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This is the 2nd installment of FJBruisers host PPer on their MudFling.
Day 2 started early. Thankfully, I managed better sleep than the previous night, where night time temperatures left me shivering. This time I was more prepared by wearing 3 pair of socks, and 4-layers on top kept me warm.
Heading out, with such little traffic on the HWYs, we couldn't resist this opportunity:
We started out much the same way as Day 1, a quick stop off at Dunkin' Donuts for the caffiene fix, then Burger Kings (Hungry Jacks) for the all important morning nourishment. Mmmmm, yum
The Toyota Trail Teams provided some early morning training. Today's session was on appropriate use of the High Lift Jack. Having these experts available was a huge bonus. They provided many useful tips througout the trip and were always willing to answer those niggling questsions.
The FjCruiser has some very hefty rock sliders (sill protectors) which readily provided a lift point.
Lots of useful tips: pros/cons of the jack, how the high-lift jack works (in both up and down directions), find the best lifting point, angle the jack to start the lift, how to lower the vehicle, where to hold your hands, keep your fingers clear, how to mount it on the vehicle, how to care for the mechanism, use it with car-stands if changing wheels, and so on. This one session went for around 45 minutes and added enormous value to the experience.
In other sessions they disccussed winching techniques, how to be a spotter, and lots of ad-hoc stuff.
FlyNDrive had already signed up to lead the Dictum Ridge trail, and once again I was his lucky passenger. The Tail Gunner was a member from the Toyota Trail Team. After a brief meeting with the drivers we began the short trip with the usual line-up:
Dictum Ridge is a far more technical challenge... one that other FjBruisers had either avoided all together or spoke of with great respect.
As we are about to start out, we see this:
The interesing thing about the above photograph is that Dictum Ridge is a one-way trail and he was leaving it the wrong way. This meant that this jeep had decided respect for the ridge was better than valour, so bailed out. Undeterred, the FjBruisers headed out.
The start of Dictum Ridge left us uncertain which fork in the trail to take at times. In these situations, my motto is "if in doubt, follow the markings", as there were occassional painted marks on the trees, though nobody was sure what they were for. As it turned out, the motto held true once again, as we bounced our way over the Dictum Ridge trail.
Much of the trail is relatively easy driving, offering some mild challenges...
until this point...
There were some ledges and step-downs that were just begging to damage the vehicle. This was going to require some careful spotting.
A word on spotting...
To take a line from CGChief, "the difference between a spotter and the a*hole in front of your truck, is the spotter is the person you asked to spot you, the a*hole is the guy you run over" (roughly translated
).
I have done much spotting in years gone by, though never like this. Generally, I have relied on a mix of ad-hoc signals, my voice, and/or UHF radio to direct the driver. The guys in the USA use very specific signals for a variety of the situations the driver will encounter. It is the driver's job to put all their trust in the spotter, which removes many of the driver's judgement calls from the equation.
Although I didn't know the signals, they were mostly self-describing. FlyNDrive had already spotted me down one small section of the trail, and the signalling vocabulary is well understood...
Here is the Toyota Trail Teams spotter bringing FlyNDrive down safely.
A great video (we need more cowbells!) shows the action. Compare this with my attempt, (of course I had a little less clearance... excuses excuses )
FlyNDrive does Dictum Ridge
After bringing everyone else down the mountain, he then asks if I'd like to bring his car down... Is the Pope Catholic? He then asks, did I want to do the chicken run, or bring it down the main face... (I thought for a moment... if this were my car...) I chose the main face. Here he is directing me through the lumps and bumps:
And a video of the same: LFaR Noisly Descending Dictum Ridge
With guidance from the Trail Teams, I was quickly trained in the art of spotting and soon had Andrew trusting me to bring him down safely. Andrew was in a stick-shift (manual) and this added more challenges for him and me. Whilst the car stalled many times, it was my job to try to keep him rolling, so as to avoid him needing to stomp on the clutch (which of course has the effect of putting his vehicle in neutral with all the complications that follow). In the end, not a bad effort for a novice...
And if you want to be bored to tears (or laugh yourself silly) at my attempts to help Andrew on his descent... (Man check out those hand signals).
LFaR Spotting check out those hand gestures!
I like to remind my wife that I do move mountains and here's the proof!
After lunch, we headed out to the Salt Shed, which was a very muddy trail. I hitched a ride with Vaughan, who was the Trail Leader on this trip. This run was through extrememly muddy conditions, and muddy water crossings that initially had me thinking I'm bound to be the one who has to carry a winch hook through muddy waters. Whilst I was already impressed with the capapbility of the FjCruiser, the ease with which they forwarded the muddy crossings exceeded my expectations. The A-TRAC (traction control) couple with the occasional use of the rear locker, had these beasts working effortlessly.
A video showing the A-TRAC at work. In the end, we chose a different line to get this truck up the hill. Other trucks that made it up this line also had more aggressive tyres, rather than the stock tyres.
A-TRAC Working Hard.
Another fantastic day comes to an end... though not before a great deal more excitement, which you will have to wait for until the next update
LFaR.
- Day 1[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Day 2 (you're reading it)[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Day 3 - Part 1[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Day 3 - Part 2[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
Day 2 started early. Thankfully, I managed better sleep than the previous night, where night time temperatures left me shivering. This time I was more prepared by wearing 3 pair of socks, and 4-layers on top kept me warm.
Heading out, with such little traffic on the HWYs, we couldn't resist this opportunity:
We started out much the same way as Day 1, a quick stop off at Dunkin' Donuts for the caffiene fix, then Burger Kings (Hungry Jacks) for the all important morning nourishment. Mmmmm, yum
The Toyota Trail Teams provided some early morning training. Today's session was on appropriate use of the High Lift Jack. Having these experts available was a huge bonus. They provided many useful tips througout the trip and were always willing to answer those niggling questsions.
The FjCruiser has some very hefty rock sliders (sill protectors) which readily provided a lift point.
Lots of useful tips: pros/cons of the jack, how the high-lift jack works (in both up and down directions), find the best lifting point, angle the jack to start the lift, how to lower the vehicle, where to hold your hands, keep your fingers clear, how to mount it on the vehicle, how to care for the mechanism, use it with car-stands if changing wheels, and so on. This one session went for around 45 minutes and added enormous value to the experience.
In other sessions they disccussed winching techniques, how to be a spotter, and lots of ad-hoc stuff.
FlyNDrive had already signed up to lead the Dictum Ridge trail, and once again I was his lucky passenger. The Tail Gunner was a member from the Toyota Trail Team. After a brief meeting with the drivers we began the short trip with the usual line-up:
Dictum Ridge is a far more technical challenge... one that other FjBruisers had either avoided all together or spoke of with great respect.
As we are about to start out, we see this:
The interesing thing about the above photograph is that Dictum Ridge is a one-way trail and he was leaving it the wrong way. This meant that this jeep had decided respect for the ridge was better than valour, so bailed out. Undeterred, the FjBruisers headed out.
The start of Dictum Ridge left us uncertain which fork in the trail to take at times. In these situations, my motto is "if in doubt, follow the markings", as there were occassional painted marks on the trees, though nobody was sure what they were for. As it turned out, the motto held true once again, as we bounced our way over the Dictum Ridge trail.
Much of the trail is relatively easy driving, offering some mild challenges...
until this point...
There were some ledges and step-downs that were just begging to damage the vehicle. This was going to require some careful spotting.
A word on spotting...
To take a line from CGChief, "the difference between a spotter and the a*hole in front of your truck, is the spotter is the person you asked to spot you, the a*hole is the guy you run over" (roughly translated
).I have done much spotting in years gone by, though never like this. Generally, I have relied on a mix of ad-hoc signals, my voice, and/or UHF radio to direct the driver. The guys in the USA use very specific signals for a variety of the situations the driver will encounter. It is the driver's job to put all their trust in the spotter, which removes many of the driver's judgement calls from the equation.
Although I didn't know the signals, they were mostly self-describing. FlyNDrive had already spotted me down one small section of the trail, and the signalling vocabulary is well understood...
- Keep thumbs tucked away: avoids an inadvertent "thumbs-up" (ooops).[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Both fists Closed: stop[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Pulling arms: forward[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Press palms press slowly toward ground: come ahead slowly[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Both Arms Pointing: turn the wheel in that direction[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Pushing one hand down: that wheel is about to drop[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Pushing one hand followed by the other: the sequence of wheel drops[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Both arms with pointing fingers toward driver: reverse[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
- Palms down waving horizontally: safe, or the fun is now over[/*:m:2w59t0aa]
Here is the Toyota Trail Teams spotter bringing FlyNDrive down safely.
A great video (we need more cowbells!
) shows the action. Compare this with my attempt, (of course I had a little less clearance... excuses excuses )FlyNDrive does Dictum Ridge
After bringing everyone else down the mountain, he then asks if I'd like to bring his car down... Is the Pope Catholic? He then asks, did I want to do the chicken run, or bring it down the main face... (I thought for a moment... if this were my car...) I chose the main face
. Here he is directing me through the lumps and bumps:And a video of the same: LFaR Noisly Descending Dictum Ridge
With guidance from the Trail Teams, I was quickly trained in the art of spotting and soon had Andrew trusting me to bring him down safely. Andrew was in a stick-shift (manual) and this added more challenges for him and me. Whilst the car stalled many times, it was my job to try to keep him rolling, so as to avoid him needing to stomp on the clutch (which of course has the effect of putting his vehicle in neutral with all the complications that follow). In the end, not a bad effort for a novice...
And if you want to be bored to tears (or laugh yourself silly) at my attempts to help Andrew on his descent... (Man check out those hand signals
).LFaR Spotting check out those hand gestures!
I like to remind my wife that I do move mountains
and here's the proof!After lunch, we headed out to the Salt Shed, which was a very muddy trail. I hitched a ride with Vaughan, who was the Trail Leader on this trip. This run was through extrememly muddy conditions, and muddy water crossings that initially had me thinking I'm bound to be the one who has to carry a winch hook through muddy waters. Whilst I was already impressed with the capapbility of the FjCruiser, the ease with which they forwarded the muddy crossings exceeded my expectations. The A-TRAC (traction control) couple with the occasional use of the rear locker, had these beasts working effortlessly.
A video showing the A-TRAC at work. In the end, we chose a different line to get this truck up the hill. Other trucks that made it up this line also had more aggressive tyres, rather than the stock tyres.
A-TRAC Working Hard.
Another fantastic day comes to an end... though not before a great deal more excitement, which you will have to wait for until the next update
LFaR.
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