BOP II A day of fun and games

[De-Ranged]

A nice sunny morning, tires aired down all present who were going to show ready to go, one obvious vacancie something about burned out electrics and hes a mechanic!! better luck next time DJ
With the bad news we were sharing the tracks with the Rotorua 4WD club (as someone called them the "money club" )
Scotty in the Wreak
Furgus in the Surf "Brutus"
Me in the Paj
Dave in the tidiest 82 lux I"ve seen
and Wopass playing tail end charlie in the Beast
Lining up for the first track

After a bit of a chat Scotty charges up with alot of niose and the ocasional miss from the supra he turns round and gets ready to winch as the Surf charges up

After a couple of goes at dragging the diffs up the center ridge he's hooked onto the winch, as he slowly comes up the rest of the hill I remember something about the second coming... 400/1 reduction on his winch you could use it to pull trees over .... but maybe not up to pulling a red wreak out of a bank more on that later....
Up next is me in the mighty Paj Only to discover I've got less ground clearance than the surf and a longer winch

Time to try out the PTO winch I've just got going nice and slow 1st gear all the way to the top

spin around and get ready to winch Dave in the lux... to find him over halfway up way past where both me and the surf got too go the lux

Time to try out the winch 3rd gear and Daves coming up fast
Then its time for Wopass and his 36" $imex's and welded diff

At a gentle pace he makes the hill look tame!
Time for a prep talk from our leader "go hard, go fast or go home, we are here for a 4WD trip, not to look at the scenery..."
and a warning of washouts on one side and a very deep swamp on the other we continue on, after driving through the part we were sposed to look out for I'm following the surf hard and fast up a steep shady climb when I see him bounce hard... BBANG! as I hit the same washout feeling the front launch into the air (hmmm thinking this would make a good pic a thought I was to have a few times this trip) BANG! the front lands and the back goes up .... looking back I see Dave hit the same hole at speed and go skyward .... damm! not fast enough with the cammera (another thought I was to have a lot )
a bit more track and few thoughts about my paint job and the overgrown state of the track we stop at the next challange a climbing tight switchback followed by a run up through a slip of soft mud up goes Scotty alot of noise, flying mud and the engine miss getting worse... and a winch later hes through. Time for the Surf up to the switch back and a multi piont turn later he charges hard at the mud getting part way through before his diffs drag him to a stop a double snatch or two from Scotty and he's through
Its about now we hear what happened to the cruiser following behind... remember the swamp we were told to watch out for ... the deep one well Wopass decided to have a play and discovered it was just about deep enough to tip his truck over but no problem after he winched himself out
Back to the present my turn first attempt I don't even make it up to the switchback... backing up for a better run off...crunch should have cleaned the mirrors before I backed into the tree! one tail light bites the dust, well at least that extra inch gave me the speed to make it to the switch back the rest of the way was a drag with the wheels spinning in the air gota do something about this lack of ground clearance! Deciding to use the winch (faster than repeated snatches) I spin around as Dave has a go by now the turnaround at the switch back is getting a bit slippery


(note the shinny patch I got dragged up! I didn't get far! ) The PTO winch has him through in no time time to see how the cruiser dose well at least he had to plant his right foot this time... through without a problem
and away we go again
The next bit of fun came from an inocent looking little washout that we had to drop into, watching the Surf it didn't look to bad... what I didn't see (due to the shadows...) was it had a bit of a hole (and due to the shadows...) I lined the passager wheel up with the hole (its was the shadows I couldn't see...)
yea well I droped in a bit fast and being a short wheelbase the front end caught and the next thing I know I'm stairing at the ground as she rolls onto the front bumper and the back comes up in the air... and to the left (dinting the gard) and droping back onto her wheels
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/images/albums/album84/100_0103.mov
Dave followed a better line keeping his wheel on the side but still cocked a wheel The cruiser continued proving its a beast by making it look decidedly boring and not even lifting a leg
Afew more axle twisters


Some more easy cruising and we are out on the roads again time for a bit of lunch frustrated at the limited clearance from the front end I climb under the front end and wind up the springs.. got real limited articulation now but I've gained at least 1/2 an inch while I was doing this Scotty was giving the red wreak the once over trying to find a fault that was causing the miss

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I'll have to finish the rest tomorrow done enough typing for the day and I'm late for tea on the town

Cheers All hope you like

Cheers Reece

[wjw]

looks like yuou guys had fun

[wopass]

and just to add to the switch back sloppy mud hole that i made in one go...

i drove the track... no multi point turns

and no pictures of it....

me: "did you get that on the video camera ! that was sweeeet "...

reply: "ohh nah,i didnt get it on in time'... "

DAMMIT !... it was pretty cool tho, guess you had to be there

[Petemcc]

looking forward to hearing the rest!

[Heath]

What sort of tyres were on the white lux? Looked like AT's

Was tyre size a factor as to where you could go? If yes was this because of the terain or big tyre ruts (from 35's and up)?

What would be in your opinon the easiest way of overcomming these rutts or obstacles go big tyres yourself or lockers or...?

Reason I ask is that my lux only has 32's on it and they are reasonably new so wont be getting replaced with anything bigger (not to mention the mods needed to go much bigger) and am concerned with how to overcome these same types of obstacles (without investing in a small bank)
Guess I should've put this in the tyre section sorry

Heath

[De-Ranged]

The tracks were rutted with lots of axle twister washouts The ruts were the bigger issue for me as I had limited clearance
And bigger tires are the way or Independent Syspension but thats another story... If your dragging your diffs a locka will help but not as much as that extra clearance!
For the record my Paj is on 30'' and it will stay on them till I wear them out after I screwed up my front end I managed to keep up with the surf and lux which were on a more "street" paterned mud tires but both were bigger think 31" or 32" Scotty up front is on 31" mongrels, but his truck can't get a warrent so it dosn't count

Cheers Reece

Ps seriously thinking about clearancing the diffs on my lux like jafa has done (have alook in the projects forum) this could be an option to look at Damm site cheaper than a locka or lift and tires!

[De-Ranged]

Hey Wopass

You have a pretty mean truck.... but I have this memory of a small hole that me and scotty got through with our little trucks ..... the same hole that beat your truck up

Cheers Reece

[wopass]

Hey Wopass

You have a pretty mean truck.... but I have this memory of a small hole that me and scotty got through with our little trucks ..... the same hole that beat your truck up

Cheers Reece

which one was that ?.. that drop of that i bent my steering link into a bannana ? yea that was funny .. i think i may have that sorted now..( i still have to do work on it ) bit of miss calculation on the clearance factor between the top of the spring pack and not enough room for the link to travel in between....

[De-Ranged]

get it all sorted and now your selling it.... your as bad as my ole man... the only time he finished something was when he was going to sell it

So you thought about a replacement after all you are going to need something to tow the bike trailer ... maybee a cheap hilux

Cheers Reece

[DJ]

So you thought about a replacement after all you are going to need something to tow the bike trailer ... maybee a cheap hilux

..... like an orange one with new wiring and alternator?????? I might know of one

[wopass]

have my family wagon for that, commodore s/w 3.8V6 fits all the bike gear and 4 blokes and tows my trailer with 4 bikes on it realy good

[De-Ranged]

so what no more 4 wheelin ??? you've had a 4WD for 20yrs and your gona give up ???

Cheers Reece

[wopass]

never said i was gettin out of it

[harris]

Minginui day 2

As everyone awoke from a good nights sleep we were greeted with mince and veggie soup on toast for breakfast at around 8:30 Everyone shared a few stories and tried to sort out the big screen to watch the previous days action. This was no success so we watched all the footage with no sound.

After that everyone started getting ready for the day ahead. Rhys started putting his logging skills to use as he fixed up Scotty’s busted winch rope from the day before as Scotty went and sorted out Rhys’s tyres that were starting to come off the bead. Ben went and spent a few minutes fueling up the mighty tank. After all this Rhys headed home ward as the rest of the crew headed for the hills.

We had two more local vehicles added to the group a 2.8super charged hilux surf and a Nissan tarrano. Scotty took the back roads into the hills as the rest took the main road in. We arrived after a short drive from the tavern and all parked at the bottom of the track and looked at the hill climb ahead. The mother ship (screaming supra hilux) went first and made it up after 3 attempts at the steep rutted clay hill climb. I was up next in my hilux but gave up shortly after wards when I bent the rear bumper in the deep ruts several times, so it was up the boys track for me and the next two followed. As we all got up the top Ben and Brynn in the Landcruiser showed us what those massive tyres are made for as they made easy work on the hill.

Next up was an extremely steep sand and clay hill climb which was thoroughly checked out before Scotty had the first go. Everyone was watching as he powered up the hill with dirt flying from all four wheels. He made it up three quarters of the way before bottoming out on the ruts and winched himself up out of the way for the Landcruiser to have a go. The cruiser looked like it was going to eat the hill for lunch until wheels started coming air borne and a bif bang came from underneath as the rear drive shaft broke. Bugga!

He winched himself onto the flat to realise that the pinion had slipped back into the diff when the drive shaft snapped. The diff was taken apart to fix the problem but unfortunately the spider gears were all welded up and the axles could not be taken out to get the pinion out. By this stage the rest of the group had roared up the medium track and were at the top of the big boys track but could not get any further. Luckily Scotty could and was able to snatch the super charged hilux up the hill as the Turrano and I drove back down to meet them up the track further. We carried on and left Ben,Brynn and David down the hill to fix up the broken Landcruiser,

Up the track the other hilux was having trouble with a nasty rutted piece of track so Scotty got in the drivers seat and didn’t give up getting the hilux through. This lead straight into a very steep sandy hill climb which neither seemed to have trouble with and met up with my hilux and the turrano. We carried on into a very hard bit of track led by the local in his hilux, through some ruts on a steep down hill, through a bog and straight into a steep clay hill climb which was found to be very slippery by all. The turrano had a second go successfully. This leads into a very, very steep down hill, which is very rutted and slippery. I led as I was in the best position to line up onto the ruts and went down with no damage and just a little slipping, the rest of the group followed with everyone helping out to make sure there were no problems.

Down the hill the hilux was stopped with a flat tyre as the bead came off the rim. A quick tyre change meant we were on our way back to collect the others. Scotty and I cut back into the track by the bog at the last hill climb and headed back down the track and the other hilux and turrano headed back down logging tracks to the bottom. Scotty noticed an old track on the way down so did a bit of bush crashing to open it back up but there was nothing fun on the piece of track so it probably won’t be driven again. We carried on down the track with a bit of 3 wheeling from me in the deep ruts, we finally got down to Ben and also helped some locals out of a sticky situation where they were stuck.

Ben and the team had sorted out the diff and he drove down the track in front wheel drive right to the bottom where he bent his steering arm a second time in the last 4 meters of the track. We all paired up at the bottom and looked at everyones damage, had a bit of a talk then everyone went home after a great day.

I’d like to say a special thanks to Scotty for organising the trip and accommodation also a Big thanks to Tony and Lisa from the Waitapu Tavern for an enjoyable stay at a very good price.

[Scott]

Bloody good report ,I've only just been able to look at it bloody dial up .Send it to 4x4 action mag .
cheers scott

[De-Ranged]

gee shucks you think its that good ... Has anyone else got anymore pics, maybee some from day 2?
I might just do that....
Got the video, I'm just waiting for it to be converted to digital.... the guy I've got doing it (he's the one with the gear) he's a bit busy a bit like me!

Cheers Reece

[mike]

you could send a copy of the vhs tape to me and ill convert it to digital and then it will make it on the dvd, I'm really struggling to get footage of peeps before I start putting this dvd togeather.

Mike

[De-Ranged]

Done!
PM me your address and I'll send it straight down

Cheers Reece

[DieselBoy]

.................... I'm really struggling to get footage of peeps before I start putting this dvd togeather.

Mike

[wopass]

i had a VHS tape somewhere with some 4x4 action on it, pretty lame as it was long ago and before i knew how to drive.... hang on...

i still cant drive

will see if i can find it,and if i can i might send it to ya if you want mike ?

[DieselBoy]

The Vid's and the stuff for oldblue is written on my hand in Black Permanent Marker.

I WILL NOT FORGET AGAIN

[wopass]

[wopass]

just been watching some old video footage of our early 4x4 trips classic stuff found my video's hiding in the pile at the back of the cabinet,pretty happy i still have them, ahh the good old days

[Scott]

Hi Reece, I dont think there's any photo's from day 2 .
Cheers scott

[De-Ranged]

Bugger! Oh well I've got a few more that didn't make it up on the trip report they'll have to do

Cheers Reece