Summer Run
July 24-25, 2010
by Evan Silverman
What I learned on my summer fun vacation?
What did I learn on my summer fun vacation? Well I am going to tell you all I learned and more. I learned that even leaving 5 minutes before my 12:00 pm planned departure time was not early enough. A four hour trip took over seven hours. I learned that leaving a 9:30 am seems to be the ticket. I did learn that a great time is worth the 7 hour drive.
Bob Blair learned the hard way that he had a fuel pump and fuel shut solenoid relay under the dash and that if you mount it upside down it collects water and shorts causing a draw. He also learned that if he waits until the trail ride to fix his truck, I will help him for free as apposed to him bringing it to my shop
The club learned that Chilies in NH is very slow when they have a table of more than 4 people. I think we had 12 people. We still had a fun evening. I think the club is learning to be prompt. We met, left and arrived on the trail all according to schedule.
We learned that Swanzy property is awesome. It has a lot of land with a couple of trails that have so many obstacles that it kept our group of 10 well set up trucks busy all day.
I learned that even though an NEA meeting is about the most excruciating way you can spend a Saturday, it is well worth our club being a member. Without the NEA we would not get to do trails like Swanzy and would not get hooked up with great trails guides like Rob, John and Rob or is it Rob, Rob and John or something like that. I would like to thank those guys a lot.
I learned that my improvements to E Rex, now E Rex Unlimited (Unlimited comes from the name of the long wheel base TJ and JK)seemed to work. The truck was very stable, climbed the steep hills and ledges without axle rap nor bouncing. The sipped Swampers seemed to have much more traction than the last 3 rides out. Needless to say I am very happy. I did learn that my break over angle is not as good but the trade off is well worth it.
I learned that Mike Barbara is fun to wheel with and that if you could add Bob Coco to the list you would end up with a better show than the Ringling Brothers Circus. I learned that 37 inch tires are better than 35's and that those crawlers really bite and make cool 4 wheel burn outs on the rocks. I also learned why Mike broke a Solid Axle Dana 60.
Warren Silverman learned that the old MTR's don't hold up as well as the new ones. He cut a tire. Dimitri and I helped him change it.
I learned that Swanzy has more stumps than I have ever seen and that they do bend stock CJ tie rods. I learned that with some heat from my map gas torch, help from Dimitri and Warren Silverman, use of a pry par, scissor jack and WARN winch you can make a tie rod almost perfectly strait again. Warren learned that even with leather gloves, red hot metal will burn you and give you a blister.
The club learned that steep wet rock and root strewn climbs require a heavy right foot.and that rev limiters are a help. I am learning that at 41 years old, I can't or I unconsciously refuse to remember all the small details of the trip like I used to.
The club learned how valuable skid plates and rock sliders are. A few of us leaned that trees and rocks beat sheet metal. The club learned my scary voice when I screamed at my dad because he was yelling at me trying to keep me from destroying my Jeep. I had a disagreement with a tree that did not want to let me pass(sounds familiar, first a guy on the beach now a tree in the woods). Anyway I almost took a tree and root system down and the tree gave me some deadly blows to the drivers side tub by the cowl and the hood. What's a few more dents and tears in the body?
I learned that Andrew will yell at his father as well if he is pushed hard enough. I hope my son does not yell at me when he gets older. We learned that Andrew likes when his dad is in another rig
With no good deed being unpunished Warren learned that a stock TJ tie rod is no stronger than the one that comes on a CJ. and that a High Lift jack handle makes for a great trail repair of a bent tie rod. We are all starting to learn how having some map gas can save your donkey especially with frozen tie rod ends. (No one was burnt doing Warrens tie rod)
Wonder Boy(Dimitri) learned that fallen trees should be kept from getting under your truck and that a nylon winch cable can't handle even the slightest abrading on rocks and I learned that the 4 foot long ballistic nylon sheath that comes with the cable is there to protect the cable from rocks. We learned that a Stihl saw is a handy thing to bring. Stephanie learned that if she does not want to keep buying shoes or worse yet a prosthetic foot she better kept her feet in the Jeep. Rocks eat flesh and bones as well as sheet metal
I learned that a stock JK unlimited driven by Jim's son can do some amazing things.
I learned a few things about our president Joe this weekend. One he is afraid to ride in E Rex and B he suffers from the dreaded Italian Ball Sweat. Andrew's girl friend also learned about the ball sweat and hoped that Andrew does not catch it. I learned that I love saying Ball Sweat!! Ball Sweat, Ball Sweat, Ball Sweat. I learned that Joe trusts my dad more than me and that my dad did not seem to be bothered by Joe's Ball Sweat.
I learned that Jim has Balls of steel. I hope they are not sweaty because they will rust. He pushed that YJ to the limit a couple of times putting on some show.
I learned that no matter how well you straighten a bent tie rod, it will bend again and it did. I also learned that I like when Warren supplies all the food for the cook out and does all the cooking while I got a chance to replace E Rex's tie rod. Thank You
We learned that a Super Winch S9000 will stall when trying to pull a 5000lb Scout/Willys and needs a snatch block to double the power. Super Winch gives those snatch blocks for free with the new epi9000. Maybe the winch can only pull 4500lb and is rated a 9000 with the snatch block. Special note: Bob claims his new Optima yellow top was weak due to his electrical problem from the night before. I think it is just and excuse.
After the Winch incident, Bob learned that he needs to keep his pos. terminal of he battery away from the radiator support bracket. He melted his battery terminal but this was after the Super winch failing to pull. That is almost as much fun to say as ball sweat. Super Winch fail, Super Winch fail, Super Winch fail.
We learned that when a 6 foot tall 275 lb guy rolls a Sammi, he will bang his head on his roll cage. (He was not with us but of course in typical LIOR fashion we were there to help. We had Barbara's Jeep there with winch and strap ready before these guys even got there friend out of the Sammi. They did cut the seat belt to get him out, but the driver and rig were OK except for a little rung bell.)
We learned that even after a full day of wheeling, (we got out of the woods less than and hour before dark)there is still time for go carts. Mike and his daughter, Dimitri and Stephanie, Bob and Joan and I stopped at the go karts. It was fun. Joan, Dimitri and some 11 year old learned that if you mess with me I will push you into the wall and I did. We had a great time even though we were filthy and tired.
We learned that Texas Long Horn steak house is much better than Chilies. We learned that we are all getting old because nobody had the energy to wheel on Sunday except crazy Jim and son.
As you can see, my friends and I learned a lot on our summer vacation and hopefully we will put some of the lessons learned to good use.
I learned that I don't like saying "I learned" as much as "Ball Sweat" and "Super Winch failed" . Until next month Evan