Dan LaBerge

Saturday I went on the trail "Pigpen's Revenge/Escalator" but didn't get the chance to drive Pigpens because the tank trap at the beginning was too deep and short for my fullsize longbox with a "bathtub" for a bumper, and we didn't have the time to fill it in enough for me to get through that spot so I caught a ride with someone else. After Pigpens someone gave me a ride back to my truck so I could do escalator. On this trail Scott in his Willys noticed a rather rapid leak in his gas tank so we proceeded to remove the tank and try to patch it, but couldn't. We ended up rigging up a Jerry can to use temorarily so he could get back to camp. At the top of this trail we ran into some snow, but everyone made it through without too much difficulty. This evening included the prize and trophy givaways, and was quite exciting for myself as i won the $ 1000.00 gift certificate for ARB products at Northshore Offroad. Now I can change the Fozzy Locker in the front to an ARB I think? Any input from other list members would be appreciated (the goods and bads of ARB's).

On Sunday I decided to tackle an easier trail (harbourview to Leechtown and back)to avoid breakage, or so I thought. The day started out OK but I soon broke a front U-joint and outer axle. This was no big deal because I had a complete spare axle and spent some time replacing it on the trail. We then Proceeded through the rest of the trail and started the return back on the trail. About half way back I happened to drive over a very, very large rock (I still don't know how the front axle made it over)but anyway this rock took out my rear driveshaft and made a real mess of it. This wasn't good because it was the one part I didn't have and I had planned on making the 8:00pm ferry home that night. I managed to limp the truck home front wheel drive, and later that Evening foundmight and older gentleman who thought he might have one at his house (sorry i forgot his name). So Scott drove me out to his house/shop and we looked for shaft without luck. The man then found a piece of pipe that we could use to make a new driveshaft. We then cut the ends off my old shaft and he welded the new pipe to them. He only charged me $25 and i was on my way. I installed the new driveshaft the next morning and made the 11:00am ferry. I was quite surprised at how little the new Driveshaft vibrated (I think it was better than my old one. On the ferry I said final goodby's to the others that were on the same ferry and headed for home.

All in all the Event was great and well organized and I hope to return next year. I think the idea of some kind of ID or cocktail hour for list members would be a good idea for next year.

See all of you later,

Dan LaBerge

Micah's Incident

by Lars

A few weeks before RC99, I posted this message in response to one sent by Micah:

        At 02:21 AM 5/13/99 -0700, you wrote:

        >> Say, are you planning on running front shocks for RC99?
        >
        >Nope. Is that a bad thing. Is there much driving to
        >the actual trails from the campground. Things get a
        >little snakey driving with no swaybar, steering
        >stabilizer (haven't hooked it up), spring clamps,
        >worn steering box, and no shocks.

        I'm not so much concerned about your on-road
        handling as your off-road handling.  I was watching
        a friend drive his YJ with a broken rear shock and
        the back end was bouncing all over the place going
        to Upper Hut.  He ended up driving into a tree
        because the back end bounced sideways and changed
        his direction.


        ...lars

      

This is what happened on the first rock face on Harbourview Rd, when Micah's CJ started bouncing its front end while he was attempting the climb:

A few days later, Micah posted the following to the BC4x4 list:

        CRASH

        Well that seems to be my official name for RC 99.
        Not much I can say except there was a big bang! and
        then I was looking at everyone sideways. I guess I
        need some stinkin shocks! Well this is how it went,
        I started up facelift(that what someone called it) a
        little more to the left than the day before. I got
        to the top and hit a ledge, the jeep started
        bucking, it slipped into a hole on the left and gave
        one big buck the wheel got turned the wrong way (my
        fault, still inexperienced) and the whole thing
        whipped around, and SPLAT!! I checked my underwear,
        everything good, and gave a big wahoo and a thumbs
        up. The damage was a busted window and frame,
        smashed rear quarter, smashed hood and fender. All I
        can say is I am very thankful for that full roll
        cage. The cage got a few scraches and moved over
        about 1/2", now I can get into that glove box with
        ease. Special thanks to Greg for pulling me back
        over. Everyone was so helpfull with everything.
        Someone was splicing my cb wires back together,
        someone filled up the overflow, and others picked up
        all my crap (tools) that fell out. I will write more
        later but I am tired.

        ...

        Ok I'm back to tell the rest. After that incident we
        continued up Eye in the Sky. The jeep ran like crap,
        it just wouldn't stay running. We stopped for lunch
        after someone blew a u-joint. From there we went to
        Cleavage, and yes I fell in, laying the jeep on the
        same side I rolled on. No problem I just drove it
        out sideways. The rest of the day was a haze, mostly
        because I was following Greg in the EFI Mog. I wish
        I had fuel injection. I got to meet some of the
        people from the list, Larry, Jo-jo, Butters (tow
        strap guy), Chris Waterman. I also got two free hats
        Sunday.  After RC I drove to Victoria and stayed there
        till Tuesday, when I got a windshield. Actually I
        bought a piece of plexi-glass and screwed it to the
        window frame. I then drove 4.5 hours home with the
        horrible wistling sound in my ear. It was the best
        weekend I have had.

        After thoughts on suspension:
        I saw a lot of nice trucks a RC 99, plus I got to
        see what works and what doesn't. I found out that no
        front shocks DOESN'T work. I need a bit stiffer
        suspension because it leans way to far on off camber
        situations. I am thinking of trashing the 3/4
        Elliptical. My springs are starting to look like S's
        because everytime you step on the gas it pulls away
        from the frame. The other problem I have is my brand
        new Black Diamond shocks are leaking everywhere,
        they are the white ones I think A/T. It didn't seem
        to matter what you ramped in relation to real world
        situations. Except on tire change where I didn't
        lift a tire . I was totally amazed at Dean's TJ,
        all stock except a locker and bigger tires. Even
        more impressed with Jo-jo's, how does he do it? I
        guess it was the little jeep that could. Or it could
        be that he was running 3psi . Anyways I had a
        great time. I think I will make a trip down in the
        summer sometime.

        Micah Anderson AKA: Crash


      

Gordon Pritchard

The variety of vehicles was tremendous - 4 Unimogs, lots of Jeeps of many flavours, 3 FJ-45 pickups, quite a few 'Cruisers, a few full-sizes, quite a few Early Broncos, and a swarm of Samurais. One very-cool vehicle: a 1957 Renault taxi-cab, complete with roof-light, set on a Suzuki frame. Very much a "character rig", who added a lot of spirit to my first days' trails.

Wai and I got checked in to our motel down the road from the main campground, and then got registered and my truck inspected fairly quickly. We then wandered around the campground, chatting to quite a few people, and looking at the innovations and variety of rigs.

FRIDAY
The weather was excellent - no rain, and somewhat cool. We signed up for trails in order of registration; as #15, this first day was our best chance for whatever trail we wanted. We signed up, then went to the designated meeting-point, and listened on the assigned CB-channel. Shortly, we were off, with a group of 17 trucks; mostly 'Cruisers and Broncos, if one were to go for major classifications. One Bronco dropped out with tranny troubles before too long, though.

I don't think the first day's trail had been cleared, becase we came across 6 downed trees. Foolishly, I was the only one to admit to having a bow-saw :-( Others helped, but it was very apparent that I spend little time sawing in the rest of my life...

The trail was officially named "Hacker's Gauntlet/Gas-It Hill". Turning off the rutted logging road put you down a very steep grade with a turn at the bottom - exactly the pair of challenges that a long-wheelbase-with-overhang doesn't like!

Getting over and down the steep entrance went surprisingly fine, but the large log at the bottom/turn didn't - I crunched the rear corner of my FJ-45's cab (matching a similar driver's side crunch from much earlier). This cab corner is like 3' up off the ground; this was a "good size" log :-0 Once somewhat free, an arm from this log reached out in one final reminder, and neatly punched in my fuel-filler door (but not touching the surrounding metal!).

We finally made it to the actual Hacker's Gulch obstacle on this trail, to find the 6th downed tree blocking our way. It was sawn through, but resisted any manual efforts at moving it. So, we started to winch. Our leader's truck was the winch-donkey, and I jumped in to apply the brakes against the strain... "Hey", I thought, "This brake pedal doesn't feel right." Quick inspection showed a burst flex-hose up front :-(

So, a WA 'Cruiser was hooked up to the rear of the Toy mini-truck with the burst hose, to anchor the mini. Winching continued, while the mini-truck was repaired; both tasks neatly being finished at the same time.

In the next short while, in nearly the same spot, a 'Cruiser would also lose braking (short metal tube on the disc-brake getting broken, and then Vice-Gripped off, for 3-wheel braking), and another vehicle's hard-line needing to be cut and re-flared (fortunately we had a flaring tool in our group). Must've been something in the rocks right there that liked brakes!!!

The hill down was very steep, but easily negotiated. In the driver's seat, you couln't see _any_ ground, 'til the bottom, when the earth approach all-to-sharply! From the bottom, you have to hit the gas pretty hard to even have a chance of making it up the far side of the gulch. Adding to it: there's a rocky surface on the left, and loose soil on the right... wheelspin digs only on the right, and each subsequent vehicle gets pitched further and further over. Did I mention that there was a tree right there too?!?!

The first few vehicles took an tremendous amount of time to get up. Taking a cue from the tree-saver and clevis left at the upper tree, I got my winch and controller ready.

I made a couple of modest attempts at making it past the rock/tree, but was anxious to get moving fairly promptly - we were a couple of hours later already than was expected. I winched to the top in very quick time.

Some later Early Broncos in our group went very heavy on the gas, most every vehicle eventually needing winching no matter what their tactics. Notable: one Bronco unseated _two_ rear Swampers, yet finished the upper half of the hill-climb on his flat tires, unassisted. Another Bronco bounced around and wound up sideways... One Bronco got pitched into the tree, and mangled his windshield frame and broke the glass. Another also hit his windshield frame, but no glass went. A fullsize Chev pickup needed help getting up, and around the corner at the top, but no harm seemed to come from dragging his pickup shell against _every_ tree in sight :-O

The next major obstacle was Gas-It hill. To approach, you turn sharply right, and climb a 2' root. From here, you basically launch up the hill, without the benefit of any "runway" to build speed.

Maybe 1/3 of our group managed Gas-It unassisted; it was very gratifying for me to make it fine, too! Here, horsepower and gear choice (wheelspeed) were key ingredients, and the roar of high-horsepower V8's was quite exhilarating!

Unfortunately, it was on this hill that our full-size Chev broke his Dana 44 front-end. His winch was smoking during power-out, so it was a safe bet that it couldn't handle actually winching... :-( A Bronco, with much bracing, managed to get him up the hill. At this point, the full-size was going to need towing to help him out, and as the next-longest-and-heaviest, my FJ-45 was to be the Tow-Yota.

The next few hours are pretty much a blur, except for the smooth slick-rock side-hill which pitched steeply right. The full-size was stuck against something, and as my tires churned, I slipped sideways down into the crevasse... I figured I was going over for sure; there's definitely a new pleat in my seat :-0 People ran up, not to help, but to take pictures! Then, someone spooled out my cable, and I pulled back up/out to safety. To move again from this point, I needed another V8-Cruiser hooked up to _me_, with both of us pulling the Chev. That worked well, and we continued hooked together that way for the remainder of the trip out.

As we finished up our long day by making it to the logging road which would take us back to town, I became more aware of time: we were going to miss dinner, and the complimentary beer :-( :-( True enough, we didn't make it back 'til 9pm. Wai and I ate dinner back in the motel, and we both dropped dead-asleep right away.

Saturday
We signed up for a lower-rated trail for Saturday, to lower any stress levels, and ensure that we got at least _one_ dinner! This days' trails were "U-Joint" hill, and "Tire-Change Rock"; I had run both last year, and wanted to re-visit them again this year. There was quite a mix of vehicles, in this group, including a couple of full-size pickups and a 'Mog (the fullsize had lain over the previous day, and sported major body mods where the lady had driven out of the V-shaped crevice [Cleavage Rock]).

I can't recall anything of particular note on this day, except we had a couple of big-name sponsor types in our group: Randy's Ring and Pinion, and ARB-USA. They were excellent to 'wheel with; Tim Lund of ARB provided some truly great spotting through the "U-joint" crevice area, making those drivers look like pros!

Somewhere along the line, I poked a tire. We put on a spare on the trail, but today, we finished the day in good enough time that I got it repaired before dinner.

And, to wrap up the day nicely, the Lion's Club (official meal-cookers at the main campground) gave us the beer we missed the previous night!!

Saturday evening was the prize-drawing, and awards. There were various awards for such things as "Ugly Truck", breaking stuff, smoothest driver, etc. I think the prize drawing was set up in such a way that everyone won _something_; I didn't get the ARB locker, but I _did_ get a T-shirt and hatchet.

Sunday
We ran the lowest-rated trail, to virtually ensure no stress or damage before heading home. Also, I had our full load of gear, along with tires-and-rims I was bringing back for someone else. Basically, I was touching my bumptops!! Nonetheless, my rig performed great, and went everywhere I aimed it. It did feel a bit porky, sort of wallowing a bit with the full load.

Our event guide listed Sunday's run as only lasting 1/2 day, 'til noon. Somewhere, this didn't match up to reality, and the runs were set out to last a full day. I was getting a bit antsy about this, because I'd made some family commitments; our trail-leader was very good at picking up on this, sounding out the group for a consensus, and ultimately, wrapping up the day early.

After this final run, we caught the ferry back to Vancouver, and the Rock Crawl was over for another year. Definitely memorable!! And, well organized; obviously a huge effort by the local club, with very professional results.

   -Gord