Big dog trip report

[crawlercreations]

Well no one here posted up about going so it was just my buddy and me. Had an awesome day! It was a little short due to breakage on his end but it was definitely awesome! We started by driving into Liberty as planned..pretty uneventful besides my buddies first break....he dropped off a ledge and landed right on his driveshaft. Popped the u-joint at the t-case. So we pulled the shaft and he continued into Liberty in just front wheel drive. Liberty is easy enough he was able to drive all the way to the split off in front wheel drive. Struggled a little but gravity was on his side so he was able to make it pretty easily. We stopped where the trail splits off in all 3 directions and fixed it. Then we decided to take a look at Independence to drive out of.....WOW! It looks UGLY! As soon as I saw it I said no way...I am not going to take my bronco out that way. Didn't even look driveable. So we walked back up Liberty a ways just to find at least 5 Toyotas coming in Liberty. They were going VERY slowly and spotting all the way in for everyone. My buddy didn't feel like waiting for them, nor did I. So we decided to see how his rig would do trying to drive out of Independence. He is not even close to afraid of body damage so he was the sacrificial guinea pig! Immediately ran into problems. Almost rolled it, got a tire wedged then broke the front locker. So we stacked a few rocks and managed to get him most of the way through it with only winching the very end. Beat up his samurai pretty good. Well I said nah, my bronco can't do it so I will wait for the Toyotas. So we unstacked all the rocks. Then I remembered how SLOW they were going! I said screw it, I didn't build it to look at it! My wheelbase is about a foot shorter than my buddies so I hooked the winch right away and began the attempt. Smashed my LF fender and broke my mirror but drove right up the first obstacle like it wasn't there...no winch needed! Awesome! So I drove up to the next obstacle and my bumper wouldn't let me take the line I wanted so I had to take it very off camber. Started crawling it nicely when my RR tire decided to drive under a rock. It pretty much laid me over on my right side. Bashed the RF fender and touched my roll cage. Winched the front end back down and finished driving it. Then came the 5 foot ledge. I went left. My bronco drove right up the crack! Just about to the top and it slid over and was a no go. Pulled it about a foot with the winch and finished driving out of it. This was probably the craziest stuff I have done so I am EXTREMELY happy with my bronco. It took on a little body damage but really only to the front fenders which are easily replaceable! I didn't even use my newly installed quarter guards!

Overall a very great trip! Especially since I didn't break anything!

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[Entourage]

That is crazy! Looks too nuts to Hike so cannot imagine driving over it! Thanks for the great write up and pics.

[hockeydad4-22]

Amazing, that is simply amazing.

Honestly - I have seen maybe 2 rigs in the club that could make that run. Just not that many big dogs in the group yet. Give us soem time, more of us will be building rigs that capable.

Cool pictures, thanks for posting.

[Jesus_man]

I am up for Liberty, but I don't think I am ready for any of the others there. I tried to get into Indy from the bottom and nearly immediately broke a front u-joint.

That Sammi is cool! But I can see why that driveshaft is so vulnerable...

Thanks for sharing!

J.D.

[rtreads]

WOW! Looks like fun! If I was only a little more into body damage...

[Kinder]

Love it! I wish I could have been a passenger, nothing like seeing your rig with the tires up in the air!

[rtreads]

Kinder, are you back? when do we throw you a party?

[hockeydad4-22]

If he is in fact back, then for sure a party including wheeling and a massive camp fire its in order

[Justin]

He isn't back, but was able to post up a little. Still in the sandbox.

[hockeydad4-22]

Darn it - after last weekends camping and wheeling... I am looking forward to 3 things... More More More!!!

Well it is good to hear that he is still over there taking care of business for us. Kinder - if you get to read this, a huge thank you! And when you do return, there will be a party!

[Kinder]

Not back yet, we will definitely throw a party when I finally get home next spring.