My Canadian Rockcrawling Adventure *Pic heavy*

[DMcCready]

Well its been a while since Ive been on Offroad Express but I thought I would create a bit of a trip report of what ive been up to for the last few months.

At the end of August I packed up all my stuff, moved out of my flat, parked my not quite finished buggy in the shed and flew to Canada for a 12month working holiday. I had one thing on my mind... Rockcrawling

I havnt mucked around. Within a week of landing in Vancouver I headed up to a town called Abbortsford to watch a round of short course offroad racing and meet up with some guys i met on Crawlin BC.com





Saw some awesome racing and had a blast meeting people I had been talking to for over a year on the internet


After only having a job for two weeks I was on a road trip down to Reno, Nevada to watch the Reno Stampede with Richard and Kelly Walker, founders of CrawlinBC.

Reno Stampede is an Ultra4 class race. A combination of rockcrawling and desert racing. Reno is one of the big races leading up to the King of the Hammers.











Reno was so much fun. My travelling companion Rich competes with his rockcrawler in the states so we got invited to the after race function and party. I met a number of the drivers... even shook hands and had a sweet chat with Shannon Campbell, quiet possibly one of the best rockcrawler/desert racers out there. Not to mention one of the most humble people I have ever met.

The main reason that I chose Canada for my OE was to look for a buggy that I could buy and ship back to NZ in 12 months. While in Reno I talked to a guy who was looking at selling his promod class buggy so he could upgrade for next season. It was exactly what I was looking for so a month later I was heading to the states to pick up my new buggy


All loaded up ready for the trip back to Canada

Quick specs
Tube chassis
16" race runner 2.5 airshocks
LQ9 V8
Built TH350 trans
Atlas Tcase
Spidertrax 9" diffs
37" sticky maxxis trepadores
Raceline aluminium beadlock wheels
Full hydro steering

[DMcCready]

I got my first chance to see what this buggy will do the other weekend and I couldnt be happier. Not even a massive hangover on the sunday could wipe the smile off my face






Me getting wet and making use of the 50 degrees of steering!


Shaun making this drop


Me lining up. So Slippery!


Too hot



Oops haha

Next trip...

King of the Hammers

[badnuz]

wicked

[MNC]

... It was exactly what I was looking for so a month later I was heading to the states to pick up my new buggy


All loaded up ready for the trip back to Canada

Quick specs
Tube chassis
16" race runner 2.5 airshocks
LQ9 V8
Built TH350 trans
Atlas Tcase
Spidertrax 9" diffs
37" sticky maxxis trepadores
Raceline aluminium beadlock wheels
Full hydro steering

You lucky s0n 0f a b1#%h

Looks like an awesome trip and loving the new wagon dude

[DMcCready]

Thanks man! I'm on a real steep learning curve with the buggy. Especially with the atlas and doing things like front digs. Sticky tires are rad too!

[Bubba]

So you picked up a slightly modified FJ40 (grill), nice

[rokhound]

Seriously cool peice of kit dude. Luvin' that 50 degree steering. Green with envy that you have gone and done the big OE with that type of thing in mind.
Keep on having a blast, and posting back here for us plebs to dribble over

[DMcCready]

Haha unique OE for sure. I've got mates in London who love music and spend all their money on festivals and gigs. I love rockcrawling so...

This buggy IS coming home with me so a south island trip will have to be planned

[suzookyman]

Is that red buggy running a winch?
Al

[niblik]

wicked awesome coolies dude!! love the trip report and massively lovin the oe.. crawlin bc = epic trippin styles.. always check out their vids and bits where i can.

as for a southern trip, for sure man. definitely do it.. we'll tee something up for shizzle..

so what ya think you'll do with the ole build now fella? and keep the pics, throw in some vids, of the trip happening buddy.. i'm enjoyin the thread thus far. thanks for sharing.. i'll live it vicariously through you..

more pedallin footage!

[DMcCready]

Is that red buggy running a winch?
Al

Yea it is. It's hidden behind the bumper, set up to be both the front suck down winch and recovery

[DMcCready]

wicked awesome coolies dude!! love the trip report and massively lovin the oe.. crawlin bc = epic trippin styles.. always check out their vids and bits where i can.

as for a southern trip, for sure man. definitely do it.. we'll tee something up for shizzle..

so what ya think you'll do with the ole build now fella? and keep the pics, throw in some vids, of the trip happening buddy.. i'm enjoyin the thread thus far. thanks for sharing.. i'll live it vicariously through you..

more pedallin footage!

Haha I have a plan for my build back home but it mite be a while off. Going to take a bit to pay off this trip once I get home

I'm thinking about pulling all the bits out of that chassis and swapping them into a road legal cruiser. A nice simple club truck build.

Anyone want to buy a chassis to build themselves a cruiser rockcrawler?

And there is a couple of things I want to change to this buggy I have over here so I will probabily build another chassis for it too one day

It's a incurable disease... I just can't help myself thinking about how I could modify and change things haha

[MNC]

So you picked up a slightly modified FJ40 (grill), nice

AND BONNET!!!!!!!

Should recognize those styling master pieces

[churchill]

Cool OE man. It's the first time I've heard of this being done and it make sense. So you talked with Shannon Campbell, awesome. I see you have a couple of pics of his truck, from what I've seen it's well made, whats it like in the flesh?

[tomsoffroad]

Awesome fella Need someone to carry ya bags

[DMcCready]

Cool OE man. It's the first time I've heard of this being done and it make sense. So you talked with Shannon Campbell, awesome. I see you have a couple of pics of his truck, from what I've seen it's well made, whats it like in the flesh?

Such a nice buggy! But it's really big for a single seater. Thing is with Shannon is that he could ge into anything and still win.

You will see in a couple of photos from Reno we were sitting at a corner watching them come down the road towards us. When Shannon was coming we could hear him for about 5 min before he showed up! He was playing catch up due to mechanical issues and he had that buggy absolutely pinned! So awesome

[DMcCready]

Sad to say that I won't be heading to the King of the Hammers.

On a plus note I've been asked if I want to compete in a US rockcrawler series called Cal-Neva. Link- www.cal-nevaextreme.com

The buggy I bought came 4th in class (promod) overall last year so it will be interesting to see how I do.

[rokhound]

Awesome dude. You will have a blast