MiniSimp's 1985

[*** YELLER ***]

sweeeet

[Ramrod]

why are you even bringing all that extra gas?  I usually drive from placerville all the way through the trail and back to west sac before I drain my tank.  if your looking to loose some weight loose one of those cans

[MiniSimp]

why are you even bringing all that extra gas? 

It's for the Jeep.

[Ramrod]

 

[*** YELLER ***]

Hey the 7 gallon tank dont get me far

[DTB]

Hey the 7 gallon tank dont get me far

my windshield wiper squirter tank holds more than that

[*** YELLER ***]

The new 14 gal tank will go in this winter so that should help , but then again so is the 4 barrel intake and carb...
run what you brung is what I always say

[snowshoebrue]

mini
hey one of the guys that works with me was asking if dave still has his 4runner/buggy.  I told him i didn't know and i saw that sticker so i figured i would ask you

[MiniSimp]

That would be a yes, he still has the ever changing 4Runner....

[*** YELLER ***]

Happy now BICH 

[MiniSimp]

Holy 

What a trail!!  I've never wheeled a trail so hard in my entire life, and probably won't ever do it again  I have to say first of all a big THANK YOU to Mark, without him my junk would still be sitting on the trail!  (I owe you dinner bro  )!

We got to the dam and everybody aired down.  We headed towards Gate Keeper were FFC's drive shaft slipped out, luckily Marlin had brought a long travel drive shaft and Mark welded that on.  Gate Keeper was fun I sucked  at the hill climb at the end of Gate Keeper but finally made it up.  The Slabs were fun but again I sucked  at climbing the stair step and crashed into a bolder backing down after not making it and almost damaged the box in the process.  After about my fourth of fifth try I made it up using the line on the right.

Watching Mark do Soup Can was fun, really glad you made it up  (I'll get you the video later).  The Little Sluice bypass was good until we got to the end when I watched FFC almost endo right in front of me, luckily Cruzilla was spotting for us (thanks Cruzilla  ) We all made it down safely    Right before we got to Big Sluice my right pivot block ripped off the axel, my left pivot had a crack going down the entire thing.  Fortunatly for me I was blocking the entire trail  and again Mark to the rescue  he jumped right on in there and was welding on the pivots and in about two hours we were ready to go.  Thank you to everyone who helped out with muscles and tools   I followed Black Dog and Blingin down The Big Sluice and that was a blast!  At the bottom after I changed my underware    we continued on to Rubicon Springs.  After not finding Dave (Old Yeller  ) I camped  at the Uni-Mog groups camp ground with my cousin Jessica since it was 1:30am and I didn't want to search for him anymore 

8am Saturday morning it was wake up Starbucks delivery Dave and Julie found us and they were only camped  200 feet from us across the river.  So we tore down our camp site, drove across the river and set up our tents with them.  After that it was about three hours of coffee drinking, story telling and bull  Then Dave had the bright idea  to try fishing but apparently 1 inch fish don't like marshmellows but the 4 inch crawdads did they grabbed the fishing lines with their claws and Dave brought them out of the water for a little ride.  What was funny was after they were put back in the water they would play dead and then scamper away backwards as fast they could once you touched them again.

Around 5:30 we went down to the springs for the BBQ raffle and Marlin.  Fireball was there with music ready and giving a speech    and asked some of the board members to come up and say a word about Marlin  luckily FFC was sitting front row and picked her right away to be first.  I proceeded over to the checkin booth picked up my tee shirts and packet and was very impressed to see Allpro stickers there.  I'm very glad to hear that both of you guys are helping each other out  Then in the chow line  and Dave and I had a short chat with Dave Wong and told him about the pivot blocks, he said "no problem those were the proto types I will give you a stronger set when you get back" which was very cool of him.  The food was the bomb  especially after a day of eating dirt.  By that time the sun was almost down and they were starting up the bonfire.  Immediately following the bonfire Marlin  got up and made a speech and then someone else got up and gave the history of the Rubicon.  The awards were handed out, one for longest distance traveled to get to the trail, which could only go to the Mammoths since they came from Florida  The other awards were, best equipped rig, hard luck award, and I can't remember the other one After that was the raffle and immediately after that we took off trying to beat the traffic back to the camp ground.  Once we got back we cooked up some smores on the camp stove, had a few beers  and then hit the sack  in preparation for the long day to follow.

I was told it was 8am (that was a serious lie) when Julie woke me up.  After breakfast and a cup of Joe  we packed up camp.  There were some Jeepers there and one of them needed a gear oil pump so I gladly lent them mine while he was using that I torked down my stearing arm nuts to 80 ft lbs after hearing about Brad's incident on Big Sluice and was correct to do so as mine were also loose.

As we started up Cadillac (sp?) hill there was a small hold up on the first obstical, so we waited for about 10 minutes and then we were off. I went though no problem, then OldYeller went up to the 3 rocks, and bent a main leaf. The main leaf pulled the DS of the axle forward making it so he couldn't turn left. After about 10 minutes of thinking what we could do to fix it, OldYeller said to just hook up the tow strap and pull him up. So I got the strap out of the Toyota for the first time and we hooked it up to both of his tow hooks. I started out kinda slow, but ended up pulling him up Cadallic Hill in Low/Low Second at 3K RPM all the way until the pull-out at the U-turn (about 1/2 way) Never thought a Yota could pull a full sized Blazer, luckily he was still under his own power, but it was still a huge challenge. After that we let everyone go by and opened up my hood to let my motor cool down. We unhooked the straps and continued up the hill to the lookout. On the way to the lookout my engine light came on and stayed on for about 10 minutes before it finally went off  After we took some pictures at the lookout we continued out the last part of the trail. I gotta say, those lakes are beautiful!

We stopped at the staging area to cool down again and take a bathroom break. We then headed down the highway towards South Lake. Maybe 20 minutes into the drive I heard a HUGE explosion in my rear axle. At first I thought it was my perches breaking, but since I was still going strait it deffinetly wasn't that. As soon as I looked at the axle I knew what it was...My welded 3rd grenaded!!!! I pulled down the road about 100' to a safe place to change it out, and set up a small garage. I layed down a tarp, an oil drain pan, and some oil absorbing cloth under the axle. Cruzilla, Mark, and 2 Jarheads, dave and somebody else (sorry, don't remember your name) stopped to help me change the third. I told Cruzilla and Mark that I had it under control because I had all the tools and a spare third, but in the middle of working on the truck (held up with 1 jack stand and a Hi-Lift Jack) the truck shifted toward the road and fell on the pulled out axles!!! Thank god I only pulled the axles out 6" otherwise i would have been a little flat. So then Dave and his buddy stopped to see if we needed help and we added another hi-lift and a come-a-long strapped to a tree. Thanks for the help guys! OldYeller had to hit the 3rd like it was a rat trying to get one of his Ho-ho's, to get the 3rd out. The adjusting rings had torn the retaining clips off and moved most of the way out. After that was out I grabbed my spare third, which was out of the front of a 1983, which had smaller holes and a DIFFERENT BOLT PATTERN!!! Wish I had known that. Oh well, OldYellers wife was able to find 2 bolts that were the right size and Grade 8 and I slapped those on and rode with 2 bolts holding the rear driveshaft on. It drove OK until we left South Lake when it started overheating again. About a half hour before Jackson it started squeeking and smelling like burnt tires. About 10 minutes before Jackson my power steering went out. So at 9:30 we got to Jackson, after 12 hours of driving that day, and got a room at the Best Western for $80!!! Crap! In the morning we called AAA and had it towed on a flatbed to Tuolumne where it now rests, and probably will for the next 6 months until I can fix everything again. After that it was a 3 hour drive home to San Jose, where I was more than happy to see my beautiful Wife Cristie and my Son David! After 4 days without them, I missed them both a lot!

THANKS AGAIN: EVERYBODY!!!!!!! What a great trip!

[DTB]

WOW!

[MiniSimp]

Here are some pictures in no particular order:

[MiniSimp]

 

[MiniSimp]

 

[MiniSimp]

 

[MiniSimp]

 

[MiniSimp]

 

[MiniSimp]

 

[MiniSimp]

 

[Willy Mammoth]

WOW!

X2

I don't think I could have said it better.

BTW see you next year 


And you are most welcome, I don't belive in leaving a fellow wheeler behind. 

[MiniSimp]

 

[olivedrab85]

Sorry to hear about your rough trip I wanted to get to meet you and never saw you after the first day. I guess next year. Good to see you take it in stride and still had a good time even though you were having troubles. 

[locktup]

Mini,

Where did you camp? I didn't see your truck.

[*** YELLER ***]

we were next to KYOTA in the springs

[locktup]

I must be blind because I drove past you guys twice 

[Willy Mammoth]

Lockedup, I never saw you either, must have been cause I was playing Marlin and didn't get away much.

[MiniSimp]

And you are most welcome, I don't belive in leaving a fellow wheeler behind. 

I really appreciate that.

[MiniSimp]

I must be blind because I drove past you guys twice 

I passes you on the way to Big Sluice and called your name. And at the camp ground. Turn down your radio!!! 

[MiniSimp]

Sorry to hear about your rough trip I wanted to get to meet you and never saw you after the first day. I guess next year. Good to see you take it in stride and still had a good time even though you were having troubles. 

How did your truck do? I doubt you'll see me next year, maybe the year after.