Moab - I could do this all day

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 11/13/2013 at 11:35 • Filed to: crusin

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Let me just say I could do this 5 or 6 times a year, easy. Turns out it wouldn't be too hard, at $65 a pop each for 6 guys including two gas hog gas bills.

On that subject, can I just say how proud I am of my cruiser? best mileage ever: 14.8

Also, worst ever: 9.5. On the subject, can I say how miserable a lifted Tundra does in the mileage department? with 4 bikes and a 3000 lbs pop up trailer...11 mpg. Considering that fully loaded to the bump stops I still did nearly 15, that's pretty sad. I bet with a trailer I wouldn't have done much better though and I wouldn't have been able to maintain speed either. As for my 9.5, well that was done crawling...What can I say, crawling is lots of gas for a little distance and I'm pretty impressed I got that good. Speaking of crawling, this was my first chance to do some real crawling with the cruiser. I wanted a challenge, but I wasn't heavily armored so I skipped hells revenge and went for a still tough but more mild Fins N' things

Fins n' things is a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! trail which meant that I was probably over outfitted for the trail, but some of the obstacles were pretty insane and I'm not sure I would want much less of a vehicle, though I would wish for more departure angle (hitch left on for protection)

I left a nice little scratch on this hill.

Now I should say I didn't do the entire trail, mostly because of time. You see it was 20 or so degrees at night and about 35 at first light and it doesn't really warm up in the desert until about 12, so we wheeled in the AM and rode bikes in the afternoon. We rode MAG7 in the Gemini bridges area. It was excellent,

This is a panorama of Bull canyon, which goes to the bottom of the bridges. Its a nice 4x4 trail for beginners and leads to a great view...see?

from the bottom looking up

And from the top looking down...

Its a seriously cool place.

On the way out of town and on the way to another trail...well...less a trail and more an open slickrock area called Barlet wash I decided I was finally going to try...on a whim...Baby lions back. Despite its name its actually pretty serious, well not really serious but not tame either. I mean you see the crown vic and previa try it.

but even the run up to the hill isn't something that you can barge into. Given that I had about 800 lbs of cargo, and 5 bikes on the roof i was a little apprehensive. The 80's brakes are great in the best of times.

Having never done it I assumed that you drove up, turned around, and drove down (that's what I remember hearing anyway) so image my surprise at getting to the top and realizing that there isn't a place to turn around. alright, onward...

To um...oh.

Say, how deep to you think that water is?

All in all im pretty impressed with an 18 year old 235,500 mile Toyota with a little bit bigger tires. Drove smoothly and quitely and performed admirably when asked. New springs are on the list, Im thinking 2 inch progressive lift, as well as maybe some rock sliders. The lift to help with the fact that my rear springs were totally bottomed out on a dirt road with 6 people and their bikes, and to give me a little better angles, and sliders to make up for taking off the step for the wife, without having to put those horrid steps back on.

Also included is a semi-interesting short highlights clip of my off road adventures. Enjoy!

Bonus picture time

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/13/2013 at 11:42

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Hah! you weren't joking about the bump stops.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/13/2013 at 11:42

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Great picture. Looks like lots of fun.

Tstanisch > HammerheadFistpunch 11/13/2013 at 11:44

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Looks like fun.

HammerheadFistpunch > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 11/13/2013 at 11:46

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yup, just trying to decide which comes first, sliders or springs.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/13/2013 at 11:51

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Do you have a welder? I made my sliders for a fraction of the price of buying them.

Also, how did you like the new tires? Did you air them down much?

HammerheadFistpunch > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 11/13/2013 at 11:54

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I have a hobart wire feed, but I don't know how to use it (inherited) so I would probably be better off buying until I learn how (I need them by may). Loved the tires, super quite on the highway, and they killed it off road with 45 psi in them. I think its a fair assumption to say they don't rub anywhere...ever. Even hitting the stops it wasn't an issue.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/13/2013 at 11:59

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You could easily learn MIG by May- there are so many youtube videos, or take a weekend intensive class. If its not a 220 volt unit don't bother though.

Seems like it would make for a fun winter project.

HammerheadFistpunch > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 11/13/2013 at 12:01

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its still at my moms, I would have to go and pick it up, but im pretty sure is a 115, not 220. From what I understand, you're right about not bothering, anything thick enough to protect my truck isn't going to weld easily with a 115 unit.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > HammerheadFistpunch 11/13/2013 at 12:16

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Sounds like an awesome trip! Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

dmanbluesfreak01 > HammerheadFistpunch 11/13/2013 at 15:02

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I have full rock sliders on my 2001 Silverado with 1-ton front and rear axles swapped under it (solid axle swapped up front to replace the IFS). I welded my sliders long before the solid axle swap and when I only had a 115v welder and they've held up to a ton of abuse considering the truck tips the scales at over 6000 lbs.

I wouldn't do any welding of suspension components or something like that but 3/16" (or even 1/8") wall tube will more than hold up to the abuse you put that truck through and a 115v welder will weld 3/16" no problem.

mtdrift > HammerheadFistpunch 11/17/2013 at 13:48

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Rock on man! The lady and I live in Montana, but we get down to Moab-land about 4 times a year - we just can't stay away.

I've found that on our XJ Cherokee, larger M/T tires, a 1.5" lift, and a little common sense is all we need to access 90% of the roads and jeep trails we want to drive on in central Utah. And we're not terribly hard-core about it. Of course, we've got the bikes for the other 10%!

I've got a skid-plate, hi-jacker, and a couple of shovels, but no winch or any other specialized equipment. It's such an incredible landscape there and it's so easy to lose yourself, in a good way. Everyone should get there at one time or another. We were just there last weekend over the Veteran's Day Holiday. Deadhorse Point State Park.