I wish my rig was Hardcore,

[blazinzuk]

An interesting aside here. I realize most on here can actually look at a rig whether it be Jeep Ford Chevy International or whatever and say, that rig is set up right.

When I first got into wheeling, the only guys I knew that went wheeling ran full sizes. I was in a Suzuki Samurai. They were always telling me how I don't have enough power to make it through there or I was going to roll cause I was so narrow or whatever.

Now I have a full size and I have Jeep guys and a number of zuk guys telling me I am too big too wide whatever to make a certain trail. Not really guys I wheel with on a regular basis but on larger trail rides.

Back in the day when I had my zuk I would just say well you guys can pull me out so I am good. Now I say well I can always just turn around if it gets too hard

I have wheeled long enough to realize its more about the driver than the rig.

Just my observation on wheeling for the day.

 

[ktmoutfront]

I have a 70 year old guy who wheels a 59 cj5. Stock front to back except for the 31" tires. Tries most things, goes around some. Always gets there.

 

[gotblazers]

I've been around a few people like this over the years. When I first started trailriding the K5 I got a lot of "looks" because it was the only fullsize truck that went on the trails. Obviously anything that said "Jeep" on it would do better even with stock tires and open diffs versus my larger mud tires and lockers. It didn't take long to change their minds and now everybody respects the K5 and a buddy who runs a '78 F-250. The F-250 is probably considered the most capable rig in the club and I would say the K5 is in the top 5.

The best time was several years ago on a trailride with our club. A couple of "new" guys showed up and one was an older fella' with a clean looking CJ-5 on 36" tires, shiny aluminum wheels, and a nice sounding V-8.....and of course he was critiquing everybodies rigs in the moring and telling them about all of the places he had wheeled before. 5 minutes into the trail he was stuck in a small washout that even open diff rigs on 33" tires had made it. Another 100 yards on a rock face it pulls up to it and with a small amount of throttle the front axle makes some horrible grinding noises. Pretty sure the front ring and pinion stripped. We offered to help him at least pull the cover but he refused stating "I just replace the gears yesterday"???? He had a winch so we hooked it up but it wouldn't pull the Jeep over this small ledge, so we tugged him up. At some point he also mentioned he had a locker in the rear. I noticed only one rear tire was spinning and if he had a locker, then something else was wrong. Turns out he had the factory worn-out Trac-lok (which is way closer to an open diff then a locker).

This section of trail was only about 1/2 mile long until we could get him to a gravel road and then back to pavement and his trailer. Once past this section of gravel you start a 7+ mile long fairly difficult trail with lots of mud and hills, and once in to it there is no turning back......definitely not a place to take a broken 1 wheel drive rig in to.

Anyway, I made the above suggeston and the guy gets make yelling out "I ain't no rookie.....I'll just run the other trail in 2wd"...."I ran all over Slade (Natural Bridge) Kentucky in 2wd...blah, blah, blah". Well, I've been to Slade numerous times and there are trails I have a hard time or can't go on with 40" tires, 1-tons, lockers, and 10 years of driving the same rig.

I told him that's fine, but he get in the back of the pack and we weren't going to be responsible to dragging him out of the trail when (not if) he further broke or got hopelessly stuck.

Let's just say that maybe 1/2 mile into the trail with the 304 at redline and driving kamikaze style he bent his tierod bouncing off a tree, then proceeded to almost knock himself out with the hi-lift fixing the above. Rest of the group also sat around for an hour while he was doing this. His buddy finally talked him into turning around and leaving.

Everyones lets their ego get the best of em every now and then. I've made a fool out of myself more than once and have seen others do the same. Doesnt mean the guy is an asshole he may have just been havin a off day or felt insecure as he was new to the group and wanted to prove himself. Just sayin dont completely dismiss people like this forever unless they act like that repeatedly but thats pretty rare in my experience. Damn i feel like Dr. Phil now

 

[6.2Blazer]

Everyones lets their ego get the best of em every now and then. I've made a fool out of myself more than once and have seen others do the same. Doesnt mean the guy is an asshole he may have just been havin a off day or felt insecure as he was new to the group and wanted to prove himself. Just sayin dont completely dismiss people like this forever unless they act like that repeatedly but thats pretty rare in my experience. Damn i feel like Dr. Phil now

99% of the time when we have new guys on the trail they take the experienced people's advice.....after running this particuliar trail dozens of times and spending many long days and nights fixing parts and pulling disabled rigs off the trail everybody knows you don't start this trail broke. Breaking in the middle of the trail is one thing, starting broke is something else.

The guy was an asshat, period. He didn't get a second chance.