mountainexplorer
1/2 ton status
Friday night the 12th at 6pm, fired up the motor that I just put in my Stepside. Drove to the Town of Sprague, Wa that night at 11pm with it and stayed at a friends house. Raced it at the Sprague mud races having hardly any run time on it and by just setting the timing by ear. Found out I would have run the "Modified" class with non-street legal rigs because the Street and Trail class with 36 and under tires was no longer in existance.
So after taking the time to run 36's on it to stay within the Street and Trail class qualifications, I found out that I'd be running with modifies up to like 39" tires. We took out my Toyota too, still running with a wire from the carb into the cab to operate the throttle (throttle cable was broke). Found out they weren't running a 4 and 6 Cylinder class and I'd be running with the stock V8's.
No complaints, though it kinda sucked cause the two classes my rigs should have qualified for were bumped up to the next higher class as those other classes no longer existed. Only classes were "stock", "modified" and "X-class". But I'm not there for competition, just for fun.
Somehow ended up taking 3rd place in "Stock Class" in the Toyota and 2nd place in "Modified Class" with the Stepside.
Sunday went out to the Suncrest area with Freddy and Jeremiah and took my friends Rochelle and John with. Went up a couple of the little climbs and Fred did a more challenging rock with the crawler. With 36" tires, regular steering/tie rod on a big bulky Dana 60, I managed to bend my tie rod and puncture my front diff cover. Then Jeremiah backed up onto a big rock and twisted his rear driveline in half and even bent the frame. I went ahead and tried one of the rock just for pictures sake, then was determined to make it up (but I cheated in two ways). But I can technically say I went up and over. Was driving a little conservative beings that I had a hole in my front diff cover, was running maxed out air pressure in my tires, and I'm afraid to dent up my Stepside's body too bad. I did rip off my drivers side step. Oh well.
Here's pics from a motor install Friday, muddy Saturday and a rocky Sunday:
Hmmm... I'm supposed to drive this thing to the town of Sprague later on this same day.
Jim's Chevy truck already on my trailer ready to go. My Stepside is still motorless!
Saturday morning. We all made it there.
My stepside before I washed it.
My $400 Toyota with a wire through the firewall to pull on for throttle and backwards front boggers we didnt swap around yet.
Out on Sunday with Freddy and Jeremiah.
I knew I had no chance of making it up this... but wanted a couple "poser" shots.
Full tire pressure, 3 36" swampers, and one 36" Goodyear (horrible tire for anything but mud). Too lazy to air down... but hey, lets see how far I can go.
It started to go up even more... till it surprised me and I stopped. Bad idea. I stopped, and went back, then slid over. Oh well, time for more poser shots before I back down.
Time to back down? No... I want to go up still.
Ok, time to cheat and perform "self recovery"
Well, it was a fun weekend. No more play for me though. Back to work.
So after taking the time to run 36's on it to stay within the Street and Trail class qualifications, I found out that I'd be running with modifies up to like 39" tires. We took out my Toyota too, still running with a wire from the carb into the cab to operate the throttle (throttle cable was broke). Found out they weren't running a 4 and 6 Cylinder class and I'd be running with the stock V8's.
No complaints, though it kinda sucked cause the two classes my rigs should have qualified for were bumped up to the next higher class as those other classes no longer existed. Only classes were "stock", "modified" and "X-class". But I'm not there for competition, just for fun.
Somehow ended up taking 3rd place in "Stock Class" in the Toyota and 2nd place in "Modified Class" with the Stepside.
Sunday went out to the Suncrest area with Freddy and Jeremiah and took my friends Rochelle and John with. Went up a couple of the little climbs and Fred did a more challenging rock with the crawler. With 36" tires, regular steering/tie rod on a big bulky Dana 60, I managed to bend my tie rod and puncture my front diff cover. Then Jeremiah backed up onto a big rock and twisted his rear driveline in half and even bent the frame. I went ahead and tried one of the rock just for pictures sake, then was determined to make it up (but I cheated in two ways). But I can technically say I went up and over. Was driving a little conservative beings that I had a hole in my front diff cover, was running maxed out air pressure in my tires, and I'm afraid to dent up my Stepside's body too bad. I did rip off my drivers side step. Oh well.
Here's pics from a motor install Friday, muddy Saturday and a rocky Sunday:
Hmmm... I'm supposed to drive this thing to the town of Sprague later on this same day.
Jim's Chevy truck already on my trailer ready to go. My Stepside is still motorless!
Saturday morning. We all made it there.
My stepside before I washed it.
My $400 Toyota with a wire through the firewall to pull on for throttle and backwards front boggers we didnt swap around yet.
Out on Sunday with Freddy and Jeremiah.
I knew I had no chance of making it up this... but wanted a couple "poser" shots.
Full tire pressure, 3 36" swampers, and one 36" Goodyear (horrible tire for anything but mud). Too lazy to air down... but hey, lets see how far I can go.
It started to go up even more... till it surprised me and I stopped. Bad idea. I stopped, and went back, then slid over. Oh well, time for more poser shots before I back down.
Time to back down? No... I want to go up still.
Ok, time to cheat and perform "self recovery"
Well, it was a fun weekend. No more play for me though. Back to work.
