Redemption! Last weekend I went to Harlan with the Hardline crew but it didn't go exactly as I hoped it would. Between the magnet loose in the housing, the broken rear axle shaft, and the disassembled e-locker I spent as much time wrenching as I did wheeling. This weekend was the polar opposite, we ran all over Harlan and nobody has any serious issues.
The biggest deal for me was cream puff. You have to understand this trail in my mind, it's huge. When I first learned of it the aura started in that only three people had run it and nobody is a cab truck had ever run it. (To my knowledge that's still true, only buggies have made it up.) Jake Mitchel gave it a try but he broke and rolled down (and ran over his father in the process.) Dave Reese ran it but when he gave it a second tried he rolled badly. (Some of you were there) When I first bought my buggy a few years ago one of the motivations was to someday run cream puff. A couple of times I intended to hit it but I didn't want to go straight for it and break. Instead I broke on other stuff before I got the chance. One trip I actually looked at it from the top and decided I couldn't make it. Finally, because I often run with first gen toyotas it's no like anybody else is running it. They have to make a special diversion for me.
On Friday I pulled up on it when nobody was around just to get a feel for it. I learned the way it throws you into the right bank and just got a feel for it. I also got a feel for what kind of bump different sections of the cliff needed. I didn't intend to run it, I just wanted to feel it out and I did. On Saturday around 1:00 it was time. We had run just about the entire park (that we know of) and I was having a perfect weekend. Off to cream puff we went. Based on scouting the trail I thought the rocky cliff section would be the hard part, I honestly thought I could get my tacoma up the top section. When I made short work of the cliff I thought I was home free. Nope. I spent the next 5-8 minutes with full throttle assaults bouncing off the rev limiter trying to get past the top section. It was steep with a layer of wet dirt on top of smooth rock. It was like grease on glass to walk on but I eventually made it up. I felt like I had just won a championship game, I had literally spent years thinking about this trail. Next time I'm there I'm going to run it again but that time I'll do it easier.
Now for a few pics:
First gens don't have the approach angle of a buggy so the line on mason jar sometimes involves exiting to the left. The point on that rock might be 8' in the air.
This is my normal crew:
These first gens do great on lion's den. Kyle ran the entire thing without pushing in the clutch a single time. We got all 5 rigs through in about 15 minutes.
This monster was on its first shakedown run and it did great all weekend. I was pretty skeptical about 42" TSLs on toyota axles but he crawled everything, He ran lower damnation with no wheel spin. Big ties and a fairly light rig go a long way.
This is me on lions den:
My friend Shawn has my favorite off road license plate:
The biggest deal for me was cream puff. You have to understand this trail in my mind, it's huge. When I first learned of it the aura started in that only three people had run it and nobody is a cab truck had ever run it. (To my knowledge that's still true, only buggies have made it up.) Jake Mitchel gave it a try but he broke and rolled down (and ran over his father in the process.) Dave Reese ran it but when he gave it a second tried he rolled badly. (Some of you were there) When I first bought my buggy a few years ago one of the motivations was to someday run cream puff. A couple of times I intended to hit it but I didn't want to go straight for it and break. Instead I broke on other stuff before I got the chance. One trip I actually looked at it from the top and decided I couldn't make it. Finally, because I often run with first gen toyotas it's no like anybody else is running it. They have to make a special diversion for me.
On Friday I pulled up on it when nobody was around just to get a feel for it. I learned the way it throws you into the right bank and just got a feel for it. I also got a feel for what kind of bump different sections of the cliff needed. I didn't intend to run it, I just wanted to feel it out and I did. On Saturday around 1:00 it was time. We had run just about the entire park (that we know of) and I was having a perfect weekend. Off to cream puff we went. Based on scouting the trail I thought the rocky cliff section would be the hard part, I honestly thought I could get my tacoma up the top section. When I made short work of the cliff I thought I was home free. Nope. I spent the next 5-8 minutes with full throttle assaults bouncing off the rev limiter trying to get past the top section. It was steep with a layer of wet dirt on top of smooth rock. It was like grease on glass to walk on but I eventually made it up. I felt like I had just won a championship game, I had literally spent years thinking about this trail. Next time I'm there I'm going to run it again but that time I'll do it easier.
Now for a few pics:
First gens don't have the approach angle of a buggy so the line on mason jar sometimes involves exiting to the left. The point on that rock might be 8' in the air.
This is my normal crew:
These first gens do great on lion's den. Kyle ran the entire thing without pushing in the clutch a single time. We got all 5 rigs through in about 15 minutes.
This monster was on its first shakedown run and it did great all weekend. I was pretty skeptical about 42" TSLs on toyota axles but he crawled everything, He ran lower damnation with no wheel spin. Big ties and a fairly light rig go a long way.
This is me on lions den:
My friend Shawn has my favorite off road license plate:
