A few weeks ago Jeepchick and I grabbed a 12 pack, and went out to a local 4 wheelin spot on a Fri evening. The plan was to take it easy have a couple beers and do some moderate hill climbs, and just relax. When I got out to a little lake(Moss Lake) that the local kids gather at I was kinda surprised that no one was there because its usually packed and littered with trash from parties. With no one there I decided to try a line across the Mud flat,I was aired down to about 6 Lbs, and the mudd was dry enough on top so it was pretty simple. It was just getting dark, So we stopped out in the middle at the edge of a big deep soupy spot and opened a beer. Thats when the party began showing up, 3 full size trucks at first. They all sat around the edge for a while but the Jeep just sitting out there must have gotten to them, so in went the 1st truck(80s Dodge)right toward the slop. I was gonna warn them but I didnt think theyd hear me over thier music and the entertainment factor was way to high. At about 100' out, he went deep( up to the bottom of the doors),so I offered to help, they declined and driver opted for reving the engine and spinning in deeper and getting everyone in the bed(3 guys and 4 screaming girls)covered in slimy stinky mud(its not called Moss Lake for nothing). At that point I asked Jeepchick if she could get me another beer, we both got out and sat on the hood(after turning up some Jimmy Buffet Music). After about a 1/2 hr of all of the open diffed rigs getting stuck in one way or another the Dodge was still mired down,but it didnt stop the driver from trying to drive out about every 5 minutes or so. Now they wrer starting to look at us like they could use some help,"Jeepchick would you like another beer?""Hum sure,Thanks""Here ya go". Well they fially asked " Hey Buddy can you get us out with that winch?","Yeah sure Ill be right there". So we hopped in the jeep hit the ARB and blasted a nice line througth the deep stuff, I got out hooked the back of the jeep to a tree with a tree saver and chain(read treee saver post for propper hook up), and let out some cable upto the edge of the lake. One of the guys yells back to me to bring it out and hook right up to the bumper, I told him I wasnt the one who was stuck and went back to the jeep "jeepchick,could I please have another beer?". So he waddles through the mud,walks out the cable,and its not long enough(about 10 ft shy). Now what do we do he yells, Youll need the length of chain that was lying next to the cable I yelled,He kinda looked at me then said could you bring it out to me,"your already muddy and Im not the one thats stuck" I replied. As he walked the chain out I suggested he not use the bumper as a pull point,(now hes kind of pissed) and he tells me its aDodge not a Jeep,"the bumpers like a Tank", "Hey Jeepchick" "I know you want another beer" "Thanks jeepchick" , then jeepchick whispers to me you know theyr stuck pretty good do you think they should use the bumper?"Its a Dodge theyre built like a tank I replied". I asked if they were ready , engaged the winch..... Bam off came one side of the bumper. Jeepchick whisperes "Tanks arent made like they used to be are they" and then she chuckled(Ithink she was buzzed). Well we finally got them out about the time our beer running out so we rolled up the cable, BS'd a little, cleaned up the gear a bit and stowed everything. Then we started out and headed up a tall slippery trail out of the basin. As we were driving I heard the guy who hooked up the cable say"thats the line He went through,just follow his tracks" then I heard "OK". I didnt stick around,but I watched him line up on my tracks at the edge of the mud,they were drinking,Im sure it was just a matter of time. I should have stayed, but the beer was gone.
Jeff
89 Wrangler

 

Out at Crane Park in Myakka, Fl, there is a pretty nice ditch that used to be shallow. It turned into a four wheeler and dirtbike trail, to a stock 4x4 trail, to a big dogs trail almost over night (one particularly rainy, nasty night comes to mind) A chevy with 36" tires was stuck in this ditch when we got there, and after pulling him out my friend Nick ('76 Cherokee, 258 (one barrel) 36/35" tires, stock gears and open diffs) tried it. He got stuck too, we pulled him out and hit hit it harder. Stuck again and we pulled him out and he says "one last try, 3rd times a charm right?" 4-low, 2nd gear (I think) and he got a 50' run with the pedal to the floor. The ditch kinda slopes down gradual at first, then drops a good two feet for about 5' and then back up. The ruts are DEEP. He makes it and the gathering crowd goes wild! "Your turn Brian" they say to me in my little Wrangler with a stock suspension and 31x10.5 Dueler MTs. "Hey I'm game, get the strap ready" I say and line up and take it at 4-lo 2nd gear with about 20' of a run and turning 2000-2500 rpms. I make it to the drop-off and get stuck (by the way, the new racing seat and 5-point harness works GREAT!) They pull me out and say "nice try, go again" and I figure what the heck, they can always pull me out of this. I get a good 50' of running room and get into 4-lo 3rd gear pedal to the floor (258, Weber 38, GM HEI, and severe lack of an exhaust from this style of 'wheeling) and mna was I moving! I think I cleared the drop-off completely, because before I knew it I was headed up the other side and the engine was bogging down, I downshifted to 2nd and never let off the gas. When I came out the other end I let a pure rebel yell and a "Jeep Power!" for the crowd. I broke the bungees holding the spare tire upright in the bed next to the bucket seat thats bungeed in place back there. Everything was a mess, but what fun! Later this night the carb quit idling and I ran out of hydraulic fluid for the clutch...figures

 

Ya know, there's just something about climbing a sand hill in front wheel drive of a jeep with the motor chugging away at 3500 rpm. Its just a magical tune... I'd spun a hub on the other side of the hill, and with trees at the bottom, you couldn't build up enough momentium to climb the other side, so you just stand on it and let the 8 take you out... the yj and toyota 4-bangers I was out with were scrambling for their cameras by the time I got to the top of the hill... "Hey, can you drop back in and do that again??" Unfortunately for them there wasn't enough beer for me to do that... maybe if I hadn't broken... maybe.

RAmblin, ramblin, ramblin;
keep those stories ramblin
JEEp - ERS!!!!


Florida Mud CJ-5
'77 RB304, t-150 D20 4" 35" swampers

 

George...that broken hub wouldn't have to be on that Dana 30 on my back porch that i still owe you $$$ for, right? hahahah...seeya in class!

-Remster

1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4x4 Laramie SLT Sport Plus--5.9L 360, auto, 3.92s, antispin, BFG A/Ts.

 

/wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif Some folks that I know from LA have a huge motor home and pull a little rice burner 4 X 4 behind it(I forget which rice buggy they have). They were going across Utah, and people coming by kept waving, but being from LA they didn't think anything was strange, that these folks were just FRIENDLIER than the people in LA. MILES LATER they stopped for fuel and discovered that a front tire had gone flat on the little 4X, and that they had been towing it like that for quite a while. The rim was completely doggy-eared and only a half circle, the drum was a half circle, the HUB was a half gone, and the axle shaft was right on the deck. It took several days to get back together because the only thing that was still useable was the gear set and one axle. It had worn the yolk off the axle housing/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif Now they have TWO TV cameras...one for backing, one to watch the rice buggy/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif

CJDave
Quadra-Trac modified by the crack moonguy/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif transfer case team.

 

Reminds me of the sand hill I tried at Attica. I made my first run in 4 hi and went about half way without trying too hard (my first attempt at sand), just to test the soil, so to speak. Now my brother-in-law is always ribbing me about Toyotas being better than Jeeps, so he heads up in low gear, spins a lot, but barely manages to crawl over the top. Now I've gotta show him up, so I shift to 4 low, back up to gets a little running room, then some guy in another Toy(ota) with boggers runs up in front of me and tries to slow crawl up the hill. So I wait, he doesn't make it, but his boggers dig some nice big ruts in the sand (larger than they looked from the bottom of the hill). Finally he comes down, and out of the way (by this times he realized that he cut me off from my run). So I nail it! The Scrambler roars up the hill, and I'm not even bogging down yet (love that V-8), about this time I'm all smiles, just at the crest of the hill, I hit the ruts his boggers made, make a nice skip in the air, and come down full throttle, oops! Clang! Busted the axle, locker and pinion gear all in one quick swoop. My heart sank. Then from a stop, in the ruts, I crawl up the rest of the way with front wheels only. Hey, even a crippled Jeep made it up better than the Toy - but he won't admit nothing.
I'm ready to go again, but this time I'll avoid the ruts!

Keep on Jeepin'
Scott

 

Nah man, that happened about half a mile down the trail... I actually did that climb in three wheel drive, two front and one rear...

Can't wait until I can try it with some serious tires.. these thornburgs dont' do so hot down here...


Florida Mud CJ-5
'77 RB304, t-150 D20 4" 35" swampers

 

Take a tire grooving iron (or the cheap way - a chainsaw) to those Thronbirds and you will be AMAZED at what they can do /wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif

<a href="http://www.tennessee4x4.com/toyota">

 

My friend used to have some crappy all-terrains on his Ranger and he took a gasket scraper, a hammer, and a torch. Heated up the gasket scraper with the torch and hammerd off every other lug...huge improvement off-road

My Jeep is just a leaky submarine in disquise

 

Gee, I wonder if CJDAVES people with the motorhome were related to the ones here in Idaho a few years back that did something similar, threw sparks for miles and set a forest fire that burned almost all summer. They were pretty upset when they got a bill for umpteen million dollars from the Forest Service.

 

/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif If they were pulling a U-Haul, it seems to be routine to do that. I visited U-Haul's yard in Portland OR and they had an entire bone pile of axles which had the wheels, drums, and hubs worn flat to the axle shaft from dragging it for miles....and miles....and miles... and.......

CJDave
Quadra-Trac modified by the crack moonguy/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif transfer case team.

 

nice stories guys......but the one thing that i saw that was stupider than all of those......a low-rider jeep yj.....i think i vomited...twice

i guess that what happens when yuppy kids buy jeeps in the western chicago suburbs.......sigh

Jeep 'n Greg

1985 Jeep CJ-7

Jeep'n Greg