First day on trail ride report

[Guest Lenny]

Wow, can't beleive the stuff I doing with the Trooper. It's saturday nite and My daughter, wife and myself are at Logandale trails which is in southern Nevada next to the Vally of Fire next to Lake Mead. There is not a sole around except us in our little camper. Just happen to have internet. Riding today I saw a bunch of rock crawler jeeps, I thought, these trails arn't any real challenge for the jeeps. Then I saw it, a knarlly rock trail going fthrough some really rough stuff. I could see steep sections that were covered with black tire marks from the jeeps. I looked at the first one and thought, yah, the jeeps can definantely go up some serious stuff. Couldn't help from driving to the point below the climb which was about 10-12 feet tall. Rocks jetting out everywhere, just plain tough looking. I put it in 4wheel locked and thought I would take a run up part of it just to see how it felt. Felt pretty good. Thought what the heck, take a shot at it. Went right up it without any problem. Amazed, I tried it again. went right up again. Well, lets just go up the jeep trail a bit, but I could see stuff ahead that I figured would stop, me. Well I just kept going, through all the tough spots until I figured I needed to turn back because it was getting torwards evening. There was a bunch of jeep people camping near the trail. I don't know what they thought but I kinda figured that they probably chuckled a little when they saw me looking at thier trails, thinking, common guy, get serious. I wonder what they thought when I proceeded to go way up the trail and out of sight. Don't get me wrong, the jeeps can go paces I can't but this Trooper is one very impressive machine. I'll take pics tomorrow and post them next week.

Rocmoc, I do have to work the clutch pretty hard sometimes and power steering would be nice.

Lenny

[rocmoc]

Sounds great Lenny.

I wondered if there was any riding near the Valley of Fire. I found the Campground some time ago on Google but nothing about being able to play off-road. Is this somewhere worth making a fairly long pull to for a stay n play? The area looks like a mini-Moab from the pics I have viewed online.

We will have to pursue the clutch & power steering. Big benefit to us big wheel people.

How did the shocks do? Now that you have both the shocks & wheels/tires, what would be your upgrade be after having the big tires & wheels (Shocks or Power Steering)? The budget & time are limited!

Pics, PIcs, PICs and more PICS of that trail!

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

[Guest Lenny]

It's Saturday morning and the weather is perfect. Can't wait to get out on the trails. The shocks as flatbed said climb better, a lot better. The wheels keep a more even pressure on the ground in even very uneven terrain. This is a big advantage as all wheels pull hard all the time. The big tires especially running them soft ( 8# and 10#) form to the rocks and surface for a big footprint. The Baja Claw tire is a soft compound so it grips rock like glue. All this put together, I pretty much just don't spin at all unless its loose shale.

Rocmoc, your list of needs are about right. Power steering and clutch advancements to start. I think that a steering stabilizer might be good and I think I want to look at the structural intergity of the ball joints at the spindle hubs and the arms they attach to. Being down hill at 45 degrees and up against ruts and rocks etc. puts a lot of force on these points. I had no clearance problems on the tougher jeep trails at all. With the 14-1/2" of travel wth only about 3" off full droop and the big tires clearance is about perfect. For side stability, I would rather not be any taller nor do I need to be.

Logandale trails is a nice place with a variety of terrain from hard core jeep to rolley polley neat mounds to open trail and some sand dunes which I havn't been to yet. It is definetly worth a drive to get here. There is also a place called Nelson Hills south of here maybe 50 miles near Boulder, Nv. It is a neat place too with a different personality. Rocmoc, I figure if you want to make the trip, I would enjoy meeeting you here and maybe take in both places as long as your up here. It's only ablut a 2 hour drive for me to logandale and a little longer to Nelson Hills. Maybe we could get some of the other guys to join us and make 3 or 4 days of it. I'll bet Kinarfi would come and he would be good company. One of the guys lives near Las Vegas I beleive so it would be real close for him. The commerodity would be great. The wives can all get support from each other about how foolish we are with our big boy toys. If they all get togetherr, they may be a force to reckon with.

I'll be doing picks today and posting them soon.

Gosh I sure enjoying this forum and all those in it

Lenny

[Guest Lenny]

Got some picks from Logandale trails. First one shows a sand hill. There were 4 jeeps there. 2 with really big tires and 2 with just bigger tires. Only the 2 with really big tires could make it. I dropped my tire pressure to 7# front anf rear and went right up. I didn't expect these tires to be that good in the sand. The next pics show some of the tougher jeep obsticals I was able to climb, actually quite easy. The last pics show a little of the area.

Leny