Pics from the dunes...

[Avery4jc]

We just got back from a great New Year's long weekend in the dunes. We met up with friends but I still managed to get a good amount of time behind the wheel in.

Of course the most interesting nights I didn't have my camera on me....
We met up with JDNobodi in his insanely built blazer and he let me ride along for one of his passes at the drag strip which was pretty wild. Maybe he can pipe in with specifics but we were haulin'.

Here's a couple clips from the weekend, you can see me testing out the front bump stops hitting a hill at an angle with a loud clunk. Oh and my dad happen to have the camera rolling when a cool tow rig turned pre-runner came by. We saw it earlier towing a trailer in with a matching rhino.

We ran into these guys who had this sweet pre-runner with it's nose buried in the sand. The nut holding the lower balljoint in backed off so the lower arm basically fell off and let the knuckle flop over. I let them use my hi-lift and we had it going again in no time.... and yes we some how found the nut.

 

[Avery4jc]

We were sitting at the drag strip and this cool k10 pulled up beside us to watch and at first I couldn't tell what was wrong with it but then I realized what was going on when I saw the hood. They cut the entire truck in half and removed a couple inches then welded it all back together! So it looks like a fullsize truck but it's a heck of a lot narrower. Pretty cool. The best part is after talking with the guys we realized not only were they from Fresno too but we only live about 2 miles from each other so maybe I can get him to get on here and post up some specs.

We recognized this rig from a house my dad used to read the meter at. It used to be a standard cab long bed chevy but he wanted more seating so he came up with this creation...

We saw this cool chopped up suburban one morning.... it looks like a cool way to get a bunch of people into the dunes.

That same morning the tide came in so high it pushed you all the way against the poles so you were forced to go through the water. I was trying to get some good pics of the chaos but it was so crowded I had to keep rolling.

 

[76zimmer]

so if you guys are out driving in the salt water, how come your sh!t don't rust out?
I'm sure its really diluted compared to the salt bath we get from our winter roads here.

 

[Avery4jc]

It does rust a little but it's mostly surface rust. That's also why I paint everything, it helps out quite a bit.
Also the night before we leave I'll run it over to the self car wash place up the street from the entrance to the dunes and drop a few quarters in to use the pressure washer and get it all off.

 

[chevysmithz71]

Nice pics. Truck did good i asume?? Your neighbors truck looks done right.Very neat.
That Scout (i think) creation looks GOD AWFUL. Suburbans cool too.

 

[Avery4jc]

Yeah my truck did ok. The anti-wrap bar worked perfect, I didn't have any wrap/bounce like we had on the last trip so that was good.
I really just need to get some more power, this old 350 sure is tired. Hurry up and put your injection on so I can buy your top end!
I need to cruise craigslist and find someone pulling some all terrains off of their tow rig and keep them to run in the sand. These TSL's bring the suck when it comes to soft sand. I'm thinking I could find some BFG, Procomp, Toyo all terrains or even some Nitto TG's like on my tow rig.


I'm uploading a movie with a couple short clips we shot this weekend. It's nothing spectacular but it's better than pics so that should be up in a couple minutes.

 

[chevysmithz71]

Cool. I will be pulling the stuff soon. So if you can wait, you know where its at.

 

[Avery4jc]

Yeah I can wait, I don't have anything planned for a while and I need to get through all the King of the Hammers stuff first.

The movie is almost uploaded, I'll add it to the first post.

 

[chevysmithz71]

no go on the video

 

[JDNobodi]

We met up with JDNobodi in his insanely built blazer and he let me ride along for one of his passes at the drag strip which was pretty wild. Maybe he can pipe in with specifics but we were haulin'.

Well, This was the last Hurrah for the blazer for a while since we are planning to pull the motor to inspect it after a season of racing. It seems an inspection of the blazer itself before we went out there last Saturday showed there is another problem with the Blazer, but we decided it would be good enough for one outing.
Anyway, we had race lined up with somebody from town so we went out there to meet up with him and some other people who where interested with what we where doing with our blazer.

Anyway, there a few videos taken but I only have one video myself so that is what I up loaded to Youtube. We are trying it get some cell phone videos from my nephew's friend. I've yet to figure out how to upload videos from a friend's camera.

 

[Avery4jc]

That's a good one. Your nephew's friend does have a great one on his cell phone from inside the blazer. I bet you could have him e-mail it from the phone then you could download it and upload it to youtube.

These guys were out there this weekend too. I followed them around for a little bit... they weren't afraid of the skinny pedal, that's for sure.

 

[blazinzuk]

you boys really need to plan a trip out here sometime. Our dunes are not as large (area wise) as pismo but from what I have seen and heard they are alot steeper with bigger bowls.

Fun stuff I tells yah

Pismo looks like a blast I would love to go there someday

 

[K5 Jess]

I need to cruise craigslist and find someone pulling some all terrains off of their tow rig and keep them to run in the sand. These TSL's bring the suck when it comes to soft sand. I'm thinking I could find some BFG, Procomp, Toyo all terrains or even some Nitto TG's like on my tow rig.

do AT's do better in the sand???

 

[Avery4jc]

you boys really need to plan a trip out here sometime. Our dunes are not as large (area wise) as pismo but from what I have seen and heard they are alot steeper with bigger bowls.

Fun stuff I tells yah

Pismo looks like a blast I would love to go there someday

There are some pretty steep areas out there but I generally don't have any pics/video of them because my truck can't make it up... so the only stuff you see in my pictures/movies is the mild sections.

I need to plan a trip to glamis though, they have some HUGE hills out there.

do AT's do better in the sand???

Unless you're a high horsepower rig like JDNobodi who's on paddles then yeah generally for your average truck like mine AT's do quite a bit better. My TSL's dig too much.

 

[chevysmithz71]

Nice video Avery. I didn't here near as much clunking, clanging and bangin after you romoved some leafs.Smother ride???

 

[JDNobodi]

Here some more.
The best one yet is too big to send by e-mail or TM.
I'll upload that one when I get it.

 

[Avery4jc]

Nice video Avery. I didn't here near as much clunking, clanging and bangin after you romoved some leafs.Smother ride???

haha, funny you mention that. I waited to shoot any footage until after I let the TC crossmember self-clearance the front d-shaft.
It was rubbing under load since I don't have a d-shaft spacer in anymore but after a day out in the sand at WOT it was good to go.
But yeah, it does ride quite a bit better than before. I had the front bump stops set so low it couldn't flex much but it kept the tires out of the fenders. Once I remove the inner fenders and do some more trimming I'll move them up a little.

Here some more.
The best one yet is too big to send by e-mail or TM.
I'll upload that one when I get it.

Good ones! We'll have to race when I finish my engine... just give me a 1/2 track head start and you can't use the bottle.