail just past the green gate.

Bevin directed me and I went right up it in 2nd gear (triple low) and open in the rear. Bevin came up it in 1st gear Ultimate and open in the back too, but I gave him some pretty crappy spotting and got him stuck twice. He had to back up slightly and then he was up. You've gotta see the videos though, they are pretty cool!

That's a cool shot of how twisted up my axles were

[BigMike [OP]]

Check out these ROCKERs going to work baby!! Man, just like I told everyone, the side walls ripple/crease/wrinkle just like how a Dragster tire wrinkles when they take off.

I have wheeled BFG Muds, TSL SXs, XTerrains, and MTRs and the ROCKER is like 100000000 levels above all of those tires. I have NEVER EVER had this much traction in my life! And at 5psi they held onto the 10" rim SO WELL we were all REALLY AMAZED! These tires absolutely KICK ASS MAN!

FANG Technology OHHH YEAH!!!

[KYOTA]

looks like the tires did well, did you try any shot?

[BigMike [OP]]

Here I am kicking ass on Ten Dollar Rock!!

I made it without winching or strapping! I am told that is quite the accomplishment, and the last time Kyle was out there he didn't see anyone make it up it.

It did take me a good 20 mins or so to make it up it because I kept getting hung up on my rear diff. And because of it, I slid so far to the passengers side, that I was unable to backup due to a huge boulder directly behind me.

There was also some Yellow Jackets nest apparently, as Bevin got stung pretty badly right above his right eyebrow OUCH! It swelled up pretty bad and he had a huge headache from it for most of the day.

I was able to work my way back off the diff grabber and I got enough room to re-align myself far to the left. That is the line you want to take. I thought I would stay high to the right, but there is a huge rock right in the middle of the road that is pretty flat, but it was a solid diff grabber. No way can 37s do that, you'll need some 40s to clear it or something.

So I tried a line far to the left and my truck just held on and pulled straight up it. My clineometer was long pegged out at 35 degrees. That must have been 45 degrees or so, it was very very steep. I had ZERO OIL PRESSURE from the very begining of it, so I just let it idle and crawled up it as slow as she would go. You could here a slight rattle; glad I run 100% synthetic oil at least.

This is BY FAR that hardest rock climb/waterfall that I have ever taken this truck up. I really want to try some of the harder trails at the Hammers now that my truck is working this great.

[BigMike [OP]]

looks like the tires did well, did you try any shot?

Nope, I spewed out a bunch of fun tickets that I don't have and got it balanced on a machine.


Here is a shot looking up at the upper section, the actual 10 Dollar Rock. I am standing at half way up the face itself, as there is an eaiser climb up to this point below me.

Here is a shot that might give you a better idea of the area. You can just barely see Bevin's cab to the lower left of this picture. So you've got a good idea of how steep and how much of a drop off it is right there.

[BigMike [OP]]

Bevin really wanted to try $10 Rock, but I had drug my rear bumper a couple of times, and it was wedged up against the rock behind me, so, since Bevin does not yet have his rear bumper installed, he wants to wait and then come back once he gets all armored up

So he tried this ledge to the far left of $5 Rock, which proved to be a bit too steep. He had it once but then had to back down and we engaged his locker, then he took a different line and we couldn't get him up it. With it being that vertical, he had three tires all trying to climb ledges at the same time.

So he went around to the left and make a nasty hard right turn on a pretty good sidehill. I would definitely say that Bevin is really learning the limits of his rig and he is definitely having a great time with it!!

to the last picture I missed a better shot of it as it got really high up shortly after that shot!

[BigMike [OP]]

We then both went up and around the top side of $10 Rock and turned back around and came back down to $5 Rock. I have video of $5 Rock but no pictures of us going up it. I will get the vids posted eventually.

$5 Rock was a freeway. We both went straight up it without any spotting. We were betting that Kyle's grandma could go up $5 Rock if she put 2.2" knoby mountain bike tires on her Wheelchair. Next time I will have to get a video of that!

Well just above $5 Rock, and to the upper right side of $10 Rock, there is a nice little boudler area that we played in for a while.

[BigMike [OP]]

This area had a bunch of scattered 30" boulders or so with lots of huge holes. We played on a couple of lines and finally decided that we should see the rest of the trail We spent a good 2 hours in this area and I know there are more narly lines we could find. Next time we will have to invent $15 Rock or something


I went up to the right of a pretty big ledge (much taller than my tires) and dropped into a really big hole on the front right. I had no weight in the bed and all of the weight had shifted to the front right, so I got some massive air with my rear tire.

I mean I am 6' tall and that tire was at my head. Its hard to see from the pics, but my truck was really sideways in there. It was a lot of fun.

[BigMike [OP]]

Here Bevin is so amazed at the sidewall climbing and holding ability of the ROCKERs. He was claiming that the whole tire was off the rock, but the sidewall was swedged off to the side and was holding the whole weight of my truck even though the rim was well to the inside of that rock where his left hand is. These ROCKERs really work great, I'll tell you what.


Here's a cool shot of Bevin at the top of $5 Rock and the rock area where we were at.

Bevin get's some more hang time

[Duffil]

wow, looks like you guys had a blast!

[BigMike [OP]]

Bevin gets twisted up

[Hottrod81]

Those are some great pics.  How far did you say that Jose Basin is from Fresno.  I really want to try that Waterfall.

[BigMike [OP]]

wow, looks like you guys had a blast!

Dude! It was awesome. And for just being about an hour from home, it was really great!

Here's a shot of his Passengers rear tire making love to his frame rail. Sure, he might need some wheel spacers back there, but then he would take out the whole top of his fender. This is a late model wide rear end without wheel spacers.

He also thought that no run would be complete without damaging his perfect bed. He had to pop his cheery somewhere!

[DTB]

  I really want to try that Waterfall.

u might need some bigger tires on the miata there bud

[Hottrod81]

Those huge stickers are sweet, I would put one of those on my hood or maybe even my motorhome..