4:03 pm
July 12, 2017
Offline
Hey all! I want to get in one last wheeling trip before the 31st! I just spoke with Tahoe National Forest, and the Bear Valley OHV Loop outside of Truckee is still open until the 31st.
Sooooo, circle the wagons!!! I am gonna head up Thurs next week, the 28th. It is a pretty easy trail, but it will prolly be a little icey from the last couple of days... So check requirements below:
35s and limited slips and mud terrain tires, or 33s and 1 locker, or 33s and limited slips and 90% tread mud terrain tires, or 31s and 1 locker and all terrains with 90% tread.
Reply here or text me if you want to go (5593000144)! I will be cross posting this on a couple of different forums.
**UPDATE**
Run scheduled for Thursday the 28th! Gonna meet up at Lower Little Truckee Campground at 8AM, plan to leave by 8:30-8:45am to go to the trail head. The campground is about half way between Truckee and Sierraville. Be careful, there are 2 campgrounds right next to each other... Upper and Lower, we are meeting at the first one... Lower.
Gps coords are 39.485729, -120.236546.
If anyone wants to follow the squirrel powered 4runner up the hwy 80 grade at 40mph, we can meet up at Bass Pro Shops on in Roseville around 6am, leave by 6:15am. Under the big shopping center sign in their parking lot.
Should be a fun day. Already have 3-4 rigs coming from my NorCal Recovery Group. Maybe 1 or 2 from Seven Off Road forums. Gonna try to keep it under 15 rigs. I will supply radio coms for myself, the caboose, and someone in the middle.
4:38 pm
Club Member
July 10, 2003
Offline Hmmm...
That's a trail I can do with my current (stock) steering.
I'll check with my calendar (wife) and post back here.
I used to wheel a lot. . .
6:11 pm
July 14, 2016
Offline Once again I would love to go but can't do mid week runs due to crappy job not liking to give days off... Make it a weekend and I'm there
8:15 am
October 28, 2016
Offline Sounds like fun. I’m off both days. Which day do you think works best?
W6JLU
10:07 am
July 12, 2017
Offline Updated original post with the below info:
Run scheduled for Thursday the 28th! Gonna meet up at Lower Little Truckee Campground at 8AM, plan to leave by 8:30-8:45am to go to the trail head. The campground is about half way between Truckee and Sierraville. Be careful, there are 2 campgrounds right next to each other... Upper and Lower, we are meeting at the first one... Lower.
Gps coords are 39.485729, -120.236546.
If anyone wants to follow the squirrel powered 4runner up the hwy 80 grade at 40mph, we can meet up at Bass Pro Shops on in Roseville around 6am, leave by 6:15am. Under the big shopping center sign in their parking lot.
Should be a fun day, will probably be icey, prepare appropriately. Already have 3-4 rigs coming from my NorCal 4x4 Recovery Group. Maybe 1 or 2 from Seven Off Road forums. Gonna try to keep it under 15 rigs. I will supply radio coms for myself, the caboose, and someone in the middle.
9:50 am
Club Webmaster
August 5, 2017
Offline Do you consider the JK traction control system that uses the brakes as limited slip? If not then I might see if someone has an open seat 🙂
I am working on my plan to get to at least a rear selectable locker so I don't have to worry about min run requirements anymore, thinking of just adding it in to the rear and keeping my eye out for a rubicon 44 takeoff, i know there is a lot of axle experience in the club so maybe a discussion we can have after one of the meetings.
K6NUB
10:05 am
Club Member
January 20, 2009
Offline Put me down as a maybe. I've been itching to get out. I'll check my work on Wednesday.
9:25 pm
July 12, 2017
Offline Jamie said
Do you consider the JK traction control system that uses the brakes as limited slip? If not then I might see if someone has an open seat 🙂I am working on my plan to get to at least a rear selectable locker so I don't have to worry about min run requirements anymore, thinking of just adding it in to the rear and keeping my eye out for a rubicon 44 takeoff, i know there is a lot of axle experience in the club so maybe a discussion we can have after one of the meetings.
You should do fine. You have decent sized tires with really good tread on them. If, for some reason you have any troubles, we will just pull you through. There aren't really any big rocks on this trail to get hung up on... any issues we have will be from ice, which is just traction. Your nice tires and gentle on the skinny peddle should get you very far 🙂
8:26 pm
Club Member
January 19, 2011
Offline If I can get off work I would like to do this. Put me down as a maybe.
Semper Fi
7:17 am
July 12, 2017
Offline Bump bump. Gonna be at bass pro shops at 6am. Leaving at 630am. Dont be late! lower Little truckee campground at 8am, leaving there at 830am. Dont be late. Those are the 2 meeting points if you are coming! I will not be waiting past those times for you. Lets go wheeling!
9:01 am
Club Member
July 10, 2003
Offline I'm out, I have a family thing.
I used to wheel a lot. . .
11:35 am
Club Member
January 20, 2009
Offline I'll have to pass. I need to replace my starter. 🙁
1:58 pm
Club Webmaster
August 5, 2017
Offline Had a family emergency and had to head to Arizona so i'm out now, have fun and be safe!
K6NUB
8:44 pm
Club Member
January 19, 2011
Offline I’m out. Sorry. Can’t get of work.
Semper Fi
6:57 am
Club Member
November 21, 2017
Offline I saw the post to late to make it. Maybe a run off of the 50 soon?
9:10 pm
July 14, 2016
Offline So how was it please share the details
12:08 pm
July 12, 2017
Offline Mike G said
So how was it please share the details
Haha it was interesting... A little disappointing to me, but everyone had a good time. We ended up with a JKUR on 37s, 2 2nd gen Tacomas on 33s (1 was open/lsd, the other was open/locked), and my 4runner. Apparently, the trailhead for the 4x4 trail is super overgrown. We weren't able to find it, and we drove right by it twice (confirmed where it was when I got home because I thought I was going crazy). So, I will have to go back up in the Spring and see why we missed it.
We headed out to Sardine Peak instead. We found snow, but it was the kind that is like sugar and never compacts down. It had a nice 4" layer of ice on top, and then a good 1-2ft of sugar underneath. Which made forward progress very difficult and tedious. We made it roughly 1 mile in about 3.5 hours before we stopped trying. Coming back down took about 5 minutes though lol
So, we played around on the forest service roads doing some exploring and pre-running for the rest of the time.
On the way up to Truckee, I was trying to make it all the way without filling up (left Roseville with just under a half a tank). I ended up making it, but it was below empty, and I am pretty sure my fuel pump sucked up some silt and crap because my engine started running like it was being strangled and misfiring from Truckee up to the trailhead. So, we left the 4runner at the trailhead for the day, and I rode passenger in the JKUR... which meant I got to do a TON of walking, running cable, running straps, directing turn-arounds, shovelling and everything else you do in the snow. I don't mind, I would have just much rather played around on the winch hill on the 4x4 trail that we couldn't find lol
Everyone had a good time. A little blast of seafoam and the 4runner is running good again.
One thing that I had a question about, since I am not familiar with JKURs... the JKUR I was riding with wasn't able to break trail in the snow very well because his engine would bog down every time he started spinning out so a) he couldnt build up momentum in the snow and b) once he hit the snow burm he was creating, his engine wouldn't send power to the wheels. I have never seen a JK do that before... is there some sort of nifty magical switch that needs to be turned off to avoid that? I believe it was either a 2016 or 2017 JKUR if that helps.
Overall fun day! I got to try my new Salomon boots. I was in shin to knee deep sugar powder for a good solid 3.5 hours and my feet stayed warm and dry. Awesome boots, highly recommended. I did end up falling in truckee on a piece of ice at the end of the day. Got a sweet bruise, square on my hip, about the size of a baseball.
12:15 pm
Club Member
January 20, 2009
Offline Tyler - K6TLR said
One thing that I had a question about, since I am not familiar with JKURs... the JKUR I was riding with wasn't able to break trail in the snow very well because his engine would bog down every time he started spinning out so a) he couldnt build up momentum in the snow and b) once he hit the snow burm he was creating, his engine wouldn't send power to the wheels. I have never seen a JK do that before... is there some sort of nifty magical switch that needs to be turned off to avoid that? I believe it was either a 2016 or 2017 JKUR if that helps.
Was he in 4H instead of 4L? I have a manual so I don't know about those auto problems. 🙂
12:40 pm
Club Member
July 10, 2003
Offline That's too bad about the upkeep of the Bear Valley Loop Trail. It used to be one of the best maintained trails around. It had good signage and wide open paths, at least 3/4 of the way through. The last part of the trail always felt like overlanding to me. I wonder if the club stopped maintaining it? They used to do a yearly run out there in conjunction with Sierra Trek (I think).
I used to wheel a lot. . .
3:58 pm
Club Member
January 19, 2011
Offline k-jeep said
Was he in 4H instead of 4L? I have a manual so I don't know about those auto problems.
Kevin is right. This is common in an automatic JK with a new driver on a snow trail. Tranny gets bogged down in high. Easy fix just shift to four wheel low.
Also put in a tranny cooler if you go a lot in the snow.
Semper Fi
6:21 pm
Club Member
September 3, 2008
Offline Was the JK geared or did he have factory 4.10s still? That is a lot of tire for that little motor depending on motor also.
Um...what?
2:38 pm
July 12, 2017
Offline JohnDF said
That's too bad about the upkeep of the Bear Valley Loop Trail. It used to be one of the best maintained trails around. It had good signage and wide open paths, at least 3/4 of the way through. The last part of the trail always felt like overlanding to me. I wonder if the club stopped maintaining it? They used to do a yearly run out there in conjunction with Sierra Trek (I think).
My other club's president used to be in the Diablo 4 Wheelers... and he said that they have seriously let the trail go in the past 5-6 years. They will go up MAYBE once a year with loppers and clip back small branches, but they almost never take chainsaws or anything to maintain the manzanita overgrowth. It really is sad, because that is such a fun trail for all levels, and the forest service won't let any other clubs take over the maintenance. Diablo 4 Wheelers has to give up the rights to maintain it. We have debated just going up and doing proper maintenance once per year, since we use that trail so often, but we already maintain Fordyce and Rubicon twice per year each...
2:45 pm
July 12, 2017
Offline k-jeep said
Was he in 4H instead of 4L? I have a manual so I don't know about those auto problems. 🙂
The shifter was definitely in 4Lo. I never got to drive to feel the trans and make sure it was 4Lo... but the dash said it was =/ And his lockers would turn off if his speedo went over like 15mph or something around there.
I thought it might have something to do with the dif gearing like senor bakken is referring to... he said he hasn't done the gears yet, and that he thought it only had 3.88s in it. Which would definitely have a little effect. If that is actually the issue, I am surprised that it had THAT much effect... It was literally instantaneous bog down. Like, the engine slowed him down more than momentum would have carried him if that makes sense.
The other thing that was funny about it, was when he was in place, and just spinning the tires to use his shoulder lugs to grab the top layer of ice to continue forward momentum, the engine RPMs would keep going from 3500 to 2000 and back, over and over, and he said he wasn't changing the pressure on the throttle. Which made me think that it was some sort of safety feature that the ECU knew when the wheels were spinning out, and compensated for it by retarding the engine so that the wheels could slow down and get friction on the road again... like a highway driving feature.
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