Lunch Time Play Time at the Fig Orchard

[BigMike]

Tim (TURBO) and I got a chance today at lunch time to slip away to the Fig Orchard for some play.

Sure its not much, buts its fun and its only 15mins away so party on!

[mudguts]

AHHHH!! What memories the fig orchards bring back.     
The 80's were such a fun time in Fresno. 

[Mike D]

Isn't that illegal BigMike 

[BigMike]

Basically its a huge, gotta be over 250 acres of land that seems to be abandoned. Dirt trails run all over the place. And that place above is right in the center of the property and a zillion fig trees were de-rooted leaving almost vehicle sized craters everywhere.

I talked a bit about this place in my Project thread, so here are the pics of the place. We drove around a bunch and found numerous cliffs, dirt drop offs, steep side hills, a canal that's dry and you can drive through it, numerous huge mud pits - some are shallow and others look pretty deep.

My truck did pretty well for open in the front. I pulled the e-motor off of my rear locker and slid the fork over to engage it. It'll be nice once I get the locker wired in.

Tim's truck, aka Flam'n Toy, did amazingly well for stock suspension, street 29s, and a crazy maniac behind the wheel. He is welded in the rear and has a lock-rite in the front.

I got into a couple of nasty positions where I couldnt go forward because im open in the front and Tim went right through it. So I would just use 3rd gear in a single 4.70 case and MAN! this engine is nice to wheel with. It revs so smoothly and has sooooo much power for 4-wheeling. I can do 4WD burnouts while moving in 4th gear single 2.28:1 at 40MPH. Its power on demand basically.

Here are some crazy small videos of Tim and a couple of me. If you've got some minuets to burn, enjoy.

Yeah it looks really boring but I had alot of fun regardless. Not to bad for something to do within city limits. And no one was around, its far from any roads, so we've got nothing to worry about.

And besides its my first real test of my vehicles 4WD system

Mike Fig 1 of 2.mpg Mike Fig 2 of 2.mpg Mike Ramp It.mpg

Tim Go For It.mpg Tim Trail.mpg Tim Mud.mpg

[BigMike]

Isn't that illegal BigMike

There were a couple of quads out there while we were there, and there is trash and garbage all over the place. What ever this land is used for, its definately not maintained.

[Mike D]

who cares if its illegal its funner and cool vids

[BigMike]

Here are a couple more.

I did an awful job of recording Tim on this one because I was trying to follow his rig.

And as for the footage of my truck, I dont know what the noise is I never heard it from inside the cab. How could it be my electric cooling fan? Does the radiator flex that much? FYI my fan is directly attached to the face of the radiator, as a puller. Also my fan is not on all of the time, only when the theromostat kicks it on.. Maybe its the bed hitting the dirt in the back?

Anyhow, next time I do something fun I'm gonna get someone to take some more videos!


Tim Follow.mpg

Near the end of this video, Check out the ground clearance of my tcase/crossmember setup! Saaaaweeeeeeet!!
Mike Ground Clearance.mpg

[Mike D]

I need one of those x-members

[CruzrDave]

Man, Next time I'll go out there with you guys. I like the "Tim go for it" vid the best. One thing about Tim is he knows how to go for it

[KYOTA]

From watching the "go for it" vid , Tim seems like the type of guy that could be talked into a "Tim jump it" vid!

[BigMike]

Yup, he showed me an area on the far west side of this lot where he jumped his V6 automatic late 80's style 4Runner. He didnt watch his speed, all he did was floor it and got it into 2nd gear. His friends said he launched it at least 3'

The truck Tim's driving is Flam'n Toy, and it's his beater truck he bought for $500 I think. Its just his temporary ride until he gets Slowpoke rebuilt. You can see his progress on Slow poke here: TURBO Tim's Turbo Transformation So he just has a ton of fun with his white long bed, that's why hes driving like a crazed maniac!

[TURBO]

crazy??? i'm not crazy!!!!









ok maby a little

[KYOTA]

Hey Tim,  JUMP IT VID!

[Skinny_Pedal]

quote from mikey " am i going to kill my grill?"   wouldnt want any damage now would ya

[BigMike]

that's right, I dont have any bumpers yet

And a new non-toyota replacement grill is about 60-70 bucks. I dont think I'll be able to find a chrome one used...anyways I didnt want to bust it up 

The only carnage I had was a beat the crap out of my licence plate. It got folded over twice and all bent up. 

Now it looks like TURBO, CruzrDave, and myself are going to go back this weekend on Sunday morning 

[gturismo]

Yeah, looks like fun!  Lets see some more vids.  And I second the "Tim jump it" request       

[CruzrDave]

There must be a sequel to the" Tim go for it" vid but with a touch of The Dukes of Hazard. Tim doesn't tell me he jumped the runner 3' he only says the engine stalled in a puddle and the trany started to sizzle.

What I need to know is if the noise of Tims Flaming Toy is the crap in the bed or if its the sound of his truck falling apart.

[BigMike]

yup, he even showed me the place where he jumped it. Very believable. Along a long straight on a dirt road the ground quickly raises up to a platou, a table top, with about 4' difference in elevation. He must have launched that thing stright up-

I dont know, he's got alot of stuff in the back of his truck - you should have been there!