Washita MX 7-30-11
This past weekend, I wandered out to Washita MX for the trucks second off-road outing. Overall, the truck performed very well, though there’s a few things that need to be changed up. I’ll get to those later.
We covered about 11 miles of trails (red dotted line):
Just a small group of people for this trip which consisted of a ’78 Bronco, YJ, and what is left of a CJ:
There are a few play areas scattered throughout the park, we stopped at one of them to get a couple of poser shots:
Not too long after these photos, the rear yoke on the Bronco decided to let go, so I followed him out of the park to make sure he’d get out on FWD. After airing him up, I headed back to join up with the rest of the group.
On the way back up, we took B-10 up to Bald Knob which was a blast. Somehow, I’d not mange to find this trail on previous outings. Near the top we came across this F-150. I’m guessing it managed to get there by means of wreckless abandonment with the assistance of throttle and gravity.:
Somewhere during the climb, I noticed my steering sucked (wasn’t getting the full turning ability). I found out why when I got to the top of the knob, guess I should have gotten around to putting on some sort of anti kick back device..
Oh, that’s ugly!
So I got to use my winch for the first “Real” time to get everything back in place. I’m very happy that the snatch block I ordered showed up right before this trip:
All Better:
We took it easy on the way out of the park, but somehow I still managed to cave in my Drivers door and pop off my door handle:
We played around on the washout that’s on the main trail as we were leaving:
Not too long after I took those photos, the sky opened up on us and gave us a good soaker. It was nice to be able to just roll up the windows as the Jeep guys got soaked.
Over all, the truck again performed very well, though there are a few things I need to take care of, such as:
– Need to replace the front springs. They were already sagging when I put them on, so bending one just helps the motivational factor some
– Need to get the anti kickback device in place in the front. I though that the limit straps would be enough, apparently not.
– Replace one of the front Bump Stops that got torn off during the axle relocation
– The rear fenders need to be trimmed a smidge more. Thankfully, I didn’t get into them nearly as bad as the first trip out.
– Drivers side Door handle needs to be replaced (it was loose anyway, why the hell did Ford rived the damn thing in????)
– Electric Fan needs to be installed (probably do that after our trip). The mechanical fan just doesn’t move enough air at Low speed/Low RMP situations (climbing in double low). And yes, the truck has a new fan clutch and fan on it, so the mechanical stuff is working correctly, there’s just not enough volume there.
– That Damn LSD needs to die a fiery death. Every time I was being denied, I could look back and watch one of my rear tires not doing squat. So something is going to get changed when we get back, and I’ll most likely regear at the same time as well.
There are some more nit picky type things, but for the most part the truck is close to being where I want it. Some things will be addressed pretty quickly (if the heat wave ever breaks), and some things will need to be put off until after our little road trip.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy with how the truck works as it sits. It nice to be able to let it craw up things as I’m dragging rocks/tress along the side of the cage. Heck, even the steering has enough oomph that I’m not really thinking about getting hydro assist anymore (a cooler for sure though). So if I were to never ‘fix’ the truck, I’d be happy rocking it as is for several more years.
On a related note note, the Removable Track Bar worked awesomely. It comes out easily, and has completely eliminated my death sway issue. Life is good cruising down the highway now.
I’m stoked about our upcoming trip out west, and just as eager for the next time I get to go out and do some more ‘local’ wheeling!