Breaking in the Jeep on its inaugural run with the new high pinion axles, Dana 44 front, Dana 60 rear. Hopefully they would be plenty strong to withstand the switch to the 38.5x14.5x15 Super Swamper SX’s. Before hitting this trail I had only gotten a little bit of street time on the rig to sort out a few bugs. But once on the trail it was all good.
This rig had to be one of the most unique rigs I have seen on a trail in awhile. His rear suspension was on a subframe. He had this subframe mounted on two steel sliders and by the use of hydraulic cylinders he was able to lengthen and shorten his wheel base 10 inches. Of course his rear driveshaft had an extremely long travel to it. Very novel ideal.
Here Project Too Long that was featured in 4 Wheel Drive and Sport Utility several years ago effortless scales this ledge. Mark has been wheeling for quite a few years and has built the Scrambler to run tough trails and still drive nicely. We won’t even mention his rock stacking ability’s.
Let this be a lesson to you Toyota boy’s just because a Jeep effortless flexed his way over the huge rock you probable cannot. Even if he does tell you “ya got it made no problem.” Turns out Jerry was right and he didn’t have the flex to make this without flopping. Sorry Jerry. I was wrong, you were right. There, you happy? But in typical Jerry fashion, he just laughed about it, called me a few names, and we were on our way.
Jerry’s rig is extremely capable with a Marlin Crawler, 44 axles front and rear, and a Toyota motor that just won’t die no matter how high Jerry rev’s it. He had just put on hydraulic steering and was having a couple of problems but he got them fixed back at Super 8 that night.
An extremely narrow section of the trail forces you to climb over a tree shooting out of the sidehill. This was just a precursor to the tree that gave the trail its name.
Next stop the waterfall with the tree that gives this trail its name. The only way they will let you run this trail is Topless. Unless of course you have a total disregard for your top. Because you just don’t clear the tree when you squeeze between it and the rocks on the passenger side. The tree the first day was hungry and claimed several hoods, a windshield frame, and dented both hard tops that came along, not to mention alot of paint off of rollbars.
Here one of the Boys from Colorado makes a clean pass up past the Top Snatcher. This rig was extremely clean. Very well set up CJ-7.
A well set up CJ-5 shows that even on ledges sometimes shorter is better. The short rigs here were able to scamper up before getting pitched hard into the tree. They were able to stay much more level while longer rigs would often times still have a tire down when they got to they tree.
Here the Slinky rig is at the waterfall. He tried every wheel base combination he had available to him to no avail. It seemed that his length here just went from long, to too long. He is adjustable from 104 to 114 if memory serves me. He eventual ended trying this whack line that allowed his front end to fall into place and then he just walked right up after spending the previous half hour trying conventional lines and getting screwed.
Here is Cory Kittles Bronco talking a rest. Nice paint job eh? Cory did it with Krylon paint. More of Cory’s rig can be seen at: Cory Kittle's Homepage
Yours truly beating the snot out of the rocks with the hood and fenders. This obstacle had my name and no matter what line I tried I couldn’t get up the damn thing. Hell I almost managed to flop in the process but somehow I didn’t. For some unknown reason it only rained while I was trying this obsatcle. Anyways I ended pulling the shiny silver string to get over.
The last challenge on the trail. A small waterfall that wanted to pitch you onto the drivers side. If you had flex this one was just walked up. For those that didn’t this one claimed some parts.
Here Scott Wrigglesworth separates his coil spring from the lower bucket. This is a problem that would dog Scott both times I wheeled with him over the Summer. He was able to get it back together with a little maneuvering of the truck. Scott had those coiled springs custom made and they use over 20 feet of spring material. The flex on his once full-size Bronco now Ranger Body- Branger is unreal. The motor in this thing is the real story. Its a full on 460 that runs on race gas. You get high just following Scott on the trail. More of Scotts rig can be seen at: Scott Wrigglesworth's Home Page
The pictures I have posted don’t do this trail justice. This trail kicked butt from the very start until you get to the end. One very action packed trail. We shot a lot of video and seemed to neglect the camera except were we sat for along time. So needless to say we missed a ton of good photo opportunity’s. The waterfall was probable the longest portion of the trail and it took at least three hours to get every one over it. Hence the large number of pictures from that obstacle. Needless to say if you run this trail do it with out your top. If you have a hardtop you will dent it. But that is the challenge of this trail. If you can’t accept that don’t run this trail. My thanks to the Western Slope Four Wheelers for the great trailride.