Rubithon Pictures and video clip!!!!

[BigMike]

The good thing about the cold weather is that there were absolutely NO mosquitoes ! 

The pic from my cab of CJ's 4Runner across a small water puddle gives a great idea of how wet it was up there!

I walked right up Soup Bowl, not bad for my first time driving it and with crappy suspension + push/pull steering Man I can't wait to get rid of that

[BigMike]

The Lil' Sluice was good because it was very wet and there were hardly any rocks.

Here's Louie and CJ having a go at it, they both backed out and had to bypass it. I didn't even try it! I'm not stupid

This was CJ's very first time ever on the Rubicon and his 4Runner did an excellet job. He's a great wheeler

Everyone else who made it through majorly dented their drivers side door piviting on it to get around a large rock in the middle of the sluice....

[BigMike]

Here are some more pics of the F-Toy in action. Rocky did a great job with that thing. It went everywhere he pointed it 

[Hyena]

We all thought it was leaking gas when it almost flopped, but it was just water from the coolers

[BigMike]

I met Brad (Hyena) just before the Granite Bowl. He's got a sweet rig!

He had his hands full on the sluice, and he took on some damage:

[BigMike]

We all thought it was leaking gas when it almost flopped, but it was just water from the coolers

Yup, he almost laid it over, but he managed to keep the rubber down-


Hyena finally made it out in one piece. I'm sure he had a blast His buddie in another 2nd gen Xtracab made it also, but while he was trying to crawl around that boulder, he tried to keep him high, but his 37 MTRs let go and he slid down into that rock and wasted his drivers door and the window. Glass went all over the place and he lost his mirror also. But it was a really exciting show that these guys put on for us so it was cool to watch 8)

[BigMike]

Later on in near the very bottom of the Old Sluice, I had to get around a rock to the right and then a hard left just past it, and with all of the weight down hill on my front passengers' tire, I slit the side wall

It took about 6 plugs to get that sealed up. When we left the trail and got back on pavement, I "borrowed" Marlin's spare 35" MTR for the trip home. But I will be getting some new tires soon, so I'll just patch it and drive it around for a while.. I don't think I'll be wheeling these tires ever again anyways..

Good thing I've got some bumpers now or else I wouldn't have been able to jack up the truck. Also thanks Ferg for letting me know about the sale on that Hi-Lift jack, it got some use on it's first time out

[BigMike]

I was to busy relaxing and I only took one picture down at the springs.

It was very wet there (well everywhere). This year's Rubithon was definately a low turn out, but those who showed up were definately hard-core TLCA supporters

The raffle was good, but it was a bit small. Some guy from Canada cleaned out and got a free set of AOR springs. Also a warn 8000 winch was raffled off along with a complete set of our new UM-06 Chromoly Marfields, and we raffled off a set of our NEW 6-BOLT HYSTEER ARMS!     

Sat. was a nice day for me as I slept until lunch and just hung out at the fire all day.

On Sunday we boogied and were hauling so I didn't take as many pics as I should have.

[toybuilt]

those are some cool pic's, wish I was out there. Hopefully in a couple months.

[iNfErNaL]

those are some cool pic's, wish I was out there. Hopefully in a couple months.

Exactly what he said...Word for word.

[BigMike]

Since we were hauling butt getting out, Louie got hung up on a rock on the Slabs and twisted his front shaft. He carries a spare, so it was ok, but it nearly punctured his Auto oil pan which would had been a very very bad thing

Also we got into multiple traffic jams on the way out. Nothing to bad though, and I got to check out some cool buggies. Also saw Dave Wong's (4skinner) new buggy which I have to say is the cleanest/coolest Buggy I've ever seen! He will be at the Round-Up (registered #202) so make sure you check it out!

While bypassing the little sluice, we went around the back side and up some steep rock climb. I was running tail gunner, and by the time I got there, just Louie was in front of me and after a couple of tries he got up it........

......... It was this down hill left turn with a bit of mud at the bottom and then an immediate straight uphill granite slab that was very steep. And since this is right at the Little sluice, of course there was a crowd, this time being a bunch of Jeepers......

.........so I figured I would try to Crawl it at 510:1 but it was just to slick with the tires being wet, so I backed about half way off of it, grabbed 4.70:1 in 2nd gear, and hit it. Well, since my front left shock is wasted, and my suspension is stiff as hell, I got some MASSIVE wheel hop and bounced it about 3 or 4 times. I was even off of the throttle, but this engine has so much freak'n power it was revved out and kept hop'n. Man, all of my packers fell out of the back and slid down to the mud where my ice chest and food packer opened up and dumped my goods all over the place..........

...........It was really really embarrassing. I've never been so embarrassed wheeling And I'm sure those Jeepers were thinking "Geeze, silly kids and there Toyotas" Hey there's a first time for everything and I learned that stiff suspension and lots of power doesn't mix :Ninon:

The Jeepers were really cool though and a couple guys helped me pick my stuff up. And the funny thing is that after I lost my crap out of the back, It crawled right up it in 1st gear. Man that sucked

So that's about it. Like I said, I should have taken more pics on the way out. TURBO took his camcorder, so I will try to get some video footage if I can and get it up to. Next time I hit the trail I'll be sure to take some more pics!

Cya
BigMike

[BigMike]

Whoops, I forgot the pics of Louie and that driveline killing rock. We just barely saved the pan on his Auto-

Check it out:

[Hyena]

Sweet pictures.  I likw the pic of that rock in my door