Haha, I have the same little trail buddy!
CK5
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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond
- Thread starter mrk5
- Start date
Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
On the drive to and from Blazer Bash my butt dyno was telling me the crew cab seemed to have a little more power. I could pull passes further in a higher gear. Also feels different just driving around my usual haunts.
The Cat Scales I normally use is closed so I went to the next closest location (which is conveniently next to a truck stop diner we like).
Today:
With factory bed:
I'm calling it 400 pounds because I have about 10 gallons more fuel than the previous eight.
When I started the bed build I was trying to make sure it wasn't heavier than the factory bed. Most of the info I found said factory bed should be around 500 pounds. All the main steel pieces I bought totaled about 500 pounds.
I hauled the old bed off to scrap before Blazer Bash along with some other steel. That load was 1600 pounds and I figured half of that was the bed. That was my first hint the truck may have lost weight.
The Cat Scales I normally use is closed so I went to the next closest location (which is conveniently next to a truck stop diner we like).
Today:
With factory bed:
I'm calling it 400 pounds because I have about 10 gallons more fuel than the previous eight.
When I started the bed build I was trying to make sure it wasn't heavier than the factory bed. Most of the info I found said factory bed should be around 500 pounds. All the main steel pieces I bought totaled about 500 pounds.
I hauled the old bed off to scrap before Blazer Bash along with some other steel. That load was 1600 pounds and I figured half of that was the bed. That was my first hint the truck may have lost weight.
Interestingly, the weight balance is 57/43 in both cases.
Way better than any trail rated badges.
David
David
I had to mess with the selector switch on my blue crew cab too. Even though I still have dual tanks each tank is completely separate from each other (driver tank feeds motor, passenger tank is storage tank that transfers the fuel to driver tank). So when I redid the wiring to each pump in each tank, my main fuel gauge on the cluster wasn’t working. So I ran a new wire from the main gauge back to the sending unit at the driver tank and it fixed it.
400 pounds is pretty serious man! Good work, you will feel that on the trail and the road. You have to double check at the other scale though. If you're ever swinging through this area stop by and we'll throw it on the race scales too.
Some of that weigh loss was also the frame rails.
Added cables to hold the tailgate up. These were some random units I found on Amazon.
A 3/8" carriage bolt fit the slot perfectly after flattening the head just a little. Most of the time I will probably leave the cables unhooked because it's easier getting stuff in and out with the tailgate all the way down. However, we wanted to have the ability to hold the tailgate horizontal for a work surface and food prep.
A 3/8" carriage bolt fit the slot perfectly after flattening the head just a little. Most of the time I will probably leave the cables unhooked because it's easier getting stuff in and out with the tailgate all the way down. However, we wanted to have the ability to hold the tailgate horizontal for a work surface and food prep.
Thanks to the crew than ran Pritchett with me, I have some video footage of the crew cab. I think most of it came from @AgDieseler but if anyone else contributed I appreciate it.
I know not everyone likes reading books, but in the spirit of @diesel4me I'm going to type up my experience on Pritchett Canyon.
I wasn't even sure I was going to Blazer Bash this year up until about a month before; mostly thanks to @Raggedy_Ann and @doubletrouble offering my son and a place to sleep. I had thought some about running Pritchett but I have to admit after flopping on Wheeler Lake, I was questioning the wisdom. After a phone call with @AgDieseler giving me some encouragement and confirming there was a spot available in the group, I decided this year would be as good as any.
I will confess I didn't get much sleep the night before the trail. I was thinking about the things that could go wrong on the trail. Unfortunately I have a bad habit of leaving the door open for the Worry Wonk many nights and he definitely capitalized on that night. Luckily the lack of sleep didn't affect me on the trail and really didn't hit me until I was home from Blazer Bash.
I was glad to hear we were getting an early start on the trail. I normally get up at 4:30AM and I was looking forward to having cooler temperatures for a little while on the trail. We were the first to arrive at the meeting spot; I think we were there 30 minutes before the next rig arrived.
We stopped at the entrance and paid the $5 fee they request. I couldn't help but wonder why does the sign there say "Prichard Canyon"?
The first obstacle we came to was "Down N Dirty". We all walked over to take a look at this one and I was a bit taken aback. How the heck were we going to get down this?! I'm never a big fan of going down obstacles because it really just a function of brakes and controlling gravity. This is where the other group caught up to us in their more built rigs. I overheard some comments from them about how much more gnarly this obstacle looked. I don't think the pictures or video do it much justice, but this one comes about the closest:
We all made it down unscathed utilizing 2 different lines. It was just a short distance to the next obstacle. Chewy is probably one of the more well known obstacles on Pritchett. @AgDieseler was the first up it and I think he was the only one to make it without the assistance of a winch. I have a picture of David climbing Chewy, but I think the clips in my video do the best at illustrating the challenge of this obstacle.
After Chewy it's pretty mellow with a few obstacles that on most trails would be a big deal, but on Pritchett they seem easier in comparison to the big, well known stuff. There was another good sized downhill obstacle, but it wasn't too bad. A good exercise for @AgDieseler' suspension.
This was an optional climb:
There was what would seem to be a pretty unconcerning hill to climb, but it had some big rocks; one of which decided it really need to get know @AgDieseler's suburban:
You can spy him doing battle with the rock up there in the distance. I believe that rock was responsible for damaging the rear drive shaft along with some sheet metal.
The next well known obstacle is Rocker Knocker. There is definitely a trick to this obstacle and we just didn't seem to be able to get the right line. There is footage of me winching up in the video above, but I don't seen to have any pictures. After the obstacle you have to make a pretty impressive hill climb up higher onto a plateau. It was a nice place to stop because there was a good breeze.
After driving thru an obstacle called Broken Steps, you come to Axle Hill. This was an obstacle I didn't remember hearing much about before running the trail. After walking up to survey the challenge, it was the first time in the day I truly felt like there was no way I could make it. After watching @AgDieseler make the first ascent, it didn't seem like the winch anchors were in the best locations to help. Frankly I didn't see any way I was getting up Axle Hill without killing my rear driveshaft. There is badly placed rock/ledge at the top that looked like it was very close to everyone's rear drive shaft. I started thinking about how hard/expensive it was going to be to get a driveshaft repair done on Monday!
In the end I made it up Axle Hill without a winch and no driveshaft damage!
Took a couple of tries to get the timing right. Also a couple of tries without the ARB's engaged... Big thanks to David's buddy Kris for spotting me up that one!
Rock Pile was up pretty quickly after Axle Hill. Fortunately there's the optional Son of Rock Pile that has gotten even easier after a piece of ledge broke off to fill in the undercut.
Yellow Hill is the last of the named obstacles and basically the end of the trail.
At the top of Yellow Hill is an awesome view of the canyon.
I'm pretty certain is was 7:30AM when we started the trail. We made it to the top/end of the trail at 3:15PM. For the drive out from the end we took the "easy dirt road". It may be easy, but it's rougher 'n hell! I hated that road. Pretty sure it was responsible for the 2 bolts that fell out of the driveshaft flange.
Would I run it again? Honestly, I probably wouldn't. The main reason is, I don't know what I could do with my truck that would make it more successful. Contrary to what it may have seemed in the video at the beginning of this post, I only had to winch on 2 obstacles; Chewy and Rocker Knocker. I think it's possible to get up Rocker Knocker successfully with the right line, but I just don't know about Chewy.
I was asked a lot if I had fun. I don't know that I would call Pritchett "fun", but I will say I did enjoy the challenge. I was also asked several times before the trail if I was "excited". My answer was "I know I will be excited when we get to the end of the trail" and I would say that turned out to be very true.
After reading all of this, you might be wondering how I feel about my experience on Pritchett. I have zero regrets about running the trail. It definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone. It was a very good experience due to the great group I ran with @AgDieseler @rderosier @4door99 @Fastereddie @kgblazerfive and Riley Watson (not sure if he has a screenname here). Riley did awesome in his flat bed K10. He has a real knack for picking good lines and then executing. Everyone one did great and there was no hesitation to try an obstacle or help someone else when it was needed. It was great to have Kris along with his experience running Pritchett he helped out spotting a lot. Everyone's co-pilot jumped in and helped a lot.
I will say it might be a more enjoyable experience if it wasn't so dang hot!
Now I only have 2 "Jeep Safari" challenges left, Rusty Nail and The Pickle.
I know not everyone likes reading books, but in the spirit of @diesel4me I'm going to type up my experience on Pritchett Canyon.
I wasn't even sure I was going to Blazer Bash this year up until about a month before; mostly thanks to @Raggedy_Ann and @doubletrouble offering my son and a place to sleep. I had thought some about running Pritchett but I have to admit after flopping on Wheeler Lake, I was questioning the wisdom. After a phone call with @AgDieseler giving me some encouragement and confirming there was a spot available in the group, I decided this year would be as good as any.
I will confess I didn't get much sleep the night before the trail. I was thinking about the things that could go wrong on the trail. Unfortunately I have a bad habit of leaving the door open for the Worry Wonk many nights and he definitely capitalized on that night. Luckily the lack of sleep didn't affect me on the trail and really didn't hit me until I was home from Blazer Bash.
I was glad to hear we were getting an early start on the trail. I normally get up at 4:30AM and I was looking forward to having cooler temperatures for a little while on the trail. We were the first to arrive at the meeting spot; I think we were there 30 minutes before the next rig arrived.
We stopped at the entrance and paid the $5 fee they request. I couldn't help but wonder why does the sign there say "Prichard Canyon"?
The first obstacle we came to was "Down N Dirty". We all walked over to take a look at this one and I was a bit taken aback. How the heck were we going to get down this?! I'm never a big fan of going down obstacles because it really just a function of brakes and controlling gravity. This is where the other group caught up to us in their more built rigs. I overheard some comments from them about how much more gnarly this obstacle looked. I don't think the pictures or video do it much justice, but this one comes about the closest:
We all made it down unscathed utilizing 2 different lines. It was just a short distance to the next obstacle. Chewy is probably one of the more well known obstacles on Pritchett. @AgDieseler was the first up it and I think he was the only one to make it without the assistance of a winch. I have a picture of David climbing Chewy, but I think the clips in my video do the best at illustrating the challenge of this obstacle.
After Chewy it's pretty mellow with a few obstacles that on most trails would be a big deal, but on Pritchett they seem easier in comparison to the big, well known stuff. There was another good sized downhill obstacle, but it wasn't too bad. A good exercise for @AgDieseler' suspension.
This was an optional climb:
There was what would seem to be a pretty unconcerning hill to climb, but it had some big rocks; one of which decided it really need to get know @AgDieseler's suburban:
You can spy him doing battle with the rock up there in the distance. I believe that rock was responsible for damaging the rear drive shaft along with some sheet metal.
The next well known obstacle is Rocker Knocker. There is definitely a trick to this obstacle and we just didn't seem to be able to get the right line. There is footage of me winching up in the video above, but I don't seen to have any pictures. After the obstacle you have to make a pretty impressive hill climb up higher onto a plateau. It was a nice place to stop because there was a good breeze.
After driving thru an obstacle called Broken Steps, you come to Axle Hill. This was an obstacle I didn't remember hearing much about before running the trail. After walking up to survey the challenge, it was the first time in the day I truly felt like there was no way I could make it. After watching @AgDieseler make the first ascent, it didn't seem like the winch anchors were in the best locations to help. Frankly I didn't see any way I was getting up Axle Hill without killing my rear driveshaft. There is badly placed rock/ledge at the top that looked like it was very close to everyone's rear drive shaft. I started thinking about how hard/expensive it was going to be to get a driveshaft repair done on Monday!
In the end I made it up Axle Hill without a winch and no driveshaft damage!
Took a couple of tries to get the timing right. Also a couple of tries without the ARB's engaged... Big thanks to David's buddy Kris for spotting me up that one!Rock Pile was up pretty quickly after Axle Hill. Fortunately there's the optional Son of Rock Pile that has gotten even easier after a piece of ledge broke off to fill in the undercut.
Yellow Hill is the last of the named obstacles and basically the end of the trail.
At the top of Yellow Hill is an awesome view of the canyon.
I'm pretty certain is was 7:30AM when we started the trail. We made it to the top/end of the trail at 3:15PM. For the drive out from the end we took the "easy dirt road". It may be easy, but it's rougher 'n hell! I hated that road. Pretty sure it was responsible for the 2 bolts that fell out of the driveshaft flange.
Would I run it again? Honestly, I probably wouldn't. The main reason is, I don't know what I could do with my truck that would make it more successful. Contrary to what it may have seemed in the video at the beginning of this post, I only had to winch on 2 obstacles; Chewy and Rocker Knocker. I think it's possible to get up Rocker Knocker successfully with the right line, but I just don't know about Chewy.
I was asked a lot if I had fun. I don't know that I would call Pritchett "fun", but I will say I did enjoy the challenge. I was also asked several times before the trail if I was "excited". My answer was "I know I will be excited when we get to the end of the trail" and I would say that turned out to be very true.
After reading all of this, you might be wondering how I feel about my experience on Pritchett. I have zero regrets about running the trail. It definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone. It was a very good experience due to the great group I ran with @AgDieseler @rderosier @4door99 @Fastereddie @kgblazerfive and Riley Watson (not sure if he has a screenname here). Riley did awesome in his flat bed K10. He has a real knack for picking good lines and then executing. Everyone one did great and there was no hesitation to try an obstacle or help someone else when it was needed. It was great to have Kris along with his experience running Pritchett he helped out spotting a lot. Everyone's co-pilot jumped in and helped a lot.
I will say it might be a more enjoyable experience if it wasn't so dang hot!
Now I only have 2 "Jeep Safari" challenges left, Rusty Nail and The Pickle.
Great follow up on the run! I had a great time wheeling with you and all the rest. Definitely a bucket list experience. Thanks for the invite @AgDieseler !Thanks to the crew than ran Pritchett with me, I have some video footage of the crew cab. I think most of it came from @AgDieseler but if anyone else contributed I appreciate it.
I know not everyone likes reading books, but in the spirit of @diesel4me I'm going to type up my experience on Pritchett Canyon.
I wasn't even sure I was going to Blazer Bash this year up until about a month before; mostly thanks to @Raggedy_Ann and @doubletrouble offering my son and a place to sleep. I had thought some about running Pritchett but I have to admit after flopping on Wheeler Lake, I was questioning the wisdom. After a phone call with @AgDieseler giving me some encouragement and confirming there was a spot available in the group, I decided this year would be as good as any.
I will confess I didn't get much sleep the night before the trail. I was thinking about the things that could go wrong on the trail. Unfortunately I have a bad habit of leaving the door open for the Worry Wonk many nights and he definitely capitalized on that night. Luckily the lack of sleep didn't affect me on the trail and really didn't hit me until I was home from Blazer Bash.
I was glad to hear we were getting an early start on the trail. I normally get up at 4:30AM and I was looking forward to having cooler temperatures for a little while on the trail. We were the first to arrive at the meeting spot; I think we were there 30 minutes before the next rig arrived.
We stopped at the entrance and paid the $5 fee they request. I couldn't help but wonder why does the sign there say "Prichard Canyon"?
View attachment 390938
The first obstacle we came to was "Down N Dirty". We all walked over to take a look at this one and I was a bit taken aback. How the heck were we going to get down this?! I'm never a big fan of going down obstacles because it really just a function of brakes and controlling gravity. This is where the other group caught up to us in their more built rigs. I overheard some comments from them about how much more gnarly this obstacle looked. I don't think the pictures or video do it much justice, but this one comes about the closest:
View attachment 390939
We all made it down unscathed utilizing 2 different lines. It was just a short distance to the next obstacle. Chewy is probably one of the more well known obstacles on Pritchett. @AgDieseler was the first up it and I think he was the only one to make it without the assistance of a winch. I have a picture of David climbing Chewy, but I think the clips in my video do the best at illustrating the challenge of this obstacle.
View attachment 390944
After Chewy it's pretty mellow with a few obstacles that on most trails would be a big deal, but on Pritchett they seem easier in comparison to the big, well known stuff. There was another good sized downhill obstacle, but it wasn't too bad. A good exercise for @AgDieseler' suspension.
View attachment 390955
This was an optional climb:
View attachment 390956
There was what would seem to be a pretty unconcerning hill to climb, but it had some big rocks; one of which decided it really need to get know @AgDieseler's suburban:
View attachment 390958
View attachment 390970
You can spy him doing battle with the rock up there in the distance. I believe that rock was responsible for damaging the rear drive shaft along with some sheet metal.
View attachment 390959
The next well known obstacle is Rocker Knocker. There is definitely a trick to this obstacle and we just didn't seem to be able to get the right line. There is footage of me winching up in the video above, but I don't seen to have any pictures. After the obstacle you have to make a pretty impressive hill climb up higher onto a plateau. It was a nice place to stop because there was a good breeze.
View attachment 390974
View attachment 390971
After driving thru an obstacle called Broken Steps, you come to Axle Hill. This was an obstacle I didn't remember hearing much about before running the trail. After walking up to survey the challenge, it was the first time in the day I truly felt like there was no way I could make it. After watching @AgDieseler make the first ascent, it didn't seem like the winch anchors were in the best locations to help. Frankly I didn't see any way I was getting up Axle Hill without killing my rear driveshaft. There is badly placed rock/ledge at the top that looked like it was very close to everyone's rear drive shaft. I started thinking about how hard/expensive it was going to be to get a driveshaft repair done on Monday!
View attachment 390975
View attachment 390976
In the end I made it up Axle Hill without a winch and no driveshaft damage!
Rock Pile was up pretty quickly after Axle Hill. Fortunately there's the optional Son of Rock Pile that has gotten even easier after a piece of ledge broke off to fill in the undercut.
Yellow Hill is the last of the named obstacles and basically the end of the trail.
View attachment 390977
At the top of Yellow Hill is an awesome view of the canyon.
View attachment 390978
I'm pretty certain is was 7:30AM when we started the trail. We made it to the top/end of the trail at 3:15PM. For the drive out from the end we took the "easy dirt road". It may be easy, but it's rougher 'n hell! I hated that road. Pretty sure it was responsible for the 2 bolts that fell out of the driveshaft flange.
Would I run it again? Honestly, I probably wouldn't. The main reason is, I don't know what I could do with my truck that would make it more successful. Contrary to what it may have seemed in the video at the beginning of this post, I only had to winch on 2 obstacles; Chewy and Rocker Knocker. I think it's possible to get up Rocker Knocker successfully with the right line, but I just don't know about Chewy.
I was asked a lot if I had fun. I don't know that I would call Pritchett "fun", but I will say I did enjoy the challenge. I was also asked several times before the trail if I was "excited". My answer was "I know I will be excited when we get to the end of the trail" and I would say that turned out to be very true.
After reading all of this, you might be wondering how I feel about my experience on Pritchett. I have zero regrets about running the trail. It definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone. It was a very good experience due to the great group I ran with @AgDieseler @rderosier @4door99 @Fastereddie @kgblazerfive and Riley Watson (not sure if he has a screenname here). Riley did awesome in his flat bed K10. He has a real knack for picking good lines and then executing. Everyone one did great and there was no hesitation to try an obstacle or help someone else when it was needed. It was great to have Kris along with his experience running Pritchett he helped out spotting a lot. Everyone's co-pilot jumped in and helped a lot.
I will say it might be a more enjoyable experience if it wasn't so dang hot!
Now I only have 2 "Jeep Safari" challenges left, Rusty Nail and The Pickle.
Great rundown and it was awesome running that trail with you and everyone else.Thanks to the crew than ran Pritchett with me, I have some video footage of the crew cab. I think most of it came from @AgDieseler but if anyone else contributed I appreciate it.
I know not everyone likes reading books, but in the spirit of @diesel4me I'm going to type up my experience on Pritchett Canyon.
I wasn't even sure I was going to Blazer Bash this year up until about a month before; mostly thanks to @Raggedy_Ann and @doubletrouble offering my son and a place to sleep. I had thought some about running Pritchett but I have to admit after flopping on Wheeler Lake, I was questioning the wisdom. After a phone call with @AgDieseler giving me some encouragement and confirming there was a spot available in the group, I decided this year would be as good as any.
I will confess I didn't get much sleep the night before the trail. I was thinking about the things that could go wrong on the trail. Unfortunately I have a bad habit of leaving the door open for the Worry Wonk many nights and he definitely capitalized on that night. Luckily the lack of sleep didn't affect me on the trail and really didn't hit me until I was home from Blazer Bash.
I was glad to hear we were getting an early start on the trail. I normally get up at 4:30AM and I was looking forward to having cooler temperatures for a little while on the trail. We were the first to arrive at the meeting spot; I think we were there 30 minutes before the next rig arrived.
We stopped at the entrance and paid the $5 fee they request. I couldn't help but wonder why does the sign there say "Prichard Canyon"?
View attachment 390938
The first obstacle we came to was "Down N Dirty". We all walked over to take a look at this one and I was a bit taken aback. How the heck were we going to get down this?! I'm never a big fan of going down obstacles because it really just a function of brakes and controlling gravity. This is where the other group caught up to us in their more built rigs. I overheard some comments from them about how much more gnarly this obstacle looked. I don't think the pictures or video do it much justice, but this one comes about the closest:
View attachment 390939
We all made it down unscathed utilizing 2 different lines. It was just a short distance to the next obstacle. Chewy is probably one of the more well known obstacles on Pritchett. @AgDieseler was the first up it and I think he was the only one to make it without the assistance of a winch. I have a picture of David climbing Chewy, but I think the clips in my video do the best at illustrating the challenge of this obstacle.
View attachment 390944
After Chewy it's pretty mellow with a few obstacles that on most trails would be a big deal, but on Pritchett they seem easier in comparison to the big, well known stuff. There was another good sized downhill obstacle, but it wasn't too bad. A good exercise for @AgDieseler' suspension.
View attachment 390955
This was an optional climb:
View attachment 390956
There was what would seem to be a pretty unconcerning hill to climb, but it had some big rocks; one of which decided it really need to get know @AgDieseler's suburban:
View attachment 390958
View attachment 390970
You can spy him doing battle with the rock up there in the distance. I believe that rock was responsible for damaging the rear drive shaft along with some sheet metal.
View attachment 390959
The next well known obstacle is Rocker Knocker. There is definitely a trick to this obstacle and we just didn't seem to be able to get the right line. There is footage of me winching up in the video above, but I don't seen to have any pictures. After the obstacle you have to make a pretty impressive hill climb up higher onto a plateau. It was a nice place to stop because there was a good breeze.
View attachment 390974
View attachment 390971
After driving thru an obstacle called Broken Steps, you come to Axle Hill. This was an obstacle I didn't remember hearing much about before running the trail. After walking up to survey the challenge, it was the first time in the day I truly felt like there was no way I could make it. After watching @AgDieseler make the first ascent, it didn't seem like the winch anchors were in the best locations to help. Frankly I didn't see any way I was getting up Axle Hill without killing my rear driveshaft. There is badly placed rock/ledge at the top that looked like it was very close to everyone's rear drive shaft. I started thinking about how hard/expensive it was going to be to get a driveshaft repair done on Monday!
View attachment 390975
View attachment 390976
In the end I made it up Axle Hill without a winch and no driveshaft damage!
Rock Pile was up pretty quickly after Axle Hill. Fortunately there's the optional Son of Rock Pile that has gotten even easier after a piece of ledge broke off to fill in the undercut.
Yellow Hill is the last of the named obstacles and basically the end of the trail.
View attachment 390977
At the top of Yellow Hill is an awesome view of the canyon.
View attachment 390978
I'm pretty certain is was 7:30AM when we started the trail. We made it to the top/end of the trail at 3:15PM. For the drive out from the end we took the "easy dirt road". It may be easy, but it's rougher 'n hell! I hated that road. Pretty sure it was responsible for the 2 bolts that fell out of the driveshaft flange.
Would I run it again? Honestly, I probably wouldn't. The main reason is, I don't know what I could do with my truck that would make it more successful. Contrary to what it may have seemed in the video at the beginning of this post, I only had to winch on 2 obstacles; Chewy and Rocker Knocker. I think it's possible to get up Rocker Knocker successfully with the right line, but I just don't know about Chewy.
I was asked a lot if I had fun. I don't know that I would call Pritchett "fun", but I will say I did enjoy the challenge. I was also asked several times before the trail if I was "excited". My answer was "I know I will be excited when we get to the end of the trail" and I would say that turned out to be very true.
After reading all of this, you might be wondering how I feel about my experience on Pritchett. I have zero regrets about running the trail. It definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone. It was a very good experience due to the great group I ran with @AgDieseler @rderosier @4door99 @Fastereddie @kgblazerfive and Riley Watson (not sure if he has a screenname here). Riley did awesome in his flat bed K10. He has a real knack for picking good lines and then executing. Everyone one did great and there was no hesitation to try an obstacle or help someone else when it was needed. It was great to have Kris along with his experience running Pritchett he helped out spotting a lot. Everyone's co-pilot jumped in and helped a lot.
I will say it might be a more enjoyable experience if it wasn't so dang hot!
Now I only have 2 "Jeep Safari" challenges left, Rusty Nail and The Pickle.
Worth noting on the two obstacles you had to winch, only @AgDieseler made chewy without wincing and none of us cleaned rocker knocker so id say it was a big success.
That’s a real great summary, Scott.
A second try at chewy is the main reason I wanted to run it again. I had to winch last time, but lower tire pressure and a more stable rear suspension really helped this time. No hop, wrap, or bounce, and on up it goes. Rocker knocker is all finesse. I kind of want to try that one again, but not enough to go drag all my sheet metal through those tight spots a third time.
I would echo your comments about the quality of our group being key to the experience. The trucks were very well prepared, but the team effort is what made the day so enjoyable, and cold snacks at the top of yellow hill were just that much sweeter.
David
A second try at chewy is the main reason I wanted to run it again. I had to winch last time, but lower tire pressure and a more stable rear suspension really helped this time. No hop, wrap, or bounce, and on up it goes. Rocker knocker is all finesse. I kind of want to try that one again, but not enough to go drag all my sheet metal through those tight spots a third time.
I would echo your comments about the quality of our group being key to the experience. The trucks were very well prepared, but the team effort is what made the day so enjoyable, and cold snacks at the top of yellow hill were just that much sweeter.
David
Well we might as well run Pickle on Friday next year so you can mark that off your list. Then you can run Hell’s with us on Sunday.
Plus people keep saying Pritchett only gets harder every year.
I think the way to run Pritchett and have what I consider "fun" would be in a buggy. Running it in full body trucks is a different kind of enjoyment where it's about the challenges and overcoming them.
I was thinking about that Friday idea. Running Golden Spike on Saturday will be my second time, but first time in the crew cab.
A couple of thoughts I had after the Pritchett experience for changes to make on the truck.
The throttle had a sticking point which led me to give a little more throttle than I wanted a few times. The next day it was also hanging up a little. However it hasn't given me any fits since. I'm thinking I need to replace the factory throttle cable with a Lokar. I never liked how the factory cables fit and I'm wondering if it's binding a little now.
After watching all the video footage, I feel like I should experiment with letting more air out of the tires. I think I ran Pritchett at 18psi front and 15psi rear. In the video it seems like the tires are on the stiff side.
On a positive note, I really like having the remote winch control. It allowed me to easily drive the truck while still operating the winch.
I was going to say something about the tires, but I've never wheeled out there before so I didn't wanna open my mouth and sound like a dummy. Do you have beadlocks or no?
Why so much air?
Martin
Martin
Thanks for the write up @mrk5 ! I really wish I would have been able to go with you guys this year. Seems like the group was just about perfect for how I would want to run it, and it may have been an opportunity lost.
Unless chewy has gotten harder since last year, I think you could do it. It took some time, but I was able to get right up to the winch point before I lost my front brake line. I was basically up, just needed to make the turn to the right and drive out, and I think your rig is more capable than mine.
Afa tire pressure goes, I honestly think a lot of people run way too much. I typically run 8-10 psi myself. I have burped a tire twice but never had one come off. Once I get beadlocks I may go even lower.
Unless chewy has gotten harder since last year, I think you could do it. It took some time, but I was able to get right up to the winch point before I lost my front brake line. I was basically up, just needed to make the turn to the right and drive out, and I think your rig is more capable than mine.
Afa tire pressure goes, I honestly think a lot of people run way too much. I typically run 8-10 psi myself. I have burped a tire twice but never had one come off. Once I get beadlocks I may go even lower.
I don't have beadlocks. Back in the day when lots of people were running MTRs the rule of thumb was 28psi street and 15psi trail. I do 18psi on the front because of the weight of my rig.
One time we weren't paying attention on my buddy's rig running the old MTRs and let one drop to 12psi and sure enough we punctured the sidewall. We've also blown tires off the bead a couple times in the past couple of years - not mine, but others. So all of that makes me leery to drop too low.
I'm at the age were old habits are deeply ingrained.
But I am revising my thinking after recent experiences.It's ironic because I think the same thing too about people running their tire pressure too high. Then I watched the video and I was thinking I'm guilty of the same thing!
Some of the reluctance with Chewy was that it was the first big obstacle. I didn't want to blow it up first thing in the day.
By the time we got to Axle Hill, I was like "let's get this done driveshaft be damned!". 
Luckily I think all the time I put into doing the shims and moving the trans/tcase/carrier bearing up paid off in keeping the driveshaft out of harm's way.I do think the tire shop told me the Robby Gordon wheels I'm running now have a really tight bead. Plus the old MTRs were pretty notorious for having weak sidewalls which is why we were so worried about the tire pressure in them. So I'll probably experiment with lower tire pressures.
It looks like on chewy I was a lot further over to the DS than you. Also, curious on how your line compares to mine on down 'n dirty.
Of course this is as far as I've ever gotten lol, so can't compare anything else.
Of course this is as far as I've ever gotten lol, so can't compare anything else.
